Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Welcome to the continent of Issylra. The year is 26 PR, or Post-Resurgence. This is the largest continent in the world, as well as the most untamed. Living alongside the dividing mountains and frigid depths is the county of Othanzia, an extended political structure of awesome might that holds the oldest city in the world, Vasselheim, as its capital. A beacon of religious light that illuminates the dark and frigid lands. 

Surrounding most of the ventures of civilization is the Vesper Timberland, a sprawling archaic wild that eventually gives way to the frozen no-man's land of the Thorain Tundra, the homeland of the fearsome dragon, Rimefang. Further along from the barren tundra lies the town of Muldire, who's atmosphere is almost as bitter as its temperature. 

Past Muldaire lays the Tordusk Pass and the Zenwick Mountains, the latter of which is home to the Silted Vale, a valley that hosts a numerous amount of wild beasts and healing soil. Southwest of Vasselheim are the Sunderpeak Mountains, a massive pillar that hosts home to the Ashari village of Pyrah, just North of the Ascendant Bridge Mountain- the largest mountain in all of the world, a peak that is seemingly able to reach past the heavens themselves.

Although the mountainous terrain prevents Othanzia from expanding its empire, many smaller republics have popped up in the past century to try and make claim to the wild, untamed lands. Ever since the Resurgence and the defeat of Predathos on the red moon Ruidius, religious tension has been persistently present throughout Othanzia's lands, the current political unrest leading to far more scuffles than had been present in previous years. Reports from Vasselheim have made claims of rebellions, revolts, and even the abandonment of faith altogether- shaking the ancient city in a way that hadn't been seen since the Calamity. 

However, our story begins far Southwest of Vasselheim, in a coastal city far less mighty and powerful than its older sibling. Shorecomb, living in ample harmony with the mountains around it, making its livings on the ample population of fish and port trade with the rest of its motherland. And it is here, in the quiet, calm, and cold, that the lives of many- ones with destinies that have once aligned- come together once more…

The door to the local inn swung open with very little care, nearly causing the ancient and rusty hinges to fall apart right then and there. The patron of the inn, a half-orc man somewhere in his late 50s, glanced up from behind the bar where he had been cleaning.

“Mother of Melora, why don't you just kick the door in next time, eh?” He called grumpily, keeping a wary eye on the three individuals who marched inside the building from the frigid cold. The tallest of the group- and subsequently the one leading the trio inside- brushed some snow from his shoulders and onto the floor.

“Sorry. Nearly every place around here’s closed. Gotten used to pushing against a locked door.” The cloaked stranger replied, their voice muffled through the scarf that was being used to cover most of their face. The innkeeper grunted, unamused, and returned back to cleaning the counter.

“Yeah, most folks ‘round here don’t expect patronage during a blizzard. You’re lucky I didn’t close early, otherwise you’d freeze. Sit wherever there’s space.”

The latter half of the sentence was either a result of a force of habit or a dry attempt at humor, as the bar area- and the entire inn, for that matter- was completely empty. The trio of companions made their way further inside and took a seat at a rounded table, tracking in snow and mud from their boots.

“You three gonna want a drink or something?” The half-orc demanded, sneering with annoyance at the mess on his floor.

“Maybe in a bit. We’re waiting on a few more.” Replied the leader, leaning back in their chair and exhaling deeply. The innkeeper grumbled some words under his breath and dipped into a backroom behind the bar.

“You think we should stay for long? He looked pretty mad.” One of the other members of the trio asked, removing their heavy coat and face coverings. Underneath revealed a young human man, likely in his early to mid twenties; he had shaggy sand-colored hair that looked as though it hadn’t been brushed in days, as well as muted maroon-colored eyes that gave him the false appearance of looking bloodshot. He was rather scrawny and thin, though his face was plump, and a few dark freckles stuck out obviously against his light-colored skin.

“Not like we have much choice. We were instructed to meet up at a tavern or inn, and this is the only place that’s open,” said the leader of the group, following their companion’s lead and removing their heavy winter wear. “Either we deal with an annoyed innkeep, or stand out there and freeze our asses off. Your choice, Theo.” 

Now free of their heavy burden, the individual revealed himself as a tiefling man- seemingly around the same age as the human, Theo. Unusually, though, the man’s skin was a deep mossy green, with amber-colored eyes and ram-like horns that curved all the way to the front of his head. His hair was jet-black and rather short, though it appeared to be lighter in some areas- possibly some extremely early gray hairs. He was thin like the human, but not scrawny; he had some impressive tone on his arms and torso. 

“Yeah, well…” Theo muttered, folding his arms as he attempted to think of a rebuttal. Around the other side of the table, the third of the trio remained in their heavy coat and scarf, watching the two talk with inquisitive blue eyes. Beads of sweat were beginning to form on the parts of their face that were visible, something that the green tiefling took notice of. 

“Bel. Take off your coat,” he instructed.

“I’m okay. I’m comfortable.” The individual responded in a muffled voice. The green tiefling rapped his fingers on the table.

“You’re not comfortable. It's warm in here and I can already see you're getting hot. Take off your coat.” He repeated, slightly more demanding.

“I’m good, I promise.”

“You’re going to overheat. Bella.” He stared at the individual deeply, seemingly conveying a multitude of unsaid words. The other person, Bella, sighed deeply.

“...My hair looks really bad right now.”

“That’s it? Bel, nobody here cares about that.”

“Yeah, maybe you and Theo don’t! But first impressions are everything! I don't want us to miss out on a potential job because I look like a wreck!”

“You could use prestidigitation to fix it?” Theo offered helpfully. There was a beat of silence before Bella replied,

“Oh, right.” The green tiefling huffed deeply as the individual, Bella, finally removed their winter wear, revealing a young woman- slightly younger than her other two companions- and also a tiefling. She had vivid cobalt skin and a sweet, soft face; similar to the other tiefling at the table, she had black hair that went a little past her shoulders which contained a streak of snow-white (and that was, admittedly, extremely tangled). Her horns extended upwards and slightly back, smaller than her companion’s. She was stockier than the other two and appeared to be somewhat shorter as well. She smiled at the green tiefling, revealing two rather sharp canines on her bottom jaw.

“Aw, Festus. You care so much for me.” She cooed.

“I’m just trying to prevent our only healer from dying of heat stroke.” The tiefling, Festus, replied dryly. Theo rested his cheek on his hand, looking across the table at the two tieflings.

“How in Exandria are we going to convince these people to work with us…?” He mumbled to himself. 

“Our ample… quirks aside,” Festus spoke, shooting a glare at Bella as she hung her heavy coat over the back of her chair. “All that’s required is a skillful hand and the ability to traverse difficult terrain.”

“Yeah, it’s not like it said we had to be quiet and boring the whole time.” Bella chimed in.

“Good. Because I think that’d be impossible for us.” Theo smiled. At that moment, the door of the inn swung open once more- with considerably less force this time. Quickly, almost by instinct, Bella’s hands glowed a vivid blue and her raggedy appearance was immediately cleaned, her tangled mane relieving itself of its knots and straightening itself out.

Two figures walked in from the storm; the first of the duo was the one who caught the eyes of the three already present, namely due to the absolute size of them. They were extremely thin, almost disturbingly so, and so tall that they walked with hunched shoulders just to keep their head from dragging across the ceiling. The other figure, meanwhile, was the complete opposite- they appeared to be extremely cut and muscular, a strong set of shoulders and legs to accompany an extremely tiny body- probably around 3 '5, a stark contrast to their companion.

Festus, Theo, and Bella all went silent and watched with anticipation as the two individuals entered, wiping snow off of themselves and looking about the inn. They also wore face coverings, obscuring their identities. The tinier figure of the duo took a moment to carefully look through the inn before settling- seemingly reluctantly- on the trio at their table.

“You the ones hiring for the escort job?” A muffled voice came from behind the face covering. The person approached the table, the taller individual shuffling silently behind them. Festus, who had been on edge the second the door had opened, relaxed.

“Nah. We’re here for the same job, actually.” He said. 

“Fuck. Guess we got competition then, eh?” The small figure scoffed, removing their covering and pulling their hood down. They revealed themselves to be a halfling woman- likely around the same age as Theo. She had a very short pixie cut of stark brown hair and contained several silver piercings in her pointed ears. She also had several scars all across her face and neck, some looking fresher than others.

“Guess so.” Festus concurred, observing the halfling carefully. “The name’s Festus. This is my team: Theodore, and my sister, Bella.”

“You can call me Theo.” He said with a nervous smile.

“It’s nice to meet you!” Bella chirped, clearly not as on edge as anyone else in the room. “Are you two a party, too?”

“Guess you could say that. We’ve been traveling around for a couple of months now, been going well, I suppose. I’m Annie, by the way. This here’s Aidan.” She referenced back to the giant standing behind her, who had by now also taken off their winter clothing to reveal their appearance underneath.

Aidan was a firbolg, and a particularly tall one at that- likely about 6 '8, 6' 9. They seemed well into their young adulthood, probably a little bit older than Festus or Theo. They had extremely light gray skin, almost silver, that was covered in thick, coarse hair. Their most prominent feature, though, was the thick, curly bright green hair that grew atop their head, almost giving Aidan the appearance of having a bush atop their head. Though Aidan had the typical cow-like facial features of a firbolg, their eyelids were heavily dropped, leaving them with their eyes half-closed.

“Hiya.” Aidan smiled; their voice was low and they spoke extremely slowly. “Took us a while to get here. Pretty much everywhere’s closed.”

“Yeah, we had the same experience.” Theo said, craning his neck to look up at Aidan. “You two, uh, from out of town?”

“Oh, way out of town,” Annie snickered. “We’re both from Tal’dorei. Only been in Issylra for… I want to say two weeks?”

“How’d you wind up here?” Festus asked, leaning over the table with interest.

“Same reason as you folks, probably. Work sucks and finding it is even worse. Pretty much every job me and Aidan came across was like, ‘kill this dark wizard, find this ancient artifact that’s been missing for eons,’ you know, bullshit like that. And I’m not looking to get my head cut off for a bit of coin, I’ll tell you that.”

“Fair enough.” Bella shrugged. “We’ve been here for a couple of months now. There’s a lot of jobs that get passed around since there’s pretty much nobody around outside of Vasselheim.”

“Have you been there? To Vasselheim, I mean.” Annie asked, pulling up a chair and sitting in it backwards. Aidan remained standing with a drowsy smile.

“Once or twice,” Festus replied. “It’s nice, I suppose. Definitely doesn’t live up to all the hype.”

“Ha. Be glad it’s empty in here- if anyone around you heard you shitting on the Dawn City, you’d probably get pummeled.” Annie grinned.

“Probably.” Festus replied nonchalantly, his general unease slowly developing into general curiosity towards the halfling. Behind her, Aidan piped up,

“We saw two others heading this way while we were walking. They’re probably the ones who put up the job posting.” They said.

“Oh, thank the Gods. We’ve been sitting here for foreverrrr.” Bella complained.

“We got here ten minutes before you did.” Theo whispered to Annie. 

“Ah, well, let’s hope whoever’s hiring is okay with a team of five. You three are pretty pleasant- I’d hate to have to kick you all out.” Annie said, folding her arms. Before anyone could respond to her statement, the door swung open once more.

Two individuals, just as Aidan had predicted, entered the inn. Dissimilar to the previous groups, however, these two had very little on in terms of winter clothing. They wore lavish black cloaks, and that was about it- no heavy coats, no gloves, no face coverings. One would almost think that there wasn’t a raging blizzard going on outside.

The first of the two to walk in was also the smaller of the two- it was a male gnome, a bit shorter than Annie. He still seemed youthful, though he was clearly older than Aidan, but a deep nervousness on his face made him seem much younger. He had a mess of jet-black hair atop his head, which was now dotted white from the heavy snow outside. A light lavender light was glowing from his hands, but which was now fading as he and his companion stepped inside.

Speaking of his companion, Festus and Bella were a bit surprised to see another tiefling enter the inn- completely differentiating herself from either one of them, the woman had ruby-red skin and extremely dark brown- almost black- hair that was tied tightly in a single braid that fell down her right shoulder. Also interestingly, she had two sets of horns- one larger pair that grew directly from her forehead and back- not too dissimilar to Bella’s- and another smaller pair that grew outwards just under the first set. Her and the gnome appeared to be the two eldest in the room, both appearing to be somewhere in the early to mid thirties. 

All conversation among the initial two groups stopped as all ten pairs of eyes turned to gawk at these two strange new additions. There was a long pause of silence as everyone analyzed one another, all bodies on edge, before Bella was the one to break the very awkward tension,

“Hi! Welcome to the party! We’re just talking about disgracing Vasselheim.”

Though it didn’t bring smiles onto anyone’s faces, the guarded postures of all the people in the room relaxed. The tiefling woman cleared her throat.

“Right. Well, I am assuming you all are here about that job posting, yes?” She spoke with a distinct accent, one that made Annie perk up.

“Don’t tell me you’re here for it, too.” Theo groaned. The woman raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. My friend and I are here about the escort mission, we read about it while passing through a nearby town. Though, I distinctly recall the posting requesting ‘roughly 2 to 4 individuals.’ So… I fear that there are too many people here for it. I suppose some of us are going to have to leave.”

“Yeah, we’ve realized that, thanks,” Festus stated coolly. “Good thing there’s plenty of other jobs in Othenzia, right?”

“Certainly. Many other jobs.” The two glared at each other, the woman’s stormy-gray eyes staring directly into Festus’ amber ones. 

“Well. Seeing as my group got here first, I say it’s only fair that we stay.” Festus leaned back in his chair, his long, thin tail dragging across the ground. Annie spun around.

“Hey, you’re the only one with three to a group. Maybe it should be Aidan and I, plus these two people. That’s four.” She said. 

“I think that’s perfectly fair.” The woman tutted. 

“Well I think that’s bullshit,” Bella chimed in. “Why should we have to leave just ‘cause we have more people? If anything, 2 to 4 includes three. So the three of us can complete the job, and the rest of you can leave!”

“I think that’s very fair.” Festus said, nodding approvingly to his sister.

“Hey, now, come on. Surely we can-” the gnome began to speak, but his meek voice was drowned out by the continued arguing. 

“How do we even know you three are fit to complete an escort job, eh?” Annie accused. “What’re your skills? I bet none of you even know how to hold a weapon.”

“I’ll have you know that Fes is great with a sword.” Bella said proudly. “He’s probably better than you!”

“Bel, come on, let’s not-” Theo started, but was also interrupted.

“Oho, better than me with a sword? I’d love to see where all that confidence comes from!” Annie sneered, standing up on her chair.

“Annie-” Aidan attempted to say, but- much like the other two level heads in the room- was promptly ignored.

“You two neanderthals don’t know the first thing about true combat. Just waving your pointed sticks around until the other person bleeds out.” The tiefling woman scoffed.

“And what do you bring to the table, Miss. Prissy-pants?” Bella mocked. 

“More than you do, I can assure you that.” 

“Gwen, please, I don’t want another bar fight-” The gnome groaned.

“Yeah, Gwen, listen to your little buddy. Wouldn’t want you to run home with your skull caved in, now.” Annie growled, cracking her knuckles. Aidan put a massive hand atop her head, blocking off her eyesight.

“Now, now. There’s no need for any of that.”

“No, please, Aidan. I’d love to see her eat her words,” Festus spat, rising from his chair and staring daggers at Annie and Gwen. “There’s nothing that makes me happier than seeing two stuck up, arrogant little shits get what’s coming to them.”

“Ha! That’s rich!” Annie shouted, moving Aidan’s hand aside and glaring at Festus. “You think you’re above us, yeah?” 

“Of course. I’m not fucking insane .”

“What a rude, undeserving-”

“You’re a piece of shit!” “Fuck yourself!” “I’ll kill you!” “Go to Hell!”

Aidan, Theo, and the gnome all watched in horror as their corresponding teammates grew louder and louder with each progressing threat, each person seconds away from pouncing on the other. Aidan had to physically hold Annie back now to prevent her from leaping off her chair and going for Gwen’s ankles. 

Before anything could escalate further, however, the innkeeper suddenly ran back into the room, his eyes wide and wild.

“What the hell is going on in here?! What’s with all the yelling?” He cried out, although his threatening voice did nothing to subside the fury of the current shouting match. The innkeeper gritted his teeth, thinking of what to do, when a hand suddenly grasped his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, friend. I’ll handle it.”

With a soft whisper under his breath, suddenly all the lit lanterns within the inn began to flicker, as if a great wind was disrupting the flames, and the front door began to open and close completely by itself. The shouting and threats stopped in an instant as each person stared around in wonder and confusion, unsure if the series of events was a threat or not.

Finally, the flickering and slamming stopped. A clearing of a throat caused all seven individuals to turn and face the innkeeper- as well as the companion who was standing beside him now, a very dapperly dressed half-elf man, black skin and slick back hair, his aging skin mildly wrinkled and containing prevalent smile lines. He clasped his hands together and smiled widely at all of the bewildered expressions that were facing him, making eye contact with each and every one of them.

“Welcome, everyone. Now that we’ve calmed down a bit, let’s discuss that ever-so-important job now, shall we?”

Chapter Text

The silence in the room that followed was particularly heavy after such a passionate yelling match. Although their primary focus was now on the half-elf man speaking before them, Festus, Gwen, and Annie were all still shooting each other occasional looks of outrage and resentment. 

“We are done, yes? Because I’m afraid I don’t have the time nor the patience to wait for you all to kill each other. If you’d rather fight one another, I can simply go out and find some other mercenaries to aid me for this job.”

“No!” The word was shouted so quickly and with such passion, it was impossible to discern exactly which of the seven individuals had said it. The man smiled.

“That’s what I thought. All of you take a seat, please. We have much to discuss, much to discuss.” The man waved his hand and suddenly, as if moved by an invisible force, eight chairs and two tables floated through the air, the tables settling in the middle of the room and the chairs surrounding both of them. The seven party members watched uneasily as the older man took a seat, clearly the most comfortable one in the room. He looked expectantly at all of them.

“Do you want an invitation? Sit, please, all of you.” He insisted, waving his hand. Festus swallowed a bit, detecting the tiniest hint of impatience in the man’s voice, and quickly sat down. The other six people followed his lead, Annie’s eyes darting about the room as she took careful note of everyone’s body language and posture. The half-elf man, pleased, turned around and acknowledged the innkeeper.

“Pietro, would you be a dear and get my friends here a round of something to warm them up? I’m thinking some mulled wine, buttered bourbon if you have?” The innkeeper, Pietro, raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll, uh, see what I have in the back.” He answered awkwardly, turning around and returning into the backroom. The half-elf man smiled.

“Take as long as you need, Pietro.” He chirped, slowly turning back around to face the seven individuals as he finished his sentence. All eyes were on him now, and most of them were filled with anxiety- anxiety at being turned away for their rough behaviors towards one another, anxiety that the job posting may have been a trap to lure them there, and anxiety at being the unlucky group who had to walk away from here empty handed. The half-elf cleared his throat.

“Let’s start with introductions, shall we? Can’t get anywhere if I don’t know any of you. I am Edolis Vocallo, as I’m sure you’ve all figured out by now. I’m the one that sent out that little job posting to all the local guilds and towns about needing an escort. I’m assuming you’re all interested in the pay, yes?” He said with a polite smile. There was some embarrassed murmuring of agreement. Edolis chuckled a bit.

“Please, it’s quite alright. Nobody would work a job if there wasn’t pay at the end, right? That’s simply the way of life, nothing to be ashamed of. Now then, I overheard a bit of your… lively discussion while I was with my friend Pietro. Let me see if I remember…” He looked pointedly at Festus. “You are Festus, yes? Then Bella and Theodore.” The three, named correctly, nodded quickly.

“Then we have Aidan and Annie. Of course, very easy to tell you two apart,” He continued, making a point to smile upwards at Aidan. Aidan returned the smile. Edolis then turned to the final two. 

“Finally, we have… Gwen, is that right? And I actually don’t believe I overheard what your name was.” He said to the gnome. The gnome shuffled nervously in his chair and mumbled something indistinguishable. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you. What was that?”

“I’m… um, everyone calls me Wax.” He mumbled. Annie snickered.

“Wax?” She half-whispered to herself, loud enough for the gnome to hear. He didn’t seem offended, though, instead he sighed a bit with the acceptance of a person who had dealt with the consequences of having an unusual name.  

“That’s a cool name! I’ve never heard of anyone named Wax before. You’ll never be mistaken for anyone else!” Bella said to him, her tail swishing behind her and wrapping itself around the chair leg. Wax’s face seemed to brighten.

“Thanks… uh, Bella.” He said, giving her a shy smile in return.

“Well, now, I’m glad you all are finally getting along,” Edolis said, nodding approvingly. “I seriously doubt anything will get done if you’re fighting all the time.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Vocallo-” Gwen started, then was quickly cut off.

“Just call me Edolis. But never Eddie or Ed.”

“...Right. Edolis, but you’re making it sound as if we are all going to be assigned this task.”

“Well, that’s because you are!” Bella was the only one to audibly gasp in excitement, though everyone else simply looked at each other with confusion.

“But the job says two to four people needed. I don’t mean to point out the obvious, but this is a lot more than two to four people.” Annie commented, crouching atop her chair like a stone gargoyle.

“Yeah, this isn’t… Going to stiffen the payment, is it?” Wax asked nervously. Edolis laughed.

“Good question, young Wax, but you will be happy to hear that no, it won’t. The posting clearly states a payment of 150 gold pieces per worker. So, all seven of you will be receiving 150 gold upon completion of my escort.” Bella reached around her brother and held a hand out to Aidan, who very slowly high-fived it. 

“I don’t understand,” Festus said, eyeing Edolis with mistrust. “Why would you want to hire all of us for the same job? Wouldn’t you save money by just turning some of us away?”

“I could. But I will admit to you all, money isn’t necessarily a… concern for me. I could afford to pay a few more mercenaries if I wanted to. And I desperately want to.” He smiled.

“Why?” Annie pressed. Edolis whipped his head around to look at her directly, his brown eyes flashing for a moment.

“Because it’s fun .” He grinned almost a little too widely. “This is going to be a long, very tedious task. And you all nearly killed each other within minutes of meeting! How interesting that dynamic will be on the road!” He roared with laughter, causing Gwen, Annie, and Festus to eye the floor guiltily. “Plus, more people means more protection for me, I suppose, but that’s neither here nor there.”

“So, just to make sure I understand. You’re going to hire all seven of us… because you find us entertaining?” Theo asked, glancing sideways at Festus.

“Of course! What’s life without entertainment? If you were all just some… to the point, gruff, ‘let’s leave at sunrise’ type of lot? Oh Gods, how atrocious! No, this will be far more interesting.” His eyes flashed again, causing Theo to shift uncomfortably in his chair. 

“Well… um, I suppose that solves the problem we were all up in arms about.” Gwen stated, looking up at the rest of the group. “I… must say, I’m rather embarrassed about my conduct. I apologize for being so quick to hostility.”

“Me too. But hey, we’re all just trying to look out for ourselves, you know? I don’t blame you.” Festus stated, though he still looked at Gwen with a tense expression. Aidan nudged Annie with their elbow, nearly causing her to topple off her chair.

“Right, right. Yeah, I’m sorry, too…” She mumbled, her cheeks burning red ever so slightly. Aidan smiled, pleased.

“Ah, friendship. It’s enough to bring a tear to an old man’s eye.” Edolis sniffled, wiping an unseen tear from his eye. Annie turned on him.

“Hey, who said anything about friend-”

“Moving on then!” Edolis grinned. Annie’s eye twitched ever so slightly. “As you all know, this job will involve escorting me, plus all of my supplies, through the Tordusk Pass to stopping right before the Zenwick Mountains. There are some old crypts and ruins there that haven’t been excavated in many years, and rumor has it that there may be some secret tombs yet to be uncovered. I plan on heading there as soon as possible before any other vultures get there first.” 

“Just to clarify,” Gwen chimed in, watching as Wax pulled out a rather large map from his satchel and showed it to her. “That’s a several days journey, not accounting for however long it will take us to cross through the mountains. But you only want an escort getting there- not while you're excavating the ruins?”

“Correct,” Edolis beamed. “See, I’m quite familiar with the world of ancient remains. Been a researcher my whole life. And part of that means I know that a group of eight entering an old, likely trapped, crypt? No, that would likely end quite badly- not to mention all the artifacts entombed will be ruined! All I need are individuals capable of protecting me and my supplies from the elements and whatever else prowls about out there, and I will take it from there.”

“Are you sure? You look pretty old.” Bella commented. Beside her, Theo quickly jabbed her in the ribs. Thankfully, however, Edolis simply laughed.

“You’re not wrong, young lady. I’ve gotten up there in years, but rest assured I can still take care of myself. This is simply precautionary- there’s been quite a few rumors of bandits near the Timberlands. Hopefully we won’t encounter anything on our travels, though.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Wax stated, glancing up at Gwen. “If we head Eastward, we could pass through Muldire on the way- that leads us right onto the Pass.”

“May I see the map, Wax?” Aidan, who some of the party had honestly thought had fallen asleep by this point, stood up and approached the gnome. He looked towards Gwen for approval, who gave no indication.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Wax said, handing the large firbolg the weathered map. The others of the party took this as an excuse to also grab a look, and soon everyone was crowded around Aidan, peering and straining to view the hand-drawn map.

“It’s true we can pass through Muldire on the way, but it’d be a more direct route if we crossed through the Sunderpeak Mountains.” They said, training their finger on the old parchment.

“Plus we could go through Pyrah if we go straight North,” Annie added, standing on her tip-toes in order to see the map. “If we’re nice, they might even guide us through.”

“Pyrah is an Ashari thing, right?” Theo asked. Both Annie and Gwen nodded. “Aren’t they like… really guarded to outsiders?”

“Don’t worry about that. I have connections,” Annie smirked. Gwen raised an eyebrow at this.

“Connections? What connections could you possibly have?” She asked. 

“Let’s just say I know some people, that’s all. I’m what you call a ‘worldly person.’” Annie replied boastfully. 

“It is a more direct route, but the pass is almost guaranteed to be safer,” Festus pointed out. “And we could gather supplies and rest while in Muldire. I don’t know how powerful your ‘connections’ are, Annie, but would it be enough for them to let us spend the night?”

“Very likely,” Aidan answered in her stead. “Annie and I have known many people in many different places. I have no doubt that Pyrah would give us sanctuary.”

“Your voice is so soothing, it’s like I’m taking a hot bath every time you speak.” Bella said, looking up at them with a mesmerized expression. Aidan smiled.

“Why thank you.”

“I suppose Annie and Aidan do have a point,” Gwen stated, taking the map back from the firbolg and handing it to Wax. “Given the assumption that they are telling the truth, of course, we can gather supplies or even receive someone to guide us through the mountains.”

“That would save us a lot of time,” Bella said. There were a few silent nods.

“Okay, so Pyrah and Sunderpeak? That’s the plan?” Wax asked, rolling the map back up and placing it into his satchel. The others all shared glances.

“Seems so. But before then, what is everyone’s skillset here?” Festus asked, sitting back down. “If we’re making a plan, we should know what everyone brings to the table.”

“Right, that’s fair,” Wax said, clearing his throat. “Um, I’m a magic user. The spells I use are a bit… tricky, but I’m pretty good at ranged attacks.

“He’s far too humble,” Gwen huffed, causing Wax to blush slightly. “Wax is extremely talented in the arcane arts, he simply lacks confidence. As for myself, I am most proficient with handheld weaponry. What I use is rather unusual, but I guarantee it is most… efficient.” There was a flash of a wild smile on her face, but it disappeared quickly under her expression of poise. 

“I’m good with a sword, and I’m fast. Damn fast,” Festus added on. “Probably better on the front lines. These two chucklefucks are spellcasters, too,” he said, referring to Theo and Bella.

“I’ve studied a lot of magic, so I have a lot of diverse spells I could use. Bella’s keen with healing magic, though, so it’s probably a good idea to keep her safe.” Theo said, looking over to her as he spoke.  

“I use a sword, too. I’m not super fast, but I hit hard.” Annie said casually, tilting her chair back to the point that Wax was clearly growing nervous about her falling over.

“I’m also adept at healing, if need be,” Aidan finished off. “But I prefer allowing the earth itself to fight in my stead.”

“That’s incredibly ominous, but alright.” Theo nodded quaintly. “So me, Aidan, and Wax should stay in the back as range casters, Bella should stay in the middle as the main healer, and Festus, Gwen, and Annie take up the front as the main attackers. That sound remotely correct?”

“Works for me!” Chirped Bella.

“I will happily go wherever I am needed,” said Aidan.

“Sure, that’s fine.” Wax smiled nervously. Gwen, Annie, and Festus, however, simply nodded in reluctant agreement. The four remaining spellcasters didn’t need to be very observant to know that the tensions between the three fighters weren’t going to be vanquished very easily.

“Wonderful! See how efficiently things get done when nobody is screaming at one another?” Edolis, who some of the party had honestly forgotten was there, clapped his hands together. “I’m glad we’ve all settled, then. Let’s have a drink tonight and set out in the morning when the snowstorm has passed.”

Although the offerings of free drinks was tempting to most, many of the newly-formed team decided to turn in early that evening, wishing to depart from Shorecomb as soon as the blizzard passed. Eventually, all turned in, wishing a good night, leaving only Gwen and Wax within the bar area, both of them nursing mugs of mulled cider. 

“Gwen? Do you… think this is a good idea? Traveling with this many people, I mean?” Wax’s timid voice broke through the silence, staring into his drink with a troubled expression. “I’m just… what if it happens again?”

“It won’t.” Gwen assured him. “And even if it does, we’ll handle it. I don’t know how I feel about them all, but I don’t think any of them are bad. They’re all just people lost and trying to find a living, like us. They won’t persecute you.”

“Yeah, but-”

“Wax.” Gwen’s voice was stern, but held a deep layer of concern. “It’s a simple job, we’ll be in and out in a few days. Nobody here is going to harm you- I can assure you of that.” Wax let out a deep exhale, his shoulders releasing only a fraction of the tension within them.

“Thanks, Winnie.” He smiled up at his friend, who- for the first time that day- returned the expression.

The first to awake that morning was Annie, who was already packed and ready to leave before the sun had even risen. Edolis emerged from the back room to find her doing sit-ups behind the bar, a healthy layer of sweat covering her entire body.

“Mornin’,” She greeted without stopping her intense workout. “Gotta get the blood pumping, y’know?”

“I certainly do.” Edolis smiled widely, reaching over the bar to grab a half-filled bottle of scotch. Over the course of the next half hour, the rest of the party made their way from their designated rooms upstairs and into the bar area- the last of which being Bella.

“What time is it?” She yawned loudly, rubbing her eyes as she lethargically put on her heavy coat.

“Time to get going, so I suggest you get some caffeine in your system,” said Gwen as she peered out the window. “The snowstorm’s just about stopped. We should go before it starts again.” Aidan suddenly appeared besides Gwen, leaning down to peer out the window as well. They lifted their hand, and suddenly a small golden orb appeared in their palm, shimmering in the early morning light.

“Don’t worry. The day’s going to be clear.” They smiled as the orb disappeared.

“Interesting trick. Where did you learn how to do that?” Gwen inquired, looking up at Aidan with a newfound interest. Before they had the chance to respond, however, Pietro emerged from the back room, dragging behind him an absolute plethora of suitcases, boxes, bags, and strange objects.

“What the hell is all that ?” Annie was the first one to ask the question, beating Festus to the punch. 

“Why it’s my supplies, of course!” Edolis replied happily. “It’ll take us several days to get to the crypts, and I intend on staying there for the better part of a month. I require much in terms of journaling, sampling, and excavating!”

“Much is right…” Gwen mumbled, causing Bella to snicker beside her. 

“You want us to carry all of that while we’re crossing through the mountains?” Theo asked, exasperated.

“Of course. The job posting said to escort me and all of my supplies, did it not?”

“Well, yes, but it didn’t say there’d be this much!” Annie exclaimed.

“If anyone has an issue with my supplies, you can certainly walk away from the job.” Edolis said with a smile. Nobody else spoke. “Wonderful. Let’s get on it then, yes? If we leave now, we’ll arrive in Pyrah before dark. Chop chop!”

Edolis made a beeline for the door, leaving the party in a complete stupor at the sheer amount of luggage they were now expected to carry.

“I could take some of the heavier stuff. Like I said, I’m pretty strong,” Annie offered, helpfully taking a particularly large chest away from Theo who was clearly struggling to hold it. “But it might slow me down.”

“I think we’re all going to have to be slowed down, there’s too much. We all have to carry something.” Festus huffed out as he lugged several bags onto his back, his legs nearly bending from the weight. “None of you spellcasters have anything that could make this easier?”

“I could make some of it levitate, but it would only be for ten minutes.” Theo said.

“I can alter the terrain a bit as we walk so it’s easier to move through. I can’t actually make carrying things easier, though.” Aidan said. 

“I can guide you all through this!” Bella clenched a fist dramatically. Wax simply shook his head. Festus let out a groan.

“Alright. Everyone grab something. It’s gonna be a rough ride.”

Setting off into the chilly morning, the seven party members kept up a lethargic pace with Edolis, who every so often would stop and turn around to pout disapprovingly at all of them.

“Come on, now! We’re never going to make it to the crypt at this rate!” He complained, walking nimbly through the icy plane as the others struggled with their massive burdens.

“I swear. If he doesn’t attract some wild animal first, I’m going to kill him.” Gwen muttered to Annie, who aggressively nodded in agreement. The journey to Pyrah was rather uneventful, though the freezing temperatures offered enough of a challenge as is. Few words could be spoken between the team due to the trills of the harsh winds, the face coverings on all of them (Gwen and Wax had thankfully added them to their attire) and the strain of carrying Edolis’ things. Which, in turn, made discussing plans rather difficult; it was already around three in the afternoon before anyone realized that they had been following Edolis the entire time.

By the time the sun had started on its descent, they had broken through the snow-speckled pine forest of the Cindergrove, the scent of campfire heavy in the air.

“We’re not too far now.” Annie murmured. Theo, who was walking beside Aidan, leaned in over the single box he was carrying.

“You’re both sure they won’t mind us staying the night, right?” He asked. Aidan nodded gently.

“Annie and I have never been to Pyrah, but I guarantee we will acquire aid from the Ashari.” Aidan assured. Theo’s crimson eyes widened.

“You’ve never been-?!”

“Hold up. I hear something.” Annie announced, halting. Festus and Gwen, who were heading the team alongside her, looked about confused.

“I didn’t hear anything,” said Gwen.

“Me neither.” Festus added. Annie didn’t respond, listening carefully to the high winds that whistled around them.

“Hey! What’s the hold up! No breaks yet!” Edolis called from a few feet in front of them, folding his arms.

“Would you shut up for a second?” Annie shouted. “I think-”

She was unable to finish her sentence as suddenly, before anyone could react, a silver-tipped arrow shot from somewhere in the dark and pierced Edolis straight through his chest. Immediately he fell face-first onto the snow, the white powder around him staining with bright scarlet. 

“What the fuck!” Bella was the first to exclaim the words, though she wasn’t the first to react- her brother immediately tossed his luggage aside and reached for a silver scimitar that had been inside the sheath on his belt. The rest of the team followed suit, throwing aside their weights with reckless abandon and readying themselves for whatever phantasmal threat was now before them. The answer to the unknown threat was answered within a moment, however, as ten individuals slunk from the shadows and approached.

They were all humanoid, wearing a variety of furs and animal skins; they also were all covered in what appeared to be dark body paint, designed in a variety of intricate symbols and patterns. However, the thing that was most unnerving about these strange individuals was their eyes- purely white with no iris' at all. They all stared at the party like dolls; some had their jaws hanging open, drool dripping down their chins.

“Ashari.” Annie breathed, narrowing her eyes. 

“Do they normally look like that ?” Wax asked, looking at her. She didn’t respond, but no one else needed confirmation. Spells and weapons at the ready, both teams flung themselves at one another.

Surprisingly for their tall size, Aidan was the one who moved first. Reaching behind their back and pulling out a large wooden staff that had been tied to them, they slammed the end into the ground. From the impact, a mound of wriggling dark green vines sprouted outwards towards one of the Ashari soldiers. It grabbed hold of their wrists and ankles, but the Ashari managed to break free from the tough plants, gritting their teeth in fury and shooting an arrow at the firbolg, piercing Aidan’s right shoulder and drawing blood. 

Gwen and Theo followed quickly behind Aidan’s quick reaction; Theo held out a hand, muttered some words under his breath, and from his fingertips shot off three rays of pure flame, launching at one of the Ashari soldiers, promptly incinerating them to ash. Gwen, meanwhile, pulled a strange item out of the holster on her belt and aimed it at another soldier. She pulled on the trigger and a blast exploded out of the item, impacting the soldier with a bullet and exploding a hole through their abdomen. The soldier, bleeding terribly, rushed over and made two strikes at Gwen, missing the first attack but managing to slice a deep wound in her arm on the second.

Annie ran to flank with Gwen, pushing the tiefling woman behind her and stabbing the soldier with an engraved longsword, slashing upwards and fully demolishing them.

“You okay?” Annie breathed, nodding towards Gwen’s bleeding arm.

“I’ll be fine. Nothing I can’t handle.” Gwen grinned widely, wiping the blood on her coat. Annie returned the grin and raced back into the fray, just barely dodging an arrow attack as she did so.

Wax raced over toward Theo, his heart positively pounding in his chest. An arrow came soaring towards him, just missing his face by an inch and grazing his cheek. He touched the wound with a wince, scrambling to think of what to do.

“Okay okay, um, let’s try this…!” He muttered to himself, reaching into his satchel and pulling out a burnt stick. Suddenly, surprising even himself, a bolt of lavender energy burst from his body, sending a streak of crackling light towards one of the soldiers, who took the impact with great agony. 

“Nice one!” Theo called out, blocking another soldier’s attack with a burst of magical energy.

“Th-thanks!” Wax exclaimed, yelping as yet another arrow impacted his body, piercing straight through his right hand. Looking towards the soldier that shot him, Wax watched as Festus sprang over to the soldier, taking a slice with his sword. He cut upwards, allowing the Ashari to just dodge out of the way. Grunting slightly, Festus moved his sword to his other hand and swung once more, this time making a deep wound in the soldier’s chest, causing them to cough up blood.

“Bella!” Festus shouted over the sounds of battle.

“On it!” Bella clambered over towards Theo and Wax, crouching down and taking Wax’s injured hand into her own. Muttering a few words under her breath, a small golden light appeared from Bella’s touch, and within a few seconds the wound was completely healed. Wax exhaled a sigh of relief.

“Thanks, Bella.” He smiled up at her. Another gunshot distracted the two as Gwen, holding her injured arm behind her back, hit one of the Ashari soldier’s head on, nearly blasting their skull open.

“Nice one!” Annie exclaimed, rushing up besides her and slicing into the abdomen of one of the injured soldiers, sending blood and viscera flying everywhere. Behind the two, Aidan and Theo had teamed up to hold one of the soldiers in place and blast them with beams of icy energy, leaving them a frozen corpse.

One by one, the soldiers were picked off and eviscerated- some stabbed, some shot, some blasted, but all were completely and indisputably dead. Once the last soldier had fallen- having had their throat sliced open by Festus- the team stood in silence, panting, feeling the adrenaline course through their veins. All were bruised and most were bleeding, particularly Gwen, whose arm was bleeding so much it was beginning to drip onto the snow around her.

“Oh, goodness, Gwen, come here.” Bella insisted, approaching the woman. Gwen smiled, a little more woozy this time, and shook her head.

“Save your magic. I can handle it.” She took a few deep breaths, channeling energy within herself and holding her pistol close to her chest. Slowly, the wound on her arm began to close and shrink, leaving behind only a scar.

“Oh, wow! My brother can do that, too!” Bella exclaimed excitedly. Gwen gave her a polite smile.

“Your brother can do a lot more than that, I’ve learned.” She said, looking over towards the green tiefling, who was currently wiping his bloodied blade in the snow. He was keeping watch of the rest of the party, checking to see if anyone else was terribly injured; thankfully, everyone seemed to only be shaken up- the worst being Wax. Once Bella had moved on to check on Annie, Wax approached Gwen.

“I cast a spell, but nothing happened,” he whispered to her. “But I freaked myself out… I couldn’t bring myself to cast anything else.”

“Hey, hey. It’s okay, Wax. Don’t be so hard on yourself. We’ll figure it out, okay?” She said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

“Don’t get too comfortable, everyone,” said Annie, perking up suddenly as Bella tended to her wounds. “There’s more coming.”

“More? What, are we gonna fight all of Pyrah now?” Festus cried out, exasperated.

“I’d certainly like to see you try.” A deep voice like thunder rumbled from the shadows. Stepping into the clearing from the trees were dozens, hundreds of Ashari soldiers- similarly dressed to the ones that the party had just fought, but their eyes were not purely white as the others’ had been; instead, hundreds of colorful eyes were trained directly on the seven party members, and they looked furious. Bows loaded and ready, the seven all froze, feeling themselves deeply outnumbered.

Stepping in front of the soldiers, a giant of a man stood before the party, scowling heavily. He appeared human, though his body was extremely sturdy and broad, almost appearing to be made of stone. He had deeply dark skin and long black hair that was braided into locks. He wore no shirt, revealing his impressive muscle display, though his lower area was covered with black and copper-colored fabrics. As he walked, the leg bracers on his calves jingled. 

“So.” The man’s voice boomed, looking about at the blood-stained battlefield and the heaps of dead soldiers. “Foreigners entering Cindergrove and killing our people on Ashari land. I must admit, that’s a first.”

“Wait, Flamespeaker, please don’t misunderstand,” Annie called out, her voice surprisingly stable despite how wide and terrified her eyes looked. “We were simply passing through Pyrah, and we were taken by surprise. I assure you we meant no harm towards Pyrah, only-”

“Silence.” Annie’s mouth snapped closed. “You claim you meant no harm, yet you hold the blood of these Ashari on your weaponry, on your hands.”

“Because they attacked us first!” Festus called out. Annie shot him a pleading look, and he backed down. The muscular man, the Flamespeaker, narrowed his eyes.

“The evidence still stands that all of you are responsible for the deaths of ten Ashari. However, the given circumstances of this occurrence are… unusual, I will admit. It is unusual for our scouts to be out this far, and especially to engage with travelers.” His eyes flickered back to the lifeless body of Edolis, still laying in the snow. “So, therefore, you all will not be executed for your crimes. Instead, you will be brought to Pyrah as prisoners and held until I determine your innocence or your guilt.” From the crowd, a soldier stepped forwards, bow still pointed. 

“By decree of Flamespeaker Cerkonos, you are all under arrest.”

Chapter Text

“Let me out! I’m innocent! Innocent, I tell ya!”

“Bella, would you please shut up?” Festus shouted at his sister from his cell across the way, just barely being able to see her blue outline on the other side of the prison. The seven party members, as a result of their unfortunate first steps into Pyrah, now found themselves locked behind bars within a Pyrah prison, the interior of the room dark and dreary with only the few flickers of stone sconces placed about haphazardly allowing light. 

The team had followed the Ashari with very little resistance, realizing rather quickly that they were extremely outmatched. The large human man who had addressed them, Cerkonos, cast some spell and bound each of their hands together with brown-colored vines and had Ashari soldiers confiscate all of their weaponry. Leading them through the Cindergrove, the Ashari kept very close tabs on the group as slowly the snow began to disappear from the earthen floor, instead being replaced with thick gray sediment. The chill, crisp night air of Issylra instead became a pleasantly warm temperature, reminiscent of a summer night.

Before them, above the pine forests and seemingly built as a part of the mountain ranges just nearby, was a massive settlement; a fortress of stone and rock, glowing in the night like a firefly. It would’ve been awe-inspiring if the party hadn't been brought there to be arrested. It was unfortunate, really, as the team was led- not so gently- to a prison just on the outskirts of Pyrah, preventing any of them from seeing any more of the Ashari village. And now, each of them thrown into an individual cell with their hands still bound, they waited patiently for their fate.

“Think they’re gonna believe we were attacked?” Annie asked, somehow having managed to flip herself upside down and put her legs through the upper bars of the cell, hanging like a bat. 

“They brought us here instead of killing us on the spot. That’s a pretty good sign, I think.” Theo sighed.

“You know what the worst part of this is?” Gwen, her head leaning against the laid brick of the cell.

“What?” Aidan’s voice responded.

“After all of that effort today, we’re not even going to get paid.”

“Oh shit, right, Edolis fucking died, didn’t he?” Annie exclaimed, lifting herself up to look outwards. “Dude took a hit straight to the chest.”

“Maybe we could use it as leverage. Like ‘you killed our employer, so you should totally help us out.’” Bella offered.

“We should probably wait for them to confirm they don’t want to kill us first, though,” said Aidan, sitting criss-cross inside their cell.

“I gotta say, though.” Annie piped up. “Like, this whole situation sucks and I’m mega pissed about everything. But you guys all fought like hell. Gotta admit, I wasn’t expecting it. But man, Wax, that like, lightning thing you did? That was crazy.”

“Thank you.” Wax timidly accepted the compliment.

“You weren’t bad yourself,” Festus added in. “You weren’t kidding when you said you hit hard. Where’d you learn to fight like that?”

“My dad.” Annie said proudly. “Taught me everything I know.”

“Gwen, I have to ask- only cause I’m extremely curious. That thing you used during the fight- it was a revolver, right?” Theo asked, standing up and leaning against the cell doors.

“Indeed. You have a good eye.” She observed.

“I gotta say, I'm a little surprised. I’ve never seen a civilian use one before. The Righteous Brand in Wildemount use them all the time, and I know there’s a city in Tal’dorei where pretty much all the guards have firearms.”

“Whitestone, yes.” Gwen replied casually.

“Right, Whitestone. I guess what I’m asking is how’d you get your hands on one? Were you in the military or something?” Theo asked. Gwen looked at the young man through her own cell bars, her storm-colored eyes narrowed ever so slightly. She tried to detect if there was any hidden malice or strong intentions behind Theo’s question, but she struggled to discern any body language from her position across the room.

“Let’s just say I’ve grown up around them pretty much my entire life.” Gwen said, desperately wishing she still had her beloved revolver now.

“I’ve seen them once or twice, never had much interest, though,” Annie said. “I prefer a sword. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, y’know?”

“I saw yours when they were taking it, Annie. Those engravings were beautiful.” Bella pressed her face into the cell bars.

“I find it funny how well everyone is getting along now. It only took several deaths and getting arrested.” Aidan mused. There was a bit of silence following their observation. 

“Honestly,” Wax was the one to break the momentary break. “If we all somehow manage to get out of here with all our limbs intact… I wouldn’t mind if we all found another job together- to actually complete, I mean. Edolis was… kind of creepy, but he was right. You guys are all really interesting.”

“Yeah! I’d wanna keep hanging out with everyone.” Bella chirped eagerly, her tail now wrapping around the cell bars like a vine. There weren't any more words of agreement from anyone else, but the idea had successfully settled itself into the minds of everyone in the room. It was true, they disarmed the threat of those soldiers with far more ease as a larger group… Perhaps it could be something to consider. 

The door to the prison slammed open before any other words could be shared. Entering inside were eight armed Ashari soldiers, some wielding blades and some wielded spears. The Ashari who led the brigade, a stout and extremely broad-shouldered dwarven woman with a long auburn beard and copper-colored armor, looked about at the locked cells with an unreadable expression.

“After some deliberation among his allies, the Flamespeaker has decided to extend a great kindness to you all and allow you to make your case before Pyrah,” She announced. “If it is decided that your story adds up and this attack was truly out of self defense, you will be released. However, if the Flamespeaker decrees that this was an unprovoked attack on the Ashari, you will be labeled as enemies of Pyrah.”

“What happens to enemies of Pyrah?” Wax’s voice trembled. The dwarven woman smiled rather maliciously.

“Depends on how hard you struggle.”

The seven were released from their cells but not from their bonds, everyone’s hands still tied tightly together- preventing any plausible fighting back from Festus, Annie, or Gwen; the casters all had their fingers tied together specifically to keep them from casting any spells. Even if they somehow managed to break free of the strange vines keeping them hostage, as they were led out of the prison by the dwarven woman, they were flanked by and passed by numerous more Ashari guards, who all looked at the party with sneering contempt, undoubtedly already heard all about their crimes.

Anyway you looked at it, they were trapped. And unable to communicate with one another, not even through a message spell, the party was forced to reconcile with the fact that their only hope for survival was somehow convincing the leader of Pyrah that they didn’t actually kill his soldiers for no reason. 

The group was led up the path of the mountain, rising further and further from the ground until they were a nauseating distance up. The paths were carved of volcanic rock, a gentle warmth pulsating from them with every step. All throughout the journey upwards, dozens of Ashari people- regular citizens by their lack of armor- watched in concerned interest as the prisoners were led through the streets. Children whispered and pointed, older people scoffed and cursed under their breath, and the soldiers kept the group shuffling along on the main roads, almost as if purposefully putting their imprisonment on display.

“This is humiliating…” Gwen muttered, watching as a small halfling boy made a rather rude gesture with his right hand at her. “These people all think we’re some low life criminals.”

 “Don’t worry! We just have to convince the fire guy of what happened. It’s not like those soldiers are alive to tell their side, right?” Bella shrugged. 

“Be quiet.” One of the Ashari soldiers barked and the group did just that. On their path towards the Flamespeaker, it allowed everyone in the group to get a full view and tour of Pyrah, viewing the homes, dwellings, and many training grounds for the Ashari here. It would’ve been absolutely lovely if the circumstances were better.

Finally, after about half an hour of nonstop walking, the exhausted group was stopped in front of a massive structure constructed out of petrified wood. It presented as almost an archway, patterns of blackened stone and hanging vines creating a sort of canopy above it. It seemed that this was the final stop.

“Enter. And if you try any funny business, we will not hesitate to kill you all.” The dwarven woman threatened before pushing through one of the bunches of hanging vines, moving it aside and holding it open to create a sort of door.

“I always thought Ashari were tree-huggers. Are they all this hostile?” Festus whispered to Annie as they were led inside the wooden structure.

“No, not at all. Pyrah is pretty tough, but they’re not cruel without reason. I think something’s happened.” She whispered back, a tenseness in her voice giving Festus reason for concern. However, he wasn’t able to dwell on it for very long as the figure of the Flamespeaker, standing in the center of this makeshift dwelling, stood there waiting.

“Flamespeaker.” The dwarven woman greeted with a low bow, which the rest of the Ashari soldiers copied. Bella began to bow as well, but was stopped by Theo.

“Welcome. I hope you were all comfortable during your wait- despite everything.” The Flamespeaker greeted, holding his hands together.

“Yeah, the prison cells were nice and cushy.” Gwen snorted. The Flamespeaker turned to face Gwen once she spoke, and a look of mild surprise registered on his face. His brown eyes then trailed down to Wax, glancing between the two momentarily in silence. 

“I’m… so sorry, we will get to the matter at hand in a moment, I just…” He trailed off, then cleared his throat. “Have any of you been to Pyrah previously? I feel as though I have met some of you before.”

“Uh, no, sir. This is my first time in Issylra.” Wax replied, sharing a bewildered expression with Gwen.

“Yes. You might have us confused for someone else.” The Flamespeaker nodded slightly, his gaze still focused on the tiefling and gnome.

“Must have. Hm. Well, that is completely besides the point. You are here under trial for your assault and subsequent murder of ten Ashari soldiers. During your capture it was claimed that the ten individuals attacked you all first, and that the ensuing fight was simply self-defense. Is this still your claim?”

“Yes, sir. We were simply passing through on a job.” Aidan responded. The rest of the party let out silent breaths of relief that the one with the most trustworthy face out of all of them had stepped up to do the talking.

“Right. There was another body at the scene that had been killed with one of our arrows. Was that another member of your group?”

“Our employer, sir,” said Aidan. “Edolis Vocallo, was his name. We had intended to pass through Pyrah merely for the night, but your soldiers instead shot him in the chest and proceeded to attack us.”

“It was ten against seven. Surely you wouldn’t expect us to just let them kill the rest of us?” Festus asked. The Flamespeaker frowned and rubbed his chin. 

“The Ashari are people sworn to peace and protection. We never harm those who have caused no harm themselves. What you are all proposing goes against our honor, the very foundations of our people.” The Flamespeaker said, a bit of agitation laced in his voice. 

“Perhaps so. But I do not think your soldiers were well, Flamespeaker.” Aidan said calmly. 

“Right! Their eyes were all white- no lie, they had no pupils at all!” Annie chimed in. “And-and they were all moving around like this!” Annie then proceeded to do a very crude impression of a zombie, guttural growling and moans in all. 

“What Annie means to say-” Theo, thankfully, cut off her performance. “Is that there was something very wrong with those soldiers, perhaps something that infringed upon their judgements. You even said it yourself, Flamespeaker, that there should have been no reason for any of them to have been on the edge of the Cindergrove in the first place.”

“I mean, what even brought you out there in the first place?” asked Wax.

“I heard gunshots.” The Flamespeaker replied. Instinctively, all eyes turned to Gwen, who awkwardly bit her bottom lip.

“Ah.” Was all she said.

“However.” The Flamespeaker continued, looking attentively at the seven individuals before him. “I will admit that I am keen to believe you all. In recent weeks, Pyrah has been dealing with… a plague of sorts.”

“Plague?” Aidan repeated. The Flamespeaker dipped his head.

“At least that is what we are referring to it as. Quite frankly, not a single one of us have been able to properly identify what ailment has taken our people.” His voice was heavy; Gwen looked into his face and, for the first time during their conversation, noticed just how heavy the bags under his eyes were.

“When it first started, we thought it was just a bit of sleepwalking.” The dwarven woman suddenly chimed in, her expression grim. “Just some waltzing about in the wee hours of the mornin’. But then more folks started doing it- scouts on duty would find five, six, seven people just wandering around Pyrah. They were basically catatonic- you couldn’t talk to them, couldn’t wake ‘em up. Nothing.”

“It was relatively harmless at first.” The Flamespeaker continued. “Took a bit to snap them out of it, but eventually they came to. Nobody had any memory of leaving their homes, so we chalked it up to food poisoning. 

“Then… one morning, one young man couldn’t wake up anymore. His family tried everything, but he remained in that state. Not even my own magic could bring him back to consciousness… And when I tried, he suddenly became violent. He attacked me and anyone else in the area. We managed to restrain him, but no amount of medicine or magic was able to wake him up.”

“And it’s only gotten worse.” said the dwarven woman, looking at the Flamespeaker with a mixture of concern and sympathy. “More and more Ashari have fallen into this eternal sleep. There’s no way to predict it, one day you’re fine and then the next, you’re a total zombie. They’ve been growing in aggression, too.”

“So the Ashari we fought on the edge of the Cindergrove…” Theo breathed.

“Were likely infected, yes,” The Flamespeaker sighed. “We had suspicions, but Pyrah is fighting an invisible enemy right now. We couldn’t be sure that any strangers passing through didn’t have malicious intent. But when you described their eyes and their behavior… I knew that you were telling the truth.”

There was a heavy silence that followed the Flamespeaker’s words. The party all shared glances with one another, silently attempting to process this magnitude of information. After a moment, Bella was the one to speak up first.

“Um, Flameseeker?”

“Speaker.”

“Oh, shit, sorry. Uh, I’m really sorry that this is happening to your city and all, but… why are you telling this to us? Wouldn’t it be easier to just, you know, kick us out or something? Now we all know that Pyrah is in trouble.” 

“Bella.” Festus warned through gritted teeth. 

“What? I’m not saying we’re gonna, like, attack everyone! That’s stupid,” she scoffed. 

“No, it is a fair question. Frankly, I myself don’t really know why I am telling you all this.” The Flamespeaker replied. “I suppose I was hoping that you all really were bandits or assassins and that we had a problem we could take care of for a change. But that was wrong of me to use you all as scapegoats. And for that, I am sorry.” The Flamespeaker waved his hand and suddenly the red vines that had binded everyone’s wrists together slunk away, restoring everyone’s mobility. Just as she was freed, Annie took a step forward.

“Flamespeaker Cerkonos?” She asked, looking up at him. “Have you informed the other Ashari about this plague?”

“I have yet to,” he admitted. “Myself and the rest of Pyrah are working diligently to discover more about this sleepwalker disease. Whether it is contagious, where it came from, or if there is a cure. I worry that bringing the other tribes into this will cause it to spread.”

“But they can help you with all of that! I’m sure the other three Ashari leaders would be more than willing to aid Pyrah. Why keep it a secret?” Annie demanded. “What’s the point of being connected as Ashari if you’re not willing to go to them for help?”

“Annie.” Aidan soothed, placing a large hand on the halfling’s shoulders. She buckled slightly under his touch but kept her fierce emerald gaze on the Flamespeaker. 

“You do have a point, child,” said the Flamespeaker, raising an eyebrow. “I know that Zephrah, Terrah, and Vesrah would drop nearly everything and come here if we called out for help. But that is why we cannot just yet. If I called on the Heart of the Mountain or the Voice of the Tempest, they would have to travel halfway across the world- and leave their people unprotected. And if whatever affliction is affecting Pyrah infects them as well…”

“Then all the Ashari people will be left without leadership.” Theo finished his sentence, his shoulders dropping. The Flamespeaker nodded curtly.

“The Ashari are strong, make no mistake. But if the sleepwalker plague moves, then there’s no telling what chaos may ensue. We are lucky to be isolated here in Issylra; Zephrah and Terrah cannot say the same.”

“And if the leaders caught the plague and returned to their homes, it could possibly spread through all of Tal’dorei.” Wax breathed, swallowing down the impact of that horrific possibility. 

“Hence why we need to learn more about it before bringing in outside help.” the Flamespeaker continued. “So far, the infections seem to occur at random, which makes it all the more difficult to prevent.” Annie’s shoulders had slumped, her spitfire accusations having fallen completely flat on her face. The Flamespeaker knelt down, making eye contact with the halfling.

“You have no connection to Pyrah and yet you have a strong desire to help it. That is very honorable.” He said gently. Theo, from the sidelines, couldn’t help but notice that Annie was struggling to maintain eye contact with the man. 

“If I may, Flamespeaker?” Festus asked. “I understand your reasoning for keeping the sleepwalking plague under wraps. But, if there is no way to discern how it spreads or who it infects, then there is a strong possibility that the seven of us could possibly be exposed- is that correct?”

“Unfortunately, yes. I cannot guarantee that you will be afflicted, but I cannot guarantee you won’t, either.” The Flamespeaker stood back up, looking seriously at Festus. “And for that I am deeply apologetic.” There was an uncomfortable silence between the party. Festus frowned slightly and continued.

“So, by that logic, we aren’t considered outside help any longer, yes?” The Flamespeaker furrowed his eyebrows.

“I… suppose so.”

“So if we offered to aid you in discovering the cause of the plague, that would be perfectly acceptable.” Festus glanced at the rest of the group before continuing, “Of course, I only speak for myself in the way. Technically our job is done so the rest of us have no obligations to one another. Apart from Bella, believe me I have tried to walk away from her multiple times.”

“Womb-mates gotta stick together, you know?” Bella grinned, resting her elbow on Festus’ shoulder. He moved away, causing her to stumble.

“I am two years older than her.” He stated flatly. 

“Wait just a moment, kelly,” Gwen interrupted. “Who says you’re the only one who wants to help?”

“Sorry, I just figured I should make the offer first in case they only want 2-4 people helping out.” Festus replied, glancing over his shoulder at her.

“Oh haha.” Gwen scoffed. 

“Well, I want to stay and help,” Annie pipped in, lifting her chin up. “The Ashari are important to me and Aidan. If there’s anything I can do to help Pyrah, then I’m going to do it.”

“Whatever Annie feels, I feel too.” Aidan concurred, smiling dopily. 

“I want to help, too,” said Wax. “I mean… if we’re exposed, it’s not like we should really leave anyway, right?”

“That is true. Plus I’ve studied the arcane for practically my entire life. If I can put those hours of studying to good use, may as well!” Theo chuckled. The Flamespeaker stared at the group in awe.

“I would like to remind you all that you were being held prisoner not even an hour ago. You still want to help, regardless?”

“Eh, bygones.” Bella waved her hand. “You said sorry, so all is forgiven!”

“The Ashari are an extremely crucial aspect of keeping elemental balance in Exandria,” Gwen said. “It would be foolish to see Pyrah in danger and not lend a hand. If there is anything we can do to stop this blight, we would be happy to do so.”

“So I guess we’re gonna keep working together after all!” Bella happily exclaimed, scooping Wax up and giving him a hug. The gnome was extremely startled by the sudden display of affection, but after a moment of shock returned the hug- albeit rather gingerly.

“If you truly wish to help Pyrah, then I cannot thank you enough.” The Flamespeaker bowed his head to the party, which was mirrored by the soldiers guarding the entrance. “We will offer you sanctuary during your time here. But I ask that you remain in Pyrah until everything is settled. And if you notice anything, suspect anything, or… any of your party fails to wake up, let me know immediately.” The group nodded in agreement. 

“Pyrah thanks you. Mortair will lead you to where you’ll be staying while you remain here. Come back here tomorrow at dawn- we will debrief on everything we have learned thus far and what plans of action to take next.” Annie opened her mouth to ask a question, and was sorely interrupted with, “And yes, you will have your weapons and items returned to you.”

The dwarven woman- Mortair- clapped her hands together.

“Thank you, Flamespeaker. Come on, folks, we’re losing daylight.” She commanded, moving the vine door aside to lead everyone back outside. Unsurprisingly, given Issylra’s disposition, it was already pitch black outside- the silver light of Catha barely providing a glow among the inky blackness. However, the warm lights of Pyrah were gently pulsing in the night, almost like a heartbeat.

“Is there any more daylight to lose?” Festus grumbled to himself, causing Wax to hide away a smile. The party followed Mortair and the other soldiers back down the mountainside, approaching back the densely populated area of houses and tents. While it was very dark out, it was still only early evening- and yet the once bustling village was a complete ghost town. There wasn’t a single person in sight, leaving the groups’ footsteps early quiet against the occasional whistles of wind.

“Here you are. Not much, but it’ll keep you warm and dry.” Mortair stopped, pointing towards a large maroon-colored tent that was crafted from what appeared to be a mixture of, unusually, leather and stone. It appeared rather basic, but functional. 

“Hey, Mortair?” Theo asked as the rest of the party opened the flap and shuffled inside the tent. “About how many people have been affected by the sleepwalker plague so far?”

“If we’re not counting the ones you took out today, I’d say we have about 35 people infected.” Mortair responded flatly. She didn’t seem resentful at the fact that ten Ashari had been killed, but rather the topic of those infected seem to weigh heavy on her. Theo nodded curtly.

“Right. And where are they being held?”

“They’ve all grown too violent to be kept in their homes. The Flamespeaker currently has them restrained and guarded up on the Veridian Peak.” She answered, nodding upwards. Theo followed her gaze and saw she was motioning towards a large cliffside on the mountain, jutting out over the village. Theo felt his chest grow heavy as he stared.

“You mean thirty-ish people are up there right now, tied down and guarded?” He asked uncomfortably. Mortair made a face that Theo couldn’t get a read on.

“Yep. Don’t worry, kid, we have them tied up good. They’re not getting out of there unless they somehow gain the strength of a Giant overnight,” she said with a flash of agitation in her eyes. “But you might hear some screaming or wailing during the night from them. They’re not too happy about not being able to run around and kill people. Have a good night.”

With a quick turn on her heels, Mortair and the other Ashari soldiers stalked off in the night, leaving Theo alone outside the tent. He placed his hands in his pockets, a deep feeling of worry and anxiety residing itself in his stomach. He took one last look upwards at the Veridian Peak, trying to see if he could make out anything from so far away. Unable to distinguish what might’ve been a person and what was likely just rocks, Theo ducked down into the tent and closed the flap. 

Chapter Text

The group were all rather surprised at how quickly they all had fallen asleep- it seemed that, without any of them noticing, the constant adrenaline rushes throughout the day had completely tuckered everyone out. Annie- who honestly hadn’t even remembered getting into her bedroll the night prior- was the first one to awaken, having completely passed out for the entire night. She jolted up, getting to her feet and looking around. Her memory somewhat fuzzy in the first few seconds of consciousness, she squinted her eyes about the interior to analyze who was still inside. She looked at the sleeping Aidan fondly, then furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at the presence of three tieflings, a human, and a gnome all still fast asleep in their bedrolls. Then, all at once, it came back to her.

“Alright, up and at ‘em, let’s go! Chop chop!” She called loudly, clapping her hands together and walking all about the interior of the tent. Her not-so-gentle alarm caused a lot of groaning from the other members; Wax even buried his head under his arms to block out the sound.

“Nope. None of that. We were told to meet at dawn, and we are not going to make the Flamespeaker wait.” She said, pulling Wax out of bed with a surprising amount of strength for having only just woken up herself.

“Didn’t he say he was gonna come to us? Yeah, I think I remember that…” Bella mumbled, sleeping completely flat with her face pressed into the floor. Rolling her eyes, Annie made her way to the blue tiefling and flipped her over, exposing her somewhat-smushed face.

“Sorry, princess. We have a town to save, no sleeping in.” 

“Should we do a roll call before we leave? Make sure none of us turned into zombies in the middle of the night?” Festus asked as he sat up, his hair an absolute mess. He yawned a bit before going, “Festus.”

“Annie.” She replied quickly.

“Gwen.” 

“Theo.”

“Wax…” 

“Aidan.” Six heads all turned to Bella, who despite having responded mere seconds ago, was now snoring. Annie took two of her fingers and plugged up Bella’s nostrils, causing her to choke for a minute and flail before opening her eyes.

“I’m here, awake. Yes, Bella. Me.” She stammered, rubbing her eyes. Annie wiped the snot off of her fingers onto Bella’s shirt and looked out at the rest of the group.

“That’s all accounted for. Should we go, then?”

“Very well. Everyone, make sure you’re presentable, we likely have a busy day ahead of us.” Gwen, who was the only other one who appeared unbothered by the early morning wake up, walked over to Festus and began smoothing out his hair.

“Hey hey, I can do that myself, thank you.” Festus practically shoved her away, scowling. Gwen smirked slightly and knelt down to face him at eye-level.

“I’m only trying to help. We’re a team now, aren’t we?” She asked innocently. Festus made a tch sound.

“If you want to help, go deal with my sister.” He said, still attempting to smooth out his bedhead. Sure enough, although Annie had successfully gotten Bella out of her bedroll, the blue tiefling was now leaning against the side of the tent with her eyes closed. 

“Bella, darling, let’s go. Come on, now, you’re only making it worse.” Gwen called. Bella made a grunting sound, remaining where she was.

“I got it,” said Aidan, placing their staff on their back and approaching her. With a single swift movement, Aidan was now carrying Bella over their shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Comfortable?” They asked with a smile.

“Oh my Gods, Aidan, you are so soft…” Bella’s voice was muffled as she dug her face into the furry shoulder of the firbolg.

“Right, then. Off we go?” asked Gwen, looking about. There were no contradictions, so the group shuffled out of the tent. As Festus passed by Gwen, she raised a single caustic eyebrow.

“Your hair is still a mess, love.” She whispered to him before bounding out of the tent. The green tiefling muttered a rather heinous string of curses as he followed the rest of the team. 

Now in the proper daylight, the team was able to get a much better look at Pyrah as they passed through. Ashari people going about their business as usual, hanging laundry on lines or practicing combative movements with a sword. It was peaceful and bustling, and, seeing as the team were no longer passing by in restraints, the atmosphere was far friendlier. One would never have suspected that at that moment there was an entire chunk of the population that had turned into violent husks of their former selves.

Somehow, Bella had gone from being carried by Aidan to now riding on their shoulders piggy-back style, keeping a careful watch at the surrounding environment from her much taller position. Aidan, who didn’t seem to mind the extra burden, couldn’t help but notice that Wax was looking up at Bella rather enviously.

“Would you like to hop on, Wax?” Aidan asked kindly. 

“Huh? Oh, um, I wouldn’t want to- I mean, you’re already-” the gnome stammered. Before he could finish his sentence, Aidan had scooped him up and placed him on top of their head, where Wax’s feet and hands sunk deeply into the olive-green tangles that was Aidan’s hair.

“Yeah! Welcome to the Tall Guy Club, Wax!” Bella cheered, pulling a little too hard on Aidan’s floppy cow ears and making them wince. Wax could only exhale as a response, terrified of falling off of such a great height.

“I’m used to carrying Annie around, so don’t worry.” Aidan remarked kindly, seemingly sensing Wax’s terror.

“You don’t need to tell them that!” Annie scoffed at Aidan, her cheeks tinged with pink. There was a small bit of laughter from everyone; but it wasn’t at her expense, rather at how ridiculous Aidan looked from carrying both Bella and Wax at the same time. It was strange- two days was all it took for these perfect strangers to let their guard down. Perhaps the beginnings of trust were at last starting to form among the group. 

Eventually, they all reached their destination and entered the petrified wood hut, the interior of which was much brighter in the light of the day. Inside, the Flamespeaker sat criss-cross on the ground, surrounded by four other armed Ashari soldiers- one of which being Mortair. They appeared to be in deep discussion, which was then promptly interrupted by the arrival of the group.

“Ah, the Prisoners. Welcome.” The Flamespeaker bowed his head in greeting. Aidan gently placed Wax back down on the ground, while Bella slid off their back.

“ The Prisoners ?” She repeated, wrinkling her nose.

“Yes. I’m guessing you all don’t have a proper name yet considering how new your team is, and I needed a way to refer to you all that wasn’t just ‘you all.’ So, The Prisoners for the time being.” He smiled.

“Definitely have to change that as soon as we can…” Annie muttered to Bella, who nodded in enthusiastic agreement.

“Come, sit. We have much to discuss on this matter.” The group followed his instructions, taking seats around the other Ashari and forming a circle. “I will admit, I am rather glad to have some outsider help on this situation. While Pyrah has consistent contact with the other Ashari tribes, I’d be lying if I said that we weren’t isolated most of the time.”

“We’re happy to help however we can,” said Theo. “Okay, so: what do we currently know about the sleepwalker plague?”

“It appears to only strike when a person’s asleep, which should be fairly obvious.” One of the Ashari soldiers, a gruff and grizzly-looking elven man with bronze skin answered. “Anyone who stays awake is safe. And it only seems to get ‘ya when you’re in a deep sleep.”

“Which explains why most of the victims reveal themselves at night,” chimed in another Ashari, this one being a troubled-looking human woman with deep blonde hair. “Families of victims report waking up in the middle of the night to their children or parents trashing the house.”

“Is there any consistency with the victims? Age, habits, anything?” Gwen asked, glancing over to Theo, who was writing the Ashari’s words down in a leatherbound notebook.

“It doesn’t seem to affect children, at least from what we’ve seen.” The Flamspeaker was the one to answer this time. “The youngest victim is nineteen. The rest have all been well into their adult years- mostly 20s and 30s, but some well into their 50s have been infected.”

“Could it be possible that the plague is linked to some kind of job or assignment, then? Such as a scouting location or the handling of a plant or animal, something a child would have no access to?” Theo asked, looking up from his notes.

“It’s possible,” the elf responded. “But we don’t have any concise way of knowing. The Ashari of Pyrah are all given their duties and responsibilities equally- we don’t have just one person tending to the crops and one person teaching swordsmanship. We all share.”

“So that makes it a lot trickier to know what it’s linked to…” Annie mumbled, folding her arms and thinking deeply. 

“Indeed. Apart from age, there doesn’t appear to be any similarities between the victims. They are all of different race, ability, height, weight, all of it. There is simply no consistency between them.” The Flamespeaker said solemnly. 

“What have you checked so far, then, in terms of cause? Do we know if it’s magical or natural?” asked Theo. Looking over his shoulder, Festus and Bella watched him scribble out extremely elaborate theories in his notebook, his hand writing at a positively ridiculous speed.

“I’ve tried to heal them with my own magic, but it so far has been ineffective. Which leads me to believe that this either isn’t caused by arcane means, or it is somehow more powerful than I,” said the Flamespeaker.

“What the Hell could be more powerful than an Ashari leader?” Annie asked, flabbergasted.

“Many things, child. More than I would like to admit. I am strong, yes, but there is always a bigger fish.” He said calmly.

“Yeah, but, you were a part of the team that helped stop the Ruby Vanguard during the Resurgence, you fought alongside Vox Machina! You wouldn’t have been there if you were a wuss!” Annie argued vehemently. There was a sharing of looks around the room, all of which had a mixture of thoughts and feelings behind them- some curiosity, others confusion. 

“I am… surprised you know about that,” the Flamespeaker said curiously. “My involvement during that affair is not very well-known outside of small circles. May I ask where you learned that information?” For the second time today, Annie’s cheeks flushed.

“Um… I, you know… I like to read a lot, so…”

“If I may, we should get back on track,” Gwen interrupted. “Whatever has happened has happened. What is important now is curing it and preventing it from happening again.” Annie gave Gwen a thankful look, which the tiefling reciprocated with a curt nod. 

“Theo’s well versed in arcane lore, and I’ve studied magic for quite some time, too.” Wax said, glancing at the human for approval. “If given enough time and resources, I’m sure we could come up with an explanation.”

“Yes, and it might be helpful to actually examine the infected. See if there’s any markings or possible symptoms that could lead to an answer,” Theo nodded his head.

“Right. You’re welcome to visit the Veridian Peak, though you will only be able to get so close before it becomes dangerous,” said the Flamespeaker.

“What spells have you tried already to cure them?” Aidan asked.

“Healing spells, remove curse spells, and restoration spells. None of them have worked thus far.” The Flamespeaker sighed, folding his arms. “Hence why we’re so stumped. Greater Restoration is usually the ‘cure all,’ but not this time.”

Theo narrowed his eyes a bit and rapidly scribbled something down, slamming his notebook so loudly that it caused Wax to jump.

“Right. Well, it’s not much to work with, but it’s a start. Shall we start by visiting the quarantined?” Theo asked, looking at the rest of the group.

“It’s as good a place as any.” Festus said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“But, er, before we go-” Gwen began, before the Flamespeaker raised a hand.

“Yes, yes. Please give the Prisoners their supplies and weapons.” The Flamespeaker said to the two unnamed Ashari, who nodded and quickly darted out of the room. 

“Okay, so it’s clearly not a curse or some other magic effect,” Bella turned her back to the Ashari and began speaking solely to the group of seven. “Maybe it’s like, an actual disease or something- like I know we’re calling it a plague cause it’s easier, but maybe it’s an actual plague. You know?”

“Maybe… But is there any disease that makes people act like that?” Annie asked, glancing up to Aidan.

“Not any that I know of.” They said with a shrug.

“Maybe you can experiment with your healing magic, Bel.” Theo suggested. Upon a look of disapproval from Annie, he quickly added, “What I mean is… Er, experiment was probably the wrong word, I was trying to-”

“Don’t worry, Theodopolis, I got you covered.” The tiefling stood at attention, giving him a salute. At that moment, the Ashari soldiers returned into the meeting space, in their arms carrying all of the weapons and arcane focuses that had been taken from them during their imprisonment. Upon taking back her beloved revolver pistol, Gwen examined it extremely closely, turning it around in her hands.

“Think they gave you someone else’s gun?” Festus asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m making sure they didn’t tamper with it. These things are extremely fickle- if a gear shifts even slightly out of place, it mucks up the entire thing.” Gwen replied with all of the snobbishness of someone who was astutely aware that they knew what they were talking about.

“Right. Well, luckily for me, if mine gets busted, I can get it repaired no problem.” He said, the tiniest hint of smugness in his voice.

“I can repair my pistol myself , thank you very much-”

“Ladies, you’re both pretty. Can we get a move on, please?” Annie asked impatiently, waiting at the entrance with the rest of the team. 

“We can always get a headstart if you two would like to bicker some more.” Aidan added in, their voice so innocent and genuine that it was actually difficult to tell if they were being sarcastic or not.

“No. Let’s just go.” Gwen sniffed, shoulder-checking Festus as she walked forwards to rejoin. Tutting, he followed behind.

Now with the added help of the Ashari, navigating Pyrah became extremely easy- and reaching the Viridian Peaks was no trouble at all. Guided up the rather precarious and thin pathways further up the mountainside, the group found themselves several hundred feet up, the air thin and the view hazy. However, it was most definitely not isolated, as one might think; there, on the ledgeside of the gigantic mountain, was an entire platoon of Ashari soldiers- all of whom were surrounding and keeping a careful eye on about thirty people. The people were all bound with chains, some sitting while others stood; they were of a variety of ages, races, and appearances, just as the Flamespeaker had said, and just like the soldiers the group had fought on the edge of the Cindergrove, all of them had completely blank, whited-out eyes.

“Hello. The Flamespeaker mentioned we may be having company.” A large half-orc man, seemingly the ringleader of this operation, approached. He was very tall, but rather lean and not much visible muscle. However, he had the facial expression of someone burdened by knowledge.

“Hello. We’re… erm, I guess we’re The Prisoners for now. I’m Theo, this is Gwen, Festus, Aidan, Wax, Bella, and Annie.” He introduced.

“You can call me Rolack. How much has the Flamespeaker told you?”

“Pretty much everything. Unless there’s something you’re all purposefully hiding, but in that case you probably wouldn’t tell us, either.” Annie said, earning her a concerned look from Wax. Rolack bowed his head.

“Right. We have thirty-three sick currently. They’re kept here in restraints so they won’t cause harm to themselves or anyone else. We keep them fed, though they refuse to eat on their own. And I would suggest you keep your distance- they’ve all pretty much gone feral at this point.” He gruffed, standing aside to let the group through. Gingerly, the group walked into the fray of salivating, zombie-like Ashari people, some of whom followed them with their eyes.

“My Gods…” Festus muttered, looking at the form of a young human man- likely not much older than himself- swaying gently back and forth as he stared into nothingness with his pupiless eyes. The Ashari soldiers on duty watched the group carefully, observing their every movement.

“Why is the Flamespeaker involving regular civilians? This is a Pyrah affair, it should be kept to Pyrah.” One of the guards muttered quietly to another. Only Gwen seemed to pick up on the words, ceasing her movement in order to eavesdrop. 

“I don’t know. Guess he’s getting desperate.” His acquaintance replied.

“What is there to be desperate for? We’ve dealt with things far worse. I don’t understand why the Flamespeaker can’t just fix it…” 

“Hey, man, come on. He’s trying his best, you know that. More help just means we put an end to this sooner, that’s all.”

“I guess. But it still bothers me. Sometimes… I don’t know, sometimes I feel like Cerkonos is losing his touch, you know?” Gwen quickly shuffled away, not wanting to hear anymore of the conversation. 

Bella and Aidan walked closely together, tip-toeing carefully around the sea of infected, the chill wind occasionally ruffling their clothes and hair. Bella continually had to push her cerulean locks out of her face, gagging as hair went into her mouth. As she was distracted, Bella stumbled a little too close to one of the infected Ashari, who lurched forwards and attempted to snap at her like a wild animal. Aidan quickly yanked her out of the way, the Ashari snarling as their chains went taught.

“Careful.” Aidan said softly, looking at the Ashari pitifully. 

“These poor guys.” Bella mumbled, squeezing Aidan’s hand before kneeling down. The infected Ashari was still tugging at their chains, their mouth agape and teeth clenched together. Bella reached into her satchel and pulled out a single yew leaf, holding it out before her. Taking a deep breath, she muttered some arcane words under her breath and the leaf began to glow a vivid gold, the light encompassing the tiefling’s hands. Aidan watched with interest as the light pulsed from Bella and onto the infected Ashari, enveloping them in warm light. Then, suddenly, Bella put her hands down and the light vanished.

“Nothing.” She sighed, disappointed.

“What were you trying to discern?”

“I was seeing if there was any poison or disease in their system, but there’s nothing. And the Flamestreaker said he already tried getting rid of magical effects, so it’s not that either!”

“So it’s not magical, it’s not a poison, and it’s not a disease… Then what is it?” Aidan wondered, looking at the still-rabid Ashari with intrigue.

“Did you find anything, Bella?” Annie asked, approaching as the rest of the group gathered in the center of the clearing. She shook her head.

“No. Nothing at all. They’re not infected by a virus or a flu. It’s not a poison. And it’s not a curse. I don’t know what it is.” Bella said, sounding genuinely upset. Gwen put a kind hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t fret. We’ll figure it out.” She soothed. Wax looked about the clearing, his eyes settling on the carefully-watching Ashari guard for a moment.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s any real symptoms other than the obvious. No discernable marks or behaviors. It’s not like we could even ask them if they, like, have a headache or something.” He commented, shaking his head.

“Whatever- or whoever- caused this, they were smart. Debilitating people like this, can’t get caught if your victims can’t communicate.” Festus murmured, watching one of the Ashari soldiers on duty attempt to feed a piece of bread to one of the infected. The infected Ashari snarled and snapped at the soldier, tugging at its bounds like a captured dog would. It was truly horrific. 

“You think they’re in pain? Oh, jeez, these poor people.” Bella whimpered, facing the infected Ashari before her. They were still struggling to attack Bella, their milky eyes unblinking as they faced her. “Here, maybe this will help you for a little while.” 

Holding out her hands again, Bella muttered another incantation and a small blue light shot out of her fingertips and into the Ashari’s chest. The infected Ashari suddenly stopped pulling and straightened out their back, their eyes blinking rapidly. Slowly, a ring of gentle brown began to appear in their hollow eyes.

“What…? Where am I…?” The Ashari muttered with confusion, going to rub their eyes but finding their hands bound. They pulled at the chains, the metal clinking together as they did so. “What the-? What is this? Did you do this to me?” They asked Bella, their voice calm and level but their eyes filled with fear. 

“Bella, what the hell did you do?” Annie breathed, watching in awe as the Ashari came back to their humanity. Bella shook her head.

“It-it was just a calming spell! It was supposed to help them relax, but I didn't… I don’t know-”

“What is your name? Do you know what happened to you?” Festus asked, crouching down besides his sister and staring intently at the Ashari. Though still under Bella’s spell, the Ashari flinched slightly under Festus’ insistent tone.

“My-my name is Rook. Rook Bouldaire, um, I’m a fire Ashari.” They responded timidly. “I-I don’t know… I don’t remember how I got here.”

“What is the last thing you remember, Rook?” asked Annie, stepping up. “We’re trying to help you. We’re trying to help everyone.” For the first time since waking up, Rook took a moment to look around. Their eyes widened in horror as they saw the dozens of other Ashari people, bound and zombified.

“What… what did you do to them?” Rook asked, horrified.

“No, no, we didn’t do anything! We’re trying to help them. The Flamespeaker asked us to help.” Annie insisted desperately. “Rook, please, we need you to tell us what you remember.” Rook hesitated for a moment, but then, seeing the genuine destress and desire to help on Annie's face, continued- albeit cautiously.

“I-I was having dinner with my parents. There wasn’t anything special or unique about it, it was just… a normal dinner. Um, my mom was sick so I spent the day at home taking care of her, and then my dad and sister came back from work, and we just…” He trailed off.

“What was your mother sick with?” Aidan asked curiously. Rook looked up to them, nervous.

“I don’t know, it was just a cold, I think…”

“Where do your sister and your dad work?” asked Festus. Rook looked at the group, their somewhat timid nervousness now suddenly turning into full-blown panic. They gripped their head, and suddenly the color disappeared from their eyes, leaving them a blank slate once more. Rook’s mouth distended and hung open, and their teeth were bared in a snarl. Bella and Festus had to quickly move back before the now re-zombified Rook could attack them, pulling at their chains like nothing at all happened.

“That… I didn’t imagine that, right?” Bella panted.

“I don’t understand. How did… Why did that work? ” Theo asked, flabbergasted. 

“And why did they go back to that?” Annie asked, an unreadable expression on her face as she stared at Rook.

“That spell only lasts for a minute. I could cast it again, but then I couldn’t do anything else until I recharge.” Bella said to Annie, getting back up to her feet. 

“There’s that answer, but I agree with Theo. Why did that work?” Gwen questioned, looking around at the other infected Ashari. “This isn’t caused by magic, and it isn’t a disease. But calming Rook’s emotions was enough to temporarily break them out of their stupor.”

“Plus, they didn’t remember anything happening to them…” Mumbled Annie.

“So maybe this isn’t technically a disease or a poison, but maybe it is still natural? Like, maybe it’s kind of like a mass hallucination.” Theo suggested. “That would explain why the infections are so sporadic.”

“Maybe, but that wouldn’t explain the eye thing.” Wax countered. 

“Perhaps,” said Aidan. “It’s a flower.”

“A flower? How you mean?” Festus inquired.

“Well, there’s a lot of flowers in Issylra. There’s a lot of flowers in Exandria, for that matter.” Aidan explained, their slow tone of voice seemingly not grasping the severity of the situation. “And some of these flowers can do some pretty wild things. There are flowers that can make you itch for days, flowers that can make you see things, and flowers that can stimulate emotions. And some flowers can stimulate emotions so much, they can make you… You know, go a little savage.”

“And if it was a plant,” Theo continued Aidan’s thought. “That wouldn’t be magic. Flowers are completely natural, some plants have massive mind-altering effects without being even remotely arcane in nature.”

“And a hallucinogenic flower wouldn’t be considered poisonous or part of a disease, either. It’s just something that was consumed.” Wax’s eyes widened. The group all looked at one another, sharing silent words.

“Guys… We are the best detectives.” Bella boasted, crossing her arms in victory. 

“Hold on, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. We should confirm our suspicions at least a little. If we went to the Flamespeaker and we ended up being wrong… I don’t know, I just don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up.” Theo said, glancing at Gwen and Aidan. 

“Right. Some further confirmation is always welcome. But we should try and expedite our research, yes?” Gwen asked, looking outwards at the crowd- and, unintentionally, falling onto the Ashari soldiers who she had been eavesdropping on earlier. They were too far away to have properly seen Rook’s revival, but it was clear that something was clearly going on. And now, all the Ashari guards had their eyes on the group and appeared to be ready to approach.

“Yeah. I don’t want these people to have to be like this any longer than they need to.” Bella agreed, kneeling back down to face Rook. Gwen swallowed a lump in her throat, slightly discomforted.

“Right, yes.” She mumbled, stepping back to let Bella work. From among the crowd, Wax looked at her with sympathetic concern, while Aidan observed her with mild interest. 

Leaving Bella to her healing magic, as well as some aid from Theo and Wax’s textbook knowledge, by the time the afternoon was creeping to a close and the sun was threatening the early sunset that came with wintertime, the group was unanimously positive: they had an answer to the ailment of Pyrah. And they needed to tell the Flamespeaker right away. 

Chapter Text

“Hm. So, if what you say is correct, do you have any ideas of what specific plant or flower may be the cause?” Flamespeaker Cerkonos asked, sitting across from the group, his intense eyes burning into Annie- who had been the one to relay the team’s current theory to him.

“Er, um, not quite.” She replied, cheeks lightly burning. “We were hoping you might be able to help with that? I mean, you of all people would know what kind of stuff grows around here. Anything off the top of your head that can, I don’t know, turn people into feral killers?” The Flamespeaker stroked his stubbly chin, evidence of not having shaved for a few days, and thought.

“There is plenty of strange flora that grows both in the Cindergrove and throughout Issylra,” he said. “I am familiar with certain… er, mind-altering effects from specific flowers, though I can’t recall any plant causing this level of unease.”

“Not to mention, what you’re indicating would mean that someone is specifically using these plants against Pyrah,” the human Ashari from that morning broke in, arms crossed. “That there’s someone who’s infiltrated our home and is betraying our people.” She looked at the group, her words holding an almost accusatory tone 

“It’s happened before, hasn’t it?” Aidan asked innocently. The woman glared at them, though she didn’t have a rebuttal. The Flamespeaker sighed.

“Regardless, this theory is the most sound we have so far. And the green one is correct, we haven’t been known for our fantastic security in the past.” He said, glancing at the human woman. The woman made a face.

“But that was many, many years ago. Surely Pyrah has grown enough defense to block out these kinds of threats under your rule, Flamespeaker.” She shot back, her eyes narrowing as she scowled at him. The Flamespeaker did not allow his face to react, though he appeared to swallow a lump in his throat.

“Er, Flamespeaker? I, uh, I noticed that beautiful bracelet on your wrist just now. It’s very lovely. What does it say?” Wax suddenly blurted out, beads of perspiration forming on his forehead as he attempted to calm the tensions that had formed in the room. The woman muttered something unintelligible under her breath as her shoulders relaxed slightly, and the Flamespeaker smiled at the gnome.

“Very perceptive, small fellow. I made it myself, many years ago. WWSD.” He mused, looking at the bracelet fondly. The engraved letters glittered somewhat under the evening light that broke through.

“What does that mean?” Gwen asked, raising an eyebrow. The Flamespeaker chuckled to himself, clearly understanding a joke that no one else did.

“It’s… well, it’s to honor an old friend. A good friend who I miss everyday.”

“...I’m sorry for your loss.” Wax said sympathetically. 

“Oh, no, he’s not dead,” said the Flamespeaker casually. Nobody knew how to respond to that.

“So, getting back on topic,” Festus managed to reel in the conversation. “If the flower theory is correct, that means someone is somehow sneaking them into food or drink. Is there anyone who is in charge of preparing meals in Pyrah?”

“No. Like I said earlier, we all share tasks.” Mortair scoffed. “It’s not like we have a communal kitchen. Families and friends often share meals in their own spaces.”

“So that means it’s gonna be a lot harder to track down who’s doing it…” Annie murmured, shifting her sitting position to make herself more comfortable. 

“When that Rook guy started talking to us, they mentioned that the last thing they remember is having dinner with their family,” Bella mentioned. “We could start there maybe? See if there’s any traces left behind?”

“Not a bad idea. We could even have some of the Ashari investigate other homes, cover more ground that way.” Gwen suggested. There were some ample nods from the group.

“Thank you. All of you.” The Flamespeaker broke in suddenly. “Truly, I… I’m honestly surprised you all still want to lend your aid. You’ve given us a fantastic lead, one none of us would’ve thought of. You have the full right to leave this trouble to us now, if you all so choose. You have no obligation to Pyrah.”

“I don’t know about the rest of them, but Annie and I certainly have an obligation. We won’t leave a job half-finished.” Aidan replied nonchalantly. Theo turned a curious gaze onto them.

“You know, you two have been really vague about why you know so much about Pyrah. Would you mind elaborating?” He asked. Annie waved a hand.

“It’s nothing-”

“Oh, we’re both Ashari.” Aidan shrugged. Annie whipped her head around to look up at them.

“Dude!” 

“What?” Aidan asked, puzzled. 

“You’re both Ashari? Why the fuck didn’t you mention that earlier?” Festus exclaimed. Annie’s face was as red as a tomato. 

“I-I don’t know, I don’t like flaunting it…” She mumbled, crossing her arms and avoiding eye contact with the tiefling. 

“Ah, that actually makes a lot of sense,” said the Flamespeaker. “Let me guess… Terrah?”

“Zephrah, actually.” Annie muttered. 

“Right, that was going to be my next guess.”

“I don’t understand why you were trying to keep that a secret. It’s not like it’s a bad thing- if anything, that would’ve helped us earlier.” Theo commented.

“Yeah, like keeping us from being arrested!” Bella exclaimed.

“Annie doesn’t like people knowing because of her d-” Aidan began, before being cut off by what sounded like a coughing wheeze from Annie.

“Aidan! Please stop talking!” The halfling cried out, exasperated. She took a calming breath, restoring a bit of non-scarlet color to her face. “I promise we can talk about it later, but right now we should get to work before it gets dark. So let’s get going- please?” Without further confirmation from the group, Annie quickly got up and exited, followed close behind by Aidan- who still seemed rather puzzled at the outburst. 

“...Right. Would you, er, happen to know where Rook’s family might be?” Festus asked, breaking the awkward tension that had just been created. The Flamespeaker stared at Festus blankly, seemingly unable to come up with an answer, before the human woman spoke.

“Big blue house towards the East. Can’t miss it.” She said, glaring at the Flamespeaker.

“Right. I was going to say that.” He said sheepishly.

“Big blue house. Alright, should we go, then?” Festus asked, looking at the remaining members of the team. Wax nodded, standing up and trailing behind Festus- followed closely by Bella. Theo and Gwen were the last ones to leave, walking side by side a few feet from the others.

“So. We’re going to press Annie later about why she’s so embarrassed about being Ashari, yes?” She whispered to him. Theo nodded.

“Oh, most definitely.”

It took the group the better par t of twenty minutes until they found the blue house described by the Ashari soldier, located on the Easternmost side of Pyrah. Most in the group were expecting a bright cerulean, reminiscent of Bella’s skin tone, but the dim bluish-gray coloring of the exterior of the home had caused the group to walk past it multiple times before finally realizing their error. By that point, it was already sunset.

“We’re not gonna have much time to look through before it’s dark. Let’s make this quick, yeah?” Annie said, looking up at the building. It was a simply-built home, the blue-gray coloring stemming from the particular bits of stone that had been used as building material. There were three windows facing the front, though all were closed and presumably locked. The front door, made of what looked like hand-carved wood, was also closed.

“Don’t worry, I got it covered.” Theo noted, reaching into his satchel and pulling out a small twig- not unlike the one Wax had used in yesterday’s fight. Theo mumbled some arcane words to himself, waved his hands over the twig, and suddenly four floating orbs of light appeared in the space before them, glowing gently with a slightly-maroon color.

“There, now we’ll see no matter where we are.” He said with a proud smile, sending the orbs of light to float around his party members. One of the dancing lights whirled around Bella’s head, causing her to giggle.

“Thank you, Theo.” Gwen nodded in acknowledgement to him, then approached the front door. She tried the handle first, finding the door was indeed locked. She then knocked on the door, and waited.

“Think anyone’s home?” Wax whispered, coming up to stand beside her.

“It’s dark in there and everything’s locked up. If there is anyone home, it seems they aren’t looking for visitors.” Gwen stated, knocking again on the door, but once again getting no response. 

“So, what, do we break in?” Bella asked, tilting her head.

“We can’t just break into someone’s house!” Wax cried. “What if they’re… I don’t know… doing stuff?”

“In the dark?” Festus asked.

“I don’t know, people are into weird things...”

“Doesn’t seem like we have a choice. This is the best lead we have.” Theo stated, looking up at the windows. “Annie, do you think you could climb up there and get one of the windows open?”

“Probably, but I’d have to break it.” She replied, already making her way to the side of the house and climbing up the brick-laid exterior.

“Wait! We don’t have to break anything, I… I can cast a spell that opens locks.” Wax called out nervously. Annie, who was already a good four or five feet up, jumped back onto the ground.

“Oh, great! Man, magic just makes everything so much easier.” She shook her head, wiping some dirt off of her hands. Gwen raised an eyebrow to Wax.

“Are you sure? I… don’t want you to use up all of your magic.” She said, adding the latter part in rather quickly. Wax sighed.

“I think it’s okay. I don’t want us wrecking these people’s house.” He stated, facing the door and taking a deep breath. He chanted the spell, and suddenly the door swung open, not before emanating a large cracking sound, loud enough that everyone had to cover their ears.

“Knock?” Theo asked once the deafening sound had silenced. Wax nodded, but didn’t move; instead, he seemed like he was waiting for something.

“Anything?” asked Gwen. Another moment, then Wax shook his head and relaxed. “Great. Let’s go, then.” Gwen pushed the unlocked door in further, being the first to step into the house.

The interior was simple, clearly a place that was well-lived in. There was a basic living area with semi-torn cushions scattered about the floor, likely used for sitting around the table. There was a fireplace towards the back, on top of which were several knick knacks and tattered books. The walls were well-decorated with portraits, children’s drawings, and what looked to be several ornamental daggers and short swords. Theo’s lights gently floated in, illuminating the dark space enough that everyone could make out the basic details of the space.

“It’s kind of creepy,” commented Bella, staying close to Aidan- who had to duck down their head in order to fit through the doorway. 

“Seems abandoned. Don’t know for how long, though.” Festus said, drawing a finger across the fireplace and picking up a thin layer of dust.

“Rook mentioned their mother was sick while they were lucid. Do you think they’ve all been infected?” Annie asked, approaching a set of stairs and looking up to the dark void that was the second floor. She attempted to listen to see if there were any sounds coming from upstairs, but couldn’t pick up on anything.

“If their food or drink was affected, it is a likely possibility,” said Gwen. She moved from the sitting room and into what was presumably the kitchen, complete with several counters that were topped with cutting boards and knives, as well as a large table with four chairs around it. However, Gwen stopped when she noticed that the table was topped with remnants of a meal, plates piled with half-eaten scraps of food and glasses still partially filled with liquid.

“Oye, I think I found what we’re looking for!” She shouted out. The group crowded about the kitchen, Wax straining to see the table over Festus and Aidan. The food on the plates was partially eaten, forks and knives positioned in a way that seemed like they were thrown down hastily. Bowls contained vegetables and meats, all of which were starting to grow rotten- the meat especially, which was attracting some small insects. 

“How many days do you think they’ve been gone?” Festus asked, looking up to Aidan. Aidan peered down at the remnants of the dinner, but didn’t want to get too close.

“I’m not sure. Less than a week, maybe?”

“Ugh, we should’ve asked Rook what day it was!” Bella complained, slapping herself on the forehead. “Or, like, who their family was. I totally wasted all of my second level spells.”

“Relax, we can go back there tomorrow if need be. This is just gathering evidence right now.” Gwen stated, stepping forwards as the only one brave enough to closely examine the rotting food. “I don’t know how helpful this is now, though. If it has been tampered with, it’ll be nearly impossible to discern through the mold.”

“Think the Flamespeaker would be happy if we brought him back a bunch of sloppy mush?” Festus asked, glancing at the bowl of meat and gagging at the sight.

“Thrilled, I’m sure,” Gwen sighed. “At the very least, we can narrow it down somewhat. It appears they were eating meat and vegetables, no bread or cheese it looks like. Likely the flowers were slipped into the meat. We should look into where Pyrah keeps their livestock.”

“I’m not saying it’s a bad plan,” Wax interrupted. “But how do we know that every person who was poisoned consumed it through meat? Maybe this family didn’t have bread that night, but maybe some did.”

“I agree- we simply don’t have enough information to conclude anything.” Festus said, nodding at Wax. “We’d essentially need to check every home in Pyrah to conclude anything, and by that point-”

“Everyone will already be a zombie.” Bella finished the thought. The team went quiet, each individually trying to think of what to do next, when Aidan suddenly broke in with a thought.

“Where’s Annie?” Eyes darted all around the room to try and spot Annie, but she had seemingly up and vanished- for at that moment, the halfling had ventured up the stairs and was now blindly making her way through the unlit second floor. She kept her hand against the wall as she walked, her free hand just hovering above her sword holster. She crept down the hall, keeping her weight balanced through her body in order to keep her footsteps near silent. The house was completely, utterly silent- unnervingly so. Although deep down the halfling knew splitting up from the group was rather stupid, she also knew that so many people in the house would be likely to trample over subtle clues. She’d just do a quick scan of the upstairs, then return back before anyone would notice she was gone.

Admittedly, it was pretty hard to see without Theo’s light source- still, Annie persevered and peered her head into what looked like a bedroom. It was dark, unsurprisingly, and seemed rather tidy from a first glance. The bed was made and all the items were stacked neatly on shelves- it didn’t appear abandoned, though it didn’t seem like anyone was here recently, either. Although Annie wanted to look into the room further, she knew she didn’t have much time before the others realized she snuck off. She’d have to move on.

The other bedroom didn’t have anything overt either, though it was by far more messy than the previous one- unmade bed, clothes scattering the floor, and some papers thrown loosely on a tableside drawer. Annie grabbed them and hastily shoved them into her pocket before moving on. The last bedroom, however, made Annie stop in her tracks.

It appeared to be a master bedroom, not a personalized one like the other two.

The  bed was wide and the interior decor was far more fine. However, the thing that made Annie freeze wasn’t the simple decor or the niceness of the room, but rather the figure that was currently sitting in the bed. It was an older woman- human from first glance- with a large mop of stringy gray hair atop her head. Although she appeared to be maybe in her late 50s, her face was gaunt and thin, making her look far older. Most of her body was covered in blankets, though she kept her folded hands out and resting on her lap, her fingers long and thin with yellowing fingernails. She made no reaction to Annie’s appearance, staring blankly ahead of her- unblinkingly. 

Annie let out a short gasp of shock, her fingers still clutching the edge of the wooden door. She didn’t dare take another step into the room.

“I’m… um, I’m sorry, ma’am. Um, we’re here on behalf of the Flamespeaker, doing an investigation on the recent sleepwalker plague. Are you Rook’s mother?” Annie asked, hoping this woman wouldn’t mind that her house was currently being broken into. However, the woman didn’t move or make any other indication that she had heard Annie; instead, she kept her pale eyes forward.

“Ma’am? Are you alright?” Annie asked, wanting to go and see if the woman was alright, but her feet were glued to the floor. “Ma’am?”

It was only then that the woman’s eyes moved onto Annie. The rest of her body remained as still as stone, but those glassy eyes were now definitely looking at her. Annie felt a tightness forming in her chest.

“Ma’am, my name is Annie. Me and my team are trying to investigate what is causing this blight on Pyrah. We were able to speak with Rook. Where is the rest of your family?” Annie asked, finally taking a step into the room. The moment her hands left the base of the door, however, the woman’s mouth suddenly distended- opening her jaw wide, unnatural, revealing a dark, open maw of semi-rotting teeth. Faster than one would ever expect a woman of her age to move, she lurched out of the bed and basically leapt at Annie, hands out, her lower jaw nearly touching the base of her chest.

Annie attempted to dodge, but the unexpected attack left her vulnerable. The woman tackled Annie to the ground, her hands grabbing at her throat and choking the wind out of the halfling. This close to her face, Annie could now see that the pale eyes she had assumed were clouded by age were instead lacking irises. Still squeezing on her neck, the old woman leaned her head back and surged forwards, taking a jagged bite out of Annie’s cheek. Annie screamed in agony as she felt the flesh on her face give way, warm blood pouring down her body as muscle and bone were exposed. 

Pushing through her pain, Annie managed to kick her legs up into the woman’s chest, willing enough power to knock her off. Then, as fast as she could manage, she unsheathed her sword and took a swing, slicing cleanly through the woman’s collarbone and sending a wave of blood down her pink nightgown. The woman made no reaction to the attack, her face still elongated and disturbed. Now free of her attacker, Annie made a break to attempt to run out the door and to safety. However, a harsh groaning sound emerged from the woman and Annie felt a sharp pain in her back as she turned, the base of her shirt growing wet with blood. 

Annie didn’t stop to take another attack on the woman, instead adrenaline and instinct for self-preservation forcing her to charge away from the room and to desperately try and find the stairs in the dark, her vision growing blurry from blood loss. By now, the group downstairs had long heard Annie’s painful screams and were there at the base of the stairs to greet the injured halfling. Behind her, the infected woman followed close behind- intending to get a finishing strike on her prey.

BANG!

A bullet soared above Annie’s head and up the staircase, hitting the woman straight in the shoulder. She snarled like an animal, not from pain but rather from frustration. Gwen, who’s revolver was still smoking, narrowed her eyes and reloaded the gun. Annie’s ears were ringing and she was beginning to lose consciousness, nearly tumbling down the stairs in her attempt to flee from the woman.

Theo ran forwards and caught her as she almost fell, holding her close as Bella and Aidan ran over. The woman remained at the top of the stairs and let out a deep, guttural howl- an awful, bone-chilling sound that no humanoid creature should or even could make. Then, with the same speed that had knocked Annie on her feet, the woman dove down the stairs and was heading straight for Gwen. The tiefling woman, however, did not flinch.

“Go to hell.” She spat, pulling her trigger once more and hitting the woman straight in her jaw, causing it to explode and sending blood splattering all across the wall and floor. The woman, tongue and upper teeth now exposed, collapsed on the floor, her body contorted into a truly horrific scene. Gwen took one last shot into the woman’s forehead, now creating a deep crater and completely covering her face with scarlet blood. Gwen breathed on her revolver, cooling off the smoke, and turned to make eye contact with Festus- who raised an eyebrow.

“Wanted to make sure she was dead.” She answered his unsaid question with a casual shrug, pocketing her revolver and making her way over to Annie. The halfling had been laid on the floor by Theo, the blood from both her cheek and her back now pooling on the floor. She was still conscious, but clearly wouldn’t be for long.

“I-I’m sorry, I don’t have any second level spells… This is as best as I can do for right now.” Bella apologized, gently lifting Annie’s head onto her lap and cupping her hands around her face. A gentle golden light emitted from Bella’s palms, absorbing into Annie’s body. She took a deep inhale, eyes closed, as the wound on her cheek began to close and scar. While the bleeding had stopped, the wound was still very prevalent, the skin still open and bits of red flesh exposed. Annie opened her eyes to see six faces peering down at her, all of which were deeply concerned- the most of which being Aidan.

“Annie?” They asked gently, kneeling down besides their friend. “How are you feeling?”

“Like shit,” Annie mumbled, attempting to sit up. A wave of nausea and dizziness came over her, forcing her to lay back down on Bella’s lap. “Gods, I can’t believe I got fucked up by some lady in a nightgown…”

“If it makes you feel better, that lady was pretty fast.” Festus said.

“Yeah, and she only went down when Gwen blew her jaw off.” Wax encouraged. Annie inhaled again, glancing sideways at Theo.

“Oh, jeez, is that all mine?” She asked with a repulsed expression, glancing at his shirt and hands- which were completely covered in blood. 

“Don’t worry, wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been bled on.” He said, turning to begin casting prestidigitation on both himself and the surrounding floors. Bella gently combed her fingers through Annie’s hair, detangling any knots that had formed in the short locks. 

“Why were you up there?” Aidan asked. Their expression was still kind, but their voice had now taken on a sterner tone. Annie made a noise, rubbing her face with her hands.

“I was investigating. That’s what we came here to do.” She answered.

“Yes- we came here to investigate as a team. That means multiple people.” Aidan said. Annie turned away from them.

“I made a bad call, alright? How was I supposed to know there was a crazy woman up there?” She grumbled, ignoring her unsteadiness in order to finally sit up. Bella kept her hands close to the halfling’s body.

“If you had told us you were going up there, someone could’ve come with you.” Aidan responded. Annie’s hands twitched and she turned up to make eye contact with the firbolg.

“Would you-!” She stopped herself and took a deep breath. “Whatever, it’s already happened, no point in arguing.” Annie looked about at the group, her demeanor dejected and guilty. “I’m sorry, guys.”

“Don’t apologize to us. You were the one who almost got killed!” Wax stated.

“Yeah. If anything, we’re probably going to have to apologize to Rook once we get everyone back to normal.” Bella said. Then followed with, “You know, cause we killed their mom and everything.” Seven pairs of eyes turned to the mutilated corpse of the older woman, still and eyes still wide open.

“Right. It’s not like… it’s not like she could really help it, could she..?” Annie mumbled, suddenly unable to look at anyone else. Gwen also stared at the bullet holes in the woman with a guilty expression.

“We’re going to figure this out,” said Theo. “We’re going to find out who’s doing this and why, and we’re gonna stop them.”

“Right. Maybe next we should investigate people who are actually home and, you know, fully themselves?” Festus suggested, leaning against the wall. “I don’t think there’s anything here that’ll help us further. Not unless one of you can talk with the dead.”

“I could learn to do that one day!” Bella exclaimed happily, then her joy quickly sparked out. “Er, but I don’t know how to do it right now.”

“Then Festus is right. We should get out of here before we cause anymore trouble. Or anyone else gets hurt.” Aidan said, not hiding the fact that they clearly looked at Annie on their last words. She still kept her eyes to the floor.

“So, uh, what should we do with her, then?” Wax asked, pointing to the corpse. “We can’t just… leave her.”

“Where else would we put her?” Gwen asked, crinkling her nose.

“I don’t know, not here ! Can you imagine coming home after being in a terror-coma for who knows how long, and you step in and see your mother’s battered corpse by the stairs?” Wax cried, making bold reference to the body. 

“Yeah. Also it’d probably start to stink after a while.” Bella added in.

“ That’s the only negative thing you can think of?” Festus looked at his sister with a bewildered, though not surprised, look.

“Okay!” Gwen huffed. “Fine, we’ll… Move her somewhere, I guess. But we’re not taking her to the Flamespeaker- Gods know what they’ll do if they find out we killed another Ashari. So, any suggestions?”

And so, that was how the group- somehow- found themselves sneaking out into the night, carrying the half-exploded body of Rook’s mother, and carefully burying her underneath a nearby tree.

“I don’t know. Something about this feels wrong.” Theo stated, watching as Aidan used magic to mold the earth over the body.

“Yeah, should we like… leave a note or something?” Annie asked, shaking her head slightly. Bella suddenly grabbed ahold of Theo’s satchel and pulled out a single piece of parchment and a quill, and began writing. When she had finished, she tossed the quill back to Theo and pinned the note on the tree.

“There!” She said proudly. The other six gathered to look at the note, on which it read in rather messy cursive: “ Rook’s Mother (who was infected)” complete with a large, cartoony arrow pointing down.

“Doesn’t that feel a little… I don’t know, crass?” Wax asked, making a face.

“It gets the point across, doesn’t it?” Bella asked innocently. 

“We can come back and fix it later. For now, we should head back to the tent before anyone else sees us.” Festus sighed, clearly the one most used to Bella’s shenanigans. “Let’s rest up, and think of a gameplan in the morning. Okay?” There was a general murmuring of “okays” from the group, the seven of them shuffling back down the dimly-lit roads and towards the tent. Before she got too close ahead, Aidan pulled Annie aside.

“Annie. I wasn’t trying to chastise you earlier.” They said earnestly. Annie didn’t look at them.

“I know.”

“And I wasn’t trying to make you upset when I told everyone we were Ashari.”

“I know. You never are.” Aidan was a bit surprised at the bitterness in her voice.

“I don’t understand. I thought if we were going to be working with everyone long-term, they should know crucial information-” They began, but were cut off by Annie’s interjection.

“Aidan, I know what you were trying to do. I know you weren’t trying to embarrass me or get on my nerves or anything. You never mean to upset anyone… You make it so hard to be mad at you.” 

“I’m… sorry-”

“Don’t be! Don’t be sorry! I’m the one who should be sorry, my dumbass nearly got myself killed today!” Annie cried out, then lowered her voice again. “Aidan… You’re my best friend, okay? You’re my ride or die. But man… sometimes I keep things to myself for a reason. Sometimes I do things by myself for a reason. It’s not that I’m untrusting or suspicious of everyone, it’s just…”

“It’s about him. I know.” Aidan said. Without another word, they scooped down and picked up Annie, carrying her in their large arms. Exhausted, Annie leaned her head into the fluffy chest fur of the firbolg.

“I’m sorry I’m such an asshole.” She muttered, closing her eyes and listening to the deep, rumble of their heartbeat.

“You’re not that much of an asshole. Not too much for me to handle.”

“Thanks.”

“But please… Don’t walk off on your own like that again. Not without telling us, at the very least. I know you’re capable, but I don’t want you getting hurt.” Aidan looked down at her, their eyes pleading and genuine. Annie felt guilt pang inside her chest; she hated Aidan’s puppy-dog eyes.

“I won’t. I’m sorry.” She said, closing her eyes once again. After a moment of silence, she added, “And… if you want to tell the party about yourself, about your life in Zephrah… Don’t let me stop you. Okay?”

“Okay.” Aidan hastened their steps slightly, moving to keep in pace with the rest of the group in front of them, the moonlit night illuminating the duo as they moved through the streets of Pyrah. 

Chapter Text

The group awoke the next morning feeling energized and ready to take on the day- at least, everyone except Annie. Although sleeping through the night had allowed her to recover some of the energy (and blood) she had lost the evening prior, there was still an obvious scarring on her face that likely would take quite some time to heal, as well as a lethargy that had prevented her from being the first one to awake that morning. She would’ve been the last, too, if Bella wasn’t being difficult.

“I swear to the Gods, Bella, I will drag you by your hair if you don’t get up!” Festus hollered at his sister, pulling at her arm like a chain. Bella, however, remained unfazed at his attempts.

“Five more minutes…” She mumbled. After the team had gotten over their first challenge of the day and Bella was finally sitting besides them all, albeit with her eyes half closed, they began to plan their course of action for that day.

“Alright, so the Flamespeaker and his Ashari are investigating the more Northwestern parts of Pyrah,” Theo said, pulling out the several notes he had taken during yesterday’s debrief. “Since Rook’s house was on the Eastern side, we still have that area available for investigating.”

“We could also go back to the Veridian Peak,” Gwen said through a mouthful of trail rations. Though dried meat didn’t make the most appealing breakfast for any of them, everyone had mutually decided that they didn’t want to risk the possibility of being poisoned through Pyrah’s food. “Now that Bella’s magic is recharged.”

“And maybe ask some better questions when people are lucid instead of ‘who do you think is the hottest guard here?’” Festus sent a rather obvious glare in the direction of his sister.

“What? I thought it was a good question…” Bella tutted, grabbing a stick of rations from Wax and chewing it aggressively.

“No. No it wasn’t.” Theo said sympathetically, taking a sip from his water canteen. Bella muttered something under her breath.

“So should we focus on asking questions, then? Or should we try to keep investigating? We didn’t really find anything compelling yesterday,” said Annie.

“You almost died. I’d say that’s pretty compelling.” Festus commented, glancing down at the halfling. She made a face.

“I would’ve been fine…” she grumbled, though even she didn’t seem very convinced by her own words.

“I do agree, though, an uninterrupted investigation could prove to be extremely useful,” said Gwen. “I would very much like to keep poking around.”

“Looks like we’re at odds, then.” Aidan said, smiling in their usual drowsy way. The group all enhanced glances with one another.

“Should we maybe split up? Would that be a terrible idea?” Wax suggested.

“Almost definitely,” said Festus. “But it might be the most efficient way to get things done. We have a lot of ground to cover and not a lot of time.”

“So half will speak to Rook, and the other half will poke around Pyrah?” Gwen asked, stroking her chin. There were ample nods from the party.

“Alright. We meet back here just before sunset. If one group isn’t back by then, it will be assumed that they’re in danger and we go after them. Okay?” Festus asked, looking around for approval. Once more, there were nods.

“I think Bella and I should go into separate groups,” Aidan chimed in. “That way everyone has at least one healer.”

“That sounds fair,” said Annie. “I’ll go with Bella.” 

“Really?” Theo asked.

“What?”

“I don’t know, you and Aidan are close, so I just… figured…” Theo trailed off, looking a bit embarrassed. 

“Aidan’s my ride or die. But I also know they can handle themselves. This one, though, she’s gonna need some protection.” Annie said, leaning against Bella’s arm. The tiefling looked down at her.

“You almost died yesterday.” Bella reminded her, causing Annie to sigh.

“I will join the investigation group.” Gwen said, glancing at Aidan. 

“I’ll go, too,” said Theo. 

“I can go with Bella and Annie, maybe I can see if any other spells will work on the infected.” Wax said, looking at the two. Bella fist pumped.

“Alright, I get both of the tiny ones!” She cheered. Gwen snickered a bit at this reaction, then turned to Festus.

“You’re the odd number, Fezzie. Who are you going with?” She asked, batting her eyelashes at him. 

“You call me that again, I’ll cut off your hair in your sleep,” he threatened, before taking a moment to think. “I suppose I’ll go with the investigation group. The Veridian Peak is well guarded, so nothing should go terribly wrong. Hopefully.”

“Alright, so Bella, Annie, and Wax are going to talk with the infected,” Theo counted. “And me, Festus, Gwen, and Aidan are going to continue investigating around Pyrah. That sound right?”

“Sounds good to me.
“Yep!”

“Good to me.”

“Fantastic. Let’s get going, then.” With that one suggestion, everyone immediately got to their feet and shuffled towards the tent flap. Aidan was the first in the line, but suddenly stopped before exiting the tent.

“Oh, and one last thing before we all go. Whatever you do, stay together. Please.” They said calmly before ducking their head down and exiting the tent. Though everyone had their gazes forward, Annie’s cheeks burned, knowing everyone was simultaneously thinking about her idiocy from the day before.

Bella, Annie, and Wax paraded through Pyrah, their prior knowledge of the location of the Veridian Peaks allowing them to move relatively quickly. Bella headed the trio while Annie kept to the rear, head on a swivel as she analyzed nearly every Ashari that they passed- trying to pick up on any discernible or suspicious behavior. Wax, meanwhile, simply kept his head down and trotted behind Bella.

“Everyone seems on edge.” Annie noted, watching what appeared to be a half-elf couple whispering among themselves, a look of concern on both of their faces.

“Can you blame them? From their perspective, all their friends and family have just gone completely mental with no explanation,” said Wax. “We only know about the flower theory because we’ve been poking around. But they don’t know that- they’re probably all terrified that they’ll be next.”

“You know, I was thinking about something yesterday.” Bella chimed in. “Cause like… calm emotions, I know it’s a cleric spell and everything, and that the Flamesneaker is an Archdruid or whatever… But like, is there really nobody else in Pyrah who could’ve used it? Nobody thought to try?”

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.” Annie frowned. “Cerkonos claimed that they were doing all they could to help the infected Ashari, but we get here for one day and make more progress than they have in, what, a month?”

“You’d think a dude in charge of an entire village would be a little more efficient. Maybe we should stage a coup.” Bella scoffed. Annie chuckled.

“I don’t think that would go off too well, Bea.” 

“I don’t know about that.” Wax mumbled, so quietly it almost seemed like he had intended for it to be an inside thought. He looked up after his words, alarmed.

“What do you mean?” asked Annie. 

“Just… I mean, I’ve been hearing things whenever we move around Pyrah. Seeing things.”

“You’re seeing things? You should go to a doctor.” Bella said. Wax sighed.

“No, not like that . I mean from the other Ashari. The Flamespeaker always has other soldiers with him when we talk to him, which is fine and all, but they always seem… I don’t know, I guess annoyed? Irritated?” Annie frowned.

“With us?” 

“No, with the Flamespeaker.” Bella and Annie looked at each other. “Like, every time he makes a suggestion or tells them to do something, they immediately get tense or upset. Like they’re mad at him.”

“I saw that everyone was always on edge, but I just chalked that up to being stressed about the situation,” said Annie. “You think they don’t trust the Flamespeaker?” Wax shook his head.

“I don’t know what I think. But I guess if it was me, and my family turned into walking zombies before my eyes and my leader wasn’t doing anything about it… I’d be pretty upset.” There was a tense silence following this observation. 

“Maybe that’s the point.” Bella suddenly said. Annie and Wax looked up to her.

“How you mean?”

“Like… This is a weird situation, and it almost seems like it was designed to make the Flamebeaker look incompetent. Maybe whoever’s causing the plague is doing it specifically to make the Ashari distrust their leader.”

“What, like a conspiracy?” Annie asked, furrowing her eyebrows. “That’s not… I don’t think…” Wax looked at her.

“It’s definitely possible.” He said softly. Annie shook her head.

“But Flamespeaker Cerkonos is a hero! He’s served Pyrah for years now- he fought in the Battle of Ruidus and helped save Exandria! How could anyone think he’s incompetent after that?” She demanded. 

“But that was almost thirty years ago,” said Wax. “And there haven't been any world-ending threats since then- at least as far as I’m aware. And when you don’t need to work as hard, you get comfortable. You get sloppy.”

“Like a retiree.” Bella nodded. Annie shook her head again.

“...No, I’m sure there’s another answer. That he’s going through a bad break up or something else that’s made him lose his edge. Temporarily . Just because we’re helping out doesn’t mean he’s bad at his job.” 

“If you say so, Annie.” Wax said gently. Annie scowled, hating the sympathy that was present in his voice. Bella, noticing that tension that was starting to build, quickly changed the subject.

“So! Annie, you and Aidan are Ashari. Pretty cool,” she noted. “You guys from the one that’s in the middle of the ocean, or-?”

“No, not Vesrah.” Annie sighed, crossing her arms. “The both of us are from Zephrah. Or, at least, we both trained there, anyway.”

“How you mean?” Wax asked, suddenly interested.

“I was born in Zephrah, but Aidan came to us only a couple of years ago. They wanted to learn about druidic magic, so they were taught by some of the disciples of the Voice of the Tempest. They’re a damn quick learner, I’ll tell you.”

“Who’s the Voice of the Tempest?” Bella asked. 

“She’s the leader of Zephrah-” Annie began, but at the same time Wax answered,

“Her name’s Keyleth.” Annie raised an eyebrow.

“You know her name?” She asked, intrigued. Wax coughed awkwardly into his fist.

“Well, yeah, I mean… She helped save Exandria, it’s kind of hard not to know her. You know?” He gulped. Annie stared at the gnome, trying to discern anything further from his shifty expression, but found that Wax was rather hard to read.

“If you say so, Wax.” She retorted. Wax cleared his throat, then- looking to save himself- looked up to Bella.

“So, uh, you and Festus. You’re brother and sister?”

“Yep! He’s technically two years older than me, but I like to think we’re more like… really, really late twins.” She said. Wax smiled a tiny bit.

“I have to say- and please tell me if this is rude or not. But I’ve met all kinds of tieflings while I was at the Westhall Academy, and I’ve never… Well, I’ve never seen one who was green before.”

“Oh yeah, he gets that from our dad,” Bella said casually. “He got a lot of things from our dad, actually. Green skin, sword skills, being a wet blanket… ”

“What was that last thing?”

“Nothing!” She chirped. “But yeah. Fez takes after dad, and I take after mom. But at least I got this from him!” She pulled on the white streak in her hair, showing it off to her smaller companions.

“You were born with that? I was assuming you dyed it.” Annie noted.

“Nope, all natural!” Bella grinned. “Pretty cool, right? Dad’s hair turned white after he made a deal with an ancient leviathan demigod. And then he passed it on to me!” Annie and Wax both stared at her.

“Ah, that’s… cool?” Wax said. “I guess I shouldn’t find it hard to believe, Gwen’s sister pretty much had the same thing happen to her, so I-”

“Gwen has a sister?” Annie asked, intrigued. “Go on.” Wax’s eyes widened.

“Oh, shit…! I, um, shouldn’t have mentioned that. Don’t, uh, don’t tell her I told you that. Please.” He pleaded. 

“What’s the big deal? So she has a sister, a lot of people do.” Annie scoffed.

“Yeah, but… Gwen’s really particular about what she tells people. She likes her privacy, you know? So-so I shouldn’t be telling you stuff about her when she’s not here. It’s part-”

“Wax. Calm down.” Annie placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s fine. It’s not like we’re gonna use that against her. Right, Bella?”

“I wish I had a sister.” Bella sighed longingly. Annie shook her head at the tiefling then looked back at Wax. “You’re very loyal to her, and I respect that. But don’t beat yourself up about something so inconsequential. We’re a team now, remember? So there’s gotta be at least a little trust between us.” Wax looked at her analytically, seemingly reading her eyes for something, but it wasn’t clear what he was looking for. 

“...Right. You’re right, Annie. But, uh, let’s not talk about anyone when they’re not here, okay? I can tell you about my sister, if you want. She’s a real-”

“We’re here!” Bella announced. The trio had been deeply distracted by their conversation, not realizing that they had already walked the length of Pyrah and were now back at the familiar quarantine area that was the Veridian Peaks. The soldiers were different today, likely having traded off positions with fellow Ashari, but the infected still lumbered about, heavily restrained and zombie-like.

“Okay, we should think about what exactly we’re gonna ask Rook when we find them,” Annie noted as the three of them carefully side-stepped away from the infected. “We only have two minutes worth of magic, so we gotta make it count.”

“Maybe we can ask if they remember who cooked their meal that night? Or at least, where they bought the ingredients from.” Wax suggested.

“Also, are we gonna tell them that their mom is dead?” Bella asked. Annie and Wax glanced at each other.

“Maybe that’s something to bring up after we’ve figured this all out.” Annie stated awkwardly, an expression of guilt suddenly appearing on her face. “Let’s just keep to seeing what we can garner about how they got infected.”

With Bella leading the charge, it took the group the better part of half an hour to try and find Rook among the shambling masses of infected Ashari. The patrolling soldiers were beginning to grow suspicious of their activity before finally, Bella noticed the familiar half-elf standing about twenty feet away, now tied to the base of a rock. Rook, in their feral state, had their jaw hanging open and stared blankly ahead with their milky white eyes.

“There!” Bella pointed, and rushed over. Annie and Wax followed quickly behind, stopping just before the rock and looking at the Ashari, seething from their position and unable to move to attack the trio.

“Why did they tie them up like that?” Wax asked, horrified, as Bella began reciting her familiar incantation.

“Maybe they were growing more violent.” Annie breathed, glancing sideways at Wax and sharing an uncomfortable look. As Bella finished her spell, Rook’s eyes returned to a normal state, and their wild agitation transformed into a terrified discomfort.

“It’s you again.” They breathed, looking between the three. They tugged on their chains, finding themself unable to move. “What-? What is this?”

“There’s no time, Rook. We can only bring you back for a little bit- but we need you to tell us everything you remember if we want any chance at bringing everyone back to normal. Can you tell us everything you remember- and don’t skip any details.” Annie stepped forward and spoke boldly, taking charge. Rook, though still clearly afraid, nodded in response.

“...Ok. I had stayed home the entire day to care for my mom. I think she had a bad cold or something similar- it wasn’t too bad, but mom’s always been somewhat of a hypochondriac. I barely ate anything throughout the day ‘cause I didn’t want to accidentally contaminate myself. I think I had a biscuit around noon, but that was it.

“I mostly just kept mom company- wiped off her forehead when she got too hot, gave her extra blankets when she got too cold. She fell asleep a little before my dad and sister came home. Then-”

Rook suddenly began to growl, their eyes returning back to blanks. Bella quickly casted her spell, and Rook shook their head and came back to.

“Uh, then when they got back, my sister took care of making dinner. They both had been teaching sparring to some of the kids, so they were both starving. She liked to cook because she always insisted I don’t make things properly.”

“What did she make? And where did you get the ingredients?” Wax asked.

“Er, I think it was just some roasted pork and vegetables- nothing crazy. Oh, and my dad wanted some beer, too, so he brought a pitcher home. The vegetables we grow in our garden and the pork we bought from Kennedy- he’s the only butcher we go to. But we ate dinner, and then I started feeling really tired… And then next thing I remember, I was talking to you all.”

“What did you eat?” Annie exclaimed desperately, feeling the time slowly begin to run out.

“Uh, everything, I think. Oh, no, I didn’t eat any bread. But I had a glass of beer, some of the pork, and pretty much all of the vegetables. Dad and I got really tired after dinner, but Vela seemed fine-”

“Was there anything she didn’t eat?” Annie was practically shouting now. 

“I don’t think she had any-” Rook’s face suddenly went slackjaw, their head hanging loose and eyes turning white. They let out a low, animalistic growl, and Annie let out a frustrated yell.

“You’re fucking kidding me! Right before we got a definitive answer!” She roared, turning and punching a rock so hard that it literally shattered. Bella and Wax both took a step back from her.

“I think we actually found out more than meets the eye.” Wax noted, stepping behind Bella. Annie, her rage subsiding, whipped around.

“What?”

“Rook said they grew their vegetables, so that’s likely not our target. And they didn’t eat bread, so it’s not that either. The only things that came from a different source were the beer and the pork. So, we got two leads out of that conversation. Good job, Bella.” He took her hand and gently squeezed it.

“Aw, shucks.” She chortled. Annie took control of her breathing.

“Yeah, okay, you’re right. Two leads, okay, that narrows it down.”

“And I'm certain,” Wax continued. “That the other group will find something that’ll give us a definitive lead for sure.”

“Uh, Gwen, the house is back that way.” Theo noted, glancing behind him as the image of the steel-blue house grew smaller and smaller.

“I know. We’re not going back there.” Gwen said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, her head on a swivel as she led the quartet through west Pyrah.

“Gee, that would’ve been nice to know when we were making teams.” Festus huffed, looking at Theo incredulously. “Where, then oh great-and-powerful Guinevere, are we going?”

“Down the road. And good guess, but it’s Gwendolyn, not Guinevere.” She said, looking carefully at something ahead but continuing to walk.

“The point still stands- I was under the impression this was a team activity. Why are you calling the shots?” Festus retorted. Gwen halted and spun around, coming face to face with the other tiefling. The two were very nearly the same height, though Festus was somewhat taller- much to her chagrin.

“Because I figured if we cover more ground, there’s a higher chance of finding something we could use. You saw the state of that kitchen yesterday- what are we going to discern from a bunch of rotten meat?” She said sharply. “But, my celadon companion, if you feel so strongly about returning there, then by all means- make your case.”

Gwen waited, looking at Festus expectantly. He didn’t make any movements or changes in facial expression, but his eyes were blazing with annoyance. 

“Uh, Gwen,” Theo stepped forward. “I think what Festus is trying to say is- going somewhere different would’ve been fine, but you should’ve really told us that that was your intention. We’re all working together, you know?”

“One for all. Not all for one.” Aidan said gently. Gwen’s tenseness relaxed upon Theo and Aidan’s interjection and she nodded quaintly.

“Yes, you are both correct. Apologies. I suppose I am more used to leading then, well, working in a group such as this.” She said.

“So you make Wax follow you around, then?” Festus scoffed. Gwen turned to him with a smile.

“Not at all. Wax is a very dear friend of mine.” She said nonchalantly before continuing on her way. Festus scowled, reluctantly following behind her.

“Why are those two always at each other's throats?” Aidan asked out loud, shaking their large head. They looked to Theo. “Apologies for being nosey. But besides Bella, you appear to have known Festus the longest, so I figured you may know.”

“Yeah, I’ve known him for a long time. Honestly, he’s been around pretty much my entire life.” Theo sighed, shifting his spellbook under his other arm. “Our parents are really close, so I’d always see him and Bella during, you know, brunches or whatever. We only started traveling as a group relatively recently, but he’s always been there. And I’d probably call him my best friend.”

“But?” asked Aidan. Theo sighed again.

“He’s just… Festus is crazy knowledgeable. Not book smart like me or Wax, but street smart. You let him loose in a bar for ten minutes, he’ll come out with the winning hand of a card game and thirteen guys offering to do favors for him. And I really admire that about him- he’s skilled. Really skilled.

“But I think that means he’s pretty much assigned himself as the leader between me and Bella. I’m not strong in the slightest, and Bella is… well, Bella. So we kind of just let him take on that role while we were traveling. But Gwen’s been challenging him ever since we met up. And… Please don’t tell him I said this, but I think he feels threatened by her.”

“Because she’s capable?”

“Because she makes him second guess himself,” Theo mumbled. “She’s extremely confident and believes in her own mind far more than his. I don’t think he’s jealous or anything like that, but I think he second guesses himself when she’s around. Because if he can’t even trust himself, then what says the rest of us will?” Theo suddenly stopped and clutched his head, letting out a groan.

“Theo? What’s wrong?” Aidan asked, leaning down and grasping his shoulder.

“...M’fine.” Theo managed to utter, clenching his teeth. “This… happens sometimes. Especially when I’m stressed. It’ll go away in a minute.”

“Oye, what’s the hold up back there-! Hey, Theo, are you okay?” Gwen had turned and returned back to where Aidan and Theo had stopped, looking at the human with concern. “What’s going on?”

“Headache.” Theo gritted, grasping his entire head as he nearly buckled under his own weight.

“Shit. Sit down, come on, you know you shouldn’t be standing when it happens.” Festus came up beside Gwen, quickly taking action and forcing Theo onto the ground. He took out his water skin and put the nozzle into Theo’s mouth, forcing him to drink.

“He gets frequent migraines.” Festus explained to Aidan and Gwen, picking up a cold rock from off of the ground. “Nobody knows why. They show up at random times and then go away after about a minute.” He placed the rock on Theo's forehead, and he relaxed slightly under the cool sensation.

“How long have you had them?” Aidan asked curiously. Theo took another sip of water.

“My whole life, practically. Just adds to my charm.” He smiled weakly, capping the water skin and handing it back to Festus. They waited for about five minutes, giving Theo space to recover until he got to his feet.

“Alright, I’m good. Sorry to hold us up.” He smiled with a bit of embarrassment, placing the rock back down on the ground. 

“Not at all,” said Gwen. Before they got to moving again, she looked to Festus, curiously. “You handled that remarkably well.”

“He’s had those headaches for as long as I’ve known him. What kind of friend would I be if I just stood there and did nothing, let him suffer?” Gwen nodded slowly.

“...A friend indeed. Well, then, the house I was looking at is just up ahead. I noticed it yesterday as we passed and thought it may be of interest. We’ll do a thorough look through and meet up with the others. Sound alright?” She asked. 

“Fine with me.” Aidan smiled at her. Gwen cleared her throat.

“Wonderful. Let’s be on our way, then.” Moving just down the round, the group of four stood in front of a simple home made up of stone and wood decals, nothing about it making it distinct from any of the other many houses in Pyrah. Currently all the doors and windows were closed, but some movement in front of the windows lead to believe that there was someone inside.

“Why this house?” Theo asked. 

“Yesterday, I noticed two kids playing in front of this house. They were looking at us, almost like they were scared,” Gwen recalled. “The Flamespeaker said that nobody under nineteen has been infected, but those kids looked like they had seen something that put them on edge. I figured this would be a good start.”

“That’s… a really good idea, actually.” Festus stated.

“You expect anything less?” Gwen smirked. Aidan glanced at Theo as Festus exhaled and replied,

“I’ve learned not to expect anything anymore.” He approached the door and knocked. A moment went by before the door creaked open, and a young human girl- likely around 12 or 13- poked her head through the doorway. It was hard to make out her appearance, but her skin was covered in freckles and long curls of red hair fell down her face.

“Can I help you?” She asked meekly.

“Hello, there. Is your adult at home right now?” Aidan asked kindly, practically kneeling in order to get on eye level with the girl. She went quiet for a moment before answering,

“Um… No. But my mom will be home any second.” The girl said quickly. Aidan’s eyes softened, hearing quite a bit of fear in the girl’s voice.

“Ah, I see. Me and my friends here are helping the Flamespeaker, we’re going around Pyrah to investigate.” They said. “My name is Aidan. Can I ask your name?”

“...I’m Ella.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Ella. These three behind me are my friends. Is it okay if they’re there while we talk?” 

“Yeah, that’s okay.” Aidan was, rather uncomfortably, crouching down by the door, keeping their head low so that the girl, Ella, could see them at all times. Though the position seemed very strenuous, Aidan kept a soft, gentle smile on their face.

“Do you know about what’s happening in Pyrah?”

“Yeah. People go to sleep and then they can’t wake up. Then they start attacking others- but they don’t mean to.” Ella mumbled. Aidan nodded.

“That’s right. We want to help the Ashari return to normal, and we need a bit of help to do so. Is it okay if I ask you some questions?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Thank you, that’s very kind. Has anyone you know gone to sleep and couldn’t wake up?” 

“Um… My mom and dad did. I’m sorry, I lied before. She’s not coming home.” Ella pushed the door open a little further, taking a single step outside of the house. The other three did not make any movements, putting their full trust in Aidan to speak to her. Aidan nodded in understanding.

“That’s alright. It’s important not to always trust strangers, so it’s good you didn’t tell the truth right away. When did your mom and dad fall asleep?”

“A few days ago. Four, I think,” Ella replied. “They got really tired after dinner and went to bed. And then when they woke up… they were different.” Tears formed in her eyes, and she quickly blinked them away.

“I see, it was after dinner. Do you remember what you all ate that night?”

“Um… I don’t know. I think dad made roasted chicken. That’s what he usually makes. Oh! And we had potatoes and brussel sprouts, ‘cause Mikey was complaining about them.”

“Mikey?”

“My little brother.” She said, then suddenly went quiet. “Um, Aidan? Do you know magic?”

“I do know magic. And so does my friend, Theo, over there.” They said, referencing the group behind them. “Why do you ask?”

“Mikey… he kept trying to wake up our parents when they wouldn’t get up. He kept shouting and pulling on mom’s arm, and when she finally got up, she…” Ella wiped her eyes. “I-I know a little magic, but it’s not enough. I didn’t want to leave the house in case he needed me.” Aidan’s face suddenly became very serious.

“Show me.”

Ella led them all inside, her small body trembling as she ran upstairs. Aidan was quick to follow after her, Festus, Gwen, and Theo very close behind. The interior of the house seemed like any other family-lived in home, but there was an eerie feeling in here, rather similar to Rook’s home.

Ella brought them all into a room on the right side of the upstairs hall. She pushed open the door and stepped inside, revealing what appeared to be a child’s bedroom.

“Mikey? I brought help.” There, laying on the floor was a little boy- likely around 5 or 6. He had similarly curly red hair as his sister did, and the rounded cheeks of a young child. However, Mikey did not react to their entering the room, as he was currently focused on breathing through a massive gash in his abdomen. Bandages were wrapped around his midsection, blood having seeped through and stained them a bright scarlet. The floor around him was stained a dark maroon. 

“I didn’t know what was happening until I heard him screaming,” Ella cried desperately as Aidan knelt beside the injured boy. “Mom was… she bit him, like she was trying to kill him! Mom and dad were both captured by the Ashari, but I brought Mikey in here. I-I know it was stupid, but I thought they’d… that they’d want to kill Mikey because they thought he was infected. I’ve been trying to keep him alive, but I don’t know-”

“Ella.” Aidan’s voice was calm and gentle, looking into the little girl’s eyes with a deep reassurance. “You did the best you could. But it was a very good idea you asked us to help him.” Aidan placed their hands on Mikey’s bandaged midsection, causing him to wince in pain.

“W-what are you doing?” Ella asked, terrified. Gwen knelt down and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Magic.” She explained, holding the girl close as Aidan worked. Muttering arcane words under their breath, a gentle green light emitted from Aidan’s hands and entered into Mikey’s body. Once the light had faded, Aidan began to unwrap the bandages, revealing that the gash had nearly completely healed- leaving behind nothing more than a long, thin scar.

“There.” Aidan smiled, brushing the hair out of Mikey’s sweaty forehead and helping him sit up. The boy blinked his eyes, regaining an energy he clearly hadn’t had in many days.

“Ella?” He blinked, looking confused at his sister. The girl raced from Gwen’s grasp and clutched her brother, hugging him tightly. The boy gagged, trying to push her away.

“Too tight! Too tight!” He complained, but Ella would not release. She cried loudly, wailing into her brother’s shoulder.

“Thank you! Thank you!” She sobbed, tears and snot dripping down her face. Mikey flailed in her grasp. Aidan got to their feet and approached the other three.

“Sorry we didn’t get too much information out of her, Gwen. I figure we should let them wind down before we begin questioning them again.” They said, craning their neck so their head didn’t hit the ceiling. Gwen waved her hand.

“Why are you even apologizing right now? Look at those two.” She said, a sad smile on her face as she watched the two siblings. “This is the whole reason we’re helping these people in the first place. Information can wait- this is more important.”

“Agreed,” said Festus. “And I’m certain that the other group will find something that’ll give us a definitive lead for sure.”

Chapter Text

“So… We basically learned nothing more than we already know.” Wax sighed, rubbing his eyes from both physical and mental exhaustion. As promised, the group had met up once again in front of their tent and relayed the bits of information each of them learned- or, rather, the lack thereof. Bella had recounted the extremely minimal recollection from Rook, whereas Aidan recounted their experience meeting the children Ella and Mikey; interestingly, to Gwen, Fes, and Theo, they hadn’t brought up the fact that they saved the life of the little boy.

The group all hung around the entrance of the tent, seemingly too tired to even go inside. They all lingered about, watching night fall over Pyrah and people nervously locking up their doors as they tucked in for the night- wondering if they would wake up the next morning right of mind.

“Well, we’ve been here for three days now and none of us are infected. At least that confirms our flower theory.” Festus mentioned, rubbing one of his horns as if it ached. Although that had been true, the group had now been surviving on the dried meats of their trail rations, and it was clear everyone was growing sick of them.

“I guess that’s something.” Annie murmured, her normally vibrant green eyes now a dim grassy color. There was a brief silence before Gwen sighed and opened up the tent flap.

“Alright. I know we’re all disappointed, but there’s no point moping around about it. Let’s get some rest so we’re better equipped for tomorrow. Alright?” She asked rather gently, a stark contrast to her normally lavish and alluring tone. There was a mass shuffle towards the tent flap, everyone- ironically so- moving like zombies to get into the warm comfort of their bedrolls. However, Theo remained where he was, his face scrunched up in deep thought.

“Theodore, darling, you coming?” Gwen asked. Theo shook his head.

“Hang on a second. I think… I think I figured it out.” The shuffling stopped, and all heads turned towards the lone human of their group.

“Figured what out?” asked Annie.

“This whole tirade. I think… I think I know what’s causing it.” He said, his eyes widening somewhat in alarm as his brain put the pieces together.

“What is it?” Bella asked eagerly.

“Think back to when we first came here. The Flamespeaker said, specifically, that the youngest person infected by the sleepwalker plague was about nineteen. Right? Nobody younger.”

“Okay…” Wax said slowly, trying to follow.

“And when some of us went to that house earlier, what did we find? Kids, little kids- scared, but uninfected. But one of them was almost a teenager.”

“Meaning?” 

“ Meaning that she was old enough to have everything that was being served for dinner that night, that same meal that infected her parents, except for one single thing. ” The group listened and waited as Theo paused, seemingly for dramatic effect. 

“What did Rook have, that their sister didn’t have, that kids also don’t have?” The question caused a few confused looks among the group, but Theo’s vague wording suddenly seemed to click for Wax, who audibly gasped.

“Alcohol.” He nearly shouted. “The poison’s in the alcohol!” The realization, and the sense behind it, dawned on the rest of the group. 

“A public good that everyone in Pyrah has constant access to, that will affect a large chunk of the population without harming the children. You could easily slip a few petals into a keg without it making any difference in the taste or texture.” Theo continued on, as if all the evidence to his hypothesis was forming as he spoke. However, it made complete sense to everybody else.

“Shit. Shit! Theo, you’re a bloody fucking genius!” Gwen exclaimed.

“That’s why we keep him around.” Festus grinned, however he was looking at his friend with great pride. Theo smiled bashfully under the praise.

“Ah, well, you know, it’s just-”

“No time to be humble!” Annie suddenly cried. “If we know where the plague is coming from, we have to tell the Flamespeaker!”

“Right, right, yes. Tell the Flamespeaker.” Gwen said oddly. Annie furrowed her eyebrows at the woman.

“What?”

“No, nothing.” Gwen waved her hand. 

“If you have something to say, Gwen, then say it.”

“I just… feel as though… Perhaps it may be better if we handle this ourselves. That’s all.” She said carefully, clearly understanding that her suggestion was not going to be very pleasing to hear. Annie, meanwhile, raised an eyebrow.

“May I ask why?”

“I’m… forgive me, I know you and Aidan likely feel very loyal to him as Ashari. But after some… some thought, I wonder if Flamespeaker Cerkonos is… well, capable of providing any significant aid at this point.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Annie jabbed. 

“Annie-” Aidan attempted to calm her temper, but she waved them off. 

“No. What is that supposed to mean, Gwen?” Gwen, struggling to word her thoughts in a way that would quell the halfling’s fury, looked to the rest of the group for help. However, nobody came to her aid.

“Let’s be honest here, Annie,” Gwen said flatly, changing her approach. “We’re a group that formed- what- four, five days ago? We came here to simply pass through on a job and got our employer killed. We’ve been here for only a couple of days and we’ve already managed to figure out what the problem is. Meanwhile, this has all been happening for a month now?”

“So?”

“ So, why wasn’t Cerkonos able to solve this himself? He’s far stronger than we are, has far more resources. Yet we accomplished what he could not. That doesn’t speak very highly about his skills, now does it?” Annie’s face had gone bright red now, but it seemed her fury had changed to indignation. 

“He doesn’t need to be perfect.”

“No, but he should be able to protect his people, shouldn’t he?” Gwen asked, almost accusingly. 

“I… kind of agree with Gwen.” Wax chimed in sheepishly, unable to bring himself to look Annie in the eye. “Everyone in Pyrah almost seems… I don’t know, annoyed with the Flamespeaker? Like… like they don’t trust him anymore.”

“Oh please.” Annie scoffed.

“It’s true. The first time we visited the Veridian Peaks, I overheard some soldiers speaking about Cerkonos. And to them, it seemed that he was losing his touch.” Gwen said. Annie scowled.

“Maybe he is, or maybe he isn’t. That’s not our call to make!” She roared. “We made a promise to him that we would help Pyrah as much as we could. I don’t think going behind his back would paint us in a very good light!”

“I have to agree,” Aidan finally added in their thoughts, their voice sleepy but words serious. “How we perceive things may be completely different than what they actually are. You are entitled to have your own opinions on the Flamespeaker, but it would do us no good to sneak behind his back. No matter what, he is still a headmaster- and thus deserves respect.” Wax seemed to back down somewhat under Aidan’s words, though Gwen held her ground.

“It’s not ‘sneaking behind his back,’ it’s just furthering the investigation, that’s all. I just think we should go to him once we’ve wrapped this whole thing up.” She insisted, though it was clear her words were not landing. 

“I don’t know, Gwen. I don’t really feel any particular way about the Flamespeaker, but I’d trust Aidan and Annie about Ashari affairs. They know more than we do.” Theo said softly. 

“Maybe he’s just going through something right now. Like a bad breakup or something.” Bella offered. Festus remained silent. Outvoted, Gwen faced Aidan and Annie again, desperately trying to cling to her argument.

“I just feel-”

“We all feel plenty.” Aidan cut her off, much to her surprise. “But we cannot always let our emotions guide our decisions. I’m sorry, Gwen, but this isn’t something I will back down on. I have utmost respect for the Flamespeaker, and I will not betray his trust in me.” It was a heavy end to their sentence, and Gwen instantly felt a weight form in her chest. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

“It’s alright. But I think we should hurry and inform the Flamespeaker of our findings, yes?” Aidan asked the rest of the group, all of whom were too stunned to disagree with the firbolg. Somehow, in the calmest voice out of all of them, Aidan had managed to cause the most emotional turmoil.

“Let’s go, then.” Annie muttered, grabbing ahold of Aidan’s furry hand and walking with them down the darkened street. The rest of the team shuffled behind, the awkward tension still lingering heavily in the air. The only ones that remained behind were, unsurprisingly, Gwen and Wax.

“Are you okay, Winnie?” He asked gently. Gwen had an extremely intricate expression on her face, a mixture of confusion, hurt, and embarrassment.

“I…I am. It’s odd, I suppose I’m just not used to… to…”

“People not doing what you want?” Gwen shot him a furious look, but found she couldn’t retort. Deep down, she knew he had a point. 

“Let’s just go.” She said, hurrying along to catch up with the rest of the group. Wax shook his head, silently cursing someone’s name under his breath, then followed behind. It was a mostly silent walk to the Flamespeaker’s quarters, everyone within their own thoughts as they walked. Some thinking about the argument between Gwen and the two Ashari members of their team, some thinking about why someone would be poisoning Pyrah’s alcohol supply, and one blue tiefling in particular wondering would my tongue actually stick to a lampost if I licked it?

Nevertheless, they arrived at the structure of petrified wood at about eight in the evening, though the cloud-covered darkness in the sky would have someone thinking it was closer to midnight. Festus, moving to head the group, pushed the hanging vines aside to pass, holding them open for the other members.

It was extremely dark inside, but those among the group who held the ability to see in the dark noticed that there was a lone figure sitting in the center of the room, sipping from a porcelain teacup. It was Mortair, the dwarven Ashari who had initially released them from their holding cells. She looked up and seemed shocked at the entrance of the party.

“Good evening. Sorry to barge in like this, but we have urgent news.” Festus apologized, bowing his head in respect. 

“Who’s that?” Annie called out into the darkness, clinging to Aidan- who also stared blindly into the abyss.

“It’s Mortair.” Theo answered before turning back to the woman. “It’s good to see you. Where’s the Flamespeaker? And the other Ashari?”

“And why are you sitting here alone?” Gwen asked suspiciously.

“Hold on a second, too many questions.” Mortair waved her hand, taking a last sip from her cup and placing it down in front of her. “Let me ask one first before we get to yours. What’re you all doing here? Thought you were ‘investigating.’”

“We were. And we discovered something big. But we’d like to talk it over with the Flamespeaker first,” said Theo. “Do you know where he is?” Mortair shuffled a bit, though she remained sitting.

“He went out just a few minutes ago- you just missed him, matter of fact. You didn’t see him walking out on your way up here?” She asked curiously.

“No, we didn’t see anything. Did he mention where he was going?” Wax asked. 

“Nope, as per usual,” the dwarf sighed. 

“As per usual?” Bella repeated.

“Flamespeaker Cerkonos has been going out more and more lately. And he doesn’t like to answer directly when asked about where he goes.” Mortair said. “I don’t like to pry, so I don’t usually follow up.”

“So you just let him go about wherever he wants without knowing where he is?!” Annie demanded. Mortair gave her a bored look.

“I’m not his babysitter.” 

“Well, we really need to find him. Do you have any idea of where he might’ve gone, like frequented spots?” Theo asked earnestly.

“He’s been pretty flighty since the plague began, but he usually likes to either head up the mountain, or get drinks at the local pub.” Everyone shared a look. “What? You all look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“We have reason to believe that, whoever’s poisoning Pyrah, they’re doing it through the alcohol provisions.” Annie said. “If the Flamespeaker is at a bar, he could be in danger.” Mortair’s eyes widened at Annie’s words, but Gwen- on edge ever since they had arrived here- couldn’t help but notice that Mortair didn’t exactly seem surprised. The tiefling tensed.

“Shit. If that’s the case, then every Ashari in that building could be in trouble.” Mortair stood up and rushed towards the exit, shoving the party out of the way rather unceremoniously. “I’ll send a few of my soldiers up the mountain to see if the Flamespeaker’s there. But you all head to the bar and stop him before he can drink anything. It’s called Soot and Ash, big glowing lanterns and a red sign closer to the forest. You can’t miss it.”

“Right. We’ll get there as quick as we can- if he’s not there, we’ll stick around to see if any of the kegs there have been tampered with. Have your soldiers come by if you can’t find him.” Festus said, trailing behind Mortair. The dwarven woman nodded, gave a salute to the party, then ran off, eventually disappearing into the darkened night.

“Come on. We’re losing daylight- er, nightlight, I guess.” Festus shook his head, motioning for everyone to follow.

“Hold on. I have a weird feeling about all of this.” Gwen said, halting in her tracks. “I think Mortair is hiding something.”

“What could she be hiding?” Bella asked, tilting her head curiously. 

“I don’t know exactly. But when we were talking just now, about the alcohol being tampered, it seemed like… like it wasn’t news to her.”

“Alright, Gwen, I don’t know what’s going on with your Ashari-hating today, but I really think you need to drop it.” Annie spat, narrowing her eyes. Gwen exhaled in frustration.

“Annie, I’m not making this up. I promise you.” 

“I don’t know, Gwen. You just tried to convince us that the Flamespeaker was incompetent, and now you’re suspicious of Mortair, one of his right-hands. I mean, come on, how do you think that sounds?” Annie scoffed. Gwen shook her head.

“I know how it sounds, but I’m telling you what I saw. And I trust my senses. Mortair is hiding something, and I don’t think it’s good.”

“I believe Gwen.” Wax announced, earning him a smile from his friend.

“Of course you would. You’re her little pet, you have to agree with everything she does.” Annie snapped. 

“Hey. You need to cool it.” Festus said warningly. Annie turned on him.

“Or what, peapod?” 

“Or I’m gonna knock you down and hold you there until you’re either calm or

unconscious.” He replied coolly, his hand twitching dangerously close to his sword holster. He and Annie had an intense stare down, both parties waiting for the other to make a move. The others watched the silent showdown with only mild concern, everyone suddenly remembering back to that eventful first day they all met.

“Okay- everyone needs to back off.” Theo stepped forwards, holding his hands out to either side. “We’re all tired and we’re all sick of this runaround. But that doesn’t give us an excuse to be at each other's throats! I mean seriously, what is this accomplishing?” There was no answer to this question.

“Annie.” Gwen said carefully. Annie, who’s reddened face was practically glowing in the night air, gingerly glanced up to her. “I promise you, from the bottom of my heart, Mortair is up to something. I wouldn’t make that kind of accusation without being certain, and I wouldn’t lie to a friend.” Annie perked up at the latter half of Gwen’s sentence, then looked away, ashamed.

“I’m… I’m sorry. I’m sorry to everyone. Being here, around all these Ashari, it’s just… put me on edge, I guess.” She mumbled, crossing her arms.

“You don’t say…” Festus muttered, earning him a harsh jab in the ribs from Bella. Gritting his teeth from the pain, he spoke up louder, “I think we’re all still getting used to being in a larger party. It’s important that we all listen to each other and make agreements as a team… And not just have a single person decide what’s best for all of us.” He said, seemingly glancing at Theo as he spoke. Theo smiled.

“Aw, look at us! Our first conflict resolution!” Bella gushed. “Group hug!” She lurched forwards and wrapped her arms around Festus, who recoiled.

“Please no.” He begged, but Aidan came up and wrapped their massive arms around Bella and Festus, resting their fuzzy chin on Festus’ scalp. 

“Group hug.” They repeated with a droopy smile. Gwen jumped in to join, followed by Theo and Wax, leaving only Annie, hesitating.

“What’re you waiting for, Annie? Get in here!” Bella called with a grin, her face squished between Gwen and Aidan. Annie relinquished and gave a wholehearted smile, and came in to join the hug. Everyone squeezed tightly for a few seconds before breaking apart.

“Next time, let me be on the outside, please.” Festus huffed, his face reddened and his black hair messed up.

“Alright, now that we’re all friends again, let’s figure out what to do.” Theo started, clapping his hands together. “Gwen. You’re really sure that Mortair is hiding something?”

“Positive.” She answered confidently. 

“Okay. If you’re sure, then I believe you.” Annie said, much to everyone’s surprise. “I want to have faith in the Ashari, but I trust my friend. I trust you.” 

“Thanks, Annie. And I promise, if I’m wrong somehow, you can give me as long an earful as you want.” Gwen said, giving Annie a genuine smile. 

“I still think we should head to the bar,” Aidan said. “After all, no matter what, there are still people in there who could be in danger.”

“Right. But we should be careful about it, try to keep low and not get recognized, if we can.” Festus said thoughtfully.

“I’m sure a rainbow of tieflings and a nine-foot tall firbolg will blend in perfectly fine.” Annie said sarcastically. 

“I can change my appearance. But, uh, only my appearance.” Theo said.

“So can I.” Wax looked up at Theo. “I might be able to also hold a minor illusion over someone, but that might be risky.” 

“If we’re possibly walking into a trap, we shouldn’t be risky.” Festus stated, earning some nods of agreement from the others. 

“I can also enter in disguise, though I won’t be able to speak. I can turn into a spider or perhaps a nice tabby cat. Depends on how hidden I should be.”

“Wildshape. Nice.” Gwen nodded approvingly. 

“I worry that might draw suspicion, though. If someone walked into a bar with a random animal, I know it’d certainly catch my attention,” said Festus.

“And if you were a spider someone might try to squish you!” Bella exclaimed in horror. 

“Alright, what if we do this, then,” Aidan began, fiddling with their staff. “Theodore and Wax can enter the bar in disguise, while the rest of us remain outside on standby and/or lookout. If the Flamespeaker is there and all is well, they lead him outside and we tell him what we know. If it is, indeed, some sort of trap or deception, the two of them can hopefully leave without any harm and we regroup. Does that sound like a plausible scheme?”

“That sounds good to me.” Annie agreed. “But are you two gonna be okay being the frontliners?” She asked Theo and Wax.

“Shouldn’t be too hard if we’re not overthinking. I’m not exactly the best at lying, but I’m sure I can figure something out.” Theo said.

“I’m a pretty good liar.” Wax said with such confidence that it was a little surprising. “Have been since I was a kid.”

“You’d be impressed. Once at a party, he convinced pretty much every guest in attendance that he was actually some nobleman from Marquet who had undergone magical de-aging. It was magnificent.” She chuckled at the memory. 

“But don’t worry, it’s not, like, compulsive or anything.” Wax assured the group frantically. “I only lie when I need to.”

“Well, albeit a bit concerning, at least it’s handy tonight.” Festus shrugged his shoulders. “Let’s go.”

Following Mortair’s directions, the group hastily made their way back throughout the village portion of Pyrah, all of which was nearly completely deserted as people hid inside their homes from the dark, cold night. Eventually, the structure of a medium-sized tavern came into view, the large red sign atop reading “Soot and Ash,” just as she had said. Everyone stopped about fifty feet away, keeping their heads on a swivel as they prepared for the infiltration.

“How about Annie and Aidan lookout from the front, and then the tieflings can hide around the back?” Gwen suggested as Theo and Wax began casting their respective spells on themselves.

“Sounds good to me.” Annie nodded.

“Yes, please keep us in a place where we don’t need to be stealthy. It would end very badly for me.” Aidan smiled in their drunken way, scratching their cow-like ears.

“Okay, are we ready, then?” A voice came from behind. The group turned and saw that two new faces had replaced that of Theo and Wax. Theo had chosen a very muscular half-elf for his disguise with long brown hair and extremely freckled skin. Wax, meanwhile, remained a gnome (having been unable to alter his height) but was now, inexplicably, a woman with braided blonde hair and a very prominent chest.

“Wax? What’s, uh…?” Festus attempted to ask, but found himself unable to form words out of what he was currently looking at. 

“What’s what?” A light female voice came out of this new gnomish figure, tilting her head innocently.

“Nevermind.” Rubbing his temples, Festus gave the tavern a wide berth as he started to make his way towards the back. Bella and Gwen followed after him, not before both giving Wax an approving thumbs up. 

“We’ll both linger around here. Maybe we’ll pretend to be drunk or something, just to keep things interesting.” Annie said, leaning against a nearby lamppost.

“Sounds good. I’ll cast message if anything goes awry.” A deep voice echoed out of the half-elf, sounding almost like someone trying too hard to lower their voice, and turned and walked into the Soot and Ash, the female gnome following right behind him.

“Those are some disguises.” Annie shook her head with a snort. 

“Agreed. Theo’s kind of reminds me of my father.” Aidan stated. Annie raised an eyebrow.

“What about that disguise reminds you of your father?” She chortled. 

“The voice?” Annie thought for a second.

“I guess so, but that’s still kind of a stretch. Your dad would, like, eat Theo.”

“Certainly not!” Aidan exclaimed. “Perhaps Wax, but not Theo.” The two 

laughed a bit, their voices echoing in the empty night. The two kept close to each other, providing one another with warmth and comfort on the cold night following such a lively debate with the others- and it was this comfort, this release of their guard, that prevented the two of them from noticing three figures darting in the shadows, beginning to surround them. And by the time Annie noticed the movement out of the corner of her eye, both her and her companion found themselves restrained and gagged, and quickly carried off into the night by the walking shadows.

“This is fun, it’s like we get to pretend we’re all related now!” Bella chirped as she pushed a tree branch out of her way, releasing it as she moved and accidentally causing it to smack Festus right in the face. 

“Why, just because we’re all the same race?” Gwen asked with a curious smile, looking back at Bella fondly.

“Well, sort of. But Fes and I are related- obviously. But you’re here, so we can just pretend for a little bit that we’re all siblings!” She exclaimed. 

“That’d be nice. I’ve never had tiefling siblings before.” Gwen sighed almost longingly, stepping over a thistle patch.

“Specifically tieflings?” Festus questioned, ducking just in time to avoid another branch assault from his sister.

“I have four siblings, if that’s what you’re asking,” replied Gwen. “But none of them are tieflings, no. In fact, I’m the only one in my family who is.”

“Ah. One of those ‘ancestor made a demonic pact’ sort of deals?” Festus asked.

“Something like that, yes.”

“Aw, that’s so sad! Was it, like, really lonely?” Bella asked in earnest. Gwen couldn’t help but laugh at the question.

“Quite the opposite, actually. I was positively spoiled rotten. I think my father felt guilty that I was… different, so he made up for it by treating me like a princess.”

“That explains so much.” Festus commented, causing Gwen to roll her eyes.

“I was the youngest of five and my parents were extremely busy throughout the day. Frankly, I appreciate that my father went to such great lengths to keep me happy.” She replied curtly. It seemed that Festus had grown tired of making jabs at his companion, for he replied,

“Well, I’m glad you had a good upbringing. Every child deserves to have a parent who loves and appreciates them.” This comment made Gwen look at him curiously. 

“I agree. I take it you didn’t have a good childhood, then?” She asked sympathetically. Festus almost looked surprised at this question.

“What? Oh, no, my childhood was perfectly fine. Kind of weird, but fine. I was actually thinking about… nevermind, actually.” Gwen focused on him, quite curious about where his mind had gone during their discussion, when Bella suddenly froze.

“Did you guys hear that?” She suddenly whispered, her eyes wide and alert as she stared into the dark forested area behind the tavern. 

“Hear what?” Festus also whispered, his hand hovering above his sword holster. He took a single step closer to Bella.

“Footsteps. A few feet away.” Bella replied, watching the tall, lanky trees with an extremely careful expression. “There’s definitely someone there.” Without asking any other questions, Gwen and Festus both pulled out their weapons and waited. There was nothing but the gentle gust of wind rustling the leaves and the occasional call of a very far-away bird. The three still remained on defense, however, watching and waiting for any other movement.

Then, two figures burst out of the darkness at such a rapid speed that it very nearly caught them all off guard. They were two half-elves, neither of which the trio had seen yet before, but they wore the familiar armor of the Ashari soldiers. The soldier on the right, stepping with incredible grace despite the darkness, charged towards Gwen, his hands extended outwards. Gwen prepared herself for an attack, but quickly realized that the soldier was not branding a weapon, but rather a thick, sturdy rope. The soldier shoved her against a tree with extreme force, the rope wrapping itself around her abdomen completely by itself. Gwen struggled against the force of the rope, but found that whatever arcane force was influencing it was stronger than she was.

“Gwen!” Festus shouted, branding his sword and taking a swing at the other soldier. The soldier just barely managed to dodge out of the way, the tip of the scabbard nicking his cheek and drawing a small bit of blood.

“Shit, I’m out of second level spells.” Bella cursed herself under her breath, muttering an incantation under her breath and sending out a pulsing beam of light out at the soldier who was attacking Gwen, hitting him directly in the back. The soldier buckled and let out a groan, his body suddenly beginning to glow.

The other soldier rushed to Bella, attempting to knock her off her feet, but she resisted his assault, pushing him away and causing him to stumble back a bit. However, her focus distracted, the other soldier ran up while her back was turned and swept his legs under her feet, tripping her and sending her crashing onto the ground. A second rope appeared from the soldier’s pack and bound her hands.

“You motherfuckers…” Festus growled lowly, stepping back a bit as the two 

soldiers (one still glowing) moved to flank him. The soldiers were expressionless, but- to Festus’ horror- he could see, thanks to the glowing light, that the two soldiers retained the irises in their eyes. They were completely in control.

Festus slashed his blade at the glowing soldier, creating a large gash from his shoulders down to his ribs, blood spurting out of the wound and staining his armor. The soldier buckled to his knees, letting out a cry of pain. The other soldier didn’t react to his companion’s injury, only taking out his own set of enchanted rope. The soldier lurched forwards, pushing against Festus’ sword with his own hands- causing them to bleed heavily.

“Festus! Get out of here! It was a trap, you have to warn the others!” Gwen screamed from her position tied to the tree, trying in vain to free her hands or reach the pistol she had dropped ten feet away with her tail. However, in that moment, the memory of his friends and the realization of what could possibly be happening to them was enough of a distraction for the soldier to gain the upper hand, knocking Festus’ sword away and tying him up with the rope. Whereas Bella’s hands were tied and she was left laying on her back, Festus’ arms were tied down to his sides, as well as his legs, leaving him completely paralyzed on the ground.

“Boss said you were going to be trouble. Didn’t think you’d resist that hard, though.” The uninjured soldier said gruffly. He looked at his writhing companion and scowled. “Get up, you fuckin’ crybaby. Walk it off.” The still-bleeding soldier struggled to his feet, clutching the deep wound in his chest.

“What the fuck is this? What’re you doing? We’re trying to help Pyrah, you idiots!” Gwen shouted, absolutely furious. The uninjured soldier scoffed at her- almost pitifully.

“Yeah, see, that’s what you think you’re doing. But really, you’re just making everything worse,” he said. “But don’t worry, alright? We’re not gonna kill you or anything. This is just to keep you out of the way for a little bit so we can finish up without being interrupted.”

“Finish up what?” Festus roared, flailing on the ground as he tried to break free of his bonds. The soldier smirked.

“This whole sleepwalking nonsense, of course. That’s why you all were poking your noses around, wasn’t it? By tomorrow morning, everyone will wake up perfectly healthy, like they were in a dream.”

“What’s the gain, huh? You turn half of Pyrah into zombies, and for what?” Festus snarled, curling his lip like an animal. 

“None of your business, to be frank. This was none of your business to begin with, and now look at where it’s got out.” He shook his head and tutted. “I really do hate nosey people. They always find out something that they didn’t need to know.”

“You’re gonna be in deep shit when we get out of here.” Bella muttered. The soldier leered over her smugly.

“Please. By the time you get out of there, all of Pyrah will be on our side. Come tomorrow morning, you’ll see that this was all for the greater good. And you and your group will be allowed to leave completely unharmed- though, of course, you won’t be allowed back in Pyrah, I’m sure you understand.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Gwen was practically screaming at this point. “You think you can put a blight on an entire Ashari village and just get away with it scott free? You have absolutely no idea who you are dealing with. You have no idea the kind of hell I can put you through for this.” Gwen’s eyes were dark and ominous, her demeanour changing in an instant. Both Festus and Bella watched her, bewildered.

“Yeah? What kind, hon?” The soldier mocked. Gwen raised her head nobly, her posture becoming exquisite even despite her being tied up.

“I am Gwendoyln Zahra Melanie von Musel de Rolo, daughter of Lord and Lady de Rolo and heir to the Second House of Whitestone. And you are currently committing high treason against one of the most powerful cities in Tal’dorei.”

Her words came out clear and crisp, echoing in the empty night like her voice had been amplified. The soldiers stopped and stared at her for a moment with wonder before letting out caterwauls of laughter.

“Right, okay. Like Lord fucking de Rolo’s daughter would be here of all places and not getting a spongebath back in her ivory tower. Nice try, sweet cheeks.” The soldier took out a small blue rock and held it to his ear, still grinning at Gwen.

“Boss? Yeah, we got the tieflings. We’re behind the bar. Ready when you are.” He paused a moment, seemingly listening to something, then placed the rock back into his pack. “Alright. Now’s the part where either you three cooperate nicely, or things get real ugly for you all.”

Theo and Wax, playing the parts of their disguises as well as one could expect, pushed open the door to the Soot and Ash tavern, quickly taking seats at an empty table near the door as to avoid rousing suspicion. Theo leaned back in his chair, pretending to act casual but instead took a moment to look around the room.

The tavern, contrary to what the two had initially expected, was positively lively this night. A halfling musician enthusiastically played a pan flute in the corner, earning him some rowdy cheers from a group of individuals who appeared to already be a few drinks in. Several waitresses serpentined throughout the crowded bar, handing off full pints to the waiting sober and ushering the drunkards back into their seats. Everyone appeared to be having a good time.

“You see him?” Wax whispered, trying to keep his voice as quiet as possible- though, possibly overcompensating with all of the noise around them. Theo looked around, analyzing all the patrons both at the tables and the bar itself. Several groups, a couple of people on their own, but none of them resembling Cerkonos.

“No. Either he’s not here, or he’s also in disguise.” Theo muttered, sitting back normally and facing Wax, still looking out with his peripheral.

“Maybe he’s upstairs?” Wax suggested, nodding up to the second floor that housed about five rooms where patrons could stay for a night. “Maybe he’s here to meet someone?” 

“Could be, but I don’t know… We’re gonna have to ask someone if they’ve seen him.” Theo said reluctantly, hating the idea of potentially blowing their cover. Wax tapped his fingers on the table, scanning the bar.

“Hm. Okay, why don’t I try to grill the bartender, and you flag down one of the waitresses and ask?” He suggested. Theo inhaled breath through his teeth.

“I don’t know if you want to leave me alone for something like that. I may have been being a little generous earlier when I said I wasn’t great at lying. To be honest, I’m absolutely terrible.” Wax gave him a smile.

“Hey, you lied earlier about being a good liar, so I’d say that’s already a good sign.” 

“But-”

“Look, just don’t overthink it. I know thinking is kind of your thing, but trust me- speak first, think second.” Wax reassured him. “You got this.”

“I gotta say. This comes off a lot different when you’re looking like that.” Theo shook his head, finding the presence of Wax’s rather voluptuous bosoms a bit insane to look at.

“Why? I’m just blonde now.” Wax replied. Theo stared at him nonplussed before Wax aggressively tapped the table. “The waitress is coming over. Speak first, think second!” He whispered almost in a hiss before hopping off the chair and navigating his way to the bar. Before Theo had the chance to call after him, one of the tavern waitresses was at the table.

“Hi, there! Sorry it took me a second to come over here, it’s busy as hell, as you can see.” She said kindly. Theo swallowed. Speak first, think second. Speak first, think second.

“Sure is.” He muttered. Nailed it.

“So, what can I get you? We’re currently doing a special on our Marqusian black stout, it’s brewed with a lovely mixture of cardamom and ginseng which gives it a nice, snappy kick. Only half a gold for a glass.” She said, saying the phrase as those it was engraved in her mind.

“Uh, sure, I’ll have that. Sounds good.” Theo grunted, unsure of what kind of persona he was attempting to put up. Tough? Mysterious? He wasn’t either of those things!

“Great. I’ll get one glass of that out quickly. And did your girlfriend want anything?”

“My what?” Theo was so startled by the question that he completely forgot what he was doing. The waitress smiled at him oddly.

“Your girlfriend? Or, I’m assuming your girlfriend. That cute girl you were sitting with. Does she want anything?”

“Oh. She’s, heh, not my girlfriend.” Theo began to ramble, preventing his brain from thinking about anything before he said it. “We were together for a while, but I broke things off. Wanted to have my freedom back, you know? I don’t do well in relationships, so figured it was better that way. Then she came back a few days later, found out I knocked her up. So we got back together for the kid. And I gotta say, sometimes I wonder if it would’ve been better if I just got outta town when I could, leave it all behind. I love that kid, but man, I wonder…”

The waitress stared blankly at him, unable to find any response to the insane story Theo had just thrown at her. Theo, immediately realizing he had fucked up, sat up in his chair.

“But, uh, that’s neither here nor there. Say, I was actually looking for a friend of mine here. You might know him, it’s, uh, Flamespeaker Cerkonos?” He asked tensely, trying to make the question sound as normal as possible. The waitress simply shook her head.

“I’m… sorry, I don’t think I’ve seen him in here. I’ll, um, get your drink order in.” She said, quickly walking away from the table. Theo watched as she hurried over to the other waitress, said something, and the two looked back at him. Theo groaned and put his head on the table, cursing his idiocy. 

Wax, meanwhile, appeared to be having much better luck with the bartender. For some reason, the older human man seemed very interested in talking to Wax.

“So, I guess it wasn’t really a date after all, but I really wish it was.” Wax sighed longingly, flipping his hair. The bartender grinned.

“Aw, I’m sorry to hear that, honey. You deserve better than that.”

“Yeah, I do!” Wax huffed. “Actually, that’s why I’m here. I’m supposed to meet someone who I think is finally a proper fit for me.” The bartender leaned in.

“Oh yeah? Who?”

“I shouldn’t say!” Wax giggled. 

“Come on, I can keep a secret!”

“Okay, okay. It’s… the Flamespeaker.” Wax whispered the last part behind a girlish laugh. The bartender leaned back and grinned.

“You’re in luck, honey! I just saw him duck around back- think he had a little bit too much to drink. I was about to cut him off before he ran out, all green in the face.” Wax’s eyes lit up.

“Really? Oh, thank the Gods, I was worried he was going to stand me up! You’ve been so much help, thank you.”

“Anytime, honey. Feel free to come in for a nice ale once you’ve gotten him all cleaned up.” The bartender grinned, grabbing a glass and wiping it down. Wax slid a silver piece across the bar before running back over to the table.

“Come on, he’s out back!” Wax whispered excitedly, tugging at Theo’s arm. Theo got up and followed Wax around to the exit, purposefully keeping his head down and avoiding looking at the waitresses.

“What happened with the waitress?” Wax asked as he pushed open the backdoor.

“I don’t want to talk about it. I might drop the disguise once we-” he stopped and froze in his tracks. Wax, too, found himself paralyzed.

There, in the backwoods behind the tavern, were six armed Ashari soldiers, standing at the ready- as if they had been waiting for them. Even in the dim light, both Theo and Wax could see that the Ashari’s eyes were full of vibrancy and color- no blankness to be seen. But that wasn’t what made them stop.

What did was, to their horror, their five friends- tied, restrained, gagged, and bound. It seemed that the soldiers had had a much harder time with certain members of the group over others- Aidan and Bella had remained unharmed, but Gwen now had a large bruise forming on her face- as if she had been kicked. The five looked up in alarm, seemingly motioning for Wax and Theo to run. However, the two disguised magicians did not. Because instead, they were focused on the sixth soldier in the group- the one that Gwen had warned them about only an hour before.

Mortair, grinning in a smug, victorious manner, placed a hand on her hip and looked between Theo and Wax.

“Nice disguises. But I told everyone in that bar that the second someone asked about Cerkonos to send ‘em out back. Tough luck.”

“What is this?” Theo uttered, his complete astonishment resulting in his disguised form dropping, revealing his true human self. Mortair continued to smile.

“Let’s talk, shall we?"

Chapter Text

Wax and Theo watched as the Ashari soldiers slowly moved to completely surround them, blocking off any attempt at escape. They were, very effectively, trapped.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I would love to talk about why you currently have all of my friends tied up.” Theo stated, trying to keep his voice as level as possible. However, his legs were quivering and he desperately prayed to the universe that the Ashari couldn’t see. “Last time I checked, they weren’t animals.”

“And last time I checked, none of you had any business in Pyrah affairs to begin with. But here we are.” Mortair said deeply, her smug smile disappearing under a look of frustration and apathy. Theo swallowed.

“I don’t understand,” said Wax, still in his disguised form. “We were just trying to help. Why are you turning on us?”

“We’re not,” she said. “I was almost finished explaining to your friends here. I know you all had good intentions, hence why we’re simply getting you all out of the way instead of killing ‘ya outright. Then, after tonight, you’ll all be free to go, no harm done.”

“What’s happening tonight?” asked Theo. Mortair’s eyes twinkled.

“We’re gonna return Pyrah to its former glory.” She said, then made a hand motion. Two Ashari soldiers stepped forwards, each carrying long cords of thick rope. Theo glanced back at his tied-up companions, then back to the soldiers. Wax had squared his shoulders, looking as though he was ready to fight or flee, but Theo placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

“Like I said, only for tonight. I promise that you’ll all be released at dawn. By then, everything will be settled.” Mortair smiled as she watched the two soldiers bound Wax and Theo’s arms and legs together. “Baltoq, Lowcott, bring them down to the holding cells.” Two other soldiers- presumably Baltoq and Lowcott- nodded obediently and forced the other five members to their feet, despite some of them having their legs tied together. The two soldiers who had tied up Wax and Theo pushed them harshly towards the rest of the group, nearly tripping them in the process.

Baltoq and Lowcott led the party through the backwoods and towards the familiar shape of the prison that they had been brought to on their very first day in Pyrah. Theo watched Mortair lead her army away, their steps growing fainter and fainter as they ventured further into Pyrah. The night was still young, but it wouldn’t last forever. 

The two soldiers forced the group back into the prison, shoving them in two to a cell- apart from unlucky Aidan, who was pushed into a single cell at the very end of the hallway.

“You’re as big as a bull anyway, I won’t make any of those poor bastards have to share with you!” The soldier that was Lowcott sneered, kicking Aidan in their stomach, sending them crashing down on the floor with a painful oomph. Annie, who had had her mouth gagged, roared inaudibly at the injustice, writhing and flailing furiously as the soldiers locked Aidan’s cell door.

“Oh, relax, tiny. You’re lucky that the boss told us we couldn’t cause you any permanent damage. Otherwise we’d be a lot less careful.” Baltoq mocked, slamming his fist against the cell door and teasingly jangling his key ring in front of her face. 

“Nighty night, kids. Get some shut eye, we’ll be back for you in a few hours.” He called before slamming the door shut, sending the entire group into darkness. It was a still, silent few minutes as everyone attempted to recover from what had just happened to them. 

At first, it was some seriously freaky deja vu- locked in a Pyrah prison, their weapons confiscated and their hands bound. But as the minutes passed by, the odd irony could barely be acknowledged over the overwhelming fear of what to do now. Nearly all of the party were bound to the point where they couldn’t even talk, most of their magic users had used their precious high leveled spells, and the two bastard soldiers hadn’t even bothered to light the oil lamps in the prison. Annie desperately pressed her face against the bars of her cell, trying to see if she could make out Aidan’s shape in the darkness, but found she simply could not.

“Is everyone okay?” Theo’s voice echoed through the stoney room. He and Wax had been the only ones to not have been gagged, which explained why there was no response to his question. He turned his head to look at Bella, who had been chosen as his cell-mate. Her expression was deeply sad, like a kicked puppy.

“I’m okay. Festus is next to me, he seems fine.” Wax’s voice came from further down the hall. Theo exhaled. By process of elimination, that meant that Annie and Gwen were together, but neither of them could speak. It was up to him and Wax.

“Start working on trying to get his gag off, Wax. Bella’s in here with me, I’ll do the same. Annie, Gwen, if you can, try and see if you can get each other’s off. Aidan, just sit tight, we’ll come get you.” Theo called out, failing to keep his words steady. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest, he honestly thought he was on the verge of a heart attack. He looked to Bella, who sat patiently with her arms bound behind her back. Her legs weren’t bound, which was a net positive at that point.

“Okay. I’m gonna have to stick my ass in your face for a second.” Theo apologized, managing to get to his feet and turning around to try and grasp at the cloth in Bella’s mouth with the tiny bits where his fingers stuck out of the rope. It took a couple of tries, but eventually Theo managed to weasel out the cloth gag, promptly tossing it to the ground.

“Ugh. Thanks, Theo. That tasted like old socks.” Bella gagged, spitting onto the stone floor. Theo gave a half smile.

“Of course.”

Meanwhile, Festus and Wax were having a little bit of a struggle between the two of them. The Ashari soldiers had made sure that Wax’s hands were well-tied behind his back, leaving him unable to perform the same trick as Theo. At first, Wax attempted to slam himself against Festus’ back- seemingly thinking it would cause an effect similar to a heimlich- but all it resulted in was Festus letting out a pained grunt and shooting Wax an irritated look.

“Sorry!” He gulped. Gwen and Annie weren’t having much luck, either; seeing as both of them were tied up extremely well (as they were the ones fighting back the most), there were very little appendages to use. The two had resorted to simply trying to cough out the cloth gags on their own, but it was proving to be rather ineffective.

“Can you try and cast something?” Bella asked, looking out and watching Annie and Gwen. Theo shook his head.

“No, not without my hands. If I could get them free, then sure, but…” he sighed. “Wax, how’s it going over there?”

“Uh, we’re trying!” Wax called back. “Go on your stomach, maybe?” Festus let out a huff, but did as the gnome instructed and maneuvered himself to lay flat on his stomach. Wax took a leap and landed with his full weight onto Festus’ back; although the tiefling buckled and cringed under the pain of the impact, the cloth was still tightly lodged between his teeth. Festus groaned and curled his knees up to his chest. Wax followed up his failed attempt with a plethora of flustered apologies.

“Annie? Gwen? Anything?” Theo called out. There was no response, which led him to believe they had been unsuccessful, too. Theo groaned.

“We’ll figure it out. We just have to get through some trial and error first.” Bella comforted gently, bumping her shoulder against his. With another sigh, Theo nodded quaintly. 

“Yeah, yeah you’re right. I just-” Theo cut himself off as he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. A small shape had slipped through the bars of the cell door and was now coming at him rather quickly. As the creature got closer, Theo could now see that it was a scruffy, brown mouse- its whiskers twitching rapidly as it scurried across the floor.

“Aw, how cute! Prison mouse!” Bella cooed, attempting to reach out towards the mouse but seemingly forgetting her hands were restrained. Theo, however, watched curiously as the mouse approached him, looked up into his eyes, and then began to chew at the ropes tied around his hands. The bonds were extremely thick, but the little mouse seemed very determined, continuously gnawing until a fray had formed that was large enough for Theo to snap it. His hands were freed.

“ Smart prison mouse!” Bella gasped. Theo cupped his hands and picked up the little mouse, who seemed positively worn from the effort. He smiled.

“I don’t think this is any normal mouse. Aidan? Is that you?” He asked the creature. The mouse ran in a circle in Theo’s hands and its whiskers quivered excitedly. Theo guffawed.

“Wild shape, of course! You should’ve done that earlier!” He laughed, the pit in his stomach finally beginning to lighten up. “Here, go help Festus before Wax kills him. I’ll get Bella and I out.” He placed the mouse back down on the ground, who proceeded to scurry across the hallway into Festus and Wax’s cell. 

“What’s the difference between wild shape and polymorph?” Bella asked as Theo untied her hands.

“They’re kind of similar. But druids can turn into animals whenever they want, plus they keep the same intellect level. Polymorph, you only retain about half of your original intelligence- plus, you need a caterpillar cocoon in order to cast it.” Theo explained. While he talked Bella’s ears off about the intricacies and behaviors of different ty[es of arcana, Aidan the mouse had slipped into Wax and Festus’ cell. Festus, who was still cringing from his back pain, barely even noticed as the helpful rodent began chewing on his ropes.

“Woah, look, Fes, I think your ropes must smell like food or something.” Wax observed with amazement, beaming brightly at their miraculous good luck. Festus didn’t bother craning his head to look, but was pleasantly surprised to suddenly find his arms freed. He sat up and removed the gag from his own mouth.

“Please,” he said as calmly as he could. “If slamming into me once did not work, do not try to do it again. Also, drop that disguise already, it’s creeping me out.” Fairly embarrassed, Wax nodded in agreement at Festus’ words and promptly ended his disguise spell, returning himself to his normal appearance.

“Festus is out, Theo! There’s a little mouse in here who helped us!” Wax called out across the room as Festus untied him.

“Yeah, that’s Aidan!” Wax and Festus both turned to look at the mouse, who seemed rather proud of itself.

“Huh.” Wax stated. Festus picked up Aidan the mouse and placed them on his shoulder, giving the fuzzy creature a light scratch on the head.

“Nicely done,” he praised. “We’ll take it from here. Wax, can you cast that knock spell again?” 

“I can…” Wax said slowly.

“But?”

“But… uh, nothing, I can do it.” Wax said nervously, taking a deep breath and concentrating on the metal door. Not now, please, not now… Concentrating deeply, Wax forced out his arcane power and the cell door slammed open, followed by the familiar knocking sound that blasted through the prison, its sound amplified by the echoing effect. Aidan the mouse squeaked in alarm and covered their large ears with their tiny hands. Festus also flinched, his tail sticking straight out behind him.

“Sorry! Should’ve warned about the noise!” Wax exclaimed, pausing and waiting. When nothing seemed to happen, he exhaled. “Alright, well, the door’s open, Festus.”

“Good work.” Festus nodded, causing Wax to stand up just the slightest bit straighter. He headed out of the now-open cell door, walking straight across the hall over to where Theo and Bella sat. 

“Probably shouldn’t use that spell again, it might alert the guard.” Theo warned. Festus nodded in agreement.

“Still got your thieves' tools, Fes?” Bella asked. Festus nodded, reaching into a very deep pocket hidden on the back of his trousers and pulling out a very small rolled-up leather pouch. He knelt on the ground and unrolled the pouch, revealing several small lockpicks of various sizes- all of which looked somewhat used. Wax stared.

“Are you a rogue?” He asked with astonishment. Festus, comparing two of the picks, glanced at Wax.

“Perhaps. Is that a bad thing?” 

“Oh, no! Not at all- I guess I just wasn’t expecting it. You seem so… I don’t know, honorable, I guess.”

“Who said that rogues couldn’t be honorable?” Festus asked with a half smile. Wax returned it.

“Touche.”

Grabbing the pick that seemed to best fit for this specific lock, Festus inserted the thin metal rod as well as the tension wrench and began to fiddle with his tools. It was clear he had had quite a bit of experience in this area, as the lock suddenly snapped open with only a few moments of lockpicking. Festus swung the door open, allowing Theo and Bella to exit.

“Nicely done.” Theo slapped his friend on the back. “Shall we get the last two?”

“If we must.” Festus sighed, grabbing his tools and moving over to the last occupied cell- the one containing Annie and Gwen. Much to the ladies’ chagrin, they had been unsuccessful in untying themselves, and thus sat in the center of their cell looking rather aggravated. 

“Hm. I don’t know, they seem fine on their own. I think we can leave them be.” Festus said, glancing behind him. Bella gave him a face. “Fine, fine.”

While Aidan the mouse jumped into action one last time to chew free Annie’s hands, Festus went to work on the lock. Already having gotten past one cell door, this one proved to be of no difficulty, and it swung open just as Annie had broken free of her ropes and removed her gag.

“Took you long enough.” She muttered. Festus leaned on the cell door.

“I can close this back on you, you know.” Annie made a psh sound and moved to free Gwen. Once everyone had finally managed to break themselves out of their ropes, they all stood in the center of the prison’s hallway- Aidan the mouse now resting peacefully back on Festus’ shoulder.

“Alright, game plan: what the hell do we do now?” Annie asked. 

“Good question, seeing as we don’t even know what Mortair is planning,” Gwen said thoughtfully. “She said they want to ‘return Pyrah to its former glory…’ Whatever that means.”

“At this point, I don’t know if the specifics matter. We know they’re behind the poisonings- that’s enough cause to go after them.” Theo said matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, but we don’t know how many of them are behind it. For all we know, we could be going up against all of Pyrah!” Wax urged.

“Then, we need to focus on one specific thing here: Cerkonos,” said Festus.

“Mortair did send us into a trap because we were looking for him…” Bella said slowly. “You think they’re gonna try and do something to him?”

“He’s the strongest person in all of Pyrah, maybe in all of Issylra. What could they possibly do to him?” Annie asked skeptically.

“He is strong, yes,” Theo said, his voice becoming rather stern. “But not if someone fed him poisoned beer. Then he could easily be overpowered.”

“You think it’s a coup, then?” Gwen asked greatly.

“Probably. But I think Theo’s right. Specifics don’t matter right now- the most important thing is that the Flamereaker is in trouble.” Bella stated. 

“Alright. So, protect the Flamespeaker. That’s the plan?” Annie asked, who seemed to be inching closer and closer to the door.

“Protect him, and we protect Pyrah. On our own, we’re no match for however many soldiers are involved. But there can’t be a coup if the political leader stays alive,” said Gwen.

“The trouble is now finding him, wherever he is. If he hasn’t been captured already, anyway” Wax sighed. Bella suddenly lit up.

“I have an idea. What if we release all the infected on the Veridian Peaks?” 

“What?” Festus was the first to ask the question. Even Aidan the mouse squeaked in complete bewilderment.

“Hear me out- the bad Ashari want the Flameweaker, right? So they’re focusing all their attention on him. But what could distract them long enough so that we could swoop in and get him to safety? Zombies! Plus, it’s way dark out, so any regular citizens are gonna be in their homes already.” There was a sharing of looks between the rest of the party.

“That,” said Gwen. “Actually isn’t a bad idea. A good bit of karma, too.”

“Right. And there was a shit ton of them up there, so they’ll definitely have their hands full,” Annie added. “But we’d have to be careful not to be attacked in the process.”

“Festus and I can handle that.” Gwen said. Festus raised an eyebrow.

“We can?”

“Sure. You’re by far the fastest in our group- though I don’t think it would be a great idea to send you in alone. I can be quick when I need to be.” Festus thought her words over for a moment, seemingly internally debating something with himself, but ultimately relented.

“You’re not wrong. Alright, you and I will untie as many infected as we can without losing our hands. The rest of you lead them into the streets. Then, we find the Flamespeaker and get him out of Pyrah,” he replied.

“Does anyone have a good idea of how to find him? I could maybe go about invisibly, but that doesn’t really help in actually finding him.” Wax said with a frown.

“I might be able to help with that,” Theo said. “I have a spell that can locate objects from a maximum of 1,000 feet away.”

“Really? What’s it called?” Annie asked.

“You couldn’t guess.”

“Alright- so something that the Flamespeaker was carrying on his person the last time we saw him.” Gwen thought carefully. Wax suddenly snapped his fingers.

“Oh, that’s it! His little bracelet, he always wears it! It’s-it’s, oh what was it… It said WWSD, that’s what it was! The one for his friend!” He erupted. “It- oh, hold on.” With a wiggling of his fingers, Wax conjured up a small illusion in the space of the very same bracelet he described, showing it off to Theo. 

“That will certainly do.” Theo nodded. 

“Then let’s get to work.” Annie said with a determined expression, cracking her knuckles so loudly that the sound echoed throughout the prison.

Leaving the Pyrah prison was almost laughably easy- the Ashari soldiers clearly had great faith in their rope-tying abilities and cell doors, and thus didn’t bother to lock the doors to the outside. They had even left the party’s satchels and weapons laying haphazardly on a desk in the main room, which everyone quickly took back. The party hastily made their way back towards the main streets, the dark backwoods becoming replaced by the gentle pulses of nearby oil lamps and lanterns. However, the party clung to the darkness, using it as cover while they crept up to the Veridian Peaks as quietly as they could. Thanks to their effort as a team (as well as the fact that one of them was still a mouse), they remained unnoticed in the shadows even as they passed two or three groups of patrolling Ashari soldiers. 

Making their way up the beaten paths, still using the shadows as their cover, the party managed to get themselves up to the Veridian Peaks, thankfully, without any trouble. Arriving now at the large rocky plateau just at the base of the massive mountain, the party could see the forms of all the infected Ashari, groaning and growling from their positions, but strangely no guards on duty.

“Seems clear…” Festus stated, though he was clearly on the fence about this observation. Bella took Aidan the mouse off of his shoulder and placed the small creature onto the ground.

“Do a quick patrol, Aidan. If you see any Ashari, sound the alarm.” She said determined, seemingly only herself knowing what this ‘alarm’ was. Still, Aidan gave a squeak of understanding and charged off into the darkness, their tiny shape disappearing almost instantly among the rock and bodies. They returned a moment later and shook their head.

“Guess they have more important things to do…” Annie muttered, picking up Aidan the mouse and gently holding them in her hands.

“Makes this easier, then. Ready?” Festus asked, turning to Gwen and unsheathing his sword. Gwen nodded and took out a small dagger from her pack. Without another word, the two darted off into the dark like bullets, racing about the forms of the infected Ashari and, as quickly as they could, breaking them free of their bonds. Gwen was keeping at a good pace, breaking open the ropes with her dagger and then darting away before the infected Ashari could leap at her. Festus, meanwhile, was doing fine for a while, but seemed to get sloppy on the last Ashari- cutting open the ropes, his sword got stuck for a momentary second, which gave the infected enough time to clamp its teeth on his wrist.

“Ah, son of a bitch!” Festus hissed through gritted teeth, shoving the Ashari off and racing away. His wrist was bleeding, though not badly. He took out some cloth and wrapped it around his wrist, figuring that Bella could look at it later.

Speaking of, Bella, Wax, Theo, Annie, and Aidan the mouse had all started their jobs of leading the zombified Ashari back down the side of the mountain, Bella attracting them with some orbs of light while Annie was simply jumping up and down. The infected Ashari, who seemed to not be bothered at all by the darkness, began to move towards the sounds of the other party members- their walks shuffled and unbalanced, but not slow. The group had to backstep now to try and avoid the incoming herd, balancing both distracting the infected and not getting tackled themselves. 

At one point, Bella’s foot slipped out from under her, and she fell to the ground. At once, Annie grabbed her and got her to her feet, pulling her away not too gently. Not a second later, an infected had leapt forwards, attempting to pounce on her when she was prone. 

“Thanks, Annie.” Bella breathed. Annie gave a simple nod. It was a difficult task, but eventually the path leveled out into the main streets of Pyrah, providing far more light onto the absolutely horrifying parade the party had created. As soon as they were able to, Wax, Theo, Bella, Annie (and Aidan) hurriedly leapt out of the way to let the zombies cross. Seemingly more interested in their new freedoms than at attacking the party, the infected Ashari- with great howls- began to take over the streets. They moved about like a herd of monsters, passing by houses and charging further into the darkness. Up ahead, shouts of other soldiers were heard, which were responded with by the hisses of the infected.

“Okay, we probably don’t have much time left before they catch them all.” Festus, who, along with Gwen, had been following the herd of infected from behind and now reconvened with the others, said exasperatedly. “Theo?”

“Right.” The human readied his spell and bent down, picking up a forked twig from off of the ground. Muttering a few words, Theo held the twig outwards like a dowsing rod, and his maroon eyes began to glow a deep blue.

“I’m not getting anything nearby… But he might just be out of range.” Theo reassured, though he looked a tad bit worried. “Let’s do a lap, just to be sure.”

Following his suggestion, the party moved back down to the south end of Pyrah, keeping to the shadows now to avoid both the soldiers and the wandering infected. They found that with the increased number of bodies on the street, it became a bit harder to remain hidden, having to occasionally duck down into bushes or behind buildings in order to avoid the eyeline of anyone moving nearby. However, as the group took another moment to hide behind a nearby wall from two passing zombies, Theo held out his dowsing rod.

“I got a ping,” he said excitedly. “I think it’s pointing towards the Cindergrove.”

“Then let’s go.” Gwen said, pulling out her revolver and ensuring it was loaded. Now with a definitive direction to go, the party continued heading southward towards the Cindergrove forest, keeping their eyes and ears out for any trouble in their path. One of the infected Ashari managed to spot them and was heading in for the attack, but a quick minor illusion of an armed guard courtesy of Wax managed to deter the infected long enough for them to run past.

When the party had nearly reached the outskirts of the dense and extremely dark Cindergrove forest, Theo muttered something to himself and cast his twig aside.

“What’re you doing? Don’t you need that to find him?” Annie inquired. Theo shook his head.

“The spell’s gone. It only lasts for ten minutes.”

“Can’t you cast it again?” Annie demanded.

“I can , but then I’d be out of second level spells. And I don’t know what we’re going to encounter in there- I don’t want to use up my stronger spells now if I can help it.” Theo explained as reasonably as he could. Annie seemed annoyed, but didn’t press the subject.

“But you’re sure the ping was coming from in there?” Gwen asked.

“Yeah. The magic trace was getting stronger and stronger the closer we got. Either he’s in there, or someone with his bracelet is.” 

“Are we trying to be quiet or are we charging in?” Bella asked, standing on her tip-toes to see further into the thick woods.

“Let’s try to stealth. If Mortair has the Flamespeaker trapped, we could get the jump on her.” Wax suggested, to which Festus and Annie both nodded in agreement. Needing no further discussion, the group charged forwards into the depth of the Cindergrove. Now fully outside of Pyrah, the temperature had dropped drastically, and several members of the party had to brace themselves just to keep from shivering. The chill winds rustled the treetops, creating a low whistle throughout the forest that sounded almost like humming. Small patches of snow covered the forest floor, crunching lightly whenever someone had the misfortune of stepping on them.

The freezing temperatures and eerie darkness cause the group to instinctively walk in a very tight formation, huddling together silently as they maneuvered the strange, foreign woods. Festus led the formation, while Gwen brought up the rear- Annie, the only one currently who couldn’t see in the dark, pressed herself between Wax and Theo. With their nerves shot, it soon became extremely hard for the large group to avoid stepping on dead leaves or the snow patches, the forest floor positively cluttered with the consequences of winter.

Soon, low voices could be heard over the screeching winds. Festus suddenly halted in his steps, causing everyone behind him to bump into one another. Through the dark branches and overgrowth, a very gentle flamelight could be seen flickering in the distance. A hardy laugh followed, then more low voices. 

Festus started walking again, forcing his now somewhat unhappy party to continue at his pace. There was a clearing in the trees just up ahead, and the party all looked inwards as they hid among the trees and bushes.

There, sitting around a lively campfire in this clearing, was Flamespeaker Cerkonos. He was completely uninjured- if anything, he looked fairly jovial. In his hands was a large tankard of liquid, of which he was taking swigs from as he spoke. Next to him, sitting in a similar position but miraculously no drinkware in her hands, was Mortair. She smiled up at Cerkonos, chatting and laughing with him.

“Another drink, Flamespeaker?” She asked innocently.

“I’ve only gotten halfway through this one!” The Flamespeaker noted, then let out another laugh. “Aw, what the hell, pour me another one.”

“Would the Prisoners like a drink, too?” Mortair asked loudly, turning to the party’s hiding spot with a smile. Everyone tensed up immediately. The Flamespeaker, confused, followed Mortair’s gaze.

“The Prisoners?” He echoed, confused. Realizing that they had been spotted, the party gingerly stepped out from the trees. Aidan the mouse leapt from Annie’s hands and onto the forest floor, peeking out from behind her ankles. 

“Well, now, isn’t this a pleasant surprise!” The Flamespeaker smiled. “I was looking for you all, but Mortair told me you were planning on heading out soon.”

“Did she?” Annie scowled, her fingers twitching. Mortair didn’t flinch.

“I just want to take a moment to thank you all for everything you’ve done for Pyrah. Truly, you’ve been a great aid- and if you ever decide to return here, you will be welcomed in as friends.” The Flamespeaker sat up and approached the party. Festus and Gwen both kept their eyes on Mortair as he did so.

“Flamespeaker, what are you doing out here?” Theo asked tentatively.

“Just having a drink. All of the soldiers had taken notice of my… Er, stress levels as of late, and suggested I take a night to myself. Mortair and I were just sharing stories, and sharing a few drinks.” 

“Really? Because Mortair doesn’t appear to be drinking.” Annie hissed. The Flamespeaker raised an eyebrow and glanced over his shoulder at the dwarven woman.

“No, I… suppose not? But, um, you all are more than free to join us, if you’d like. We have a nice spiced mead from Soot & Ash, it’s quite delicious.” He continued, lifting his tankard up to his lips. Aidan the mouse darted from behind Annie’s feet towards the Flamespeaker, seemingly to attempt to intercept him, but the tiny mouse wasn’t as fast as the red tiefling, who whipped out her revolver and took aim.

However, Gwen didn’t aim for the Flamespeaker, or even Mortair; instead, with a single clear shot, she took off the bottom of the Flamespeaker’s tankard, spilling glass and an amber-colored liquid all over the ground.

“What-?! What was that for?” The Flamespeaker roared, more so out of surprise than anger. Her revolver still in her hand, Gwen now turned it on Mortair, who still did not move a muscle.

“Flamespeaker, I’m afraid you’re being tricked by someone you trusted,” Gwen announced royally. “Mortair here is a traitor, and she and several other Ashari soldiers were planning on taking you out.” The party stood firm behind Gwen, their silent determination backing her words. The Flamespeaker blinked, puzzled, and looked slowly to Mortair.

“What… What are they talking about?” He asked. Mortair stood up.

“I don’t know, sir. They were behaving erratically earlier when they announced their departure. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but now I’m worried that maybe they’ve caught the sleepwalker plague.” Mortair said with feigned concern. 

“Don’t even try that, you piece of shit!” Annie roared, her cheeks lighting up like a firecracker. “You’re planning on betraying the Flamespeaker. Betraying Pyrah!”

“I would never!” Mortair gasped. “I have been the Flamespeaker’s right-hand. I would never betray him! Who are you to make these accusations?”

“Flamespeaker, the poison that’s affecting Pyrah is in the alcohol. That’s why it didn’t affect any children and seemed sporadic,” Wax said desperately, trying to keep Cerkonos’ attention on them. “We were going to tell you, but Mortair led us into a trap. She locked us up in the prison, but we managed to escape. Please, you have to believe us!”

“Ugh, if I didn’t use all my second level spells I could cast zone of truth right now!” Bella moaned.

“Now, now, everyone calm down.” The Flamespeaker held out his hands on either side, looking between Mortair and the party. “You’ve all been a great boon for Pyrah, so I don’t want to accuse you all of lying. But you are, in fact, accusing my strongest advisor and long-time friend of being a traitor. I’m afraid that is simply something I can’t believe without proof.”

“Alright, here’s proof for you.” Festus said, pointing towards the small keg of mead that had been brought out to the clearing. “Mortair, have a drink.” She stared.

“What?”

“You heard me. We’re accusing you of poisoning the same alcohol that you’re giving to the Flamespeaker. If we’re wrong, then certainly you wouldn’t mind having a drink for yourself.” Mortair crossed her arms.

“I’m sober, thank you. I’ll pass.”

“How convenient for you.” Gwen snarled.

“This is all ridiculous.” The Flamespeaker sighed, rubbing his temples. “Please. This was supposed to be a relaxing night, and now everyone is up in arms.”

“But we-!” Annie attempted, but the Flamespeaker held out his hand again.

“Enough. We will return to Pyrah, and discuss this matter… and discuss… this…” The Flamespeaker’s eyelids suddenly began to grow somewhat heavy, his footing becoming unbalanced as he struggled to stay upright. “What… what’s happening?” 

“About time.” Mortair gave a wicked smile. “I have to admit, I was worried there- only one and a half drinks before we were interrupted, I thought that perhaps the Arcanius wouldn’t take effect. But I’m glad to see I was wrong.” The Flamespeaker, moving as if he were heavily drunk, turned to her.

“M… Mortair…?”

“I’m sorry, Cerkonos. But you’ve been headmaster for far too long, and Pyrah is suffering because of your ineptitude. It’s time for a change in leadership.” The dwarven woman said, looking at the party with a bemused expression, before turning and jabbing powerfully into the Flamespeaker’s side with her fist. A crack sound exploded outwards at the impact, no doubt the breaking of Cerkonos’ ribs, and the Flamespeaker fell hard to the ground, gritting his teeth in pain.

“Why…?” He managed to mumble out, as it was clear his face was losing its muscular tightness and his jaw was becoming slack. He hadn’t become fully zombified yet, but he could barely move in his half-poisoned state.

Before Mortair could make another attack, Annie stepped forwards and stood in front of the prone Flamespeaker, her sword drawn and eyes furious.

“Don’t you even dare.” She growled deeply, the blade shimmering brightly under the silver moonlight. Mortair smiled again and let out a trill whistle. The sound echoed through the forest, but was soon replaced with the marching of footsteps. Emerging now from the deeper forest, hidden somewhere completely out of sight, were the same fifteen Ashari soldiers from earlier- the same ones who had captured the party. They all branded weapons at the party, some grinning wildly in sadistic excitement, while others seemed resigned to their actions.

“You’re a defiant bunch, aren’t ya? I gave you lot a chance, gave you a free ticket to safety,” Mortair shook her head. “But you had to butt in where it doesn’t concern you, and now you’re trying to play hero.”

“I think this concerns us plenty, thank you very much.” Bella stuck her tongue out at the soldiers.

“We’re not letting you take the Flamespeaker. You want him, you come through us.” Gwen stated, aiming her pistol right at Mortair’s head. The dwarven woman shrugged and gave a grin.

“With pleasure.”

Chapter Text

Both sides rushed at each other at the same time with the intensity and determination of knowing that this battle would most certainly be to the death. Theo, with his brain moving a mile a minute, had given himself enough mental preparation in order to be the first to move. Knowing the true objective of their goal, and also knowing he was likely the easiest to knock out on the battlefield, Theo rushed to Cerkonos’ semi-lifeless body and grabbed ahold of his hand.

“I’m… Sor…” Cerkonos’ words were barely more than a whisper, a weak grunt of syllables that he tried to utter. Theo smiled sympathetically.

“Don’t worry. We’ll get you out of here safely. Try and see if you can crawl to that tree over there, and we’ll get you when this is over.” Theo whispered and, quietly chanting the words to a spell, the Flamespeaker suddenly vanished. To anyone else, it appeared as though the Flamespeaker had simply disappeared into thin air- but Theo knew that Cerkonos was still very much laying there in his helpless state, simply having turned invisible. That would hopefully keep him safe for now. 

Wax shot over to Festus, a look of deep worry and terror engraved on the gnome’s face. Giving a silent prayer to no one in particular, Wax removed a pinch of powdered iron from his satchel and blew it up into Festus’ face. Before the nature of this odd action could be questioned, Festus suddenly shot up like a beanstalk, growing rapidly until he reached over ten feet tall, now towering over the battlefield. 

“That’s to apologize for earlier.” Wax gave a half-hearted smile up to the now-giant, waiting to see if anything followed the spell. Festus gave an approving nod and gripped his sword, which had also magically grown alongside himself. Before Festus the giant had the chance to attack, however, the Ashari soldiers moved first, moving in nearly perfect synch as they rushed towards their opponents. 

Most of the attacks went towards Festus, who was now the largest target on the battlefield. The giant was able to parry a few of the blows, but about half of them made contact, cleanly slicing his upper thighs and lower abdomen. The rest of the Ashari, meanwhile, spread out among the clearing and continued their assault on the party, shouting with effort as they charged. 

Bella took two nasty hits right to the nose, sending a streak of blood pouring down the front of her face. Another soldier tossed a spear at Theo, but he just managed to duck out of the way before it could hit him. Annie was also engaged with three soldiers at the same time, but successfully was parrying and dodging their attacks as they attempted to stab her right between her collarbone. Gwen, though, wasn’t as lucky- she took a deep cut right between the ribs, nearly sending her into shock as soon as the lance was drawn back. The front of her body was now completely stained in scarlet, her legs trembling under the strain of her blood loss. However, she gritted her teeth and forced herself to stay upright, her eyes flashing deeply with agony. 

Seeing that she had grown dangerously close to collapse within only a few seconds, Bella rushed over to Gwen- receiving a painful blow to her shoulder blades as she did so- and quickly cast a lower level healing spell. The massive wound closed a bit and ceased bleeding so terribly, but the damage sustained was too severe to be completely healed without more powerful magic. 

“I don’t have many spell slots left,” Bella explained desperately, watching a bit of relief wash over Gwen’s face. “Please don’t die.”

“It’s okay. We still have Aidan.” Gwen replied with a half-smile before taking aim with her pistol and releasing a couple of shots out on two of the Ashari soldiers. They both impacted the charging soldiers, creating large holes within the two’s shoulder and side respectively. The gunshot wounds had badly injured the both of them, but they were still standing.

“Damn. I need to upgrade this thing…” Gwen muttered to herself, looking at her gun with mild dissatisfaction. She reloaded the gun and, pushing herself through her fatigue and pain, fired again at the same two soldiers. The soldier on the left took another shot, this time to his stomach, and fell to the ground as blood pooled around him on the forest floor. The soldier on the right, however, managed to evade another wound as the bullet bounced off a bit of his armor, going awry. Gwen cursed loudly.

Meanwhile, Aidan the mouse had raced up to where Festus the giant was being flanked, dodging to and fro with their tiny body. Looking up to one of the Ashari soldiers, a half-elf woman who was baring her teeth in a snarl towards Festus, Aidan the mouse began to change their form. But instead of turning back into their normal firbolg body, instead the mouse grew larger and much heavier; eight long, hairy legs began to protrude out of the segmented body, and two large eyes became several beady ones. In the mouse’s place was now a gargantuan wolf spider, thick bodied and extremely horrific. One of the Ashari soldiers let out a scream of terror as Aidan the spider leapt forwards and attacked the half-elven woman, sinking their new fangs into her throat.

The Ashari soldier flailed and screamed as Aidan successfully bit down into her flesh, surging venom into the bite wound. The soldier made gasping sounds as her skin went extremely pale, but she still managed to stay upright, looking at Aidan the spider with disdain and trepidation. Aidan the spider wiped their fangs on one of their large legs, not taking their eyes off of the soldier. 

“Ugh, really, Aidan? You know I hate those things!” Annie shouted from across the way, crinkling her nose in disgust at her friend’s new form. However, her focus wasn’t on the massive spider for much longer; across the clearing, Annie spotted Mortair looking frantically through the herds of bodies, undoubtedly searching for the seemingly vanished Flamespeaker. A rush of anger filled Annie’s chest and she darted forwards, allowing the three soldiers she was engaged with to take swings at her as she did so. The first two soldiers missed pitifully, but the third soldier got a hefty strike against Annie’s left shoulder, nearly slicing the arm clean off.

Annie let out a scream of pain as her arm hung limp, hardly able to move it due to the damage it had sustained, but nevertheless kept her focus on Mortair. The halfling, using the adrenaline that was now coursing through her body, grabbed her sword with her right hand and took a quick swing. However, she was struggling under the immense pain of her shoulder, and the swing of her blade just barely went wide. Annie wiped her watery eyes on her good shoulder and, gritting her teeth and letting out a cry, braced herself to take another attack. Mortair, who was still focused on her target, was not so lucky on the second attack and suffered a mighty cut on her cheek. Mortair flinched at the searing pain caused by Annie’s sword, but did not seem too bothered by it.

“Leave, Air Ashari. This isn’t your fight.” Mortair warned in a deep voice.

“Maybe that’s a good idea. I’m sure the Voice of the Tempest would be very interested in what you’re doing here.” Annie taunted, causing Mortair’s eyes to flare with anger. 

Across the way, Festus the giant watched the face-off between Annie and Mortair. He wanted to bound over and help his ally cut Mortair’s head clean off, but the eight soldiers surrounding him would make that very difficult. Thankfully, disengaging with enemies was something he was fairly proficient at.

Moving with incredible speed despite his size, Festus rushed over to Mortair and Annie before any of the other soldiers could take any more hits on him. Branding his sword, he charged over to Mortair and attempted to cut down on her; however, the dwarven woman was able to react faster than he was, rolling out of the way before Festus could attack. She gave the two a smug look.

“I tried to show you all mercy, and you threw it back at my face. Guess you really wanted to be collateral.” Mortair said with a shrug before tightly gripping her own spear and attacking twice on Annie. Annie attempted to dodge out of the way, but Mortair was too quick for her, and struck her twice- once by her breast and the other on her injured shoulder. Annie screamed, a terrible, bloodchilling scream and held her left arm tightly, almost as if she was afraid it was going to fall off. Annie was barely holding on, her vision growing wary and her body swaying. Mortair tutted, watching the halfling’s blood splatter on the ground.

“You’re all talk.” She scoffed. 

Across the way from where he had just hidden the Flamespeaker, Theo turned and saw how deeply in trouble Annie and Festus were. Torn between ensuring the Flamespeaker’s safety between his friends, Theo shook his head and made his split second decision. Ducking and dodging through the fray, Theo rushed to about fifteen feet before Mortair, his heart pounding in his chest. This was his last second level spell, he had to make it count.

“Stop!” He roared, his eyes glowing a deep crimson as he touched together his thumbs and spread his fingers, and a massive cone of fire burst from his fingertips directly towards Mortair. Entirely distracted by her taunting of Annie, Mortair hadn’t even registered Theo’s presence until she was engulfed in flames, her flesh melting into her armor as she took the full brunt of the assault. Once the flames had died out, Mortair was badly burned, the cut on her cheek fully cauterized from the intensity of the heat. She was somewhat injured but breathing heavily, her fury now taken from Annie and placed onto Theo. Looking at the woman before him, Theo couldn’t help but remember the words they shared on the party’s first night in Pyrah. Of course, he hadn’t suspected anything at that point, but she could’ve easily killed him in the split second they took to share words. The thought made him shudder, and a familiar pain twinged at the back of his head.

Wax, seeing the commotion by Mortair, instead elected to go over to Aidan the spider and begin helping them hold back the Ashari soldiers. Still concentrating on the spell effecting Festus, the gnome felt rather limited in what he could do to help- not to mention a deep pit was beginning to form in his stomach, one that was growing harder to ignore with every day that passed. He shook it off and, facing the soldiers, clapped his hands together and sent surging forwards a wave of thunderous force, almost like a wave of energy. Several of the soldiers found themselves pushed away from Wax and Aidan the spider, their bodies being physically crushed by the sensation of the spell.

However, just as Wax sent forward his attack, his eyes widened in horror. The pit that had formed in his stomach was now growing hotter and hotter, like he had just swallowed boiling water. No, not here. Please not here. Wax tried to force himself to hold on, to keep it contained just a little longer. But he knew he was powerless to stop it; he always was.

A dark energy suddenly burst from his body, encompassing everyone except Festus, Annie, and Mortair. A cold darkness spread onto the bodies and each individual within the radius of the dark energy felt as if someone had just grabbed ahold of their very soul itself and plucked it out, leaving them somewhat worse for wear. Meanwhile, however, Wax felt any and all of his own damage healed over, his physical health and well-being completely restoring itself- as if he had somehow vampirically sucked the energy out of all of those affected. Once it had done its job, the dark energy dissipated, leaving many on the battlefield extremely confused of what had just transpired. Two Ashari soldiers had fallen from the invisible attack, leaving now a dozen soldiers- all of whom were injured.

“What was that? ” Bella called aloud, slightly sluggish now from the draining of her energy. Gwen immediately shot a concerned look to Wax, who gave her a guilty one in return. The pit in his stomach was now completely gone, but he almost wished that it had remained.

Recovering from their momentary confusion, the Ashari moved to continue their assault, albeit somewhat less coordinated this time around. Two hits went to Aidan the spider, only one of which actually made contact, forcing them to turn back into a firbolg. The soldier cut a deep wound into Aidan’s waist, causing one of their knees to buckle. Aidan gritted their teeth, leaning on their wooden staff for support. The Ashari also made attacks on Bella, Wax, Gwen, and Theo- seemingly ignoring Festus and Annie for the time being, apparently leaving them for Mortair. 

Bella, with a nimbleness that was often unseen from her, practically danced out of the way of the Ashari’s blades, mockingly sticking her tongue out at them as they missed her. Her nose was still gushing blood from the previous attacks, but she had seemed to have already forgotten this fact. Wax took a single strike to his forehead and dodged the others, the damage not so critical that it broke his spell concentration. Gwen, meanwhile, took another hit to the chest, further staining her clothing with her own blood. She wasn’t in nearly as bad of a state due to Bella’s prior healing, but the tiefling certainly wouldn’t hold on for much longer if she continued to tank hits. Finally, two of the Ashari broke off from the main group and double-teamed on Theo, who- having run out into the open in order to cast his spell on Mortair- was completely helpless.

Theo attempted to cast a shield spell up to brace against the attacks, but the Ashari sliced cleanly through his spell as if it weren’t even there. Theo took two spears to the stomach, causing him to spit up blood as his organs were penetrated by the weapons. Left on his knees, Theo continued to cough up blood onto the forest floor, gagging and nearly choking on it. However, as the Ashari drew back their blades, the Flamespeaker suddenly popped back into view from his position a few feet away, having managed to drag himself across the ground and lean up against the tree Theo had pointed out. The invisibility had ended.

“Shit…” Theo coughed, his breath ragged and heavy. He wiped the blood from his mouth and struggled to stand. Seeing Theo now cornered by the murderous soldiers, Bella felt a panic pulse through her body like a chill. Three of her friends were in critical condition- two of whom would almost certainly die if she didn’t heal them. But the only problem with that was that Theo and Annie were fifteen feet apart from each other. 

“Fuck!” Bella exclaimed aloud, the stress visible now on her face as she took a split second to weigh her options. Annie was by far the most badly hurt, but she at least had Festus besides her; Gwen wasn’t as hurt as Theo was, but another attack would certainly send her unconscious. But Theo had used up all of his higher-leveled spells, and he was far less sturdy than Gwen or Annie. Bella desperately, desperately wanted to somehow heal all of them, but she had to make a choice.

“Aidan! Get to Annie, quick!” Bella screamed out before turning on her heels and rushing to Theo, practically diving between the two soldiers in order to get to him. One of the soldiers managed to nick the back of her shoulder as she slid past, but her crazed worry caused her to barely even flinch. Taking Theo’s hand into hers, Bella quickly chanted the familiar arcane words, and the puncture wounds just barely closed up, the new flesh that grew over it still raw and weak.

“Thanks.” Theo exhaled, not realizing until now that he had been holding his breath. Bella looked at him with intense concern, knowing that the magic would not be enough to protect him from another multi-attack like that. Theo, however, gave her a reassuring smile.

“I’ll be okay.” He said weakly, his lips still stained with his own blood. Somehow, Bella found it hard to believe him. Following Bella’s departure, Gwen turned to face the soldiers who were still standing. Thanks to Wax, there wasn’t a soldier on the battlefield who wasn’t injured in at least some capacity. That made her job somewhat easier. She lifted up her pistol and took two shots at a soldier who was closest to Aidan, aiming for his upper torso. However, her hands were now shaking due to her blood loss, and both bullets completely missed their target. Gwen cursed loudly, placing her gun back into its holster.

“Alright, new plan- doing this the old fashioned way.” She muttered to herself, taking out her dagger and gripping it tightly. Taking a moment to prepare herself physically, Gwen pushed herself to her final limits, the last bit of determination she had within her expanding throughout her body. Suddenly, she felt that she had a bit more energy to continue this fight.

Following Bella’s cry, Aidan- silently despite their stature- moved across the clearing and over to Annie. The two soldiers who were ganging up on them took hits as Aidan ran, one of them going wide but the other striking deep into an artery just above their knee. Blood immediately gushed out of the wound, leaving a trail behind the firbolg as they desperately moved to their friend. Despite clearly being in pain and looking extremely pale, Aidan’s face kept the same neutral expression the entire time, even as they placed a large hand on the shoulder of Annie. With a deep golden light that was reminiscent of Bella’s previous spell, Annie’s shoulder wound magically began to heal itself, the skin healing over until there was only a large scar present.

“Thank you,” Annie sighed with relief, the color now coming back to her face. “Do the same thing to yourself next, you look like shit.” Despite the joking matter to her words, Annie was clearly concerned about the amount that Aidan was bleeding. However, the firbolg simply smiled and gave a short nod. Annie couldn’t wait around to see if Aidan would actually listen to her advice and instead faced Mortair with a new determinate expression. 

“Alright, you bitch. Ready to see what they teach us in Zephrah?” Annie gave a wide grin and rushed up, taking a heavy upwards swing with her sword. Mortair, who had been momentarily distracted by the reappearance of the Flamespeaker, wasn’t able to dodge in time as Annie cleanly cut across her chest, causing Mortair to spit up blood in a very similar manner to Theo. Annie shook strands of hair off of her sweat-covered forehead.

“I can show you mercy, if you want.” She scoffed.

“Go fuck yourself.” Mortair growled, blooding dripping down her chin. Annie shrugged, then looked at Festus the giant.

“She doesn’t want mercy, Fes.”

“Shame. Guess we should honor that, then.” Festus shrugged, regripping his sword, and jamming it straight into Mortair’s stomach, cleaving straight through her body. Mortair sputtered and vomited a mixture of blood and bile, her body nearly collapsing onto Festus’ sword. He pulled the sword back out, allowing the wounds to continuously bleed. Somehow she was still standing, but it became evidently clear that it was only due to the adrenaline that was coursing through her veins- the double attack from Festus and Annie had greatly injured her, and she was only relying on pure animalistic instinct now. She gritted her teeth, looking at the two in front of her with a pure, unadulterated rage. 

“We wanted to make Pyrah better! You’re helping the wrong side!” She shouted, spitting blood as she did so.

“We are obligated by duty to protect the headmaster of the fire Ashari from your espionage. You will not lay a finger on him.” Festus said coldly, watching Mortair’s blood drip down his blade.

“You idiots. You idiots!” Mortair roared. “He’s the one you should be going after! He’s the reason Pyrah has grown so weak. He’s why we fail over and over again! And if he won’t protect Pyrah, then I will!” 

With that, Mortair- operating now on fumes- pushed past Festus and Annie. The two attempted to take strikes at her as she did so, but she somehow managed to slip past the swords aiming for her throat and dashed over to the prone body of the Flamespeaker. She stood over him, her entire body spattered in blood. The Flamespeaker, the poison still coursing through his body, weakly looked up at the face of his once ally.

“Mortair… Please… Why are you doing this? I’m sure we can work things out… Please… Just stop…” He begged, his body having nearly gone into a full paralysis now. He could barely even turn his head to look at her. Mortair took several deep breaths, her fury growing exponentially by the second.

“You… You are pathetic . A joke. Pyrah has done nothing but suffer under your rule. You needed a bunch of outsiders to solve your problems for you, and now here you lie, unable to fight back and at my mercy. You are no headmaster- you should’ve died a long, long time ago.” Her face almost unrecognizable under her rage, Mortair lifted up her lance and plunged it into the chest of the Flamespeaker, driving it down as hard as she could. The Flamespeaker grunted as he was impaled, a weak hand lifting upwards as if to clutch the spear, but then dropping.

“Mor…tair…” He mumbled, his breathing now unstable under the pressure of the spear. Mortair took a step back, leaving the spear impaled in his chest, but simply stared down at him.

“You really are pathetic.” She whispered, shaking her head almost in bewilderment. She seemed disturbed.

Taking advantage of her momentary pause, Theo took a single step forwards and launched a bolt of fire straight at Mortair’s back, aiming it straight past the two Ashari soldiers who still surrounded him and Bella. The flaming red-and-orange missile soared through the air and shot straight through the wounds Festus had previously made, creating a scorching burst of fire that completely enveloped Mortair’s insides. She clutched the gaping wound on her front, took a single last gasp of air, and crumpled to the ground, laying still with her eyes wide open.

“Mortair!” One of the Ashari soldiers cried out following her fall, true worry and terror laced in their voice. All of the still-standing soldiers turned now and saw, in horror, as Mortair laid motionless. A light smoke was emitting now from her wounds, drifting upwards before disappearing in the wind. All movement stopped for a momentary second as the soldiers seemingly debated on what they should do. Festus, still gigantic, lifted up his chin.

“Your leader is dead. Your assault against the Flamespeaker has failed. Surrender now, and your lives will be spared.” He announced, attempting to make himself look as intimidating as possible. However, the upset of Mortair’s death combined with the sheer exhaustion of the battle seemed to only fuel the soldier’s determination. One soldier lifted up their spear to the sky.

“Until death- for Pyrah!”

“For Pyrah!” The others echoed, their voices ringing out in the dim darkness like a choir. So, to the death it would be.

“Wax! Keep them away from the Flamespeaker!” Gwen called out, as the gnome was now the closest to his body. 

“Right!” Wax called out with a worried voice, though without the weight of magic build-up, he felt far lighter than before. And- much more energized. Taking inspiration from Theo, Wax waved his hand and conjured up three flaming spheres around himself. Taking aim at one of the soldiers, he sent two of the rays shooting directly at the soldiers. The soldier, however, managed to duck and dodge out of the way, moving far more limberly than Wax had expected. Wax sent the final ray streaming towards the same soldier, who- once again- maneuvered out of the way just in time and caused the flaming sphere to simply hit the ground.

“Are you kidding me?” Wax exclaimed, his expression a mixture of disbelief and sheer bewilderment. The Ashari soldier seemed rather proud of himself for avoiding the attack, and instead charged over to Wax. Wax attempted to block the incoming attack with his arm, but it only resulted in getting his bicep sliced open.

“See? That’s how you hit someone!” The soldier said, and Wax honestly wasn’t sure if the soldier was mocking him or genuinely trying to be helpful. Nevertheless, he didn’t bother trying to decipher it, as he had to remain concentrated on Festus. The rest of the Ashari divided up their assault on the rest of the party; Bella took another hit to the side and was now beginning to grow woozy. She had only a single spell slot left, and was honestly toying with the idea of using it on herself. After all, what good of a healer was she if she went unconscious right now? However, she didn’t have long to think about that idea as the two Ashari who had previously attacked Theo went after him again, clearly jovial at the fact that he didn’t put up much of a fight. 

A strike to the chest and another directly to his jaw, Theo suddenly saw everything around him go black, and he fell to the ground in a heap of his own blood. He had fallen in a kind of fetal position, his body curled up to the point he almost looked like he was sleeping. But one look at his blood-soaked clothing told anyone that Theo was in trouble; and Bella needed to act fast. However, before she could, more strikes from the Ashari soldiers were dealt out to the rest of the party. Gwen managed to parry the blows made against her, missing her completely, but Aidan, who was still badly bleeding out from the previous attack made against him, took a full-frontal attack from the charging soldiers. An Ashari with a particularly nasty grin grabbed his spear and pierced through Aidan’s stomach, then dragged the spear upwards to create a gigantic gash in the druid’s midsection. With a low grunt, Aidan, too, had fallen.

“AIDAN!” Annie’s voice rang over the sounds of battle, watching in sheer horror as they collapsed only a few feet in front of her. Two more soldiers rushed up to Annie and made collective attacks on her, bringing her right back to the terrible state she had been in mere seconds ago. Festus, thankfully, was spared from the assault, but was still injured all the same.

Bella scanned across the battlefield, her heart now in her throat. Theo and Aidan were both bleeding out; Annie was gravely injured, and she, Festus, and Gwen were all on the verge of being knocked out. The only one who was alright was Wax, but he would certainly not survive long if he was left alone. Their options were deeply, deeply limited. Bella felt her breathing quicken as she began to silently panic. What do I do? I have to heal them all, but I can’t. Do I have to choose? How can I choose? Are we gonna lose? Are we gonna die? 

Bella looked desperately over to Festus the giant for reassurance, for a plan, for anything that told her things would be alright. To her disheartenment, however, Festus looked just as stressed as she felt. This was really, really bad. 

Then, Bella thought of an idea. It was a gamble, that was for damn sure. If it worked, then the tides would completely turn in their favor; but if it didn’t work, then they would all surely die. Was it worth the risk? Bella looked to her left at Theo’s body, limp and lifeless. He wasn’t dead yet, but he would be if the soldiers continued to attack. Yes, this was the only thing she could do.

Bella bolted past all of the soldiers who had surrounded her and Theo, miraculously managing to dodge all of their attacks but one, a single strike to her collarbone that threatened to cause her to choke. Still, the blue tiefling darted through the clearing, her heart pounding so quickly that she almost thought she was going to have a heart attack. She moved around Wax and the other soldier and slid over to the Flamespeaker, her knees digging into the dirt.

“This better work…” She muttered to nobody in particular, pressing her hands on the Flamespeaker’s chest and chanting her spell. Please. Please. Please. Mortair had given the Flamespeaker some beer that had been laced with the flowers she had been using; but it hadn’t been enough to fully zombify him, just to weaken him. But Bella thought that maybe, just maybe, if she could somehow purify the drink that was inside of the Flamespeaker, detoxify it of its heinous ingredient, then there might just be a chance…

Instinctually, Bella found her hands drawn to the spear that was still stuck in the Flamespeaker’s chest. Without even thinking, she grabbed it and pulled it out with relative ease, throwing it aside and continuing her spell. With full access now to the interior of the Flamespeaker’s body, Bella focused her magical energy there. This was her last spell, her last chance. 

Her spell faded, Bella sat back and waited, her fear turning her legs to stone. Then, the Flamespeaker shifted somewhat. And, with a deep groan, he slowly sat up, blinking hard. He took a deep breath, then belched rather loudly.

“Wow. I think that was the worst hangover I’ve ever had.” He announced, then got to his feet. He gave Bella a deep nod of thankfulness then turned to face the battlefield. Seeing the Flamespeaker back on his feet, the remaining Ashari soldiers paused in their tracks. The Flamespeaker cracked his knuckles.

“So. We’re rebelling because we think I’m incompetent? Well, then, why don’t I remind you all of why I’m in charge around here.” He said, his voice changing from his usual casual cantor to a deep, rumbling growl. Before everyone’s eyes, the Flamespeaker suddenly began to shift and change, his dark skin suddenly igniting and becoming lost under a massive vortex of flaming might. Where once was a man was now, larger than any of the party had ever seen before, a gargantuan fire elemental, a swirling cloud of red, orange, and yellow that lit up the Cindergrove like a million lanterns. Now facing this titan of flame, the Ashari soldiers cowered. 

“I am Flamespeaker Cerkonos,” the elemental bellowed, its voice like the very rumblings of a volcanic eruption. “And I am the heart of Pyrah. I represent the warmth of the hearth, the scorching energy of life. The chosen of the Dawnfather and protector of the elemental rift. Do you have any hope of winning in this fight?” All at once, the remaining soldiers dropped to their knees, pleading and begging for forgiveness. Their weapons dropped and forgotten, they seemed to almost pray to the elemental for mercy, to spare them of their misdeeds. The fire elemental lowered to the ground and at once, the flashes of firelight disappeared and the Flamespeaker reappeared in its place.

“You all have disgraced Pyrah this day. I am deeply ashamed of all of you. And I am deeply sorry that you felt you had to resort to this.” He spoke monotonously, bowing his head low to the ground. Without another word, the Flamespeaker moved over to Theo and placed a gentle hand on his chest, a deep green light filling his wounds and completely healing them, leaving only the scars and deep bruises of battle. Before Theo could even fully come to consciousness, the Flamespeaker had moved over to Aidan and did the exact same thing, though he passed his fingers through Aidan’s thick curly hair as he did so.

“You poor children. Fixing my mistakes for me…” He muttered quietly, helping Aidan sit up before facing everyone once again. “By decree of the headmaster of Pyrah, you are all under arrest for treason against the Ashari. You are to be held in the prison until a proper punishment is decided upon by myself, and only myself.” He waved his hand, and suddenly long tendrils of dark green vines shot out from the ground. The vines, as if sentient, wrapped themselves around the wrists of all of the remaining Ashari soldiers, bounding them like rope. None of the soldiers seemed to resist, resigned to their fate. However, Aidan couldn’t help but notice several of the soldiers taking a final sad glance at Mortair’s body.

The party, badly injured and extremely exhausted, gathered before the Flamespeaker as he moved to take away the imprisoned soldiers. By now, all the magical effects that had been placed on them were gone.

“You have done a great deed for Pyrah. Not only did you discover the cause of our blight, but you also saved my life. And for that, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.” He said, then bowed deeply. Everyone shifted rather uncomfortably; something about the Flamespeaker’s shift to such a serious stance was rather off putting.

“I’m sure you all would like nothing more than to rest, and I implore you all to do so. In the morning, I would like you all to report back to my quarters- you deserve a hefty reward for the services you’ve provided here.”

“Um… I think we’re okay, sir.” Wax said unsurely, though was relieved to hear nobody arguing with him. The Flamespeaker smiled.

“Nonsense. It would be cruel to not provide you with at least something after all you’ve done for Pyrah. After all, you came here on the duty of a job in the first place, did you not?” Everyone shared a look at that. In all of the chaos of the previous week, they had all honestly forgotten about Edolis and the job he had initially hired them for. It already felt like years had passed since then.

“Now please, go and get some rest. I will handle the cleanup for this mess.” The Flamespeaker said in such an authoritative voice that nobody dared to argue or insist, and instead the party- some far worse than others- shuffled away from the Cindergrove, their combined movements, ironically, very zombie-like.

The party moved in complete silence as they made their way back to the tent- it was hard to think of anything to even talk about at the current moment. Everything seemed like it had happened within a matter of seconds of each other- being captured, escaping, hunting down Mortair and the Flamespeaker, and then the whole battle… Not only were they physically exhausted, but they were mentally as well. Not to mention, several of them had come dangerously close to death. It was a little hard to move past that.

Eventually, they all arrived at their tent and clamored inside; the spellcasters casted prestidigitation to clean the blood and sweat off of everyone, and soon- likely a little after eleven at night- everyone was laying in their bedrolls. Though it was completely silent in the tent, the party recognized that pretty much everyone was still awake, the adrenaline having not yet worn off. People were still tense, still thinking about what small changes could’ve altered the course of events, if anything could’ve been changed, if-

“Boy.” Bella’s voice rang out in the tent. “That was fucking crazy .” Then, like a switch had been flipped, everyone burst out into laughter. The tension that all of them were waiting to fade had been sufficiently broken in a single sentence, and they all suddenly felt like they could breathe again.

“Gods, I missed three scorching rays in a row. All three! I mean, here I thought ranged attacks were my specialty!” Wax laughed at his misfortune.

“Same. I think I missed four shots in a row? I mean, come on.” Gwen added.

“I can’t believe those guys all went after me like that. Look at my arms, I don’t have an ounce of muscle!” Theo grinned, showing off his skinny arms to Annie.

“Maybe it was that big flamethrower you threw at Mortair. That would probably make you a target.” Festus chuckled.

“Talk about targets. I think you were even taller than Aidan during that fight.” Gwen commented.

“Surely not.” Aidan smiled.

“Yeah, and no more spiders! I hate those things!” Annie groaned, shuddering at the memory of Aidan the spider.

“Aidan, do you have, like… I guess limits to what you can turn into?” Theo asked with sudden interest. “Like could you turn into any animal?”

“I can only wildshape into animals I’ve seen before,” Aidan replied. “And I can’t fly until I’ve learned more advanced magic.”

“Say, Wax. What was that spell you cast earlier in the fight? That big spooky death circle.” Bella looked over to him. “I’ve never seen that before.”

“Oh. Well… you know. It’s… a spell.” Wax said faintly, too tired to bring himself to even attempt a lie.

“Alright, that’s something we can question you about in the morning.” Annie gave him a cheeky grin. Wax sighed in defeat.

“Speaking of questioning, don’t think I forgot about that little title you dropped to those soldiers, Gwendolyn .” Festus nodded at her. “You wanna elaborate on all of that?”

“In the morning.” Gwen yawned. “Let me sleep off all these stab wounds, then I’ll tell you my whole tragic backstory.”

“It’s not tragic at all, she’s being dramatic.” Wax announced, settling snugly into his bedroll.

“Gwen being dramatic? I don’t believe it.” Aidan retorted, causing the entire tent to laugh once more.

“We can make a night out of it, if we want.” Wax piped up. “We can sit around a fire, share all of our deepest, darkest secrets. Maybe around a few bottles?”

“I could definitely use a drink. Or three.” Annie said. “Ooh, Aidan, can we use your stash?”

“Certainly.” Replied the firbolg.

“Stash? What stash?” Festus asked.

“I grow some fresh plants and herbs whenever I have the chance, then dry them out for… let’s say recreational use.” Bella gasped.

“You have drugs ?” She asked excitedly.

“Sharing secrets while getting absolutely twisted. I like it.” Theo laughed.

“What if we don’t have any dark secrets? I don’t have a fun past where, like, my parents died and I had to live on the streets as a thief.” Bella’s voice, significantly sleepier, called out. Theo snorted.

“That’s fun? ”

“You’re probably more interesting than you know. The liquor might bring something out of you that you didn’t realize was there,” Gwen said. “Let’s finish this talk then, cause I’m absolutely fucking exhausted.”

“Agreed.”

“Me too.”

“Goodnight.” Aidan said, receiving a bunch of mumbled answers in reply. It was a few moments of serene silence before Bella’s voice once more rang out.

“You guys are awesome.” Slowly, resting their aching bodies after a very active day, with smiles hidden by the darkness, everyone found a restful sleep; and, as the night passed and wounds healed, the party would come to find that, in the morning, they felt a little bit stronger than they had the day prior.

Chapter Text

When morning came and the party all rose one by one (with Bella, unsurprisingly, being the last to awaken) the aches of the day prior had lessened severely, though hadn’t yet vanished entirely. Most of the party appeared to have recovered well; that is, except for Theo and Annie, who got out of their bedrolls slowly, like an old person rising out of bed with aching bones and creaking joints. 

As the party got ready for the morning, Annie was actively working out her left shoulder, moving it up and down and wincing somewhat at the lingering pain. Although the wound had almost entirely healed up- courtesy of Aidan’s magic- there was still a large, ugly scar across the width of the shoulder- one that would likely take several weeks to disappear on its own. Though, it only added to the repertoire of scars that already covered her body.

“Alright, so what’s the plan: Go see the Flamespeaker, get some gold, then get absolutely twisted?” Gwen asked, clapping her hands together.

“Oh, right. I almost forgot about the last part. I’m shocked you remembered.” Festus commented as he cleaned his sword.

“I will never pass on an opportunity to get plastered.” 

“Can we eat breakfast first? Now that we know the food’s safe, I want to eat something other than rations.” Bella sighed longingly, images of griddle cakes and fried eggs dancing in her head.

“I fully second that. Breakfast, then Flamespeaker?” Theo, who in particular was deeply yearning for a nice hot coffee, asked. There were ample nods; it seemed that everyone was eager to eat some real food for once. Gathering all of their things, the party made their way out of the tent and onto the streets- only to notice that Pyrah was unusually empty this morning. Where Ashari were normally seen going about their daily business and activities, it was now utterly silent. Pyrah almost seemed like a ghost town.

“Where is everybody?” Bella wondered aloud, looking to and fro in order to try and spot anybody else.

“Not sure, maybe it’s like-” Theo started, before Annie made a guttural noise.

“Ah, jeez. It’s ‘cause we released all the zombies last night.” She groaned, rubbing her temples. 

“Oh… Shit, that’s right.” Gwen stated awkwardly, sharing a side glance with Theo. “Um… Well, I’m sure the other Ashari have it handled, right?”

“Yeah, they’ve already captured them once before, they can do it again.” Bella waved her hand dismissively, though she looked considerably more nervous now than she did five seconds ago. The party continued on their way through Pyra- now being sure to keep their eyes extremely peeled for any signs of zombified Ashari. However, the streets were completely and utterly dead, with no signs of anyone other than themselves around. It was rather unnerving. 

Not knowing where else to go for a meal, the group instinctively found themselves heading in the direction of Soot & Ash, the very same tavern that they had been captured behind the night before. Not the most appealing place, admittedly, but it was also the only place anyone knew of. So, there they went.

This early in the morning, the interior of the tavern was fairly empty- though there were a few more people than one would expect, likely stragglers trying to find some respite from the dangerous outdoors. A few of the tables contained what appeared to be groups of families, chatting quietly as they ate and drank, glancing at the door as the party walked in before quickly returning to their conversation.

“Think they’ll know who we are?” Wax whispered nervously to Theo as the group pushed together two tables in order to fit their party. 

“We were disguised, so likely not,” Theo reassured. “And I’m sure the bartender from last night isn’t working, so nobody would even know about the whole situation.” And that waitress shouldn’t be here, either, he thought, cringing internally at the memory from last night. 

Only a few seconds after everyone took their seats, a young half-elf boy- likely no more than 17- briskly walked over to the table.

“Good morning, welcome to the Soot and Ash,” he said, his voice squeaky with the effects of puberty in full swing. “We have a special going right now, buy two berry mixers and get one free.”

“Thanks, but I think we’ll pass on day drinking.” Festus retorted, leaning back in his chair the same way he did at the tavern in Shorecomb. “Just food and coffee, if you don’t mind.”

“Yeah, can you guys do, like, platters or something?” Annie questioned, trying to look over at the other patrons of the tavern to see what they were eating. The teenager nodded and picked at a pimple on his cheek.

“We can do a variety tray if that sounds good. It comes with a little of everything- eggs, sausage, bread. It’ll cost you two silver, though.”

“We’ll do two of those trays and seven coffees, please.” Gwen stated, reaching into her satchel and flipping the teenager a shimmer gold piece. He caught it midair and looked at Gwen with surprise, though not unwelcomeness.

“I’ll get that order in right away.” He said eagerly, clutching the gold between his fingers and scurrying away into the back of the tavern.

“Do you always flaunt your wealth like that?” Annie asked with a raised eyebrow, following Festus’ example and leaning back in her chair. Gwen shrugged.

“I’ve never seen money as something one should hoard. I have more than enough of it, so why not share it?”

“You come from money?” Annie asked, intrigued. Festus snorted.

“Oh, you have no idea.”

“Ah, ah. Hold it until tonight,” Gwen said with a sly smile. “Then all will be revealed. Scout’s honor.”

“Hey, Bels, make sure you have zone of truth prepared. It’ll make things a little more interesting.” Theo said with a wide grin, looking over to Gwen to see how she’d react. However, the red tiefling simply kept her careful smirk.

“Feel free- I have nothing to hide.” She said with a shrug.

“I don’t think I have anything worthwhile to hide.” Aidan said casually, shuffling a bit in the seat that was far too small for them. 

“You’re a pretty open book, anyway,” Wax chuckled. “You were the one who spilled the beans about you and Annie being Ashari.”

“That is true.” Aidan said, as if they were only just remembering that they, indeed, did that. Annie scoffed.

“Yeah, thanks for that, by the way.”

“Oh don’t worry, Annie. We’ll be sure to find out tonight why you wanted to keep that hidden.” Festus said with a wicked glint in his eye. Annie tutted.

“Whatever, I don’t have anything to hide, either.” She announced boldly, though she didn’t make eye contact with anyone at the table as she spoke. Before anyone else could retort to this statement, two sets of long silver trays were placed onto the table with a loud clattering.

The teenager, and what appeared to be a fellow waitstaff, had returned with the food and drink- in expedited time, undoubtedly due to Gwen’s generous payment. The trays contained a plethora of hot, fresh foods- a mountain of scrambled eggs, seared sausage links, slices of freshly baked bread, a colorful array of mixed fruits, pale yellow cheeses, and- of course- many strips of crispy, thick cut bacon. For the party, who had been surviving off of nothing more than provisions for several days, the smell of the food was intoxicating.

“And here’s a bottle of cream for the coffees if you’d like, on the house.” The teenager said eagerly as he and the other waiter passed out steaming mugs of thick brown liquid to each member of the party, before placing a glass container of cream in the center of the table. “Enjoy!”

It was like the ravenous hunting ground of a pride of lions. Plates were piled high with meats, eggs, and bread and quickly devoured in mere seconds. Coffees were drunk, then refilled, then drunk again. It was a good call on Gwen to have ordered two platters of food- as one certainly wouldn’t have been enough to satiate the starving adventurers. 

“Okay, so, I want to ask you all something.” Theo said, as he piled some eggs, sausage, and cheese onto two slices of bread to make a sandwich (his second one so far.) “After we get our reward from the Flamespeaker, what do we do next?”

“How you mean?” Annie asked, her teeth stained from eating so many blueberries.

“I mean, like, once we’re done here in Pyrah. What next?  Where do we go, what do we do? We all agreed to stick together as a party- unless anyone changed their mind?” Theo asked cautiously, glancing around at the table. Everyone followed his example and looked about, waiting to see if anyone opposed. Thankfully, nobody did, and Theo continued,

“I guess I’m just wondering if we want to have a concrete plan of where we should head next, or just go with the flow. We could maybe keep trekking up north, maybe head to Muldire or even towards Vasselheim?”

“I don’t know if I want to go back to Vasselheim. It was hard enough getting around with just three people- I can’t imagine what it’d be like with seven.” Festus said uneasily, taking another strip of bacon from off the pile.

“We also should remember that going north means contending with the cold,” Aidan reminded them. “And we can’t go anywhere without either going around or through the mountains.”

“So north probably isn’t the best idea,” Wax said thoughtfully. “Maybe we could try going down towards the Demithore Valley? I know Hearthdell is in that direction, but I’m sure there’s also plenty of villages that are too small to put on maps.” 

“I suppose we could go there.” Gwen said, then sighed longingly. “Gods, this place is nothing more than a desolate tundra. I don’t know why I came here.”

“Because if you didn’t, you wouldn’t have met us!” Bella said giddily, throwing a berry into the air and failing to catch it in her mouth. Gwen laughed.

“Yes, that’s true. I guess at least one good thing came from Issylra.”

“So maybe let’s head that way, see what’s around and if anything catches our eye. If not, we hop on the first boat out to Marquet.” Theo said with a playful grin. Festus raised his coffee cup, to which the others mimicked.

“To… whatever our group’s name is.” He said.

“To whatever our group’s name is!” With that, they clinked a toast to themselves and their success, which was followed by the consumption of a fresh round of coffee that had not been given the proper time to cool off yet. 

Now with full bellies and slightly burnt tongues, the group left the Soot & Ash after leaving a hefty tip for the waiter. It was a bit of a sluggish walk up the mountain path and towards the Flamespeaker’s quarters, everyone feeling rather sleepy after such a hardy meal, yet from some much-needed persistence from Annie (who had been the only one to not stuff herself silly), they managed to climb the peak by the time it was almost noon. 

Much to their surprise, the group found quite a few armed Ashari soldiers waiting outside of the Flamespeaker’s quarters, standing rigidly and holding their spears close. They didn’t acknowledge the party as they approached, but rather watched them carefully while they pushed the hanging ivy aside to enter. They seemed on edge, waiting for even the slightest twitch in order to then strike. But the party gave them no outs for an attack, and thus were permitted to pass. Inside the structure, in the dimly lit awning of petrified wood, sat- completely alone- the Flamespeaker, criss cross and seemingly deep in thought. The party silently filled the interior of the space, watching and waiting for the headmaster to speak first. He certainly took his time, eyes closed in almost a meditative state, before sighing deeply.

“Thank you all for coming. I’m glad to see you’ve stuck around after all.” He said, finally opening his eyes and acknowledging the party. Even with the less-than-ideal lighting, everyone could tell there was a deep weight on the Flamespeaker’s face, like he had aged twenty years only overnight. “Please, sit down. There’s a lot we must discuss.”

The party did as they were told, taking seats on the ground. Another moment passed as they waited for the man to speak. At last, he did.

“It didn’t take very much to get answers out of Mortair’s gang,” he said in a melancholy tone. “They’ve been planning this for a while, it seems. Apparently, they had all decided that I’ve been headmaster for far too long, and that Pyrah deserved a new leader. Someone younger, less ‘passive,’ as they put it. We’ve had a couple individuals begin their aramenté, but none who’ve finished it.”

Bella caught Annie’s eye and mouthed, “ aramenté?” with a puzzled expression. Annie shook her head and mouthed back, “ I’ll explain later. ”

“That wasn’t good enough, it seemed. Mortair decided that the aramenté shouldn’t have to be a requirement, at least in these circumstances. If nobody could be given new leadership of Pyrah, she’d take it by force. So, she gathered up some like-minded individuals to help her, and started up a conspiracy against me. Make me out to be some… incompetent fool to the rest of the Ashari. 

“She fed me incorrect information about the entire affair. She purposefully led me on a wild goose chase, all the while she was the one poisoning my people. So, when I was inevitably ‘infected’ by the sleepwalker plague, Mortair would take over as headmaster with very little objection. But, it seemed, she hadn’t accounted for you all butting your noses into everything.” He gave a small, very tired smile. “And for that, I thank you. I likely would be dead now if you hadn’t helped me.”

“So the whole thing was a plot to make you out to be a bad leader,” Theo said, nodding his head as he spoke. “But if it was all a conspiracy, then why did Mortair want you gone in the first place?”

“She wouldn’t give me an answer when I asked. Frankly, she didn’t look at me at all while she was questioned in her cell.” The Flamespeaker sighed heavily. “Who knows why people do anything. Mortair has been one of my personal guards for years now- for all I know, she could’ve despised me from the very beginning. But I also know I haven’t been perfect during my years. I’ve let terrible things happen to Pyrah, once even let it completely crumble at my feet. And that was entirely due to my own failures as a leader.”

“You’re talking about the release of the Cinder King, right?” Annie said with sudden conviction. “That wasn’t your fault. Nobody could’ve predicted that.”

“Perhaps his release was not my doing, no. But I allowed him to flee to Emon, not before he destroyed everything. That, I must take full responsibility for.” The Flamespeaker said solemnly, closing his eyes for a half second then opening them once more. “This entire affair has gravely affected me. If somebody that I deeply trusted was capable of betraying me to this extent, then what other whisperings may be happening behind the scenes? For all I know, they may already have a backup plan in motion, one that is worse than infecting half of Pyrah with insanity.”

“Are the infected Ashari going to be okay?” Wax asked, then squirmed a bit. “Er, we’re sorry about releasing them all, by the way.” The Flamespeaker shook his head.

“Worry not. The damage they caused during their… er, midnight stroll was minimal. Now that we know specifically what kind of affliction they are suffering from, I’ve tasked some of my healers to restore them to sanity. They should all be back to normal by this evening.” He smiled a bit, then frowned. “That being said, while Mortair was purposefully leading me astray, it cannot be denied that I did indeed fail to aid my people in their time of need. I was unable to protect them.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” Festus interrupted, cocking his head a bit.

“Yeah! Mortair was tricking you, it’s not your fault for being tricked!” Bella cried. The Flamespeaker chuckled sadly.

“Unfortunately, it is. I have been tricked many times before, and it seems that I simply can’t learn my lesson. I suppose I am a bit more trusting than other headmasters.” He stopped his speech for a moment, seemed to hesitate, then continued. “So, I believe, due to everything you’ve done for both me and Pyrah, it’s only fair that I tell you myself: I plan on stepping down as headmaster.”

“What?!” Annie was the voice that was easiest to hear, though there was a wave of shocked gasps that filled the room. “After everything we went through, you’re going to just give up?” She sounded more hurt than angry, something the Flamespeaker seemed to recognize as he looked to her with sympathy.

“I understand. It’s as if I’m throwing away all of your hard work, and I deeply apologize for that. But I cannot in good conscience continue as headmaster any longer. Mortair went about her ideals in a destructive and careless way, but at the bottom of it all she had the right idea- I’m simply too old, too careless, too naive. Exandria is constantly changing with every passing day, and I can’t keep up with it anymore. Did you hear about those rail systems they’ve put all around Tal’dorei? They call them ‘trains,’ supposed to be ten times faster than a horse. I heard one word about them and actually got a headache.” 

“They’re not that complicated, really,” Gwen said helpfully. “It’s a simple steam-powered locomotive, though there’s been talks of experimenting with other types of fuel. They’re quite-” she stopped as the Flamespeaker waved his hand.

“This is what I mean. It appeals to you young people- you’re able to adapt and change with the world. Me? I’ve been headmaster for over seventy years now- frankly, I can’t even remember how old I am.” The Flamespeaker said, looking almost ashamed at his own words. “I have my strength, but my mind grows weaker with every passing day. And if I remain, I fear it will soon lead to Pyrah’s demise.” There was a tense, sad silence following this announcement.

“Are you sure about this?” Annie asked in a quiet voice. 

“One of our most capable druids, Calhoun, is already beginning preparations to leave for his aramenté. Hopefully, if you return to Pyrah in a few months, he will already have taken the position as the new Flamespeaker.” 

“And what will become of you?” Wax asked with a frown.

“I will retire.” The idea seemed rather welcome to his tired eyes. “Perhaps I will vacation to Marquet. I haven’t been there since the Battle of Ruidus. I’d like to see what it’s like when it’s not being invaded.”

“I don’t believe what you say about being a bad leader,” Annie said in a mutter. “But… If you believe that this is what’s best for Pyrah, then… Then we won’t stop you.” Aidan gave her an approving smile. 

“Thank you, Annie. And don’t worry, I’ll be sure to report to the Voice of the Tempest about your great aid to us.” The Flamespeaker said with a smile. Annie did not respond and kept her gaze on the floor.

“Thank you for telling us this, Flamespeaker. And we wish you well in your future retirement.” Gwen said officially, moving to stand back up.

“I appreciate that, Gwen. And I know you all are probably antsy to get back on the road, but know that you are all welcome in Pyrah for however long you like. Let these grounds always be a place of shelter for you, wherever you may go,” said the Flamespeaker, lifting his hand up and a little spark puffed out of the palm, almost like a blessing. “Oh, but before you do…”

The Flamespeaker suddenly got up and rushed to the back of the makeshift tent, grabbing a box that had been hidden in the shadows around the wood. He brought it back over and handed it to Gwen, who opened it with the rest of the party overlooking her shoulder. Inside was a small mountain of glittering gold pieces, enough to cause everyone’s eyes to widen in greedy amazement.

“There should be a total of 3,500 gold in there, 500 for each of you.” The Flamespeaker said with a smile, watching as Gwen almost immediately began to count and divy up the gold between all of them. “I figured that was a fair compromise for the… shall we say, unfortunate demise of your previous employer?”

“Yeah, yeah, this works great.” Festus said almost dismissively, taking out his nearly empty coin purse and gleefully stuffing his share into it. 

“Lovely. I’m glad I could be of some help in that regard,” The Flamespeaker said. “What will you all do now then, if you don’t mind me asking?” The party all shared a look, wondering if they should be honest.

“If it’s alright, we were planning on taking the night off to relax among ourselves, and then leave first thing in the morning.” Aidan said, much to everyone’s relief. The Flamespeaker nodded approvingly.

“Of course. You all more than deserve a night to unwind and rest. If there’s anything you need from me at any point, don’t be afraid to ask.”

“Well, there is one thing…” Gwen said slyly, trying her best to be casual. “Do you know where we could get a few bottles of cheap wine?”

It was a little into evening now by the time the party re-grouped back at their tent, everyone giddy with excitement. Bella and Gwen had gotten five entire bottles of wine from a friendly vendor who had given them a great discount, Wax and Annie had grabbed a small pile of wrapped sandwiches from a local pub for when everyone inevitably got… peckish, and Festus, Theo, and Aidan stayed behind to root through Aidan’s “stash” and see what would be the most interesting to use. Eventually, the three settled on a small pouch of dried leaves and a tiny bag of white mushrooms. Aidan hadn’t been 100% what the effects of the mushrooms would be, which made Theo and Festus all the more curious. 

A little after six, once everyone had gathered again, drinks were poured, and herbs were wrapped into blunts that were now being passed around, the games began.

“Okay, I’m gonna cast zone of truth now. And I can tell if someone resists, so nobody try to bullshit!” Bella announced after she had already taken a massive sip from her wine glass. With a swift movement of her fingers, a light blue circle appeared and encompassed everyone within the tent, before disappearing completely. Nobody seemed to resist, too eager at the night ahead of them.

“We’re good to go,” Bella said with a wide grin. “Who’s first?”

“I nominate Gwen.” Festus said immediately, as if he had been preparing himself. “That whole speech you made the other night to those Ashari- was that real, or did you make that up?” Gwen sighed dramatically, pretending to be overwhelmed by the attention that was on her.

“Alright, alright, guess we get to the big one first.” She tutted, not before taking a quick puff then passing the receptacle over to Wax. “Yes, what I said was true.” Festus nodded in satisfaction, to which Annie looked between them aghast.

“What? What was true?” She exclaimed, her cheeks already turning red from the dark red liquid she was drinking.

“Oh, that’s right, you weren’t there. Guess you’ll never know, then.” Gwen said, giving the halfling an evil grin. Annie scowled. 

“I’ll tear your hair out.”

“Fine, fine. When we were being captured, I may-or-may-not have dropped my entire name in order to scare the Ashari into leaving us alone. It didn’t work, clearly, but you live and you learn.” Gwen said with a shrug. Annie was not amused.

“And what was the name?” Gwen seemed to enjoy the teasing, but ultimately relented.

“Alright, alright. My full name, as far as I’m aware, is Gwendolyn Zhara Melanie von Musel de Rolo. Very long name, but that seems to be rather common in my family. You should hear my father’s name, it’s atrocious.” Gwen laughed, taking a sip from her wine. 

“You’re a de Rolo?” Theo asked with astonishment. “Like, as in the Whitestone de Rolos?”

“Whitestone! I knew that’s where your accent was from!” Annie snapped her fingers, before the realization seemed to actually hit her and she looked at Gwen almost with skepticism. 

“Yes, I am a de Rolo- as in those de Rolos. Leaders of Whitestone, inventors, heroes of Exandria twice over.” Gwen said, her tone attempting to be casual but holding just the tiniest bit of bragging. 

“I’ve never been there, but I heard it’s fine. After all the, you know, vampires and Lich resurrections.” Festus jabbed.

“Oh yes, it’s lovely. But the people there are all very classy and kind, so I’m afraid you wouldn’t fit in anywhere.” Gwen shot back, smirking.

“Hang on, hang on.” Annie waved her hand, seemingly greatly disturbed by something. “So you’re like… you’re the daughter of Lord de Rolo, right? Your parents are Lord and Lady de Rolo?”

“Yes, except for my aunt there aren’t really any other de Rolos around.” Gwen answered, a bit puzzled at Annie’s seemingly frantic expression. 

“And the Lord and Lady, both of whom were members in Vox Machina?”

“The very same. That’s how they met, actually. Very romantic.” Gwen said, easing up a bit. She figured, since Annie had likely served under the Voice of the Tempest in Zephrah, she had probably grown up hearing all about the fantastic adventures of Vox Machina. Which explained why next she said, “I could get you an autograph, if you’d like.”

“An auto-? What, fuck no.” Annie said so dismissively it actually caught Gwen off guard. “I’m just… There’s just a really weird coincidence happening, I think.”

“What, with Vox Machina? ‘Cause both of my parents were members, too.” Wax confessed, earning him some very astounded looks. 

“Your parents were in Vox Machina?” Festus asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Sure. How do you think we know each other?” He responded, pointing to Gwen. “We’re family friends. My dad’s Scanlan Shorthalt, and my mom’s Pike Trickfoot. You know, Champion of the Ioun and Sarenrae, respectively. No big deal.” 

“I’m glad you both are so humble about it.” Aidan said casually, taking a heavy hit from their blunt. Weirdly, their expression never changed no matter how much they smoked. 

“Hey, I think it’s okay to be a little presumptuous about it,” Gwen said with a shrug. “Not everyone’s parents saved Exandria.”

“It’s really funny, actually, ‘cause our parents saved Exandria, too!” Bella said excitedly, yanking Festus’ shoulder to pull him towards her. More dumbstruck looks.

“...What?” Gwen asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

“Oh, yeah, I mean- you said you and Wax are family friends cause your parents were in a famous adventuring party,” Theo began. “Funny enough, we have pretty much the same story. You ever heard of the Mighty Nein?”

“Heard about them? They single-handedly destroyed the Weave Mind during the Battle of Ruidus. My aunt Keyleth chose them specifically with recommendation from the Bright Queen herself.” Gwen said, almost offended at the insinuation of her not knowing something so important.

“Aunt Keyleth?” Annie exclaimed aghast, but was ignored.

“Yeah, all of our parents were in the Mighty Nein. That’s how they met, too.” Theo said, referring to both himself and the tieflings. 

“Wait, really?” Wax asked, sharing a look with Gwen.

“Yeah! Our dad is Admiral Captain Fjord Stone- the greatest half-orc to ever cross the seven seas! He’s why Festus is green.” Bella said, pointing to her brother.

“And our mother, the… incomparable Jester Lavorre, cleric of the Traveler. She’s the reason my name was almost far more terrible than it is now.” Festus said with a very tired expression.

“Almost?” Gwen chuckled. Festus decidedly ignored her, and continued,

“See, mother had the… marvelous idea that I, as their first child, should be named by smashing my parents’ names together. She suggested either ‘Fester’ or ‘Jjord,’ both of which would’ve likely turned me to a life of crime out of sheer embarrassment. Father managed to talk her out of Jjord, but changed the last two letters of Fester to become something like a name. And here we are.”

“If it makes you feel better, my parents did the exact same thing. But worse.” Wax said darkly. 

“Wax is a little unusual, but it’s not terrible.” Festus commented. Wax shook his head.

“No, you don’t understand. I’m named after my mom’s great-great-grandfather, Wilhand. But I’m also named after her ,” he jabbed a pointed finger at Gwen. “Uncle, who was also in Vox Machina with the rest of them. To give you an idea: I have two sisters. First one is named Kaylie- a perfectly good, quaint name. My father didn’t name her, so I guess I can’t be too upset. My other sister is named Juniper, after my grandmother. Again, nice, good, classic name. No notes.” He paused, seemingly for dramatic effect, then positively bellowed,

“MY NAME IS WILHAND’ILDAN. W-I-L-H-A-N-D-APOSTROPHE-I-L-D-A-N. I HAVE NEVER GOTTEN OVER IT.” By now, everyone was absolutely laughing their asses off; not only from the sheer absurdity of Wax’s full name, but the absolute disgust that was present on his face as he said it. It was clear that this poor gnome had dealt with the consequences of his “unique” name for his entire life. 

“Wow, that’s awful. I am so sorry.” Theo said, taking off his glasses in order to wipe away the tears that were now streaming down his cheeks. “You poor thing.”

“You’d think the saviors of the world would be better at naming their children.” Wax muttered with deep distaste. Gwen patted him on the back.

“It's not your fault that our relatives had weird ass names.” 

“You’re lucky you came with a name- knowing your folks, it wouldn’t have been pretty if it was left up to them.” Festus said to Theo. He nodded in reluctant admission.

“Yeah, probably. They would’ve named me either, like… Bartholomew or Flower. Probably Flower, knowing my mother.” 

“What do you mean you came with your name?” Annie asked curiously.

“See, there’s this amazing thing in this world- it’s called ‘adoption.’ And when you’re adopted, usually they give you a name before your parents do.”

“Okay, I was asking a question, no need to be a dick about it.” Annie huffed. Theo, who was already a glass and half in, grinned widely. 

“Right, you said your parents were in the Mighty Nein too, right? Oh, wait, let me guess. That really dirty wizard, right? That’s your dad?” Gwen asked. Theo snorted.

“Close, but no. That’s Caleb- he’s my teacher, actually. Taught me everything there is to know about being a wizard. Well, at least everything I could pay attention to at ten years old.” Theo replied sheepishly. “But my parents are Expositor Beauregard Lionett and Yasha Nydoorin. Quite the pair, those two.” Wax, his face practically as red as Annie’s, looked at Theo with a puzzled expression.

“Wait, his name’s Expositor?”

“No, no. That’s a title. Her first name is Beau.”

“Her? Which one’s your dad, then?”

“Neither. I have two moms.”

“Oooh. Gotcha.”

“I have two dads.” Annie suddenly blurted out, turning everyone’s attention over to her. Her eyes looked absolutely wild, bulging out of her face like she was nearly about to explode.

“Congratulations?” Theo said, slightly confused.

“Maybe you’ve heard of them, I’d be shocked if you didn’t,” Annie announced, looking pointedly at Gwen and Wax. “Orym and Dorian Storm. Savior Blade of the Tempest? Master Muse and Son of the Wind? Helped save the world at the Battle of Ruidus along with two other very powerful adventuring parties?!”

Even through the copious amounts of alcohol and smoke, the puzzle pieces began to fit for everyone. They all looked about themselves, wondering, then realizing, then mentally exploding.

“Woah, wait. There’s no fucking way.” Festus immediately sat up, looking at his companions with newfound shock. 

“Is it even possible for a coincidence that big?” Theo wondered aloud, seemingly looking for answers in his second glass of wine.

“So your dads- Dorian and Orym- they’re members of Bells Hells, right?” Wax asked. Annie nodded so briskly it almost seemed like she was trying to knock her head off.

“Those two. And then their dad-” she referred to Aidan. “Is that big minotaur guy who joined right before the battle and nearly fucked everything up. Braius!”

“Minotaur?” Gwen repeated, trying to put a name to a face.

“Theo said it best. Adoption truly is a marvelous process.” Aidan, who was handling their substance use probably better than anyone, leaned over and gave Theo a righteous high-five.

“Guys, guys, this is crazy.” Bella broke in, looking at Annie and Aidan with a very serious expression. “‘Cause you wanna know something? I was born on one of the anniversaries of the Battle of Ruidus.” She paused.

“Yeah?” Wax asked, urging her to go on.

“So my dad- he said they should name me in honor of that victory. So they named me Bella- after Bells Hells! ”

There was a total uproar inside the tent as everyone grappled with the implications of this utterly insane coincidence. Though the party had been more than familiar this past week, now everyone seemed to look at each other in a different light.

“So, so, let’s just recap,” Annie managed to break through the cacophony of outcries, settling things down a bit. She took a puff before continuing. “Wax and Gwen, their parents were a part of Vox Machina and fought at the Battle of Ruidus. Theo, Festus, and Bella’s parents were a part of the Mighty Nein and also fought at the Battle of Ruidus. Mine and Aidan’s parents were a part of Bells Hells and also also fought at the Battle of Ruidus.”

“So all our parents probably know each other.” Bella gasped. “They probably like, shook hands and stuff!”

“I’m like ninety percent sure your parents invited my aunt to a threesome one time.” Annie suddenly said to Theo.

“Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“Wait, I think I remember meeting Bells Hells once or twice, actually.” Gwen suddenly chimed in. “It was when I was probably 11 or 12, but I remember… Right, because Aunt Keyleth brought them all to the castle, and one of them was dead- ”

“Laudna?” Aidan asked. Gwen snapped her fingers.

“Yes, Laudna! That was it. She was dead, and then Wax’s mom helped bring her back because she was being possessed by Delilah Briarwood. Yes, father ranted and raved about it for days afterwards.”

“I take it he’s not a fan of Delilah Briarwood?” Theo asked.

“Oh, most definitely. They killed her like three separate times but I’m sure father would be more than enthusiastic to kill her again. But regardless, I think I remember meeting your father, Orym. The halfling Ashari, right?”

“That’s the one.” Annie said, though not as enthusiastic as before.

“Mm. I mostly bothered the women, the dead one- Laudna- the purple haired one, and the faun. But I know I talked with him, at least. I don’t think I ever met Dorian, though.”

“Just the fact that you met any of them is insane! I mean, can we stop and think about what are the chances that all of us- all of whom have this familial connection between us- just so happened to meet in Issylra of all places and form an adventuring party, just as all of our parents did? It’s completely unprecedented!” Theo exclaimed, looking rather excited at the prospect.

“It’s almost like it was destiny, like we were meant to find each other. I know there’s no, like, Gods to do that anymore, but maybe fate still exists.” Bella almost whispered, leaning over and grabbing Aidan’s hand.

“I’d be okay believing in that.” Aidan replied with a smile, giving Bella’s hand a squeeze. There was a brief moment of silence as everyone took this information in, thinking about every possible consequence or impact this newfound discovery could have on their future. The only sounds for a while were the clinking of glasses going up to mouths and the exhaling of smoke. 

“Hey, Annie?” Wax asked. 

“Yeah?”

“Why were you hiding the fact that you were an Ashari?” Annie dwelled on this question a bit, hesitating a bit before answering.

“For the same reason I left Zephrah in the first place. I wasn’t… I didn’t want to live in a shadow for my entire life. Like… I have my family there, obviously, which is nice. But everybody only knows me as ‘Orym and Dorian’s kid,’ not… Not as Annie. You know?” Annie immediately felt a little silly adding in the last question to her statement. Out of literally anyone else in Exandria, she was currently sitting in a tent full of people who knew exactly .

“Yeah, I get it,” Wax murmured. “I stopped telling people what my surname was when I was in school. It was a lot of, ‘Can you cast this spell? Can you bring your dad over? Can your mom help my family?’ For a while I was a Shorthalt, a son of two legends who undoubtedly would grow up to do something just as spectacular. And… when it became obvious I wasn’t really all that great, I sort of stopped bringing it up. If I was going to be ordinary, I’d rather be ordinary as Wax.”

The atmosphere had clearly shifted within the tent, the outrageous laughter and shouting now having completely died down. Everyone listened to Wax speak with a deep empathy- and relatability. 

“Bella and I didn’t really grow up in a single place,” Festus now chimed in, talking slowly, almost as if he was hesitant to share this information. “You know, our father was a sea-farer, so we often went along with them on their travels. Just open ocean, us, and the crew. And I remember this one day, we had been getting particularly rowdy, so the third mate sat us down and was just telling us stories. And he started recalling our parents' journeys, all the things they accomplished over the course of just under a year.”

“Oh, I remember.” Bella said softly. “He went on and on for a while, just bragging about mom and dad, and then he said-”

“ If you two become even a quarter as successful as they are, consider yourselves very lucky.” The siblings said at the same time, looking at each other as they recalled the memory. It was such a little thing, a single drop of water in an ocean of events that had happened to them over the years- and yet this one stuck in both of their memories years later. The siblings realized they hadn’t actually known just how much that comment had bothered them.

“That’s a shitty thing to say to a couple of kids.” Annie said with a deep frown. Festus shrugged a bit.

“Well, he was also a shitty third mate. Our father ended up tossing him overboard after he tried to make a move on our mom.” There was another brief stint of silence, filled in by puffing smoke and refilling glasses.

“You know, us meeting up like this really is one hell of a coincidence,” Gwen said. “But I’m really glad it happened. I mean, who else literally in the world has the same understanding of this as we all do?”

“Living in a shadow, you mean.” Theo said. Gwen nodded.

“None of us- and please correct me if I’m wrong- but none of us really had bad childhoods, right? None of our parents were abusive or cruel, and we all had the weird aunts and uncles that came around every so often to invite our parents on some big quest or adventure. Yes?”

“No, my family is extremely kind.” Annie murmured, and some of the others mumbled out similar replies. 

“My mothers never laid a hand on me. They made sure I’d never be exposed to anything like that- like they were.” Theo said quietly, to which Aidan nodded in reply.

“Dad is stern, but I know it’s just because of things out of his control. He’s a good man, even if he doesn’t think he is.” 

“Right. We love our families, all of us, but none of us want to be known just for who we’re related to. We want to be known as ourselves and our accomplishments, not because we happen to share blood or last names with heroes,” said Gwen.

“That was partially the reason Aidan and I left Zephrah.” Annie admitted. “I just… I couldn’t take it anymore. That shadow. Makes you feel like… you’re only worth anything because of happenstance, you know?”

“Yeah. I definitely know.” Theo gave her a half smile. 

“You know what?” Bella tutted, practically collapsing onto Festus’ shoulder in order to grab a blunt from out of his hands. She took a long drag from it and tossed it aside. “I defy the names of my parents. Defy them, I say! …Well, not actually, because I love them a lot, but… Metaphorically, I defy them!”

“Hear hear.” Theo and Wax both said, lifting their newly-refilled glasses up. Annie went quiet for a moment before snickering.

“Mortair said that when we were kicking her ass. Called us defiant, like a mold that refused to go away.” Annie said. “Maybe that should be our goal once we leave Pyrah. Rebellion.”

“Like we’re teenagers?” Festus scoffed.

“No. Like… Like we don’t give a shit what people say. That even though we’re all connected by some string of fate, we aren’t forged by it. We don’t accept the legacy given to us, we toss it aside and make our own. We’re defiant.”

“I just thought of something funny,” Theo said, looking at Gwen. “What if we called ourselves that? ‘The Defiers.’ But we could spell it funny, capitalize the ‘D’ and the ‘F.’ So it’s-”

“So it’s like de Rolo?” Gwen asked with a bemused expression. 

“Hey, our dads named their team after some guy they knew for only a few days,” Annie pointed out. “We could do the same thing.”

“You want to name our group after me? I’m honored.” Gwen said coly, running her fingers through her unbraided brown hair, twirling the ends.

“More so… Like we’re sticking it to the titles we were given without earning them. That our worth doesn’t come from our names.” Theo explained thoughtfully. Gwen stopped twirling her hair.

“Yes, that works too.” She sighed, almost disappointed.

“I like it. The DeFiers. Makes us sound like a rock band.” Wax smiled, grabbing one of the wrapped sandwiches and shoving nearly half of it into his mouth.

“Reminds me of a ship. Bold, strong, and fights against the current.” Festus said wistfully. Annie took one of the small white mushrooms from Aidan’s pack and threw it at him.

“Alright, sailor boy, tone down the dramatics.” She grinned at him. Festus gave her a semi-joking scowl and popped the mushroom into his mouth.

“I guess we’re breaking into the mushrooms now. Anyone else for one?” Aidan asked with slight disapproval. Everyone’s hands immediately shot up.

And so, with the night carrying on, all the bottles drank, the herbs smoked, and the mushrooms now being consumed with hardly any care in the world, the DeFiers sat in close comfort, unaware that their connections and friendship had only just begun. 

Chapter Text

It was close to eleven by the time bodies began stirring in their bedrolls, and all at once everyone realized why most people don’t consume copious amounts of drugs on the daily. At first, it seemed like nothing more than a bad hangover, courtesy of all the wine that had been drunk; however, as the party stood up one by one and felt the world quickly spinning under their feet, it became clear that it was not going to be an easy morning.

Frankly, the entire team remembered very little about what happened after they had all consumed Aidan’s mysterious mushrooms. It had been widely assumed that they were some kind of hallucinogen and would show them all kinds of wild shapes and colors. However, it was now evident that the mushrooms certainly were not that. What they were, though, remained unknown. It was as if the entire rest of the night had been completely wiped from their memories.

“I think I’m about to puke.” Annie muttered miserably, leaning against the wall of the tent with her eyes closed. Aidan appeared to try reaching out a hand to comfort her with, but didn’t seem able to move their arm.

“What happened after Theo finished the third bottle?” Festus asked. He had his sword blade dug into the ground and was leaning on it like a walking stick.

“Did I finish it? I thought it was Gwen.” Theo called, laying on his back and unable to get up.

“No, I finished the last blunt.” Gwen replied, helping support Bella against her shoulder. The only person who seemed to be doing relatively alright was Wax; not that he wasn’t feeling awful, of course, but more so he was extremely relieved that everyone had forgotten to ask about that strange spell he had cast during the battle. With zone of truth up, there would be no way for him to get out of that one.

“Are we all gonna be okay to get going? We’re already losing daylight,” said Theo, attempting to get on his feet in such an inefficient way that it looked like he was doing crunches.

“We’re gonna have to be- we told the Flamespeaker we’d be out today, and we should leave him be so he can focus on repairing trust within Pyrah.” Festus said, blinking hard then straightening up. He swayed for a moment then leaned back on his sword.

“I don’t see how we can. We’re not gonna get anywhere in this state.” Gwen muttered, wiping some drool off of Bella’s chin.

“I don’t think we have much of a choice.” Wax said sympathetically, already having rolled up his bedroll and placed it into his satchel. “I mean, I’m sure the Flamespeaker would let us stay an extra day, but I’d really rather get out of his hair.”

“Yeah, and I wanna go adventuring…” Bella mumbled, pushing Gwen away so she could stand on her own feet. “We’re going… North?”

“Southwest, Bel.” Theo replied gently. He had managed to get to his feet and then promptly fell face first onto Aidan’s bedroll. He had to do a pushup to get back up again.

“Alright, let’s all stop being pussies,” Annie grumbled, taking a daring step forwards. “We can all handle a little hangover, right?” There was a low murmur of slight agreement that didn’t sound all too convincing. “Then let’s suck it up and get out of here while we still have daylight.”

“Agreed.” Aidan said, the first word they had said that morning. 

It took quite a bit of effort from the party; the better recovered members of the DeFiers were forced to babysit the sicker ones, guiding them through the streets of Pyrah and grabbing their things whenever someone dropped something. The fresh air was seeming to help a bit, as Festus managed to abandon his makeshift walking stick and Annie started looking far less green.

Eventually, they traced their steps again to stand just on the outskirts of the Cindergrove, the chill winds of the frozen tundra whistling through the woods, almost beckoning them. Gwen was helping Aidan get their hood over their mound of green hair when Theo glanced back at the mountains.

“Do you think we should say goodbye, at least?” He questioned, pulling a piece of cloth over his nose and mouth to protect it from the upcoming cold.

“Let’s leave the poor guy alone, I think he’s probably had enough of us.” Gwen said, pulling her own hood up and over her horns. “We shouldn’t overstay our welcome.”

“Fair enough.” Theo shrugged, falling into line behind Festus. Instinctively, the DeFiers began walking in a straight formation as they crossed the threshold into the Cindergrove, Festus leading the charge and Aidan limply bringing up the rear. As they shuffled unhurriedly back out the way they had come earlier that week, the comfortable warmth of Pyrah quickly faded into the chill coldness of Issylra, chilling everyone to their bones.

Getting out of the pine woodland had gone smoothly, the thick trees and frost-tipped overgrowth now being replaced with an incredibly dense snow-covered landscape. The straight line had now turned into a full clump as everyone pushed together to conserve body heat. Hoods were up and masks were on- at least for five of the members. Gwen and Wax at least had winter coats on, but they did not seem to own anything to cover their faces. Barely a few steps into the snow, Wax’s nose turned a bright cherry red and started running.

“Here, Wax. Take this.” Bella said, removing her cloth mask and handing it to the gnome. He looked at her worriedly.

“Are you sure? Aren’t you gonna get cold?” He asked. Bella placed it into his hands with a smile.

“That’s okay! I don’t mind the cold as much.” She said, exhaling heavily and  watching her breath come out in a puff of visible smoke. Wax nodded gratefully and wrapped the cloth around the lower half of his face, having to tie it tightly to make it fit. Watching this discourse, Aidan took a quick glance at Gwen. 

She was putting on a brave face, but it was clear that she was already struggling under the weight of the below freezing temperatures. Without a word (mostly because their head was still pounding), they took off their mask and handed it to Gwen. Gwen took it very quickly, nodding in thanks to the firbolg. Aidan gave a nod in return, pulling up the neck of their coat to cover their cow-like nose. 

It was an extreme struggle moving across the tundra. Not only was there at least a foot of snow blanketing the rocky ground, but the extreme hangover everyone was fighting through was still going strong. The cold air seemed to be helping at first, but now it only added to the tedious aches and pains of those who were now deeply regretting their choices.

“Gods, I wish we could just teleport…” Gwen mumbled, trudging carefully as the snow came up nearly to her knees. Theo, who was being guided through the snow by Bella, looked back at her.

“If it makes you feel better, we’d have to have been to Hearthdell before in order to teleport there. So we’d still have to walk at some point.”

“Oh, it makes me feel so much better, Theo.” Gwen huffed, her boot nearly being yanked off as she stepped into a particularly deep snowbank. They got a few more steps in before Theo suddenly tripped, face planting into the cold powder. The Lavorre siblings helped him up while Annie watched with disgruntlement. 

“We’re not gonna get anywhere in this weather,” she said, her voice muffled behind her cloth mask. “Especially when half of us can barely walk.” 

“Gods, what a bright idea that was, getting that fucking wasted before leaving. The only thing that would make this better would be a gang of bandits.” Festus scoffed while he wiped snow off of Theo’s front, his breath so heavily that it was visible even behind his mask. 

“It was fun though, wasn’t it?” Bella asked with a kind smile, looking up at the gray clouds above. It wasn’t currently snowing, but the sky was threatening it. Another blizzard, and they’d surely be buried.  

“I had fun. The headaches are just a byproduct.” Wax said helpfully, struggling immensely to keep up with the rest of the group. He had now taken to clutching tightly to the bottom of Gwen’s coat, basically being dragged. 

“Yeah, well, Annie’s right. None of us are at the top of our game- we’re gonna end up exhausted and freezing if we keep going. We should make camp and rest, then leave early tomorrow morning.” Festus said, halting in his tracks. Everyone else followed suit, stopping one by one.

“I didn’t want to say anything, but I’ve had a ringing in my ears for the past half hour, and I’d give anything for it to stop.” Gwen said stiffly, hitting the side of her head in hopes of ceasing the ringing.

“But where would we make camp?” Wax asked, looking about at the empty white wasteland around them. “It’s all just open area. Unless you want to backtrack to the Cindergrove and camp there?”

“No, no.” Festus replied, looking up at the sky. It was hard to tell since the sun was covering the clouds, but it appeared to be sometime close to two. They had probably a little over three hours before it got dark- and in a climate like this, that would be deadly. 

“I’m sure there’s a village or something along the way. Maybe we can push through for a little bit and stop when we find something?” Bella suggested, taking the opportunity to rub her gloved hands together. 

“I don’t see a better option.” Gwen said, folding her arms. 

“Is everyone well enough to keep going for a little while longer?” Theo asked, glancing at Wax and Annie with concern, as they were both nearly submerged in the snow. Wax seemed to be holding on alright thanks to Bella’s gift, but Annie looked extremely unwell. Her face was flush and her blinking was slow. 

“Yeah. We’re fine.” Annie muttered, closing her eyes momentarily before opening them again. Theo was about to whisper something to Festus, but wasn’t given the chance as Aidan stepped in front of him and picked Annie up. They held her to their chest, cradling her against their coat. Annie didn’t argue.

They continued onwards; legs freezing, noses running, heads pounding. Even without the after effects of their previous night, this journey would’ve been extremely difficult. Almost all at once, everyone realized why- despite all the advancements made throughout the rest of the world- Issylra remained largely uninhabited apart from the major cities. Because this sucked.

Although Festus was attempting to remain at the front of the group, he was soon overthrown by his dear younger sister, who- true to her word- didn’t seem nearly as bothered by the cold as the others were. In fact, she almost appeared to be having fun, kicking through the snow and attempting to create a snowball.

“Too dry.” She said matter-of-factly, watching the unpacked snow simply fall away from her gloves. Festus stared at her.

“What?”

“It’s too dry.” Bella repeated as if this were the most obvious thing in the world. “There’s two kinds of snow: the really wet, and the really dry. The wet snow is good for throwing and rolling. The dry snow can’t do that. See?” She said, picking up a clump of snow and letting it fall back to the ground like a fine powder. Festus took a deep, deep inhale.

“Whatever you say, Bella.” He stated, moving aside so that his sister could continue frolicking. Now guiding Wax, Theo watched the blue tiefling run a few feet ahead, playing in the snow with the same jovial nature as a small child would. He couldn’t help but smile. 

“How’s Annie?” Gwen asked after they had gone a little further along, falling back to the rest of the group to stand besides Aidan. Aidan glanced down at the halfling nestled in their arms. She had her eyes closed, her body hanging limply as she was carried.

“She’ll be okay.” They said gently, looking at Gwen. “She often bites off more than she can chew. Once we find a place to rest, she’ll feel better.”

“Okay.” Gwen said, keeping close to Aidan in case they required any assistance. She couldn’t help but take a quick glance at the flush-faced halfling, the normally tough and sneering face now softened. She looked far younger this way. Gwen thought about the incident at the house with the infected old woman; they had come dangerously close to losing her that day.

“She doesn’t-” Gwen started, then stopped herself. Aidan looked at her curiously, but Gwen remained silent. No, she couldn’t criticize Annie for being reckless and headstrong. That’d make her a hypocrite. 

“Hey! I think I see something!” Bella suddenly called out, standing on top of a snow mound and looking into the distance. Curiously, Festus came over to join her. Sure enough, a little ways away and just barely visible, was a man-made structure of some kind. It was a bit hard to tell at this distance, but it appeared to be a village. Festus sighed in relief. 

“Good work, Bel.” He praised, giving his sister a nod of approval. Bella beamed. Festus turned to face the rest of the party who were slowly but surely catching up to the siblings, but Bella got the jump on him before he could speak.

“There’s a village down that way!” She announced, pointing in the direction of the structure. “Think we should head over there?”

“No, we should definitely avoid it and keep wandering around.” Gwen said sarcastically, pulling her cloth mask down momentarily to wipe beads of sweat from around her lip. 

“Think they’ll let us spend the night?” Wax asked. 

“If we give them enough gold, probably.” Gwen said with a shrug. Festus made a face at this comment, but turned his focus back onto the village.

“I doubt they get many visitors. Maybe they’ll be excited to have tourists.” He said, though he didn’t seem too convinced by his own words. it was impossible to know what kind of people lived there; anyone who willingly chose to house themselves in an environment like this was either very brave or very dangerous.

“Let’s not waste time, then.” Theo said, looking curiously at Festus. This seemed to be the catalyst to get the team moving again. Now with an actually visible goal to head towards, the morale of the group seemed to increase ever so slightly, enough for them to not feel like they were minutes away from death.

The wind began to pick up as they moved closer to the village, forcing the DeFiers to fight not only against the pushing breeze, but now the snow that was being thrown around in a matter very similar to a dust storm. Aidan held Annie closer into them, trying to protect her body from the harsh elements.

“How are you feeling?” They asked quietly, ice crystals now beginning to form under their nose. Annie stirred a little.

“You don’t have to carry me.” She muttered, eyes still closed.

“I know I don’t have to.” Aidan said frankly, another sudden strong gust sending their hood soaring back, their floppy ears flapping in the wind.

“Aidan! You doing okay?” Wax called from a few feet away, hanging tightly onto Bella’s tail for dear life. Aidan shifted Annie to another arm and used their free arm to block their face.

“We’re okay. Keep moving.” Aidan called, but their voice came out faded and distant as the whistle of the gale got louder. The incoming storm continued to pick up, sending streaks of bone-chilling air and snow crashing against the DeFiers, creating a haze of pure white around them. Aidan, still clutching tightly onto Annie, was struggling to see Gwen, who was only just in front of him.

“Where is everyone?” Bella’s voice called out through the white-out, barely audible over the roaring of wind. She felt Wax’s grip on her tail, but she couldn’t even turn her head to look for him. 

“Bella!” Theo yelled out from somewhere in the storm. His body was completely lost, unable to see or be seen.

“Head to the village! Everyone go!” Festus roared out, his image fading in and out between bursts of moving snow. Channeling his nimbleness, Festus sped ahead through the snow, blindly maneuvering in the direction he had seen the village. As he did so, he unsheathed his sword and began carving into the snow, hoping that it may potentially create an easier path for the others.

Bella, meanwhile, was stuck in place, her momentarily joviality now gone under the intense pressure. She took a single step forward, then stopped in fear of being pushed back. Wax, clinging to her for dear life, was being thrown about like a kite. Both hands grasped to her tail, heels dug into the snow.

“Wax! Bel!” Theo’s voice echoed from somewhere nearby, and a sudden flash of fire erupted only about a foot away from Bella, melting the snow in front of her. Theo charged forwards, two other balls of fire surrounding his body, and he grabbed ahold of Bella’s arm.

“Are you both okay?” He called, sending another scorching ray forwards to further melt the snow. Bella attempted to answer but felt that if she opened her mouth, her words would be drowned out.

“Theo!” Wax called from behind them. Theo rushed over behind Bella and scooped up the gnome, holding him under one arm and still clutching Bella with the other.

“Come on, let’s go!” Theo shouted, using his last scorching ray to soar forwards and further create a momentary path, basically yanking Bella as he did so. Bella didn’t put up any resistance and ran alongside him, giving him a bit of guidance to help navigate to the village.

Gwen, meanwhile, felt herself falling extremely behind, the voices of her other teammates fading off into the distance. She was bracing herself heavily, managing to take only a couple of steps every few seconds before the storm worsened and left her stranded. She wanted to reach into her satchel to see if she possibly had any items to use, but couldn’t seem to find it on her body. 

“Gwen!” She heard her name get called, turning and saw the tall shape of her firbolg companion approaching her, a lot speedier than they had been a few moments ago. 

“Thank the Gods.” Gwen sighed in relief upon seeing them, waiting for Aidan to approach and slipping her arm under theirs. Aidan now had full icicles hanging from her upper lip, creating something like a vertical mustache.

“Oh, Aidan…” Gwen said sympathetically, reaching up to grab her cloth mask. Aidan shook their head.

“Leave it.” They instructed. “I’ll be fine. I’ve casted longstrider on myself, so just hang on.” Gwen wanted to argue with the first half of these commands, but knew they had very little time to spend out here before they were completely swallowed up. She’d just make it up to them later.

Gwen’s arm securely under their own, Aidan rushed in the direction the village had been, forcing the tiefling women to be semi-dragged alongside their new speed. Annie’s coat was completely covered in snow drifts. Rushing alongside her companion, Gwen instinctively looked up at Aidan. They looked worried.

“Gwen! Aidan!” A voice called from somewhere up ahead. It sounded like Festus.

“Fes!” Gwen called in reply, her eyes filling with tears from the cold. Aidan, their hood fully off of their head, straightened up at the sound.

“This way!” Festus’ voice said. Gwen, pushing herself to her very last limits, broke free of Aidan’s grasp and moved ahead, now beginning to see the structures of homes through the windy peril. 

They had made it. Gwen stood for a moment, looking frantically for any sign of her party, but found she could only see shadows. Aidan quickly came up behind her again, doing the same thing.

“Festus?” Aidan cried out, their breath heavy. From one of the houses closest to the village entrance, Gwen could just barely see the outline of a humanoid poking their head out of the doorway. A familiar ram-horned silhouette. 

“Over here!” Festus screamed, motioning them. Gwen and Aidan wasted no time at all and hurried into the home, nearly exploding through the doorway. As soon as they stepped inside, Festus slammed the door shut and finally shut out the storm. Breathing heavily, their skin burning with frost, Gwen and Aidan looked at each other. Another few moments, and they easily could’ve frozen in death.

The rest of the party was waiting inside, panting heavily from the encounter. Theo was brushing snow off of his coat and Bella and Wax were currently huddling together to heat up faster. Gwen slumped against the wall, both exhausted and relieved, while Aidan sat down and gently placed Annie on the floor.

“How is she?” Theo asked, taking off his hood and shaking out his flattened hair. Aidan gently pushed a single strand of hair out of Annie’s face; her eyes remained closed, but her breathing was gentle.

“I think she’s beginning to run a fever,” Aidan said. “But I’ll fix her up.” Aidan removed their gloves and rubbed their hands together, sniffling a bit as the icicles on their upper lip began to slowly melt. They gently placed their thumbs and forefingers against Annie’s face, and a gentle green light emitted from their hands.

As the light faded, the flush on Annie’s face did the same. Her eyes blinked open and she sat up, looking about at the interior of the house with confusion.

“What the hell happened?” She asked with furrowed eyebrows. Aidan smiled gently and pushed her back into their chest. It was clear she was feeling much better now, as she was now attempting to fight against their grasp.

“We found a village, but now we’re caught in a storm.” Gwen said idly, glancing out one of the front windows at the rush of wind and snow. Bella followed Gwen’s eyeline for a moment before growing distracted and looking around the house they now sat in. It was an extremely simple one-floor layout, composed of very humble materials and very little decorations. It looked like its only purpose was shelter, rather than a home.

“I hope whoever’s house this is doesn’t mind us staying here.” She said, lowering her hood and shaking her wet hair out like a dog. Wax, who was sitting on her lap, got a face-full of snow water.

“I don’t know that there’s anyone in here. The door was open.” Festus commented, walking casually to the only other doorway in the house and glancing through it. It led to a single bedroom with a lone, made bed in the center of it; unless the owner of this house was a great hider, it seemed the DeFiers were alone.

“Why would someone leave their door open?” Theo asked, approaching one of the other windowsills and looking admiringly at a vase full of beautiful red flowers. They almost looked like poppies but with wide, swooping petals in the shape of crescents. They smelled kind of like pepper.

“Not sure. I know sometimes people do that in small towns, they don’t feel a need to lock their doors.” Wax noted, taking the opportunity to scooch away from Bella in case she decided to shake herself off again. 

“Yeah, but unlocked is different than open,” said Theo. “These people have more experience with these storms than we do, so why would they keep their door open while they’re out?”

“Who knows, people do some crazy shit sometimes.” Gwen said casually, too exhausted to worry about the behaviors of someone they didn’t even know. “Let’s just rest here until either the storm ends or we’re less hungover, whichever comes first. If the homeowner comes back, we’ll just tell them what happened.”

“I don’t know how friendly someone’s gonna be to a bunch of people sitting in their living room.” Wax said nervously, removing his cloth mask and handing it back to Bella. Aidan had now stood up and moved closer to Theo, watching Annie carefully as they stretched out their legs. They sniffled again. 

“Not like we have much of a choice.” Festus sighed, shaking his head. “I’ll take an angry villager over dying in a snowstorm.” 

“Yeah, I guess.” Wax sighed, now looking over at Annie. “How’re you feeling?”

“Fine. Now, at least,” she said. “Guess I forgot I’m a lightfoot and not a stout.” She chuckled a bit at this, though Wax stared at her blankly.

“I… don’t know what that means.” He said with an embarrassed smile. 

“Well, lightfoots-” Annie cut herself off as Aidan approached her from the side, looking down at her. She looked up into the face of the firbolg, about to say something, then frowned. Aidan’s eyes, which normally glittered from the abysmally blue color they were, were now a blank white. 

“You practicing a new spell?” She asked curiously. Aidan, silently, continued to look down at her. Annie raised an eyebrow. “What’s-”

Before she could get her question out, Annie was sent soaring across the room and crashed into the other wall as Aidan suddenly kicked her with all of their might. Annie quickly scrambled to her feet, looking aghast.

“Aidan! What the fuck?!” She shouted furiously, her back now aching from the impact. Aidan still did not respond, staring at her blankly. Festus, Bella, Wax, and Gwen had all gathered now around Annie, looking at Aidan with abject confusion.

“What’s going on? Aidan?” Festus asked, looking between Annie and Aidan. Annie kept her eyes locked on the firbolg, so incredibly focused that she almost didn’t notice when Theo stepped besides Aidan, also staring blankly at the rest of the party. Theo’s eyes had the same effect that Aidan’s did- a complete and utter blank, not unlike the snow that was piling up outside.

“Hello? Hey, snap out of it, you guys are freaking me out.” Gwen stated, waving her hand in front of the two. Aidan and Theo remained static, unblinking. Then, quick as a flash, Aidan surged forward.

Their face scrunched up into a snarl, baring teeth that- before the other’s very eyes- sharpened like the fangs of a carnivore. Aidan’s fingernails, as well, suddenly grew and sharpened into something like claws. Aidan rushed up to Annie and made a slashing motion at her cheek, but the halfling managed to just duck out of the attack in the knick of time.

“Aidan! What are you doing?!” Annie screamed, side-stepping to get out of Aidan’s immediate line of sight. However, the firbolg turned back to her, growling animalistically. Theo, meanwhile, whipped his head to look at Bella and suddenly a large, silvery spider web appeared at her feet, restraining her to the ground. Bella struggled to free her feet, but found that she was completely stuck.

“Stop! Theo!” Festus yelled, running over and grabbing ahold of Theo’s back shoulders, grappling the human against himself. Theo thrashed and fought, spitting furiously. However, he was unable to get himself free. Gwen and Wax jumped into action against Aidan, flanking them on both sides. Gwen leapt to try and restrain Aidan the same way Festus had for Theo, but Aidan thrashed their body to send her crashing to the ground.

Wax, terrified, took out what appeared to be part of a small iron pipe and sent a shot of magic at Aidan, who suddenly froze in place, looking furiously at the little gnome. While Annie started helping Bella free herself from her sticky prison, Gwen got to her feet and looked between Aidan and Theo.

“What the fuck just happened…?” She breathed, completely in shock. Festus was still struggling against Theo’s thrashing, but for now was holding him in place. Aidan looked to be waiting for the second that the spell ended.

“Can a hangover cause this?” Bella asked quietly, watching Theo and Festus with an extremely saddened expression.

“Definitely not,” Gwen shook her head. “This is something else.” Annie, looking at Aidan in complete bewilderment, found her eyes drawn to something in the back of the room.

“Almost like what we saw in Pyrah.” Annie suddenly spoke, pointing a shaking finger at the vase of flowers that stood on the windowsill. At once, cloths and hands moved to cover noses, trying to block out the scent of the beautiful villains.

“I thought you had to eat them to go nuts!” Wax cried out as suddenly Aidan broke free of his spell, leaping at Wax with baring fangs. Aidan bit Wax’s shoulder, causing a spurt of blood to drip down his front. Wax yelped in pain, the furious scarlet eyes of Aidan burning into their victim.

“Aidan! Stop it!” Bella cried out, about to cast a spell of her own, but was momentarily distracted when Theo broke out of Festus’ grasp, pushing the green tiefling aside and rocketing over to Bella. Not even bothering to cast a spell, Theo instead opted for socking her in the jaw, sending a small rush of saliva and blood shooting out of her mouth.

“Theo!” Bella cried out, blood dripping down her chin. Theo gave no i ndication that he had heard her, or even that he cared. He looked at her with a blank, malicious expression- completely soulless. Before Theo had the chance to attack again, Bella suddenly body slammed him to the ground, using her full weight to knock him entirely off his feet. 

“Rope! Someone get rope!” Bella shouted, pushing Theo’s arms to the side of his body to restrain him further. Festus quickly ran to her side, taking out some rope from his satchel and tying Theo up, who was still thrashing furiously.

Gwen and Annie, meanwhile, turned to Aidan. Aidan looked between the two as well as Wax, carefully calculating who their next attack should be on. Before they had a chance to do so, however, Gwen came forwards and kicked Aidan squarely in the ribs, causing them to double over in pain. Annie was already in the process of taking out her own coil of rope and threw it to Gwen, who tied Aidan’s hands together. She gave a second kick for good measure, forcing Aidan onto their knees.

A few seconds passed as the adrenaline finished its course. Aidan and Theo, unable to get out of their bounds, eventually ceased their struggling and soon sat quietly, brooding. The rest of the sane DeFiers exchanged glances of disbelief, horror, and sadness.

“I guess we know where Mortair found those flowers now.” Festus muttered, looking at the two bound party members with an unreadable expression. 

“Nobody else smelled them, right?” Gwen asked, looking at the other four tensely. They all shook their heads. 

“What were they called again? Arcane something?” Bella asked. Wax was the one to answer.

“Arcanius, I think Mortair said. I guess smelling them has the same effect as eating them.”

“That is a very dangerous flower…” Annie muttered, folding her arms uncomfortably. “I guess that’s why the homeowner’s gone.” A silence followed this statement. 

“Wax?” Festus asked gently. “Can you destroy those flowers, please?” Wax nodded softly and, nose still covered, approached the vase of flowers. With a single hand motion, a small streak of fire shot from his hand and impacted the vase, setting the flowers ablaze. Wax waited until the beautiful red flowers had burnt up to a crisp before he knocked over the vase and put out the fire. All that remained was ash.

“So, now what?” Gwen asked, watching Wax carefully in case he started acting differently. He remained the same, though, so she continued. “We just wait for them to return to normal?”

“I don’t know if my spells will work the same as they did for the Flamecreaker,” Bella spoke up. “They didn’t eat anything, they just sniffed the petals.”

“The pollen, probably.” Festus said, sighing and sitting down. “The whole damn thing’s probably filled to the brim with poison.” 

“Then we need to make sure there’s no more around here,” Annie said. “Once the storm ends, and Aidan and Theo are themselves again. We need to go about the village and make sure all the Arcanius is destroyed.” The others nodded in agreement. 

The next few hours were extremely tough; not only were there hardly any more rations to deal out among the group, but the sight of Aidan and Theo bound in such a way was deeply upsetting. Once the sun set, those that slept instead of taking shifts did so by facing the wall. Not like they got much sleep anyway.

On Festus’ watch, Bella ended up turning her face to look at him, barely being able to make out his form through the darkness.

“Fes?” She called out softly. He looked at her. “Are you okay?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” He asked curiously. Bella hesitated a moment.

“I just… I don’t know, I worry about you sometimes.”

“You don’t need to,” he reassured. “I’m fine. Once Aidan and Theo recover, I’ll be even better.”

“...If you say so. But Fes? I know you always have my back and everything. Remember that I have yours, too.” She said softly before turning back around and returning to the illusion of sleep. Festus looked at her for a moment, thinking, contemplating, then returned to watching the unmoving figures of Theo and Aidan. He wondered what they would remember. Hopefully, nothing at all.