The morning in the marvelous mansion felt like a slice of normal life. Neely was awake before anyone else - even Alice, who had fallen asleep much earlier than everyone else. Godfrey got up soon after and immediately ordered food, the smell of which then awoke Phillipia and Alice.
"Hey, have any of you seen Rina this morning?" Neely asked, "Her door has been open all night with the light off, like she didn't even go to bed last night."
"Last time I saw her she went to Drake's room to pay the blood tax, or whatever is it," Phillipia answered.
Alice perked up, "Wait, what?! You saw them go into his room together?! Can't believe I missed it... damn."
Rina and Drake then emerged from his bedroom - both looking refreshed, and a little disheveled.
"You talking about me?" Rina asked as she sat down at an empty seat. Drake sat beside her. Two puncture scars were now on her neck, situated in such a way that it was obvious that the bite came from the front.
"He must have really been hungry!" Godfrey said, noting the location of the bite. "Also explains why you didn't have the strength to walk to your own room! Paying the tax can really knock some people out."
"Yes... he certainly was hungry," Rina teased and smiled at Drake. He was trying to avoid the conversation by focusing on his food, blushing a little.
"Seems like you are both satisfied with the... 'tax collection'," teased Alice.
"Yeah, both feeling full, are you?" commented Phillipia.
Drake and Rina both blushed, Drake's body language was stiff but shifty - he was unused to being the center of attention, especially for something like this.
"I think I'll have liver with breakfast," Rina said, "Gotta get that iron back."
"Oh, yes yes!" Godfrey agreed, "After being drained, it is good to eat a chunk of red meat!"
All of the girls laughed at the other implications of that statement, Drake dropped his fork out of embarrassment.
They all made merry, remembering that this breakfast could be the last time they may feel normalcy for a while.
They all got prepared for the battle to come. Godfrey pulled up his club - a tree stump with a large knot of roots at the end. "I can fly up and smash the dragon out of the sky!"
Drake began to pack a few guns, one was clearly a sniper rifle. On one of the bullets the name Mikael was carved. Rina noticed, but didn't bring it up.
"How will we get to the mountain?" Asked Alice, "I could wildshape into a large bird and carry us, but I don't think it would be good to be exposed to the elements that long."
"That would be the fastest way, but then you would be spent by the time we got there," Rina argued. "I think we should try to take the sand ship. It will carry us all, even if Drake has to be a bat and sit in my bra."
Drake got flustered, once again, but continued packing - dropping a couple bullets that he had to regather.
"Oh, we have our own snow suits," Godfrey said, "That won't be an issue."
"Hm, too bad," Rina said.
"Focus!" Alice demanded.
"I can drive the sand ship, again" volunteered Phillipia.
The Bound got into their skin suits, the two Dhampir had their own coats for this weather - though, much less gross.
They exited the comfortable mansion, the door disappearing back into the rod on the ground. The rod then pulled in on each side to become smaller again, and Drake put it away.
They looked over the sand ship - which needed repairs, once again. But they were all able to pile on and head north.
The weather was brutal - no sunlight could penetrate the constant storms of snow and salt. Anywhere their skin was showing - face, hands, ears - began to dry and crack under the bitter, dry cold.
A large gust of harsh wind hit them and pushed the boat sideways, knocking Drake and Phillipia both to the ground.
"Drake!" Rina yelled as they stopped the boat.
"Phillipia!" Neely followed.
Both of them looked dead on the ground with barely any life in them from the fall.
Neely healed Phillipia with her magic, and began to aim at Drake.
"No!" yelled Rina, "Healing magic hurts them - I don't know what to do, though!"
After a few seconds, the vampiric regeneration brought Drake back to consciousness - Rina kneeling over him still in a panic.
"Even if I die, I'll be back in an hour," he reassured her as he got up.
They all piled back onto the boat and continued north.
They began to see a large rounded shape form over the horizon - Mt. XIX. It almost appeared to be a sphere rising out of the sand. All white and encrusted with salt that had settled over a thousand years.
They finally got close enough that the boat could no longer take them. Smaller jets of salt stuck up around the mountain, getting taller and taller as they got closer.
"We will have to go on foot!" Yelled Godfrey, "There's a way in somewhere!"
They trudged through the storm, walking uphill over spiky salt rocks. Until they finally came to a small path, it looked like a twisting animal path through a forest of salt.
The path lead up to the mountain, that finally began shielding them from the harsh weather. In front of them they could see a quick skuttling, followed by small eyes looking at them over a rock. Then more eyes, then more. The closer they got, the more small eyes seemed to be watching them. Until they finally reached the end of a patch, where a monstrously-sized cave opening led directly into the mountainside. And, in front of the opening, they saw a familiar face.
Muk stood before them in the center of the path, Rina's arrow still stuck in his side and now encrusted by salt.
"Stop," he said, "You are not to enter here."
"Muk!" Alice yelled excitedly, "Good to see a friend."
"And his cool piercing," Rina winked at him.
"We may be friends," Muk started, "but I know why you are here. It is my job to stop you."
"So, you wanted another piercing, did you? I have a few more of those arrows," Rina teased a bit.
Muk was not amused, and the eyes - now revealed to be the eyes of many kobolds - surrounded him, one of which was missing an arm.
"How do you know him?" Phillipia asked.
"We beat them in the Everbleed Bowl," Neely explained. "He and Blanke liked to have strength competitions."
"Strength, huh?" Phillipia pushed toward the front, "How about I challenge you to a competition of strength? If I win, you let us through."
"Strength competition?" Muk thought a moment, "Yes! I love to test my strength!"
Alice stepped up, "I can join this, too! My new arm could use a workout!"
Alice and Phillipia followed Muk to an area beside the path with 3 pillars of salt - all about the same size.
"Whoever can knock down their pillar first, wins," said Muk. He then smashed his tail into the pillar - shaking it and putting a slight crack in it.
Phillipia used her halberd, doing as much damage to her own.
Even Alice could crack her pillar with her mantis shrimp arm.
The three of them continued to smash away at their pillars, eventually, Phillipia's halberd smashed all the way through her pillar. Salt toppled to the ground, and the group cheered.
Muk sat down on one of the salt boulders in defeat, "A deal... is a deal."
The other kobolds stepped aside from the opening of the cave, and the group finally entered.
The cave appeared bright. Though there was very little light coming in, the brightness of the white within the cave reflected the it all around the inside of the cavern. The only visible color aside from white was the jet black scales of the kobolds that dotted the walls. For a moment, it was easy to forget that you could see any other color, at all.
They finally saw the end of the large tunnel, it appeared to open up into a large room.
"Everyone get ready now," said Drake as he stopped and took out his rifle case.
Rina summoned Volvagia, who hid in the hood of her cloak behind her head. She summoned her Shadowspawn - her shadow standing beside her, once again. Phillipia summoned BustAMoves and Neely made Drake invisible before he flew somewhere high in the area of the opening.
The rest of them followed him in, walking in quietly.
Beyond the opening looked like the inside of a salt-encrusted egg. The path before them led to what used to be an extravagant courtyard. Trees that once were tall and strong, now looked withered and crystalized.
Alice touched one of the trees, "There's still life here but... they're in pain. They want to die."
"That's not something we can focus on now," Godfrey whispered. "She knows we are here."
A turn in the salt-cured path then guided them to a huge castle surrounded by a moat full of platinum coins. The castle, itself, was partially crumbled many centuries ago. Now it is frozen - unrepaired - in the salt and the cold.
They approached the castle, everything was silent. Until one platinum coin clinked against another on the far side of the room.
"She moves," whispered Godfrey. "Everyone get ready."
They all braced themselves as more and more platinum began to rustle.
From below the pile, a giant black dragon's head rose up before them and spoke in their minds, "Worshippers? What have you come to give me?"
None from the party answered, but whispered to each other.
"Do we... attack her?" Phillipia asked.
"She hasn't done anything yet..." Alice answered.
"Guys, that dragon is huge, I don't know if we can do this," Neely whispered.
"If any of you attack her, I'll follow your lead," Rina said as she readied an arrow.
"Wait, if she flies I won't be able to attack her," Phillipia mentioned.
Rina pulled her arrow out from her bow, and handed Phillipia 2 of her 5 remaining Dragon Crit arrows, then 5 of her 20 normal arrows. "I have eldritch blast and other ranged attacks, you should use the arrows. I kept a few for myself, so I have them if I need them."
"Godfrey said he would try to get her to the ground," said Rina, "but, in the meantime, you can try these to get to her."
While the girls were talking, Godfrey got bored, "It's time for vengeance!"
He flew up to the dragon and began beating her with his tree-sized club.
"What?!" the dragon yelled, "You have brought queen Axis... a challenge? Oh, goodie!" The dragon screeched and black acid began bubbling up in her throat - everyone readied for battle.
Phillipia ran up to the dragon and hit her with her Halberd, using BustAMoves to help her get there fast.
Rina used her eldritch blast combined with a fireball to do higher damage. Her shadow then sliced through the dragon with its icy magic, leaving two deep cuts of ice.
The dragon moved around the party to where they were lined up, and sprayed acid breath all over the them - it burned on their skin and some of their clothes now had small acid holes. She then flew up into the air to avoid ground attacks.
Unbeknownst to her, she was now closer to Drake, who took a shot at her with his rifle. Mikael's bullet slicing through the dragon's neck, causing her to bleed heavily.
Neely used shatter on the dragon, then Alice turned into an air elemental and flew up to hit her.
Godfrey hit her hard over the head with the club, so hard that it knocked her to the ground again, allowing Phillipia to hit her, once again.
Rina hit the dragon with 3 more eldritch blasts, and the shadow stood in front of her in case the dragon tried to spray acid again.
The dragon swung her tail, and hit Godfrey hard into the ground, and she rose up into the sky again. The dragon bit into Alice's air elemental form, and Alice then grappled her to keep her from moving.
This gave Neely an opportunity to heal the party members who had been hurt, and Drake took the opportunity to shoot another specialty bullet from his rifle.
Phillipia then shot a Dragon crit arrow, but she wriggled just enough to dodge it - even in Alice's grasp.
Godfrey healed himself, then shot back up and began hitting the dragon again.
Rina missed her eldritch blasts, despite Alice's hold on the dragon, and her Shadow could not attack it from the ground.
The dragon thrashed ant hit Alice hard, knocking her out of the sky.
Neely used one more shatter on the Dragon, and it was obvious that the dragon was severely hurt.
"You think... you can kill me?" she laughed as two of her own shadows appeared to attack them.
Alice then felt three pings in the back of her head - the revival medallions that she had given to Darrian, Felicity, and Sebastian Jr. had triggered. Rina's family had all died, then revived back to being stable... but they were still in trouble.
end session
Alice had a decision to make: tell Rina and possibly lose the dragon fight, or don't tell her and her family likely dies.
'I need her head in the game,' Alice thought to herself. 'Her family will surly last 30 seconds... right?'
Alice looked at the dragon, being beaten and ripped the shreds by Godfrey, Drake, and Rina's shadow.
She remembered when Therius cast the Weird spell on her: her vision of her key to their home in Castle Frey not working, and Rina looking down at her from the window. Not telling Rina about her family and letting them die would bring her to her greatest fear - abandonment by those she loves.
Very begrudgingly, Alice waived the group over to her behind a large salt mound.
Neely dropped concentration on Drake's invisibility and summoned a giant magic hand, which pushed the dragon all the way to one end of the cavern and pinned her there.
Drake got another shot in, and could be briefly seen far above the ground in the salty rock formations of the cavern before he swooped down in bat form to join the talk while Rina's shadow kept the dragon busy.
"What's going on, Alice?" Rina asked her.
Alice hesitated a moment, but spoke up, "The medallions that I gave to your family... they just activated."
"Activated? Like... they all have to be revived? You're telling me my family just died?!"
"They aren't dead, though - not yet, anyway. But-"
"Alice we have to go!" Rina yelled, "I can't just leave my son in whatever situation he's in!"
"But the medallions saved him!"
"You think whatever threat killed them all at the exact same time just disappeared? We have to go, Alice! Remember the tree in the entrance? You said it had life in it! Can we teleport through it?!"
"What do we do with the dragon?!" Godfrey yelled, "That's what we're here for, and I'm not leaving til one of us is dead!"
"Alice and I have to go," said Rina, "and... Drake? I'd like if you came."
Drake nodded.
"Well, I'm going," said Phillipia, "I'm not going to let two magic casters and a vampire go into danger without me."
"I can take care of Godfrey," Neely said. "I know how to heal him, now! I can also shoot arrows if I have to, and I have my dagger."
"Great, take these," Rina gave Neely the last of the dragon crit arrows, and put Volvagia in Neely's cloak hood. "I can see through her eyes, hear through her ears, and speak through her mouth - you can communicate with us through her. The tree is far back at the entrance, we need to book it!"
Rina began running on foot toward the large tree at the entrance of the cavern, shooting some eldritch blasts on the way.
"Guess I'm going!" said Phillipia as she started running - passing Rina quickly with her bug legs. She tried hitting the dragon with another arrow, but her thick scales couldn't be penetrated by the simple arrow she used.
Godfrey smashed into the face of the trapped dragon, who then burst through Neely's large magic hand and began attacking them.
BustAMoves scooped up Rina to get her there faster.
Drake set up for one more shot from behind the salt pillar, and the bullet put a hole directly through the shoulder of the dragon - making her fall to the ground.
One of the shadow dragons sprayed acid all over Rina, Phillipia, and BustAMoves - causing Phillipia to go unconcious. Rina healed her with a potion when BustAMoves got close enough. The other shadow dragon sprayed Alice, Neely, and Godfrey - causing Alice to go unconscious.
"No! Godfrey, get Alice! She will explode if she's not healed!" Neely yelled.
Godfrey then locked in, dropped his club, then changed into his battle form. His vampire fangs grew long, like a saber-toothed tiger. His fingernails grew long and sharp like knives. A black aura surrounded him, and he beamed himself directly to Alice to feed her a potion before she exploded. He then beamed back up into Axil's face, "Come at me you beast! I'm the one you want!"
Alice transformed into a golden goat, and began sprinting toward the tree.
The two shadows of the dragon reformed into a normal shadow, and the dragon sprayed acid directly at Godfrey, nearly melting his entire wing, and causing him to fall to the ground.
Drake paused upon seeing his brother-in-arms in battle with the dragon they'd promised to kill together. Rina could see through Volvagia's eyes that Drake was struggling with his decision to stay or go. After a moment, Drake turned around and continued running toward the tree.
Alice ran up beside him to pick him up, but instead he picked her up. He held her up by one horn, pulled an ornate metal level attached to his boot, and used the spell thunderstep - blasting himself and Alice forward faster than the rest of the party, and getting Alice there first so she could open the door in the tree.
The life of the tree was small and faint, "I'm really going to have to dig into the universe for this one," she said as she cast the spell. Using her ability as Pradhana, she pulled the life from the tree open, and Phillipia ran in immediately. Drake followed, then BustAMoves bucked Rina forward to throw her toward the door.
Rina, determined to make it through the door to get to her son, pulled from an otherworldly magic to cast a spell she never had before. A bright light erupted from her back, forming into yellow and blue swallowtail butterfly wings. Just before hitting the ground, Rina caught herself and glided through the portal. BustAMoves and Rina's shadow both disappeared as their owners passed to the other end of the world.
The large tree they entered through was the one Darrian had given them a sketch of. They appeared in the backyard of a little home, which was obviously the same home behind Rina's family in the sketch.
The town was on fire. The building in front of them was mostly collapsed in.
Immediately the still-floating Rina began yelling for her son, "Darrian! Where are you?! Sebastian?! Felicity?!"
She pulled out the desire compass, which was now pointing directly to the center of the home in front of them, and Rina flew directly toward it. Despite the heat of the fire, she dug furiously through the ruble. She used eldritch blast over and over and over, shooting the ruble into the air in different directions.
"What did this?" Drake asked as they looked around. Just south of them, they could see the cause of the fire. The demon who had come through the crack in the sky at the Giant Hills was throwing fireballs down onto the town.
To the north of them, they saw four men on rooftops - none of them were attacking, but Alice knew who they were. "The Thundersteps! They almost killed someone in the Everbleed Bowl after one of their men died. They're from The Kingdom of Bolgroth."
Rina continued to blast through the rock and fire until she could see three figures on the ground. One was Darrian, trying to cover Felicity from the fire, but he was clearly unable to even hold himself up anymore. Felicity looked conscious but unable to move, and she was holding tightly to little Sebastian.
Rina yelled for them again, "Darrian! I'm coming! Felicity!" Rina still could not squeeze herself through the hole. Alice used her magic to pull Darrian closer to the small hole Rina was able to make, and Phillipia healed him and pulled him out - making a bigger hole that could be drawled through.
He was on death's door, but his eyes opened.
"Hey kid! I was so worried about you!" Rina hugged him tight.
Darrian looked up at Rina and Phillipia standing over him, "M...Mom?"
"Oh, I'm not your mom," said Phillipia.
"I'm his mom," Rina pointed at herself.
"Oh! Oh is he why we came here?"
Rina looked confused, "Yes."
"Well, that makes sense!"
"Thanks for coming with even though you didn't know what was going on. Very 'The Bound' of you."
"Thanks!" Phillipia said with a big smile.
"What's happening?" Darrian slowly got out the words, "Where's Felicity?! Where's Seb-"
Rina cut him off, "I've got them, stay here, kid. I love you." Rina squeezed her way into the hole in the building.
Felicity looked stable, but she was now unconscious. Little Sebastian had been unconscious for a while.
"I can't carry you both like this," Rina said, "but I can do this-" She pulled a potion out of her bag and healed Sebastian, who remained unconscious but was now stable. She looked at his little face - he had the white whiskers like Darrian's, but the patchy pattern of his mom right next to him. She smiled, then gently put him into the bag of Colding. "Sorry, kid... you've got a fur coat, though. You'll be okay for a few seconds."
She went to pick up Felicity, but Drake was there behind her, "I'll grab her, you get out."
Rina nodded and walked out with Sebastian in a bag, Drake followed closely behind with Felicity in his arms.
"Felicity!" Darrian ran up to check on her as Drake laid her on the ground gently. "Where's Sebastian?!" he demanded.
"I have him in a safe place, but for now we need to get you all somewhere safe," Rina said.
"I have one more use of treestride," said Alice.
"Then let's get them somewhere safe!" Rina yelled, "Castle Frey, maybe? Our home? Anywhere other than here!"
Drake put his hand on Rina's shoulder and gestured to the demon.
"We can't let them all burn, mom!" Darrian yelled, "I'm not leaving here!"
"Darrian, you can't fight right now. Please, just be a dad and a husband right now. Please," Rina begged.
Alice and Phillipia began attacking the demon. Alice put up a Moonbeam and Phillipia shot at him with arrows.
The Thundersteps saw them, then began beaming themselves from rooftop to rooftop. They pointed at the direction of a large tree in the center of the city, and began to head in its direction.
"Drake..." Rina spoke up after thinking a moment, "Do you have any more uses of the Marvelous Mansion? Do you think that would be good to use here?"
"Yes, I can use it once each day, but I won't be able to help you fight - once I'm inside, I have to shut the door and I cannot leave it."
"Darrian, would you stay in there, then? Please?" Rina begged again, "Don't try to fight right now, just go be with your family."
Drake kicked the rod again, and a door popped up. Rina handed little Sebastian to Darrian. He was a little chilly when Rina pulled him from the bag of Colding, but he was still stable.
“You put my son in a bag?” Darrian scolded.
“It was the only way to get you all out. Now, go inside and let the mansion heal you.”
“The mansion?” Darrian asked as a spectral figure from the mansion began tending to Felicity’s wounds. So, Darrian stepped into the mansion with little Sebastian in his arms.
Drake stood in the doorway, “I can't leave, and… I have to shut the door.”
Rina tapped into what her dragon was seeing on the other side of the world, then updated Drake, “Thank you for coming with us. I know it was a difficult decision. But they're ok, Godfrey is okay. The dragon is almost down.”
He nodded with a look of relief, and she kissed him before running off to fight.
Back in Mt. XIX, Godfrey had regained his ability to fly thanks to Neely's healing. The dragon slammed Godfrey down onto the ground, and every time he got back up. Eventually the dragon got smart and aimed for Neely. But Neely was born to be a rogue, and had hidden well behind the salt pillars. Godfrey got up, once again, and smashed his club into the leg of the dragon. She bit him in retaliation. Neely was out of spell slots… but she did have a harp with strings like a bow.
She put a dragon arrow in the strings of her harp, pulled back, and released it directly at the dragon's neck. She opened her eyes, and a hole the size of a dinner plate could be seen directly through the neck of Axil.
She fell down onto the ground, and breathed her last breath, “I… did not like… this gift.”
In Basta'Thrope' the girls were working on saving the town of Deepscratch. Rina flew up just far enough away for the demon to not be able to hit her, "You aren't getting away this time," she threw six eldritch blasts of necrotic energy at the demon, and Alice hit him again with her moonbeam. Phillipia shot the two Devil slaying arrows that Rina had passed to her, but unfortunately both missed. She then tried a radiant arrow from Rina, but missed that one, as well.
Rina flew up above the devil and pushed the devil down with more eldritch blasts, until he was on the ground. Then Phillipia tore into him with her Halberd, and Alice's moonbeam finished him off.
They then turned their attention to the Thundersteps. One of them was still close to The Bound, the other three were moving away. But not too far away for another few eldritch blasts, one of which also exploding into an icy fireball and hitting all three of them.
Just then, a familiar voice yelled behind them, "Hey! You want to attack this town, you'll have to answer to me!"
Gunther and the remainder of the Fearsome 5 swooped in to help. Gunther smashed one of the Thundersteps with his sword, Marie peppered them all with arrows, and Longneck healed the allies on their side - along with other survivors in the town.
Phillipia helped Longneck heal some survivors and put out fires. Alice burned through another man with a moonbeam.
"We need to knock that guy out of the sky!" Alice yelled, "But I don't have any spells left!"
"But... you have the decanter of endless water!" Rina reminded her.
"I can't get up high enough to knock him down with that!"
"But I can!" Rina flew down and picked up Alice to put her in range of the final member of the Thundersteps still alive.
"Geyser!" she yelled, and a gush of water poured from the decanter, knocking the last member from the roof he was on. He hit the ground with a thud, and was unable to get up.
Rina pulled Alice into a hug, "Thank you, Alice! Thank you, thank you! You're the best friend anyone could ask for!"
Alice wriggled the whole time, "Okay, okay! I get it, you're grateful!"
The Fearsome 5 and Phillipia all surrounded the last of the Thundersteps. Gunther stuck his dagger through the man's arm into the ground, "Now... we're going to talk."
End session
"P.S." Post-Session description.
As Neely felled the dragon, Rina congratulated her through the mouth of Volvagia, "Congrats, Neely! You get whatever you want when you come home! A huge party, anything! Oh, can you please grab a dragon scale or two? Or maybe one for each of us?"
The body of the dragon began to rumble, acid started to spill out from its mouth.
"Godfrey! Now's the time when they explode, we have to go!"
Godfrey picked Neely up and carried her as he flew at full speed out of the cavern. The acid flooded the hallways, melting the snow and salt on its way.
Just before the wave engulfed them, a hand pulled them to safety on the side of the mountain - Muk saved the day.
Actual end of session
The few hours after attack on Deepscratch were a whirlwind. Drake had dedicated himself and his Marvelous Mansion to be a field hospital, which was full of injured Therianthropes.
Darrian and his family were taking a much needed rest in the mansion, and he got to know Drake a little better.
"So... you've dated my mom?"
Drake felt awkward, but answered, "...Yes."
Darrian nodded, "Thank you for saving Felicity, I don't know what we would have done without you."
"Anything I can do to help, there's also turkey legs in the kitchen if you're hungry."
"That would be nice," Darrian smiled awkwardly, "I, um... I just want to thank you for being there for my mom, too. She seems to finally want to settle down, and she really likes having a home in Pennislovica."
"I like having her there," Drake said after a brief smile.
"Daddy!" they both heard from another room, Sebastian Jr. ran out to hug his dad.
"Hey kid!" Darrian lifted his son and hugged him tightly.
Felicity walked up beside him, too. "Thank you, Drake," she said with tears in her eyes as she also hugged them both.
Drake opened the door to the mansion to anyone who needed it, and continued to help those who came in.
The majority of the leaders of the different clans were all gathering together to have a meeting to discuss what happened - and they insisted that The Bound be there, as well.
The city of Deepscratch was vaguely separated into different sections for the different clans: the Cat clan, Dog clan, Bovine clan, Reptilian clan, Bird clan, etc. Also, each clan had their own representative they they referred to as Aspects.
There was one massive tree near the center of the city, it towered over everything around it. This was the target of the Thundersteps - one of whom was being interrogated by a few of the other warriors in the city.
All of the city was built within the natural landscape. Some were dug out of hills, some were built in the treetops, and some were natural canopies that were made into homes without much modification at all.
All of the leaders gathered at the tree as soon as the spread of the fire had been slowed by the surviving citizens. Inside of the giant tree there was a natural winding staircase into a large room. The room was clearly a meeting room, and had pews in a semi-circle that were facing the center of the far wall.
In the center-view of the room, an elderly snake man stood in wait for all of the leaders. A wolf man named Packfriend, a rat woman named Glossfur, a cow person named Bigspot, a Bear woman named Warmskin, lizard woman named Shimmerbod, and others were all together in their assigned seats.
The party were all ushered to empty seats on one side of the room, next to them were the Fearsome 5. Some of the seats for the leaders were still empty, even as they began to shut the doors. Some had been injured by the demon attack, others were caring for injured family members. Darrian rushed in as the last leader to enter before the doors closed. As he sat in his seat next to the rat woman, he waved to Rina who waved back - both relieved about their family being alive.
The leaders of the clans began to bicker amongst themselves.
The wolf man began to yell at the leader of the bird clan, “I knew we shouldn't have done that! It was sure to bite us in the ass!”
“If we hadn't we wouldn't have had any warning at all!” She yelled back.
Most others were also arguing, blaming one another for the attack. Darrian mouthed to Rina, “It's fine, they'll get over it soon.” Then two more began to get in a fist fight instead.
Darrian stood up, “Okay, okay, we don't need to fight abou-” he got cut off by someone pulling him into the pile.
Suddenly, the snake man slammed his staff on the floor to get their attention, People! People, please… though we still have our animalistic tendencies, we must appeal to our higher logic. There is much to discuss, and fighting is only holding us back.”
“Fighting is the only reason we're still here!” The wolf man yelled as the leaders all found their seats again.
“We must pray to the life bringer for guidance,” the snake man gestured upward to a knot of roots cradling a beautiful, golden light. All of the therianthropes in the room said a chant in unison, saluted the orb of light, and all sat down.
Alice looked up at the light and felt drawn to it. The light felt warm and like… home.
“We must understand what happened here,” the snake man continued, “Without The Bound, it is possible we would have had much higher mortality in this event.” He turned to them, “You arrived within seconds of the attack, we would like to hear from you what happened from your perspective.”
“Who are these people?” One voice said from the back of the room.
They all stared, and even Phillipia and Alice just looked at Rina to answer. “Well, I'm Darrian's mom,” she said, “and we are the party who won the Everbleed bowl this year. We knew what happened because Alice had given Darrian and his family revival medallions - she knew they'd been activated.”
“Dude, that's your mom?” They could hear someone say to Darrian from the other side of the room, “She's pretty hot.”
“Okay! Listen,” Darrian said as he stood up, “My mom and her party have dealt with a lot of significant battles. Alice is even on the Queen Staffon’s war council. They are powerful allies, and we should take them seriously.”
“Still need your mommy to help you, Darrian?” The rat woman next to him scoffed.
“Hey!” Rina yelled from the other side of the room, “Don't talk to my son like that. He deserves your respect.”
“What do you care?”
“Because he's my kid and he deserves better, and while I'm here I don't want to hear it.”
“I thought your elf half was supposed to be your sophisticated half, Darrian.”
“Everyone settle down!” The cow person yelled as he stomped a hoof. “Who do you stand for, The Bound? The Queen of Asmery, or yourselves?”
“I'm the Queens niece,” said Phillipia, “I may not speak for her, but she trusts me with a lot of decisions.”
“So she's who you represent?” The snake man asked.
“I am not affiliated with her,” said Rina, “So, as a whole, ‘The Bound' aren't her representatives. I doubt she'd trust me with that, anyway.”
“Then… I guess this is an Alice decision”, said Phillipia.
Everyone stared intently at Alice, who was still staring at the light on the ceiling.
“I think…” she paused a moment, “We all need to light up a joint!”
Alice pulled out a large joint and Rina lit it with her blue fire magic.
“This is not the place for such things!” One of the leaders interjected, “But be sure to pass it over here, they said as they reached for it,”
“If you represent Queen Staffon, then perhaps you could call for aid?” The snake man tried to get everyone on track again.
“I don't know if I can guarantee that…” said Phillipia, “but I can use a sending stone to find out.”
“If you represent yourselves, though…” he continued, “then perhaps you would personally be willing to fight this war with us?”
“We shouldn't even be fighting at all!” one of the leaders yelled, “We should evacuate the city, and the country if we have to. Get everyone to safety, no one should die for this!”
“If we keep running we will always be running!” The wolf man yelled back, “We've already lost so much land and so many souls - if we don't take a stand we will lose what little we've gained!”
“Maybe we should all just stay here,” one of them suggested. “We can bunker down and hold the Capital City, no one needs to run or go directly into danger - we will call our allies and it'll give them a few days to get here.”
“Well, The Bound? What say you?” The snake man asked again.
“We represent ourselves,” Alice said confidently. “I don't know what the best battle plan is, though… that's something Phillipia would be able to answer better than the two of us.”
“Offence is the best defense, in my opinion,” Phillipia answered, “We value strength in Ansmery, and fighting your battle head-on is the strongest approach.”
“I agree!” The wolf man answered, “Let's go out and meet them in the desert where they're most vulnerable!”
“But that also leaves us vulnerable!” Another leader argued, “Surly there's better we can do that just go straight into danger?”
They continued to argue.
Rina leaned over to the wolf man, "So, are you are worried that your group doesn't have enough power to defeat Bolgroth's army?"
"I think with your help we can do it. But any other help is better than nothing," he answered.
"I may have an answer for you... but it's not something I want to talk about here."
"Why not here?"
"It may feel like desecrating sacred ground, I just want to wait til we're outside."
"Are... you flirting with me or something?"
"Oh, no no! No, I genuinely have an answer for you, I just don't want to talk about it here. We can just step outside and talk out there later."
"Darrian, is your mom flirting with me?"
"No! No, she just... talks like that. All the time."
"What? I just want to help, just not here."
"Why not here?" the snake man asked, he had overheard their conversation.
Rina shifted in her seat a little, "I just... I got my magic from an otherworldly being, and I wanted to see if they could help you, too. I just don't want to talk about it in a sacred space, it doesn't feel right."
"That sounds... concerning..." said the snake man, "We should discuss that later."
"Yes, later! That's what I'm saying!"
They then heard a voice raise louder than the rest within the greater argument.
“I want to hear from Darrian's mom,” the rat woman said, “What would the Elf of Kay’Lend have us do?”
Rina looked around, then answered, “I've made too many decisions on behalf of my son, I want to defer to him.”
Darrian wasn't ready to answer, “I… I know any of us would have safety in Cofamoso, but I also know that hitting The Kingdom of Bolgroth while they cross the Drysky desert is going to be our best shot. Any of the options have their upsides and downsides… so maybe a mixture of them, somehow?”
“I think those who want to go fight should go fight,” said Phillipia.
“And I think the vulnerable - like the children, injured, and elderly - should retreat to Cofomoso,” Rina suggested.
“Then no one will be here to defend the city!” Someone yelled.
“Then you stay here and defend the city!” Alice yelled back.
“I think Darrian has the right idea,” said Rina, “Those who are able, go fight. Those who are completely unable, leave the country. Those who may be slightly less capable in battle, but still want to help - you stay here in the city.”
“I am curious how you intend to tackle the Red in the desert, though… I heard that it makes people go mad. Is that exclusive to therianthropes, or does that happen to everyone?”
“We don't know for sure if it happens to everyone,” said Darrian, “but we've been working for a while on a breathing apparatus that mitigates that issue.
Rina nodded, “Okay, then I have nothing else to add.”
“I would say that sounds settled,” the snake man said, “now, what do we know about the Thundersteps? Do we know why they were here, if not to attack? They, themselves, didn't do any damage to the city.”
“They were fixated on this place,” said Gunther, “they wanted something here.”
Alice continued to be fixated on the orb of light, so much so that she decided to get up and look closer.
“That is the giver of life,” said the snake man, “where all things begin, and where we place our faith.”
Alice got on her broom and it lifted her into the hair gently.
“Please, stay way from that,” the snake man begged, “That is precious to us.”
Rina stood in a position to protect Alice from anyone trying to stop her, “She's the Pradhana, she's got this.”
“I don't know what that means but please-” the snake man was cut off by a burst of light from the orb as Alice got closer.
She reached up, and used her druidic magic to convince the matt of roots to move the light source closer. It was too bright for her to see clearly, until it got close. She could see that it was not an orb at all, but a medallion - one that looked identical to the End Medallion they had left at home in Castle Frey.
“Please don't touch it!” The snake man begged.
But as he did, the medallion just touched Alice's fingertip.
Suddenly, a huge burst of light and energy rippled through the city emanating from the medallion. The giant tree began to shake and shiver, all of the many colored leaves began to shake. There was a short pause as Alice held the medallion, hovering there in the center of the room. A single leaf then split into two. Then another, then more, then the branches of the tree began to grow longer, the tree itself began to swell. The pews and chairs grew so fast that no one could sit in them at all.
“Everyone out!” Yelled the elder, and the tree continued to grow - closing the exits. They all escaped unharmed, and the magic of the Beginning Medallion began to extend to the entire city. All of the plants began to grow, the grasses and the flowers sprouted in a moment. The giant tree, made up of dozens of smaller trees all woven together, now had a canopy that covered the entirety of the city, and it's trunk was now tall and wide enough to house dozens of families.
“See, told you we should trust her,” Rina said to the Elder.
His eyes were wide, and he dropped down to bow in gratitude to the life bringer medallion.
“Looks like it may be easier to rebuild, after all,” said Alice, “this tree has more than enough space for everyone who lost their homes to live in.”
“But… what will we do without the medallion here?” He asked.
“I don't think it needs it anymore,” Alice smiled, then pocketed the medallion.
"Hey, we should check on Neely," said Phillipia, "Rina said she made it out, but they're still on the island of Desert Sandflake - the weather could kill them faster than the dragon!"
Rina tuned into Volvagia, who was hiding inside of Neely's cloak hood.
"Neely!"
"Ah!" Neely jumped, "Oh, gods... I forgot the dragon could talk. What's going on, Rina?"
"How are you doing? Are you okay?"
Neely looked up, in front of her was Godfrey making a path in the snow that Neely could walk through, and behind her followed thousands of black Kobolds.
"Yes... I'm okay..."
"Queen Neely is okay!" one of the Kobolds yelled, "All hail queen Neely!" They all yelled.
"You're a dragon slayer now, Neely," said Rina, "you slayed their god, so now they serve you!"
"Yay Queen Neely!" they all yelled again.
"No, thank you... No, I don't want to be a queen of anything."
"Where are you, Neely? We are trying to figure out how to get you here."
Neely turned around to see the acid-scarred mountain about a mile behind her.
"We are about a mile south of the mountain, but not quite to the lake."
Phillipia thought a moment as Rina relayed the information, "I bet I can get my aunt to use some magic to get them here, or something. She has teleport circles everywhere!" Phillipia suggested.
Rina handed her the universal sending stone, and she spoke to her aunt, The Queen of Asmery:
"Need to get 2 people from Sandflake to Basta'Thrope'. Must get here as soon as possible. Also, I'm getting much stronger! The Dragon is dead!"
Very quickly she got a response:
"Good! So happy to hear that vile dragon is gone! Oh, Phillipia! If it isn't my favorite niece! How are you, darling? I was just-"
Another sending came in, "-thinking about having tea with you when you return! You will have to tell me everything! Anyway, just send me the location of your two-"
Another sending: "-friends and we will pick them right up! What's that? You're telling me we're almost out of sending scrolls? Then make more! I am talking-"
...
"-to my favorite niece! Anyway, Phillipia, this is actually the last sending. I will have one of my witches pick them up! Love you, Kisses!"
Rina relayed it all to Neely, who then decided to use her kobold army, "Okay my subjects! Everyone form an SOS signal on the ground so a flying witch could see you from the air."
The kobolds didn't know what letters were.
Neely sighed, "I'll get them organized, just please get someone here!"
"Can you ask Neely to bring me back a Kobold? And... tell her I miss her..." said Phillipia.
Neely was happy to hear that Phillipia was thinking about her, "Tell her I look forward to seeing her."
Phillipia then responded to the queen, "I look forward to tea! They are 1 mile south of Mt. XIX, just north of the Lake. You will see hundreds of black kobolds."
"It seems a witch is going to get you and teleport you here," Rina said to Neely, "And tell Godfrey to put one of the Kobolds into the bag of colding - Phillipia wants a pet."
The Kobolds heard the voice from Rina's pseudodragon, "I want to be a pet!"
"Me too!" They all scrambled to be the pet of their new queen's best friend.
"Now that all that seems to be over, I want to meet my grandson!" Rina said to Darrian excitedly.
"Okay, okay - let me go see if they're up to it. Sebastian was sleepy, so if they're asleep it may have to wait until the morning."
"Hm, yes, it is getting dark now. I hadn't realized how much of the day had gone by," Rina answered.
"So, mom..." Darrian started, "I talked to Drake."
She smiled, "Yeah? And?"
"He's a good guy. We talked for a few hours, actually."
"A few hours, huh? What, did you get 17 whole words out of him?"
Darrian laughed, "He talked quite a lot, actually."
"Maybe I'm the one who is usually talking when we're together," she smiled. "We will discuss everything the two of you talked about at some other time, but I want you to know... this thing Drake is something real. He's not just a passing thing."
She put her hand on his arm, and he smiled back, "Ok, mom. Good to know. Thanks."
"Also, kid... I owe you an apology. I realize I have continued smothering you despite you telling me that you need me not to. Making political decisions on your behalf with Sullivan Frey, angering Queen Loanna Staffon, arguing with your friend in the town hall today."
They both laughed a little, but Darrian answered quickly, "Mom... Thank you. For the apology and for... everything else."
She hugged him tight for a moment, "Okay, kid, let's go back to the marvelous mansion. Even I need to rest - I'm exhausted after trudging through salty snow, fighting a dragon, killing a devil, then having a boring town meeting."
He laughed with her, then they walked to Drake's little field hospital together.
Along the way, some of the town elders and other citizens with extra rooms offered for the members of The Bound rooms to stay the night.
Alice and Phillipia both opted to take them up on their offers, and Alice went straight to bed immediately.
Rina did not, she knew she didn't need to. She and Darrian got to Drake's Marvelous Mansion, which was mostly at capacity with nearly 100 people consistently going in and out. As the evening got darker, those who could go to their own homes to rest and recover did so. Those who still needed care stayed. Drake was intending to stay awake all night in case he was needed.
"I need to make sure everyone has everything they need," he said as Rina tried to convince him to rest.
"The mansion can do that mostly without you," she said, "You should rest for at least a couple of hours. Even I need that, and I'm an elf."
Darrian approached the two of them after checking on his family, "They're both asleep - is it okay if we save the formal introductions until tomorrow?"
"Of course, kid," said Rina, "And... I would introduce the two of you, but it seems you've already gotten to know each other."
Drake nodded, "Yes, we spoke for quite some time."
Rina smiled.
"I'm going to sleep, too," said Darrian, "It's been a really, really long day. And now I don't even have a house to sleep in. So... thank you, again, Drake. This is truly a lifesaver."
Drake nodded.
"Oh, mom, where's your room? Just in case I... need you for something."
Rina looked up at Drake who blushed a little.
"I think I might be sharing a room with the owner of the place, kid," She winked at him.
"Oh, okay... that explains the yellow marigolds I saw on his bedside table through the open door."
Rina nodded, "Okay, goodnight, kid. Get a good night's sleep - I don't know what tomorrow will bring."
Darrian went off to his room, complete with a small jungle gym of vines for Sebastian to play on, and went to bed.
"So, you moved the flowers to your room?" Rina asked Drake once they were alone.
"I figured you would rather I use the space for those who needed it."
"Is that the only reason?"
He shrugged and smirked.
"Do you want to explain the other reasons to me in the bedroom, then?" she said as she began to pull him in that direction. He gladly followed.
Next: Day 76 (S60-61)