Dear journal,
Ashen Cabaret and I have gone through another odd week together.
We were heading back towards Port Battleborn, crossing dangerously close to the area where we were attacked by Virgil, Dragonbait, and Riker. I think we were all a little on edge. The trees were so thick, and the brush was difficult to see through. It really was the perfect place for an ambush, but this time we would be ready for it.
Nothing ever came. Which was probably good. We weren’t exactly being quiet. Slender and I were loudly talking about what happened last time, and Juno kept trying to quiet us less than silently. Olaf and I were also already drinking for the day, but in our defense, it had been a tense couple of weeks.
Some thug stopped us before we were about to cross a bridge, trying to charge a tax. Slender definitely charmed him in front of all of his friends, and I really thought we were about to have a problem, but Olaf came to the rescue.
Just as everyone began grabbing the handles of their weapons, he lifted the big barrel of blueberry ale off of his shoulder and set it down with a thump. The booze inside swished around, and my ears twitched under my hood. Everyone else heard it too, and nothing sounded more refreshing on a hot humid day like that than some professional quality artisan ale.
“How about we make a trade?” Olaf asked as Juno dipped away into a bush towards the camp. “You let us pass, and we share our ale.” Everyone’s eyes narrowed at him, but he opened the spout and filled a mug. He held it out towards the closest man. “Don’t knock it till you try it.”
The first man took a long drink, and smiled wildly before the booze completely had him on his ass. All the others lined up for drinks as well, and they were more than happy to let us cross without a tax after that. Juno snuck back over from the camp and flashed me a peek at the coin purse she must have acquired from them. I had no qualms with her stealing from other thieves. I gave her a sly thumbs up.
We didn’t have any more time to discuss before her eyes latched onto something behind me. She pushed past, and those dragon wings shot out from her cloak to get her airborne. We all turned to watch her swoop towards the river and pull someone out of the water.
I was sort of expecting a corpse with how long he must have been underwater, but damn was I wrong. He was one of the most handsome men I’ve ever seen. He pushed his damp silver hair back, flexing his huge tan muscles as he did so. I’m glad no one could see me staring at him with my mouth open.
He sighed as Juno set him down on the bridge next to us. He lamented his inability to drown, which may have been the first time anyone had ever been distraught by such a gift. He approached me and asked if I had ever tried to take my own life, which was a really interesting ice breaker. Must have been one of those people that was too beautiful to ever really need to refine their social skills. He told me I was beautiful as well, and I– I admit that I was blushing bright red under my mask.
I admitted that I had tried to die before, but nothing ever took. Nothing else really needed to be said on that. Especially not in front of my friends who already must think I’m insane. He apologized to me, figuring I was wrought with the same curse as him. He began to list the ways he had tried to die, pulling out a jar of bees that Juno swiped from him and passed to me. He introduced himself as Derrick, and I asked him why he wanted to die.
“Because life is terrible!” he exclaimed like it was obvious. I guess it kind of was. “I’ve been alive for 86 years after my mother placed this wish on me for me to never get hurt. If you’ve wanted to die, surely you know how this world is.”
“I–” I bit my lip and shook my head. “I used to think that the world is awful and I didn’t want to exist in it, but sometimes…” I looked over my shoulder at my friends. They had changed my entire world in these last few months, and I wanted to be with them far more than anything else. “Sometimes there are things in this world that make life worth living. Don’t you have anything like that?”
“No,” he said miserably. “Also, I don’t want to live forever. That’s how people become liches or other undead. I just want to find a way to die.” I thought about what he was asking for a moment, and what the right thing to do was. If I had found someone that could have helped me take my life when I was at my lowest point, I may have wanted that way out too. Right now, however, I was so glad to be alive and breathing.
“Derrick, how about I send you to the realm of the dead? Just for a few seconds– to let you see what it’s like.” He nodded at me, so I held a hand out and muttered the spell words. Purple magic spun around me, and with a bizarre popping sound, Derrick vanished.
It was strange. Typically the pop only occurred when I sent someone back to the plane of existence they were from. I became nervous to leave Derrick in there too long, so I yanked him back out of the other realm. He fell forward, but I caught him. His eyes were nearly sparkling, and when he stood back up he turned back to where the portal was.
“That,” he whispered, “was so peaceful. Won’t you send me back again?” Everyone looked at me expectantly. Olaf held a hand up by his ear and spun a finger around to signify the man was crazy. “Pretty please, my beautiful goddess?”
“Hey, come on… You didn’t actually want to stay there, did you?” His face already told me that he did. I don’t know what I was holding back for. Sometimes there are no right answers. Either option seemed cruel, but I was grateful to still be alive, and I wanted him to be as well.
We tried a plethora of other ways to try to make him see that life was good, but he really had one goal in mind. Even beating Olaf in an arm wrestled with his scrawny noodle arms wasn’t enough to lighten his mood. We finally had to give up and let him jump back into the river.
We stopped another night a few miles outside of the port. As the sun set, I opened the door to Spike’s house and we all filed inside. Juno disappeared into her room for a bit, and I sat down with Slender at the big dinner table we used as a common area. A few minutes went by with Slender drawing up a schematic to hatch his dragon egg before Olaf came into the room.
He was in total boar form, so I grabbed some meat off of the table in case he was feeling snacky. I had no idea what wereboars ate, but I didn’t really want to find out if he had a sudden craving for tiefling or changeling. He snuck his snout up into the air and sniffed. Slender cleared his throat, but Olaf didn’t say anything. His big dark eyes grew even larger, and he opened his mouth as he looked at Juno’s room. I remember thinking, oh gods, please don’t let him suddenly have a taste for elf too.
He charged towards her bedroom, and Slender and I shot out of our seats to pursue him. Juno screamed his name, and I was terrified as both Slender and I skidded into the room. Slender began to prepare a spell, but we walked in to see Olaf rolling on the floor in the corner of the room next to the alchemist supplies.
“Olaf, no! Stop!” She shouted and tried to pull him away. He was snorting gleefully as he continued his rampage in the stash of Juno’s potion ingredients. Slender leaned to his knees, cackling hysterically.
“Aw, gods. We thought he was going to eat you!” Slender said, but Juno didn’t look amused.
“I think I’d rather he eat me. This was a thousand gold worth of ingredients!” She once again shoved him, but he swung his head to hit her with his tusks. She jumped back and grabbed her arm where he drew blood. “Ugh, Olaf!” She pulled out her sword, looking more like she was going to defend herself than hurt him back. Olaf finally stood back up. His form shrunk back down from the transformation, and he apologized with a small coin purse. Juno snatched it and pointed at the door. “Out!”
Slender guided Olaf and I back over to one of the previously empty corridors. He raised his blueprints, snapped his fingers, and a door appeared on the wall he was looking at. He pushed it open to reveal a raging storm in what seemed to be a desert. The walls of the room appeared as slightly opaque, signifying that it wasn’t as vast as it seemed at first glance. Slender ran in, tossed his dragon egg into the sand, and dove back before a bolt of electricity could hit him.
The flash where it struck was so bright that I had to shield my eyes. I was almost scared to open them, uncertain if I wanted it to work or not. Slender inhaled next to me, and I opened my eyes just in time to see him clap his hands together just once.
“He’s adorable,” he said with the dopiest smile on his face. He pulled his mask onto his forehead, letting us see his eyes were slightly watering. It was… something, that’s for certain.
The wyrmling hatched out as a brilliant sky blue. He had greenish yellow eyes that blinked rapidly, and it pawed its face to remove the bits of egg shell off of itself. His teeth were sharp and snaggly, and they were already as big as my fingers. He had one big horn on the center of his face, then several smaller ones forming a crest around it. He turned to Slender, and he began fumbling through his bag to find the contract he had drafted.
He handed it over to the baby dragon, and he repeated the name “Penelope.” I buried my mask in my palm, and Olaf chuckled. Slender hadn’t changed the wording. He thumped his tail a few times against the sand, stirring up a bit of dust.
“Yes, this name is good. It will instill fear into the hearts of my enemies,” Penelope said. Olaf turned away and began pounding his fist into the wall to keep himself from laughing any louder. Slender looked back at us, speechless. I shrugged. Penelope finished reading the rest of the contract. “I find these terms… Acceptable.”
I watched both of them sign it before adding my own name as the witness. This was bound to backfire at some point. I didn’t know how or where, but there was no way it was so easy.
Penelope retreated further into the storming room, deciding it would make an appropriate lair. Slender handed over his first monthly allowance, and Penelope took it in his mouth and walked away. He ripped the coin pouch apart and let the 20 gold pieces scatter into the sand.
“For now,” the dragon muttered as it surveyed its lair, “this will suffice.”
We all headed our separate ways back to our bedrooms, and in the morning we finally reached Port Battleborn. It was a beautifully sunny day, and the seabreeze drifting off the ocean was just as refreshingly cool as I imagined it. There were only a few clouds in the sky, and they were fluffy white ones. It didn’t seem like we had any storms on the horizon.
We made our way towards the market first, and I pulled out my shopping list to begin reviewing it. I walked right into someone a lot larger than me while I wasn’t paying attention. I apologized, but a familiar face turned around.
“Nala? It’s been so long!” I exclaimed. My tail swished back and forth, coming close to whacking Slender in his gut. “How have you been?” The goliath smiled a faint smile, but he was surveying the remainder of our crew. Most of them tilted their heads, having yet to meet Argos’ other errand runner.
“It seems you’ve made some new allies, but where’s Spike?” He moved me aside, and my heart broke a little. I didn’t know how to explain the events of Thornwall to him. Thankfully, Juno was ready to answer.
“There was this monster in Thornwall that messed with our memories. We lost Spike in a fight with it, but we did avenge him. I’m sorry to tell you.” Juno rubbed her arm and shifted her weight on her feet.
“It was like a hydra, but not really– like a false hydra, I guess. We almost died to it too.” Slender chimed in.
Nala repeated Spike’s name, and I felt terrible for him. He had lost friends before. Those wounds take so long to heal. He nodded at our group once before stating his intention to go to Thornwall. We didn’t have a chance to stop him before he began running in the direction of the town. I didn’t know how, but I was expecting that he would be able to find a way to resurrect Spike.
As Nala ran away, one of the guards began to approach us. It was the champion of Alandreas’ come to discuss the orc problems. He finally introduced himself as Shin. He didn’t seem particularly impressed with how we handled the orcs since we failed to eradicate them, but he still appreciated that they were no longer ambushing caravans. He also let us know that Nala would be carrying the orb back to Argos for us, since he had no trouble handling it. That stung my ego a little since the thing had so effectively slaughtered me.
We thanked Shin and walked down the path towards the market. It was a bit calmer today, so I grabbed Juno’s arm and tugged her along with me to go locate the stuff on my list. Olaf tailed us towards the blacksmith, Slender headed over to the leatherworker’s shop, and the others began to visit the various stalls in town center.
Once the list I had was crossed off, we all headed for the docks to get a boat commissioned. It would take them a couple of weeks to craft it, but I don’t think any of us minded the down time. Juno and I split the cost for the ship, and the woman at the counter asked us for a name.
I began going through some awesome ship names in my head. There were so many to choose from, but nothing seemed quite right. Juno was deep in thought about the name as well. She startled when I touched her shoulder.
“Something wrong?” She lowered her voice and her brow furrowed.
“No, not at all. I was just thinking… How about we call it the ‘S.S. Alexio’?” I asked. Her whole expression softened, so that’s what we went with.
We all needed to find distractions for our downtime. Olaf worked on trying to harness the power of his beast form. Juno worked more on some potions, this time keeping a careful watch on the door. Slender visited for me to assist him with his Abyssal lessons. It was a quiet few weeks.
I bought a fancy silver mirror from the market and held it out in front of me one of the nights, focusing hard spying on some of the people we had been hearing about. I saw Alastor, only for a moment in the royal treasury. He had claimed a few elemental shards as well as the medusa head. As soon as he noticed the little ball of light from me watching him, he glared at it until it vanished. From there, I moved to the dungeons of the Obsidian Palace.
All the people who once supported me in Acheron were bound in chains. It made my chest hurt, and I almost immediately severed the connection. I didn’t want to see it. I didn’t want to know who else had their lives ruined by what I did. Still, I forced myself to look on. Poor Jackson Gray was already back in one of the cells. That forced me to end the spell. I curled up in a ball for a few minutes, trying to recover.
We were weeks if not months or longer from making it back to my kingdom. What would happen to all those people in the meantime? Would Alastor hurt them? He had already sentenced Jackson Gray to his death once, and I doubted he would risk anything less than an assured execution after he escaped.
My hands were shaking, so I set the mirror down and breathed. Slender knocked at my door, so I took a deep breath before I let him in for a magical recharge. He helped me get my magic back while he practiced his Abyssal by reading one of the old romance novels I had set aside on the dresser. After my break, he encouraged me to look for Bahamut’s missing son, worried that he may also be in danger.
I focused on him and stared into the mirror. The picture of my own face rippled, and I closed my eyes to let the vision wash over me. I found myself standing in a homestead of elvish architecture, looking over two people. The woman was cradling an infant in her arms, so I stepped closer. As soon as I did, the man turned around with gleaming eyes. He looked right at me, and I froze. I was forced out of the vision so violently that I fell back on my bed.
“See something?” Slender pressed. I nodded.
“He’s not in danger. I… I don’t think he wants to be found.”
“He’s safe?” I nodded again. “Well, shit, we sort of need him! The world will end before we know it if we can’t find a way to prolong the Dreadwyrm’s imprisonment.”
“I know what’s at stake, but I didn’t recognize the location. May have been somewhere in Valnaris, but all I know was that the house looked like an elven one. I think if anything, this sets us back. If he can go home willingly, he clearly would rather be with his family than chained up to hold back the armageddon. Can’t very well blame him for that.”
Slender went quiet for a moment, his eyes became distant as though thinking about his own children. He eventually had to agree.
The day finally came for us to set sail. I had covered my entire body for so long that I couldn’t help wanting to reveal as much of myself as I could to feel the golden rays on my skin. I tossed aside my clothes on the bed in the captain’s quarters and laid down on the upper deck to sunbathe. The sunlight and warm wooden boards were heavenly, but it wasn’t meant to last all day.
Serona, our first mate, cleared her throat as she came up the steps.
“Captain Shirley– one of your friends opened an unmovable door downstairs. We’re going to have to wait until tomorrow to leave port,” Serona told me. I let out the longest sigh of my life. “With that being said, you may want to cover yourself. Many of these men have been at sea for some time, and–”
“If they come anywhere near me–” I started without looking up at her. I was far too comfortable to want to move. “-I will blast the perverts into the sea and burn this boat to ashes.” I adjusted how I was laying to demonstrate a tiny flame in my palm. Serona massaged her temple. I heard Juno laugh nearby, so I pushed up onto my feet to see what was funny.
Derrick was casually floating on his back right off of the boat. He smiled when he saw my naked form looking down at him.
“Oh, is that you, my goddess? You truly are a sight to behold. May I come aboard for a while?”
In spite of Olaf and Slender’s protests, I tossed down a rope for him. He was just as eager to strip and join me while I basked in the heat. Slender came up to us and tried to persuade me into putting clothes on. When I gave him the finger, he grumbled a spell under his breath. That stupid charming magic washed over me.
“Jadeth, go to your bedroom and put some clothes on!” he demanded. It wasn’t nearly as powerful as when the vampire had charmed me, but I still felt a pull to listen. I walked to my room and came back out wearing just my boots. Slender scowled. “You suck, you know that?”
Olaf’s face was scrunched together as he watched Derrick. I beckoned the undying man to the edge of the boat and we enjoyed the view together. Olaf finally had enough.
“Get off our boat, you damn lich!” He came stomping over with his fists clenched. I intercepted him with purple magic crackling up my arms.
“Olaf,” I said firmly. “If you touch him, I’ll send you to another dimension.” My voice turned into a growl, and I wished I had my mask on to compliment the threat with plumes of smoke and glowing red eyes. Slender and Juno both looked stunned that I had even said it. I knew immediately that it was too far, but I wasn’t ready to give up my nice day yet. Olaf looked hurt and furious.
“He said he was a lich in the woods. I’m trying to keep us safe by removing the danger!”
“I’m not a lich,” Derrick replied with a genuine smile. “Most people that want immortality become liches, though. If anything, I want the opposite of what a lich wants.” He pointed his thumb towards one of the cannons. “Think you can blast me with that? I’ve never tried a cannon before.”
“Glady,” Olaf said, still seeming uneasy. I swiped my tail through the air to cut him off.
“No,” I grumbled as I stepped between him and Derrick. “I’ll do it… If he’s sure.”
Derrick gave me the thumbs up as he put his face up to the barrel of the cannon. I winced when I thought about how badly it would hurt, but if he wanted this, I would help him. I fired the cannon and he flew back from the momentum far into the harbor. He yelled, wheeeee, as he went, letting us know he had still survived.
Serona finally talked me into getting dressed when she pointed out how similarly I looked to the wanted princess of Acheron. Part of me wondered how she’d react to learning that I was said princess, but I didn’t need to bring it up.
We set sail towards Argosia into the foggy morning once the house door had vanished. A few hours passed before the man in the crow’s nest shouted that he saw land. That was odd. The journey between Port Battleborn and Port Darwin had taken weeks last time we crossed the sea. The only notable island anywhere between the two was much further south, and I would have been shocked not to encounter any pirates between here and there.
I climbed up the steps to the bow, and Matanza was already waiting there. They pointed to the island and peeped in a mixture of excitement and unease. I adjusted my goggles up onto my forehead and squinted. Everyone else joined us at the front of the ship.
“What are we looking at here?” I asked, and Matanza rummaged through their bag. They pulled out an old map of the continent and thought for a moment. Juno got her own out and laid it over top of theirs. She pointed to the coast off of Port Battleborn.
“We’re somewhere around here,” she told Matanza. They nodded, then looked back up at the island and tilted their head.
They pointed a talon at the huge trees lining the coast. From here, they almost seemed like mountains. It was a huge contrast to the meek palms of typical Par’Adeus islands– emphasis on the huge. We all watched them look back down at the map for a moment of consideration. They tapped the western sea, then gestured off of the map. Then they pointed again at the island.
“Well… That’s not possible. We’ve only been sailing for a few hours.” Juno pulled out her compass and stared at it in silence. She held it closer to her face and wrinkled her nose.
“Don’t tell me Jadeth steered us the wrong way,” Slender sighed. Matanza made another small peep, maybe in agreement.
“Me? I just told Serona where we needed to go!” I retorted and stamped a foot.
“Guys, shut up,” Juno said as she laid the compass on top of the map. The needle was rapidly spinning. I leaned in and stopped it from moving with a gloved finger, but as soon as I pulled it away, it began moving around again.
“I think your compass is broken,” Olaf told Juno.
“That’s not how it…” Juno paused, ran a hand through her hair, then sighed. “Compasses don’t break. I think the island is doing something to it. Matanza’s right. These trees shouldn’t exist here, and this fog… It’s not natural.”
We all looked back up at the island warily.
“Fuck that entirely,” Olaf said and turned around. “I’m telling Serona to change course.”
The boat slowly turned, but no sooner had the island vanished over the horizon behind us than a strange VOOM sound cut through the air. A big wave splashed into the boat, knocking me over once again. I really hated sailing. The man in the crow’s nest yelled for land, so I leaned over the side of the railing to see. The same island waited in the distance.
We turned again, and again, and again. If we kept it up, we were bound to get lost. Especially since all the compasses were all still spinning madly. Finally, we dropped anchor and decided the only way forward was to figure out what was going on. Serona lowered the rowboat, and all of us except for Shade climbed aboard and made our way to land.
As we landed, the first thing that caught my attention was the sheer size of the trees that towered above us. Some of them were even as tall as Argos’ tower back in Argosia. The view from a distance didn’t really do them justice. The trunks were so wide that it would take all of us holding hands to wrap around even the skinniest among them. They were covered in a thick layer of reddish-brown bark with deep grooves in it.
The air on the island was warm and far more heavily humid than the air of the open sea. I inhaled, and my lungs were filled with the scent of damp earth and fresh foliage. The forest floor beneath our group was covered in a thick layer of soft, spongy moss. Listening carefully, I heard the crashing waves behind us, as well as movement somewhere ahead.
We walked deeper into the forest, but it became more difficult what dangers could have been lurking nearby. The underbrush of vibrant bushes greatly obscured our view, and the canopy of leaves above us blocked out much of the sunlight.
Sudden noise to the west caught our attention, and a pack of giant lizards emerged from the bushes. I stepped forward and greeted them in case they were civilized. They spit in my face. That was fine. I knew how to greet uncivilized creatures too.
I grabbed the ends of my tailcoat and held them up to make myself look bigger, thrashed my tail, made my eyes gleam, and let plumes of darkness spill from my mask. I lunged forward, and Juno audibly laughed behind me at my stupid display.
“Fear me!” I growled. Most of the lizards backed up and began cocking their heads. I readjusted to stand normally again. “Ha, see. We’re fine. I’m now the established alpha.”
One of the lizards spat on Juno after that. She wiped it out of her eyes and scowled.
“Great job, Jadeth,” she grumbled.
Another ran up to Matanza, so I quickly jumped forward and picked the tiny kenku up in my arms. Matanza peeped and took a swing at it with their gauntlets, falling just short of hitting it. It made a rumble, but I growled back. Matanza climbed up to sit on my shoulders and hissed as well.
It backed away and turned to look at Slender. His eyes were so wide as the large lizard looked down at him. It angled its body funny and lifted a leg. We all became quiet as it pissed on his nice suit.
“Oh, hell no.” Slender shooed it away before grabbing the sending stone from his pocket. “This is bullshit! Shade, shoot the damn island.”
There was a long delay before the tabaxi answered, already sounding sloshed.
“Eh? Okay, sure.”
The response came a few seconds before we heard the sound of a cannon firing. I turned just in time to see a cannonball flying at my face. I quickly channeled as much ice magic as I could to defend Matanza and myself inside a protective shell. The cannonball crashed into it, sending shards of ice across the forest with a thunderous crack. I dropped the defense and sighed. We were fortunately unharmed.
A second cannonball soared over our heads and embedded into the nearest giant tree, Juno lunged at Slender. All the lizards began making angry rumbles and coming closer.
“Shade– Shade, stop! This isn’t helping!” Juno yelled into the stone, but it was already too late. The lizards surrounded us, and they looked hungry for the tiny kenku.
Olaf ran forward first, chasing off the first pack of them towards one of the big berry bushes. He leapt into the bush, and a cloud of spores exploded into a yellow dust. He coughed, and we called to make sure he was okay.
“Maybe go around that,” he said between coughs. “It’s definitely poisonous.”
Mole tried to follow him, very carefully trying not to upset the spores. They bumped the bush, and another cloud of dust enveloped them.
One of the lizards they had chased off made a loud cry, and a second group of them ran up to flank Juno, Matanza, Slender, and I. I held Matanza up above my head as if it was doing anything. It was actually just getting them eye level with these creatures.
Juno jabbed her swords at a few of them, not finding a good way to catch them off guard while they were all grouped together. Slender cast a few spells before he got pounced on. Matanza swiped at a few more with furious peeps. I closed my eyes and channeled my magic into a teleport to get them away from the things that wanted to eat them. The departing blast was loud enough that a few of the lizards fell over dead.
Olaf ran out from where he was single-handedly fighting a few more with talon. I raised a hand and healed him a bit. He sunk talon into the skull of another lizard and pulled it back out with a splatter of blood.
“Who’s next?!” He yelled, but the lizards seemed to be well past risking their lives for this meal. They all began to retreat back down the coast, leaving us mostly alone in the woods once more.
With the fight over, we started to make our way further from the shore. The other lizards we spotted kept their distance from us. Eventually we reached a river nearly as big as those in Caldra. The biomes on the other side also looked vastly different from the one we were currently in.
Olaf found an old dead tree that looked like it could make a decent bridge if we knocked it down. He ran into it shoulder first. In spite of the loud crack, it didn’t fall. We all gathered around and pushed it over. It made a huge thump that displaced a flock of birds from the other side of the river.
We crossed over and followed a path towards a big stone watchtower in the distance. It looked to be pretty old– covered in moss and vines all the way to the top. The sun had set before we were able to reach it, which made the glowing blue ethereal spirits even more obvious at its base.
I led the way towards them, hoping that maybe they could tell us more about the strange island we were on. We approached the lone bridge separating us from them, but a tiny creature ran out in front of us.
I stopped just before I could step on the little white weasel. It stood up on its hind legs and waved its arms like it was trying to stop us from crossing. I tried to step around it, but it darted out in front of me again.
“Is it trying to keep us safe? Maybe those spirits are dangerous,” Juno offered.
Slender cast a spell to be able to talk in a way it would understand.
“Jump for yes, crouch for no. Are you trying to protect us?” he asked. The weasel considered for a second, then jumped.
“Well, dangerous or not. We have no idea where we are. We have to talk with them,” I said and lifted the weasel up carefully. It tried to bite me, but fortunately the leather on my glove was thick enough that I didn’t feel it. I set it down on the side of the bridge in the grass, but it immediately scurried right back in front of me. “Stars. Fine. We’ll rest over here, away from the spirits.”
I pulled out the house scroll. The weasel didn’t stop glaring at us until we had all stepped inside. Then it scurried back to the spirits. I shut the door and sighed as we all headed to our individual bedrooms.
By the time morning came, the spirits had vanished. We approached their camp, but the coals in the camp fire were long burned out, almost as if there was never a flame to begin with. The weasel was fast asleep in the nearby bush.
The watchtower didn’t seem to have a visible door anywhere on it, so Slender and I teleported inside. The roof had collapsed in the middle of the room, letting us look out into the open air.
“Juno, you can fly in!” I shouted out to the others.
She and Olaf soared through the hole and looked around the room. It looked like someone had set up a camp there a very long time ago. Olaf walked over to the old rusted cellar door and popped it open. A cloud of dust and death escaped from the room below. We all coughed and swatted it away.
The cellar seemed like an old bar, but there were dusty skeletons in all the chairs. We closed that door just as soon as we opened it. No one needed to find out if the skeletons had any fight left in them.
Juno picked up a journal dated 250 years ago and filled with old wizard spells– including one none of us had seen before. We flew back out of the temple, trying to figure out what the weasel was trying to convey to us. Juno woke it up and tried again to communicate with it. It managed to tell her that it was the wizard’s familiar, but we still had yet to figure out what had brought them to this island. And, more importantly, what had happened to them?