Sanji and I continued to wait when suddenly the silence was interrupted by a flying horse.
“Your people need you!” He said to us. For a moment I was in ‘aw’ that the flying horse could talk, but I was confused at what he said.
“My people exiled me. They hate me,” I said at the same time Sanji had responded, “Yes. I know they need me.” We looked at each other puzzled by this flying horse’s demand. The horse took off and I continued to lounge about. About five minutes later I spotted the flying horse once more with Cortanna, Melinda, and Kedra in tow. Something was wrong.
“We need to go!” Cortanna informed us.
“What happened?” Sanji asked.
“He killed me? He killed me!” Melinda kept muttering over and over.
“What’s with her?” I pitched in.
“Almost got killed by this guy named Szen. He’s working for Erythnul and that whole town..... ugh! I’m just so angry and there’s nothing we can do!” Cortanna exclaimed. She clearly was frazzled and this guy really had upset her.
“Whoa, you said he almost killed you? How?” Sanji interrogated.
“Well, first he dusted this one guy. Then right when he was about to do the same to me, Cutie Pie here rushed in to save me and the other Melinda got dusted,” she explained.
“There was two Melinda’s?” I asked.
“Not now Penelope,” Cortanna clipped out, “We need to go back to the land of man and continue on finding out stuff that has to deal with a quest I’m on. Is there a town on the coast we could catch a ship on?”
“Oh yeah! Toast is a great shipping town,” I answered.
“Hang on. Don’t you think we should save the town? If the guy’s already killed two people, there’s a chance we can take him out since those are big spells. We may have the edge!” Sanji encouraged.
“And if we do, I want to kill Szen,” Melinda piped in. I couldn’t help but feel eager to put an end to an evil person. Cortanna however seemed indecisive.
“Luggage,” Cortanna called out. Luggage appeared next to her, “I need full plate armor.” Luggage coughed up a handful of armor. I would put some on, but they looked too small.
“Does he carry any weapons?” I asked.
“Oh yeah. A lot,” Cortanna said. I walked a ways from the group. We were on a mountain side, the valley extending another 500 yards down.
“Luggage,” I whispered. He quickly came to my side. Then pointing down the mountain side with my scythe I said, “could you put out all the weapons you have?” When Cortanna said there was a lot, I figured having luggage move a distance from the group was a good idea as well as having him spit them out down hill so no one would get hurt. It turned out to have been the best decision I could have made for what I assumed would have been a couple dozen weapons turned out to be hundreds! I don’t know how many survived after the bombs went off... but there was a weapon of every type. Swords, clubs, ballistas, battering rams, a battle ship, flying bladed rings, and so much more!
After all the explosions had ended and the luggage had purged the last item, I couldn’t help but feel excited! I couldn’t believe how much luggage could hold. There was probably no limit to him! When I turned to look at the others, they were less than impressed. Rather, they looked dismayed at what laid on the valley floor now.
“Penelope!” Cortanna managed to get out, “Why would you do that!? You could have killed us!”
“What makes you think she wasn’t trying?” Kedra added.
“That’s why I did it over here. I wanted to see what weapons we had to work with.”
“Clearly enough to support an army,” Sanji said.
“I kinda wish I had luggage do this to the town. Szen couldn’t have survived all those explosions I bet,” I mused.
“Nor all the townsfolk,” Cortanna said dryly.
“Oh.”
“Common, lets get going before Szen tries to run away. We’ve wasted enough time,” Cortanna encouraged. I asked luggage to hold the weapons. He seemed greatly displeased that he had to gather up everything he just spat out, seeing none of us had taken any weapons to use. His velvety tongue extended out, unfolding into a gigantic piece of cloth that slipped under the heap of weapons. His tongue then pulled every weapon back down into the depths of his box. I haven’t a clue how he does that, but it’s magnificent!
We marched back to the Rehm settlement, Cortanna, Melinda, and Kedra leading the way. Sanji continued to be flirty with me, which was cute, but I made it clear to him as we walked that we were just friends. If I was to be traveling with him for long, best to nip whatever ideas he might have in the butt. I think he took it well.
When we arrive, through the tree, we could see the town was on fire! Interestingly enough, guards were standing on the wall, seeming to guard the blazing inferno. The other women seemed concerned by it, assuming Szen had destroyed the town and these guards were his goons, left to destroy us if we came back.
“I find it hard to believe they wouldn’t be putting the fire out,” I said, “I think we should ask them that. It would distract them from our real reason for being here wouldn’t it?”
“You go right on ahead and do that Penelope,” Cortanna said. So I did. But before I went out to ask the guards, Sanji made us all bigger. He then followed me out of the trees.
“Do you need help putting out the fire?” I called out. The guards all jerk in my direction then do a double take. Sanji’s spell certainly made me even more of a presence.
“Uh, no. We’re fine. We’re good here. Just leave,” a guard answered.
“Seriously, your town’s on fire!” I persisted.
“Yep, it’s a loss. We’re just making sure it doesn’t spread.”
“We’re also keeping an eye open for arsons. You’re not an arson are you?” another guard called out.
“Pfft, no. I can’t cast magic,” I said. Goodness the thought of me being able to create fire was humoring. The guards gave me a quizzical look. Even Sanji seemed to look at me funny for a moment.
“You don’t... need magic to create...” I guard began to say but stopped, “clearly you’re an idiot.” Well that wasn’t very nice to say. “This fire was started by our town idiot-” I didn’t need to hear any more. I figured if I was to be insulted, I’d throw an insult at their leader.
“Oh Szen?” I asked. The guards seemed confused that I would know that name. They then tried brushing it off that Szen wasn’t in that town. I asked if this was Rehm to which they replied it wasn’t. They then pointed me in the direction Rehm’s to be. Sanji and I both felt they were being honest.
“Hey Cortanna,” I called out, “Rehm’s this way,” I pointed in the direction the guards showed.
“Hang on Penelope,” Sanji said, “Lets go back to her real quick.”
Upon going back into the trees to where Cortanna, Kedra, and Melinda were waiting, Cortanna informed us that the fire was an illusion. I thought they looked pretty real, but once Cortanna lead us around the town, sure enough the flames disappeared. Just beyond the wall of the makeshift settlement, no fire could be seen. However there were a few guards on the back wall.
“That wall should be easy enough to get over,” I said. With that Sanji and I both went out to talk to the guards again.
“Stop!” a guard demanded.
“It’s okay, we’re just here for Szen,” I informed them.
“Then you can go through the front entrance,” the guard instructed, pointing back the way we came.
“Can’t. The front entrance is on fire,” I responded. The guards looked. Sanji continued to walk toward them.
“I said stop! Come any closer and I’ll shoot,” the guard warned.
“We need to talk to Szen,” Sanji said simply. By now Cortanna, Kedra, and Melinda had joined us. Sanji took a few more steps toward the wall to which the guard shot an arrow at him. Before I could say anything, Cortanna and the other guard had fired off an arrow each. I then lifted my scythe, figuring I’d bring the blade down on the wall between the two guards to intimidate them to be nice.
“Hey!” I said, bring my scythe down on the wall. I’m not sure if I swung too hard or if the walls weren’t properly built, but my ‘Hey’ was accentuated by a 10’ wide section of wall crumbling under the blow of my scythe. The one guard fell down and seemed to be okay, though clearly shaken.
“Please, don’t hurt us!” the one on the wall cowardly cried out.
“Where’s Szen?” Cortanna demanded.
“He’s in the town hall. He gathered everyone there to instruct them,” the guard on the ground answered, I looked off toward the large building in town.
“I see it!” I announced and carefully stepped over the wall to avoid possibly stepping on the fallen guard. I had a great idea. I may be too big to go into the building, but surely I could knock the building onto it’s side and just pick Szen up. I suppose if I had thought about that plan more, I would have realized the likelihood of the building just tipping onto it’s side nicely wasn’t very good and I didn’t know what Szen looked like.
However it was too late for any of those thoughts. I was excited! I was going to take out a bad guy. A Follower of Erythnul! My parents would be so proud to hear about the evil I was about to slay!
I approached the building. I gave a push with my one hand but the building didn’t budge. So I took a step back before stepping forward and leaning into the building with my shoulder. I could hear the building groan under my force, as though the floor of the building wasn’t willing to part with the walls. Then a great ccccrrrraaaaccckkkk! followed by the sound of crumbling clay and screams rang in the air for a few seconds before leaving the town eerily silent again. No movement, no sound could be seen or heard from the rubble that once wa the town hall.
Szen was dead! That wasn’t so hard.
“Oh. My... Penelope!” The women shouted at me, interrupting my thoughts.
“What?” I asked.
“You killed the whole town!” Cortanna yelled. That’s when the gravity of what I had done began to sink in.
“But I killed Szen,” I justified. It was true. No one survived that, or so it seemed. Plus some good folk are bound to be killed by taking out the bad guy. I’ve heard that in plenty of the adventure stories. It made the tale sad, but knowing the evil guy was gone was better. No longer could the bad guy harm or corrupt people.
“We don’t know if he was truly in there.”
“Yes we do. The guard said he was in here with the rest of the village.”
“So you collapse the town hall knowing fully well that there were innocent townsfolk in there?”
“I meant to tip the building over,” I explained.
“Penelope! Come on! You can’t just do that!” Cortanna snapped, “You need to think through your actions because now there are innocent folk dead. Hundreds of them dead! And we don’t know if the guards were telling the truth! They could have lied to us saying Szen was there!”
I felt a few tears escape me. I didn’t mean to kill innocent people. And how awful would it be if Szen wasn’t really in there. I felt a bit embarrassed as I realized how silly my idea of tipping the building over really was. Despite being scolded, I didn’t feel too terrible by what happened. I was determined to believe this Szen guy was in the rubble. He had better be dead. He was dead.
We dug through the rubble some to see if we could locate Szen anywhere. Sanji found a necklace that looked odd. I could clearly see the symbol of Erythnul, but there was also the symbol of Heironious infused with it. Cortanna then takes a moment to explain how Heironious and Erythnul are working together. I can’t understand how that could be. It made no sense. Why would Erythnul want to be good? Why would Heironious want to be bad? She went on to say it began in a town called Podunk. Araja had shown up. I marvelled that she got to adventure with Araja. How luck. Anyways, they find a boy in a cave and from there Araja discovered the mark of Heironious and Erythnul fused the way they were and now they are trying to stop them from destroying the God heads (because Heironious and Erythnul are trying to make all the Gods become one?)
My head hurts...
The women headed off to go see if others were alive elsewhere. Sanji continued to sift through the rubble. I noticed him pick up a bow and dry fire it, a waft of flames spewing from it. He seemed pleased with it and slung it around his shoulders.
“Are you... grave robbing?” I asked. Sanji looked at me confused.
“Noo...” he answered, sounding confused by the accusation.
“Well, why are you taking that bow?”
“It’s not going to be used any more by the person who had it.”
“So you’re grave robbing.”
“This isn’t a grave.”
“Might as well be,” I said glumly. Sanji stood still for a moment. It looked as though the idea of taking anything else from the dead was unpleasant now, at least while I was there to observe.
Many minutes went by. I felt myself shrink back to my usual 8’ 5” self. Cortanna returned and seemed distraught. We followed her back to wherever she had come from. The building she lead us in looked like some kind of hospital. white beds lined the walls, bodies in most of them. Kedra placed a white sheet over a small body.
“I’m sorry... I thought she was stable...” she said. Cortanna bursted into tears. It was hard seeing this elf girl break down. She was fairly high strung, but from what she told of the quest she and Araja had been working on, I guess that would make anyone high strung. Still, I felt sad seeing her cry at the loss of Melinda. I don’t know what happened, but it was apparent some kind of struggle took place.
“I’ll go dig a grave for her,” I said, figuring that would be a respectful thing to do for Melinda.
As I dug the grave, I couldn’t help but reflect on how eventful this one day had been. There was a thrill in me that I actually experienced something that could thrill bards and folk in taverns. Oh I hope I will be able to find a tavern that will allow me in for a now had a story to tell! I could see it now. Part 1: The Cave of Doom! Obviously that cave was not meant for any ordinary person. Part 2: Revenge on Szen! With a tragic ending of a village and friend.but all for the greater good of course. Hopefully I could tell it as captivatingly as other adventurers and bards had. Suppose I’ll find out one day.
I went back in for Cortanna to tell her the grave was ready. We weren’t sure how to move her. It seemed incomplete to just place her body in the grave. So I asked luggage if he had a box we could place her in. He coughed up a coffin. Much to Cortanna’s protest, I placed Melinda into the coffin. She felt there was something about the coffin not right. I closed the lid and opened it again to show her that Melinda would still be there and nothing was wrong with it. I then carried the coffin out to the grave. I looked in the coffin once more and Melinda looked... oddly whiter and skinnier... I quickly closed the lid and figured not to say anything to Cortanna. What could she do once she was buried 6 feet deep?
After placing the coffin in the ground, the ground covered itself up, the coffin disappearing. I thought that was a useful feature. Saved me the time in filling the hole.
Cortanna by this time had joined me. Kedra and Sanji were on her heels too. Cortanna mentioned how she wanted to dig some graves for her other fallen comrades. I thought it honorable, though tedious. She set out digging while Kedra expressed her desire to leave the town. It was just a sad reminder now of all the loss she experienced. Knowing we were going to be camping, I figured it was time to ask luggage for anything useful that could help us camp.
“Luggage, do you have a tent?” Luggage remained silent, “Sleeping bag?” Silience, “Blanket?” Silence. Hmm, maybe something unlikely he’ll have, “A house?” Luggage pauses for a moment before coughing up a tower! Thank goodness he was smart enough to cough it up in the direction no one was standing. It was a mighty impressive tower. I couldn’t wait to explore it.
“Um, I would like to get some distance between us and the town before resting tonight,” Kedra said. Once more I asked Luggage to hold the item I had just asked for. I looked back to Cortanna who had barely begun a hole.
“How many graves are you making?” I asked.
“7.”
There was no way I was going to wait for 7 graves to be dug! Sanji felt the same way.
“Hey Luggage, can you dig 7 graves for Cortanna? 6 feet deep, 3 feet wide and 6 feet long?” Luggage unfolded his velvety tongue to which he began to dig deep into the earth, as though he was chiseling stone.
“Don’t eat the dirt though!” I added. That would be a waste of space, him eating all that dirt. Plus it might get things dirty in there. Luggage followed his orders to the T. After scooping his tongue in the exact measurements Sanji gave him, he then would catapult the dirt up and over him. The dirt landed many yards back to which a muffled ‘Ah!’ was heard. Luggage was also very fast. As I realized who was making the ‘Ah!’ noise, 2 more bricks of dirt crashed down on the guards we saw on the front entrance wall.
Finally the 7th clump of earth rained down on the few hands that twitched from the mound of earth that had collected from Luggage’s digging. And in this particular clump was the coffin with Melinda. Once it landed on the mound of earth, the coffin buried itself into the depths. No trace of it could be seen, though the mound of earth was very apparent.
“Well, I guess that sped thing up,” Cortanna said. She looked at each of the graves. After a few minutes of silence she then turned back to us, “I suppose I’m ready to go now.”
“Wait, you’re just going to leave these graves like this? Isn’t that a health hazard for the next person to come through this area? They could very well trip and die in one of these,” I protested. The group began to walk away, not seeming concerned about the 7 gaping holes in the ground.
As the sun began to set, I asked Luggage once more for the tower. I walk in first and can see it is a nicely made tower. The detailing were of rich wood and carpeted floors on the first level. I could see a stairwell going up and a set of stairs leading into a basement floor. I thought it odd that there’d be a basement since this clearly was a tower that had a bottom.
I lead the way up the stairs into a laboratory like place. There was a cute red creature dinking around. Once it saw me though it coward in fear behind a curtain. I couldn’t coax it out either. I could hear more people or creatures above and called out. Things then went silent. I Continued my search of the tower. I went into a kitchen only to see no one. I go up the final set of stair and find a plush bed room. A circular bed was in the middle. Many tiny beds were scattered about.
“The bed’s mine!” I declared. I was the biggest, so why not claim the only thing barely big enough for me to sleep on? I laid down on the bed and am surprised to hear a muffled cry. I jump off completely startled.
“I’m so sorry!” I said, completely embarassed for not having realized someone was there. The person who have out was unusual. He was scaley with hair and a tail. I suppose we had that in common. A tail that is.
The creature, after catching his breath from the scare, looked at me and panics. By this time everyone has caught up to me. The creature bales for the window as I try to dissuade him from jumping. Sanji casts levitate on him to which he is unable to move as he floats about. He then pulls a knife out of his belt and prepares to stab himself.
“No!” I said. I reach him quickly and grab his arm. I then attempt to carefully remove the knife from him only to jerk the knife too hard from his hand and break his wrist.
“Please, just kill me. Don’t torture me,” the creature begged.
“I will do no such thing. Now tell us, what’s your name?” I asked. The creature never did tell us his name. In fact he was very frustrating. I was the one being the nicest to him while my party members began to act very... harsh. Threatening him and what not to get answers.
As I mended his wrist, with the help of Kedra, he talks of the ice tyrant. Sanji seems very familiar with that person, or knows of them. The creature trained the penguins that the tyrant uses as an army. Sanji then asked if he knew the weakness to the tyrant. To the this the creature then attacks me with his tail! It latches onto my arm and stings a little. Everyone freaks out. The creature does remove his tail from my arm, but I’m told that his tail trick made the penguins explode if they got out of line.
I gripped the creature in my hand firmly, looking him square in the eyes.
“I have been very nice to you! When my party has wanted to kill you, I’ve been the one holding them back. I who mended your wrist! And you attack me!? Do you not think I’m more than capable of ripping you limb by limb until you’ve told us what we wanted to know? Now answer before I do get ugly!” I demanded. I was livid with the creature. I didn’t want to explode and he best start speaking faster else I was going to kill him for harming me so.
The creature assured me I wouldn’t explode. I was too big. But he did reluctantly tell us that the weakness to the ice tyrant was love in the form of a kiss. I figure if it’s a guy I wouldn’t have a problem doing that. But if it’s a girl, she’s all Sanji. Girls may be pretty, but they’re too sweet smelling. Something about guys is much more pleasant to want to be close to them and kiss.
Speaking of Sanji, apparently Gunther has a bad habit of breaking glass... or breaking thing ins general. Sanji had to keep chasing after him to prevent him from breaking more things. Gunther may be cute, but suddenly he was less cute after all the things he started to break.
Soon the creature began to dissolve. It was bizarre. Cortanna suspected it to be the fact he told us so much that he was dying.She had a mount that would get hurt every time she confessed information she wasn’t suppose to. Soon there was nothing left of the creature except three pools of slimy liquid; red, green, and purple. It was really gross...
Then the storm was back. The wind was so strong we feared the tower was going to collapse. So we headed down into the basement. Lightning lit up the windows and we could feel the ground shake as the thunder rattled through the tower. The basement was a sad sight. It looked like a dungeon. Manacles littered the wall with other chains and items used for... I don’t want to think about it.
One final lightning strike lit the stairwell before the thunder shook the tower so violently, I could believe it to be crumbling down around us. It then went dark and silent.
