The Sojourning Six

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Tyrunè was backed into a corner, the two merchants brandishing long daggers at their sides.

"Give uuhs theee moneeey ee-meediately!" The first merchant hissed. The second merchant put in, "If the money is not in our hands in the next moment, your head will be its substitute. You've put this off for too long!"

Tyrunè stuttered and quivered, and then returned to his calm demeanor. "Baroti, I still do not have your mo--"

"Enough of your excuses! I've had it! This is over. Hand over the daikyu or you're done!" The two moved closer..

 

"So, this is the one we've come for?" Keimal asked Avril wearily, staring at the ogrish features of the one with the contested bow. At her nod, he stepped forward into the alley and yelled, "Hey! How much are you short?" "30 gold," came the reply.

Keimal looked wistfully down at the pouch that Zed had just returned and sighed, "Easy come, easy go." Before he could think better of it, he hurled the pouch at the two merchants, bellowing, "Take it and be gone, wretches! And don't blubber about interest; yes, I know your type. There's more than enough in there, and a pair of earrings to boot. Now begone before I take offense to your odor!"

"There's still the matter of the rest of our payment," the bolder of the merchants said, pointing at Tyrunè. "He hasn't given us a copper!"

Keimal shot an annoyed glance at Tyrunè. "You couldn't have taken care of this beforehand? Fine, just give them your money, and then come with us. We can discuss this when you've finished." The voadkyn walked back out of the alley, grumbling something about "ruining a perfectly good heroic speech".

 

Tyrunè threw his small purse of coins at their feet, and followed the one who had saved him. Once he had caught up with the 'man', he questioned, "Why did you help me, man-thing? I have no debt to you, or so I thought."

 

"Well, now you are indebted to me. Or, more accurately, to her." Keimal pointed at the beautiful Avril. "She's the one who assembled this motley group, and you're the latest addition. Her name is Avril, and mine is Keimal. The others," he said, pointing at each in turn, "are Zed, Burkey, and...Foxlen, would you show yourself for a moment? Ah, there he is. As for what Avril wants us for, I have no idea. I'm not even sure she does, to be honest. But we follow all the same."

 

"I have visions. The newest one is collecting this group and now that we're together, I'll probably be having a clearer vision this eve. I suggest we leave here for the safety of the woods."

 

Tyrune stared at the woman, bewildered not only by her beauty, but by the insane claims these people were making. "Uh, excuse me, but, you have visions?! The last time I checked, and let me tell you, in this place, I check a lot, having visions was not a normal thing, especially for a human such as yourself." Tyrune blinked a few times, as if to clear his mind.

"But, I will leave my .. comments .. for later. I think, that for gain in the future, it would be wise for myself to travel with thee. So, continue on."

 

Burkey nods at the newcomer but there is a slightly unfocused look in his eyes. He isn't even leering at the lovely Avril. He sniffs the air.

"Keimal, I think I'll just trot over there", He points, "and try my hand at a little barding."

He fits action to words and trots around a corner. His eyes light up when his eyes see that his nose has lead him aright. A winery borders one side of a square. Near the entrance is a stone bench under a carved stone grape arbor. He settles down on it and begins to play a lively tune on his pipes. At first as people pass by they glare at him and mutter things, then one couple begins to dance to the tune and others join in. A few toss some coppers at his feet. He continues playing and also notes that some of the people have gone into the winery and come out carrying bottles.

After playing for awhile he stops, gathers the coin and counts it. He sighs and shakes his head, muttering, "not really enough for a bottle of really good wine." He is about to continue playing when a boy steps up to him. "Hey, the Master wants to see you. Follow me." He rises and follow the boy into the winery hoping he hasn't offended the 'Master'.

Stopping before an older man the boy waves at him. "Here's the, ah, person who was playing outside, Master." The Master looks him over. "Heh, a satyr. Don't see many of your kind around here but you did me good. Business was brisker than usual so I am going to give you a little reward. Satyr eh? Think I might have something you'd like. He reaches over to a shelf and takes down a bottle. "Good year this was." He hands the bottle to Burkey who looks closely at it and smiles.

"Yes, I believe I've had a taste of that and it was a good year. So this was the place that produced it. Good wine you make, Sir. Thank you it is much appreciated."

The Master Brewer smiles, "Anytime you've a mind to play in front of my place you are welcome to do so. Certainly helped business." With that he turns back to inspecting the latest batch of wines.

Burkey leaves hugging the bottle closely and soon rejoins the group. He hands Keimal the coppers he has gathered, smiles at Avril and takes a good look at the newcomer.

"Welcome to our little group. I'm sorry but I didn't catch your name. Had a little business on my mind."

 

Zed wasn't sure what to make of the newcomer, but putting a brave face on it he hovered next to him, he was big, bigger than Keimal. Zed spoke as bravely as he could "Hello Tyrune, I'm Zed, it's a pleasure to meet y-you." Zed was pleased with himself for only stuttering at the end, he didn't want to embarass the lady or his other friends.

 

As the group quietly left town (or tried to), Avril explained her situation to the newcomer. "I am an oracle for my deity, who sends me visions on things of import. Gathering this crew is the latest in, an albeit fuzzy, vision quest."

"Excuse me, m'lady," a throaty, mysterious voice called from a shadowed market stall. "Would you and your troupe be interested in a simple mission for pay?"

Avril squinted into the dark, signaling to Keimal and Burkey to be prepared in case of an ambush. "What sort of mission, good sir?" she queried, understanding this 'civilization' required coinage (unlike her home forest).

The man stepped forward, showing himself to be squat like a dwarf and hobbling on a wooden crutch. "Ah, thank you for bending an ear! I am Turdo Malk, a collector of statuary and recently a twisted ankle." He gestured to his bound leg with a wry grin. "A couple days ago, I received a shipment of a statue I'd bought in the Westlands of Narmir. Naturally, I went to the docking house to collect my goods when I was laid low by runaway cart! Not only was I a physical victim, but the cart also severely damaged the docking warehouse where my statue was awaiting me. The city has been taking its sweet time about clearing the rubble of the wreckage, hurting my business as well as others. If you would be so kind as to enter the docking house and retrieve my statue, I would gladly pay you 50 silvers in compensation."

The druid tapped her jaw with a finger. "May I have a moment to discuss this with my companions?" Mr. Malk nodded. "Thank you." She turned to the others, presenting Mr. Malk's offer. "It sounds simple enough and we will need the silvers if we remain near places such as this." There was some arguing, especially from Keimal, about being an errand boy for a weakling merchant, but the majority favored taking the task. Avril quickly gave her agreement to Mr. Malk. He, in turn, gave her a paper map of the city and marked a safe route to the docking house.

 

After Avril presented the offer, Foxlen approached the new member of the party and became visible before him,

"Hi, I'm Foxlen nice to meet you, first let me tell you that when I first join into this group I thought that my friend giant over here had taking the cake, but now I know I was wrong, I mean damn your ugly , nothing personal though!"

After a second, Foxlen burst out laughing and turn invisible again.

 

"Foxlen..." she said sternly, shaking her head. Pixies are what pixies do.

She lead the group according to the marked route to the warehouse. It was as bad as the description given. Only 2 walls stood and not very soundly. The inside was a mess! "Well, let's start sifting through this junk."

 

Zed was sifting through the rubble not really looking or expecting much, he stopped when he saw a pair of armguards, picking them up he could sense there was some magic about them, more surprising was they seemed to have been made for someone his size. He cautiously put the right one on, when nothing happened he put the left one as well, they almost covered his forearms being about three inches long. It was as he admired them that he noticed a difference on the left one, looking he pulled out a narrow blade, its handle was an inch long and the blade itself about an inch and a half, it was a stabber for a Fremlin. He hurried over to Avril's side fully excited now

"Look, pretty lady, look what I found armguards and a stabber for a Fremlin to use" as he said this he excitedly waved the stabber around.

 

"That's nice, Zed-" Avril began to say, when a sudden mist oozed from the blade he waved around. The red haze formed into a demonic creature, which stood between little Zed and the others. The druid pulled out her wimpy dagger and lunged at the newly-formed beast. "Zed, run away!" she cried, stabbing at the red demon.

 

Zed gaped at the demon forming from the blade he'd found, then hearing Avril's shout he flew off as fast as he could, he stopped and looked back, the demon wasn't chasing him. There was a pole half burnt next to him, using as much strength as he could muster he drove the stabber into it. Flying back towards the demon he picked up a stick and started beating the demon round the head screaming "I've had enough of running, I'm not running anymore".

 

Surprisingly, Zed and Avril were able to banish the demon with their attacks. "I don't know if that was a trap or what, but let's get what we came for and get the hell out!" After more searching, Avril located the statue and the group warily returned to the merchant. "Mr. Malk," she began and held out the statue. "We've returned with your item."

The man's face lit up as he smiled. "Excellent, m'dear, excellent. I believe I owe you some monies." He passed over a bag of coins. Avril opened it and quickly counted the payment. "And here's a bonus for getting me this so quickly."

Suddenly, they were surrounded by cloaked figures, overpowered and knocked unconscious. The group awoke in a dark cavern with a hole in the ceiling.

 

"Well, this is just dandy. You see this in a vision too?" Keimal muttered as he glanced around. The solid iron sheet set into the wall seemed promising, looking almost like a door, but Keimal had an odd feeling about it even as he examined it. The walls of the cavern revealed no clues, and all that was left was the hole in the ceiling, 50 feet above.

Keimal scowled at their situation for a moment, and then turned to the two winged members of the strange troupe. "Say, why don't one of you have a look around?"

 

"They seem to have taken every thing except clothes. Of course I still have my horns but my pipe is gone." Burkey shook his head sadly. He could still sing and had a spell. But without his pipes he felt bereft.

"Bet they drank that wine." A long, sad sigh escaped him.

 

On hearing Keimal, Zed picked himself up and flew towards the ceiling, as he got closer to the hole he realised it was big for him or Foxlen to fly out of. He carefully looked round and then poked his head out carefully, he quickly looked round and then flew back down.

"There's two of t-t-those cl-cloaked figures sitting by a fire, all our stuff seems to be there in a pile by them. Th-there's a rope attached to a rock by the side of the hole, i-it could reach down but we need to take care of the guards, and-d-d tha-that will need someone invisiblle, wh-wh-wh-who can confuse people" Zed managed to report on what he'd seen even though he was shaking with fear "I'm sorry, I'm not braver, not as brave as you big ones, but I am trying, and it's so hard." He managed hold back the tears that wanted to fall, and then he sat down and tried to relax.

 

Hugging Zed close, Avril crooned. "It's all right, dear. You are doing your best and that's all we can ask." She patted the little guy gently and turned to talk to Foxlen. "Fox, can you go...Fox? Foxlen?" The pixie was nowhere to be seen.

 

Burkey glanced over at Zed rather enviously. Then a thoughtful look crossed his face. He shook his head but the thought lingered. Finally he said rather hesitantly, "Zed, I think you are braver than I am. You do what is hard for you, I just do things." He shook his head even harder then went back to ogling the disheveled but beautiful and charismatic Avril.