@Thinslayer

Watching the Salamander waddle away after the wonderful little show Edward shook his head. Another fool to walk a fate that was never really his in the first place, only forced to march a path forged by others. He would of laughed if he didn’t feel sad for the loud mouth. Gritting his teeth the Transcendent walked over to the Reaper and grabbed its shoulder. Anger might of started to get the best of him as he closed all but his third eye.

“You doom another in a adventure of illgain. March then forth on a path that they no longer have control over. Makes me glad I can not truly joint them, however I am still hungry and my temper has been pushed. Seems that old Salamander can spill enrage me quite well.”

Letting the Reaper go he started walking down the broken path to the keep. His maw slightly ajar as a black fog rolled off into a miasma of myst. The soft crimson glow of his third eye guiding him along the path to his pray and goal.

“You are gambling, and the stakes that you play with are more than even you can bare. I am sure you remember the last gamble you made, the lives lost. I remember many things, many more things than I should.” He turned around and gave it the same look he did all those years ago, when he was bigger. “Much like then, we stand on two different sides. Yet, unlike then I find no orders to hunt.”

Turning back around he just caught the sight and sound of the projectile being fired at the old Salamander, yet he cared not if it hit or missed. He needed food and there were plenty of husks around to fill the void along his path to the keep. Marching slowly he made his way, doing his part to clean any bodies he found mainly by devouring them.

Today is going rather well if I do say so myself.

@Darkwatck01
@Thinslayer

Oblivious to the fact that the dragon took a liking to him, Ravaon froze as the fiery skyscrapper uttered his name with a deep rumbling.
An unending stream of different "Nope!" was all Ravadon could think about.

The mighty dragon proceeded to talk about glory. With the initial shock and fear of instant Ravadon noodles with bacon leaving his mind, Ravadon decided it would be a good idea to stop and wait for a second or two. He could take a moment to just breathe. Fishstench, dust and oranges. Opening his eyes again, a fly and a tossed table. "Wait! Did that Dragon just call me pretentious?!" He said to himself.

The Primal fury he was about to be overtaken by, was sabotaged. The hooded reaper had seemingly send a wave of dust at Ravadon, changing the way Ravadon saw life forever. The golden dust pouring into Ravadons body. As much as Ravadon enjoyed gold, the idea of having it in his body from that point on no longer interested him. "Mark him" The words rummbled through his head. Over and over he heard it, as Ravadon crippled on the floor. Intense pain, a large wet stain on his pants and the feeling he had become just a little shorter were inescapable.

Feeling worse than ever before, the least of heroes now barely stood leaning on the Reaper amidst a nearly destroyed city with a smelly wet letter, a legendary weapon Gladius which he could swear laughed at him and a new sparkly star for a beautyspot on his left hand.

"Ugh... You wouldn't mind looking at this too for me, would you, Reaper?" The seemingly used tissue extended to the Reaper an inviting smell of salty filth and rotten eggs.

@Avali
The High Priestess squinted.

"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded, waving the letter in her hand.
The messenger prostrated himself to the floor. "Mercy, milady! I only delivered the message! I am not privy to its meaning!"
The High Priestess scoffed and read part of the letter aloud. "'The dragon guardian captured both my daughters. Please send help.' What, does he think we give a crap? He demands our tribute, sends spies and assassins all over my lands, and expects me to send help? Oh, he'll get his help all right. Summon Grace the Paladin."
__________

@AtomicNut
The peak of the tower split open and folded away to reveal a shining glass sphere. It radiated blinding light as electric currents collected around it. Then there was a flash, and a white-hot beam fired from the sphere at the fleeing dragon. The sudden clash of fire and air sent a deafening thunder throughout Midhaven. The dragon swerved, and the shot passed him, leaving a cloud of fog in its wake.

The Reaper looked up in awe. "I haven't heard those guns in five hundred years..."

Back in the tower, Herodotus would see a blip on the map, accompanied by warning text at the bottom of the screen.
"SEED ACTIVITY DETECTED"
__________

@ineffable
Caradras glanced back at Midhaven Tower. "Intriguing. That old fart of a king must have found someone who knows how to activate that tower." Then he looked down at his hand to see Isabella striving in vain to hurt him with her puny sword. "Come, come now, girl, there is no need for that. Do not waste your blade on me. If you do not break it or lose it, I will enhance it when we get back to my lair."

He looked at the girl in his other hand, the woman who was once called Evelyn. Isabella would see her fidgeting and squirming, while her mouth and tongue moved at random. Everything about her seemed...infantile.

The dragon looked back at Isabella. "Your sister has been dead for a few days. The soul that inhabits her now is an Elder Void. It has never been human before, so it will be a while before anything intelligent comes out of her mouth. I would imagine you have some questions for me."
__________

@Darkwatck01
“You doom another in a adventure of ill-gain. March them forth on a path that they no longer have control over. Makes me glad I can not truly join them; however, I am still hungry and my temper has been pushed. Seems that old Salamander can still enrage me quite well.”

“You are gambling, and the stakes that you play with are more than even you can bare. I am sure you remember the last gamble you made, the lives lost. I remember many things, many more things than I should. Much like then, we stand on two different sides. Yet, unlike then I find no orders to hunt.”

The Reaper clenched its fist. "You may remember much, old dragon, but advanced age and great power do not grant you omniscience. Do not try to speak with authority on things you know little about."

@Samdragonx Ravadon handed the Reaper a piece of paper. "Ugh... You wouldn't mind looking at this too for me, would you, Reaper?"
The Reaper held it between the index and thumb, as if it were a disgusting tissue.
"XJUZ-IPER-WETV-ZMQW."
The Reaper felt its heart pick up the pace. This was the Portal's activation code, once known only to a couple select Immortals. Lady Valentine had known the code. For centuries, mages searched in vain for this knowledge, whether to shut down the Portal for good or to open it for their own nefarious purposes. Whole empires rose and fell over this information. And now it lay before the Reaper's very eyes.

The magic embedded in the letter soon hid the text from sight. Only Ravadon could read it freely. The Reaper handed it back. "First, we stop the golems rampaging through Midhaven. Then we make for Skytown. I will explain the letter's meaning to you once we are out of the public eye."

@Thinslayer
Sykes blinked twice, as he saw the ominous Empire script letters popping up in a corner of the screen. "What the...that can't be. How can that be???" He said visiblely surprised as his world suddenly contracted to the obvious glaring information. He paid no heed at the confused retinue of the king that had been cowed by a dragon. Something long forgotten lit in his eyes. The yearning. Hope. A SEED user. Everything was not lost then.

At any rate... the farce would be over. He gripped his arm, and undid the bandages that covered a crest in his hand. A marked star, in the Hand. Similar, yet unlike to the fabled Mark of the Hero. This one bore three points, the Mark of the Overseer. It glowed ominously, as it reacted with a piece of equipment he pulled from his cloak. The strange metal case came to live, stretching, expanding. Showing a dozen of different contraptions inside. Twisting a dial and pressing a couple of buttons, Sykes spoke to the Device.

Throughout the Old Imperial communication frequencies, his voice was transmitted in the archaic tongue of the empire. "Unknown. Please identify yourself. This is Adjutant Overseer Sykes, in charge of the 456-Beta Mission. I repeat, Identify yourself."

Sykes eyed tensely his surroundings then. He had hoped his hunch was true.

@AtomicNut
The subspace transmitter crackled. Then a voice stammered:
"What- what in God's name-"
Silence for a few seconds. The voice became a whisper.
"Sykes? Is it really you?"

@Thinslayer

Sykes's heart skipped a beat. So, it was an Imperial. Moreover, that Imperial knew him. His tense factions relaxed, and for the first time in hundreds of years, the face of Herodotus Sykes bore a wide smile. "Does the Pope s*** in the woods? Hold on there, I am coming to your position, over." The Overseer signaled, as he eyed the rest of the people in the Throne room. No doubt, they would still be halfway visiblely stunned, so he took that as a cue to leave before the King and his retinue of brutes tried to extract secrets from him.

Waving his hand once, he locked the Sky Eye display and the Weapons system. It was dangerous enough when he had fired, much less a King which probably had little idea of Spacefaring-era weapons. He hid his device and wrapped his mark tightly as he headed towards the door.

"Well, the Reactor is fixed your Grace, so I will take my leave." He said, as he began trudging towards the door at a brisk pace, wary of anyone foolish enough to try and prevent him from leaving. "Don't try to stop or follow me." He added as an afterthought, as he jumped out of a window, and in a display of feat and agility began his descent by crawling down Midhaven's wall.

@Thinslayer

Walking through the desolated city, the old Dragon gave a pitting sigh. Was this really needed, was all this some kind of joke. Sure he was more than welcoming to the chaos that seemed to amass here which more or less made getting food easy. Plenty of bodies around to pick from, of course by the time he stopped all he had in his mouth where the knuckle bones from the last body. Still he felt little remorse, death was part of life and how it ended was of little concern to him.

Looking around he found the guard doing their best to repel the Golems as well as evacuate the living to a safer place. It seemed the Reaper held true, he wasn’t all knowing other wise he would of for seen this outcome. Then again this was the same person who tried to kill him a long time ago.

Lost in the moment Edward was knocked in the back of the head by something rather strong, heavy enough to give him pause. All eyes open the turned around to see what hit him, the sight almost made him laugh at the pitiful sight. A human knight dressed in full, a blade of short extent with a golden trim This must of been one of the Knights of the kingdom or perhaps a soldier with high merit.
“To stand against a monster is a noble feet. Fighting them off to protect those unable to protect themselves is a sign of worth. Yet you strike something that you know not its skill, nor ability yet dauntlessly you strike. For this I will indeed give you merit for the attempt.”

Reaching over the Transcendent made a graps for the blade, only for the own to move it out of reach to strike for the heart. Watching this Edward’s temper started to flare, rather quickly too, as a cold wind started to howl from the north. As the blade stayed true to its target, the own seeing a clean kill for his name in sight only to have it stop jaring the welder in the processes. Looking at this blade as it rest but a hand full of inches from its target the Knight gave pause, for his blade now rested in the hands of the Transcendent.

“And like a fool you press on.”

Throwing the blade to the side Edward grabbed the Knight by the back of the neck lifting him up and close. So close the Knight could feel the breath of the old Dragon creature. “I will be nice, for I do not wish to be put back to sleep so soon. Be thankful this life is spared.” With that he kicked the knight away turned on to the keep.

“Also, do me this one thing. About two blocks back there's a hooded person and a loud mouth currently recovering from some spell. Tell the hooded figure that Edward is moving to the keep. They should get the picture, after all I don’t think they will want me to take a deep breath around them.”

With that Edward marched on, letting not even the ruble stop him as he marched. The Knight turned on its heels in the direction it was told. Moving as fast as his armor would allow, of course this was mainly because some kind of monster just spared him and he felt his life was on the line.

Ravadon was held up for a little while longer, realizing his life strength was nearly completely gone, he tried to move desperately. Barely shaking, he could not get his body to make the motions he desired to. As this reality started to settle in his slightly calmed mind, he noticed the new fashion statement in the form of a star on his left hand. Focusing on it, he drew from it the power he needed to move. Whilst still slightly shaken up, a sigh, a moan and a few crackling noises announced his partial recovery.
It would not be long before Ravadon would be up, running, yelling and fighting the golems again. Before that time, however, there came a messenger. A young knight, barely out of their teens said:
“Edward is on the move to keep the keep.” The boy seemed sinisterly entranced.
“And he’s not breathing a lot until you are around.” He started to break down now that he seemed to have fulfilled his temporary duties. Crying, wet pants and talking about how Edward nearly kissing him ensued. Obviously this person was just traumatized and started spewing out whatever came to his confused mind, but the main message came across.
To go hunting for more golems, to save this kingdom and to gather real glory on behalf of it, those were the current objectives. After receiving back the one letter he had been in possession of for quite some time, Ravadon picked up Gladius again.
Considering the fact that most civilians needed protection, an escape route and to some extend to be fed, healed, unburied and escape, Ravadon revised a plan he had used a few times before. Clearing the road from the market towards the castle, allowing the civilians to escape through the improvised door in the city wall. The surprisingly dragon like hole would expose the escaping people to the wilds and there would certainly be people in need of rescuing from that in time. But for now, it seemed to be the safest option.
He said to the reaper:
“It seems the time has come. I will travel past the market to the castle, which will allow for a rendezvous with Edward inside. As I hope to catch him before an inferior ends his life. At the same time, I should probably look out for anyone that’s not in a safe place right now. If there’s any golems along the way, I will scrap them. Any chance you’ll do me the honors of keeping me entertained until I get there?”

Upon barely the reapers response, Ravadon began moving towards his destination, making scraps from golems and sometimes gently, pulling civilians out of harms way.

"Do not let yourself lose everything in ignorance." Kiera barely heard. Huh, must've been my imagination. she thought. She immediately forgot all about what she heard after she realized that they were about to start training. "Can we get started?" she asked excitedly. Not only was she couldn't wait to be a better healer, she couldn't wait to practice learn more about this special skill.

Yet there was a part of her that thought, Are you even ready to learn anything like this? In fact, what if you mess up? Kiera decided to push that thought aside. She was ready to learn something more interesting than "What can of herbs can cure stomachache?" She couldn't wait for the adventure ahead of her.

As the fight for Midhaven great more intense, the Reaper closed its eyes and tried to summon its weapons.
Dawn and Dusk, come to me.
No swords came into its outstretched hands. Annoyed, Reaper tried again.
Dawn and Dusk, come to me!
Teleportation matrices sputtered and flashed, but still no swords appeared. A crowd of golems drew nearer.
"Dawn and Dusk, come to me!"
They didn't. The golems drew within striking distance. The Reaper grunted, picked up the scythe, and beheaded several golems in one sweep. "Great, I'm stuck with this stupid weapon..." it murmured as it spun and gutted two more golems. Just then, a knight came running over. "Wait! Wait up!" he cried. Reaper turned to look at him and cut down another golem behind its back. "What do you want?" it asked.
"A dragon man said to tell you that Edward is moving to the keep."

Great, now there will be two unstable people in that madhouse. "I see. Thank you for the report. Continue destroying golems." The Reaper shooed him away and made for the palace. Ravadon picked up his sword and addressed the Reaper. “It seems the time has come. I will travel past the market to the castle, which will allow for a rendezvous with Edward inside, as I hope to catch him before an inferior ends his life. At the same time, I should probably look out for anyone that’s not in a safe place right now. If there’s any golems along the way, I will scrap them. Any chance you’ll do me the honors of keeping me entertained until I get there?”

The Reaper leaned on its scythe and sighed. "Very well. I will be right behind you."
Ravadon began walking down the runway toward the palace, the two of them mowing down golems as they went. They burst into the palace together to find the whole front side crumbled, a damaged summoning circle in the center, and Edward.

The three of them witnessed King Alexander barking orders to his knights, his face beet-red with anger. Upon spotting the Reaper, he walked up to it and jabbed a finger in its face. "You!" he sputtered. "This is all your fault! If you'd come when I summoned you-"
"Summoned me?" the Reaper interrupted. "Am I a servant or apparition, that you should summon me with your magic chalk art? Tell me what happened here."
"You don't get to order me around in my own-"
"Then I will leave."

The King paled.

"The dragon kidnapped my daughers," he confessed.
The Reaper straightened. "Why?"
"He said it was atonement for the crimes I committed. I have no idea what he's talking about. He has probably taken them to his lair in the western volcano. Please rescue my daughters!"

Reaper looked at Edward and Ravadon. If only they could see the look on its face.

@Thinslayer

Having made his way to the Keep, cleaning up the mess of bodies on his way and aiding some of the Guardsmen who were doing a rather good job of repelling the incoming soulless husks of earth and stone the Transcendent found himself with a little free time. Having beaten the loud mouth and Reaper by a good ten minutes or so. Of course that didn’t sit well with a second loudmouth who was trying to either get his guard to kill him or order him around. That set well for all but a moment when a second hole was put in the Keep exposing the outside world for a second window placement.

With a place to sit and something to drink, more for cleaning his maw and picking out a few knuckle bones from his teeth, Edward watched as the group started to go through the motions of trying to calm and give advice to the current king of this place. Surely he wasn’t this brain dead because two bags of meat where being taken by the Salamander. If anything Edward through the mad King was overreacting to something that wasn’t going to happen. If Edward’s past had anything to say about it, those two were safe enough because the Salamander wasn’t a killer unless it needed to happen.

It was about this point the Loudmouth and Reaper came in and started talking to the King, of course he was ignoring most of the banter between the Humans and Eathreal.

“Well what are we waiting for then? Chance to get some revenge on that old Salamander, count me as one of the forward team.” He gave a toothy grin. Of course he wasn’t interested in rescuing anyone, he just wanted the chance to get a few cheat shots in on one of the people he rather disliked.

@Thinslayer@Darkwatck01
Sykes' facepalm was epic, as soon as he hit the street level, and checking his surroundings, found that the source of the communication was not there. Just a bunch of primitive automatons, hitting a bunch of primitives. He sighed, and looked at the road way back into the castle.

"Come on, Reaps, really?" He rolled his eyes as he readied himself. After his exit amidst the confusion, he would have to face that King of MidHaven again. Still, a lead was a lead, after so long. It felt like dawn after a nigh eternal darkness. He was not alone, in the end. Two could do more than just one. He thought as he swiftly went back into the palace. Thankfully with the Golem ruckus, he didn't need to do anything special to run back into the throne room.

As he puffed slightly, he stopped to oversee the scene. The King of Men and Vassals, and some sort of reptilian gross mutant. Urk, I think someone has been all too happy with the biomods. That is gross. He thought to himself as he eyed the dragon-man with a profound scowl, as if he had just seen a roach in his food plate. What were they talking about? Oh yeah, flying scaly chicken, poor purty princesses kidnapped, yadda yadda.

Mostly inconsequential really, if not for the robed figure on the middle. He advanced towards the Reaper, as he eyed the presents. "Princesses and Volcanoes. Mutants and kings. What the hell have you been doing all this time while i was struggling about, Reaps?" He addressed the Reaper, as he folded his arms, practically ignoring everyone else.

@Thinslayer

Ravadon couldn't help but notice how little time it took to actually take down some of these golems. It was quite hard to find the glory in overcoming such simple obstacles.

Though very few people that needed rescuing, he did get a chance to help out some... interesting individuals. Giving them his name, he was certain to meet them again one day.
Though in his hurry, he forgot to ask what their names were. And maybe he was just a little bit distracted by the feminine beauty of a few these.

The moment he and the reaper arrived at the castle, Ravadon began looking for Edward.
That didn't really last long as the bulky Draco-man was hard to miss, sitting down at the kings table with a mug in his hand, a grimace on his face and one foot on the table.
But considering the circumstances, dining ethics were not the highest of priorities.

A short sigh later, the king began talking to the reaper.
The reaper displayed some very impressive verbal nippletwisting boldness. And it even seemed to pay off.
"Just what kind of power did this reaper posses? He can cast a strange fireball that scorches your hand... But mages have put on masks and dark robes before, right? Maybe the guy knows some dirty secrets of the king? Hhmmm..."

"Daughters of the king? Well, well, well. I bet these would look really pretty when I save them from harms way." Ravadon thought to himself. Ravadon put his hand in his pocket. "Too bad I missed out on that tipped over market stand." He remained silent for a few seconds. "Well, if the magician could get away with such a bold move, I could probably get something out of this too."

The thinking ended. Without words, he wasn't going to still the growling in his stomach.

"My liege, we know there to be very little that can locate dragons, let alone harm them. If we are going to return your daughters here, we can't hope to make it back without any form of support. I'm certain your men will be needed here to defend against all those that lure in the woods, hoping to get in." He paused for a moment as it seemed people were starting to look his way. Ravadon was getting louder again. "As we know, you are a good king. One that places no price on the safety of others, whether these are foreigners in service of you or your very own blood. As such, I'm certain and fully confident that will spare no expense in providing us with the support we need to bring back your daughters. And I know it pains you every second to be without your daughters, so I will keep this succinct. What we and your daughters require from you right now are 3 things..."

Ravadon made an attempt at a dramatic pause, as he walked over to Edwards table to take one bit out of an apple and then turn towards the king again. Ravadon began moving away from the table with a step for every word, buying him a bit of time to think. And widening his arms in circular motion every sentence to make it seem like he knew what he was talking about.

"Firstly, a sum of coins. One that is sufficient to get the specialized transport, weaponry and magical ingredients to take down the great red dragon and open the way for your daughters to return.
Secondly, a representative of the crown. A person that might follow up on us and allow for safe passage in name of you, the king.
And thirdly, a specific subset of partners to help us overcome any other obstacle along the way."

He took out a piece of paper and jotted down a contract for the king.
By random chance, Ravadon wrote down the first thing that came to mind for a party:
- The bard, Ravadon of Xyllodan
- The Reaper, the reaper
- The halfdragon, Edward (@Darkwatck01)
- Any representative of the kingdom
- An elven cleric (@StormHeart)
- An intelligent ranger (@AtomicNut)
- A paladin in disguise (@Avali)

Being all out of inspiration for the day, Ravadon handed the king the letter and asked for it to be signed and stamped by the kings signature ring. At least this way, Ravadon had some time to think up a strategy and ask around if anyone had any bright ideas.

It seemed Edward, the reaper and he himself were already on board, so finding a bit of help wouldn't be bad. And with double the manpower, we should certainly be able to find a way to steal back the girls, be real heroes and maybe, just maybe distract the dragon for 50 years or something.

Who knows what kind of rewards awaited them once they were done.

A ray was let down through the wool above the mountains. It brought silver to the marble cracks and a warm embrace to the waving leaves. Laying his vision across the great city that had just stopped griefing, Ravadon clutched his left hand once more. The ocean of the sun now filled with white birds and green sprites. Resting the wall against his right hand, the sweet smell of rosary crowns lifted itself above his shoulders with the burden he had placed on them now.
If there was ever any moment Xyllodan would be brought to his mind, this was it.

"Do not let yourself lose everything in ignorance." Kiera barely heard. Huh, must've been my imagination. she thought. She immediately forgot all about what she heard after she realized that they were about to start training. "Can we get started?" she asked excitedly. Not only was she couldn't wait to be a better healer, she couldn't wait to practice learn more about this special skill.

Yet there was a part of her that thought, Are you even ready to learn anything like this? In fact, what if you mess up? Kiera decided to push that thought aside. She was ready to learn something more interesting than "What can of herbs can cure stomachache?" She couldn't wait for the adventure ahead of her.

"Can we get started?" Kiera asked. At first, she shivered with excitement. A brief shadow of doubt darkened her expression, and then it was gone. "What herbs can cure a stomach ache?" she prodded.

Dessa covered her mouth to laugh. "You certainly are eager. If time permits, I shall teach you herbal remedies when we reach land. For now, we must cover the basics. The most fundamental aspect of healing is not the magical healing itself, but knowledge of the human body. Once you learn how this miraculous organic machine works, you can heal people even without magic. Come, I will demonstrate on my patients."

If they'd been in a professional setting with time on their hands, Dessa would have taught her all the relevant scientific jargon and nomenclature, but this was a crash course; there was no time for that. Instead, for the rest of the day, Dessa taught the functions of the human body. She would put select patients to sleep, open them up, show how their various body parts worked, and heal them up again. The sick patients served as demonstrations of what happened when the body didn't work so well. Not everyone took kindly to being used as a skeleton doll, so more than once they had to flee for their lives - with Dessa providing live commentary on human aerobic properties as they ran.

The next day was spent pranking people with diseases and healing them. Kiera, of course, still hadn't learned any new magic at this point, so Dessa would cause a deliberate bodily malfunction, instruct Kiera on how she did it (thereby showing how the body worked, and more precisely, how it did not), and then test her on it. Unsurprisingly, this made them mortal enemies of half the crew by nightfall - resulting in heart-pounding lessons on diseases of the muscles and respiratory systems.

The third day was spent on magic.

"You may be familiar with the booster spell," Dessa said as they were washing clothes that morning. "You place your hand on a wound, pour a little energy into the surrounding flesh, and watch it close in seconds. For minor flesh wounds, it is adequate, though it leaves large scars. A more useful spell, I find, is called a 'stitch.' There are several ways to do it. While most healing spells require a little telekinesis, the stitch is one of the few that does not, though it certainly helps. You must hold the wound closed, whether with your hands or otherwise, and use a booster to seal it."

To demonstrate, Dessa split open the skin on her own arm, pinched the flesh back together, and healed it. The skin looked slightly wrinkled, but otherwise whole. The skin was whiter where the wound had been. "Since this technique does not leave large scars, it is preferred by novice healers. However, scars form because healed tissue is of different composition from normal tissue, and often lacks feeling because the nerves are damaged. To restore it to original condition, you must re-develop it, as if it had grown naturally from birth. This requires using the person's bloodline as your 'blueprint.' Since it is one of the most complex things in the universe, using a person's bloodline as a template is not particularly simple. You will need to use linking spells and a little faith to create the one you want. So today, I will teach you two new spells: Copy and Memory."

Dessa got a handful of soap suds and drew a simple magic circle with them. "This is a simple energy circuit. It will heat the floor and turn our water into mist. We will copy and cast it. While you could copy it by simply imagining it, we will need to copy things invisible to the naked eye, so we must do this the right way. A copy, by definition, is to make a similar or identical version of a thing. Semantics are important here. What defines a 'thing?' In other words, what, exactly, are we copying? You must first identify and isolate the thing to be copied, and this is the most difficult step, because invisible things are not easily identified."

She smirked. "Let me show you a little trick. It is more like a cheat, but it does the job in most cases. Copying a person's whole bloodline into a spell is HARD. It is far simpler to copy a piece of the person's flesh. Let us practice on this magic circle. Imagine yourself washing over it like water over a rock. Drench it, soak it, permeate it with your spirit until it is so spiritual a priest could pray to it. Then imagine hardening as a wax cast. This is your copy."

Dessa placed one hand on the sud circle, then dropped her other hand in the wash bowl. A cloud of steam puffed out of the wash bowl.

She withdrew her hands and folded them in her lap. "A memory spell is a bit more complicated, since it requires actual fairy dust in order to cast. For reasons too obtuse to explain here, the universe responds to a six-pointed star inscribed in a circle. The short story is that it is related to summoning. Transport your spirit-copy into this shape, let it go, and the fairy dust will remember what you gave it. To cast the contained spell, re-convert all physical energy in the magic circle into mana, channel it to your desired output point (like your fingertips, for example), and convert it back physical energy."

Dessa first re-drew the heating circle. She put both hands in the circle, evaporating the suds into mist.
"That is what that magic circle does without any other modifications."
Then she drew the heating circle again, followed by a memory circle beside it. She put one hand in each circle. Both circles glowed slightly, but only the suds in the heating circle evaporated.
"The spell has transferred to the memory spell now."
Finally, she put both hands in the memory circle. All the suds evaporated.

"Now you try it. Transfer two heating spells into a memory spell and see what happens. It should make a little pop when activated."

Please rescue my daughters!"

Edward gave a toothy grin. “Well what are we waiting for then? Chance to get some revenge on that old Salamander, count me as one of the forward team.”
The Reaper rolled its eyes at him.
Sykes, however, had a different response to the king's request - a facepalm full of salt, not for the King, but for the Reaper. "Come on, Reaps, really?" He rolled his eyes and huffed. After a dramatic pause to survey the city, he folded his arms and turned to face the Reaper. "Princesses and Volcanoes. Mutants and kings. What the hell have you been doing all this time while I was struggling about, Reaps?"
The Reaper shrugged palms-up. "Oh, I was just guiding civilizations, creating races, playing god...you know, the usual. What have you been up to? Building ancient relics for the younger races to stumble upon?" Reaper squeezed Sykes's shoulder and chuckled. "It is good to see you again, friend."

A low growl got everyone's attention. They all turned to locate the source: Ravadon's stomach. It was the Reaper's turn to facepalm. "Ravadon..." the Reaper groaned, dragging its fingers down its face, "...please do not turn into Edward. I have enough hungry gluttons to deal with."

Thankfully, Ravadon didn't have food on his mind.

"My liege, we know there to be very little that can locate dragons, let alone harm them. If we are going to return your daughters here, we can't hope to make it back without any form of support. I'm certain your men will be needed here to defend against all those that lure in the woods, hoping to get in." He paused for a moment as it seemed people were starting to look his way. Ravadon was getting louder again. "As we know, you are a good king. One that places no price on the safety of others, whether these are foreigners in service of you or your very own blood. As such, I'm certain and fully confident that will spare no expense in providing us with the support we need to bring back your daughters. And I know it pains you every second to be without your daughters, so I will keep this succinct. What we and your daughters require from you right now are 3 things..."

"Firstly, a sum of coins. One that is sufficient to get the specialized transport, weaponry and magical ingredients to take down the great red dragon and open the way for your daughters to return.
Secondly, a representative of the crown. A person that might follow up on us and allow for safe passage in name of you, the king.
And thirdly, a specific subset of partners to help us overcome any other obstacle along the way."

Ravadon whipped out a pen and paper and wrote up the draft of a contract. He specified the following party members to be included:

• The bard, Ravadon of Xyllodan
• The leader, the Grim Reaper
• The half-dragon, Edward
• The representative of the crown, Isabella
• The ranger, Herodotus Sykes
• Another ranger
• A paladin

Admittedly, the last two party member roles remained unfilled. He handed it to the king, expecting it to be signed and stamped. The Reaper ripped it out of his hand and looked it over.

It shot Ravadon a look of contempt - if he could even see the Reaper's face (which he couldn't). "Why do we need two rangers? And why are we contracting people we do not even have yet? No, you know what? Don't answer that. You are the hero now. Do whatever you want. I have had enough crud to deal with for one day." With that, the Reaper turned its back on everyone and let out a long sigh.

Ravadon, the new de-facto leader, had some decisions to make.

@Thinslayer
@Darkwatck01
Ravadon's staring out over the city ended as a certain reaper was listing concerns with a contract Ravadon was going to give to the king.

"Why do we need two rangers? And why are we contracting people we do not even have yet? No, you know what? Don't answer that. You are the hero now. Do whatever you want. I have had enough crud to deal with for one day."

With that, the Reaper turned its back on everyone and let out a long sigh.
Ravadon couldn't help by hear "do whatever you want."

And so, he did. "Reaper, rewrite the enlisting in understandable language and prepare to depart. If you don't like it, you can swap our roles. "

"Edward, I hope you're done eating, because we're going to go recruit the other members on the list."
He turned towards the door when he noticed a person standing in the way...
"Ehh.. excuse me? Who are you?"
@AtomicNut

@Thinslayer
@Samdragonx

“Go on ahead, I need to have a word with friend.”

With that Edward got up from his seat, picking up a pitcher and two glasses from the table he was at. With a nod, and making sure the pitcher had water in it, he walked over to the last person anyone would expect the Transcendent to, the Reaper. Doing something he has rarely done but to one other, whom by now might not even recognize his scent, he tapped the Reaper on the shoulder to get it’s attention then, swallowing that pride of his, and lifted his head exposing his neck. The soft, easy to cut into, flesh which kept his head attached to his shoulders for a hand full of seconds before lowering his head and looking the other creature in the eyes.

“Come with me, we need to speak.” He then looked in the direction of the others. “In private.”

With that said he turned and walked away, out of the throne room and into one of the larger halls in what was left of the destroyed castle. Taking a side table, funny how even in this place they had furniture that seemed to favor one sitting taller than another, breaking the legs slightly to be at a more accessible level for one sitting on the ground rather than in a chair, he placed the pitcher and glasses down sitting on one side pouring himself a drink as well as one for his guest he was expecting, assuming it followed.

Sure, it wasn’t really his liking but for what they were getting ready to do he was going to have to eat his pride and try and play by the rules for once. Something he thought he wouldn’t have to do again, yet it seemed in the end the Old Salamander was getting the last laugh.

With that he sat down, not crossing his legs but rather folding him under himself sitting on his lower legs supporting himself, almost in a meditative trance with only his third eye open, moving back and forth getting his mind ready for the things he was about to ask. It was said to him long ago by a person he once saw as a god, as it were, ‘Knowledge is power and those who do not seek it will forever remain powerless.’

If only I had taken your advice the first time...

Tiberius breathed sharply, deeply, a cough escaped his parched throat. The knight felt stone beneath his hands, not the soft dirt where he had previously been. He opened his eyes, everything was fuzzy and his head was ringing like the morning after too much drink. Except, he didn't think he had been drinking at all, not since before his quest began.

"My quest?" he muttered out loud, in a raspy voice. There was something familiar about the word, but he couldn't place it, but it felt important to him in a way he couldn't describe.

He slowly brought himself to his knees and checked the surroundings. He was in a dark alley, garbage and debris littered the place, while the sudden smell almost gagged him. He thought he could hear noises, but they were distant. Above him there were sheets of cloth covering the length of the alley in a patchwork pattern. It was odd. He then found his long sword, glowing with a soft pale light, next to him. He grabbed it and felt a sense of calm wash over him. The ringing in his head vanished altogether and he felt his strength begin to return. Tiberius next stood up slowly, he wasn't sure where he was or where his shield was but as long as he could walk, he'd be alright.

The alley was longer then he thought, but as soon as he rounded a well lit corner, sunlight blinded him but in its warmth he felt better. Once his eyes were adjusted to the light, he was stricken with surprise at what was before him. It was a market square, or had been once, now it lay in ruins. Tiberius gripped his sword tighter as he walked through the rubble, it had been a recent attack. He smelt smoke, fire was burning somewhere close by and saw the signs of a stampede or something akin to it. Probably people running in the same direction, or it was something worse.

The Paladin Knight was confused. Where exactly was he? He could only remember a forest, and something dark before being in a ruined city in the daytime. His train of thought was broken by the sounds of distant yelling and thus he ran towards them on alert. Tiberius found himself weaving and dodging debris with an ease he had never seen before, and he was faster, he was sure of it. Within no time, the shouting became more distinct, the sounds of battle were never far away it seemed. He reached a clearing of some sort, a large palace was in the distance but before him were men fighting each other. Or so it appeared. Half of the men wore what appeared to be some sort of guard uniform and they were driven up against a wall by stone men of some sort.

Without really thinking, Tiberius ran towards the stone men in a burst of speed, and swung with impunity. He cut them down with speed and efficiency before they could even turn on him. Then he turned towards the guardsmen, who stared at him the mixed expressions. Some looked thrilled to be saved, others looked bewildered.

He spoke out loud, "I am Paladin Knight Tiberius Longshadow, and I ask you all, what is going on here?"

The guardsmen looked confused, and began looking at each other.

Tiberius spoke again, "Come now, surely one of you knows whats going on here?"

One of the guardsmen finally stepped forward and looked at him funny before talking. Except Tiberius didn't know what the man was saying, he couldn't understand him. He stood there dumbfounded before realization suddenly dawned upon him, he was no where close to home..

@Darkwatck01
Edward lifted his chin. “Come with me, we need to speak,” he commanded. Then he glanced in the direction of the others.

“In private.”

At the words 'in private,' the Reaper shrank a little. It could either be something really bad worth protecting others from hearing, something really good that might spark envy in others, or something really embarrassing that could hurt someone's reputation. Considering the individual requesting the private audience...

"If this is a marriage proposal, I have bad news: I'm single. Jokes aside, please make this quick, because I have some catching up to do with my friend here." @AtomicNut

Having injected sufficient levity into the conversation, the Reaper sat down at the table, crossed out every line in the contract, and began drafting one anew on the other side of the paper in legalese while waiting for Edward to begin his spiel.



The Reaper looked up to see Edward rocking back and forth. "So? What did you wish to speak with me about?"

@Thinslayer

Stopping his little rocking fit Edward reached out and picked up the glass, slowly taking a drink and looking at the Reaper with his third eye. He could see the mask for what it was, a mask to hide what little bit remained. Still what he needed to know and what he wanted to know where two different things.

Setting the glass down he spoke. “There are many things I wish to speak of, but as you said time is short so this will be simple for the first question at least, who are you?” With that said he placed his hands in his lap and looked at the creature before him. “Also, before you think about doing something I might regret. If we are going to fight him when we should plan correctly and follow the rules for fighting him. No cheating but sneaking around, no back handed tricks. Fair warnings on both sides as well as the offering to fight such a challenge.”

Reaching up once more he took the glass and held it there looking at the clear liquid. “What happened to the man before you, and why did you not finish his work but instead bring me back? We both know that the Council would want me dead, not still roaming around like my master wanted. Also, what became of my master? I can tell by the smell alone there isn’t many of your kind left, so what happened?”

All the while he spoke, his tone stayed the same, not joking or being sarcastic. The sly remarks not present, this wasn’t Edward who was talking, but perhaps the creature the books talked about, Misurai.

"So, will we treat?"