RickyG85
Izurich
Guardian Angel Haruki
Fetzen
Kumbaris
CaptainManbeard
rush99999
Birdboy
TheWendil
The Pixie went along with the other adventurers, being taken back to the giant ship that had crashed into the Great Table. While the sight of the scar left in the earth by the crash was impressive, it was easily outdone by the sight of the ship. The sheer scale of it made Dumas feel small, even in his human sized enchantment.
Dumas did not know what kind of metal it was made of, and it out shined even the great works of his homeland of Oberia. As the group neared the massive ship, it opened up on its own and extended a ramp. Dumas at a loss for words, even more so when he was taken into the inside of the ship.
He was only half paying attention when they were led to the Captain’s quarters, his attention fixated on the wondrous constructs and unknown magics that were all about the vessel. Even when it was said that they could keep their weapons, in Dumas’s case it was his sword, the Pixie got the sense that Almira and her crew had enough power that a sword would be useless against it.
Once in the cabin, the long eared Captain began to speak in Common. She explained that this ship was meant to travel the stars, which amazed Dumas. If they came from another world, then maybe there were even more worlds. This excited the wanderer aspect of Dumas. Sure he could travel across Friestan, but that couldn’t even compete with the prospect of seeing whole new worlds.
As Almira’s explanation started to become more technical, Dumas started having a hard time following. Thankfully the conversation soon turned to Friestan, a topic Dumas knew a lot about. However, Dumas let Anki lead the discussion. She was still the crown princess of his home country and felt that he should show her respect.
The conversation continued for a while longer, Dumas occasionally popping in to elaborate on a topic or offer a semi-relevant anecdote. But by now it was well into the night and clearly everyone was drained by the excitement of the day. The gathered adventurers of Friestan were then offered a room for the night.
Dumas had to admit that he was very tired, but at least he was no longer cold. The chill of the mountain range had been replaced by a comfortable temperature aboard the ship. Dumas deduced that since he hadn’t seen any fireplaces or other such sources of heat, that this was a magical change to the environment aboard the ship.
Once Dumas entered the quarters assigned to him, he saw that there was a set of basic clothes set on the small bed with white linens. Glad to get out of his clothes in which he had been traveling in, Dumas stripped and entered the thing that Almira had called a shower.
Pressing a button on the wall in the enclosed glass box, a pleasant stream of warm water began to fall on him. It was similar to bathing under the waterfalls commonly found in the southern lands. Except here he could control the temperature.
As Dumas washed the grime off himself, he also rinsed his clothes in the shower with him. Once both Dumas’s body and clothes were scrubbed enough, he got out of the shower and set his adventuring clothes to dry. He began to change into the provided clothing, only to encounter a problem.
While the pants seemed to fit fine, the shirt provided was clearly not made for someone with eight wings. Dumas just decided to sleep shirtless as he was too tired to cause a fuss over sleeping attire. It only took a few minutes after lying down for Dumas to fall asleep. The last conscious thought he had was how soft the bed was.
When Dumas awoke he found that he had reverted to his natural size of a foot tall in his sleep. This was no new occurrence as maintaining the spell for his human size was almost impossible while asleep.
Dumas found that his washed clothes had mostly dried during the night, but he called forth a small light to finish the job. The ball of light emitted a heat that quickly warmed the clothes. Once he was satisfied with the level of warmth, Dumas willed the light away and then changed into the newly heated clothing.
Dumas then exited his guest quarters, finding that he was the last of the Friestans to get up. Apparently they were to make for the city of Cendana. Dumas and the rest of the assembled adventurers were loaded into the back of a vehicle of some kind, a rover he believed the travelers called it. Inside were several seats with some kind of strap that goes across one’s waist.
As Dumas settled into his seat, he saw that this too was not meant for a Pixie. All eight of his large wings were jutting out as one of Almira’s crew showed him how to strap himself in. And then the vehicle was moving.
Despite the roughness of the terrain, the rover moved pretty smoothly. But it was the sheer speed of it that made Dumas uneasy. The force of the vehicle made him feel sea sick, even more so than being on an actual boat.
But Dumas did his best not to vomit all over Almira’s rover. As Dumas began some deep breathing techniques he learned from a sage back in the deep woods, the rover began to slow. Then it finally stopped and the door opened again. As the Friestans began to leave the rover, Dumas got the impression that the trip had only made him ill.
Unfortunately for the Pixie, the next stage of their journey would be by boat. The Captain of the vessel seemed to know Srikandi as they exchanged some words, but Dumas couldn’t make it out as he was standing just far enough away. But soon the adventurers and Almira’s crew, who Dumas noticed were in garb that was familiar, but just felt a little off, almost like a costume in a play, were loaded aboard the ship.
The ship ride was uneventful. Dumas quickly learned that Almira and her people were to be passed off as another group of adventurers. Dumas nodded, but found that moving his head exasperated the nausea flowing through his body. Eventually Dumas couldn’t take it anymore and pulled a red leaf out of his pack. It was an old remedy in Oberia, meant to soothe one’s stomach. Dumas had been planning to save it, as it doesn’t grow around here. But his level of unwell required it.
As Dumas chewed the leaf he immediately began to feel better. The raging storm in his body stopped, and he began to not even notice the rocking of the ship against the waves. Dumas ended up spending the rest of the boat ride watching the side of the ship, hoping to see a whale or, better yet, a sea serpent. But he quickly decided against seeing any aquatic monsters as he really didn’t want to die by going down with a ship.
However, no monsters manifested and instead the ship came into port in Cendana. Glad to be off the ship, Dumas followed Srikandi into the city proper. Like most big cities, Cendana was sprawling with many wonders of architecture and unique designs. But that also meant it was easy to get lost.
Srikandi apologized to the group about not really knowing the city. But as the adventurers tried to regain their bearings, they were beset by a gang of bandits.
“Seriously?” Dumas said softly, his hand reaching for his sword.
A quick head count revealed that there were twenty bandits, a slight number advantage on their side. But Dumas was focusing more on seeing what Almira and her crew could do in combat.
But the Pixie’s attention rapidly shifted to a bandit rushing him with a curved blade raised. In one motion Dumas unsheathed his blade and raised it to meet his attacker’s. With the blades locked, Dumas kicked forward, his foot connecting with the bandit and sending him tumbling back.
Taking the opportunity, Dumas jumped onto the collapsed bandit. With one hand he tossed the man’s blade away, and with the other he brought down the hilt of his sword on the bandit’s face. Blood gushed from the bandit’s nose as his head fell back, clearly into unconsciousness.
Dumas jumped back onto his feet and turned to find another bandit to fight. But he found that all of them were either on the ground or already in a fight with one of his companions. Dumas took a second to watch their fights, clearly intrigued by the glowing machetes that some of Almira’s crew were using.
In very little time the battle was over. The bandits appeared to be low-tier thugs, clearly outclassed by the assembled adventurers. As some city guards descended on the scene they recognized Srikandi at least and believed the group when they said that they had been beset by thugs.
As the guards began to arrest the thugs strewn across the street, they also informed the group that the Mayor wanted to see them. So Dumas and the others followed them to city hall. Like most city halls in major cities that Dumas had seen, here in Cendana there were ornate tapestries and paintings of notable moments in the history of the city.
Dumas was admiring the artwork as Srikandi spoke to the Mayor himself. But the Pixie was soon called over. Anki was holding a letter, a familiar sigil on it. It only took a few seconds for Dumas to recognize it as the symbol of the Dark Lord.
A shiver went up the Pixie’s spine as Srikandi explained the contents of the letter. In ages past with other Dark Lords, it had been Pixie policy to hide away from the great evil and only return to the lands outside their home after the evil is defeated, usually to find a ruined world.
Dumas had always said that he would fight the Dark Lord if given the chance, but some part of him on the inside was terrified of the Dark Lord, the boogeyman of Friestan.
But Dumas put on a brave face as Anki asked Catherine and him to go to the Elven Quarters, “Definitely your highness. I am at your service.”
Dumas arrived with the Princess and Alchemist in the Elven Quarters. It wasn’t so different from Elven neighborhoods in other cities Dumas had traveled to. Just a lot of the pointy eared folk going about their business, briefly stopping to make simple conversation.
Dumas noted that they didn’t seem to find it to odd for a human, automaton, and Pixie together in their part of town. But then Dumas remembered that Elven areas were frequented by travelers looking for some kind of Elf magic or charm. In some places whole industries had arisen to sell these kinds of things, though the actual powers associated with these items were dubious.
Anki then revealed that they were looking for a female Elf, one who is indistinguishable from all the other Elves here. That wasn’t much to go on. Anki then floated the idea of turning themselves invisible. But Dumas knew that kind of illusion was out of his wheelhouse and that it would be unlikely that Catherine was carrying an invisibility potion as most of her vials were either for exploding or melting things, or at least that’s how it seemed to the Pixie.
“How about we play the roll of tourists?” Dumas offered, “Many different kinds of people come to Elven communities looking for some charm or fortune teller or something. Plus I’m a Pixie so they might be more willing to talk to me. In Oberia Pixies and Elves share a kinship as ancient, magical beings. Maybe it holds true here?”
Dumas thought the idea might work, especially if he starts speaking Elven. However, he was aware that he was out of practice on that tongue. Years of speaking Common had eroded some of his skill with other languages. Even the Pixie speak would begin to degrade if Dumas didn’t return to his home every so often and converse with other Pixies.
@Kumbaris @13org
