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| Vivi, as drawn by Aproustian who plays them. |
"I suppose we've nothing better to be doing," Cassian allowed.
"I would like to know more about Sadun's companions than simply how reckless they are," Vivi offered in support of Whistle.
"I'm going to have to pass," Sadun said. "I would like Trick to take a look at this potion recipe from Sorzen for me."
"What? Oh, sure," Trick said, setting aside a vial. "I like learning new recipes. Very handy."
"I'll have to translate it though, as it's in draconic," Sadun added. "But do please go on without me. It does sound like a good idea, especially with our new companions."
Vivi watched as Sadun and Trick huddled over Sorzen's book, Sadun muttering words in the language of dragons and pondering how best to translate them into the common tongue. They were of course always in favor of the acquisition of new knowledge, but it seemed slightly reckless to trust this human so soon after his arrival in the group. Hopefully Sadun would remember their advice from the day before, and not come to regret this decision.
They turned their attention back to the rest of the group, where Whistle was telling a story about her past.
"So after the stalker pushed my friends off a hill, my parents decided I should leave the group and set out on my own for awhile, away from dangerous people like that," the genasi bard was explaining. "For my own protection, and also for the safety of the group. It... wasn't pleasant."
"Who do I have to kill?" Arnick asked furiously, holding a dagger by the blade.
"Arnick this was years ago, but it is sweet of you to ask. Also please put the dagger down, you'll hurt yourself that way."
"You could just steal their soul," Cassian said with only a hint of malice.
"I don't steal souls!" Whistle protested. "It is just an echo, a shadow of their memories that I can access with my magic!"
"I'm pretty sure he said 'oh, please don't take my soul' when you did it though," Cassian said.
"He was already dead! He couldn't have said anything!"
"He did not say anything intelligible when he died," Sadun chipped in, walking over and plucking the dagger from Arnick's bleeding hand. "I should know, I'm the one who killed him."
"Murderer!" Arnick shouted, pointing at Sadun. "Murderer!"
"I cannot deny it. How much has Arnick had to drink today?" Sadun inquired, walking back to where Trick was studiously making notes in a journal of his own.
"What are you even talking about?" Vivi asked, incredulously. "None of what I am hearing makes sense."
"I'm pretty sure she took his soul," Cassian mumbled.
"Murderer!" Arnick shouted again, pointing at Whistle this time.
"Well, this is going nowhere quickly," Vivi muttered. "If I may divert the conversation back to the realm of something meaningful?" The others quieted down again. "We did a large teleportation spell the other day," Vivi said. The others nodded. "Could I ask you to tell me how it felt? I am a results oriented dragonborn, and I want to become the best teleportation expert ever. I want to be able to teleport to distant stars, and anywhere in between. And," Vivi added with a wry grin, "I did manage to get you safely away from that dragon. So how did it feel? I need to know in order to improve my craft."
Arnick walked up to Vivi and stroked their arm. "It felt like this," the gnome said. He continued stroking Vivi's arm. Fortunately the dragonborn did not seem to notice, as they were already scribbling in their journal.
"I am not a magic user," Cassian said slowly. "But if I think about it... I felt all my muscles tense, and then it was fine. It was almost nice, like a good workout."
"It was not as smooth as a Dimension Door," Whistle said, looking relieved at the break in accusations. "I think because of the distance. If was a little rougher. More unnerving I suppose? More abrupt?"
"I felt a warm pressure on my head, as always," Sadun called from her corner. "And I had to get my sense of direction back, as always."
"I have my own teleportation magic," Whistle added, "and it didn't feel much different. But I would love to look at your notes sometime."
"Oh, we should collaborate!" Vivi said, glancing up. Behind them Arnick began running up and down the trunk of a nearby tree.
"I gather you have all traveled a lot?" Wretch asked.
"Yes," Whistle said.
"Extensively," Vivi said. "Usually through teleportation. I will teleport you someday, and then you can tell me about the experience."
"I too have traveled, to all sorts of climates and cultures," Wretch continued. "But nothing beats home. I am from the Assar's Peak on Toril. I assume you are also from Faerun?"
"What's Faerun?" Whistle asked.
"I can no longer remember what plane I'm from," Vivi said.
"We first met on Faerun," Sadun called over, pausing briefly in her translation efforts.
"I feel nostalgic sometimes," Wretch continued, "thinking about being so high above the clouds, and that moment in the morning when the clouds separate and you are looking above the entire world. All around you is a vast blue speckled with white and below the world stretches away. Of course the temperature is also better there. It's too hot most other places." The goliath looked at his hands. "And finding your own food was always interesting as well. We would hunt giant rams, tasty meat and great with beer. The horns we used for weapons and armor. Good strong bone."
"Did you ever make hammers out of them?" Cassian asked, interested. "Wait, no, I have plenty of hammers. But hearing you talk of the vast blue, it reminds me of before I was brought here as well. I was living on a ship, as a cook. I actually loved it. Not something someone like me usually gets into. I grew up on the plains, where everything was about fighting. But one day the sea called to me, and I ended up on a pirate ship. We murdered and robbed... a few times," the group chuckled. "But one day a rival ship defeated my shipmates, and I was taken captive. They put me to work in the kitchen. And you may not think it to look at me, but I serve a mean seafood dish."
"Is that why you haven't been cooking for us?" Vivi asked, teasingly.
"Well, a good stew I made included potatoes and carrots and whatever thing came out of the sea that day. I've always wanted to cook and taste the various seafood ingredients of the world. Sadly I haven't managed to run across the sea here. And I don't count lakes as the sea." Cassian paused in his reflection and thought a long moment. "There is one thing we used to do on the ship, to keep the crew full of energy. The cooks would play this game where we would take whatever ingredients we had on hand, and make the best food we could out of it. We called it Chopped. I'm really good at it. There were giant seahorses we would milk for our dairy ingredients. We had to have half the cooks hold them down, and the others would press a spot on their stomach until the milk shot out. We curdled it for cheese. Good for the bones of our crew. Those dire seahorses were hard to kill though, so we didn't get to eat them very often."
"That was definitely not milk," Trick said into the ensuing silence.
"Dire seagulls were pretty rough as well," Cassian added, almost to himself, so lost in reverie he did not hear Trick's comment.
"Why was everything Dire in your world?" Whistle asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Dire seahorses, dire seagulls? Why so many giant creatures?"
"I don't know, I never thought about it," Cassian admitted. "That's just how it was."
"Well," Vivi said. "I've found this all very interesting, but if we're going to go into this secret tunnel you keep talking about, it may be good to wrap it up and go to sleep."
"Vivi has a good point," Sadun said, standing up. "I'm done translating this for Trip. I'm going to sleep so I can be on alert tomorrow. And this time I'm not going in blind."
-----------------------
The next morning the party struck camp and followed Arnick's map to the tunnel entrance.
"This does feel familiar," Sadun said. "There is still some of the trail we followed last time. It hasn't been long enough for it to be entirely overgrown."
"There, that looks like the entrance!" Cassian said, pointing. "I don't see any beholder-kin around this time either, maybe they just abandoned this place?"
"Well," Whistle said, "they did collapse a good part of the cave last time, so maybe they just don't come out here anymore."
"Let me go first," Arnick said, seeming much steadier than he had the night before. "I'll scout things out."
Sadun struck her flint on a rock and lit her lantern. "What?" she asked, seeing Cassian and Arnick looking at her. "I can't see in the dark, and I'm not going to be blind this time. I said that."
"Several of us cannot see in the dark, in fact," Vivi pointed out, gesturing to themself, Whistle, Trick and Wretch.
"Well I'll still go ahead and check things out," Arnick said, determined.
"I'll keep the lantern out of sight until you give the go ahead," Sadun acknowledged.
The going was slow. Arnick decided to check out every side tunnel as the group advanced, checking for any loot the enemy may have left behind. Finally, the group arrived at a large cavern.
"Ah, this is where we fled the bugbears," Cassian said. "And found those minotaurs down there." The half-orc gestured to what had once been the mouth of a tunnel. "Looks like someone was here trying to uncover it at one point, see how those rocks were moved? But they gave up."
"These tracks are rabbit folk tracks," Sadun said, examining footprints in the dust. "But it couldn't be Poppy, he went the opposite direction. Unless he circled back around."
"There may still be a way through," Arnick said. "Look, here's a tunnel."
The group gathered around Arnick, standing near one of the blank walls of carved stone. He was pointing at a very small hole at the base of the wall.
"I'm not sure I'd fit in there," Wretch said. "Someone would have to be very small to do so." His low voice echoed softly through the chamber. "Someone like a gnome." The 8 foot tall goliath turned and began looking around the cavern again.
"Yes yes,' Arnick said. "I was going to scout ahead, certainly."
Vivi knelt down and peered into the tunnel. "I can't just teleport through here, it looks like the tunnel turns sharply a little ways in, and I have to know where I'm going to end up for a safe teleportation."
"Well, let's just tie some rope around me and I'll head through," Arnick said. "Sadun, you hold the rope. I trust you to pull me back if it goes poorly."
"There's a chest over there everyone!" Wretch called from behind the group. He was gesturing down a small side passage they had overlooked upon entering the large chamber.
"Don't open it," Cassian advise, walking over to him. "It might be a mimic."
"That would be bad?" Wretch asked.
"We had some trouble with one last time we were here," Sadun said, tying a rope around Arnick's waist.
"It was terrible. Sticky when you touched it, I had to bash it apart with my bear hands in the end," Cassian said, shuddering.
"Well, I think you may be right," Wretch said, gesturing back to the alcove. The chest was gone. "There's a pit a few feet in there. It may have slipped down when we were talking.
A scrabbling sound came from the direction of the pit, and then a muscled arm reached over the edge, and hauled the chest up behind it. The mimic's second arm reached into its lid and withdrew a stalagmite, which it began to slap into it's open palm.
"I think it wants a fight," Wretch said, pulling his maul from his back. "Stay here. This will be an honorable duel."
"Don't take too long!" Trick called, stepping away from the confrontation.
TO BE CONTINUED
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