Session 4: The Mission by Roy

Two shady figures are standing in front of a bank. One picks open the door as the other stands watch. Once inside, they are greeted by a large vault behind a steel gate. The gate proves to be no challenge, as the lockpicker pops it open with little effort. However, upon examining the vault, it seems there would be no timely manner to pry it open and collect the contents within. The two decide to make their leave before trouble arrives. One of the figures hands a small item to the other, and then they split up: one heads to an inn, and the other heads toward the tallest oak tree at the festival.

----

It is now slightly past midnight. Beau makes a leisurely stroll to the tent located at the center of the festival, to which he is greeted by a man standing guard. "Ticket", the man simply says, and Beau hands over the golden ticket that had caused so much trouble earlier in the day. He is shocked upon entering to realize that within this small tent is actually an entire mansion, much larger than the physical space it occupies outside. A servant spots him immediately and leads him to a sitting room, where he sees three ladies sitting in silence.

Beau immediately moves over to someone he recognizes. "We meet again!" he says cheerily to Eamhair. "I must say I'm absolutely relieved that you are alright."

Eamhair looks at the traveler. "Yes," she replies, "I'm trying not to think about it too much. Apparently it's all because of those tickets."

Beau smiles. "Ah, you earned one as well? How did you manage to move that boulder?"

"Boulder?" Eamhair looks at Beau with confusion. "No, I got my ticket from winning an archery competition." Beau tries to hide his skepticism as he recalls her marksmanship outside the colosseum. She asks, "What is this about a boulder?"

Beau happily explains the setup for the boulder challenge, and then turns to the others in the room. "How did the two of you earn your tickets?"

A young, beautiful brunette ignores the question and looks away, but the other person, whom both Beau and Eamhair recognize, speaks up. "I'm actually not entirely sure", Fi tells them honestly. "I had fought in the finals at the colosseum, but I lost. It was only later that I checked my pocket and found the ticket telling me to come here."

"That is indeed strange", Beau said. "I'm surprised you didn't win that competition, judging from the way you handled that monk in the first match. I apologize for missing the fight; I was... preoccupied at the time." Fi gives a knowing look to the two of them. "Oh," Beau suddenly says, "how rude of me: I haven't even properly introduced myself to you. My name is Aaron Celebrimbor. What are your names?"

"I'm Eamhair", replies the archer.

"Vera", the brunette says without enthusiasm.

"And I'm Fi, of course", the gladiator answers.

The doors to the sitting room open, and four distinguished people walk forward. Walking in front is the prince, with Sieghart to his left and an attractive woman with platinum-blonde hair and silver-amber eyes to his right. She wears full plate armor and has a longsword to the side of her. A couple people in the room also immediately recognize her emblem as the symbol of Aia, goddess of the sun. Behind her is a wizard with a long silver beard, whose features are mostly obscured by his robe and wizard hat.

The prince speaks to the room. "You are all likely wondering why you're here. I will give you answers, but I am going to need honesty from you in return." As soon as he says it, the prince turns to the paladin beside him, and she begins a prayer. A hidden force in the room compels everyone to oblige in the request to be truthful. The prince continues. "I need you four to swear loyalty and keep this conversation secret."

Eamhair and Fi waste no time and swear to it. Beau cautiously replies, "I swear to secrecy." The young brunette answers as well: "I swear that I will never speak a word of this to anyone."

The prince holds up a gold coin and proceeds to explain the situation. "Look at this gold coin. There are no imperfections to it: it looks entirely like a regular coin. It is not. This little fact has eluded us for months." He then turns to the wizard, who mutters a few words and waves a hand at the coin. The gold coin fades to copper in a matter of seconds. "The magic behind this disguised coin is extremely advanced, to the point where it cannot even be detected by regular methods. The true danger of this spell, however, is that these coins have been distributed for many months within the South and Southeast provinces of Daris. It is likely a plot, possibly aligned with Portia, to undermine the economy of our kingdom."

Beau thinks about his past encounters with similar magic. While the technique is completely unfamiliar, he suspects it must be a homebrewed or modified spell.

"You can imagine the threat this presents", the prince says. "The one responsible for this need only release the spell to crash our economy. Chaos would ensue, and Daris would be very vulnerable to an invasion. We must find whoever is doing this: specifically, we must find what spells and equipment they are using, and whether or not they have any connection to neighboring kingdoms. We have investigated the matter, but every time we seem to get close, they elude us. I've begun to suspect we have a double-agent in our ranks tipping them off. Thus, we recruit you, who have no ties in this matter. Your mission is to hunt down, find, and capture this group. We believe them to be located near Celedor in the Southeast province. Of course, Sieghart will accompany you as well. If you accept and complete this task, you will have fortunes and our eternal gratitude awaiting your return. You will be given half your weight in gold, enough to live out the rest of your days comfortably. Do you accept?"

Eamhair and Fi almost reply immediately, with nothing but the thought of what they could accomplish with that much gold. Beau is quicker to reply, however: "I do have a concern", he says before the prince. "You suggest paying us in half our weight in gold. That's certainly a generous offer under normal circumstances, but looking at us, I see that we are all skinny, short, or a combination thereof. It seems perhaps a bit underhanded to be offering a reward in this manner."

The prince is unconvinced. "This amount of gold is more than generous", he reasons.

Beau crosses his arms. "I'm sorry," he says, "but for such a dangerous task, this amount is not enough for me. I will have to regrettably decline your offer."

The brunette picks up on the cue and also declines. "You can count me out as well", she says.

"Alright, alright," the prince caves, "your full weight in gold. And the kingdom's eternal gratitude, of course."

Beau beams back. "You make an offer too tempting to refuse. I find these terms agreeable and shall accept." The others all nod in agreement.

At this moment, two soldiers drag in a battered and bloody half-elf man, which many in the room recognize to be the other one sentenced to die that day. The prince addresses him immediately. "You are the half-elf that managed to escape imprisonment and reclaim your possessions, are you not?"

The half-elf replies, "The cowardly lord is not as smart as he thinks he is."

"Indeed," the prince says, "but it would be wise not to underestimate Morren. It takes great skill to pull off what you did. Your skills may prove necessary for the quest at hand, and if you succeed, I will grant you a full pardon of your crimes."

The wounded man points at Eamhair and Fi with disdain. "I am unwilling to work with elves."

The prince trades glances with Sieghart. "... You're half-elf yourself", he points out.

"And I spend every day trying to forget it", the half-elf laments.

The prince folds his arms. "Very well. We shall return you to a cell and notify Morren that we have caught his runaway prisoner."

"You seem as cowardly as that lord with your petty threats," he replies, but after consideration, he remarks, "though you have the upper hand in this arrangement. I'd like more guarantees before going on this quest."

"Perhaps we'll leave your hands here, and return them to you for good performance."

The man looks back angrily and points at Eamhair. "You treat me, the man who returns that girl's belongings, this way?"

Fi leans toward Beau and whispers sarcastically, "Can't wait to work with him."

Beau whispers back, "Looks like he's about to pass out."

The prince says, "You seem to not know who I am. I am the crown prince of Daris."

The half-elf gives in. "Do as you must", he mutters. "If I am to do this quest, so be it."

The prince compromises. "There may indeed be an additional reward for you if you survive. Sieghart, if he tries anything, you have my permission to kill him."

Sieghart bows slightly. "As you wish, my prince", he says, and then gives a menacing look at the half-elf.

The prince continues his speech. "Since this is not a government-sanctioned event, secrecy is dire. We cannot endorse nor give you a letter of safe passage. Morren is still looking for this half-elf man." He pauses for a moment. "I also believe there was a wizard involved in your little scuffle earlier. If you see him, try to get him to tag along as well; he may be useful in his own way. Morren has locked down the streets; you may find it more difficult to escape than you imagine." The prince, along with the paladin and wizard, exits the room at this point, leaving behind Sieghart to watch over the rest.

The half-elf speaks up. "I noticed that girl has been bathed and clothed. Am I to receive the same treatment?"

Sieghart looks him over. "We'll have to take care of that before we leave", he agrees, and has a servant bring over a healer first and foremost to treat the half-elf's wounds. Sieghart then turns to Beau and remarks, "I'm impressed with your abilities I saw back at that tent."

Beau notices the wording, and realizes the man may be more perceptive than he lets on. "Ah yes," he responds, "I imagine it will come in handy, indeed." He then turns to the half-elf. "By the way, what might your name be?"

The half-elf looks skeptically at him. "Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine."

Beau smiles. "We had all introduced ourselves earlier. Let's do a game: each person names the person to their left." He faces toward the gladiator and says, "I well remember your name to be Fi."

Fi nods. "Yes, Aaron", she says, repeating the name Beau had claimed to be his own earlier. "I apologize if I seem a bit forgetful sometimes, but I'm sure we'll get to learn more about each other in time."

Sieghart walks away from the group and sits on the couch. "I'm Sieghart", he says, clearly uninterested in playing Beau's game.

Eamhair glances around. "I suppose it's my turn? I'm Eamhair." She looks over to the young brunette. "And you're... Vera?"

"I tire of this. I will find you in the morning", Vera answers, and she heads over to the exit only to find it closed. She begins arguing with the guards nearby, who repeatedly state that they have orders to keep everyone inside.

Beau turns to the half-elf. "There you are, all our names and personalities to boot. How about you?"

"Very well," he sighs. "I am Aaros."

Beau cheerily says, "Well met, Aaros!" He then turns to the group. "We do have a problem with leaving town with our new friend here."

"Yes", Sieghart absently says. "You have a plan?"

Fi speaks up. "I have an idea, but... how fast can you guys run?"

The paladin returns to the room at this time, overhearing Vera shouting at the guard. "What seems to be the problem here?" she asks.

"The problem," Vera insinuates, "is that I have business to finish in this town, things to collect, and a room at an inn. I must leave to take care of these things, but am being treated like a prisoner. Are we to be kept under lock and key, or are we to complete this quest for you?"

The mention of the quest causes the paladin to glare back at her. "You have a wonderful imagination," she says, "but yes, I will grant you permission to leave." She then leads Vera out of the area.

"We could disguise him", Beau reasons, looking over Aaros. "Or... how comfortable are you with being carried around in a large burlap sack?"

Aaros loses his patience. "I have no time for these mindless questions", he says as he leaves the room. Sieghart gets into a comfortable position and falls asleep on the couch.

Fi goes over to a servant, expressing concern for her pets: two small kittens that she doesn't want to be part of a perilous journey. "Do you have a place where they can stay?"

The servant smiles. "Absolutely. Right this way." He leads Fi away as another servant guides Eamhair to her room.

Beau looks around and sighs. "This is going to be a disaster."

----

Vera returns to the inn and greets her musical companion. She then grabs some parchment and writes down everything that had happened back at the tent. Once she finishes, she hands the notes over to the man, who carefully reads it over. When he finishes, the musician looks up with a grin and reads his favorite line aloud. "I swear that I will never speak a word of this to anyone."

----

In the darkness, two guards stand by the western gate within the town. One thinks he sees a silhouette in the distance, but after blinking, he sees nothing there. The gate rustles in the wind slightly, and neither guard notices it open and close.

Elfy dispels his invisibility outside the town after his clean escape. With a bit of paranoia, he thinks he may have been seen, so he decides to make a large loop around the town and head eastward instead.

---

Beau approaches Aaros, Eamhair, Fi, and Sieghart, who are waiting for him near the exit to the tent. "We need to do something about Aaros", he says. "I can help disguise him a bit, and that will get us past the guards."

"Do not touch me", Aaros says coldly.

Sieghart sighs. "Comply, or we'll go with the other plan."

Eamhair gives a devious grin. "I'm partial to the sack idea", she says.

Aaros frowns. "If I must", he mutters, as he and Beau work on changing his appearance.

Sieghart gives cloaks out to each party member, and then wears sunglasses to conceal his glowing eyes. "Ready?" he says more than asks, and they step back out into the festival. Festivities are still ongoing, and there are plenty of tourists moving from attraction to attraction. They spot Vera in the distance, standing with a man they don't recognize. Beau offers an exaggerated wave to Vera, who promptly looks away in disgust. Beau laughs from her reaction, whereas Eamhair frowns at the rudeness and looks away as well.

"Hello Vera", Beau says as they approach. "I see you're as personable as always. Who's your friend?"

The man cheerily replies. "Hi, I'm Alsyon!" He's a man with jet black hair and blue eyes, and a fiddle rests on his back. "Who are you?"

Before Beau answers, Sieghart says impatiently, "It would be wise not to linger here."

Beau nods. "Right you are. Very nice to meet you, Alsyon, but unfortunately, we are in a hurry."

Vera abruptly says, "He'll be joining us." Alsyon gives a nod in affirmation.

The party glances at Sieghart, who seems uninterested by this news. Beau shrugs and says, "Alright, sounds good to me. Welcome aboard, Alsyon!"

As they walk through the crowd, two guards approach, and one of them stops the group. He points to Aaros and says, "You look familiar. Are you concealing your appearance?"

Aaros immediately replies, "Not at all. This is my normal appearance."

The guard raises an eyebrow. "No, you look just like that thief!" he exclaims.

Beau quickly steps forward. "Forgive my friend. He's a bit paranoid after witnessing last night's events, being a half-elf and all. But you're likely mistaking him for someone else. I know I have trouble telling half-elves apart myself sometimes."

The guards look at each other. "Yes, they do all look a bit the same. But we'll need to take him in for questioning."

At this point Alsyon steps forward. "Now now, gentlemen," he says, "how about I play you a fine tune and you can be on your way? Surely you have more pressing issues to concern yourselves with."

"Yes, yes," Beau encourages, "I would love to hear you play a wonderful tune."

The guards listen to Alsyon play for a while, and as they do, they seem to forget why they had stopped the party in the first place. They both agree that it was a wonderful song, and when the man finishes, they decide to move on.

As they begin to approach the eastern edge of town, Alsyon tells the group, "Wait here for a moment; Vera and I will go on ahead and see if it's possible to leave." They then both hurry on ahead of the group, whose members seem to ignore the request to wait and continue to walk forward.

Alsyon and Vera make it through the gate with no issue, and they wait outside to see what will happen next. At this point, an elf spots Alsyon and approaches. "Don't I know you?" the elf asks.

Alsyon shrugs. "I'm not sure. Where from?"

"Weren't you that musician from the boulder contest?"

Alsyon recalls seeing the elf running around in the tent. "Oh yeah, I was. Did you by chance move the boulder?"

The elf shakes his head. "Nah. It was a tad too much work. So, whatcha doing?"

Alsyon nods. "Well, it was a foolish task they expected. If you wait here, you'll meet some others who also won golden tickets, though."

"Oh really? Neat. I'm Aaron, by the way, but most people call me Elfy."

"Hi Elfy, I'm Alsyon." The musician beams. "And this is Vera." Vera gives a disinterested nod.

Elfy turns behind him and picks up a small cat. "This is Fenian", he says.

"May I pet him?" Alsyon asks.

"Yes, you may."

Alsyon begins petting the cat. "Hi Fenian!"

----

Beau looks around. Other than the gate, there doesn't seem to be an obvious way to exit the town. He glances at nearby structures, considering a way to possibly create a diversion, but nothing comes to mind. He then glances at Aaros, whose disguise seems to be unreliable at this point. "Well," Beau finally says. "Let's hope that disguise holds up! See you all on the other side." And he makes his way toward the gate.

Eamhair and Fi glance at each other, and then at Aaros. They also decide they owe the man no favors, and they follow shortly behind Beau, who has already made it beyond the gate. Sieghart looks annoyed as he stands by the abandoned Aaros.

On the other side of the gate, Beau spots Alsyon and Vera, as well as the elf he had met yesterday. "Elfy! We meet again!"

Elfy turns to him. "Ah yes, Beau was it?"

"It is, indeed", Beau replies. "Well met." Vera pulls Alsyon off to the side to discuss something with him.

Elfy looks around. "So uhh, whatcha guys doing?"

"Waiting for a criminal to be executed at the gate", Vera remarks, as Eamhair and Fi walk up to them.

----

Sieghart and Aaros approach the gate. The guard takes one look at the half-elf and says, "We're gonna need to take this one for questioning."

Sieghart retorts, "No, he's coming with me."

The guard looks at him. "Uh, no. He's coming back with us."

Sieghart casually removes his shades and draws his weapon.

----

Elfy recognizes Eamhair. "Hey, aren't you that one half-elf that was about to get hanged?"

Eamhair sighs. "Yes, that was me..." Elfy hands her a piece of paper. "What is this?" she asks as she looks down. On the paper the word "rekt" is written. "Uh... th-thanks?"

Elfy taps the paper, and the text sparkles faintly. "It was originally meant for Lord Morren. I was going to deliver it with a bolt to cut down your rope."

Suddenly the air behind the party twists and turns until ripping open, revealing Sieghart and an unconscious Aaros. Sieghart is visibly angry. "Don't make me do that again", he says. He tosses Aaros's body toward them and follows with, "He's your problem now."

Beau tries to catch the half-elf, but Sieghart had thrown Aaros with so much force that it causes him to topple over backwards, knocking over Elfy, Eamhair, and Fi as well. Sieghart puts his sunglasses back on and steps over the group.

"Real mature", Fi mutters as she gets back on her feet. Beau picks up Aaros onto his back and carries him, and Eamhair helps Elfy back up.

After standing up, Elfy wiggles his fingers and mutters some words, to which Fenian responds immediately by climbing up onto Beau's shoulder. The cat paws at the unconscious Aaros's face, and the word "rekt" appears on the half-elf's cheek in glittering purple font.

The party begins laughing, particularly Alsyon and Eamhair. Beau looks at them with confusion, unable to see the face of the person he's carrying. "What? What is it?"

Eamhair turns to Elfy. "Taking on so many guards... that's really stupid. But it's also pretty bold... thanks."

Beau introduces Elfy to the group. "This is the man we were talking about earlier", he explains. He then turns to the elf and says, "Would you like to travel with us on our adventure?"

Elfy thinks about it. "What kind of adventure?"

"Oh, an exciting one!" Beau says boastfully. "And it will be even more exciting for you if the details are kept mysterious!"

Surprisingly, this convinces the elf. "Sure," he says, "I can tag along."

----

After a while of traveling, Aaros regains consciousness with a groan. Beau sets him down and asks, "Can you walk?"

Aaros says, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good!" Beau replies. "We're about an hour east of Nordale." He then heads over and talks to Alsyon about violins and performances.

The group eventually reaches Celedor, a small town with one inn and one shop, as well as a trading post. Beau and Alsyon do some performances on the street to earn some pocket money: Beau tells a story and Alsyon plays a musical number. The party then decides to retire for the day: everyone save Alsyon and Vera spend the night at the inn, whereas the two of them spend it outside.

In the morning, the group decides to split up and search for clues. Alsyon and Beau have the best luck obtaining information from others, and when they regroup, Beau shares what information he's gathered. "There's a gang of bandits raiding nearby villages. Their leader is a former thief by the name of Brutis, and they seem to just be collecting gold. It seems the kingdom is unwilling to send soldiers over to these villages to help." He pauses, thinking about what to say regarding the nearby swamp. He learned from a particularly talkative man that there are goblins and wizards encamped on the other side, but he decides to withhold this information from the party. "There's also the Mist Marsh to the southeast of here," he says, "which seems to be regarded as dangerous. The bandits seem to be the best lead we have, but there's a witch that lives near the marsh that may have more information."

"Never have met a trustworthy witch", Sieghart mutters to himself.

The party discusses whether or not to investigate the raided villages or visit the witch, and ultimately they agree on the latter. They venture toward the marsh, and at its edge they see a homely but well-built hut. They can see a thick mist hovering over the marsh that gives it its name.

Beau knocks on the door. The voice of an old lady answers. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"We're a traveling group investigating the recent village raids", Beau says through the door.

"What was that?" the voice responds. "I can't hear you."

"We're trying to catch bandits-"

"Bandages? No, I don't need anything of the sort", the old voice replies.

Beau glances at the party, and then says, "Could we possibly come in and talk?"

There's a pause on the other side. "Uhhhhh..." the voice says, hanging on the word, before finally saying, "Okay!" The door opens and they see the witch standing on the other side. She looks about Beau's age, perhaps even a year or two younger. "Just kidding", the young witch says, sticking her tongue out. She beckons them to come inside. "I rarely get visitors", she says excitedly. "It's nice to meet you all!" Her eyes move from person to person, momentarily stopping on Sieghart, before turning around and going to sit on a table, letting her legs swing back and forth once seated. "How can I help you?"

Elfy immediately begins scanning the room. He detects a plethora of magic, the most notable being a dimensional anchor, spanning across the entirety of the hut.

Beau speaks up. "The townsfolk of Celedor said you may have more information on the bandits we're tracking."

The witch replies, "Oh, the bandits, yes. They actually stole a precious book from me recently. I never did like... Oh! That's right!" She gets up and rushes to the oven to pull out a tray of cookies. "Please," she says, holding out the tray to them all, "have a cookie!"

"You are very generous," Beau says, "and I would love a cookie." He takes one, and Sieghart grabs one as well. Everyone else hesitates, but Fi, and Eamhair follow suit. Elfy takes a cookie and splits it with Fenian. Vera takes a cookie as well, but doesn't look like she plans on eating it. Alsyon, on the other hand, tries to decline the offer. The witch holds up a cookie in front of Alsyon and stares at him until he reluctantly takes it. Instead of eating it, however, he secretly hands it off to Vera, who hides it along with her own.

Sieghart enjoys his cookie so much that he grabs a few more from the tray and eats those, too. He then turns to Vera and asks, "Are you gonna eat those?"

Vera gives him a glare. "Later. Please mind yourself."

"So," the witch asks again, "what's up?"

"Bandits", Beau reminds.

"Oh right," she nods, "led by that one man... Brutis."

Beau nods back. "Right, the former thief that became a gang leader. Do you have any information on finding him?"

The witch smiles. "I'll give you the information on one condition."

"Returning your book?" Beau guesses.

The witch shakes her head. "No, one other condition. One of you... must stay here with me. I rarely get visitors, you know, and it's kinda lonely at times. So, what do you say?"

Elfy speaks up. "Can we know who is the one to stay?"

"Umm..." the witch replies. "Yes!"

Elfy waits a bit. "Uh, may I ask who it is, then?"

"No", she replies.

Elfy looks confused. "Can any of us ask who it is?"

She again says, "No."

Alsyon speaks up. "Just tell us who you want to stay."

She giggles at Alsyon. "You're silly. Have another cookie!"

Alsyon replies, "I'll take the cookie if you tell me who it is you want to stay."

The witch's attitude changes suddenly as she glares at Alsyon. "I'm ignoring you," she declares.

Beau negotiates, "I'll agree to your condition on one condition."

The witch looks interestedly toward the man. "And that is?"

"Each of us is an important part of our team," Beau explains, "and we may be unable to recover your book without all of us working together. So, if necessary, we would like to retrieve our friend to assist in recovering the book for you."

The witch thinks for a bit. "Well, I think you should have no trouble retrieving my book. Once you return it to me, your friend will be free to leave if he so wishes."

"He?" Beau perceptively says with a smirk.

"Oops", the witch grins back playfully.

Alsyon says, "These terms are starting to sound agreeable to me."

"Is there a breeze outside?" the witch asks Beau. She looks over at Alsyon and says, "This one is moving his lips but I can't seem to hear him over it."

Beau slowly begins to piece everything together. "It was a bit windy outside", he agrees. "Alright, I think your terms seem fair."

The witch quickly pulls out paper and ink and writes up a contract. At the end, she pricks herself with the quill and signs her name in blood before handing it over to Beau to do the same. Beau looks over the contract, which he sees has everyone's names written onto it. He glances over at Sieghart, who shrugs back at him. Beau takes it as reassurance, and he signs the contract with his own blood. A cool breeze rushes through the room after he is done writing his name.

"I pick that one!" the witch declares, running up to Sieghart.

Sieghart says in a serious tone, "I'm too old for you."

The witch grabs his arm seductively, and with a pout says, "Don't be like that, mister." Sieghart picks her up and whispers something into her ear, causing her to blush and scurry behind a table, hiding her face behind a stack of books. "B-be gentle", she says. Sieghart lets out a chuckle; he walks over to a nearby couch and lays down on it to take a nap.

The witch collects the remainder of the cookies into a basket and casts a spell, before handing them off to Beau. Elfy's eyes glow blue as he scans the magic imbued in them. Upon realizing what it is, he gives a polite bow to the witch. The witch then gives the party her end of the contract.

"Where the water flows, there lies a broken stone. Follow the lightning glows, and you will find your goal."


-- End of Generia, Session 04 --

* This is Roy's work. Posted with permission. *

Session 5: The Bear by Roy

Outside the witch's hut, Beau addresses the group. "As some of you may have suspected, there aren't actually two people named 'Aaron Celebrimbor' in our group. That name belongs to my Elven friend here. My real name is Beau Brindille."

Fi asks, "Why bother lying about your name?"

Beau shrugs. "I have a tendency to lie when I meet people for the first time; I just wanted to see what would happen. Now that we're traveling together, however, I will refrain from lying to you all. I shall act in the interest of this party."

The others seem surprisingly willing to believe Beau despite just learning his real name. He continues, "Now, as for the first part of the witch's riddle: 'Where the water flows', I believe. It sounds to me like it would be a river."

Aaros speaks up. "It's a riddle", he contests. "It would be unwise to interpret it literally."

Beau pauses and thinks of the landscape. "Well," he concedes, "I'm quite familiar with the sources of water in the region, and I can confidently say there's no river in the province. However, I do know of a fairly large lake northwest of here, near those peaks you can see in the distance. Perhaps the water there circulates."

The rest of the party nods along. Fi shrugs. "Sounds like a plan", she says. "Not like we have any other leads anyways."

"Ah," Beau exclaims, "it's quite a distance away from us. Surely Celedor will have a map that we can reference before our journey."

Beau leads the party back into town. He stops at the local shop, and the shopkeeper happily provides a detailed map of the region for him to view. "Excuse me," Beau asks, "but what is this line going through the forest here?"

The shopkeeper replies, "Why, the legend should answer that: it's a river, of course."

"No, that can't be right," Beau replies. "I don't recall there being a river here."

The shopkeeper raises an eyebrow. "Let's see," he says, "why yes, here it is. The Idrid River, it is called: quite large, in fact, and difficult to cross unless you use the bridge near Rock Falls. The path headed north should get you there just fine."

Beau turns to the party. "It seems like there's a man-made river in the province after all; it must have been recently created, and that's why I didn't know about it." The party accepts the reasoning, though Alsyon gives it more consideration than the others before taking it as fact.

Eamhair speaks up. "Do you think the riddle could be referring to the falls, specifically?"

Beau agrees. "Yes, it may very well be the 'broken stone' clue."

"In any case," Eamhair continues, "if we do not find what we need there, we can always continue further down the path."

"Then it's decided!" Beau declares. "We'll take the path to the village of Rondor, and then continue following it north to Rock Falls."

Eamhair considers the strategy. "If we follow a path, we might be more vulnerable to, say, bandits; but going through the thick of the forest or through the mountains would have its own dangers. I think the path would be the best choice."

Fi accepts the plan as well, saying, "We're a rather large group; we should be alright despite the potential of bandits. Path it is."

The party considers heading out immediately, but the waning sun persuades them to spend the evening in Celedor. Inside the tavern, Eamhair asks Beau, "Would you mind carrying this map for me? I don't have much room for it with everything else on me."

"You had a map this entire time?!" Beau exclaims.

Eamhair looks back innocently. "Yeah, but it's lacking in details, despite its massive size and weight. It doesn't mention the density of the Celedor forest, like the local map does: I wouldn't want to walk through the Deep Dark."

Beau concedes, saying, "Well, truth be told, that was the original path I was going to take to get to the lake... Alright. I'll carry your stupid map." Despite his wording, Beau doesn't seem to show any reluctance in carrying the map, which Eamhair happily hands over. He heads over to a table and spreads the map out, studying it carefully.

Alsyon walks up to Beau. "Hey Beau," he says, "do you mind if I take a look at the map for a minute or two?"

Beau smiles back at him. "Not at all; you can look over it with me while I'm memorizing it."

The two of them both look over the map with careful consideration for a moment. Alsyon then thanks him and exits the tavern with Vera to find a nice camping spot outside.

Everyone else decides to spend another night at the inn, though Aaros approaches the innkeeper to demand a discount. "I must admit, the room you charged me 5 silver coins for did not meet my expectations", he says with disappointment. "I am okay with sleeping in that room again, but I will not pay more than 3 silver coins for it."

The innkeeper looks at him with surprise and compassion. "I'm terribly sorry for that", he quickly says. "We would be more than willing to offer you a discount, but the one you ask of us is simply too steep. I will gladly take off two copper to have your business again."

Aaros considers the offer. "Very well," he says at last, "I will take that offer if it is your final."

After paying the man, Aaros heads over to the bar to eat. He is interrupted by another patron, however, who is staring intently at him. The patron asks, "Hey, what is that on your face?" His voice is raspy and he speaks slowly.

Aaros looks back at him. "What is on my face?"

The man squints a bit. "It says... R-E-K-T, in purple and sparkles. Don't know what it means. The paw print at the end is pretty rad, though."

Aaros shrugs the man off. "Go back to your ale," he sneers, "and leave me alone."

"Alright man", he says as he drifts back to his table. Other patrons mutter something about the man being high.

Elfy catches the man's attention, though. He holds up Fenian and proclaims, "This little buddy right here is the tattoo artist behind it all."

The man looks absolutely amazed. "Dude, no way!" He hastily rolls up his sleeve. "Can you give me one, too?"

"Sure, but it'll cost you if you want sparkles. What color do you want?" Elfy asks.

"Nah, man, paying for expressionism isn't cool", the man babbles. "Do it in blue."

Elfy drops Fenian onto the table, and the cat trots over to the man and taps him on the arm, branding him with a "rekt" in periwinkle.

"Far out, man", the patron says as he admires the mark.

Elfy looks at him skeptically. "Hey," he asks, "could I perhaps bum a mushroom off of you in exchange?"

"What? Mushrooms?" The man shakes his head. "Nah, man, it's the ale. It's something spiritual, man." He finishes his drink and wanders out of the tavern without another word.

Eamhair and Fi look over at the table where the man was seated. There are a few small, striped mushrooms lying on it; Eamhair recognizes the type of mushroom and leaves them be, but Fi hasn't seen them before, so she picks them all up.

Fi decides to go over to the knowledgeable Beau, who's finishing up his study of Eamhair's map. "Do you know what this is?" she asks, holding one of the striped mushrooms up to him.

Beau looks up. "Ah yes, that's a mushroom."

Fi smirks. "Yes, smartass. What I'm asking is if you know if they're edible or not."

Beau examines the mushroom more closely. "I have it on good authority that they are poisonous and therefore not edible, unless you're into that sort of thing."

Fi looks at the mushroom with surprise. "What kind of person decides to leave poisonous mushrooms where anyone could grab them?" She then stows it away with the other mushrooms for now. The party decides to retire for the night.

----

The party reunites at dawn and starts their journey through the woods to Rondor. Beau and Elfy take the lead, chatting between themselves while the rest of the group walks behind them in silence.

"Look," Fi suddenly says, "a bear."

Not too far away from the group is an angry black bear staring back at them. Eamhair instinctively draws her bow and fires an arrow directly into the bear. The bear growls in pain and anger and begins charging toward them. Alsyon takes a step back and draws his violin, beginning a soothing melody. Beau goes for the opposite tactic as he steps in front of Elfy, and with a wave of his hand creates loud popping noises underneath a large boulder. The bear is visibly startled by the noise, but she continues her charge and takes a slash at Beau, cutting him lightly. Eamhair manages to fire another arrow into the bear before anyone else is able to react. Aaros manages to draw his bow as well, though his arrow narrowly misses the target and falls into some brush in the distance. Fi finally manages to step up next to Beau, and she cuts the bear with her sword before it is able to bite him. Elfy makes a quick retreat south, but prepares a spell along the way. He turns about suddenly and launches a magic missile at the bear, which nearly knocks the beast over backwards with the devastation of its hit. Beau takes the opportunity to move himself away from harm, leaving Fi to face the bear. The bear makes many swipes at Fi, causing serious damage with her claws, but Fi is able to avoid most of the flurry.

Alsyon looks appalled. He quickly stops playing his instrument, and both he and Vera rush up to surround the bear. "Please stop this!" Alsyon shouts to his comrades. "Put your weapons away and flee at once if you have provoked this poor creature!"

Eamhair gives a confused look, but she lowers her bow and withdraws. Aaros and Fi remain undeterred, however, and they both continue their assault. Aaros once again manages to ravage the landscape, but Fi gives a powerful swing at the bear's body, carving a deep wound that causes the animal to collapse onto the ground.

Alsyon wedges himself between Fi and the bear. "This is my bear! Leave it alone now!"

Fi looks around at the party. "Why the hell did you guys attack this bear and then leave me to fight it? Now we have an almost-dead animal suffering in front of us.. hope you're happy."

Alsyon scowls at her. "No one left you to fight it. No one ASKED you to fight it. I was standing here, closer to it than you, and asked you to STOP. You had EVERY CHANCE to walk away while I was here." He begins providing basic medical aid to the creature, wrapping bandages around the wounds.

Fi points at her wound. "Did you think that if I put my weapons down it would stop? If anything, it would either continue to attack or claw you instead. Sorry I bothered to defend anyone here and take the hits myself. Now what are we doing with the damn bear?"

Elfy walks up at this point. "I can help carry the bear, so we can keep moving forward."

Fi turns to the wizard. "And where do you intend to take the bear, if you can even lift it? It's going to be bleeding on you the whole time anyways."

Beau walks up to the arguing group, clutching his wound. "I'm fine, by the way," he mumbles, "thanks for asking."

Fi continues. "I vote we put it out of its suffering now.. and don't blame me, because I wasn't the one who decided to shoot a wild animal." She gives a look at Eamhair, who is just now rejoining them.

While Fi and Alsyon continue arguing, some of the party notices something nearby: a baby black bear caught in a bear trap, whimpering. The bear they felled was not a beast, but a mother trying to protect her child. Eamhair shows remorse and guilt on her face as she and Elfy go to help the cub.

Aaros interrupts the bickering. "Can we eat that one at least?" he bluntly says, pointing at the cub. "It won't last long without its mother."

Alsyon and Fi both pause to glare at Aaros. Elfy walks over with the cub and sets it by the mother bear, and then casts a spell. A large disc emerges underneath the creatures and lifts them into the air. Fenian excitedly hops onto the disc and curls up.

Fi crosses her arms. "Again, the bear wasn't going to stop attacking if I put my weapon down. You're delusional."

Alsyon retorts, "Remind yourself to listen to what others say on the battlefield. You do not know or see everything going on."

"So," Beau tries to interject, "anyone know any healing magic?" He looks hopefully over at Elfy, who's busy managing the floating platform. Fi rolls her eyes, and Alsyon does his best to tend to the bear as the group continues traveling.

----

The party finally arrives at the hunting village of Rondor. As they pass through, several eyes follow them; it seems as though bringing a large bear on a flying disc isn't a common sight. Beau asks around for a healer, to which he is eventually directed to a hut near the town hall. Inside, a middle-aged woman stands before them. "What can I do for you?" she asks.

"Well," Beau says, "a couple of us here seem to have gotten ourselves wounded encountering this bear earlier."

She looks over the wounds for both Beau and Fi. "It will cost you two silver pieces", she says. "I'll patch you right up."

Beau looks over at Alsyon, and then back at the woman. "Do you, uh, treat animals, too?" he asks.

"What?" she replies, surprised. "No, no, we kill 'em, not treat 'em."

Alsyon speaks up. "My bear here seems to have gotten herself wounded encountering this guy earlier. Who could treat her?"

"I thought you wanted to sell the beast", she says. "Those two could fetch quite a price around these parts."

Alsyon looks at the cub. "How much, do you say?" The woman gives a shrug, so Alsyon asks a different question instead. "As you can't give a price, can you say where they can be treated at?"

The healer thinks. "I suppose Celedor would be your best bet. Like I said, we put our pets down when they're too sick or hurt around these parts."

Fi hands over two silver pieces for her treatment. "You put them down after you see no more fit for the creature? Very disappointing." As she's being treated, she also says, "The cub isn't for sale."

Eamhair turns to Alsyon and quietly says, "I have a little bit of experience with healing, but no supplies."

Alsyon asks the healer for a supply kit, and she offers one for a price too steep for anyone willing to pay. Regardless of the lack of supplies, Eamhair begins treatment on the mother bear.

Beau tries haggling with the healer. He offers five copper for treating his wounds, insisting that they aren't as bad as they seem. She scoffs at him and offers a two-copper discount on her regular price. "No thanks", Beau replies, and he wiggles a finger and mutters words under his breath. All of his wounds fade away, like they weren't really there to begin with.

Fi looks over at Eamhair treating the bear, and then at Beau. "Do I have to remind all of you we have a blood contract to fulfill?"

Beau shrugs. "We have time. Best not rush into things unprepared."

Fi is unconvinced. "And what happens after we even heal this bear? It still doesn't like us and wants to defend the cub. You sure it won't just attack again?"

Beau shrugs again. He seems to be preoccupied with other thoughts, and he steps outside the healer's hut to look around momentarily.

Alsyon and Vera stand over Eamhair as she finishes treating the mother bear. As she's patching up the cub, she says to them, "I hope this makes up a little for my overreaction back there."

Alsyon gives an affectionate hug to the resting mother bear, who is looking remarkably better. "Yes," he says with his usual cheery smile, "thank you very much. I appreciate it."

----

The party realizes that they cannot easily stay at the inn with their newfound companions. "I can't shake the feeling that we're being watched", Beau tells the party as they set up camp at the edge of Rondor. "The healer said something about those bears being valuable, didn't she?"

Nobody else has the same feeling, but they know Beau to be a man of honesty and integrity, so they agree on having scheduled watches throughout the night, just to be on the safe side. Beau and Vera are chosen for first watch, and they stand on either side of the sleeping group.

Suddenly, both Vera and Beau feel a forced drowsy sensation consume them, and they collapse unconscious onto the ground.

----

The party wakes up at sunrise. Beau and Vera awake in alarm, and they quickly sort through their belongings. Beau instructs the group to do the same, but nobody finds anything missing, nor anything added, for that matter. Alsyon heads over to the sleeping bears and gently nudges them, but they prove to be in a deep sleep and refuse to wake up. Elfy simply summons a disc once again, so that the bears may continue resting as the party travels further north.

They faintly hear the rushing of water up ahead when the party is abruptly ambushed by five bandits. Their leader stands in the middle of the path: a tall and muscular orc barbarian brandishing a large greataxe. He yells something incoherent, even to those who understand the orcish language, and he begins frothing at the mouth.

Fi leaps ahead of the party and stands face-to-face with the barbarian. She draws her weapon and prepares for an attack. The bandit leader lunges forward and swings down the axe with incredible force, breaking Fi's guard and nearly cutting her in half. Other bandits move in for the finishing blow as Fi begins bleeding out and going pale, but she is still remarkably agile and can avoid their swords. Eamhair launches an arrow at their leader, and it grazes his arm but does relatively little. Elfy summons a large boulder of fire above one of the bandits trying to flank Fi, and the bandit jumps out of the way to avoid it.

Alsyon provides menacing and terrifying ambiance with his violin as Beau begins telling a tale of courage and bravery in hopes of preventing the party's resolve from diminishing. Fi uses these audible distractions to quickly escape from the crowd of bandits and retreat to the brush just south of the party.

A bandit rushes up to Alsyon and interrupts his performance by cutting the musician with his blade. The bandit leader takes a few steps forward and raises his greataxe above his head. With remarkable strength he throws the axe directly toward Beau, and it lands right between his legs. Beau stumbles on the words of his tale out of shock, but he remains unhurt.

Without warning, a blur rushes in from the north and drives a sword into the bandit leader's side. The party and bandits alike gaze upon Sieghart, his eyes burning bright and the anger on his face rivaling the raging barbarian's. Vera takes the distraction as a moment to strike, and she hoists her spear over her shoulder and throws it toward the bandit leader, piercing his leg.

Three of the bandits surround Sieghart, swinging wildly at him, and Sieghart blocks and returns their strikes with expert swordsmanship. Eamhair fires an arrow at a distant bandit charging straight toward Elfy. She misses, unfortunately for the elf, who gets struck by the bandit's blade and begins bleeding. Sieghart gets struck from behind by one of the bandits, and he returns the favor by cutting through the man's stomach, causing the bandit to collapse onto the ground.

Beau takes the opportunity to slip behind Elfy and head down to Fi, muttering some words along the way. He then offers a high-five to the half-elf, and as soon as their hands strike, Fi's savage wound closes up significantly, and color returns to her face. In turn, Fi moves forward to defend Alsyon from his aggressor, striking the bandit hard from the side.

Elfy retaliates against his opponent by lifting the massive flaming sphere he summoned and dropping it on top of the bandit. As the bandit roasts under the weight of the burning ball, Elfy also sends a strong current of electricity through the ground, forcing his victim's heart to arrest as the rest of his body burns away.

The bandit leader pulls out a smaller axe and swings it viciously into Sieghart's shoulder. Sieghart ignores the wound and strikes back, cutting through the orc's chest and spilling a decent amount of blood. The barbarian staggers back from the wound, and Eamhair takes the opportunity to shoot him. The arrow launches through the crowd and, with pinpoint accuracy, enters one ear of the bandit leader and exits on the other side of the head. With blood spilled everywhere, he hits the ground with no effort to brace the fall. Sieghart frowns from not getting the last hit himself, but he quickly turns his attention to the two bandits still attacking him.

As the tide of battle shifts toward the party's favor, the sleeping bears are awakened in distress, and they begin to flee from the battle. Alsyon quickly runs after the bears, and Vera switches to defensive stances, entrusting others to finish off the remaining bandits. Sieghart cuts down one of the two bandits he's facing, while Beau and Elfy turn to face Fi's enemy. Beau pulls out his whip and grabs the man's leg, and with a yank causes the bandit to fall on his back. Elfy lifts his flaming sphere and drives it onto the man while he's down. As the bandit's skin blackens and cracks under the heat, Fi raises her sword and mercifully slits his throat.

The last remaining bandit staggers backwards, and then turns around and attempts an escape. Eamhair launches an arrow that he manages to avoid, but Sieghart is unwilling to let him get away so easily. He effortlessly catches up to the bandit and thrusts his sword directly through the chest of the coward. He then returns to the other bandits he felled and ends their lives. When he gets to the leader, he sticks the sword into the chest of the orc and twists it, causing severe pain to the already-crippled barbarian.

"Keep one alive", Beau mutters, but his words fall on deaf ears.

Alsyon wanders back to the group, an arm affectionately wrapped around the mother bear, speaking soothing words to his two bear companions.

The party quickly sorts through the equipment of the bandits. Beau carries all of the swords and axes, and Vera acquires the chainmail armor and all crossbows, save for one taken by Elfy.

Sieghart wastes no time and calmly gets Beau's attention. "Let's keep moving."

Beau nods in agreement, but Fi has to ask how Sieghart got here. "Did the witch let you go?"

"Celedor was raided", Sieghart responds. "Ella was kidnapped." His expression changes to anger once again as he looks over the mess he's just made.

"I'm going to paint the ground with their blood."

-- End of Generia, Session 05 --

* This is Roy's work. Posted with permission. *

Session 6: The Climb by Roy

A violet aura engulfs Sieghart as the party witnesses his wounds close on their own. Beau lifts the body of the dead orc onto his back and carries him as the party heads toward the river. Upon arriving, they see guards stationed at the bridge, with a garrison camped on the other side.

"What are you doing?" The guard asks Beau, seeing the dead body on his back.

"Properly disposing the body of an orc bandit that attacked us earlier", Beau replies.

The guard raises an eyebrow. "By throwing it in the river?"

Beau nods. "It's the only respectful thing to do. Birds would likely pick apart the corpse otherwise, and we have no tools for burial."

The guard shakes his head. "I can't let you do that. People downstream drink from this river, you know."

Beau thinks for a moment. "Could you properly bury this man for us, then?"

The guard glances at another guard and considers the request. "I suppose we can do that", he finally responds. "It seems we've been having plenty of problems with bandits lately."

"Thank you kindly", Beau replies, setting the body down. "I appreciate your compassion."

The guard looks at the party. "There's a one-gold toll per person to cross this bridge", he remarks.

They all look back in surprise, and an expression of unwillingness to pay forms across most of their faces. Beau responds, "One gold piece per person? Why such an outrageous price?"

The guard shrugs. "Like I said, we've had many problems with bandits. Maintaining this crossing isn't cheap, so you'll have to pay to use it... If you want to try your luck, you can try swimming across, but don't expect us to fish you out."

Alsyon whispers to Beau, "Do we even need to cross this bridge?"

Beau asks the guard, "Do we need to cross the bridge to reach Rock Falls, or can we get to it from here?"

The guard laughs. "You can reach it from either side of the river", he says. "It's a waterfall, after all."

"Right," Beau agrees, "but which side is the better view of the falls?"

The guard shrugs again.

Beau turns to the party. "I suppose we'll look at it from this side before considering paying the toll." He faces the guard once more and says, "Thanks for the information, officer."

----

The party travels west along the river until they make it to the waterfall. Before them is a hundred-foot cliff, and there is no visible path to climb it nearby. Beau asks the party, "Who's the best climber?"

Aaros responds, "I believe I am."

Fi scoffs at the remark and merely says, "We'll have to see, won't we?"

Sieghart, Vera, Aaros, and Fi all rush to the cliff and make attempts at climbing it. Sieghart gets the farthest, about halfway up, before falling back down, while the others struggle to find proper footholds near the base.

Fi gives up. "Maybe we can go around the cliff?" she suggests.

Aaros folds his arms in clear disagreement with the half-elf. "I tire of running from every obstacle we encounter", he says, implying his desire to cross the bridge through means other than by paying.

Beau: "If the bandits are truly up ahead, there must be an easier way forward."

Aaros: "Let us go back and cross the bridge. Those guards cannot stop us."

Fi and Sieghart begin walking along the wall, looking for a way up, and in moments they are separated from the rest of the group. Aaros leans against the cliff and closes his eyes, while the rest of the party sits in quiet thought. Beau waits for Fi and Sieghart to return, which they eventually do from the top of the cliff, peering down at them. Alsyon and Vera immediately travel along the cliff to find where they may have climbed up.

Beau yells up to them, "How'd you get up there?" Neither Sieghart nor Fi respond, however. The party sees a falcon on Sieghart's arm, and after a while it takes off and flies out of sight.

Alsyon and Vera don't spot an easy path up, but they find a few staggered ledges. Vera uses a grappling hook to get to the first ledge, and leaves the rope down for Alsyon to climb. As soon as Alsyon makes it up to the ledge, however, they pull up the rope, not intending to help the others climb up with them. They continue this process from ledge to ledge until they make it to the top of the cliff.

Alsyon walks up to Sieghart, and they discuss how Sieghart managed to climb the cliff. The bears below circle around anxiously, occasionally looking up at Alsyon.

Alsyon says to Sieghart, "We don't have that capability. Please use it to bring everyone else up, so we can be on our way."

"We can't leave yet," Sieghart replies. "Besides, I'm interested to see how they manage."

"Ah, alright", Alsyon says. "Then when you are ready to leave, be sure to bring the rest up here, assuming they cannot do it on their own. Especially the bears: they will prove most useful."

Sieghart mutters to himself, "Ella would disapprove of taking them up the cliff. Only danger lies ahead for them."

Alsyon says, "Well, you are free to do what you want. However, I will not leave the bears here to be slaughtered by the bandit infestations we've already seen firsthand. I'm sure Ella would rather them be near those who can protect them; especially when they are so desperate to be protected."

Back down below the cliff, Elfy decides it might be a good opportunity to prepare his spells. He reaches into his bag and pulls out a backpack, and then reaches into the backpack to pull out a bedroll. He then tries to find a comfortable place to sleep.

Beau looks up with a frown at the four uncooperative party members standing at the top of the cliff. He then decides to do what he does best and heads back to the bridge alone. He is greeted by the same guard, who says, "Good afternoon; back already?"

"Yes," Beau replies, "I was admiring the view of the falls, but I want a better vantage point. Do you perhaps have any climbing equipment I could either borrow or buy?"

The guard points across the bridge. "The garrison may have some equipment. Of course, you'd have to pay the toll to cross this bridge if you want to head over there to talk to them."

Beau smiles and reasons, "Well, I'm not 'crossing' in the sense of traveling through, now, am I? I'm merely going to ask them a question and return to this side of the bridge when I'm done. Does that seem fair?"

The guard considers the idea and ultimately sympathizes with the traveler. "No harm in that", he decides. "Go on."

Beau heads over to the garrison, where he sees three guards sitting around a table. "Excuse me," he says to them, "I hate to interrupt you, but do any of you have climbing equipment I could either borrow or purchase? I really want to get higher up on Rock Falls."

The guards look at each other, and then one of them hollers for someone in an adjacent room. A man with ruffled hair stumbles out and looks inquisitively at the guard, who says, "There's a fellow here interested in climbing equipment."

The man turns to Beau. "I believe I can help you with that. Looking to climb the cliff?"

Beau nods. "Yes sir, that I am."

The man continues. "Well, unfortunately I only have the one set of climbing gear, so you'll have to make it worth my while. I'll give you my grappling hook at the cost of two gold pieces."

"Two gold pieces?" Beau repeats. "Well, it seems like you're being fair, considering your circumstances, but you must consider that I just crossed a bridge that has a 1 gold toll just to come talk to you. How about we call it 1 gold piece and 2 silver pieces instead?"

The man thinks about it. "You have a point, but you shouldn't expect me to carry the bulk of the crossing toll. Let's put it at 1 gold, 5 silver, and 2 copper, then."

Beau replies, "Very well, as it's your only set, I'll accept that price." Beau makes the trade and thanks the garrison. He heads across the bridge, smiling and nodding at the guards as he crosses.

Beau shortly returns to the rest of the party, who has made no progress in climbing since he left. He holds up the grappling hook and announces with glee, "Check it out, guys: I got a grappling hook from the guards back at the bridge!"

Beau fastens the hook onto the first ledge and helps the rest of the party climb up, and repeats the process until they all make it to the top of the cliff. Beau then turns to Fi, Sieghart, Alsyon, and Vera and says, "Any of you mind telling us why we aren't working as a team?"

Sieghart replies, "I was evaluating your ability to work as a team." The look on his face showed his disingenuity.

Beau retorts, "I don't really care what you were doing, but if you care to bother evaluating teamwork, start with yourself."

Fi crosses her arms defensively. "You guys climbed it just fine, didn't you?"

The bears below cry out to Alsyon for attention. Sieghart suddenly rips open a hole in the air, and in moments he pulls the bears through, reuniting them with the party.

Alsyon takes this opportunity to defend himself. He says to Beau, "As you can see, I had a reason for cooperating with Sieghart, and he did have a plan." He then turns to Sieghart and says, "Thank you for the assistance; we appreciate it."

Sieghart shrugs. "We have to wait anyway, Canelé isn't back yet."

Beau holds up the grappling hook he recently purchased. "So, your little experiment was a needless expense of 1 gold, 5 silver, and 2 copper. How would you like to make it up to the group?"

Alsyon reasons, "To be fair, that grappling hook will likely come in handy in the future. It's best to find out you need it now, than when it really matters."

Beau counters, "And to be equally fair, this grappling hook will be used to help all of us, not just myself."

Alsyon gives up on defending Sieghart and goes over to hug his bears. Sieghart shrugs again and says, "I could have always let those bandits back there kill you."

Beau replies, "And I could stop going on this journey to recover a book to relieve you of the consequence of the blood contract. But neither of us would rather inconvenience the other, would we?" Eamhair walks up to Beau and offers a gold coin, which Beau refuses. "You're not at fault here, Eamhair. Don't pay for the actions of others."

"Well, yes," she says, "but, if you hadn't bought the equipment, I'd still be at the bottom of the cliff twiddling my thumbs..."

Alsyon looks up mid-hug with one of the bears and replies, "No, Sieghart would have brought you up, now that we're done waiting."

Eamhair laughs nervously. "Oh, would he...? He seemed to be in such a hurry earlier."

Sieghart looks around at the party and finally replies to Beau, "You're the only one inconvenienced."

Beau admires the falls, not really paying attention to the conversation anymore. "It is a nice view up here, though", he says absent-mindedly.

Fi sits down and waits, and Eamhair puts her coin purse away. After a while, the falcon returns and lands on Sieghart's arm once again. The bird squawks and makes gestures, to which Sieghart nods. "There are bandits about a mile west", he informs to the party.

"Keep one alive," Beau says as they prepare to take off, "and interrogate him for knowledge."

----

The party approaches the bandits, sneaking along the upper cliff. Sieghart, Alsyon, Fi, and Beau are at the front, with Elfy far back tending to the bears. When the group reaches the edge of the cliff, however, they are spotted immediately by the six men and orc down below. Everyone draws their ranged weapons, but the fastest one to react is Alsyon, who pulls out his violin and starts a song off with a sharp tone that startles the closest bandit. A less-amused bandit doesn't care for the musician's melody and fires his crossbow, piercing through his chest. The color drains from Alsyon's face and he begins to fall backward; Vera catches him and drags him away from the cliff as another bolt flies by and drills into Sieghart's waist. Sieghart's eyes ignite, and the air around him writhes.

Fi draws her swords and remains at the edge of the cliff. "Hiding behind us? Really?" she says to Vera and Alsyon. "You guys are the worst."

Vera safely lays Alsyon down away from the edge. Alsyon calmly manages to reply, "I believe we would be worse if we were dead." Down below, the closest bandit is still visibly shaken from Alsyon's musical number, and he quickly relocates him to the back of the group.

"Could have fooled me", Fi retorts, knocking away a bolt fired from down below with her blade.

"Don't worry," Elfy interjects from the back, "I'm defending the high ground in case they try to flank us."

Eamhair stands behind Beau and clears her throat, and Beau quickly ducks underneath her drawn bow as she fires an arrow into the thigh of a bandit down below. The bandit retaliates with his crossbow, but hits Beau instead. This in turn makes Beau draw his weapon and fire an arrow back at the bandit, piercing his leg. Elfy begins crawling forward to the edge of the cliff, loading his heavy crossbow along the way.

A bolt launches directly toward Sieghart's head, but before it makes contact, he completely vanishes, and the bolt whizzes through the air aimlessly. The bandits all start reloading their crossbows, but the orc throws a grappling hook up onto the cliff about fifty feet away from the party, and he begins climbing it rapidly.

Eamhair spots the orc and carefully aims her bow at him. She draws an arrow, but just before releasing, moves her aim upward just a bit. The arrow perfectly severs the orc's grapple line, and with a yell he falls back down to the bottom of the cliff, landing hard on his back. Fi and Beau stare at the dangling bit of rope still attached to the cliff, amazed at the precision of Eamhair's shot: this is the half-elf that won the archery competition back at Nordale, they remember.

Beau then turns his attention to a grim-looking Alsyon. The musician is offered a high-five, which he gratefully reciprocates. The wound on Alsyon's chest closes rapidly after the exchange, and he begins looking much more like his usual cheerful self. Still laying on the ground, Alsyon squints toward the sky, as there appears to be something descending with great velocity.

The orc isn't giving up: he begins climbing the cliff again, this time using only his hands and feet to lift himself. The other bandits fire their crossbows once more. Fi deflects most of the volley, but one of the bolts grazes Eamhair, who is busy focusing on the climbing orc. She shrugs off the cut and shoots at the cliff once more, this time aiming for the orc, who has managed to climb most of the way up in such a short time. The arrow cuts through him and he pauses his ascent, but he does not lose the grip he has on the wall.

Beau steps up next to Fi and pulls out his bow. "Watch me knock this guy off the cliff", he smoothly says to her. He draws an arrow and fires at the orc. Miraculously, the arrow pierces directly into the orc's left hand, causing him to lose his grip and once again fall to the base of the cliff. Beau boastfully proclaims, "Are you not entertained?"

Fi smirks and gives him a nod. Elfy reaches the edge and drops his staff down to the ground below. With a mutter of a few words, he moves the staff telekinetically and bashes the nearest bandit. Another bandit below fires a bolt at Beau, but Fi deflects it with ease.

A blur races down from the sky like a meteor and crashes into the bandits. The party looks down to see Sieghart splitting one of the bandits into two halves from the momentum of his descent. All of the other bandits, save the orc who is quite a bit of distance away, fall over from the shockwave of Sieghart's landing. One of them, the same bandit Alsyon scared earlier, lets out a shriek and scrambles away, running as fast as he can. The others get back on their feet as well, discarding their crossbows and drawing short swords. Though visibly shaken, the four of them surround Sieghart with no intent on fleeing.

The orc takes no interest in Sieghart's entrance, however. Eamhair fires an arrow, but he easily sidesteps it. He then tries to climb the cliff once more, but the wound on his hand makes him unable to get a grip. Beau lets Alsyon and Vera know that the bandits have dropped their ranged weaponry, and the two of them stand back up and peer over to see what's happening down below. Beau provides a courageous narrative for the fight happening, inspiring everyone at the top of the cliff.

Despite being outnumbered, it seems apparent that Sieghart has the upper hand, as he effortlessly dodges, blocks, and counters incoming attacks. Elfy provides support, firing his light crossbow and attacking with his animated staff. Eamhair fires at the orc again, lodging an arrow into his left arm. This causes the orc to become infuriated, and he begins foaming at the mouth. He rapidly and recklessly climbs the cliff, but halfway up, the wall breaks away and he falls down.

Beau looks at the orc with astonishment. "That guy is persistent, still trying to climb up." He begins to walk over to the cliff edge directly above the orc. The orc climbs partway up the cliff, but falls to the ground shortly thereafter. Beau hollers down in orcish, "This is just embarrassing."

A bandit lands a solid hit on Sieghart while Elfy is reloading. Sieghart acts as though the bandit had missed, however, and he counters with a violent swing that spills the bandit's blood everywhere and knocks him to the ground, motionless. Elfy's staff knocks the back of one of the bandits, interrupting his swing on Sieghart, but the other two target Sieghart's wounded side and cut through him. Sieghart's eyes glow stronger and the wounds on his body slowly begin closing up as he continues fighting. He blatantly allows a bandit to hit him, and Sieghart quickly slits the attacker's throat while the weapon is still caught in his armor. Eamhair fires at one of the bandits, and her arrow lodges directly into the man's spine, causing him to crumple over helplessly.

Beau yells down to the bandits, telling them to drop their weapons, but the bandits refuse to surrender. They continue their onslaught on Sieghart, whose injuries accumulate rapidly. Elfy turns his attention to the orc, firing his heavy crossbow. The bolt pierces the orc's leg, further impeding his ability to climb. Elfy then picks up his loaded light crossbow and does the same, piercing his chest. The orc furiously attempts to climb, getting nowhere fast.

"You know," Beau says, standing directly above the orc at this point, "I can really admire your climbing talents. You're doing so well."

Eamhair fires another arrow, again hitting a bandit by Sieghart. Sieghart takes the chance to cut through the man's chest, killing him. The final bandit takes a step back, and then fully turns around and runs away from the battle. Sieghart chases him down while Eamhair and Elfy move their attention to the orc climber. The orc climbs halfway up to Beau in a fit of rage, but his arm won't respond well enough to grip the cliff, and once more he falls onto his back.

"Should I just come down there or something?" Beau mockingly asks the orc. Eamhair lodges yet another arrow into him, and the orc struggles to stand up. Beau continues, "You can borrow my grappling hook if you ask nicely." As the orc staggers back onto his feet, Eamhair shoots again, and this fourth arrow of hers into the orc is the one to fell him.

Sieghart returns, his sword glistening with the blood of the bandit he had been chasing. Elfy quickly tries to climb down the cliff, but he slips and falls onto his head, unconscious. The others use grappling hooks to easily get down, and they begin sorting through the mess. They discover ten flawed rubies amongst the loot. With Sieghart taking no interest, the party initiates a lengthy argument over how to fairly divide ten gems between six people. With a yawn, Fenian curls up on top of Elfy and starts taking a nap.

-- End of Generia, Session 06 --

* This is Roy's work. Posted with permission. *

Session 7: The Bandit by Roy

Vera slits the throat of one of the bandits and ties up the other one for questioning. She begins wandering over to finish off the dying orc as well, but Beau tells her to wait on it. Beau stands over the tied up bandit and begins the interrogation. "Do you work for Brutis?"

"Yes, I work for Brutis", the bandit replies.

"Where's your hideout?"

The bandit weakly says, "Dunno, it moves all the time."

"Do you know its current location?"

"I don't know nothin'."

Beau looks around. The only other bandit left alive is the unconscious orc. "Would that one over there know?" he asks.

The bandit responds, "Yar, Thralk there is the leader. Only he knows where it's been moved."

Alsyon looks to the orc, and then to the bandit. "So, we don't need this guy", he says to Beau.

"W-wait!" the bandit hastily says as Vera raises her weapon once more.

"Alright," Beau says to him, "tell us something useful and I won't kill you."

"Brutis, he uhh..." the bandit hastily thinks. "He's gotta be careful, he's not been the same as he was before. I don't know; he's different or somethin'. That's all I know, promise!"

"Hmm, that is interesting..." Beau mulls it over. "I'll accept that information: I won't kill you. Of course, I can't speak for anyone else here."

Vera knocks the bandit unconscious and drags him toward Thralk. She then uses the same rope the bandit is tied to and ties up the orc as well. "Wake up the orc," she suggests, "and then we can make sure he's properly intimidated by executing this guy."

Beau crosses his arms. "We don't need to kill anyone. Let me just ask him a few questions and we can be on our way."

"You're all wasting time", Sieghart interrupts.

Fi looks over and scoffs at Sieghart. "You didn't mention an alternative. Do you have a better plan, then?"

Eamhair begins treatment on the orc immediately, and within an hour he regains consciousness. Vera takes the opportunity to ruthlessly slaughter the unconscious bandit adjacent to him, though surprisingly this doesn't seem to concern the orc.

Beau crouches down beside the orc and begins speaking orcish. The orc replies, and Beau relays the information to the group. "He says the hideout is north of here, under Talon Spire." He then continues conversation privately with the orc.

Sieghart starts to grow impatient again. "Let's move Beau; we haven't much time."

"You're right, Sieghart", Beau replies. "Seems I'm not getting too much out of this guy. He also says Brutis is acting unlike himself."

Sieghart answers with a couple orcish words. Beau replies in turn, an intrigued expression on his face.

Vera asks, "Then, are we ready to leave?"

Beau nods. "Let's get moving."

Vera replies, "If you hadn't, I would have."

Sieghart drives his sword into the orc's chest, killing him. "Dishonor in combat is to be left alive, in orcish society", he tells Beau.

"Dishonor in combat is to leave those alive who would not return the favor", Vera retorts.

Sieghart laughs at her. "What would you know of combat?"

"Honor," Beau interjects as Vera turns away, "such a foreign concept to me."

----

The party heads north through some woods, toward the tall mountain peaks. They soon reach a clearing, where there are two cloaked women seemingly waiting for them. Sieghart recognizes them and mutters, "Tch, out of time."

Fi looks over at him. "How would you know that?"

Sieghart ignores her and steps ahead of the rest of the group. "Stay back", he warns Beau and the others. "Don't come any closer."

One of the girls up ahead laughs. "Oh how the mighty have fallen." Her red eyes faintly glow and her animal ears twitch slightly as she stares at Sieghart. "Lost favor with the gods and now look at you: a pitiful shadow of your former self."

"The gods are cowards", Sieghart answers.

Beau looks back and forth between them. "Sieghart, what's going on? Who are those two?"

Sieghart steps further forward and draws his sword.

The girl draws her weapon as well: a massive claymore, equal to her in height. Despite its intimidating size, she wields it effortlessly. "Escaped from your prison, have you? We'll have to make sure you don't escape this time." She looks over at the party briefly, and then returns her attention to Sieghart. "Planning on destroying this world, too?"

Sieghart answers, "It's here, I can feel it. Everything is in danger, can't you see that?"

"And this is why you were locked away, Sieghart."

Sieghart ignores her words. "So you wish to pick a fight with a legend?" He says. "Enough talk."

Sieghart dashes forward with unbelievable speed, his eyes glowing intensely. His opponent's eyes light up as well in a shade of red. As their blades clash, the air begins to twist around them.

The other girl suddenly vanishes, only to reappear in front of the rest of the party, where they are able to see her more clearly: she wears an outfit of white, matching her eyes and hair of the same color. With a wave of her hand, she creates a translucent barrier around the group. "For your protection", she assures them.

The party watches the battle transpire. Sieghart seems unable to hit the girl, whose claymore has become completely engulfed in red flames. With remarkable finesse, she is able to outmaneuver Sieghart and strike him several times using her absurdly-sized weapon. The battle lasts but a minute, and Sieghart collapses to the ground, his eyes fading away. The girl takes her claymore and impales Sieghart through the chest, spewing its flames over the entire surface of his body. The blazes settles shortly afterward, revealing a pile of ash where Sieghart's body once was.

The girl in white releases the barrier and moves back to join her friend. Together, they disappear, leaving the party in awe and confusion. The battlefield shows visible signs of distortion in the air; Elfy and Fi step forward to investigate it more closely, while the rest of the party remains behind. Elfy moves a hand through the distortion to test it, and his hand shimmers as though it were submerged in water. "So," he says, "what do we do?"

Beau collects his thoughts, looking at the remains of the party's most competent fighter. "Sieghart was the only reason we had for completing the contract."

Elfy responds, "The witch might have known what he was and what he was doing here." He makes his way over to the ashes and scoops them into a cup.

The party is suddenly approached by a group of half-elf bandits from the north. They are led by a handsome man with blond hair, who matches the description of the bandit leader the party has been tracking down. With one hand, he drags Ella, who has been visibly tortured: she's missing fingernails, and lashing marks are visible through her torn and ragged clothing.

Brutis addresses the party. "A pity what happened to your man there. He did seem like the strongest of you... So I suppose you're here for this wench?" He throws Ella to the ground, stomps on her face, and then kicks her over to her side. You've killed quite a few of my fighters", he continues. "I'm going to have to teach you not to mess with me. It won't be a fast death for any of you: it will be slow and painful."

Brutis begins approaching Fi and Elfy, while four bandits rush the remaining members of the party. Elfy and Fenian both vanish immediately, having no desire to fight the bandit leader directly. The remaining two bandits stand guard by Ella, keeping an eye out for the wizard.

Beau quickly draws his bow and fires a shot at a bandit, but the bandit dodges the projectile with ease. Alsyon, standing behind Beau and Eamhair, pulls out his violin and plays a slow melody. One of the bandits suddenly falls asleep where he stands, falling victim to Alsyon's song. Eamhair takes a shot at this point, but the bandits again manage to evade the ranged attack. One of the bandits runs up to Beau and pulls out his weapon, and Beau instinctively takes a step back, drawing his whip. With a quick lash, he attempts to remove the sword from the bandit's hand, but fails.

Alsyon warns the bandit, "You know this battle cannot be won, you have already seen your comrades fall! Quickly, flee while you can, so your life will not be lost here!"

The bandit expresses alarm from these words, and he immediately changes his aggression to a tactical retreat.

Fi draws her sword and gets in a defensive pose as Brutis approaches and unsheathes a rapier. With a mighty swing of his arm, Brutis breaks Fi's guard without effort and lodges his weapon deep into her chest. Heavily wounded, she immediately withdraws to rejoin her party, but as she nears them, Brutis charges her down and pierces his rapier into her back. Fi manages to limp behind the party, where Beau is distracting Brutis with his whip and Alsyon is putting the remaining nearby bandits into a deep slumber. Vera quickly grabs the focused Alsyon and moves him behind her and away from Brutis, who approaches Beau. Towering over the young man, he raises his rapier...

----

Fi checks her wounds, only to find them to be missing. Eamhair blinks and rubs her eyes, and then looks at the rest of the party, who seem equally confused. Beau steps out of the way of a passing villager, and Vera releases her grip on Alsyon. They are standing in the middle of Celedor, with no sign of the bandits anywhere. Before them is a small black cat, whose eyes glow a familiar shade of purple.

Fi walks up to pet the cat. "Now what's the explanation for this?"

"Where is the witch?" Eamhair asks, looking around. "Anyone see her?"

The cat speaks in a voice the party recognizes. "Sorry, it took some time to activate. Runa may be strong, but she isn't terribly bright." Sieghart trots over to Alsyon and leaps onto his shoulder. "She won't ah... Notice."

Elfy starts petting Sieghart's adorable new form as Alsyon asks, "So, what happened exactly?"

"World line shift", Sieghart blurts abruptly, as though that is all he needed to say for them to understand. "Needed more time, so I made some."

Fi looks incredulously at Elfy, and then Sieghart. "Does anyone know what's going on, or are we accepting that one of our teammates is now a cat?" She crosses her arms and says to Sieghart, "Where did you get the power to do that?"

Elfy stops his petting and looks for his cup of Sieghart's ashes. "Obviously, he's in tune with the various planes that exist", he mutters as he inspects the empty cup.

"Unfortunately, I can only do this once", Sieghart admits. "I'm afraid I've lost all of my powers. You will have to take up the quest in my stead."

"Well," Fi starts, "even if you lost all your powers... at least you're in a manageable form."

"Runa and Clayr won't be able to find me like this", Sieghart explains. "They found me faster than expected."

Alsyon thinks for a moment. "So do we still need to save the witch?"

Sieghart wags his tail lazily. "Perhaps it would be best if you go and look at her hut."

-- End of Generia, Session 07 --

* This is Roy's work. Posted with permission. *

Session 8: The Troll by Roy

Sieghart leaps down from Alsyon's shoulder and snags Aaros' coin purse. He runs over to Eamhair and drops it by her feet. "I believe this is yours."

"Is that... the gold I won in the archery competition?" Eamhair looks surprised and mildly upset. "He had it all along?"

Sieghart doesn't reply, and instead jumps back onto Alsyon, tucking himself inside the musician's backpack and out of sight.

The party splits off to sell and reorganize their equipment before departing for the witches hut. Along the way, they are stopped by two familiar girls, the ones Sieghart referred to as Runa and Clayr. The girl with animal ears points at Beau and asks, "Where is that man you were with earlier?"

Beau looks around at his party, and then back at her. "Aaros is lagging behind. What do you want with him?"

The girl tilts her head slightly. "Who? No, he goes by the name of Sieghart."

Alsyon speaks up. "Wait, just so we're clear... you're talking about the guy you killed earlier?"

She sighs, seemingly growing impatient. "Killed is a rather primitive term. But yes, we're looking for the man I 'killed', as you put it."

"I don't understand why you'd be looking for a dead man," Beau reasons, "unless he had some sort of item you're looking for?"

"Dead?" The girl laughs. "He's nearby. Have you seen him?"

Beau answers, "I have not seen the man's body since you burnt it to ash. It's a damn shame, too, because he was the only decent fighter in our group."

Her ears perk up a bit. "Oh good, you're familiar with him", she says. "I'm not talking about his body. He has a new one, of course." She looks at Beau's confused expression and attempts to clarify, "I never killed him nor burned his body. It never happened."

Elfy steps forward at this point. "Wait, he has a new body?" He looks over the two girls carefully. "So does that mean you two have new bodies?" He abruptly forgets his question and thinks of a new one. "What do you mean it never happened?" He looks as though he wants to ask a dozen questions all at the same time, and doesn't know where to start. "I mean. You said Sieghart had a new body. What does it look like?"

The girl shakes her head at the wizard. "We don't know."

Alsyon wagers, "If you don't know what he looks like, then he could be anyone. How do we know he isn't one of you?"

"You're testing my patience", the girl says, gritting her teeth. "I guess we'll have to turn to alternative means of persuasion."

The party becomes concerned at this point, excepting Elfy, who excitedly asks, "Alternative means of persuasion? Is that a type of spell?" As she begins to reply, he interrupts her. "Where can I learn it?"

She glares at the elf. "We have no need of your petty magic", she remarks condescendingly.

"But," Elfy goes on, "what was that force field from earlier?" He turns to the girl in white. "What kind of spell was that? That was like, really cool!"

Alsyon crosses his arms. "I'm just wondering how you would expect us to recognize him if even you don't know what he looks like." He gestures around him and says, "All the members of our party are right here. If he's not here, then we obviously haven't seen him. I'm still rather sure you turned him to ash, making this entire conversation pointless."

"Perhaps", the girl replies.

Beau scratches his head. "Wait, I thought you said you didn't turn anyone to ash..."

She rolls her eyes and taps one foot impatiently. "We did, and yet we didn't. Try to understand, human."

Elfy quickly turns back after hearing mention of turning bodies to ash. He asks her with excitement, "What kind of spell is that one?"

The girl looks at her companion and declares, "I tire of these mortals. Sieghart isn't here."

The two of them vanish in thin air, and a short while after they are gone, Sieghart pokes his head out of Alsyon's bag. "Runa is persistent, but not terribly bright", he reminds the party. He then looks over at the wizard and says, "Clever strategy elf, testing their patience. They lack the patience to deal with creatures they deem inferior."

Elfy stares back with a blank expression on his face. "Strategy?"

Eamhair bursts out into a nervous laugh. Sieghart looks inquisitively at the group and remarks, "And the rest of you let him cast spells?"

Elfy defensively argues, "I can summon a mean horse!"

Eamhair nods. "It's true. I can attest to that."

"It got you arrested", Sieghart counters.

"But I summoned it", the wizard says with pride. He walks over and pokes Sieghart's nose for good measure.

Sieghart looks to the party leader. "Perhaps we should get this one a muzzle, Beau."

Beau shakes his head. "Elfy's not good with words," he explains, "but the words that come out of his mouth tend to be convenient half the time."

Sieghart replies, "And the other half?"

Beau shrugs. "You should know by now."

"It'll be alright", Eamhair reasons, patting Elfy on the head. "He's competent at what he does, and the rest we can help him figure out as we go along. Right?"

Sieghart sighs. "I'm surrounded by idiots. Oh well, off to save the world, or something like that." he slowly retreats back inside Alsyon's bag. "Wake me up when there's fish." Before he is able to completely conceal himself inside the bag, however, the world around the party vanishes and reconstructs. Sieghart quickly ducks all the way inside Alsyon's bag and shouts, "Great, elf, look what you did. This is how Runa repays people who waste her time."

The party find themselves in a sunken room, with the only exit being a ladder situated across from them. Standing between them and the ladder is a large troll, who is furiously glaring back at them. Elfy helpfully points out, "Hey guys, he looks hostile towards us."

Alsyon's bag sarcastically replies, "Why don't you go poke him with a stick and see if that helps."

Beau chants a spell at the troll, but it only seems to make it more angry. Elfy, though standing in the back, summons mage armor onto himself and unsheaths his sword. Eamhair pulls out her bow, but she decides to show restraint and stands in a defensive pose as the troll moves forward. It takes a swing at Eamhair, but she is ready for it and evades the attack with grace. Alsyon grabs his trusty violin and begins playing an eerie tune, while Vera drags him around the troll and toward the exit.

Beau contemplates using his whip against the beast, but reconsiders the situation and instead makes a run for the ladder. He turns back after climbing it and shouts, "Get the fuck out of there!"

Elfy casts a shield for himself and steps in front of Eamhair. "Just go", he tells her, and she takes the opportunity to make it to the exit. The troll, on the other hand, decides to run into one of the corners, no longer interested in fighting, and the rest of the party quickly make their way to the exit. The world fades away and reconstructs back to where they were earlier, a short distance from the witch's hut.

Beau wastes no time and leads the party to the front door of the witch's hut, where he knocks lightly on the door.

The door opens a tiny crack and an old lady's voice answers. "Hello? Who are you? What do you want?"

Beau recites from memory, "We're a traveling group investigating the recent village raids"

"No village in here", the voice replies. "You want to go that-a-way." The witch presumably gestures behind the door, but the party cannot see it.

Beau frowns at the fact the conversation has gone differently than he expected. "We're trying to catch bandits."

"Banjos? I don't have any banjos. Damn door-to-door salesmen."

Beau grins and says, "No, bandages. Do you have any?"

The voice repeats, slightly intrigued, "Bandages?"

Beau finally asks, "Could we possibly come in and talk?"

"Okay", the old voice replies. The door opens to reveal a young girl, to nobody's surprise. "Just kidding", she says as she sticks out her tongue at them.

Beau humors her and says, "I was convinced you were an old lady."

Ella looks back at him. "Of course not, silly. Why would you think that?"

Beau shrugs. "Must have been the door..."

Ella puts her hands on her hips defensively. "What's wrong with the door?"

"Never mind that for now." Beau answers. "The folks in Celedor seem to be under the impression that you may know more about the bandits raiding nearby villages."

"Hmmmmmm... Ah yes, led by a man named Brutis, I think." She suddenly gasps. "Wait! wait, wait, wait, wait." She goes to her oven and removes a batch of cookies. "Have a cookie", she insists to the party. "They're tasty!"

Beau answers as he did last time. "Thank you. I would love a cookie." As he and the others take a cookie from the tray, he continues. "So, would you happen to know anything about the whereabouts of Brutis?"

Ella nods. "Yeah, he's holed up in a mountain in some cave. It's um... It's over... It's where that pointy cracked mountain thingy is."

"Rock Falls?" Beau suggests.

Ella thinks. "Mmmm... No."

Beau follows up with, "Perhaps the spire, then? Talon Spire?"

"Yeah! That's the one", Ella cheerily replies.

Beau asks, "Have you considered giving this information to the authorities? I understand they're unwilling to do patrols, but surely if they knew the location of the bandits they'd do something about it."

Elfy looks equally as inquisitive at his cookie as Ella looks at Beau. She responds, "Authorities? No. Who are these authorities?"

Beau answers, "The kingdom's law enforcement, of course. Who else?"

Ella sits on her counter and leans back. "Ah, the king. Now he's old! Hmm... They don't trust me." Elfy breaks his cookie in half and begins feeding it to Fenian, to which Ella exclaims in alarm, "You can't give him your cookies! What if they had chocolate in them?!" She pauses a moment and puts a finger to her chin, thinking. "I can't remember if I put chocolate in them. It's all a blur." Her face lights up suddenly. "I know! We'll have to make them again from scratch."

Elfy remembers to dutifully inspect the room for magic, and soon starts spazzing and observing everything that glows to him. "There's magic everywhere!" He shouts. He points to a nearby vase and declares, "That one's purple!"

Ella crosses her arms. "Don't do that." She says. She then looks over at the vase and exclaims with importance, "It's not purple!"

Fenian decides to do the same magical check, and the cat begins freaking out as well, pawing several nearby objects.

"Kitty no!" Ella says, though Fenian ignores her and rushes over to a plant and starts meowing. Ella turns to Beau. "Mister bandit dude, they're being rude."

Elfy defensively reasons, "But you're super powerful!"

Ella replies, "Mmm, no, you're just weak."

Beau turns to the wizard. "Elfy, take Fenian and wait outside."

Ella gives a small wave and says, "Bye-bye!"

Elfy looks down and murmurs, "Oh, okay..."

After they leave, Beau asks Ella, "How did you acquire this knowledge on the bandits, if you don't mind my asking?"

Ella sidesteps the question condescendingly. "Hmmmmm... Well, you see these people have these things called eyes, right? And you can like, look at stuff? And you can sometimes see things."

"So you were there, then?" Beau concludes. "At the bandit's hideout?"

"No, I never said they were my eyes" Ella explains. "It was Canelé. I mean, Brutis is strong and kinda powerful, but he's not very smart. Kinda like your elf friend."

"Canelé... that sounds like a great name for a hawk", Beau muses.

"A hawk! Yeah, it is a good name for a hawk", Ella agrees. She then suddenly says, "Pastries! You want to make some?"

Beau declines, saying, "Well, while your offer is tempting, I'm afraid I am no good in the kitchen. Besides, I believe our priorities lie with dealing with the bandits first."

"Hmm, true true", Ella agrees again. "Hmmm... I'll make you some if you bring me back my book. Brutis took it. I'd like it back."

Beau raises an eyebrow. "What would a bandit like him want with your book? To sell it?"

"Well it's only the best book ever! Kinda important, kinda need it", Ella answers. "No, it's not that useful to him. Very important book. Must have."

Elfy asks through the door, "Is it your spell book?"

Ella hollers back, "You don't know much about witches, do you?"

Eamhair interrupts. "This cookie is very delicious."

"Of course it's delicious", Ella explains. "That's the flavor! You start with a bunch of sugar, and then a pinch of this, a pinch of that, and you're done!"

Beau looks at his party and says, "Alright, we will try and see if we can recover your book. Unfortunately we're not a group of fighters, so taking on a team of bandits seems out of the question."

Ella thinks. "Well..."

"Right, so... wait," Beau says with suspicion, "is this a recipe book you want us to retrieve?"

Ella grins. "Recipe book? Mmm.... a special one!"

Beau folds his arms, somewhat disappointed that the witch doesn't seem to understand the dangers involved. "Why is it, do you think, that Celedor is the only village nearby that hasn't been raided by bandits?"

"Oh, that's an easy one, silly! Because I'm here", Ella answers matter-of-factly. "You're obviously not a very good investigator."

Beau continues. "Do you honestly think a man like Brutis, a man who stole a precious belonging of yours, is avoiding Celedor for that reason?"

"Oh?" Ella waves her hand to cast a spell. "Mister, I think it's time for you to take a nap."

"Perhaps that's not a bad idea", Beau agrees. He heads over to the couch and attempts to search his bag for something, but he immediately falls asleep.

Ella turns to the rest of the group. "Now that that's out of the way. He asks too many stupid questions. So, you're time travelers, aren't you?"

Eamhair fidgets, but Alsyon replies, "That's correct."

Ella gasps. "What are the cookies like in the future? Are they still tasty? Are they even more tasty?! I wonder."

Elfy says through the door, "They're magical."

Ella replies, "Magical? I never thought of that before. I suppose..." Alsyon pulls out four cookies, to which Ella exclaims, "Cookies! Do you want to make some?" She nibbles one of them and confirms, "Yup, good cookie. Not as good as the ones I make, though. A bit stale. Cookies are best eaten fresh."

Eamhair laughs nervously. "Actually..."

Alsyon begins explaining the situation. "We were unsure how to inform you that we came from the future, but since you already know, that's a large burden off of us. The truth is that we came here to protect you. The city will be raided, you kidnapped, and then Brutis tortures and kills you right in front of us. Luckily our friend was able to send us back to warn you, so we can intercept the raiding party when they arrive. We can stay and bake with you in the meantime, of course."

Ella replies, "Hmm... Interesting. Hmm. Changing the past... Not supposed to do that, mister. But Brutis coming here, that's interesting."

Eamhair speaks up. "Um... I hope I'm not being too forward when I say this... But you were hurt. really badly. I'd rather not have to see you like that again."

Alsyon reassuringly says, "I hope this isn't too shocking. We'll ensure the same events do not repeat themselves."

"Well then," Ella answers, "I guess we'll just have to make some cookies."

Eamhair shrugs. "Baking sounds good to me."

Alsyon suddenly remembers something important. "Although, in the future, we also found a bear cub with its leg caught in a trap nearby. I'm going to go with my companion to free it, and then return with them. I hope you don't have any problems with bears."

Ella thinks. "Hmm. You should probably take rude man with you. I'm sorry, but your friend" – she glaces over at Beau – "is going to be sleeping for a short while longer. I think I overdid it."

Alsyon replies, "After what we've been through, I'm sure he could use the rest."

"That spell was incredibly powerful", Elfy compliments through the door.

Ella replies, "Mmmm... Nope, he's just weak-minded. Doesn't work on elves though, unfortunately. Of course, you already knew that..."

Eamhair fidgets again. "Do I ever", she mutters to herself.

-- End of Generia, Session 08 --

* This is Roy's work. Posted with permission. *

Session 9: The Bare by Roy

Alsyon, Vera, and Elfy stand outside the hut, getting ready to head out to Celedor. Inside, Beau wakes up from his slumber, and immediately resumes tending to his bag. "Right," he says to Eamhair, "so where were we?"

Eamhair replies, "Alsyon and Elfy are about to leave. Better hurry if you want to catch up with them."

Beau asks, "Leave? Where to?"

Eamhair answers, "Alsyon wants to go get his bears, I believe."

Beau thinks about what day it should be. "... How long was I sleeping?"

Eamhair looks back and forth between Beau and Ella, who is waiting to start baking cookies. "Uhhh. Alsyon will fill you in!"

Beau heads outside and asks, "What are you three up to?"

Alsyon happily responds, "We're about to go get the bears. Did you want to come?"

Beau raises an eyebrow. "Are you spending the night at Celedor and departing in the morning, like last time?"

Alsyon thinks about it. "I suppose we could, to ensure we don't waste a trip before they're there."

"I'll go with you", Beau decides. "Those bears can be useful to have, and it would be a shame to have the cub die from that trap."

"Don't worry guys," Elfy assures, "I'll pack my disc!"

The party heads to Celedor in the late afternoon. Beau and Elfy head into the inn, splitting away from Alsyon and Vera. Beau expectedly approaches the innkeeper with a familiar greeting, but it soon becomes clear that the man doesn't recognize him.

Beau asks, "What day is it, again?"

The innkeeper quickly reminds, "Today be Tuesday."

Beau spends a bit of time trying to understand time travel, but Elfy interrupts his thoughts, whispering, "Hey Beau, can you get me a better deal on a room as well?"

Beau convinces the innkeeper to give a bundle discount for two rooms, and he and Elfy end up saving a silver coin each as the result. Beau sticks around at the tavern and entertains the locals with stories, while Elfy heads straight to his room to prepare his spells.

---

At dawn, the party reunites and takes the path to Rondor. Despite departing at the same time as they last had, the team of four comes across three bandits in the middle of the road. Elfy immediately draws his heavy crossbow and fires at the bandits, though doesn't hit any of them.

Beau speaks up. "That was a warning shot", he tells the bandits. "Don't come any closer." His words only illicit laughter from the bandits, who draw their weapons.

Alsyon begins playing a slow melody on his violin, and two of the three bandits fall asleep. The third moves behind some trees and brush, hiding himself to avoid ranged attacks.

Beau draws his sword and chants a spell, and the sound of sneaking men in armor emits from the trees between the party and the remaining bandit. Alsyon switches his song to a sad one while Beau and Vera move forward. Beau cautiously checks around the corner for the remaining bandit while Vera heads straight for the sleeping ones.

As Beau rounds the tree, he informs the party, "I don't see the last one."

Sieghart pokes his head out of Alsyon's bag and yawns. Vera slays the two bandits in their sleep, and the party begins looting the bodies, taking everything of value and leaving the bandits bare.

Elfy turns to Sieghart and asks, "Can you speak cat now?"

Sieghart looks at him and meows.

Elfy then turns to Fenian. "What did he say?"

Fenian looks up at Elfy and meows.

----

Just before the party reaches Rondor, they spot the mother black bear. Alsyon moves forward and plays a soothing melody, which makes the bear walk over to him and begin licking his face. He hugs her affectionately while Vera and Elfy free the bear cub and bring it to its mother.

Beau prepares to heal the baby bear, but the mother growls at him as he approaches, which causes him to quickly back up. Elfy creates a floating disc for the cub to ride on, and the party turns around and heads back to Celedor just before the sun sets.

----

The team regroups in the morning, and Beau addresses Sieghart immediately. "Today's the day Ella gets kidnapped. How do we stop that from happening?"

Sieghart answers, "How should I know? Time travel is weird like that."

"Well, how did it go down last time?"

Sieghart admits, "I don't know. I was at Ella's hut napping."

Beau looks at him suspiciously. "You... you slept through a kidnapping?"

"She wasn't at the hut", Sieghart explains. "She left to run some errand or something. It was the early morning, as the townsfolk don't trust her. Canelé came back and told me she'd been taken, and by the time I reached Celedor, the village was on fire." He pauses. "Lots of bodies. You should probably ask around; she would have been taken by now if they could. They must know we're here, so they have an informant." He then looks at Beau and asks, "Can you take on Brutis?"

Beau ignores the question. "In any case," he says, "let's regroup at Ella's hut."

Sieghart ducks into Alsyon's bag. "Wake me up when there's fish."

----

Beau knocks on the door and then enters the witch's hut. "We're back. How's everything over here, Eamhair?"

Eamhair is wearing an apron and chewing on a cookie. "Delicious", she says in a muffled voice, crumbs falling out of her mouth.

Ella smiles at Eamhair. "Hey, that's the spirit!"

Eamhair continues. "Um, yes. We baked a lot of things."

"A lot of things!" Ella repeats cheerfully.

Elfy looks at Eamhair and blurts, "You've... grown."

Eamhair raises an eyebrow at him. "Thanks mom", she sarcastically replies.

Beau tries explaining the situation discreetly, unaware that Ella has already been informed of their time-traveling situation. "So the, uh... the intel we had regarding the bandits... turned out to be inaccurate. We're still looking into it for now..." Ella interrupts with a yawn, and Beau gets to the point. "We have a feeling the bandits are waiting for something. We think they may be waiting for you to leave your hut."

"Oh okay", Ella responds. "You take care of bandits, then, and I take care of nap. It's Ella nap time." She curls up on the sofa and quickly falls asleep.

-- End of Generia, Session 09 --

* This is Roy's work. Posted with permission. *

Session 10: The Disguise by Roy

Now that Ella is asleep, Elfy lets himself into the hut while the others decide what to do.

"Let's disguise Aaros as Ella", Beau announces. He heads to the door to go outside and talk to the half-elf, but the door won't open. He looks out the window, but can't see any reason why the door wouldn't open. "Elfy," he says, "help me with this door. It seems to be stuck."

Elfy looks at Beau, surprised. "It's not that I don't want to", he starts. "It's that I really shouldn't..."

"The door?" Eamhair asks. "Is something wrong with the door? Want me to help?"

The three of them push on the door together, trying to get it to open. Suddenly, the door gives in, and they all fall forward and onto the ground outside. Vera is standing nearby, looking at them, as Alsyon and Aaros step over them and enter the hut.

Beau quickly gets up and walks over to Aaros, but finds that the man is already partially disguised as Ella. "Oh, I see you guys came up with the same idea," he says to Aaros and Alsyon. "For some reason we couldn't open the door; why was that?"

Alsyon replies as Vera walks into the hut, "That sounds weird. Vera, do you know?" Vera gives a shrug.

Beau presses, "So neither of you know why it wouldn't open?"

Elfy speaks up. "I might", he says. He runs his finger along the edge of the door while Alsyon looks at him suspiciously. "Ella's obviously outfit her house with magical items", he explains. "This door is magical and responds to her command, and only her command."

Beau lets out a sigh. "Elfy, we've opened and closed this door many times..."

Elfy folds his arms. "She's probably not even asleep."

"Ah, sounds interesting", Alsyon says politely, before changing the subject. "Although we do have a city to save here, not to mention Ella, so if you could all stop staring at the door long enough to assist with Aaros's disguise, that'd be great."

Beau assists with the current design, making significant cosmetic changes to Alsyon's base work to further Aaros's disguise while Alsyon and Vera put on some finishing touches. Elfy eventually decides to help as well, and he is able to contribute to some aspects to make Aaros look more like a spellcaster. Eamhair sits on a chair and observes the proceedings with interest.

Beau steps back. "Well, this ought to fool people from a distance, at the very least", he says modestly, though the others can tell he's clearly proud of his own work. "Ready to head out?"

Eamhair looks back and forth between Ella and Aaros and shrugs. Beau leads the disguised Aaros outside and instructs him to go on ahead, and that they would follow from a distance as not to raise suspicion. Vera carries Ella gently outside, where Elfy has a disc patiently waiting to serve as a bed. The party then tails the disguised thief as he rapidly approaches the town of Celedor.

----

The party reaches the town from the east side, only to see that bandits have already begun raiding the place. Brutis is standing next to Aaros, clear to the west; it appears as though Aaros had at some point abandoned his disguise.

"Elfy," Alsyon says quietly, "if you have a means of invisibility or otherwise hiding someone's presence, it may be a good idea to use it on Ella now, considering the circumstances."

Elfy responds, "Well, you see, before we came back to this timeline, I noticed that Brutis emits a magical aura. I didn't get a good look at it, so I don't know what school it is-"

Alsyon interrupts the wizards rant, saying, "All the more reason to take as few chances as possible."

Elfy nods and casts a spell, and then transfers it to Fenian, who runs up and paws Ella, causing her to vanish. Beau chants a spell of his own, and then moves to some cover closer to Aaros while staying out of sight from nearby bandits. Alsyon and Vera move silently to the south. Elfy and Eamhair remain near the hidden Ella; Elfy puts mage armor on himself as Eamhair draws her bow.

The bandits continue pillaging Celedor, setting buildings ablaze as they pass. Beau does a quick chant, and three vipers slither out from the trees and begin attacking nearby bandits, delaying a nearby building from getting burned. The bandits waste time slashing at the snakes, who attempt to bite through their chainmail to no avail. Beau quickly changes his location to be behind the nearby building, rushing past a bandit dealing with the viper. He gets line of sight on Aaros, who is freely walking westward with Brutis, and points at him while casting a spell. Beau then whispers, and his message is delivered to Aaros as though they were standing next to each other. "We're hiding south, to your right. Lead Brutis back west for now."

Alsyon plays a soft lullaby from behind the trees. He puts to sleep a nearby bandit hiding in one of the trees (who promptly falls down), and then changes his target to a bandit that has just ignited a building. The bandit falls asleep immediately, resting under the doorsteps of the inferno.

Aaros and Brutis suddenly change course and head south toward a cluster of trees in the center of town. They begin searching the area, and the bandits begin to withdraw to their location. Beau frantically rushes around and points to the party near Ella. He whispers, and his voice gets transported to Eamhair, Elfy, and Fenian immediately. "Aaros has defected. They're trying to hunt us down. Get Ella to safety." He continues running around until he is in range of Alsyon, to which he transmits a similar message. "They searched the area I told him we were hiding in. We don't have the element of surprise."

Elfy and Eamhair remain at their position, as the bandits seem to have stopped their advance toward their location. Fenian hops onto Elfy's shoulder and meows into his ear.

Sieghart pokes his head out of Alsyon's bag, looking at the burning town and crowd of bandits. "We should retreat, this battle does not appear to be winnable."

Alsyon and Vera move back north a bit, and Beau rushes down to them. "Yo", he says casually. "Are you guys seriously still thinking about fighting?"

"Fighting and winning aren't necessarily synonymous", Alsyon answers. "I'll see what I can do from here."

"What's your plan?"

"To play it by ear until we have no choice but to retreat." Alsyon points to a bandit walking away from them. "We have the advantage; those men are too armored to move as fast as us. If Brutis wishes to leave them and take us all on by himself, I welcome that challenge. In the meantime, I will try to maintain our concealment as best I can."

Elfy makes gestures to the three of them to come toward him, but Beau ignores it and rushes ahead. Elfy heads down to Alsyon and Vera. "Hey guys!" he says with excitement.

Eamhair follows behind, a concerned expression on her face. "What is going on? I thought we needed to get Ella out of here."

Beau continues moving toward the crowd of bandits and takes cover under the same foliage that Brutis and Aaros finished searching moments ago. He leans in to overhear what the bandit leader is saying.

"What do you mean you can't find them? I do not tolerate failure." Brutis removes his rapier and stabs the nearest bandit. The bandit falls over and bleeds out rapidly, while the others look in terror. "I suggest you find them," Brutis says to the crowd.

Beau points through the brush to Brutis and carries a hushed whisper directly into the man's ears. "Tell me, Brutis: why Celedor? Why Ella?"

-- End of Generia, Session 10 --

* This is Roy's work. Posted with permission. *

Beau Brindille by Roy



* This is Roy's work. Posted with permission. *