Faye Aubrey​

The sun shone brightly this new morning in the Phoenix's Nest. The warm rays delicately touched Faye's eyelids as they entered her room through the small windows. She opened one eye and looked up to find out that she had forgotten to close the curtains last night. She grumbled and stuffed her face in the wide range of different pillows she had gathered over the days. All ranging from pink colors to sky blue filled with cotton for extra comfort and softness. Faye couldn't wish for more, except for a new soft blanket.

After a short while, Faye came to the realization that she wasn't going to be able to stay in bed. Sarah was probably getting breakfast ready by now and she didn't want to be that person that is always sleeping in. So she got up, slowly, and sat down on the edge of her bed. She stretched and yawned and was gathering the strength and courage to actually get up. But she did it. After a few minutes contemplating her life decisions she was finally on her two feet and was, again slowly, getting herself out of soft pink tank top and blue checkered sleeping pants to get herself dressed into her brown attire. She had left her gloves and socks yet off and stood in front of the mirror to get her hair done first. It was all flat and actually looked kind of nice. Faye looked quite cute with this. "... must have been the hot springs…" Faye mumbled. Cute was not the look she was going for if the two white horns on her head were visible like this, and visible they were.

The door was firmly rapt upon and then opened so quickly Faye had no time to even react before Rowan slid into the room. "Oops, the door blew open just from my knocking! Good morning to one of Phoenix Nest's two sleepyhead conquerors!" His eyes narrowed and lips formed a smirk at the sight that awaited him. "My goodness, you're even more adorable with your hair down! Those hotsprings are great, right?"

Faye was so startled at the sound of the door opening so abrupt, she just froze in place. The little panick attack that happened inside her head caused a shutdown in her brain of some sort and she just stared at Rowan with those hazel sleepy eyes of hers. "Can you at least wait for an answer when you knock?" Were the first words she managed to throw out after a few seconds, completely ignoring his... compliment? On purpose.

However, the few seconds after that caused a bigger panick attack when she realised what that compliment was. Never has Faye stroke through her hair this fast before to make it messier and more important... hide those frickin' horns. While she was at that, she realised the scales on her arms were quite visible as well and she kind of ended up hiding it behind her back. Good to know she cannot lower her guard in her own private room with Rowan around.

"You're right, I'm truly a scoundrel! Sorry! If it makes you feel better I only barged in because I knew you were up." Rowan offered a smile that was somehow apologetic and shameless at the same time. "I promise I'll never enter this room again without permission!... unless I hear crying and someone needs a hug, then Pat would get mad at me if I didn't do anything." For a moment Rowan's eyes shifted to a foggy amethyst color, then faded back to green and he looked at Faye with much keener interest. "What's that your hiding there? Did you get me a present to feel better about losing yesterday? That's so sweet of you but seeing those cute little horns is gift enough for me~"

Faye froze in place again before letting out a terrible deep sigh with her eyes closed. He had seen... "They're not a gift. They're a curse..." she opened her eyes again and just stared at the floor for a few moments. She kind of wanted to throw a comment back at him about Egan but she let it slide for now. "You do not sound surprised though... was it obvious?" She asked, glancing at Rowan partly to see if his eyes would change color again. She took out her right arm she had hid behind her back. Off-white white scales could be seen covering part of her lower arm.

"I had my suspicions." Rowan explained. "You don't feel quite human...but not quite like the birdbrain or our lizard lady champion either. If Prim is a constant, steady buzz then you're an occasional gurgle that gets buried back down with haste, like a strangled well in the desert that keeps getting more sand heaped on it before it can become an oasis. I'm guessing you must have had some trouble with your features before? Is that why you can't seem to let loose at all?" He leaned on her wall and quirked an eyebrow quizzically as he finished.

Faye seemed to be raising an eyebrow but with the pokerface she's always having, that seemed hard. "I didn't know you were a poet, Rowan." Faye sat down on her bed. "... or a psychologist." She stretched herself once again and yawned. "You are able to feel people? What is that about?" Faye asked curiously, once again, glancing at him because she wanted to see of his eyes would change again and dodging the question he had asked first.

The red-haired wizard grinned widely and this time his irises became like melted gold. "Looks like I'm not the only curious one. It's part of my magic. All of it is powered by, controlled by, shaped by and can shape emotions. Pat's the same and as a side effect we can feel the emotions of others and others can feel ours... though I've learned how to cover mine up unless I allow them to shine through. That's why animals like us so much, like that cat we found. They can feel exactly how we feel, they know we're no threat and feel kindly towards them."

Rowan watched Faye for a few seconds more before his smile twisted back into a smirk and he leaned towards her. "Yes, by the way, my eyes are like moodstones. It's a great excuse to get beautiful girls to stare into them." He winked as he revealed he was on to her and his eyes shifted from gold to daisy yellow, then back to their usual green. "Y'see, our magic reacts to our own emotions all by itself, it takes active practice and self control not to have things just spontaneously happen in tune with our moods."

As soon as Rowan revealed he noticed Faye staring, she turned her head almost immediately. Her face turned a soft red from embarrassment but with the same cold look on her face as always. It took her a few seconds to recollect herself. "That's really interesting magic you two got there." Faye said. "So if I keep track of which color is which mood, I can actually read your mood after a while?" Faye's mouth corners curled up if only slightly, not enough for a smirk but it came close.

That last bit made him lean even closer. "Maybe, if you pay real close attention, I certainly won't complain. His eyes flashed red and the room warmed up a few degrees. "But I've got a pretty good handle on it, unless what I feel is really strong almost none of it comes out. So generally all you will be able to see is the passion that stirs within me whenever I'm around a beautiful girl~"

Rowan took a step back and the air cooled as he closed his eyes, then opened them back to their usual green. "Pat, however is easy to read as baby's first picture book. Don't tell him I told you though."

Faye sighed at his womanizer comment and her eyes drifted away from Rowan. The more he made, the less genuine they seemed. And they already didn't seem to very genuine. "So, every girl basically?" Faye teased. "Now you've explained your and pat's magic, I finally feel like I understand what happened when we took the job for the cat and there was this strange whirlwind coming from nowhere." Faye leaned a bit backwards on her bed and stared at the ceiling. Now Rowan had explained a little bit about himself, it's only fair Faye finally answered his question.

"... I wasn't even born in the Mistlands, far from it." Faye started, her voice quieting down a little. "My father fell in love with a woman who was a touched being. I inherited part of her traits." Faye's expression seemed to become a slightly sad one. Remembering her mother was a painful memory. "I guess you could say I'm only half-touched. You're not far from the truth when you say that I had troubles with my features." Faye stopped there.

"Mm... it's never easy standing out on a crowd when you're young and vulnerable." He replied wistfully. "Plenty of Atrian people still discriminate against Valbestians and the Touched. What are your parents like?"

"Tell me about it... I'm surprised by how... this town hasn't called anyone out in this guild yet." Faye spoke. "It's a hard question to answer because I can hardly remember my mother. She was a sweet woman I guess..." Faye shook her head to get rid of the lingering feelings she had that were surfacing. "My father is a gifted wizard that uses his skills to create lacrima's. He is smart and a good man. I've never seen him not smiling." Faye's thoughts about her father were much happier ones.

It was only moments before Faye turned her gaze towards Rowan again. "You and Pat were raised by Boriel, right? What happened to your family?"

Rowan's smile softened at the nostalgia that radiated from Faye when she mentioned her father and it remained so at her question. "It's more accurate to say he saved us. Saved us from being alone... from some young teenager filled with hate and loss trying to raise his little brother and teaching him all the wrong lessons...Who knows what would have become of us of we hadn't met him."

Faye listened attentively. All the while she was imagining what Rowan would be like be like as an angry teenager, and how Pat would be like. She tossed the thought away entirely as it just looked weird to her, imagining them like that.

Rowan took a deep breath and his eyes became a rich blue that glimmered and shifted as if it were a window into some clear body of cerulean water while he stared off into memories. "My parents were very loving people, so much so that I felt like they loved everyone around us, like some giant extended family. But loving too much...too freely... is dangerous. Dad was so strong, but he faced a challenge he wasn't prepared for... and we lost everything... everyone. My mom... there was so much warmth to her that anyone near her seemed to lose every ounce of malice or anxiety and feel... peace. Pat spent a lot more time with her than me and it shows. That's really all I can say about my parents, if I blabbed anything more about them you'd just forget it all."

The aquatic tone to his eyes remained when they looked back at Faye. He took his weight off the wall and crooked a finger at her, saying "Come with me, I'd like to show you something." And left her room to head for his own without another word.

Faye's heart felt heavy after hearing Rowan's story. She had already guessed they were orphans but it sounded like there was so much more to the tale. He had said earlier that his eyes only changed out of itself if he was feeling an emotion strongly and his eyes were blue... was that the color of sadness? the words that really lingered in her mind were the ones about how she would forget it all, why would she?

Faye walked up towards her door and took a peek outside to see if no one was seeing her leave to enter Rowan's room because in her mind, it would be suspicious and strange. Before leaving, she grabbed a glove to wear on her right arm to hide the scales. Rowan knew now but there was no need for anyone else to know right now. After that, she made her way towards his room and entered.

"What did you want to show me?"

"Do you know anything about the language of flowers?"

"I've heard my father say something about it but other than that..."

The Hoskel Brothers' room was sparse and plain, little more than a bed, a desk and two wardrobes. The only impressive things about the room were the fact that the bed was king-sized and there was a sliding glass door out to the Guild Hall's main balcony. No, there was one more thing that Faye only noticed when Rowan approached it. To the left of the door to the balcony was a large shelf with a long planter all the way across it. Growing out of the planter was a pair of flowers, all with rounded, poofy blooms of many petals. They were both clearly the same breed of flower but each one had an entirely unique coloring from the other. One flower had a blue pistil with each petal starting silver and ending blue, the other flower had a yellow pistil with each petal starting red and ending yellow.

They looked different, still they were the same. "Those are beautiful..." Faye said quietly. Even though she liked them, the cold expression was all the same with widened eyes at the most. She approached Rowan near the shelf to take a better look. "Is this what you wanted to show me?" She asked, waiting for an explanation from him.

"These are Zinnias." Rowan began. "One of my two best friends gave me a seed packet the last time we met. In all the mess that followed I lost the other seeds but I saved two. Helping Lina get the hall up and running inspired me to plant them... and my magic bled into them from the... feelings they brought out, causing them to grow to this size in just a week and in these colors. These flowers are my most precious possessions, as long as they're healthy I'll never forget what's important and anyone who looks at them will know I'm still kicking." I'll leave it to you to decide if you care what zinnias mean but I figured we'd trade secrets for secrets. Now I know about your two horns and you know about my two flowers."

Faye changed her gaze from the flowers back to Rowan and forth. The flowers were beautiful but the meaning behind it was so bittersweet, her usual dead eyes had a sparkle that was shimmering. She was also curious to the meaning behind the flower. There was suddenly a lot more to Rowan the womanizer.

Rowan stepped away from the flowers to a bag on the floor by the bed and rifled through it. "Right, I know about your skin condition too, that means I owe you one more secret." After a few more seconds of searching Rowan pulled a book with a thick scarlet cover and gold filigree from the bag and held it out to Faye. "This was a gift from dad when I turned 5, the first year my handwriting started to look decent."

Faye glanced at Rowan and then at the book and leaned a little bit towards it to get a better look. "It indeed looks very old..." she spoke softly. "It's a nice gift. That's for sure." She took a step back again.

The older Phoenix offered a melacholic smile and opened the book, skipping past the first page to show Faye...nothing? Every page beyond the very first was blank."You see, I have a curse. This book is actually a journal. My father wanted me to document my own life for posterity and to develop my writing and memory. But..." He pointed to the two words at a random spot on the page, written in a flowing, dignified script. Rowan Hoskel. "Nothing can be recorded about me in any sort of detail. If it is it just disappears. I've filled over a hundred pages of this journal by now but there's nothing to see in any of it aside from my name."

Faye listened and was very quiet. Rowan spoke but it took a few moments for Faye to process what he was actually telling her. Shivers walked down her spine, not gently but rather like a thunder strike hitting a tree. She took a few steps back and ended up stumbling at the edge of the bed and ended up falling on it, but sat down afterwards. She stayed quiet all the while until she finally disturbed the sound of silence with her own voice.

"So that's why you said I would forget... I literally will forget whether I want it or not." Faye whispered, still shocked. At the same time, she felt incredibly bad for him and honestly did not know what to say except. "... is there a way?" ... "I mean... Is there a solution?" Faye shook her head after this sentence. "No, of course not... this wouldn't be a secret if there was one." Faye kept debating with herself. She usually had some solutions ready if problems occurred but this... was different. "Why... Did you tell me this?" Faye glanced at Rowan. She did not mean ill intend with that question. Rather, why would he trust her with something this important? "My little secrets are nearly not on the same level... so why?"

"Well, it's not really that big a deal." Rowan rubbed the back of his head. "There's just not much point telling most people, but you're my guildmate, I doubt I could hide it from everyone for too long even if I wanted to and I don't. Boriel and Myeloch know. It feels good to tell someone. I still have my name, my brother, people can still know me, remember me. As for undoing the curse... I don't know. The one who caused it is dead but it continues." Faye started thinking for a little while, wondering how she could be of help.

Rowan took a deep breath and fell backwards onto the bed as if unaware Faye was still there. "It's important to know our guildmates, you should pay attention to yours. I'll tell you now there's no reason to hide those horns anymore. I mean you're in a guild with a bird and a giant lizard. This is one of the safest places you could be."

Faye placed her hands between her thighs and sighed. "I know... it's not like I don't know." Faye felt a little uneasy. Rowan wasn't a bad person, that much was clear but that still did not speak for anyone else in the guild. "There was a place I felt safe too. You can guess how that ended up." Faye said. "The town I was born into was kind to me. Until they found out I wasn't quite human." She glanced at Rowan who was right next to her.

"I want to keep this façade going on a little longer. Will you let me?"

"It's not my place to say, do whatever you want. " Rowan responded, crossing his arms behind his head and closing his eyes. "There's no reason for me to tell anyone anything." He finished, his legs dangling off the bead and casually swinging back and forth.

Faye stood up and adjusted her clothes a little. "Thank you. I appreciate it." She said before turning towards the door. "I'm going to get myself ready for the job of today. Try not to get your clothes ripped again." She was implying how he looked like at the end of his fight with Egan yesterday, it was meant as a tease. As she opened the door and stood in the opening, she said one last thing before she left.

"It's good to be able to talk to someone." and with that... Faye had gone back to her room.

"And don't you forget it!" He called after her swiveling and lifting his legs onto the bed.

​

At a crossroads Cellis Mine, Wednesday July 4th, X784

The guild members stepped off the minecart, trying to remember what they'd been told after the long ride. While not completely dark, the lighting in the mine was still quite dim. They stood in a hub from which many tunnels spread, most of which were blocked by a magical force. Two of the nearby tunnels remained open, and the minecart's rails stretched down below leading to yet another path.

Lina stood at the edge of this pit, looking down in awe. "So, any ideas? On how we're handling the tunnels, I mean. Like, are we splitting up?"

"Seems like the only real option." Rowan stated. "If we just went through one tunnel at a time we'd likely be down here all day, possibly longer. The Burgesses don't play around with their business, even if this is one of their smallest mines you can bet there's still plenty for us to search."

"Close-knit groups is the general idea with this kinda thing, far as I know," Ith'Drell weighed in, rummaging through the bag of supplies they'd been given. "Nobody alone, 'course. Them kobolds, they're tricky little buggers. If these are a dangerous lot then we can't go fast, which sucks - just wading into kobolds with shock and awe is hilarious - nah, we gotta take it slow and steady and keep a beady eye out for tricksy business."

Elidyr scrambled out of the cart, tripping slightly. He grabbed a torch from the bag Drell was rummaging through. "I think sticking together sounds good. So… no wandering off alone makes sense, I guess… Who can light these? I think I could, but, just curious."

"My sword lights up, but I probably shouldn't use it as a lantern," said Lina. "Don't wanna run out of ether before the battle even starts."

"Meeee," droned Drell, the word muffled by the bag she had by now plunged her snout into.

"I can… if you give me a match or something," Prim said, grinning slyly as she casually shunted Drell lightly in the back, causing the lizard-woman to fall the rest of the way into the bag. Drell ripped the bag from her head as she hit the ground with a light 'oof', causing lanterns and compasses to clatter on the ground around her.

"Yo, uh, where's all the stuff you guys need?" The armoured lizard rose to her knees, plucked a lantern from the pile and with click of her fingers lit it with an electrical spark to get a better view of the mess she'd created. "No poles, no rope, no, uh… caltrops? Nah, those are just entertainment - uh, helmets? Mirrors?"

Elidyr looked through his own bag, which was primarily full of snac- rations. Definitely rations. "Do we really need all that?"

Rowan hefted his own bag - which was significantly smaller than Drell's and conspicuously devoid of ten foot poles - and just went right for one of the tunnels. "Nah, I've got everything I need. Have fun, kids!" He waved over his shoulder as he left. Pat started to scamper after him only to have a palm thrust in front of his face to stop him dead in his tracks. "Now now, you follow me around way too much as it is, my dear sweet brother. Show everyone what you can do without your big bro around to protect you."

Pat stared after his elder brother's retreating form, dumbfounded. "Wh - but it's our first job! I just wanted…" He sniffled once, then took a deep breath. "Fine then! I don't need you anyway! Good luck in the dark by yourself, jerk!"

Prim moved up and nudged Pat in the side, much more gently than she had with Drell.

"That's the spirit!" she said cheerfully, proceeding to wrap an arm around Pat's shoulders. "We don't need your lame big brother slowing us down. Let's go this way!"

With that, Prim starting pulling Pat along in the direction of the tunnel furthest from Rowan, not giving him much of an opportunity to protest.

"Yo Rowan!" Drell called after the elder brother. "What'd I just say about no going alone ya fuc- uh, jeez- you fu- uh, idiot?"

"Whoever wants to come with me is welcome." Echoed back to Drell nonchalantly.

Elidyr watched as everyone started going for various tunnels, not sure where he should go. "Um… I can go with him, if that's alright with you. Unless you want to, I mean, and I'll just… go with… Lina?"

Lina shrugged. "I'd say sure if I knew where I was even going."

The always-silent Faye watched with her arms folded, only waving nonchalantly at the tunnel where Prim and Pat just went into. "I'll guess I'll go with you then "lame big brother"" Faye spoke as she followed Rowan inside the tunnel he went into.

"Ah, jeez…" Ith'Drell reached inside her helmet to scratch at her head. "Well, those two can probably handle themselves, so that tunnel's all good. Pat and Prim… I dunno, kinda worried for them and the kobolds at the same time, if ya know what I mean. What do you guys think?"

Elidyr scuffed his foot against the floor, looking between the two tunnels. "Aw, man, I don't know how to handle tough choices like this…" He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he steeled his resolve. When he opened his eyes again, his pupils had narrowed to reptilian slits. "Guys, wait for me!" He ran after Pat and Prim, clutching his unlit torch tightly.

"I guess that leaves us for the last path," Lina said to her remaining companions. She crossed her arms as she watched Elidyr go. "You think he's gonna be okay? Or all of them, for that matter?"

Drell hummed, pensive, "I, uh… well, they'll probably be fine. Even if the kobolds are, like, ten-times-power they can probably still take 'em. It's the traps, and stuff like cave-ins and stuff - those are the things we gotta look out for - and in either of those cases we'll probably either hear it or it won't be an emergency so, uh- guess it's best to just… see how it goes?" She whipped a telescopic rod out of her personal bag and it extended into a ten-foot pole. "Well, that and worry about not gettin' caught in those ourselves, right?"

Lina shrugged. "I guess you're right. In that case, let's go too. Onward!" She proudly pointed at their tunnel designated as she headed in.

​

Faye Aubrey​

The first of the tunnels began as unremarkable as all the others; lined with rocks, pipes, and dim lanterns with only the occasional drip of water or shifting of the rocks as music to accompany the Nestlings' journey. However, as they continued down that path, they began to find chunks of inert lacrima crystal along the wall. Their grey color showed their failure to hold an ethereal charge and become like their more useful counterpart. Still not exactly remarkable, but it was something to mix things up.

A certain confident young wizard strolled right on through the tunnel, arms folded behind his head like a pillow and leaning from side to side to get a better look at would-be lacrima he passed. "Quite a sight, even when they're duds. We're in for some fun here, that's for sure. I can't wait to see what kinda beasties they've got for us to play with."

The less confident Faye shrugged. "You'd play with anything, I would think." she murmured. She wasn't all that interested in the failed lacrima's, she had seen enough of those at her father's house and instead directed her focus towards anything dark in front of them. Thankfully, Faye was able to see well in the dark.

"Life's nothing without play, Faye." Rowan retorted. "If you can make your work feel like play and still get it done, all the better! The only thing better is finding just the right partner to play with." He smirked and threw more swagger into his steps after the declaration as if thinking on those very circumstances, then turned and began to walk backwards in front of Faye, maintaining the same cadence. "And let me just say how honored I am that you decided that partner was me today. Such a sweetheart, not leaving me to get lost in these dark tunnels, all scared and alone~"

"Everyone else had already chosen a path." she lied, adjusting her scarf a little to cover her face a little more. "Let's say it was convenient too. You already know the monstrosity of my horns and scales. If anything were to happen. It would still be a secret." she told another half-truth while escaping Rowan's gaze by looking away from him. She somehow just felt more comfortable around him than around the rest of her guild mates.

"Monstrosity, huh? That's a hell of a thing to say about two of your most unique features. I think they're adorable~" Rowan said, only half-teasing. "I don't know how you got this complex but y-" He stopped dead in movement and word simultaneously, holding an arm out to keep Faye from passing him. "Whoah, that's some major malice. There's so much discontent and hostility in here it's one iota shy of hatred." Turning away from her, he looked forward, squinted, then kicked a rock.

The poor, innocent little rock tumbled from the abuse, rolling just a few feet before it hit an extremely taut wire and snapped it, bringing a pair of spike-covered logs down, smashing together close enough to buffet the pair of wanderers in a small gust. Rowan raised an eyebrow and whistled, as if impressed. "That's wild, I could literally feel the aggression of whoever set that trap lingering on it… and there's plenty more where that came from. I'd heard Kobolds were spiteful little lizards but damn."

Faye brushed the dust off her clothes and stared intensely somewhere further inside the tunnel. "Good thing we didn't get smashed by that." she said with the same dead look in her eyes that she always has. That's the moment she thought she saw something move. "Hey, how well can you see in the dark?" she asked Rowan as she kept tracking whatever she saw with her eyes. Only hoping he would come with a serious answer for once.

"Not much better than the average human." Rowan whispered, drawing closer to make sure she heard him. "My special awareness comes from feeling the presence and emotions of other living things, sometimes even echoes left behind after they're gone, that's how I noticed that trap. Why, what do you see?"

As Faye followed the creature with her eyes, it disappeared further inside the tunnel. She took a normal stance again and sighed. "It's gone. I saw something moving around ahead of us. Let's be careful when moving further inside." Faye explained, turning to Rowan. Although she probably didn't have to explain that to him. The trap was enough sign that this tunnel wasn't safe. The whole mine isn't safe, in fact. Or else they wouldn't be here. "You see, it turns out I can see pretty well in the dark." she added with a nonchalant tone in her voice.

Rowan whistled as quietly as he could to show how impressed he was. "Well that's about as nifty as we could ask for in here. He dramatically closed his eyes and rested a hand on her shoulder. "You'll have to guide me so we don't trigger any traps or fall into any scary pits, I'm totally and utterly at your mercy."

Faye looked slightly annoyed, though his hand felt warm and comfortable. "Please, Rowan. I would've walked straight into a trap if it wasn't for your magic." she continued walking down the tunnel. "Flattery isn't going to get you anywhere."

He took his hand away and raised it in a gesture of surrender. "I'm sure you would have noticed it just fine, my avoidance was just a fluke anyway. But I'd hate to anger my guide." However, even as the word guide left his lips he was already speeding up to take the front place again. Faye just rolled with her eyes and silently followed him without a word. The cavern was changing around them, the more boring greys and browns giving way to slightly ethereal looking blue stone, with more and more crystals scattered about. The further they went the less lacrima duds there were and the more flawless, beguiling gems they saw.

In time, Rowan's breathing grew slightly heavier, and a light sheen of sweat formed on his forehead. "I can't doubt we're going in the right direction. We're definitely getting closer to whatever is down there but be on the lookout for traps as well. There hasn't been one in a while and I expected...more after...that…ahem first one."

Faye tucked on Rowan's arm to stop him. "You're about to walk into one." she whispered and pulled him a little bit back. With two fingers, she swept her free hand from her back to her front, creating a small dark shadow that moved quickly in front of them and hit an invisible thread not too far away from them. A different trap than the last one was triggered this time, small arrows from the walls targeted whatever was in the middle and made short work of Faye's small shadow even with the nullifying effect her darkness has. Once the arrows stopped shooting, Faye bend down to pick up one of the arrows and took sniff. "... whatever is further ahead doesn't want us to come near it. These are poison arrows." she held the arrows in front of Rowan, only noticing then how awful he was looking.

"Rowan… are you alright? You don't look… well."

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a bit of a headache. What's not fine is… whatever's waiting for us ahead. I feel so many different emotions swirling around in some sort of...chaotic vortex of conflicting pathos. As if there was an entire little world of voices arguing with each other and none coming to a single consensus on anything. On top of it all...there's pain… Spite, anger… laughter? The sooner we deal with all this the better." He wiped away some of the sweat and shook his head to help clear it. "I'm gonna have to try to block a lot of it out, it's just too much to process."

Faye approached Rowan carefully, removed her fingerless glove and gently pushed her right hand against his forehead, not believing the I'm-fine-crap. "You're burning up, Rowan." she said with a slightly worried tone in her voice, probably the first time she actually put some emotion into something. "I would like tell you to take a break but you'd probably lecture me about how we need to find whatever is inside there soon. So… instead I'll tell you to take it easy. I'll work a little harder for the both of us. Save up your energy."

Rowan shook his head again. "I'm not trying to undersell it, I promise. It really is only a headache, it's just a really bad headache...turning into a migraine. There's not much to do but press on anyways, whatever creature is putting out all these feelings is the cause of it anyways, the sooner we clean up the sooner I feel better. Besides, pain can only give an Emotion-make wizard more strength, as long as it's utilized properly."

"Hmm…" Faye pulled the glove back on and crossed her arms. "If you say so." she turned around and started walking ahead again, she started to become a little impatient. Especially seeing how this all affects Rowan's health apparently. "Let's hope we find it soon then."

Faye then suddenly stopped. "Wait… isn't it very hard for you to be around me then…?" she asked turning back to Rowan.

"What? No, don't be silly. It's not the kind of thing that can be caused by just one person, no matter how messed up in the head, and you aren't any sort of basket case to begin with." Rowan assured her. "I've only ever felt like this one other time and, well, let's just say it takes a lot of people with a lot of stress all at once to even come close to causing me physical pain. The worst a person can affect me is mild discomfort, and there are other factors to that besides just the amount of stress or intensity of their negative emotions."

"Oh…" Faye let out quietly in combination with a relieved sigh. It was already awkward enough that Rowan and Pat could feel the emotions of those around them. She wouldn't want to be the one causing them physical pain. "Anyhow, let's go." Faye started walking again.

Rowan followed her after a wince. "Right, lead the way, I think we're getting close now." Sure enough, the walls were no longer pock-marked with proper unrefined lacrima, they were broken up by entire large patches of glittering, ether-hungry crystals just begging to be gathered up. Rowan's head began to hurt more and more the further in they went until they rounded a corner with a chasm to one side and came upon a large cavern. Almost instantaneously, all of Rowan's pain vanished. In fact, so sudden was the relief that he became sickeningly dizzy and had to catch himself on a tall rock.

"Wh - what the? Where'd -" Faye heard a dry schlick sound and turned to see her guildmate fly across the cavern and barely right himself in time to tuck and drop to his feet before he could slam into some rather sharp looking lacrima crystals on the far wall. Where he'd been standing a moment ago a few feet behind her was a large draconic lizard of some sort, a snake's tongue darting out of h\it's mouth as it spun and whipped it's tail at her with blinding speed.

Faye was startled by the sudden appearance behind her, especially since she hadn't heard it sneak up to them at all. She made for high jump and leaped backwards to make the distance between the draconic and her bigger than it was now. Faye's landing was slightly off due to the tail she had to dodge at the same time and thus stumbled a little as she stood. With the same poker face as ever, Faye took a defensive stance, holding her daggers crossed in front of her and immediately shifted her daggers into dark katana's with her magic. "Rowan, are you okay?!" she yelled, not glancing behind as to not lose this creature out of her sight.

"I'm fine!" Rowan shouted. "All that stuff I was complaining about before disappeared out of nowhere, next thing I knew its tail was around me and it threw me." He took a deep breath and took up a pose with his left arm pointed out towards the lizard and his right held close to his ribs, beginning to glow with a pulsating yellow and green light.

The dragon-kin roared its displeasure at Faye avoiding its tail and charged at her with its jaws snapping and a velocity that completely defied its size.

"What a peculiar timing for your headache to disappear… but that's a good thing." Faye mentioned. "However, let's get this thing out of the running before it seriously hurts one of us. Or both." Faye made another high jump and landed to the side of the creature. In the corner of her eye, she saw Rowan glowing. She was quick to realise he was aiming for this draconic nightmare and decided to keep it occupied while keeping it in place at the same time.

Faye started running around the monster in fast speed. Occasionally creating a dark cloud in the air with her magic to jump on as to not leave a pattern behind in her movements. Faye couldn't shake the feeling of anxiousness even though she didn't really feel like she was scared. It was a confusing feeling.

"You know." Rowan called out, seemingly unperturbed by the whole situation. "I had a fight recently that was really frustrating for me. And a big lizard really doesn't compare even a bit to the opponent I had then." The Dracolizard got even faster and pressed Faye further. It continued on until at one point as soon as Faye jumped over another tail whip it looked straight up at her and opened its mouth, the gaping maw glowing bright orange as flames welled up in its throat. At that moment there was a sparking sound and and Rowan shot into Faye's field of view like a lightning bolt, two fingers pressed to the lizard. Faye was hanging in the air like a puppet hanging on strings, preparing herself for a massive impact.

"So do me a favor, you overgrown bag of scales, and take all that frustration and anger on for me. Feel my aggravation and see if you can handle it, alright?" At first nothing seemed to happen, except the lizard freezing in place. After a few seconds the flames in its throat began to rapidly shift between every color of the rainbow and Rowan leaped up to grab Faye out of the air whether she liked it or not, landing a safe distance away in a lazy princess carry. The prismatic light in the lizard grew brighter and brighter, until it exploded. Well...actually it was more like a pop, there was even some confetti scattered around the cave. "Ah, I feel so much better after venting~" Rowan practically sang out.

"What just…?" Faye blinked a few times and had wide eyes. She was sure she was going to be blasted away but somehow Rowan made a heroic escape with her. She glanced over at where the draconic lizard had been but he, she or… it? was pretty much gone.

"Uhm… it's okay to let me… go now." Faye had a reddish blush crossing all over her cheeks. Once again, her emotions were all over the place and a complete mess. From what she could see, Rowan defeated the lizard by himself without needing any help from Faye. She wasn't even able to trade a single blow. It made her feel powerless… and weak. But also embarrassed… or was it shame? And Rowan having to save her also caused several conflicting feelings. So conflicting in fact… that her "dark katana's" shifted back into daggers, then into half knives, to turn back into daggers again. Her magic was unstable.

"Of course, of course, sorry about that." Rowan gently set Faye upon her own feet, still grinning like a giddy child. "Sorry for the showing off, but I wasn't kidding about what I said to that monster, I put a lot of frustration and other nasty feelings into that attack. I think I'll call it a 'Stress Bomb'."Then his brow furrowed and the grin vanished. "Speaking of unnecessary or toxic emotions, you should just throw that shame right out. You distracted it and handed that opportunity for attack to me on a silver platter. Let's not forget you won your first battle and I lost mine, so just let me have this one, alright?" He teased very softly tapping the tip of her nose once. "That monster just had the bad luck of pissing me off with whatever mental attack it used to give me that headache, and failing to take me out with the first att-"

Before Rowan could finish his boasting, both he and Faye heard a voice in their heads, simultaneously cold, curious and mocking. Oh, a monster, am I? How cruel you are after I let you feel me and all my beautiful emotions. I'll forgive you this one time, but since you just killed my playmate, why don't you show me a good time now instead? The voice and the pure mirth behind it ran a chill so intense through Rowan that it caused his magic to literally pull his hair up and frizz it. His eyes darted around in search of the voice's origin only to bug out as his neck seemed to compress slightly all on it's own and he began to float up into the air.

Scales began to materialize rapidly until another Draconic beast had revealed itself, this one dark orange and almost metallically glossy, as well as significantly slimmer than the first and with a longer tale, which was holding Rowan aloft by his neck.

Faye froze in place as she saw Rowan being lifted. She was quick to regain herself and jumped a few steps back. However, her face made an expression it had never made before, a worried expression. It kind of felt… weird stretching her face like that. "Rowan!!" she called out and searched for an opening to free him from the tail around his neck. Her worried face turned into a glaring expression. She put one dagger away and turned the dagger that was left into a katana again although the tail looked like it wouldn't just be damaged by any kind of sword she would use. Knowing she couldn't wait too long, Faye had to think up something quick.

"Shadow hound!" Faye held a hand up in front of her and beneath that same hand, a small hound appeared. Usually Faye wasn't able to call upon a spell like that but since the darkness in the cave added to her affinity, it helped her use her stronger spells. It was a risk she was only glad to take. Faye waved her hand towards the tail and the hound started attacking it like a puppet.

The talking draconic lizard hissed slightly when the shadow hound sank its inky fangs into its tail, preparing to swing the appendage - and Rowan - at Faye only for its captive to draw his own knife and plunge it through the shadow and straight into the spot it bit. The quiet hiss became a pained grunt and Rowan fell to the floor gasping for air. When the shadow construct made to attack the beast again, its tail suddenly gleamed, the scales widening and thickening until they looked like plates. The hound's teeth scraped harmlessly off the tail, which then swished through the attacker and scattered it's dark particles.

Faye made a quick sprint towards Rowan with the same worried expression she showed moments ago. She grabbed his arm and pulled it around her neck to drag him away from the draconic lizard with another sprint. "That trick won't work again." Faye gritted her teeth as she saw how the scales impaled her shadowy creature. The dark particles didn't immediately vanish but were more like black snow that covered the ground a little bit at the spot where the hound was destroyed.

"Are you okay?" Faye asked Rowan once they had made a little bit of a distance from the monster, not taking her eyes of it for even a moment.

The beast simply watched, tail swishing back and forth in apparent catlike amusement as Rowan jerked his arm away from Faye's shoulders and coughed a few more times. "Son of a *****… Nothing ever sneaks up on me, I don't get it! I should be able to feel almost anything with any sort of pulse and even a lot of things without one." He griped without even answering Faye's question but when he raised his head and took a deep, clear breath, his eyes were sharp as a scalpel. "That last lizard may as well have been a puppy compared to this one."

"I thought he was rather cute as well. I feel we were just starting to understand each other when you came along. Quite disappointing really, he'd have made an excellent guard dog with some training" The creature's voice sounded itself within the Phoenixes' heads again.

"You really are a nosy thing, aren't you?" Rowan said, glare softening to a challenging smirk at their telepathic taunter. He pat Faye's shoulder and stood back up right and proper. "I'm fine now, thanks for the help, I'll try not to be a damsel too often. You ready for another go at our new friend?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Faye answered, her expression shifting back to the usual poker face she was always wearing. "However, do you have an idea how to take this thing on?" She asked. Faye was a close combat user, she has long distance spells but those are too powerful for her current emotional condition. Close combat was no good against this thing and Rowan ought to know that. "I don't like the idea that this thing can get past you without you feeling it."

"That trick it pulled will only work once." Rowan assured her. "Now that I'm aware of it, I know what to look for and I can feel it." He stared at the creature and it slapped the ground with its tail, growing impatient. "Take a deep breath, whatever you need to calm down. We can't overpower this thing, that means we need cool heads so we can outsmart it. Cool? Hmm, alright. I'll get things started, you jump in when you have an idea or a good attack ready." Rowan took another deep breath, a very deep one. As the drawn out inhale continued, his eyes grew more steely and new color began to seep into his hair until it was all a glassy cobalt.

All at once the Phoenix broke out into a sprint straight at the creature, which grumbled out what could only be its approximation of a laugh. The newly-armored tail snapped like a massive whip and Rowan dropped into a low slide, the ground turning icy wherever he touched it and slid under the creature, hand dragging across its underbelly and making icy spikes spring up from its softer scales. The Dracolizard roared its frustration and swiped at him with its front feet. Rowan bent and curved his body only the exact amount necessary to avoid each attack, flowing around them like water and touching whichever spot on the creature came closest to him, icing up more and more of its front legs.

Faye watched Rowan in awe. His fighting style and magic was much more refined that hers was. He told her to keep a cool head but it was hard to calm down at this rate. Still she had to do something. "Okay, I'm going to do something I have never tried before…" she decided and bend down on one knee. She held her hands together and tried to create a dark mass in between. It didn't work out the first time. "Hng!" Faye tried again, but failed again. She was starting to get even more frustrated and less calm.

"Please, I need to do this…" Faye almost begged herself. She watched the situation unfold in front of her eyes and tried again with only Rowan on her mind. A large bow was created from the dark mass between her hands and she went ahead making an arrow or two too. Faye's face was almost glowing from relief and she immediately went ahead and aimed for the eyes of the dragonic lizard. "I bet you won't see this one coming." Faye commented as she shot the two arrows right into the eyes of the lizard.

With one wizard near-at-hand buzzing so frustratingly all around it, neither the lizard's focus or reflexes could keep up well enough and the shadowy projectiles flew true. The beast's eyes snapped shut alongside a spurt of blood and it roared, stamping and swiveling. Somehow even without its eyes, this time it managed to keep track of both Rowan and Faye, slamming its tail towards the former and loosing a stream of raging magical fire at the latter.

Rowan had continued to freeze different spots on their enemy as it flailed earlier, and now as he dodged its vicious tail one last time, the appendage was frozen through enough that the whole thing shattered upon impact with the cave floor. While Faye held herself against the flames with a dark barrier she created with difficulty, the roar as well as the stream of flames flying at her grew more intense. Faye's barrier was starting to show cracks as a sign of her own weakness.

Something strange happened in the midst of the attack, however. The blood around the dracolizard's eyes boiled away and once it was gone, so were the eyes. Simultaneously, large fuzzy ears burst out of either side of its head and a matching pair of leathery wings grew out of its back, kicking up a gust of wind powerful enough to send Rowan flying.

"What the heck is this thing…" Faye whispered and held a hand up immediately. A dark cloud was created where Faye was pointing to with her hand and caught Rowan midair. She created new arrows she could use but was only able to make 3 more for the time being with her emotions running wild. It was a combination of confusion, fear, and a feeling of not allowed herself to feel fear.

Faye aimed for the wings and shot the arrows again. One after one they hit the wings. These arrows had an element of surprise though. As soon as an arrow touched it's flesh, it turned into a sticky, gooey mass. Faye's aim was to stick the wings together. "Rowan! Your turn!"

Rowan's hair flashed brightly and jumped from icy blue to golden blonde as he dashed at the transforming beast. The creature reared up and raised its wings to blast another gust only for the wings to brush each other at the crest of their arc, connecting the goop between them. Rowan smirked and leaped up, ready for the wings' descent to only last a moment and right when they slowed to a stop he landed on the now-batlike dragon's head and sprang off of it, up to the ceiling of the cave.

The Phoenix disappeared up into the darkness for a moment and all present heard a loud cracking sound just before a massive stalactite fell into view with Rowan standing atop it. His feet glowed bright orange, and the light from them clung to the stalactite, crawling all the way down to the point at the bottom, which began to glow white hot while flames sprang to life all over it. The dragon held its stuck wings together over its head and all at once the scales along its body hardened and slid themselves up to and along the wings, turning them into a massive shield just before impact.

An ear-splitting clang rang out, followed by tearing and finally, a crash. As massive as the cloud of dust the whole hullabaloo kicked up was, it still only took seconds to clear, revealing to Faye the remains of bloody and torn wings scattered about the cave, piles of sharp scales and at the center of the mess, the dragon. The beast had shrunk to a fraction of its previous size, now not much bigger than a horse, and the stalactite was sunk into the cave floor where its right shoulder used to be. Rowan stood next to the creature and stared into its eyes.

Very impressive. The invasive voice spoke in Faye and Rowan's minds once again, worming its way inside as easily as if they were open doors. The voice was much smoother and quieter than before, almost human now, though it retained a hint of serpentine hiss. Look at the brave dragon slayers. Time to finish the beast now, eh? Its eyes didn't show a hint of fear, only tired curiosity as it gazed back at Rowan, who's temple clenched up like it had during his earlier migraine.

"No." The Phoenix said plainly. "You're clearly not some monster...monsters don't feel as much as you… You at least feel and think enough to qualify as a person and I'm no murderer. But don't think you're getting off easy, either." He raised a heavy rock up to knock out his helpless opponent, The stone flew downwards only to jerk to a stop inches away from the face of… "A woman?!" Rowan blurted out the words in such complete shock that he lost his balance and the rock fell harmlessly off to the side. Every bit of the dragon's carcass aside from the wings and whatever else had been chipped off was gone and all that remained in its place was a conspicuously nude woman with a green pixie cut.

Well this is a new one, how curious The voice spoke in Faye and Rowan's heads again while the 'woman' looked at her own body, then up to Rowan. Faster than a snake bite the woman's arms shot up and grabbed the still-off-balance Rowan and yanked him into what could only be a kiss. His eyes bulged violently and just as quick as it had started, it was over. The woman shoved Rowan aside and glowed - a glow which became a blinding flash when Rowan turned back towards her, blinding both him and Faye. You taste quite good. Echoed in their minds as if a question had been answered to great satisfaction and just as suddenly Faye felt something wet drag across the back of her neck and seize up her muscles with the hardest spine shiver shed ever experienced. Ohhh, so do you~ This really has been such an enlightening experience. I must thank you both. Until next time, ta ta~

When Faye's vision returned she saw Rowan lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling and not moving. "What… just happened." Faye whispered as she did an attempt at recollecting her her thoughts. She stumbled over towards Rowan, and let herself plump beside him in. "Hey… you okay?" She said, hovering her hand above his eyes. She was pretty calm considering what just happened. She couldn't shake the awful feeling of a wet tissue moving across the flesh of her neck though and it gave her several more shivers. There was another awful feeling overwhelming her. She couldn't place it, however.

"What the actual **** was that?!" Rowan yelled, or at least he tried to yell. What actually left his mouth was a hoarse, cracked grumble from a throat that was dry as a desert. His face was red, both from shock and apparently another migraine judging by the way he rubbed his temples. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." He weakly waved Faye off and rolled over to stand but he only got to one knee before his legs flopped from underneath him. "Son of a… did that… person...dragon - whatever poison me? Poison kisses are so not cool." He tried shakily to stand once more, this time actually succeeding.

The older Phoenix began to dig around in his pockets and belt pouches until he pulled out a small glass jar and uncorked it, holding it out to Faye with a wobbly arm. "Do me a favor and scrape as many scales as you can get off of those destroyed wings in here and then let's get back to the entrance. We're at a dead end here, no point searching any further."

Faye signed with a weird amused smile and shrugged her shoulders. His reaction was kind of funny so she couldn't help it. She took the glass jar from Rowan's shaky hand and got up on her feet. "I thought you would say something along the lines of "a kiss is still a kiss", but you surprise me." Faye walked over to a pile of torn wings laying around the open space of the cave. It looked much like the sail of a ship that had been destroyed by a heavy storm. Except that these "sails" had some point surprises attached to them which Faye plucked, one by one, and gently pushed inside the glassy container.

A few uncertain steps back the way they came preceded a rub of the temples and a head shake from Rowan. "Don't be silly, I don't even know what I swapped spit with. It'd be one thing if it was you." He let the frustration fade from his voice to coyly slip out the last part, then continued as if he hadn't said anything at all. "One thing's for sure. Myeloch should be very interested in this thing."

"I'm sure he would." Faye replied, completely ignoring his flirting again like the quiet, shy mouse that she is. As if anyone would want to share a kiss with a creature like her, at least, that's what she thought. Along with that thought came an ashamed feeling that was messed up together with some insecurity. "She is quite interesting, I must say." Faye suddenly spoke but was still picking up the black, shiny scales and occasionally looking at them with curiosity. There was one in particular that she couldn't keep her eyes off. One that stood out from the others even though they all looked the same. It's shine was mesmerizing and the black color as deep as an empty void. She decided to keep it and put it inside her pocket while plucking the others for the jar.

"I mean… she started out as a lizard thing, then turned into a dragon… and suddenly she was a woman. Do you think she might have a shapeshifting affinity? That's really cool." Faye asked Rowan. She wondered if she would've been more useful if she had an affinity like that instead.

"This is new." Rowan parroted the 'woman'. "I don't think 'she' was human to begin with, I get the idea they're more than just a shapeshifter… hopefully Myeloch has some sort of idea." He stumbled every once in a while, but kept going strong, waiting for whatever was in the creature's saliva to wear off.

Faye shrugged her shoulders and closed the lit on the glass can she was given and was now filled with black scales. She walked up to Rowan and held it out to him. "She sure was strange. I'm not one to judge though." Faye said with the same expressionless and cold face she was usually having, back to her normal self. She brushed a bit of her white locks out of her face and made sure her horns were still hidden between her hair.

"What should we do now? Go back and check in the others?"

Rowan shook his head, that movement alone causing him to stumble a bit. "No, if we went looking for them we'd just risk getting ourselves into more trouble and I don't think I have another fight in me just now." He gingerly took the bottle with the samples and tucked it into a pocket, then set off back the way they came. "We'll wait for them at the entrance, if someone ends up needing our help, maybe we'll be able to recover enough of our strength resting there to actually be useful."

"Sounds like a plan." Faye agreed. She brushed off her clothes a bit before starting to follow Rowan. Seeing as he was in a bit of a predicament with the poison still going through his veins, Faye dashed in front of him and grabbed his arm. "Let me at least help you out until then." She pulled the arm she had grabbed around her neck so he could use her as a support while they both headed back to the entrance.

"Hell no." Rowan insisted, firmly pulling his arm free. "My little brother already had to watch me lose a fight decisively, I'm not taking a chance at him seeing me use somebody else just to walk." When Faye caught his gaze his eyes had turned violet, and his hair a blonde so golden it almost seemed to glow in the dim light from the unrefined lacrima surrounding them. His voice deepened and grew steady, not quite sounding like his own. "Sometimes the appearance of strength is more important than the truth of it. I know that better than most. I will walk on my own." He blinked at his own words and all at once his hair and eyes returned to normal. "But if I do fall… I'm glad you're around to help me back up." He finished with his usual cheeky smile.

Faye held her hands up with the same poker face as always as he pulled his arms away. She was starting to get used to his sudden appearance changes and it no longer surprised her, the only thing that surprised her were the matchup of colors she still couldn't identify. "It's not like Pat will think any less of you though." she mentioned. "But fine, I understand." Faye mad her way in front and proceeded their journey outside. Rowan followed behind with a fatigued chuckle.

Lina and Drell, Path "B" Cellis Mine, Wednesday July 4th, X784
Part 1

The second path was easily the tightest of the three. As this was mainly a crystal mine, perhaps the Burgesses simply hadn't put as much effort into expanding this one. However, it was clear that someone else had decided to pick up their slack. As they journeyed through the tunnel, they began to spot holes and pockets dug into the walls all over. Tools too small for human hands were scattered about, as if their owners were forced to make a quick exit.

Lina looked at the damage with a frown. "It looks an awful lot like they came here to raid the place. Like, I know Burgess said they don't do that sort of thing, but that's definitely a thing they're doing."

Narrow as the tunnel was, it was still wide enough for the group to walk normally, until the floor turned into a slight but noticeable slope leading up. The ceiling was lower here, an exploratory shaft dug by smaller than average miners. It was safe to assume that this slope was the beginning of the kobolds' dig.

"Agh boy," Ith'Drell let out a disgruntled sigh, pulling the backpack from her shoulders and beginning to rummage through it. "Ya know, it's fine. I was fancying a bit of crawling anyway. Just for the, uh, enjoyment of it. Standing and walking in tunnels? Lame. Crawling's where it's at. Super pumped."

Lina summoned her curved sword and held it against the tunnel, seeing if it would fit. "I haven't done a whole lot of crawling but it can't be that bad, can it?" Lina said. "I imagine you deal with this all the time in your adventures when you're, uh, raiding dungeons and stuff."

Lina's sword did indeed fit, and the faint light reflecting off the blade revealed a faint shimmer near the ground. Upon closer inspection, she could see a tripwire stretching across the tunnel entrance.

"Speaking of your prior experience, what do you usually do with those?" Lina asked Drell, gesturing toward the newly discovered trap. "I'm scared to touch it but I also kinda want to at the same time."

"Crawling ain't that bad," Drell replied, "just gets real old when you have to do it every frickin' dungeon you walk into. And every cave. And the occasional house." She looked up from her handiwork - her backpack and weapon tied to a length of rope to be towed rather than worn - and tried to get a good look at what Lina was talking about. "What'cha found, a trap? Ooh, a lil' trippy-wippy? Trippy-wippy-wire-o? Aaight, lemme give ya the rundown."

Lina stood at attention, focused and eager to learn from an expert. Her armoured guildmate leapt to her feet with a grin and took a dramatic stance.

"Okay, step one!" Ith'drell announced. "The observation step! Uh, it's done! You did it. Uh, that's the step where you find the trap. Trap's found, there's a trap." She paused to give a thumbs-up, then in an incredible show of ingenuity used the same hand to hold up two fingers. "Step two! Uh... I, er, forget what this step is called. It's another 'tion' word, I think, uh- doesn't matter, whatever- it's the step where you look at the trap more closely and try to figure out what it does and what to do about it! So we got a tripwire, but where does the tripwire go? What's it connecting to? Maybe, a trap of some kind? Probably. But! Once we figure that out, that's when we get branching choices!" Drell paused again to give the concept of branching choices the utter reverence it clearly deserved before continuing. "Uh, honestly I don't know if the next bit counts as one step or multiple steps and I can't remember what they're called either- oh, but! I remembered the second step, it's, uh, the investigation step, I think. But basically after the second step you do the thing to sort out the trap! So, like… deactivating the trap so it doesn't go off, or setting off the trap in a controlled kinda way, or just straight walking into and through the trap because some traps are pretty useless." Drell shrugged. "But these kobolds are supposedly a lil' cut-above regular kobold danger, so maybe we've got some exemplary work to deal with here."

Lina's eyes sparkled in awe of Drell's knowledge and expertise. "Wow, you're definitely a pro. So, what do we do with it? Cut it? Throw a rock at it?" She held up her sword, ready to take action.

The reptile's eyes widened and she held out her hands. "Woah, ey, no no no no- step two, right? Gotta look at the dang thing first, do a whole lotta looking before even thinking about touching. See where the wire goes, how it's gonna be set off and what it's settin' off." She tiptoed over to where the tunnel narrowed, as if afraid the trap would hear her - and, indeed, as if tiptoeing actually made her metal footfalls quieter - and tried to crane her neck to follow the trap mechanism. "If we're lucky, it might be a trap that raises the ceiling. Dunno how I'd cope with that."

The younger Phoenix mimicked her movements, approaching the wire and investigating it with squinted eyes.

Following the wire, they could see the kobolds had somehow gotten one of the minecarts into their little tunnel, and attached it to the ceiling. It could faintly be seen that the cart was full of rocks, no doubt ready to tip over and fall onto whoever tripped the trap.

"Huh, thought it'd be more elaborate," Lina said. "Don't know if I want those rocks taking up what little space we've got down here in case anything else happens, though." She looked at the trap, then down at her sword, wondering if she could cut the wire without triggering it.

"Hmm…" Ith'Drell rubbed her chin through the helmet. "So it leads up to that cart. I guess that's, like… a fair bit above regular kobold level. We could probably just step over the wire and let the cart down gently. I mean, technically we could just leave it after we step over it, but I don't wanna accidentally forget about it on the way out and get eeeee-" The reptile mimed one hand hopping along peacefully, then punctuated the screeching sound she made by launching her other hand - balled into a fist - directly into the back of the first. Utter carnage. "Pwauooooogsh- Ya know?" She finished.

"Sounds like a plan!" With that settled, Lina carefully stepped over the wire. With a flash of light she swapped weapons, requipping her greatsword and holding it out in front of her like a shield. "Okay, I'm ready."

Ith'Drell followed after, plonking her belongings over the line and entering a crab-like stance to ensure that no wires were tripped when she joined them. "Uh, ok, so my thought was," she pondered, glancing to Lina's appirated weapon. "I get kinda but not totally under there, and we use a couple things for, like, leverage. Try and kinda make as much contact as we can to brace it and just ease it on down to the floor. Can you, uh, head up there a smidge and try to see how the cart's even stuck to the ceiling? I'd offer to squidge past and look myself but, uh, you know."

"Looks doable," Lina said. She shuffled over a bit so she was directly underneath the cart. With the flick of a switch her blade's weight was restored. It dug firmly into the ground, allowing her to climb it. "Just one perk of having a sword about as tall as you are!"

After finding her balance, she stood tall enough to get a decent look at the cart. She found that the cart was secured by three separate lines, two of them leading to different tripwires. Somehow she had avoided the second one in her shuffling. The lower tripwire was designed to tip over the cart, spilling rocks down the slope, while the second would make the cart drop and swing down like a pendulum.

Avoiding the first wire meant that triggering the second would result in a minecart full of rocks smacking into anyone atop the slope.

Lina told Drell as much. "Didn't realize these things were so crafty. Like, I knew they made traps, but I guess I didn't know what traps to expect. Maybe if I just cut the wires from up here it'll be okay. Do you have a knife or something? I'm kinda, uh, standing on mine right now."

"I thought we were standing in a mine- aeaaeeaey- sorry," The fastest finger-guns in the West were holstered almost as quickly as they were drawn as Drell reached down to shuffle around in her pack once more. She retrieved the small knife and resumed her crab-walk over the second tripwire and up to the younger Phoenix, dragging the bag-and-blade along behind her and pausing occasionally to pick it up and plop it over an obstacle. "This seems a smidge more crafty than normal," the reptile told Lina as she made her way over. "I've seen a good deal of crummy ones. Kobold-sized pitfall traps that could hold a kobold if they didn't make any attempt to climb out. Uh, traps that fire arrows from slings at, like, seriously elbow-grazing speeds. A caltrop made of four twigs. A big leaf on the ground with 'ooga booga' written on it. This trap could probably maybe actually kill a guy, so this is pretty top-tier in my book."

Ith'drell drew her sword from its sheath and tried to wedge it behind the minecart amongst the rocky wall, bracing it with one foot. She positioned herself slightly underneath the cart, knees bent, and handed the knife to Lina.

Lina got to work cutting the wires right at the source. "A thought occurs," she started. "If the ceiling past here is too small for you to comfortably walk through, maybe we can use this cart? Like, you crouch in the cart while I push it, with you sticking your sword out or something. Or maybe we could just send it ahead for further traps so there's less of this whole ordeal."

Drell poked her head around the minecart to peek up at Lina, sneaking a hand up to lift her visor and reveal the cheeky grin and sparkling eyes that lay beneath.

---

For all their time spent disarming a single trap Drell and Lina had gained a single minecart, in which Drell now sat, raring to go.

"Okay, you ready?" asked Lina, despite already beginning to push the cart. She did so slowly, still not 100% confident in this plan she thought up on a whim. She just hoped that the experienced Drell agreeing to this meant there was some merit to this.

"Duuuude I'm fuckin' puuumped let's gooooo!" Was the older Phoenix's response as she fidgeted excitedly in the cart.

The cart was old and not well maintained, but it seemed sturdy enough and didn't fall apart. Pushing it through the tunnel was a tight squeeze, and the twists and curves were tricky to navigate, but at least Drell could sit up comfortably. Things were going fairly smoothly, when they encountered another carved out cavern.

This cavern had been widened considerably, being roughly 15 feet in diameter at its widest point. Close inspection of the walls revealed dozens of tiny tunnels burrowed into the rock, each only about a foot and a half wide.

"Gonna be honest," began Drell, her hype having died down considerably since her journey in the minecart began. "I thought this would be, like, way faster. You guys have crazy tech down here; don't you have, like, booster wheels on these or somethin'?"

"If by 'down here' you mean right at the north's edge then not really," said Lina. "Though after seeing the Gryphons' metal jerk, you can totally get boosters in the capital. Never been, but I feel pretty confident saying that."

At the sight of the many little holes, Lina came to a stop. "I could always go faster though. I know this was my idea, but this being my first dungeon makes me a little nervous. Stay cautious, y'know? The fact that we haven't seen any kobolds in this kobold-infested mine is pretty worrying too."

The older Phoenix chuckled, "Caution's generally a pretty good policy-"

There was a loud CRACK as something smacked into the minecart, the sound of scrabbling coming from behind them. A broken sling bullet lay next to the cart, though the assailant was nowhere to be seen.

Another CRACK sounded as another bullet struck the cart, but this time they could see the kobold dive into one of the narrow tunnels, having taken the shot on the run as they investigated the first strike.

Ith'Drell scoffed, "Of course it's slings. Aaight, here we go!" She heaved herself out of the cart, almost tipping it over in the process. "Right, you got a shield or something in your re-quippy-thingamabob space place thing? Actually, you could just- we could tip up the minecart and use it as cover - I'll push it and stick my head in there, we just bumble through and ignore the rocks?"

"How about both?" said Lina, summoning her greatsword. She turned away from Drell and held it out in defense. "I'll cover the back whole you cover the front and, uh, kinda the sides. Depending on how far into the cart you actually go I guess."

"Oh, uh- I was thinkin' you take the cart fully and I just see how much of my big ol' snout I can actually fit in the thing. Figured you'd need it more than me, with, uh-" the reptile rapped on her breastplate. "You know."

"Oh, right," Lina replied. "Armor… sorry." She dismissed her weapon sheepishly and tipped over the cart, sitting inside for Drell to push. "All set…" She sat with crossed arms and a frown. Her guildmate took a firm grip on the cart's sides and began to waddle forward.

"Huh? You OK, Lina?" Drell had nestled her head inside of the top part of the cart as she made the slow shuffle forward, and was peeking down at Lina below her.

She forced a smile for Drell. "I'm fine, I'm just being a moody baby. This isn't quite how I pictured my daring adventure going, but I can't risk messing up such a big mission either."

"Ah, yeah," Ith'drell shrugged apologetically. "I'd have loved to have just shock'n'awe'd 'em too, but y'know- the thingy said they were a tier above, and kobolds are tricky so you've gotta take 'em slow and smart- uh..." The giant lizard stopped. "Speaking of smart, I just realised we can't see. You got a hammer and chisel to requip and get some tiny little eye-holes in this thing, maybe?"

Sling bullets continued to pelt the cart from the front, and Lina could see a pair of kobolds emerge from behind them and take shots at Drell's back. With the minecart armor, they abandoned their hit and run strategy and just started a full on assault.

The bullets stopped hitting from the front, and there was a faint chattering as the kobolds discussed the situation. They could be heard retreating further down the tunnel.

"Ey, stop!" Drell called out, annoyed. "Stop! Be my friend!"

Lina brightened up immediately despite the dire situation. "I should really be careful what I ask for, huh?" She called forth her curved sword and pushed it out past Drell's side. She aimed the tip at the Kobolds behind her companion and activated the blade, charging it with electricity.

"If you're gonna tell me shooting a bolt of lightning down here is a bad idea, you'd better do it quick!" Lina shouted.

"Nah, that'll be epic - you go, dude."

The kobolds reacted with confusion at the sparking sword. The braver of the two launched a sling bullet at Lina.

With a resounding boom, the bolt blasted the Kobold in front, just as the sling bullet struck Lina's forehead pushing her to the back of the cart. She was quick to get up. "Is that all you've got!" She challenged, even as blood trailed from her wound.

The bolt of lightning struck the kobold, blasting it off its feet. Its chest was scorched and smoking from the impact, and it gasped weakly as it lay there. The other kobold dove for the cover of the holes, screeching in surprise and alarm.

"Ah jeez- Lina, you OK?" Drell asked, breathing a sigh of relief when the younger Phoenix responded with a thumbs-up. "Gotta keep the head out of the line of fire. Let's keep going - if you wanna go again just sorta wedge it around and try to peek at where their feet are."

Another sound caught their attention. Not the crack of sling bullets or the chatter of kobolds, but the sound of... clay pottery breaking? Three distinct impacts could be heard, and a thick, dark liquid started to seep under the cart.

Lina hurried away from the cart as she fumbled with her weapon, still trying to reload it with energy lacrima. "Did you catch where they threw those from? I couldn't really see it, being inside the cart and all."

The pots had come from the tunnel ahead, where three kobolds could be seen vanishing into the shadows, and a distinctive glow of fire was rapidly approaching as another kobold came running toward the Phoenixes holding a lit torch. Another kobold dropped from a tunnel in the ceiling, launching a sling bullet at Lina before dashing toward the wall tunnels.

"Huh?" Drell made way for Lina to leave the cart, slightly confused, before peeking down at the soggy floor beneath and letting out a yelp. The reptile peeked over the top of the cart and - seemingly giving up on her plan to use it as a shield - grabbed her things from it, wound up her leg and punted the metal box at whatever lay in front of it. "How the- these guys have oil and fire!? Who even-?"

The giant lizard paused as she noticed a much smaller lizard dashing for cover nearby. A jolt ran down one leg as it extended, launching the massive Phoenix clad in metal toward the wall tunnels at worrying speed. As she skidded across the dirt, the sheath and backpack on one shoulder slid down to her forearm while the other arm grasped frantically for some kind of snatchable part of her tiny adversary.

The greased minecart flew surprisingly well for something so heavy. The kobold with the torch, running as fast as his little raptor-like legs could carry him, never had a chance to dodge. The cart struck head on, crushing him against the floor even as his torch ignited the oil, leaving a blazing cart and a flaming puddle at the end of the cavern. The sling bullets stopped coming, and three more kobolds crawled out of the walls beyond the burning cart, scurrying for the safety of the tunnels ahead.

Drell managed to reach the wall at about the same time as the remaining kobold did, cutting off his access to the tunnel. As he turned to run another way, she managed to grab his arm. He squirmed in her grip, managing to slip free, but she snagged his tail as he tried to bolt. She noticed the kobold had lashed a broken dagger to his tail with leather strips, giving him a makeshift stinger. He struggled and squirmed, his bladed tail whipping back and forth wildly and occasionally scraping harmlessly against plate.

Lina's eyes darted around the cave searching for more kobolds, having narrowly avoided the last sling bullet. Her weapon finally reloaded, she surrounded the blade in electricity to give her a bit more light. To the side she spotted Ith'Drell motioning with her head toward the cave behind them.

"Let's, uh- woah, buddy- let's hang back a bit, Lina," said the big reptile, slowly falling back as she grappled the kobold she'd managed to snag. The little guy had no chance of escaping her grip, but he didn't let that stop him from trying. He finally settled down by the time they got out of the pockmarked cavern, hanging limply in her grip as he caught his breath.

A joint post between Geras, Turnip, and Godzil
​

Path B, Part 2 Cellis Mine, Wednesday July 4th, X784

"So what do we do with him?" Lina asked. "We can't exactly talk to it. Well, I can't, at least."

"Some of these lil' buggers are pretty darn capable of speaking," said Drell, pulling the kobold in her grip around until he faced her. "And these are apparently top of the line. From what we've seen, seems pretty reasonable that 'more dangerous' also means 'smarter' - and if some of the doofuses I've come across before can speak some common, I'm betting- well... uh," She chose to demonstrate instead of elaborating, turning to her impromptu hostage. "Hi, hiya. Hello. Speak common?"

The kobold stared at Drell, glanced over at Lina for a moment, then back to Drell. "Heh… hello. Speak. Kobold... speaks, yes?" His voice was high and raspy, not entirely unlike the growling of a small yappy dog. "Kobold is… smart, yes? Yes. He learns."

Ith'Drell's face lit up, and she glanced at her teammate for a moment as she said, "Aeyy, look at that smart boy! Her over there," She pointed to the younger Phoenix. "That's Lina. Lina calls me Drell, so you can call me Drell too. I'm Drell. You got a name, bud?"

The kobold looked between the two Phoenixes, giggling a little. "Ehehehe, yes. Kobold is smart. He learns. Kobold's name is Vor! Yes." He pointed to Lina, narrowing his eyes. "Lina is fierce, like the storm, yes? She calls the light to strike down her foes. Drell is strong, yes, and wise! She lets Kobold go, and he helps her, yes?"

"Wow, I didn't think they could actually talk," said Lina. "I suddenly feel kinda bad about the one I, uh, zapped."

"Bah," Drell waved away the notion. "I mean, I hope the lil' bugger's ok, but they were tryna kill us. Kinda had it comin', if you ask me. Speakin' of that," She lifted her visor to look the kobold in the eyes. "Aaight Vor, you flatterer, you… be honest. Were you slingin' rocks at Lina back there?"

Vor looked into Drell's eyes, a small grin on his face. "No! Yes. Kobold did not sling rocks at Lina. He slung bullets at the cart. They were ineffective, yes? Drim went ahead to the oil trap, told Vor and Dayv to attack your backsides. This ended poorly for Dayv, yes, and now Kobold is prisoner."

Drell narrowed her eyes, "Kinda just now noticing how weirdly ok you seem to be with that…"

Vor laughed again, a little manically. "Hehe, yes. Drell is kind, and Kobold is not dead because he speaks. Her kind…" here he twisted to glare in Lina's direction, "...would kill without mercy or second thought! Yes. Kobold is smart. Life… no, survival, yes… is the goal."

Lina scowled at the Kobold. "You say all that, but it was you guys who invaded this place. Burgess miners make sure they don't dig through any Kobold dens so I won't buy that you're just defending yourselves. What are you doing here? And we're not leaving until the invasions stop."

The Kobold winced at Lina's scowl, more afraid of her than Drell. "Do not ask Vor. He is only pawn in game of life! Yes. Leader says dig, we dig, yes? We find the shiny crystals, and we add them to hoard. Kobold liked the red rocks better, yes, but he does not make the rules. He only follows them."

"Aaight then, that leader of yours," said Drell. "Where they at?"

"Further ahead." Vor acted like this information should be obvious. "Leader must be in front, yes? Otherwise she would be follower, like Vor. Leader leads the way, is down more tunnels. Drell has not yet visited the 'Fire Trap', or the 'Beetle Farm', or the 'Collapsed Cavern that Used to be the Sleeping Chamber', yes."

"And there's no way to like, not have to go through those?" asked Lina.

"We ask 'cause there were three seperate tunnels, back at the entrance," Drell clarified, jutting a thumb in that direction. "Lina and I just went down one of 'em, we got some friends goin' down the others."

This information seemed to confuse Vor. "Kobold thought you came down this way because it is where the most kobolds are, yes? You must go back through the 'Quick Tunnels' room, which Kobold will now call the 'Burning Cart' room, yes, and into the Fire Trap, then past the Beetle Farm, and there Leader is leading the digging out of the Sleeping Room, yes! We enter these human tunnels because our kobold tunnels, better tunnels, they collapsed! So now we expand and the Burger humans want us dead. Yes."

Lina rubbed her chin as she processed everything. "I can't believe that a Kobold tunnel would just collapse. I thought digging was like, their whole thing. Besides throwing rocks at people, apparently." She gave Vor a quick side-eye.

She turned to Drell. "I don't feel like he's lying though. What do you think? And do we listen to him and go through these other trap rooms? Not super sure about this beetle farm." She shuddered.

"I think our strategy here depends on just how ruthless Vor's buddies are," Ith'Drell pondered. "Our job was, what - come in here, find the cause of whatever was stoppin' the, heh, Burger people from mining here, and put a stop to it or something? Way I see it, ideally, we bring Vor along and try to get a diplomatic leaving solution going on." The Phoenix turned to the kobold. "Now, I ain't gonna say you ain't a hostage, because you pretty much are, but try to work with me here, yeah? You help us go through the trap rooms and sort out a resolution with your, uh, associates, and this'll all go over much quicker and easier and with way less kobolds reduced to smears on rock. And, uh, to sweeten the deal," She turned to start rifling through her backpack with one hand. "I'll even give ya- actually I'm peckish so-" Drell paused to chuck some jerky into her mouth. "I'll give ya some chewy yums. You want some jerky, Lina?"

"Nah, I'm good." Lina answered.

Vor didn't know the phrase "chewy yums", but a kobold knows food when it sees it. He chittered and chattered excitedly as he reached for the jerky, forgetting that Drell didn't speak Kobold. Thankfully, his expression meant that she didn't really need to. The Phoenix handed it over, and Vor tore off a piece of the jerky with his teeth, swallowing it whole. Kobold teeth were designed to rip and tear, not chew, but he seemed to enjoy it.

"It tastes of flesh, but with the texture of leather, yes!" He didn't have pockets, so he held the jerky close to his chest. "Kobold accepts your bribe, and will do as Drell asks. He will try to convince Leader, but do not get hopes up, yes?"

"Nice, let's do it," Ith'Drell nodded. She untied the makeshift knife from the Kobold's tail and left it on the cave floor. "Uh, you can grab that later, I guess? I dunno what's more convenient for you, just needa be sure there's no slicing of the unarmoureds, if ya know what I mean. Anyway, uh, I hope for the best and all but if stuff goes bad then just, like, run away or something. Or if you'll get shit for running away then just jump on my back and start clawing so you can pretend like you're doin' something, I'll remember not to hurt ya."

Vor led the Phoenixes back into the tunnel cavern. The kobold Lina had hit with lightning wasn't lying there, and Vor stopped to scrounge around for a moment, finding nothing. The flames had burnt out on the cart, but the fire had warped the axles and rendered it unusable. Vor could easily slip past the cart, and even Lina could squeeze through, but Drell was forced to move the thing out of her way.

"Yikes, I think I heard someone get hit by this thing," the armoured Phoenix pondered as she squatted to pick up the cart. "That can't have been nice. Hope- agh, for- ah, jeez… poor guy. Sorry. Uh… no hard feelings 'bout tryna set me on fire. Rest easy, bud." Drell looked up from the mess that was once a Kobold below the cart to send Vor a glance. "Any, er… you know, anything I can do here? Cultural protocol?"


Vor looked at the remains, shaking his head. "Kobolds do not mourn for long. Goss was good runner, yes. His body will serve as food, his spirit will mine in the afterlife. He will return one day."

Drell nodded sadly, "I'll, uh, put this down over here…"

"It's probably wrong to feel this way but I'm a little upset the one I blasted got away while this one didn't," said Lina.

The small tunnel led them to a bigger room, the ceiling almost 10 feet high, though narrow enough that Lina could put her arms out and touch both walls. A dozen or so clay pots hung from the ceiling, attached to an obvious tripwire at the far end of the tunnel. A small hole near the hanging pots probably led to another small access tunnel, and three extra cords hung from the bundle, the jars missing from the bundle.

"Before we consult our expert on this," said Drell, putting a hand to her chin and trying to forget about the previous room. "I'm thinkin', these past few rooms'n'traps have been pretty darn good. So that," She pointed to the end of the room's conspicuous trap-trigger. "I'm thinkin' this is a red herring or something. Got a hunch."

Vor walked close to the wall as he passed under the pots. "Drell is perceptive, yes? She notices the floor?" He tapped at it with a foot, making a small section move slightly. "Kobolds dig hole, put stone over top, yes? Heavy humans, like Lina, break sticks, fall into hole, hehehe, yes. Kobolds trip wire, drop oil into pit! Is hard to climb out, yes?"

Ith'Drell recoiled with amused skepticism, "You go for an example of heavy, with me in the room, and pick Lina? My hand's prolly heavier than she is."

Lina shrugged. "I think I'm starting to get used to him, for better or worse."

Vor scowled, tracing the outline of the trap in the dust. "Kobold said 'humans', yes? Lina is only human here. She has only Drell and Kobold for friends here. But traps are for Burger humans, who attack Kobolds on sight."

"Burgers probably just panicked, maybe some of 'em were actually mean - I can't vouch for 'em personally," Drell shrugged, beginning to make her way around the edge of the room. "I'm actually a human too, dude, just a funky one from up north."

Vor looked surprised at that, squinting at her doubtfully. "Drell has jokes, yes? She teases Kobold."

"Dude, it's strong funk."

Vor looked devastated, like a child who has just been told Santa isn't real. "Kobold… Kobold leads human friends deeper in, yes?" He stepped over the tripwire, making sure they both saw it. "Do not trigger obvious trap. Kobold knows humans cannot see in the dark. Yes."

"Ay! No," Ith'Drell stopped and crossed her arms, catching the venom in the kobold's tone. "No no no, hold up, you don't get to do that. You don't get to 'human' us like that, what the fu-? Dude, I thought we mighta had a nice lil' vibe goin' here and you're already givin' me 'tude like that? C'mon, man, that ain't fair."

The kobold looked away from Drell, making a soft growl in his throat. "Drell has been kind to Kobold. Lina… has not been mean to Kobold. Other humans… they make bad first impression, yes? Kobold is sorry. He is smart, yes? He learns. Maybe Kobold learns to get along with humans, if Drell says so."

"We humans, we're a varied bunch. Heck, just look at us two," Drell laughed and let her arms hang by her sides again. She gave Vor a shrug and continued to traverse the tunnel. "Get along with us, at least, and we'll be good as gold. Other humans… can't vouch for all of 'em. Maybe just stick to not trying to kill 'em on sight and see where it goes from there. Oh, uh- anyone else who's in this cave right now, they're probably pretty nice. We got a few friends here in the other tunnels."

Vor was quiet, apparently thinking it over as he led the Phoenixes further down the tunnel. Oddly, the ceiling here was high enough for Drell to stand up, though just barely. Faint chitters and clicks could be heard from up ahead, and a soft red light glowed faintly. Several ropes were tied around two large rocks on either side of the entrance.

The room up ahead was large, even wider than the tunnel room, and nearly 100 feet from the entrance to another tunnel. There was a natural pool of water on one side, with seven large beetles wandering in the chamber. The beetles were each nearly a meter long, though one of them was smaller. The small one's abdomen glowed with red light, but all seven occasionally flickered a red light across their heads, just below the eyes. They had large mandibles, but seemed docile for the moment.

The tunnel at the far end, barely visible by beetle light, was flanked by rocks just like the entrance, with ropes to keep the beetles contained. Kobold sized armor made of beetle chitin hung on a smooth dirt wall, and kobold sized sticks and spears leaned near them.

Lina stuck close to Drell upon entering the beetle room. "I guess that answers my question of what you'd use a beetle farm for," she said. She turned to Drell. "But they look pretty set up here. Think they'll really just leave if we ask them? I get the feeling their leader's not that type of Kobold if they decided to invade here in the first place."

"I mean, I can't be sure," Ith'Drell answered honestly. She lifted her visor for a moment to flash her guildmate a reassuring smile. "If they're as smart as our buddy here, hopefully we can convince them that finding another place is the best option without too much trouble. Sometimes it takes a bit of a fight to knock some sense into people, though, so, uh… ya know. Stay on your toes."

Vor climbed up Drell, clinging to her shoulders. "We go, yes? The beetles do not attack if left alone. Unless they hunger. But they cannot chew through armor, so Kobold stays here. Yes."

"That's comforting," Lina said sarcastically as she summoned her greatsword, just in case.

"You can take my other shoulder if ya want," Drell offered. "Unless you got some armour to requip or somethin'."

Lina shrugged. "Armor's still a bit much for me, but I'll figure something out. And hey, maybe they're not even hungry?"

Vor sniffed at the air from his perch, nearly able to reach the ceiling from Drell's shoulder. "Kobold smells blood. The beetles have been fed recently, yes? They eat the roots, or the plants, but they also eat dead things, yes."

The question was given a morbid answer as they passed one of the beetles, noticing part of a small tunic near the creature. A tunic with a large burn in the center, as though it had been struck by lightning…

Lina recoiled at the sight of her former foe, and at the pungent, vaguely metallic smell that assailed her nose. "I know I'm the one who killed him and all, but I still feel really bad about this. Though I guess that could just as easily have been me down there, huh…"

Ith'Drell put a hand on her guildmate's shoulder. "You were just defending yourself, dude. It's regrettable, yeah, but I think we just gotta, like… keep going forward, or something- dude, I dunno- I'm not great at this," She shook her head. "I gave ya the go-ahead on it anyway, so like… let's try and keep battlefield control, so we don't get surprised into using accidentally lethal force? I guess?"

Lina nodded. "Thanks. I'll have to see about making, like, settings or something for my weapons, too."

Vor spoke up from Drell's other shoulder. "Do not dawdle. The beetles are calm, so we are safe, yes? Lina gave us this chance, yes, and we do not waste it. It is Kobold's way." Not exactly sympathetic, but practical in the moment.

"Ayyup," the larger Phoenix agreed, and the trio made their way through to the next section of the tunnel, full of twists and turns.

After a bit, Vor climbed down from Drell, leading the way slowly. He became more somber, less manic than when they had first spoken. "Ahead is Kobold Den, yes? Kobold's home, his people. Kobold leads you this far because you force him to, but Kobold learns you are not bad humans, yes? Kobold trusts you two will make good choices."

Lina sent her sword away and took a deep breath. "I'm starting to feel the pressure. More pressure than when I thought we were just gonna come here and fight dudes, honestly."

"Ey. Lina…" Ith'Drell gave her guildmate a thumbs-up. "Don't worry 'bout it. You got this. And I gotchu. Yeah?"

"Yeah." Lina gave a thumbs up in return and grinned. "I said I was feelin' it, not that I'd let it get to me."

"Ayyy, aaight, we're in it. We're with it, it's happenin', let's go. Vor, buddy," Drell turned to their small companion. "We're gonna go in there. We're gonna diplo' the crap outta all your friends, and we're gonna sort everythin' out, no violence. Unless they try to hurt either of you two, but even then only a little violence. You wanna go ahead of us a bit, let 'em know we're comin' so they don't sling their everything at us on-sight? I'm trustin' ya, dude."

Vor moved on ahead, and the tunnel was quiet. Listening closely, one could faintly hear the guttural yapping and squawks of the Kobold language. Neither Phoenix could understand the language, nor could they discern the speaker, so when the conversation stopped, they were left in the dark about the details.

After several tense minutes, two kobolds appeared at the tunnel, wearing chitin armor and brandishing spears. They didn't look friendly, but weren't actively attacking, either. One screeched at Lina and Drell, tilting its head toward the tunnel. The other merely glared. Vor stepped up between them.

"Humans enter the Den, yes? Leader will speak." He turned his back, going back into the den. The armored kobolds waited for the pair to follow.

Drell stood for a moment, flabbergasted for a moment as she took in the kobolds' choice of protective wear, before eventually managing to form something resembling a sentence. "Woah, that's- why would you-? I'm just trying to- what am I LOOKING AT-? Sorry, I'll just-" She shook her head vigorously, trying to focus on what she was supposed to instead of the fifty thousand blacksmith's nitpicks bouncing around in her skull, and ducked her head to make her way into the den, with Lina close behind.

With the guards at their backs, they entered into the main room. It was a truly spacious natural cavern, with a chimney going up hundreds of feet to the surface, though a large rockslide had destroyed much of it. A large mob of nearly sixty kobolds milled about the cave, packed in tight in the remaining space. The kobolds parted as best they could, clearing a path to a makeshift throne, of all things.

At one point, the throne had been a comfy chair, with a soft cushion and probably a throw pillow, but now its dusty and rotted remains served as a throne for the kobold Leader. She was tiny, even for a kobold, not even two feet tall, with bright red scales and yellow eyes. She wore a majestic robe (actually a green blanket with a hole cut into the center for her head) and carried a staff topped with a human skull. Or at least, it was designed to look like one. A novelty cane, perhaps?

Vor bowed his head as he approached the throne, turning to face Lina and Drell. "Leader wants to know why you are here. Speak! Yes. Kobold will translate."

Drell nodded to Vor, then turned to his leader. She waved, and as she did so lifted the visor of her helmet. "Hiya! Uh, firstly, thanks for bein' willing to talk it out. It's the wiser choice, for sure - saves everyone a lot of sad." She let her visor fall back down as she continued speaking, glancing occasionally at Lina for confirmation of what she was saying. "Not gonna lie, we were sent here by the Burger people. Their mine was gettin' attacked by kobolds, so they got in touch with our guild to investigate and put a stop to the attacks- but that doesn't mean we're here to hurt ya, we're just prepared for whatever and stuff. Uh, I think they mentioned something about looking for kobold lairs before they started mining and finding nothing or something, right Lina? So that's kinda like… I dunno what you guys have to say about that."

Lina bowed her head, just like Vor. "That's right, Burgess miners make an effort to leave Kobold dens alone, knowing that they could end up in a situation like, well, like this. Just like you they'd rather avoid a fight, but like you they'll fight to protect their mines. But Vor told us that your own mine collapsed, and that's what brought you here. Could we maybe make a deal for you to leave this mine alone? We might be able to ask Burgess if they'd help you make a new home. If you keep fighting, it'll only get worse, and they'll just send stronger and stronger wizards."

Vor translated what they said, though he paused more than once trying to choose the right words. The Leader listened, keeping her eyes on the Phoenixes, except for once when she looked to Vor, almost angrily. Vor winced at her tone, but translated back what she said. "Leader doubts your words. Yes. Humans are tricky, and do not do what they say. Burger humans say they avoid Kobolds, but they collapse our home. Dragon human says Kobolds can have mines if they collect crystals, yes, but Burgers send wizards to take it back. Leader demands proof you are worth trusting, yes?"

Drell nodded, uncertain, "Right, hmm, yeah- uh… 'Dragon human'? That ain't me, right? I didn't say that thingo. Who's dragon human?"

Lina furrowed her brow. "Something's up, yeah. But what do you need as proof that we're trustworthy? I don't imagine our talks will go anywhere until we've got that taken care of."

Vor rolled his eyes impatiently. "Do not worry. You are Drell, yes? Kobold has not forgotten your name. Leader will not trust Burger humans to help, and will not trust Lina after she trusted other humans. Yes. Leader says she will accept the tunnel kobolds dug to as payment. Get rid of… device, yes? Yes. Get rid of device Dragon human left behind, and close off tunnel so kobolds and humans do not meet. There will be fighting if we try to live together, so we live apart, yes?"

"Wait," Drell held up both hands. "Wait wait wait wait wait, who- ok, so, right- seems like a reasonable solution, if it's possible. But, ok, who's Dragon human? What's this device? Need details."

Leader sat back in her throne, looking annoyed and holding her head. Vor took the time to explain. "After our home collapse, kobolds try to dig it free, yes? But then a human comes. He brings with him a dragon, yes, so he is Dragon human. He tells kobolds that Burger humans destroy kobold home, that they dig too deep and too greedy. Yes. So Dragon human says kobolds can have Burger tunnels if they mine crystals for him. He has dragon, yes? So kobolds do what he say. He brings metal device, yes, asks kobolds to protect. But Lina and Drell enter kobold tunnels, get past traps and defeat kobolds in combat. Other humans in other tunnels, yes, so Dragon human does not do as he says, and kobolds not safe. So Leader say we not help Dragon human, yes? We help kobolds! Yes! Drell helps kobolds. Lina tells Burgers not to harm kobolds, let kobolds live in tunnels. And kobolds will leave humans alone. Yes."

Ith'Drell let out a hum and threw a glance her guildmate's way. "Looks like we've got a real interesting character on our hands, here."

"I'm more than a little worried if our guildmates are fighting an actual dragon, even if that does sound really freaking cool," Lina told Drell. "But we've got our own thing to deal with. I'll be sure to tell Burgess about this dragon guy too, but it looks like it's up to you to deal with this machine."

"Up to-? Urp- er, yeah, sure, uh- easy. Great," the larger Phoenix rubbed the back of her helmet. "Uh, where's this device at, then? I don't- uh, yeah, I can do it where is it let me at it?"

Leader leaned back, looking pleased. Vor helpfully translated her message. "Kobold will lead humans to device. Yes. Any questions? No? Then we go! Yes."

Leading the pair back through the crowded chamber, Vor stayed quiet. He led them back into the tunnel, through the curved passages and back to the Beetle Farm before he spoke again. "It is here. Is final trap guarding device. We have hidden it in this room, only halfway through the tunnels! Yes. No one ever checks the middle. They always think the prize is at the end, yes?"

He stepped under the ropes, going to the smooth dirt wall where the armor was hung. "Device is behind this wall. Kobold would help you dig, but he did not bring tools, yes."

Ith'Drell stood with her hands on her hips, appraising the wall. "Right, so… ya mean past the wall or in the wall?"

Vor waved his hand in a sort of wishy washy manner, making a noncommittal noise. "Eehhh, ish… yes… Kobolds did not build wall. Human put device here, where kobolds suggest, and he raised his hands, and fwoosh, the dirt raises up, making wall. Kobold thinks device is behind? Yes." Drell could see that the walls of the cavern were rough stone, but the wall itself was tightly packed dirt, added after the fact.

"Right, uh… so we can just straight up break this wall down? It ain't bearing any load at all?"

Vor nodded. "No. Yes."

"Sounds like wall-busting it is," said Lina. She held out her hand and her greatsword flashed into existence, only for it to suddenly crash into the ground, dragging her with it. She flicked the switch at its base to no avail. "Ugh, just uh, give me a sec to uh, reload this."

Drell jabbed a thumb in the wall's direction, "I mean, I could just, uh…"

Lina struggled with a compartment on her sword's hilt. "Sure, yeah, why not."

Vor quietly slunk over to the wall, grabbing a suit of chitin armor and a spear. He sneakily tried to drag them aside, the armor scraping loudly against the stone floor.

"I'll just-" the larger Phoenix paused mid-heft, shooting her kobold companion a bemused glance. "The fuck are you doin' Vor? Jeez, my ears." Lina kept quiet as she continued working on her weapon.

Vor stopped in his tracks, looking between the pair. "Uh… armor is heavier than Kobold thought, yes? He did not want it damaged, though." He dropped it, moving away from it and tapping his fingers together sheepishly. "Kobold will be quiet, yes."

"Agh, heck it, I'll move it for ya…" Drell heaved the chitin armour from the ground and plopped it on the other side of the room. "Better?"

Vor clutched his spear and nodded, grinning happily. "Yes. Kobold is eager to see Drell break things now."

"Mm'k. Can I just…?" The armoured phoenix swaggered up to the wall, as if she were trying to walk through it. She paused upon reaching the blockade, apparently thinking better of the idea. "I'll just, uh… whu-pah!" One clawed fist, a natural hammer, began pounding away at the top of the dirt wall.

Slowly but surely, the wall started showing signs of damage. It was like punching a wall, but it crumbled more readily than wood or stone. Eventually, Drell could even get a hold of it and tear away pieces. Altogether, it reminded her of digging a hole, albeit on a vertical surface rather than a horizontal one. Soon, she had managed to punch a hole through the wall.

"This is kinda fun," the Phoenix mused. "Reminds me of my kiddie days."

Peering through the hole, one could see the metallic "device" Leader had mentioned. It was a cylindrical piece of metal, about Drell's height but not nearly as wide. An antenna sat atop the cylinder, with one large lacrima crystal on the top, and several other crystals and lights around it. Not very aesthetically pleasing, but it seemed to do… something.

"Hey guys," Drell called, continuing to dig an appropriately-sized hole to walk through. "There's a thing."

"Do we blast it?" Lina asked.

"Uhh…" the older Phoenix looked to Vor for help.

Vor hadn't been paying attention, playing with the spear while Drell dug. He noticed Drell paying attention to him, snapping to attention like he wasn't just posing with the spear. "What? Oh, yes… Break the thing! Yes. Leader says get rid of device, so break it! Show Dragon human what happens when you lie to kobolds. Your stuff gets broken! Yes."

"Right, OK…" Drell stepped away from the hole and crossed her arms in thought. "It looks like we might be able to cannibalize some of the lacrima on the thing. You wanna pop in, Lina? It'll be a while before I can fit through here, heh."

"Oh hell yes!" Lina's eyes were almost sparkling at the suggestion. She put away her weapon and rushed to the hole. "I won't be able to tell what any of the lacrima do 'till I get back, but I'll definitely be able to find some use for them."

Lina slipped through the gap Drell opened for her, finding nothing but the device. As Vor said, the wall was raised to obscure the device, to hide it. It hummed quietly, the lacrima putting off a gentle glow. As she inspected it, the crystal atop the antenna started glowing brighter, the various lights and crystals blinking at apparent random. Drell's plated snout peeked over the edge of the hole she'd made.

"So, Lina. Whatcha think?"

"I mean, it's definitely doing… stuff. Whether it's doing it because I'm close or not is a different question. But this is crazy 'tech, right up there with that Gryphon's suit. Most I've worked with besides my weapons is radios and stuff." She picked a rock up off the ground and threw it at the machine from a few yards away.

The rock made a soft tink as it hit the metal body. Nothing else changed. The machine appeared to be reacting to some other stimulus, perhaps something distant.

"Welp, that's good enough for me!" She held out her hand and spawned not a weapon, but a screwdriver, and got to work trying to pick the machine apart. She started with the lacrima atop the antenna, climbing atop the device. She took the rock she'd thrown with her to use as a crude hammer, the screwdriver doubling as a chisel. Excited fidgeting sounded from the other side of the dirt wall - too clanky and clamorous to be Vor.

"Wait, wh- yooooo-" Drell hollered. "Aayy, you do have tools requipped! Niiiice, dude!"

Vor perched on her shoulder, looking into the hole. "Ehehehe, yes! Take apart the device! Break his stuff! Win a fight for kobolds! Yes!"

After a bit of effort, Lina was able to take apart the antenna and happily claim its Lacrima for herself. But after examining the rest of it, she let out a sigh. "Looks like the rest of it's welded shut. As much as I'd love to dig at its insides, I think now it really is smashing time… Maybe I'll still be able to use some of the leftovers." She shrugged.

"Think ya can smash it, or do I gotta get in there?" Drell asked. "Or maybe you can get it out here?"

"Probably, probably not, and definitely not," Lina answered. She re-summoned her greatsword, lightweight once more, and held it over the device. She flipped the switch to restore its immense weight, bringing it crashing down on the machine.

The heavy blade came down, slicing through the metal, shattering glass, severing wires and spilling fluids. There was a burst of energy, primarily electricity, but with the lacrima removed it was mainly residual charge. Lina could feel the static, but wasn't damaged by the burst.

"Yes! Lina is master swordsman!" Vor cackled happily, shaking the spear above his head. A short laugh exploded from Drell, too.

"Yup," she said. "That'll do it."

One of the beetles had wandered over while Drell and Vor watched Lina work, and it screeched in irritation at the burst of static, chittering and clicking as it scuttled away. Vor clung tighter to Drell's shoulder, wrapping his tail around her arm for support.

"Leader will listen to you now, and kobolds will leave Burges mines alone. Lina will have Burges humans leave kobolds alone, yes?"

"I'll make sure of it," said Lina.

"Kobold shall tell Leader, yes? Then she will probably tell you to leave kobold tunnels." He dropped his spear as he climbed down off Drell. "Kobold is happy Lina and Drell did not have to kill many kobolds today. He is also happy kobolds did not kill you two, yes. Kobold has grown fond of you in the short time we have spent here. Yes."

"D'aw, dude…" Drell knelt down to (almost) Vor's level. "Zero would've been better than two, but… yeah, no going back now. Glad it's gone smoothly from there… let's make sure it all ends just as smooth, yeah?" She turned back to Lina for affirmation, and Lina gave her a nod.

Vor fidgeted a bit, and would be blushing if kobolds could blush. "Come! Yes. We go." He led them back down the tunnel, where they once again had to wait with the two armored kobold guards, who still glared and didn't trust them.

It was a much shorter wait this time, and Vor returned a minute later. He led them back to the throne, where Leader was crouched, perched on the edge of her seat like some small, predatory bird eagerly awaiting news. In fact, the entire tribe was silent, watching the pair as they entered.

Vor bowed to Leader, but spoke to Lina and Drell first. "Kobold will say what you did, yes?" He cleared his throat, speaking loud enough for his voice to echo. Leader kept her gaze on Vor, glancing at Lina once. Whatever Vor was saying, it ended with a manic cackle and a recreation of Lina swinging her sword.

There was a collective gasp from the horde of kobolds, who waited with anticipation for Leader's response. She rose in her chair, and gestured to the rock slide as she spoke. The response was immediate, as sixty kobolds started screeching and chattering, dancing around like an unruly mob.

Drell cleared her throat, "That's, uh, good, right?"

"Maybe?" said Lina, "I'll mentally prepare myself in case it's not."

Vor approached, gesturing the Phoenixes to lean in so they could hear him over the din. "Good news, yes? Kobolds will stop invading Burges mines, and instead start digging out old lair. Kobold trusts Lina to keep her end of the deal. Yes."

Leader tapped Vor on the shoulder, startling him. She said something to him, then headed for the back of the cavern. Vor nodded, turning back to Lina and Drell. "Ehehe… Kobold will be given special honor for his part in stopping the humans, yes? Special kobold ritual, he will be back in ten minutes." He followed Leader to the back of the cave, disappearing into a side tunnel.

"We can wait 10 minutes, right?" Lina asked Drell.

"Ten minutes? Yeah, we got that, easy," the older Phoenix affirmed. "Maybe we can help these guys start digging out their old tunnel."

"Think they'd let us? I'm not really sure how I'd ask for permission though."

Attempting to talk with the kobolds was unproductive, as most were skittish at best and distrustful at worst. Few if any seemed to understand their language, with even fewer speaking any of it. It was easy to see why most of the Empire considered them little more than animals. Some of them attempted to start clearing the rocks, and they didn't reject any help, but didn't ask for it, either. Though she wasn't hugely experienced in that area, Drell's comparatively humongous hands were well-suited to moving rubble. However effective her attempts at communication through miming and pointing were, her help was quite readily accepted after the first massive boulder was dislodged.

After a short while, Vor and Leader returned, Vor seeming surprised. "You are still here? Kobold thought you were going back. Yes." Leader ignored the pair, going to look at the digging, but the other kobolds wouldn't let her actually dig.

Drell looked over and said, "We were waiting for ya, you dingo. Welcome back." She stole a glance at Leader before continuing. "Also, figured it'd be a good idea to get some info on whoever this 'Dragon human' is - y'know, a visual description, and where they were seen heading? Dude sounds like bad news. Could still be in here. Might even know their thing's been broken, dunno. Best we know all we can."

As they left, Vor climbed back up onto Drell's shoulder, finding it surprisingly comfortable. "Kobold only saw Dragon human twice. First, kobold tunnels cave in, yes? Kobolds try to dig, then human come from above. He was tall, yes, like Lina, but with the gray in his hair and the hair on his jaw. He wore the patch over his eye, yes. He tell kobolds that Burges humans make tunnel collapse, and that kobolds should dig other way. Kobolds find Burges mine, yes, and human brings the Dragon. Human tells kobolds to hide device, so we make room in Beetle Farm, human makes wall, and promises kobolds can have Burges mines if we give him crystals. Yes."

"And do ya know where he went last?"

Vor shrugged, not bothered by the thought. "No. Yes. He goes to another tunnel after kobolds scare away humans. Kobolds go there, yes, but Vor was not one of them."

Lina's face scrunched up, but she didn't say anything. After a few moments, she finally spoke up. "We should go back to check up on the others. I know they're strong but we came here expecting kobolds, not rogue wizards or dragons. And if he's part of a dark guild, there could be more of them."

She looked to Drell, then at Vor on her shoulder, and her face softened a bit. "Not without hearing a bit more about this special honor you got, though."

"Ooh! Yeah-yeah-" Drell agreed. "Spill the beans!"

Vor laughed again. "Ehehehe… It was special kobold reward. With den being dug free, there will be more room, yes? So, Leader let Vor help increase size of tribe. Not all kobolds get this honor, yes?"

"Increase…" Lina's face turned red when she realized what he meant. "Oh! I-increase, right. Uh, congrats! Guess you'll have a lot of work ahead of you, huh. With the, uh, increased tribe and all."

"Right," Drell drawled. "Fitness instructor, right?" She winked. "Get all the scrawny kobolds to put on muscle. Increase size. I getcha."

"Yes. Kobold is smart. He learns. Other kobolds will learn, too. Kobold passes on his learning, yes."

They continued like that for a ways, stopping only for a moment so Vor could recover his tail blade, then made their way back to the main mine chamber.

​

Faye Aubrey​

Mornings. Faye's least favourite time of the day as the night owl that she was. Once again she had stayed up until she saw at least the clock hit 3 am. It was a bad habit of hers and an unhealthy thing to do now that she was part of the guild and is required to wake up earlier than she usually does. One morning it was Sarah telling everyone to come downstairs for breakfast, other mornings it was the older Hoskel brother making fun of her proclivity to sleep in. However, unlike other nights, this time she had a reason, and a good one at that.

Faye buried her face in her soft pink pillow, another habit she often repeated in the morning. Next to her was a pile of books. Several were about flower language and had a beautiful cover, mostly decorated with gold and pictures of colourful flowers on the cover. Only a couple were topics about scaled beasts, these books looked somewhat grim. The white haired girl got up slowly and picked up something else that was resting near her pillow. Something she picked up after the fight against that weird woman. It was one of the black scales, an item that piqued her interest.

It didn't take long for Faye to get out of her bed and dressed to spend most of her time in the library again, just like last night. She was unusually fast despite not being a morning person. With all the books in her arms she made her way to the old-fashioned room filled with books about all kinds of topics, you name it and the guild library has it. The shelves held all the different kinds of books in place and sorted, it was truly a sight to behold. Faye didn't know where to start with her newfound hobby but right now there wasn't time for that. She occupied the table she had been using last night as well. Books were laying across it, opened on certain pages.

"Let's see..."

Faye put away the books about flower languages back at the spots she had retrieved them from, after all, she already found the answer to something she was searching for. The Zinnias Rowan showed her the other day was another subject that crossed the girl's mind last night. Faye wanted to find out for herself what Zinnias meant in the flower language. It was hard to find the actual meaning since they appeared to be rare flowers but eventually she found it in a very very old book, hidden away somewhere in the back of the library. It was then when Faye's eyes fell upon another book.

"The Mistlands and it's secrets." it said. The title was all saying. Faye was distracted for a few moments but did not take the book out of it's spot after all. She loathed the book and the whole topic that was Mistlands made her feel wretched but at the same time she was curious. Her eyes fell upon the black scales again, she brought them along to the library for further investigation. It was only then that she realised something.

With that realisation, Faye searched for something sharp. The sharpest thing she could find was a letter knife but it would be enough for what she was going to test. With all of her might, Faye tried to stab the scale the best she could. As expected, it did not take any damage. The letter knife even passed it and left an ugly scratch in the table. This scale was incredibly hard, something they already found out in the caves when Faye unleashed her shadow haunt at the woman. Now she wanted to test something else.

Faye removed her gloves, making the cream white scales that were occupying the lower half of her arm visible. While she held the letter knife in her hand, she prepared herself. If her proposition was correct, her own scales shouldn't take any damage from the knife at all. If it appeared to be incorrect... she would have to explain to the others why there was a letter knife penetrated through her arm. Not the most favourable situation she would like to deal with. Besides, the fact that she's a touched female, or at least born from one would become known. The pain she might have did not even bother her all that much.

Faye let out a deep sigh, a very deep one. Then she stabbed, as hard as she could.

"....!!" Faye watched as the letter knife bounced off from her scales and did not leave as much as a scratch. Not only did she now prove that she could defend herself in a similar way that woman did, she also proved the the scales they retrieved from that woman's beast form was made from a similar material as her own scales. There... wasn't really anyone she could tell though. Except Rowan.

Faye Aubrey​

Prim meandered through the Guild Hall, not entirely sure how she wanted to spend her day as of yet. It seemed celebrations were still sort of ongoing, but her fellow guildmates were mostly doing their own things. Thus Prim had given in to the monotony of boredom and pacing. That was to say, until her pacing brought her past the open door of the library through which she had a clear view of Faye, surrounded by and immersed in books.

Grinning to herself, Prim covertly slipped into the room she otherwise was quite unlikely to enter. She sauntered up to her quietest guildmate, quite suddenly throwing her arm around the other girl's shoulders.

"Now what are you doing spending… day three of our victory celebrations in the Library?"

Faye, who didn't let out as much as a squeak, acted indifferent towards the younger girl who tried to startle her. In a sense, it worked, she just never reacted to anything. "I'm researching." Her only answer was as her finger ran along a sentence she was reading.

"Beasts from the Mistlands are often clothed in feathers, scales or hair. They almost never look human and are thus described as beasts. They've lost everything that made them human to the exposure of extensive ether flowing inside their soma. They bear no emotions nor a capability to understand them." Faye read loudly, then turned to the blue haired shorter girl holding on to her shoulders. "Well, isn't this book just full of harmful opinions."

"Wait, I'm not meant to look human?" Prim asked with mock surprise, "I wish someone had told me sooner! I'd spend all my time as a bird. How could I have been so stupid?"

Prim punctuated this performance by turning into her bird form and hopping across the book, pecking irritably at it.

Faye stared at her with the same empty eyes she always had with her head resting on her hand. "Well, thinking about it now, you are the most human Touched that I have ever met." With her other hand, she shoved the book away from Prim. The book was still owned by the guild after all, they couldn't very well destroy it. Or… could they?

Prim fluttered off of the now moving book hastily, returning to normal beside Faye again.

"Look at Drell, she looks like an alligator for the most part and mo-" the white haired girl immediately stopped her sentence there and blinked briefly. She let her guard down and almost misspoke. That was not going to happen again. "A-Anyway, usually a Touched person has something in their appearance that distinguishes them from normal humans. If you hadn't come out as a Touched the first day that we met, I probably still wouldn't have known." Faye sounded almost jealous. She envied Prim for what she looked like.

"Sure," Prim said with a shrug, "I double down on that by being a Valbestian too though. What was it soldier guy said… something about being a savage. Whatever, it's annoying and people like that deserve to be thoroughly pummeled, but the bottom line is that it's really stupid to judge someone because of how they look or where they come from. I mean, really, Drell's not that different to me and I'm not that different to you." Prim spoke all the while Faye listened and stared at the same sentence in the book. Being called inhuman without emotions brought back some… memories.

"People are people… and some people shouldn't write books. Wanna set it on fire?" Prim's voice pierced through Faye's mind as her thoughts fluttered off.

"Hell yes." Faye responded. She got up and searched around for something that could light it on fire. Although she didn't have to search far, she was holding onto a small fire lacrima in her pockets. One that was only usable for a few times before it would become useless. "Do you want to do the honors?" The white haired girl held out the Lacrima towards the blue haired one.

"Yes, yes I do." Prim grinned. She took hold of the lacrima and book, setting the latter on the ground open to roughly the centre and placing the lacrima between the two sides. Moments later, the much maligned tome was alight. Prim stood back from the book a bit, watching with satisfaction.

Faye stared at the fire as well. It was almost relieving how that book was succumbing and crumbling to the fire and slowly turned into ashes. It took a solid few minutes but eventually the book was no more. "What was the Mistlands like, Prim?" Faye asked curiously but kept staring at the spot where the book had previously been.

"It was misty," Prim replied with a shrug. "My memory of things from around the time the bird thing happened can be a bit hazy, but the general gist is that it's weird and misty. You can hardly see anything and the things you do see tend to make no sense. I saw trees that grew leaves from their roots and a lake that was literally on fire. Between the patches of weird stuff though, it's surprisingly normal. Just wilderness and a fog you can barely see through. I wasn't very far in though, who knows how out there it gets further in?"

Faye was seemingly surprised. "I see…" she responded, "Somehow it's exactly as I had imagined," The girl said, wondering why people would make it voluntarily their homes. Why would people be okay with turning into a hideous creature?

Faye shook her head. Hideous creatures or not, they were still normal people. They used to be humans. Whatever that book said, was absolutely wrong. "I think I'll go to the stores. I need some new outfits. I only have this one currently."

"You see, that is what I like to hear! Let's go spend copious amounts of money on things we don't need!" Prim slung her arm around Faye's shoulders and proceeded to start dragging her out of the room towards the front door of the building - inviting herself along in the process.