Metamorphosis

[Hiver]

Reality crashed down around me and I stumbled, finding myself ankle deep at the edge of a lake, and dropped to my knees, gasping for breath. The path between Ravnica and Azeroth was longer than between Westeros and Ravnica, but I was still capable of doing it with just one stop in the middle.

Barely.

Where the fuck are we?

Raising my eyes, I looked around. I was at the edge of a lake, a forest to my right. The air was comfortably cool, as was the water. Not quite freezing, but still nice.

Sniffing the air revealed that it wasn't a lake. Ocean. The air was full of salt.

Groaning, I stood up and waded onto the stony beach before reaching into my satchel and pulling out Zrazta's soulstone, giving it a small pulse of magic.

Zrazta reformed in smoke and flame, stumbling slightly before grabbing my arm for support. After a moment to get her breath back, she slowly stood up straight and looked around, "...This seems nice," she said and let her hand drop.

"Not too bad so far," I agreed and ran my fingers through her hair, "Are you okay?"

Zrazta nodded and returned to lean back against me, "I'm fine," she said, "Just not sure I'll ever get used to that."

"Sheila says you never do," I said and nuzzled softly.

"I'd believe that," Zrasta sighed and then smiled at me as she moved to take her bag from me, "Have you scryed the area?"

I shook my head, "Has something new I want to try," I said, trying not to look 'too' hard at my naked consort.

From her smirk, even I could tell that I wasn't too successful.

Kneeling down, I put my bag down and started to dig through it for a second. Healing potions, notebooks, gadgets.

Pulling out a little bronze and silver beetle half the size of my hand, I took it into my hand and whispered its instructions to it. Seek out people. Seek out magic. Seek out large monsters.

Then I threw it into the air.

It shone in the bright sunlight for a second, then its bronze back split open as two thin wings unfurled and started to beat furiously, revealing the shiny crystal inner body

Then it took off and buzzed away.

I repeated that another three times before I closed my bag and smiled at Zrazta, "There."

"What do those do?" she asked with a frown, looking after the last one.

"They seek out what I tell them to seek out and then settle down to observe at a safe distance," I said, "Followed by sending a signal back to the receiver," I continued and pointed out a silver circle attached to the back of my left vambrace, "This thing."

"Not very well hidden though," she observed as she turned back to me.

"You'd be surprised how sneaky they can be while hiding in a tree," I said before I smiled at her, "Are you going to get dressed?"

Zrazta smirked, "Just waiting for you to get your hands free to hold my bag, I don't want to get sand in it."

Aww.


XXXXXXXXXXXXX


We wanted to keep a low profile, so we just moved into the forest for shelter while we waited for my spysects to report back, despite how much we wanted to turn back to our real forms. Two weeks in mortal form already… it was getting annoying. No headaches yet thankfully.

Before they did though, we didn't want to go wandering into trouble so we just sat tight. More specifically, we found a large tree and as soon as I sat down against it, Zrazta plopped down in my lap in her armor, leaning against me.

Since then I had just sat there with my arms around her. Not exactly a bad place to be, but it gave me time to think as I sat there with my eyes closed, listening to the forest.

When I had time to think, I had time to worry about Sheila.

"Anything yet?" Zrazta asked softly.

"Nothing yet," I said and pulled her tighter, resting my chin on the top of her head, "We'll know, it'll signal if one of them if something."

"Didn't have those before."

I shook my head, "They're new," I said, "Actually half clockwork. They were part of a test that showed promise, and I put some more functions into."

"Any other new little tricks you haven't told me about?" Zrazta asked with a smile, and sat up to look at me.

I smiled at her, "Eh, a couple," I said and rested back against the tree, "mostly stuff that I already had or rebuilt like my armor and weapon. With a couple more tricks thrown in this time."

The sword I had taken from that pirate… I didn't bother bringing it. While interesting to study, as an actual weapon I had found it rather clumsy. It had been worth studying but not bringing it into the field.

There was no way in fuck I'd bring the actual Gauntlet of Storms with me either. I didn't need to walk around with a tactical nuke in my pocket.

But I had learned so much from both of them. They had been made with some sort of land magic based enchantments.

I had woven that kind of enchantment method into my new equipment as the fifth school of enchantment and I had found that it fit… very well indeed.

Zrazta smiled and reached to brush her long red hair behind her delicate ear, "Like when you redid my armor?"

"Exactly," I said and smiled up at her, "how does it feel?"

"The enchantments on both of them are stronger," she said, "Didn't find any new features though."

I grinned, "Yours and Rengosa's I just improved when I rebuilt them. I wanted you to actually know how to use them without spending hours upon hours to learn how to use them again."

"...That's fair," Zrazta admitted before she blinked and looked down at my left vambrace as it chirped.

Lifting it, I send it a small pulse of magic to activate it. The ring unfolded into a pair of rings that started to spin with a soft clicking while projecting a sphere in the air before us, showing the image of the inside of the crown of a tree.

Frowning, I send a bit of magic with a mental instruction to the construct. The image started to shift as the spysect took to the air and flew forward and out of the tree, revealing a city. It looked pretty average for the multiverse.

Nothing too advanced technologically speaking. Sailing ships in the port in the river going through the city; at one end it seemed to reach the ocean. The city was contained inside thick stone walls, most of the buildings inside also built out of stone.

Something serious seemed to have happened at some point though, as there was a massive ravine in part of the city where the earth seemed to have been split open. Likely had been a while ago, the buildings next to it didn't seem to be ruins.

A small pulse of magic sent the bug flying lower as I directed it to set down at the corner of a roof above what seemed to be one of the main streets.

"Those are elves," Zrazta commented as she leaned against my chest again as she watched illusion, "And humans."

"And some I don't recognize," I added, pointing out a being with red skin, horns and a tail. She didn't seem to attract any more attention than anyone else.

"That's a dwarf too," Zrazta agreed, "Not sure what's that thing next to him is, though. It's not a gnome or goblin."

I shrugged a bit and pulled her close with my free hand, running it along her side as we watched, "Almost looks like a hobbit."

"Like those things you ran into with Rengosa once?" Zrazta asked with a small frown.

"Not sure if it's the same," I said, "But they look about the right size."

"Those elves however," Zrazta said, "They don't look like azerothian high elves. I won't be able to blend in with them. Their ears are smaller and their eyebrows different. I'll have to wear the human ring."

"I could simply take one of our blank rings and make you one with just the adjustments if you want to keep looking like an elf," I suggested, "Just some minor adjustments and you would blend in easily enough."

"That would be nice," Zrasta said and cuddled close, "I did pick this as my mortal form for a reason."

"It is a very nice one," I agreed and sent the spysect a command to return to its hiding place for now, "I like it too."

Zrazta smiled, "Oh, I know you do."

 

[Hiver]

Riding into the city on a pair of summoned horses had clearly been the right move. The guards at the gate barely even looked at us. I wasn't even in disguise at all and Zrazta was wearing the most basic of illusions, mostly changing the shape of her ears and eyebrows.

She even wore her set of armour, no illusions over it since she thought she could get away with it.

...Okay, she got a couple of looks, but no suspicious ones. You know, I'm not sure who designed the first one, but I think I can blame Alexstrasza for picking it to wear and as such spreading it across the dragonflights.

Of course, blame might be the wrong word… I loved it personally. But it did draw attention as well. How often do you see an attractive female wearing platemail bikinis?

Zrazta pulled her horse to a stop next to mine, "We need some money," she said, "the usual plan?"

I nodded, "Yep. Let's see if we can find the market or merchant street."

One of the trickiest parts of arriving on a new plane was to acquire some local currency. That's why we carried jewelry in various metals in our packs. Two sets actually, one enchanted and one normal. Enchanted usually sold for more if we could sell them, but that only really worked if they had enchantments here. If not, vanilla gold rings and necklaces usually sold decently on their own. Gold was gold on every plane I'd seen so far.

Steering my horse to move along the street, following the flow of people and carriages on the theory that the majority of people were going somewhere and for the most part, that was to get something. Which was usually done where you could buy and sell things.

A human boy, looking about ten came running into the street in front of my horse and I quickly brought it to a halt.

"A-are you an adventurer?" he asked, trying to gather his breath.

"Huh?" I asked smartly as I looked down at him in surprise.

"We are," Zrazta said as she rode up next to me again, "Is there a problem?"

He nodded, "Dad told me to find someone. We need help."

"What sort of help?" I asked with a frown, "Maybe we can assist?."

Possible ambush? Rob the newcomers? While we didn't stand out insanely, we did stand out. Zrazta was… Zrazta, and I wore what was clearly some very blinging armour. Mostly leather and metal, but I also carried my dagger and the weapons built into my gauntlets. Neither of us had bothered to hide this time considering that it wasn't that different from what we'd seen some of the locals wear..

He nodded, "Dad told me to go to the tavern and find some adventurers," he said and then dug through his pockets and pulled out a piece of parchment, handing it over to me, "We live in Baker's Alley, at the X. I need to go to the tavern and find some more!"

With that, he ran off.

I looked after him for a moment before I turned to share a look with Zrazta, "...Huh. Want to check it out?"

She looked thoughtful and then shrugged, "Might as well? If they pay, we might be able to skip selling anything."

"And if it's some kind of ambush… I would strongly bet it wouldn't be enough ambush," I said in agreement, "Because I don't think they wouldn't be ready for us."

Nodding, Zrazta held her hand out and I handed over the hand drawn map. She looked at it, turning it a couple of times before she looked around, "...That way… I think."

I motioned for her, "Lead the way."

Zrazta rode past me and I took up the rear this time. While I didn't mind, I didn't have time to enjoy the view much. Taking up the rear, my job was to keep an eye out for ambush.

Which was what an eye in the sky was for.

Reaching into my satchel, I pulled out my bronze, leather and glass goggles, I slipped them on before sending a small pulse of magic into them, activating the enchantments. They had a bunch of little tricks built into them. I didn't need low light vision, I already had that naturally as a dragon.

But they could allow me to see magic if I activated that…. And more importantly, they could connect to the spysects.

I only had one active now, the other three had been recalled this morning. That last one was the one that had flown to the city and the one I connected to now, my left eyepiece showing me a bird's-eye view of us from a hundred meters up.

No sneaking up on us now.

It was more than a bit distracting to use however, so I wouldn't be able to use it during a fight. But for things like this? Worked nicely.

We slowly made our way through the city, Zrazta asking for directions a couple of times as I kept watch over us from the sky.

"This might be the place?" Zrazta said and got off her horse, "...It's a bakery."

"So it is," I agreed and slid off my mount as well, sliding my goggles up to my forehead as I looked at the sight of a pair of buns on the sign, "You know, out of all the possible locations for an ambush, a bakery was not high on my list."

Zrazta nodded and looked around before she turned to me, "Let's check it out."

Tying my horse summon to a pole, I nodded in agreement, "Let's," I said and waited for Zrazta to do the same before I moved to walk in through the door, ready to raise a shield at a moment's notice.

Inside was a human and a dwarf. The human was of average build with medium length brown hair, kind of slicked back across his head, wearing leather armor with a shield hanging on his back and a sword at his belt. The dwarf had long red hair, pulled back in three braids, his long beard tied in another two thick braids. He was wearing leather as well, but with plates of metal attached over vital spots and he was carrying a large warhammer.

They turned to us as we entered before turning away again.

What the fuck is this?

 

[Hiver]

"Oh thank you!" a man said as he walked out from the back of the bakery. He was a big and bald fat man, but looked like he spent all day working dough and lifting heavy things. Likely the owner and/or baker of the bakery, "I hoped somebody would come."

"What's the problem?" Zrazta asked him.

He turned to her and bowed, "Anders Lauder, at your service, Lady Adventurer. I'd like to hire your services, as well as the services of all of you here if you are interested."

"Darius," the dwarf said, "What's the job and what's the pay."

"Something broke into the store from the sewers," Anders explained, "I don't think it was goblins or kobolds, but other than that, I don't know. But it broke through heavy wooden boards on the way inside."

The human rested his hand on his sword hilt, "I'm Zeek, could be a giant rat or something," he commented to the dwarf, "We'd need to see the place to be able to tell more," he then added to the store keeper.

"Atreus," I said, giving my name and motioned to Zrazta, "Zrazta. Why don't you contact the city guard?" I then asked the baker.

Anders turned to look at me and he sighed, "They'd show up, take a look around and then board up the hole again before leaving. My family lives above the store - my son or wife could be taken if they come back."

"And the pay?" the dwarf, Darius asked him as he crossed his arms.

"Two gold each," Anders said and sighed, "I'm not a rich man. If I could, I'd give you more."

The reaction from the human and dwarf showed that it wasn't a lot of money. The human finally shrugged, "Fine, we'll take it."

Darius didn't seem completely happy with it from the glare he shot the human but he finally nodded as well, "Fine."

Anders turned to us. Zrazta nodded, "We'll do it as well."

"Thank you! Oh thank you!"

Zeek looked over at us before he nodded, "More people is a good thing. You're clearly well equipped. You're experienced fighters?"

"We have been in a scrap or two," I confirmed with a nod, "We are new in this area though, so how about you two take the lead?"

"Fair enough," Zeek agreed and turned to Anders, "Can you show us the hole?"

"Of course, of course!"

He led the way into the back of the store and we followed, Darius stealing a bun on the way past. The store had a big hole in the floor, leading down into some kind of tunnel. The thick floor boards had been broken through and wrenched to the side.

Zeek looked around, "...Not sure what did this," he admitted, "but to break through the floor like that, at least one of them was strong."

"Yeah," Daruis said and then looked at me and Zrazta, "So what do you two do? Magic? Melee?"

"I cast magic, mostly fire," Zrazta said with a nod, "Atreus does magic as well, but he also fights with a variety of weapons."

"Sorcerer and spell-sword," Zeek said, slowly nodding, "That'll work, we could need some magic support. I use my sword and shield while Darius clobbers them with his mace."

"Warhammer," Darius grumbled, "Why make it more complicated than it needs to be? Hit something enough with something heavy and it stops being a problem."

To be fair, he was completely right about that.

Zeek turned to the shopkeeper, "We'll need some torches."

"I'll get them," Anders agreed and hurried out, leaving us with the hole in the floor. I looked down into it and frowned as I sniffed the air. It didn't smell very good, but it didn't really smell like sewers either.

"What could be down there?" I asked, looking towards Zeek.

He shrugged, "Could be pretty much anything. If it was goblins or kobolds, they had something strong with them to break the boards, they wouldn't be able to do that on their own."

"My bet is just on a giant rat," Darius grumbled, "Fucking things thrive in the tunnels."

"Could be," Zeek agreed and looked around, "I'd think there would be more of a mess then though."

Anders returned with the torches, handing them out. I didn't bother taking one. Zrazta didn't either, leaving them for Darius and Zeek.

Zeek hung a pair of spares from his belt before holding his torch for Zrazta, "Would you mind, Lady Sorcerer?" he asked with a smile.

She smiled and sent a spark of flame at each of their two torches, causing both of them to burst into flames.

"Thank you," He told her before he looked between us, "I take the lead, Darius with me. Then Atreus and Zrazta last?"

"Sounds fair enough," I agreed and "Stay to the left side of the tunnels to give us a clear view."

I had been looking forward to seeing how practical my new toys were in the field.

Zeek nodded in agreement, "Sounds good. Let's get going."

 

[Hiver]

We followed Zeek and Darius down into the dark tunnel, the walls slightly dank and moist, the sound of water could be heard dripping somewhere in the distance.

I reached up to push the goggles down over my eyes, giving them a small pulse of magic, activating the mode to allow me to see magic.

Nothing stood out to me. Zeek and Darius didn't carry magical equipment. I spared a glance back at Zrazta. As expected, her armour was glowing with magic. I made it after all.

I didn't bother looking at my own stuff.

That'd be way too bright. I had wanted to give each of my Consorts the same equipment that I used, but none of them wanted anything with all the gizmos. Just the enhancing and protecting enchantments as they didn't have time to learn how to use it all.

"Why did we do this again?" I whispered to Zrazta, "We were meant to explore the city and find someplace to learn about this place until we can leave. Now we're in the… sewers or something, hunting what may or may not be a giant rat."

Zrazta grinned briefly, "Because this is interesting, don't deny it."

Well, she wasn't wrong. This was interesting.

I smirked at her and pulled my dagger, continuing after the human and dwarf along the tunnel. While this could be interesting, we needed to know more about this place.

We didn't even know what the city was called!

"So what brings you two to Neverwinter?" Zeek asked, glancing back towards us.

Oh.

Well, that answered that.

"We work for a merchants guild of sorts," Zrazta said, "We are visiting Neverwinter to see if it's a good place to open a new location."

"Anything we have heard of?" Zeek asked her quietly.

"The Azure Consortium," Zrazta answered, "They trade in knowledge and magical devices."

"That explains the fancy stuff," Darius grumbled, "Can we focus on the job now?"

The dwarf had a point there. Zeek held his hand up, "Wait…"

"What?" Darius asked him, "What did you spot?"

"Tripwire."

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess giant rats don't set traps?" I asked as I peered into the dark tunnels.

"They don't," Zeek said and glanced around, "Goblins and Kobolds do. This looks Goblin made. Goblins love traps."

Well fuck that. I'm not wandering around in dark tunnels filled with traps and I'm doing it even less with Zrazta along with me!

"I have something for that," I said and started my summon, moving to the side and putting my dagger back in my belt, "I have a trap detector."

A bright greenish flash of ligh filled the tunnelt and my frost troll appeared. It snorted and looked around, barely fitting in the tunnel as it's deep growl echoed, rumbling through the tunnel like a distant freight train.

"What in the fuck is that!?" Zeek choked out and turned to hold his shield up, sword at the ready.

"Relax, magical construct," I told him and patted the thick and coarse fur on the trolls shoulder, "Make some room, will you?" I asked, and then sent the troll charging.

The frost troll roared, seeming to shake the funnel as it charged down the tunnel past the human and dwarf, it snapped the trip wire and there was a trio of puffs. Darts hit the frost troll in the side.

The troll didn't seem to notice nor care. It roared and kept charging down the tunnel, not even slowing down.

Zeek and Darius turned to look after it for a moment before turning back to us. I shrugged, "What?"

"Who the fuck are you people?" Daruis asked with a frown, "That's high level magic you were just throwing around!"

I shrugged, "Told you. We are looking to expand into Neverwinter. We don't normally do this stuff, but they asked for help, so…"

Zeek looked worried before there was a sudden sound of battle and yelling from down the tunnel, "I...I see."

"Looks like the trap detector found the goblins," I said and pulled my dagger again, "Shall we go have a look?"

Zeek and Darius shared a look before the Dwarf sighed, "Might as well."

We slowly made our way down the tunnel, past a couple of side passages and twists and turns. There was evidence of traps having gone off. Spring loaded spikes, fallen rocks. Dead goblins.

Some of them had blood on them. The goblins were all over the place.

In the end, we entered a large chamber, a crossroads of tunnels of sorts. It was filled with huts of sorts, one side of it set up as a pen with a giant rat in it.

There were goblins everywhere. Or at the very least, goblin parts. The place was wrecked, it looked like it had been ripped apart by a large and very pissed off troll or something.

Said troll was in the middle of a battle to the death with a rat bigger than itself and they crashed into a hut, crushing it to the ground beneath them as they went rolling.

Zrazta stepped forward, shifting her arms and channeling magic into a fireball before sending the pyroblast towards the rat. The large rodent was sent back, slamming into the wall as it was engulfed and set on fire by the magical explosion.

It collapsed onto the ground and stopped moving.

Looking around, I then sent an unsummon at the frost troll, causing it to pop out of existence. Lifting a piece of fallen roof, I peered inside and pulled out a sack before I peered inside, "This is full of flour. It seems that these were the thieves," I said before I looked up again.

Zeek and Darius were staring at us.

 

[Hiver]

The baker had been more than a bit surprised to learn what had been hiding in the tunnels. He had quickly paid up however.

"Are you sure that troll was a good idea?" Zrazta asked in a soft whisper, "I thought we were meant to not draw attention to ourselves."

"I wasn't about to have us stumble around in the dark tunnels full of traps," I whispered back, "It'll be fine."

Zeek walked out of the bakery, making his way towards us with Daruis in tow, "...You guys aren't normal adventurers, are you?"

"How do you mean?" Zrazta asked with a frown, letting one hand drop from my shoulders as she turned to him.

He stared at her for a moment, raising his finger, "Because I have worked with wizards, sorcerers and even a warlock or two in the past. That wasn't a fireball, that was something else. A fireball explodes, that one didn't even singe the fur on that… trap detector," he said and turned to me, "I'm not even going into that one right now! What I'm getting at… you two are way too fucking good to be involved in a bakery break-in that pays two gold a head."

I just kind of blinked at him so he continued,

Zeek motioned to him and his dwarf friend, "That's the kind of stuff Darius and I do. Somebody needs a giant rat, some goblins, even a giant spider or two smacked about, they call us in. Maybe guard a caravan or two."

Darius grunted, "You two are decked out from ears to toes in magic items. Whatever it is you're doing, we want in."

I looked them over with a small frown, "Really?"

"You mentioned the Azure Consortium is expanding here? Some kind of merchant's guild?" Zeek said and looked to Zrazta, "Surely you're going to need guards or something for that?"

"Maybe," I told him, "More than likely even. But we should go somewhere else to talk, it's not something to discuss in the middle of the street."

Zeek nodded and looked to Darius, "Beholder and Bucket?"

Darius scowled a bit but nodded, "Beholder and Bucket."

I get the bucket, but what the fuck is a beholder?

"Come on," Zeek said and grinned, "I know just the place."

I shared a look with Zrazta before she nodded,

"Okay, lead the way," she told him. He nodded and motioned for us to follow him. I walked along with Zrazta, glancing down at my armour. They had a point, though. Zrazta's stuff wasn't clearly magical, just… not very covering. Mine however… it clearly had things attached to it to anyone that had any kind of clue. Maybe we were sticking out a bit more than we should.

I reached and turned the small knob on my vambrace making my armor look like a set of studded leather armor, very similar to what Zeek was wearing actually. Or at least it was close enough to any other set of leather armour we'd seen on basically every Plane ever.

"Here we go," he said as we reached a stone and wooden building, "The least bad tavern in the city! The beholder and bu-" and he turned to us before he stopped to stare at me.

"What?" I asked with a frown.

He shook his head, "...Nothing. Nothing at all. Fuck me, I need a drink," he said and pushed the door open, leading the way down the stairs.

The inside of the tavern was slightly smoky, a fire burning in the fireplace. There were thirteen tables and a bar. About five of them were occupied. Two small groups, a couple of pairs, and one or two sitting alone. Somebody was sitting in the shadow in the corner in a cloak, a slight glow revealing a pipe.

Zeek made his way to one of the corner tables, motioning for us to come along, while Darius made his way to the bar.

I rounded the table and pulled the chair out for Zrazta. She smiled and sat down before I moved to sit down next to her, making sure to put us with our backs to the wall. As we sat down, I detached a small circular device from the side of my right knee, putting it against the underside of the table.

It did two things. If triggered, it would make a shield wall before us, and it would blast the table away from us.

Zeek dropped into a chair across from us, looking over towards the counter. A couple of minutes later Darius joined us, carrying four large tankards with foaming mead. He slid a pair over to me and Zrazta, putting one down for Zeek before sitting down himself,

"So what're we doing?" The dwarf asked, "What's the Azure Consortium?"

I picked up the mead and sniffed at it, letting an enchantment in my glove analyze it. No poisons other than alcohol. I took a sip before putting it back down on the table,

"The Azure Consortium is a group focused on the gathering, preservation, and trade of knowledge," I explained, "It can be how an item is enchanted. How to cast a spell. How a battle tactic is used. How to make your grandmother's oatmeal cookies. It doesn't matter what it is, we want it. We'd trade for it with other knowledge, gold, or items."

Zeek frowned at me, one hand on his tankard, "...Why?"

"Because knowledge is power," I told him, "With the right knowledge, a single gold can be turned into a thousand. Perhaps even literally. But that's only part of it. We don't just buy from anyone, we also sell to anyone. At a small profit, of course."

Darius looked at his mead, "...You sell scrolls of spells?"

"Among other things," I allowed, "Along with magical items and enchantments."

Zeek looked thoughtful, "I would have thought we would have heard of you before."

"We're not from around here," Zrazta said with a smile, "We're looking to expand. So what do you say? Interested?"

Darius grumbled into his mead before putting it back down, "What would you need from us? I'm not the reading type."

"For now, mostly a local guide," Zrazta told him, "Somebody that can show us around the city. I would think you know some people? If we could be introduced to some local magic casters, that would be great."

"...We may know some people," Zeek slowly said before he smirked, "But that information would have a price …"

I couldn't help but laugh as I nodded, putting my hand in my satchel and pulling out a pair of the already enchanted rings, sliding it across the table to them, "You'll fit in just fine, I think."

Zeek picked his ring up, looking over the silver, "What's this?"

"Enchanted ring," I told him, "Put that on, it'll let you see in the dark. Both of them are the same. They'll also resize to fit the wearer."

"Really?" he asked, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he stared at the ring in his hand like I just handed him something priceless.

Seriously, was that really such a big thing?

 

[Hiver]

Zeek led the way along the street towards a large stone building. The street was fairly crowded by the inhabitants of the city, slowing us down a little.

"What kind of place is this?" Zrazta asked, following behind him as I took up the rear.

"The Neverwinter Academy," he explained and looked back at us, "I have a friend there, he should be able to help."

"In what way?" I asked, keeping a hand on my satchel. Not that anyone other than me and Zrazta could open it here.

"He's a wizard," Zeek explained, "He knows these kinds of things. We worked together before, he's pretty bright and not as completely snowed in as most wizards."

I nodded, "Lead the way then," I said and followed along with Zrazta.

The Academy turned out to be a large stone structure. Not a building, but more of a campus really, all contained within a second set of city walls.

He led the way in through the open gate and past the wall, into a courtyard. One end consisted of a training section with a group firing bows at targets.

"Not just magic?" Zrazta asked him.

Zeek shook his head, "The Neverwinter Academy teaches a number of skills. Magic is just one of them," he explained as he led the way towards a towering structure, "I got my training here in part."

Zrazta nodded and looked around, and I followed them inside. The inside was a maze of corridors, rooms and halls, but Zeek clearly knew the way through to our destination.

He knocked on the heavy oaken door until a voice called out.

"Hey Sammy," He said as he walked inside, pushing the door open.

"It is Samuel!" a voice answered before its owner poked his head out from behind a half-filled bookshelf, "I have told you a thousand times not to call me that."

He was a human in his forties and wearing a heavy blue robe, his beard was fairly short and badly trimmed, almost like he just let it grow and then hacked it off when he got annoyed with it. It contrasted with his balding scalp, a pair of glasses resting on his nose.

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, I have some people I want you to meet," Zeek said with a grin as he walked up to spin a chair around before dropping down to sit on it, "This is Zrazta and Atreus. They're-"

"Yes, yes, I'm sure it's nice to meet you," he said, "but I really don't have the time. Goodbye."

Zeek frowned at him, "That's a bit short even for you, Sammy. What's up?"

The Wizard glared at him for a moment before motioning towards the table behind Zeek, "See for yourself if you've learned to read yet." He then disappeared again behind the bookshelf, muttering to himself.

I shared a look with Zrazta.

She just shrugged. Zeek meanwhile had picked up the letter and eyed through it,

"Ah," he finally said, "You found it then?"

"Found it!? Found it!?!" Samuel exclaimed, emerging from behind the bookshelf with an armful of long scrolls, "Damn right, I found it! And now that charlatan conman is trying to get there first! Do you have any idea what kind of damage that book could do in the wrong hands!?"

"I'm fairly sure you're going to tell me, whether I like or not," Zeek said and dropped the letter back onto the table.

"If the wrong person gets the spells in that book, they coul-" Samuel started before glaring at Zeek, "very funny. But I don't have time for your shenanigans right now, I need to leave at on-" he started to say before he paused and blinked at me and Zrazta, "...Who are you and why are you in my lab!?"

Zeek just sighed, "This is Atregos and Zrazta. They are part of some sort of merchants guild that's to open in Neverwinter. As they trade in magic and such, I figured I'd introduce you."

The Wizard blinked at it, "Magic? What magic? I am Samuel Hernadius the third, Thaumaturgist and researcher of arcane knowledge."

"I am Atreus," I told him, "This is my wife, Zrazta. We were looking for somebody local with magical knowledge that would be interested in trade and gathering of knowledge. But you seem to be quite… busy."

"Yes. very busy."

"They gave me this as payment," Zeek said and flicked the ring over to Samuel, "What do you think?"

The Wizard caught it easily, turning it over in his hands as he peered down at it. He blinked before he frowned. Putting it flat in one of his hands, he ran his free hand over it, light shimmering.

He blinked again and repeated it before quickly moving over to an overloaded workbench. A sweep of his arm sent scrolls and little items onto the floor, revealing a silver circle inlaid into the top of the stone table.

Setting the ring down in the middle, he started to humm and wave his hands. I reached up and pulled my goggles down over my eyes.

Magic was emanating from him, channeling through the air. The circle glowed in the view of my goggles, streams of magic moving across the surface of the ring, seeking, probing.

Finally he snatched it from the circle and turned to us, sliding it down his finger and looking around. A couple of moments later he pulled it off his finger and stormed over to us, waving it in my face,

"Who made this!? Where did you get this!?" he demanded loudly, "The enchantment is unknown, the method is unknown, the effect is a Dark Vision enchantment with unlimited range! Who Made This!?"

"I did," I told him calmly, "I take it as this is you being interested in hearing what we have to offer?"

He gaped at me for a long moment before the air seemed to run out of him, "...Later. I need to go."

He flicked the ring over to Zeek.

 

[Hiver]

Zeek held one finger up at me, "One moment," and then quickly moved over to grab Samuel by the arm, pulling him behind the shelf for a whispered conversation.

I shared a look with Zrazta.

My Consort just shrugged a bit and then made her way over to look at a map of the city and surrounding countryside hanging on the window.

Leaving them too it, I just shrugged too and started to flick through the book closest to me on the table. It was a heavy leather bound book, hand written with images of beings drawn in it. I didn't bother reading it other than look at the pictures. Mostly animals of different sorts, some other beings.

Library would be able to show it to me in detail later anyway so I just flicked through it as quickly as I dared to let my construct scan and memorize it.

"We leave at once!"

I almost jumped out of my boots as Samuel rushed out from behind the bookshelf, Zeek in tow, "Wha…" I started to ask. Samuel ignored me and simply pointed at Zeek,

"Meet me at the main gate in thirty minutes! Bring the Dwarf!"

He turned and rushed out, the door slamming shut behind him. Zeek rubbed his forehead for a long moment before he looked to me and Zrazta,

"...Sorry about that. He's right though, this is important."

"What is?" Zrazta asked with a frown.

"I don't know the entire story," Zeek admitted and leaned against the table, "But the short is that Samuel has been on the track of a grimoire of some sort for the last five years. Big book of big magic, not entirely sure what it does, he explained it to me once but it kind of went over my head. Something to do with magical planes or something. Now he found out where it is."

"As has somebody else," I said and closed the book on beasts.

"Yeah," Zeek agreed, "Mundus. He and Sammy have been in a feud for the last… I don't know. As long as I've known him. At least ten years. He think Mundus will use the book for evil and I'm not about to argue. We have had a couple of run-ins with him over the years and I wouldn't be surprised. He's a warlock, not a wizard. He makes deals, sacrifices things. Bad guy, short and simple. If you'd be willing to come assist us, I'm sure it would be worth your while? If nothing else, it would guarantee that Sammy would help you get a foothold in the city. Despite appearances, he really is a brilliant wizard and he does have some pull with the local nobles."

Zrazta looked at me, "Six days, Atreus."

I took a deep breath and let out a sigh before I nodded, "Six days. We need to leave in six days, no matter what. How far away is this… thing?"

He shook his head, "Don't know, he wouldn't tell me."

The smart thing would have been to just turn away and head back into the city. Sell some trinkets and get a nice room and then spend the rest of the time exploring the city with Zrazta.

I looked at Zrazta. She smiled a bit and gave me a small nod.

"...Six days," I said again, turning to him, "We'll help, but in six days we're out, no matter what."

He nodded a bit, "Thanks, but I'm not sure we'll even be able to get there in six days."

"We'll see," I said, patting my satchel, "Of course, we should likely get going as fast as we can."

"Meet you two at the gate then?" he suggested and lead the way out of the lab, "I need to collect Darius, talk him into coming along and then grab some of my gear."

"Sounds good," Zrazta agreed. He gave us a wave and left.

I sighed and then looked to Zrazta, "This is a bad idea. We have six days before I can walk again and as soon as I can, we're leaving. This is going to be tight as it is and if we can't find Wrathion quickly…"

She nodded and then smiled at me, "Bad idea, maybe. But it's really interesting and may get us a new branch for the Azure Consortium."

"Yay, one more place to pick up and drop off for," I sighed as we walked outside into the sunny afternoon, "If we're going to keep doing that, we're going to need to recruit somebody to help or find something else that makes it easier. Because as it is, it takes way too much of my time."

"I know."

I slipped my arm around her waist, "...And now we're going to be dragged out into a possibly dangerous adventure to stop an evil wizard from getting a hold of a book of dangerous spells? I'm fairly sure this wasn't what Alexstrasza had in mind for this."

"No, but I don't think that my grandmother wanted you to stop being you either," Zrazta said softly, "And we did what she wanted us to do. We got the books… or some of them at least. So far we are on schedule too."

"I know," I answered, "I don't want to be late. I want to be there when she comes out."

"Me too," Zrazta agreed, "We all do. Atreus, I'm as worried about Sheila as you are."

"I know," I admitted and then shook my head, "Okay, let's head to the gate and see what all this is about. If it's too much, we'll tell them to piss off and go find an inn or something.."

 

[Hiver]

Our destination was apparently a seven day ride from Neverwinter. I put a kibosh on that and unpacked the flying carpet.

It was a bit of a tight fit, but all five of us managed to squeeze onto it with all our packs.

"We're making good time," Samuel yelled over the wind, "We might make it in time!"

"If we're still on course," I answered and touched the carpet slightly, adjusting the path slightly to avoid a hill further away.

"We are," he answered and held out a book, pointing at the map, "We are about here!"

I just nodded.

Zrazta shifted closer to me, "We should find somewhere to set down, the sun is getting low," she said and got a bit more comfortable.

That was more than fair. While both of us could see in the dark easily enough, I really didn't see the use of flying through the night, it would only take about half a day more to get there anyway.

We'd arrive by mid day anyway.

"Sounds good," I said, "keep an eye out for a good spot to land."

"How about there?" she asked and pointed towards the hill we were approaching. It had a clearing at the top.

Zeek shook his head, "Bad idea. We'd be visible for miles when we get a fire going. These woods are infested with things."

I glanced at him, "What sort of things?"

"Lots of things!"

...Fair enough. Not like some places in Azeroth were any more hospitable. Well, for mortals anyway, not a lot of things went after dragons.

I gave him a nod as we passed the hill, shifting the course across the forest while keeping an eye out for a good place to settle down and land.

Zrazta touched my shoulder and pointed again. I followed her direction. It pointed to a clearing by a small stream in the thick forest.

Nodding, I shifted course to go down lower, passing over it while looking back at Zeek and Darius, "What about that?"

"Could work," Zeek agreed after a second, looking out over the edge of the carpet.

Nodding, I shifted and slowly circled down into the middle of the small clearing as I looked around. Nothing jumped out and went to try to eat us so it didn't seem like a bad spot.

Setting the carpet down, I stood up and stretched, trying to get some circulation back into my legs. I'm not made for sitting around all day.

Zrazta did the same and rolled her shoulders, "Weather looks nice, no need to bother with the tents," she said as she spread her arms.

"Sounds good to me," I agreed and rubbed the back of my neck, "While that carpet is practical, it's a pain in the neck to use."

The wizard got up and checked his bag, assumingly to make sure everything was still there before he looked at us, "Speaking of which, where did you get it? I know the college has one in the vaults, but they are… rare. Expensive."

"Made it," I said as I walked over to the stream and knelt down, taking some water in my hand to sniff it. Clean.

I took a drink before starting to refill my waterskin.

"You made it!?" he exclaimed as he turned towards me, "That's impossible!"

"Not really," I said and glanced back at him, "Why?"

"They are expensive to make," he continued, "And the knowledge to do so… lost."

I shrugged, "Not that difficult," I said and shrugged, "That one I made in an afternoon when I was bored. It's a bit non-standard as it lacks the crystals in the corners normally used for the power storage but I wove that into the general enchantment matrix instead. See, I bypassed the normal requirements by tying it directly to the gold thread through the fabric instead of-"

Zrazta touched my shoulder and gave me a look, "Atreus, perhaps leave the shop talk for another time?"

Oops.

I nodded, "Yeah, sorry. Let's find some firewood," I said as I stood up, shouldering my pack again and putting my waterskin away.

"Wait, you said something about an enchantment matrix?" Samuel asked, digging through his pack for a scroll and quill.

I waved him off, "Later," I said as we walked past him, "If you end up joining the Azure Consortium, you'll get access to that and more. Now, Zrazta is right. Unless you want to sit in the dark in a little bit, we need to find some firewood."

 

[Hiver]

"There!" Darius yelled and pointed forward. There was a mountain in the distance and I could make out what looked to be jagged ruins of a castle or fortress by the top.

I didn't like the look of that. There was very little in the way of cover for an aerial approach and while I didn't exactly expect a lot of anti-air fire, if they saw us coming…

I shifted course slightly, going lower than the tree tops, "Zrazta, blur spell?" I asked.

Nodding, Zrazta started to channel a spell around us, causing our shapes to blur into the background and making us almost impossible to spot from a distance.

"Where's you taking us?" Samuel yelled and pointed, "It's that way!"

"Not going straight there," I said, "If they spot us and have decent magic, they'll blast us from the skies."

"Fair point!" he admitted.

Zeek pointed, "What about landing there?"

I followed where he pointed. It was for one of the smaller peaks just beneath the castle, maybe five hundred meters out.

"Looks good to me," I agreed and shifted my course there.

I would have been happier to do this in the middle of the night, but really, who expected to be attacked at noon?

And with some luck, we had made it here before the other guys.

Even so, I kept an eye on the fortress ruin as we got closer. No movement, no bolts of energy or balls of fire coming to smite us from the air.

Half an hour of flying later, I settled down on the rocky ground on the small path moving up along the edge of the cliff heading towards the fort.

Zrazta dropped the blur spell and groaned as she stood up to stretch, walking off the carpet.

Trying my best to ignore how distracting I found that, I got up as well and rolled my neck before moving to help her roll up and put away the carpet in her bag as soon as the others were off it.

Closing her satchel, she looked to me, "Have a look at what we're facing?"

I nodded and dug into my bag for one of my little spy constructs but I was interrupted by a roar and the sound of moving rocks.

"Never mind, they know we're here!" Zeek yelled and pulled his sword.

I looked down the path to see three… ogres? They were large, fat, and somewhat man shaped, carrying heavy clubs. They were also charging us.

Debating for a second of using my gauntlets, I decided not to. While they were good, they weren't efficient and if there was a powerful mage in there with phenomenal cosmic power, I didn't want to waste mana on these mooks.

Instead I pulled my dagger and stepped up next to Zrazta as her hands burst into red flame. Darius pulled his large warhammer and let out a yell as he charged at them, Zeek hot on his heels with his sword and shield.

Samuel… was flipping through a book.

Zrazta flung a ball of fire on the first one. The ogre burst into flame and went off the side of the cliff and the other two slammed into Zeek and Darius.

Zeek blocked the first hammer blow of a heavy club on his shield before falling back to avoid the next blow while Darius dodged and slammed his heavy mace into the knee of his opponent, getting a loud scream of pain for his efforts.

Seeing my opening, I shifted the grip on my dagger and shifted it into the form of a javelin. I threw it hard at Darius' opponent, easily clearing the head of the dwarf to pierce straight through the chest of the ogre.

A mental command and the weapon burst into frost, freezing the creature solid in an instant.

As Darius' hammer smashed the frozen ogre into little steaming bits, I summoned my weapon back to me and it reappeared as a dagger in my hand with a shimmer.

Zeek yelled and shield-bashed his opponent in the face. As the ogre reared back, he stepped forward and stabbed his sword upwards through the ogre's large maw and out through the back of his head.

Stepping back, he pulled his sword out and the ogre fell down with a heavy thump.

I slowly sheathed my dagger and frowned, "I'd say they know we are here. Unless those were simply squatting in the fortress?" I asked, looking at Samuel.

He shook his head, "Couldn't say."

"I could," Zeek said and dried his sword off, "Ogres are usually cheap hired muscle. I think your friend's here, Sam."

Samuel bit back a curse and then nodded, glancing down at his book, "Let's find him before he finds the tome. If he does, he'll be unstoppable."

That didn't sound very good.

I shared a look with Zrazta and she nodded and reached into her bag, pulling out the small magic crossbow I got her ages ago. Or at least what used to be it. I'd improved it a couple of times since then.

Pulling my dagger again, I looked around, "We best get moving then before they get too much time to prepare."

 

[Hiver]

The path up to the fortress wasn't the safest, running just along the edge of the cliff, but we also didn't run into any more ogres.

Which I personally found suspicious, but then again we were in the middle of nowhere. He might not have brought that many guards in the first place.

Stopping at the end of the path by an overhanging cliff, Zeek held his hand up to get us to stop before he snuck up closer and peaked around the corner. He stayed there for a couple of seconds before motioning for us to follow.

As we rounded the corner, we could see that the path ended in a closed gate at the base of the fortress. Luckily, the wall next to the gate had a big hole in it.

Nobody in sight.

"Zeek, hold on," I said and reached into my bag to pull out one of the spysects before whispering its orders to it and tossing it in through the hole.

He looked back at me and I motioned him back while raising my arm and activating the feed from the little construct.

"What is that?" he asked quietly.

"Little flying golem," I answered, "Sends back what it sees. It's looking for people."

Samuel looked at me in surprise but then focused on the projection. It showed dark hallways, stairs, abandoned rooms. Dead men.

Skeletons actually, lying where they had fallen in the final battle of this fortress, still wearing their armour and with their weapons next to them.

I let it search for some fifteen minutes before I sent it the recall signal, "Nothing," I said and closed the projector and turned to Samuel, "Where would they be?"

"Main keep," he said without pause, "It's supposed to be in the main keep."

Zeek nodded, "Okay, we do it like this. Darius and me first, then Atreus. Samuel and Zrazta last. If we get attacked, we keep them off the spell casters and you blast them."

We all nodded.

Honestly, it was a good plan.

Still, I would have prefered to pull out my summons for this, but I also didn't want to reveal all my tricks. Also, while sending a frost troll roaring down the corridors and then mopping up what remained was attractive, stealth was more useful right now, and the fewer people the better - even ones as stealthy as Witcher or Rogue.

We made our way slowly into the dark fortress.

Dust. Cobwebs. No enemies. Dust…

I glanced down ahead and then moved up to touch Zeeks shoulder, "Hey."

He and Darius stopped to look back at me and I cast a quick spell to cast a light up to the ceiling of the dim corridor, lighting it up brightly.

"...Good catch," Darius said and gripped his warhammer tighter. The dust on the floor was disturbed, somebody had been here before.

Canceling the light, we continued.

When we got to the courtyard, a glance through the doorway revealed who had been disturbing the dust on the floor. Outside the central keep was a group of twenty people, all of them wearing matching armour. Humans, elves, and even what looked like orcs. They were all wearing dark armour with a sigil of a horned head in a circle on their chest and shields.

Zeek pulled up just inside and turned to us, "Horned rat mercenaries," he said quietly, "They are dangerous and expensive, and are known to hire extra auxiliaries like those ogres. There will likely be at least five more groups of ogres somewhere around the fortress. If we attack, they'll hold us as the ogres fall on us from behind."

"You know that for sure?" I asked and sneaked up to glance around the corner again.

He hesitated and then nodded, "I was a member once," he admitted, "But I didn't agree with their… methods," before he looked to Samuel and Zrazta, "Think you can blast them?"

Zrazta frowned and then shook her head, "Not all, no."

Samuel on the other hand nodded, "Absolutely, give me a second," he said and started to quickly flip through his book.

I glanced at Zeek.

He nodded, "Samuel blasts them, we pick off anyone that's still resisting, and then get into the main keep, giving us a defensive position when the ogres arrive."

Fine enough of a plan. Especially if things really went to shit, Zrazta and I could go to our real forms and maybe pull out some summons.

Samuel nodded, "Ready, I have memorized the spells I'm going to need."

Zeek, "We go at your cast. Everybody get ready."

We stalked up next to the exit before Samuel stepped out into the open. There were yells of warning and surprise from the group of mercenaries before Samuel spread his arms and orange energy flickered between his hands.

Then the middle of the group exploded with a thunderous earth shattering kaboom..

It was complete mayhem, body parts of mercs littered the courtyard as the scream of the dying filled the air.

Well, damn.

Seems like he actually could pull some nice magic off and wasn't just a scholar.