Naya and Illaria

The docks and the riverboats were easy to find. For a small town, Jai-Olninlo was situated on a busy river with plenty of trade. Naya and Illaria stood before a long wooden river boat with gold lettering painted on its side, "The High Arrow." It was a shallow boat with a stable-like structure built on top of it to accommodate animals and human passengers alike. A gruff orc man standing a head taller than Naya but several inches shorter than Illaria approached them. He wore rough, weathered leather and carried a set of daggers at his side. His hair was a messy, soft brown, which stood out against his mint-green skin.

"Greetings; how can we at the High Arrow help you today?" Illaria took the lead, standing in front of Naya.

"Hello, we're looking for passage. We're heading to Sha-Laial. Will she, the High Arrow, be traveling in that direction?" Illaria asked.

"Aye, we're planning to depart before sundown. We'd like to beat the storm clouds. A little surge of water could help us make great time."

"Alright, we'll be needing passage for ourselves... there are... five of us.."

"Closer to ten. Echo, Rem, Piccora, and the two animals you have," Naya added.

"What manner of creatures are these anyway?"

"Echo is a wolf; he's my companion. Rem is a fox. Piccora... is a clockwork, so I'm not sure she counts, but she's a rabbit. Then they've got a cat and some weird rat-dog."

"Their names are Jinx and Bahzugs," Illaria supplied. "They're both reasonably ship-trained. Jinx is a natural mouser, and Bahzugs hasn't caused any issues on the Blue Banner boats. Never bit no one, I swear, he's barely got the brains to do anything other than eat and laze around."

"Alright, 3 gold ahead, provided you lot can prove that your animals are well tamed. We aim to head out soon, so you best be gathering up," He said before he headed back onto the ship.

"That went well, right?" Naya asked.

"About as well as we can expect anything to go when traveling with a rat dog like Bahzugs. It's good that he's too dumb and lazy to cause problems," Illaria said as she nodded in agreement. "Bait will be wherever we least want him to be, so I'm thinking he's in the market, helping himself to things he shouldn't be touching. Hopefully, the town guard isn't questioning him."

"Sounds like an exciting friend. Though I must admit, you two strike me as an odd pair," Naya said.

"No odder than your trio. What is a girl from the hinterlands doing wandering around with two city-raised wizards?" Illaria asked.

"Alvec offered help when no one else would, and then he picked Mavec up along the way. No conditions, just a promise of safety, companionship, a share in our struggles, and a share in our victories. He's like a dandelion seed floating on the wind."

"I'm glad you both found someone willing to help. Bait, strange as it might be sounding, is the same way, give or take. We're both searching the seas for people who we've lost or have been stolen from us. While our goals align, we walk together as comrades."

"He's got to be more than just a comrade. If he was just a comrade, you wouldn't be sticking your neck out for him at every introduction," Naya stated. She wasn't exactly wrong. In the Coffin Flotilla, the mortality rates were higher than anywhere in the Blue Banner army. We weren't just comrades; we were damn near family.

"Aye, you might be right. Let's hurry along; we've got to collect everyone and get back here as soon as possible." The pair walked in silence as they raced through the small town. Bait was the easiest to find, surprisingly. He and Bahzugs were chilling out, eating cheese. No one asked him how they had acquired the cheese. Some things were better left unsaid. Mavec was right where he said he would be, standing outside the library smoking a cigarette. Piccora sat by his side, scanning the environment around them. Alvec, Echo, and Rem were near the tavern; Alvec was feeding the two animals slices of meat from a nearby stand. They stood in a circle together to exchange an overview of what they had learned.

"No dice on Tyir; if he's been through here, he wasn't very social," Alvec informed the group.

"Library was a bust, too; he's never seen anything like we encountered. None of his books had anything useful in it either," Mavec supplied.

"Bait, find these!" He said as he pulled out several pieces of gold, a few house keys, and other odds and ends.

"You best be ditching those keys," Illaria insisted. Bait grumbled reluctantly and just casually dropped the keys into the dirt path.

"We've got a deal for a boat ride, three gold a head, so we'll each need to pony up six gold pieces," Illaria said. "They're counting our animals as a head, unfortunately. It's still a fair price; we'll save a lot of time taking the riverboat. It'll shave days off our travel."

"All I have to do is prove that our animals are good," Naya stated cheerfully. "So let's get this taken care of. We've got a city to see."

The orc man was waiting for the group to arrive. The boat seemed just about ready to leave; the last of its cargo was being loaded up a short wooden dock plate to the ship itself. Several men with long oars were prepared to start rowing as soon as the signal was given. Their ages varied, but a quick glance showed that many seemed like seasoned rivermen. All of them looked at ease with their jobs. "Alright, let's see it then. Prove to me it's safe to let them all onboard," the orc said.

Naya excitedly hopped in front of Echo. "Okay, boy, like we've practiced. Sit!" Echo wagged his tail and sat down, tilting his head expectantly. "Okay, lay down." The wolf grumbled but lowered himself entirely onto the ground at her feet. "Roll over!'" she shouted as she twirled her arm in a circle. He did so, coming to rest again on his stomach. "Alright, up and jump." He followed her commands perfectly, standing up and hopping lightly toward her. He didn't touch her but fell back to standing right before her. He sniffed at her hands, expecting there to be some sort of treat for all his hard work. He grumbled a bit when he didn't find any meat or cheese. "Ta-dah!" She said as she pointed both arms at Echo's tricks.

"Seems to listen well enough, pass on him. Who's next?"

"Do I really need to do this? She's a clockwork?" Mavec asked as he pointed at Piccora.

"A fair point; how dangerous is that thing?" He asked as he tilted his head at her.

"Not really, it's a construct. It listens to what I tell it to do; it doesn't need to eat or sleep."

The man stroked at his beard while mulling over the response. "Rabbit gets a pass. Next?"

Alvec and Rem stepped forward on the dirt path. "Rem, write your name in the dirt." The fox chirped back at Alvec and gently dug his name into the pathway. Remington appeared in the dirt in short order. He looked up proudly, waiting for praise.

"A pass for the fox, too; it writes better than some of my ship hands. I'm guessing that means he's a familiar, and you're a wizard. Alright."

Illaria pointed to the black cat following her. "Nothing to see here, really, just a cat." Jinx threaded between her legs a few times, rubbing up against her.

"Alright, there's one more, right? Let's see this 'goblin dog,'" He stated. Bait and Bahzugs wandered up to the man and stood before him.

"Zugs, sit!" The giant rat tilted its head at the command. "Zugs, sleep." The giant rat tilted its head the other way. "Zugs bite!" He said while waving a small stick at him. Still nothing. "Zugs eat?" He finally suggested and presented a tiny bit of meat from a pocket. The rat-dog happily took it gently from his small hands and chomped down.

"Well, I'm not convinced it's... trained... but it doesn't seem dangerous. Alright. That'll be thirty gold in total for your trip. We'll get you as close to Sha-Laial as we can." The man collected the gold, and the group boarded the boat, entering the stable-like area, claiming a bit near the back with clean straw.

Alvec threw himself into the straw and began reading the book before him. The intensity with which he stared at the pages gave Naya chills. She wasn't sure she had ever thought that hard at anything. Things just were, and she was okay with that. Teaching Echo flowed so easily to her; his type of magic and whatever he was doing to the book just didn't seem worth it. Mavec sat in the center of the stable where there was the least hay. He had popped a panel off from Piccora and was working on her. What exactly he was doing, she'd never be able to say. Illaria and Jinx settled in the corner, and Bait and Bahzugs rolled around in the hay. "Bait make boat home."

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"If you dare piss on the boat, I'm going to make you clean it with your tongue," Illaria reprimanded him. "You go off the back of the boat, just like the Blue Banner."

Echo coiled up near Alvec, and Naya sank into his fur, using the wolf as a pillow. He adjusted himself, wrapping three-fourths around her before he laid his head over his criss-crossed paws. The boat began moving shortly after they settled in. There weren't a lot of other passengers on the ship. Mainly livestock, with a few shepherds watching over them. Rain began to fall in curtains outside. The structure, while of rough construction, was good enough to keep most of the rain at bay.

"Find anything interesting?" Naya asked to break the silence.

"It's not enchanted, but it is encrypted. I can't make sense of it. Dates and times it reads like a basic travel journal. I can try to break the cipher, but it will take a LOT of time and effort, if possible."

"Does that mean it's important?" Naya asked. Alvec mused briefly as he put the book back into his pack.

"It's tough to say, Naya. We don't know anything about the man himself. I don't like it, though. Carrying a book he felt important enough to shove into my hands with his dying breath, having it heavily encrypted... this book contains something important, I'm sure... but to who or to what, I can't say."

"Another puzzle for team wizard to work on," Naya said.

"Team Cheese Accolyte better." Bait chimed in.

The rain continued to come down at an alarming pace. It was unsettling for Naya. She'd always been told to stay indoors during sudden and intense rainfall. The sky opening suddenly meant it wasn't safe until the rain stopped. It was hard to say if this was a truth of nature or a truth of the spirits. Either way, she was glad for their temporary shelter.

A scream broke her idle thoughts. Alvec sprung to his feet, his tail whipped around, and grabbed his shield while he pulled out a dagger.

"You all heard that, right?" Naya asked as she got to her feet. A quick command roused Echo as well.

"Yeah, and I didn't like it," Mavec said as he slapped the plate back on Piccora and quickly spun her clockwork.

"Now, let's not be hasty. We've paid our fare; we should sit here and let it be. Going out in the rain isn't safe," Illaria stated.

"What do you mean the rain isn't safe? Is this some coastal superstition?" Mavec asked as he cast a spell on Piccora. The air around her seemed to puff out with arcane energy.

"Vramea, who dwells within the rain, sends sudden downpours as a warning to stay indoors," Naya said in agreement with Illaria.

"Got it, backwoods superstitious bullshit," Mavec said.

"People are in trouble. I'm not going to just sit here and do nothing," Alvec stated as he strapped his Mithril buckler on his left arm and mirrored the same spell Mavec cast. Unlike Mavec's magic, Alvec's was more noticeable. His mirrored real-world armor, in particular, a ghostly blue chain shirt.

"Still, we can let them handle it. It's their job," Illaria insisted.

"What happens if the people steering the boat are killed? I don't want to drown in some storm-surged river," Mavec growled.

"Give me a moment; let me see if I can reach anyone," Alvec said. He raised a finger to his temple and whispered some words. His lips seemed to glow slightly with the same blue energy. "Is everything okay out there?" He sent out to the first mind he could just beyond the wall.

A mind met his own; "It's been a while since I've answered one of these. Not sure yet. Can barely see my damned feet." A few more moments passed before there was another scream.

"That's it. I don't care what you do, but I won't just sit here," Alvec said before a hum of protective energy enveloped everyone. He rushed out into the rain, which fell around him as if it had struck an umbrella no one else could see.

"Come, Echo, we can't let him have all the fun," Naya said before she exited onto the High Arrow's rain-slicked deck. Begrudgingly, everyone else followed.

"I still think this is a bad idea!" Illaria sang over the storm winds and surge of rushing water.

Contorting themselves strangely on the deck were half a dozen creatures. They resembled muscular flatworms the size of an adult human, with human mouths at both ends. No lips, just teeth. Their flesh was a strange, ruddy brown color. They wiggled and flipped, and their teeth clanked together terribly. There wasn't a word for what these were. Naya and Echo rushed to the rear of the boat, where four of the beasts were. The pair wasted no time laying into the worms with sword and fang. They emitted a similar hissing noise to the previous creature they had fought as they were pierced and slashed. They responded in kind, biting and flopping at the pair. The wounds were shallow, as human teeth aren't as damaging as that of Echo or even Rems, but they were numerous. Both ends were bit in quick succession.

Bait quacked like a duck before he leveled his gun and shot at one Naya was in the way of. The bullet narrowly missed her, blowing a jagged hole into the creature, which slumped down and sizzled away; viscera slid off the boat, taken by the rain. Piccora served as Mavec's focus as the young wizard did his best to stay far away from the front lines. She slammed her small metal body into one of the creatures; a burst of electricity scorched its flesh upon contact.

Alvec and Illaria ended up back to back on the side of the boat, squaring off against two creatures. They were fast, but the duo were faster. Illaria momentarily lost her footing on the rain-soaked deck as one of the creatures dove for her. She tried intercepting it with her sword, but it was moving too fast. Alvec's tail half wrapped around her waist and tugged her back as he slid in where she had been and slammed his mithril buckler into its teeth, knocking it aside. Another hiss from behind her brought her attention and sword up to intercept. With better footing, she slapped the teeth off course and then, with one clean motion, slashed the creature in twain with her wakizashi.

Alvec took a deep breath and gambled. He'd trust that his spells would be enough to shield him as he concentrated on another spell. Sensing his distraction, the creature in front of him launched forward, but the barrier of force around him was enough to slow the creature's attack. Alvec slid effortlessly out of the way and returned the favor. Fire gathered in an orb in his right hand. He threw it, and the globe of flame slammed into the one in front of him, then splintered and arched playfully around himself and Illaria, seeking out and striking another one of the creatures a good fifteen feet away that was angling to attack Naya. The two worms burst into flame and crumpled to the deck, their corpses smoldering. Another gunshot rang out, and another of these strange creatures slid into the river below. Naya's blades bit twice into the last one, and then Echo scooped it up into his jaws and snapped them shut, bisecting it in the middle.

The group exchanged glances and a general sigh as the immediate threat seemed to have passed. Everyone began to relax when the boat's back end was suddenly lifted clean out of the water. The sudden movement sent everyone clinging to the ship. Echo chomped down on the guard rail at the rear. Naya plunged both swords into the deck, holding them like climbing spikes. Mavec hit the floor hard, and only his position in the doorway far from combat gave him anything to cling to. Piccora nearly slid into oblivion, but Naya was able to wrap a leg around her. Bait grabbed Echo's tail but struggled to hold onto the wolf and his musket. As his grip began to slip, he bit into Echo's tail. Goblin teeth strong. Bait try not hurt wolf, but no lose musket, and no go overboard. Alvec and Illaria were slammed into the guardrail, and both grabbed it solidly.

Rem, resting on Alvec's head, took a plunge. Thankfully, Alvec whipped his tail out and grabbed his dear friend, pulling him back to the boat with a surge of adrenaline. Echo growled loudly at whatever was hoisting the ship into the air. No one had a clear view of it, thanks to the torrent of rain pounding down.

Another form, barely discernible, came rushing towards them out of the night. As Alvec braced for impact, he caught sight of a massive snake head bearing down, jaws open wide. With a hiss like an erupting geyser, it slammed into whatever held the boat aloft. The ship slipped from its grip and plummeted back into the river, practically adrift as the current carried it away. Calls started to go out from the captain as he rallied his people to return to their posts. Thankfully, they were able to, and the boat righted itself moments later.

"I told you this was a bad idea," Illaria chided as she righted herself and offered a hand to Alvec, who clutched Rem with one hand and the guard rail with his tail and arm. He graciously accepted, and she pulled him to his feet. The group gathered back up, and Illaria departed to speak with the captain.

She found him with ropes tied around his waist, about to dive off the ship. "Excuse me, but might I ask what you might be doing?"

He smiled at her. "What, concerned for my safety?" The captain asked.

"Not particularly; I was just hoping to see how the High Arrow and crew were faring after... whatever those were, attacked," Illaria said.

"Some of my men have minor injuries, nothing that will stop them from doing their duty... as for the boat. That's what I'm about to find out. A riverboat like this isn't designed to take the kind of shock we just did. I need to see if we cracked anything. Which is what I was about to be doing," He said before he leaped off the side of the boat and plunged into the river. The rope quickly went taunt. About half a minute passed before his head broke the water's surface. Illaria quickly grabbed the rope and pulled him up. He grasped at the wooden deck and hauled himself over. Laying belly up on the deck of the ship for a moment. "Fraid I'll be giving you guys a refund. There's a sizable crack in the aft of the boat. We'll be taking on water before long." Illaria nodded.

"Will you be making it to the next dock? Or should we prepare to abandon ship?" Illaria asked

"Oh, we'll make it; I'll ditch cargo to make us lighter if I have to. Losing some cargo is nothing compared to losing the whole ship. I've only got to make us last another few hours. Full refund if you or your friends have any idea how to plug the leak."

"I'll ask if they have any solutions," Illaria said before she took her leave to inform the group. Alvec and Mavec were the "problem" solving sort; they might actually have an idea that could work to hold this ship over till they could make port. Illaria returned to the group who were still standing and at the ready. No one knew where those creatures had come from, nor if there were more of them. The skies had cleared, and the rain had stopped. It was as if the brief storm had never even happened. The sun's intense rays caused steam to rise from the slick wood of the boat's deck. She reiterated to them what she had learned from the captain.

"Mending, we've both got mending," Mavec said as he glanced at Alvec. "Got any better ideas?"

"Since we seem to be only a few hours out... no, I think that's our most cost-efficient strategy," Alvec agreed.

"What's the other option?" Naya asked.

"I try to whip up some hydrophobic resin we can cram into the crack. If we had much further to go, I'd opt to try this while Mavec did what he could to mend it."

"You boys, do what you can; I'll get our money back."