The party was well on their way to the next town after having parted ways with Nyx’s sister. the sky was darkening and Darnal was driving Hazelnut at a brisk trot when suddenly he spoke up.

“Hey guys,” he said. “should we be concerned about the person who seems to be running right for the cart?”

Nyx and Sunny popped their heads out of the window.

“Hey! Hey! Stop!”

There was a figure, a short stout one, (a catkin?) running towards them. Now stopping to catch their breath. Now taking a hearty swig from a flask, and oh! Now heading for them quite quickly, the clanking and jingling of The many glass bottles at their waist getting louder and louder.

As it turns out it is not a catkin but a human wearing a hat with large ears (or maybe horns?) stitched onto it. They rest an arm on the cart to heave and gasp, holding up a finger for “wait.”

The party waited.

The human spoke “Dragon….town….melting….stall….in danger….none of these….townspeople….can fight….oh Dryalix everything hurts”

“Melting?” said Sunny thoughtfully. “A life dragon?”

The human nodded. “So can you guys fight it?”

Everyone looked to Nyx, who shrugged tensely.

“I guess we’re gonna have to try…”

“Rad.” they said, still catching their breath. They reached for another vial of green liquid before looking back at the group. “Yo, actually, can I ride with you?”

The group raced down the dirt road, Hazelnut going as fast as she could with five people. The new addition sat up front with the twins pointing and shouting directions.

”I’m Hemlock by the way. Pro herbalist. They/them. What brings you into town?”

“Uh, we’re on a mission trip of sorts.” said Nyx “Thought it might be nice to- oh spirits among us!”

“There it is!” Hemlock shouted.

There in the center of the newly cobbled together settlement was a towering figure with green scales. It’s long neck was thick and muscular like a tree trunk to support the weight of the branches extending from its head.

Sunny let out a whoop as the carriage skidded to the side to avoid colliding with it.

Protruding, panoramic eyes swiveled towards them.

“I’m parking somewhere else, I don’t want Hazel getting hurt.” Darnal called, turning back.

Thunderous stomping footsteps thudded after them.

“Uh, It’s following us!” yelled Nyx.

“I’m on it!” Sunny leaned out the window hurling a blast of air that hit the dragon directly in the face, its head snapping to the side.

“Jeese.” Nyx winced.

“Everywhere else was too bulky!” said Sunny “My magic is literally just wind.”

Hemlock began clambering precariously over the cart.

“Whoa! What are you doing?” called Astaria.

“Trying to get a clear shot.”

Hemlock unclipped two vials from their belt, taking a swig from the green one and hurling a red one on a surprising show of strength.

It hit the dragon in the chest, shattering before the liquid inside exploded in a flash of red light and smoke that caused the cart to jolt forward and go airborne for a moment.

“Remember, we just want to incopacitate it or get it to leave!” said Sunny.

The carriage went over a stone and Hemlock took a knee to maintain balance. “I know, the sanctity thing. You’re talkin’ to a Life artisan here!”

The shadow cast by the cart widened as Nyx extended two claws to hold them by the waist, acting faster than he could think about it.

Hemlock looked down in startled amazement “Whoa.”

The dragon took a deep breath in through its mouth.

“Look out, we’re gonna get acid rain in a second!” said Sunny.

“What direction?” asked Astaria.

“Lef-“

Nyx interrupted. “Let me answer- On your right!”

The carriage swung to the side.

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Drops of stinking acid splattered against the carriage, sizzling on the wood, but it was just the margins of the spray the dragon unleashed.

“on your left!”

The carriage swung the other way

Between maneuvers, Hemlock rose up just far enough to hurl another bottle. “Incoming!”

The cart once again jolted and flew off the road.

Hemlock unclipped a blue potion from their belt. “Ok, hopefully that’s enough. Nap time!” They hurled the potion, aiming high and hitting it square in the throat. “Everyone try not to breathe!”

The flask shattered into blue mist. The dragon sagged, before shaking its head and resuming its chase, albeit slower now.

“Shit, it’s still not weak enough!”

“I think we can outrun it now to park Hazel somewhere safe!” said Darnal.

“Over there!” Astaria pointed to a giant tree.

They skidded behind the tree and the party leapt out of the cart, taking a defensive stance. Nyx’s claws moved from Hemlock to the space between them and the dragon and Hemlock remained on top of the cart.

“What was that thing that Deianira did again?” Darnal mumbled. His brow creased as he tried a few different ways to pull his magic forth.

The dragon rose its head high and roared.

Darnal squeezed his eyes shut. “Ok, I think I got it!”

A bolt of lightning careened down from the dim sky, striking the tallest thing in Darnal’s field of vision, the dragon.

Shrieking, it fell to the ground with a thud that shook the earth.

“Can someone give me a hand?” said Hemlock “I can’t get down by myself.”

Astaria grabbed their hands, helping them down before they scampered over to the dragon, announcing “Hold your breath.” before uncorking another bottle of blue liquid and pouring it over the dragon. Its protruding eyes closed as it slumped onto the dirt road.

There were footsteps down the road as a few of the townspeople approached.

“Is it…”

“Unconscious.” Hemlock explained.

Sunny riffled through his bag and pulled out his encyclopedia, opening it to a bookmarked page “Listen, everyone!” he said “This dragon is acting territorial because you set up this town too close to its territory. For your own saftey, this whole town should probably move as soon as possible.”

“We figured that may have been the case When the attack started.” one man said, taking it gently from him “But we were hoping it wouldn’t come to that.”

“We’ve only just started setting up our settlement. it shouldn’t be too hard to relocate.”

Sunny turned to Hemlock. “Can you keep it out long enough for everyone to be ready to leave?”

Hemlock saluted.

“Hey, purple cape guy,” they said ”that was a neat trick back there. When you caught me.”

Nyx flinched.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. You really saved my neck. You don’t see shadow magic being used like that often. It’s neat.”

“Shadow magic?” the man said.

Sunny smiled “As a matter of fact, we’ve been going around raising awareness for the good shadow magic can do. So you can tell all your friends a shadow mage went out of his way to help save you today.”

The woman stared a bit dumbfounded “Oh, um, that’s-“

“I wanna see the heroes!” said a small voice.

A little girl muscled through the crowd.

“Emma, don’t run off.” another woman said.

“What happened to your arm and your leg and your face?” she asked Darnal

“I’m so sorry.” the woman said

“Wow you’re really tall!” she asked Astaria

“Sorry.”

“Whoah, are you a dragon guy? That’s so cool.”

“So, so sorry.”

“Thanks.” Sunny said grinning

She ran up to Nyx next.

“Is it true? Are you a shadow mage?”

Nyx nodded.

“Prove it.” she demanded, puffing her cheeks out.

Nyx glanced at Sunny, who grinned encouragingly.

“Uh, I could do like a little…” a small figure like a tiny, simplified human emerged from where his shadow was cast over the ground. It jumped up and waved.

“Woah!”

The figure darted behind Nyx’s leg timidly, then came ducked back out holding the clear silhouette of a pinwheel, which spun.

“Whaaaaah!

He smiled nervously “I’d offer it to you but it’s uh, not real.”

“That’s so cool!” She looked up at him. “You’re not scary at all.”

She yanked him by the sleeve over to her mother “Mom, look how cool this guy is! Do another trick!” she demanded.

Emma paraded Nyx around the small, barely town sized town as the rest of the group took the time to mingle as well.

“We’ve got a pop-up inn we made with earth magic you can stay the night in before we all leave if you want. One man offered. “We probably owe you as much for saving our town.”

“Thank you.” said Nyx. “Seriously, it means a lot.”

Hemlock approached their group as they converged to grab their packs from the cart.

“I like the cut of you kids’ jib.” said Hemlock.

“How old are you?” Darnal asked at the same time Nyx said “I am 223 years old.”

“Doesn’t matter.” they said dismissively to both “I’d like to make a business proposition. You let me travel with you to sell my wares and I help with your adventuring work.”

“You wanna join up?” asked Sunny.

“Yeah. And maybe some of my proceeds can even go to funding your little cult of Nyx.”

“We’re not a cult.” said Nyx.

“Right, sure. You’re raising awareness for shadow magic, but you’re not a cult.”

“I suppose we could use more people, and you were a big help back there.” said Darnal. “If it’s ok with Nyx and Sunny.”

“Who can say no to this face?” Hemlock said, framing their face cutely. They lowered their hands “Also, I’m an expert cook and forager.”

“Sold.” the group said in unison.