Two days later, the three friends went together to the house mentioned in the letter. When they got to the address, Marr realized he had never seen this house, despite passing through here often.
The front gate of the house was quite big and seemed to be made out of stone. It had a very lifelike image, of a royal griffin flying through the sky, carved on it, and in the middle section of the gate, there was a metal ring hanging from an eagle's beak, that could be used, to knock on the door. The tall walls around the terrain didn't allow much to be seen.
Marr and his friends knocked on the door and waited outside for about 5 minutes. Finally, the huge gate opened, and an armor walked in the three friends direction.
The armor stopped right in front of Marr and made a respectful gesture indicating for them to enter the gate.
The three of them looked at each other and then went in, the armor followed right behind them. As they got inside, the gates from which they had just come in, closed. The armor ran to the front and made a gesture for them to follow it.
While they followed the armor, the surrounding scenery completely changed, from the one in the city. Trees could be seen everywhere and the sound of birds and other animals could be heard. As they advanced a big house could be seen in the distance, it had an uncommon style, as it remembered the buildings of the eastern kingdoms, there even was a pagoda in the eastern side of the house.
As they got closer to the house Dayer seemed to be feeling uncomfortable.
"Hey Marr, do you know anything about this Raven guy?"
"Not much actually, I know he isn't really a soldier or trained strategist. The reason he got the position of Supreme General is his incredible power and abilities. Few people know how Raven looks like or what kind of power he has."
After listening to Marr's explanation, Merrich added.
"It's said that his greatest military exploit was stopping the invasion of the northern tribes. According to the rumors he went deep into enemy territory and brought back the enemy leader's head."
After Dayer heard all of this, he told them about his strange sensation.
"There is some powerful magic in this place, I might not be a specialist but I'm quite sensitive to this stuff. I can't help but feel that we are completely under the control of someone."
As Dayer said this, the front door of the house opened instantly, as they got closer to it. The armor just went on ahead and indicated for them to pass.
Again, as they passed through the door, it closed behind them. The armor showed them to a spacious room with a big table in the middle, the room had a light decoration with some calligraphy pieces hanging on the wall, and some paintings of what seemed to be a strange half-bird half-man creature could be seen around. At the end of the table, there was a big chair that had it's back to them.
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When they got into the room, the armor bowed to them and quickly went away as if it had an important mission to accomplish.
Suddenly a calm and deep voice was heard coming from the big chair.
"Sit down young ones, the food will be served in a moment."
Marr and his friend didn't stand on ceremony as they sat down all next to each other, at the other end of the table, opposite to the big chair.
As they sat down the chair slowly turned revealing a creature of unusual characteristics. Supreme general Raven was an Aarakocra, a race even more uncommon than Dragonborns.
Originally a race from the elemental plane of air, Aarakocra look much like large birds. Only when they descend to roost on a branch or walk across the ground does their humanoid appearance reveal itself.
Standing upright, Aarakocra might reach 1.55 meters tall, and they have long, narrow legs that taper to sharp talons.
Feathers cover their bodies, and they are quite fastidious about their plumage, frequently tending their feathers, cleaning and scratching away any tiny passengers they might have picked up.
Their heads complete the avian appearance, being something like a parrot or eagle with distinct tribal variations.
The Aarakocra of the Svartha continent usually live in the easterner kingdoms.
General Raven had silvery white colored feathers all over his body, and a head that resembled that of a great roc. His sky-blue colored eyes had a very sharp expression. His arms where muscular just like his legs, and he was wearing an azure blue changpao adorned with the image of a griffin.
The surprise in the eyes of the three friends could clearly be seen, and they just returned to their senses as the food was served in front of them, by walking armors.
When Marr recovered his composure, he served himself some of the delicacies that were prepared by the supreme general. As Marr sat back down, he stared at the Aarakocra in front of him and asked.
"Supreme General, why is it that someone like you, needs the help of three bounty hunters?"
General Raven seemed quite pleased with Marr's attitude, he smiled while saying.
"Straight to the point, huh? I like it. Have you heard about the rebellion?"
Merrich eyes darted in the direction of the supreme general when he heard this word.
"The rebellion first appeared when the current king assumed, 50 years ago. No one knows how it works or who commands it. But's its known that they have quite the influence among the people, being even more influential than the crown itself in some remote regions."
Raven got up and served himself a cup of what the three friends, recognized to be a cup of kobold wine. He slowly sipped the cup as he continued to talk.
"That's quite accurate young man, but that changed, now we actually have information about the rebellion, more specifically we know who are its seven main generals."
When Marr heard the explanation, he understood what this mission was about, he calmly kept eating as he stared at the raven, finally he looked at Dayer who nodded at him.
"So, you want us to hunt down the generals and kill them?"
"Yes, and I also want you to find out the identity and location of their Sub-leader and leader."
Marr looked straight at the Aarakocra in front of him as he said.
"What is in it for us? and having the power you have why don't you do it yourself?"
Raven stayed silent for a while as he showed a complicated expression. Finally, he said.
"I can't get directly involved in the war going on between the kingdom and the rebellion. So, my only choice is to hire someone else to deal with this issue."
The general got up as he indicated for them to follow them into another room.
"As for what I can offer, for each general you bring me, you get 7500 gold and each one of you can choose an item from here."
As he said this word's he opened a door that led to a huge room.
Inside this room, there were all kinds of treasures to choose from. There was a pair of daggers with a strange purple colored hue to their edge that seemed to distort space, a pair of boots that had wings on them and where floating around, a strange ring that had the small symbol of a shield on top of it and seemed to have a powerful defense incantation, and many other incredible items that could not be seen from where they stood.