Chapter 2 (Peyt)- Floral shenanigans.
Tumbling head over tail over and over and over again, colors of purple, red, blue, green ZIP past me in streaks of light as I travel through a weightless space with no directional awareness. Zoe sure knows how to make a portal journey fun!! Whheeee!! And suddenly, with a thud, I’m stationary once again. Face first in the grass of an unknown place. It feels weird here, as if the magic of the fey is far away from me. The colors exist... but they're so dull, and their uses are not as often. Most of everything is just different shades of brown and green... Where's the magenta, the cyan? My mission reverberates in my mind “Spread color, spread joy, Make my name known as you bring the world to life!” Startiiiing….. now!! I grab my staff, (Which is super cool by the way, Zoe gave it to me before sending me through the portal. It’s a wooden rainbow twisted around itself.) I quickly began working, using the magic that she taught me. I grow flowers EVERYWHERE—pretty blues like Hydrangeas, fluffy and poofy, bold and bright Marigolds. A single tall standing pink rose sprouted from the wooden post of a fence. I have so much fun dancing through the fores, adding orange and red snapdragons with their bitey little faces. I am so focused I don’t see the fence behind me that I trip over falling back first onto the ground. “Ha ha ha ha so silly!” I can’t help but laugh. The grassy clearing around me is not unoccupied though, and my laughs become hysterical when one of its denizens begins licking my face. I roll over to see sooo many of these small white fluffy creatures. They must be so warmness! But there was a problem… They were all white! No color at all! Nothing fun or happy about them in the slightest. But that’s okay, Peyt will fixed them! I quickly begin prancing through the open field once again, some of the sheep are infested with a little unseen algae that I can easily grow to make their coats beautiful!! One blue here, another yellow there, some reds, some purple.
I was only able to fix some of them before a VERY angry voice calls out at me “Get away from my sheep you foul creature!!” I look up just in time to see an arrow slice open my arm, He is pain!! He draws another arrow and I barely notice two smaller figures bounding in the grass towards me, some small wolves. My heart begins pounding immediately—the tension between us in this open field is enough to make the white fluffballs disperse, running away at full speed from the conflict before them. Some hundred feet away or so, but I can still feel his hatred like an intense heat. Times to go! I quickly begin running towards the edge of the pasture as fast as I can, calling back, 'I didn’t mean to hurt thems!!' Another arrow comes, right into the back of my leg, He is SO much pains!! My vision begins to blur slightly but I keep hobbling towards the fence, the small wolves’ barking behind me grows louder as they get closer. Just then, thundering footsteps break my concentration as nearby, a feminine but authoritative voice screams out “ENOUGH old man! Leave it alone!” who then responds:
“Get off my property” loosing another arrow, this time at the new figure who joined me in the field, a massive, blue haired goliath woman covered in plated armor which is chalked up with many different colorful runes. She stands with a longsword and shield drawn as a sentinel between me and the ‘old man.’ An arrow lands in her shield while she is charged by the dogs. She is save!! I sprint behind her while grabbing some nearby dandelions to press against my chest and heal my wounds, the arrow in my leg is forced out as I heal myself. Upon reaching her, the goliath woman immediately slides open one of the dogs spraying RED everywhere. Poor wolfie! It slides to the ground bleeding out. “Leave it alone or the other one gets it too, no damage was done to your herd!”
“And no damage WILL be done, when that creature” He draws his bow back “Dies!” and lets it go, however this time as soon as it’s loosed, his bowstring snaps, the man is stunned and doesn’t know how to react at first. He drops the pieces which stumble to the ground one after the other and whistles loudly across the field at the other dog who quickly turns around the way he came, finally leaving us alone.
I speak first: “Your assistance is thankness!! Saving wolfie now!!” I sprint the remaining distance behind the woman, grabbing the seeds off a nearby grass stalk and chew them in my mouth as I run, Then once reaching the dog I slide onto the ground spitting out a number of berries that I smash into his wounds and concentrate magic into the area. My hands over the mesh shine a bright GREEN light and it comes to his senses running off quickly.
“You’re a weird one aren’t you…” says the goliath woman looking down at me with an eyebrow cocked. I simply shrug in response.
“I’m Peyt”
“Survivor. Let’s get out of this field before another angry sheep herder tries to kill you. Where are you headed?” She sheaths her sword and places her shield on her back then holds out a hand to help me to my feet. I look around the area, no idea where I’m going.
“Evercast it is. Come come.” and she starts heading out of the field to the north. She’s a terrifyingly large woman with an awesome appearance, I follow like a happy child.
“Where Survivor going?”
“Looking for someone.”
“Who?”
“Nothing to worry about Peyt.” She trails off as we continue walking, passing over the fence once more. We come to a road which travels the length of the field and start walking for what feels like a long time. I slowly begin daydreaming of home while trudging along, among the faeries, magic, mushrooms I dance with the colors of the wilds swirling all around me. I feel safe and happy once again, but now I am in this colorless place and I have to spread the happy. My dreams are cut off by a muffled screaming and scraping of metal down the road. We both stop for a moment as the sound gets closer and closer. Then suddenly rounding the corner comes running a full suit of armor in a sprint. As it’s about to pass them a voice inside frighteningly says “Please! Help me!” Survivor looks at the person curiously. Then I notice something odd. The armor isn’t being worn by a person who’s running, the person is being carried inside by this armor. “Type of move is weird.”
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“You’re right Peyt, something is off.” She responds, right as it passes beside us the voice inside says finally: “A voice! Get me out of here please whoever you are!!” At that Survivor springs into action swinging her greatsword in an arc above the man’s head cutting off the empty helmet of the armor which seems to be held up by some form of animating magic. It stops running and turns against her.
It swings wildly into the air looking for purchase against Survivor’s Side but finding none. I quickly follow suit and bonk the helmet with my staff as it skitters down the path. She slashes against the front of its armor again leaving a deep gash. The man inside remarks “Please watch it! I’m still in here!!” The armor spins around trying to land a blow against SOMEONE. It smacks me clear across the snout and also hits Survivor in the side OWIES! I scream “Enough!” before taking my staff in hand giving the armor an uppercut from under the shoulder. The chestpiece flies off and the rest of the armor collapses revealing a small gnomish fellow curled up in a ball hiding in the pelvis of the armor. He opens one eye looking up at us and becomes MORE scared than before.
“Hello small human!” I say first to break the silence after the storm.
“Th-thank you, p-please don’t eat me now.”
“No eat!! I’m not hunger.”
Rolling her eyes at my comment, Survivor notices the fear in his eye and tries to calm him. She holds out a hand to stand up the small fellow. “No one is going to hurt you sir.” He takes her hand, stands to his feet, adjusts his glasses, brushes off his vest and coat, then responds (now with some sense of dignity.)
“Again, thank you. Valdon Silverspring, at your service my…” He pauses looking at me intensely, so I smile very big at him. “Ladies?” He says puzzled, so I nod to confirm his question.
“What happened?” Survivor inquires Valdon while I rush off, distracted by the shiny helmet. In order to remember the moment we met mr. ‘Valdon Silverspring’ I want to make a small statue. So I begin working, I grab the helmet of the animated armor and rush over to a nearby stump, using my nature magic to grow different seeds of flowers and vines around the helmet. While I work I overhear the rest of their conversation but pay little attention to it.
“I was kidnapped, by this blasted thing.” A shuffling of metal and his prompt “OW!!” tells me he kicked the armor. “One minute I’m taking a walk in the orchards, the next it’s dark and I’m whisked off by some sweaty piece of armor. Apparently someone really wanted to know when the mayor would return.”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t see the questioner, only heard him, he asked about the mayor’s itinerary and said he wouldn’t let me go until I told him. Honestly, it’s probably one of his political rivals trying to get campaign details.” He trails off for a moment and I feel him looking at me. So I turn to him and stand aside presenting my sculpture to him “Valdon likes it?”
He forces a worried smile and continues talking to Survivor “Aaaanyway, can I share the road back home with you ma’am? I would like to reward you for your assistance if you will accompany me to my office?”
“Feel free.” She grabs the bottom half of the armor throwing it on the back of her pack to carry on the way back then turns towards me “Come on Peyt we’re leaving”
“Okay!” I call back before pulsing one last burst of druidcraft into my artwork.
Only a couple hours on the road until we finally reach our destination: Evercast. One small sign on the outskirts welcomes our arrival, along with the light traffic of the small road. A few carts move the day’s harvest of apples back to town to be sold to the various breweries and shops while some light foot traffic (such as us) brings stories to tell and hungry bellies. The small town is nestled between a large hill with a sharp cliffside and a thin section of a river (Which here in Evercast is practically as thin as a creek but still just as strong as the rest of the river). We arrived at Evercast just around dinner time. Passing over the creek towards the center of town, a perfectly timed scent catches my nose, something scrumptious. Valdon hurries off to the side of the road where there is an open air market of many assorted carts full of a variety of different goods. The cart Valdon rushed to displays about a dozen different small rodents and birds roasting over and interesting contraption that covers the morsels with smoke. “You HAVE to try this” Behind the cart, an eccentric Tabaxi woman stands to take his order. Once their deal is done he turns around with 5 different smoked meats, some of them unrecognizable. We both take the meal with thanks and I devour the morsel with glee. So goodness! My eye catches some nearby onlookers staring at me with fear, did I do it wrong?
“Right, let’s get you off the street and I’ll get you some compensation for your help.” He leads us towards the edge of the hillside cliff where there is a walled in, 3 or 4 story manor. Above the gate is a large sign which reads “Private residence of Mayor…” The name Phillip is crossed out in a large, painted, RED ‘X’ and ‘Jeffery’ is written next to it. We pass through the gate and across a small clearing, a few guards are posted who each look at me funny but seem to not care too much since Valdon is leading us. The tall building is decorated so ornately with countless different ornamental spikes and pillars lining the outside. Once inside, the torchlit cream-colored hallways are dull to my eyes, but the interesting paintings lining the walls of the entering room make up for it. Swirling dark colors meld and craft themselves into two interesting paintings above a desk with a current attendant who Valdon waves at. She returns the wave, adding a smile, and I'm still distracted by the figures above her. On the left, a regal-looking gentleman with an abstract face stands atop a mountain. Her right shoulder is foregrounded by the same style of dark swirling colors depicting some sort of cat-like predator stalking a mouse, though it is partially hidden in some abstract grass. He asks us to 'wait here, please,' and heads into a nearby office space.
A few moments after he returns with a small bag of gold. “For your troubles, please find me here if you ever need anything else!”
“Peyt am thankness! Bye-bye!” I smile and wave then we take our leave together, Survivor splits the gold with me placing my share in my hand.
“Don’t spend it all in one place” We start to walk back down the hill out of the walled manor back to the town.
“Why not?” I’m confused. What’s wrong with that?
“It…. Nevermind it doesn’t matter.”
I shrug and remember why she came to Evercast in the first place. “So who was Survivor looking for?” Before she can answer, a commotion to the side of the road draws our attention. With a loud scream we are drawn to the backdoor of a nearby store that’s been propped open with a mop bucket. We rush inside looking to help another person. Once inside and my eyes adjust, my mind has a much harder time. What appears to be some sort of general store is in complete disarray while the apparent shop owner is barricaded behind the counter with a flipped table over top to create some sort of cubby. A rake and a scythe float nearby, farming tools that seem to have just come to life, floating and swinging wildly around the shop. Survivor sighs a deep sigh while readying her sword and shield in the tight space. “I’m getting really tired of ‘inanimate’ objects.” I’m ready to go so I jump in front of her and shout:
“Peyt got this!!” Swinging my staff at the scythe it twirls wildly in the air when I ‘CRACK’ smack my staff against it. But in return, it immediately swings back at me and the last thing I see is the stick coming at my face before everything goes black.