Zev was in fact, waiting for us. We walked off the path of the maze and onto the snow, feeling it crunch beneath our boots, and sitting on a rock tinkering with his gear, was Zev. He was muttering to himself and deeply focused on his work, but otherwise seemed alright.
“Zev!” I yelled, scrambling up the rock and wrapping him in a big hug.
He slipped out of my grip, and climbed over my shoulder back onto the rock, drawing his patchwork coat more tightly around himself as he did so. “I only just got that patch of rock warm.”
“I’m glad you’re alright. How’d you get out of the maze?”
“I landed on top of a goblin. Killed it. Found traps. Disarmed them. Used the pieces from them to repair my wings. Flew the rest of the way out to wait for you.”
“You didn’t have to deal with a crazy mirror and fight a clone of yourself?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Only fought goblins and gravity.”
I laughed. I’d been worried about him the entire time we’d been separated, but it seemed like he’d had a much easier time of it than the rest of us.
Millicent climbed up to where we were, and wrapped Zevrack in another hug, though she squeezed him too tightly for him to be able to escape from her as easily as he had from me, though he did wriggle a bit.
She eventually released him. “Did you see the changes to the magic system?” she asked.
“Yes! Very interesting. Lots of possibilities. No changes were needed for my equipment, but improvements, versatility, much more possible.”
I smiled. I suppose this is what constituted an emotional reunion for them. The rest of the group looked relieved as well, and everyone took a moment to hug or pat Zev who wriggled out of their grasps, acknowledged them briefly, and then immediately went back to discussing tech and magic with Millicent.
It was nice. The team felt whole again. I actually found myself relieved that Zev hadn’t been with us for our portion of the maze. He certainly would’ve made short work of the slime we’d encountered with his fire breath, but at the same time fighting a mirror version of him would’ve made that fight much more dangerous. Not to mention the emotional cost defeating him might’ve had on everyone. I found myself still thinking of the expression I saw on my own face as I won my bout, and shuddered.
Once everyone had taken the time to reorient themselves and force Zevrack away from his work long enough to say that they missed him, we all decided to take a brief rest to eat and relax before we continued down toward where we assumed we’d find the dragon waiting. I felt an immense relief now that the party was back together, and found that food and drink went down much more easily without knots in my stomach. Zev needed to borrow some of the food from my pack, since he’d lost his own during what he called his ‘goblin landing’.
Once our stomachs were full and our morale rallied by Zev’s return, we packed ourselves back up, and continued down the path from the maze. It was basically a long, wide track that seemed to cut straight between the mountains that surrounded us on either side. As we walked, the cold started to fade, and eventually gave way to warmth. I initially thought it was because the mountains were blocking the cold air on either side of us, but as the warmth increased I began to realize that it was unnatural.
The terrain began to shift as well. The snowy sparse landscape that had greeted us when we first exited the maze started to be broken up by increasing foliage and patches of sparse grass. As with the increasing heat, I initially assumed this was due to us moving into a valley, but while the initial foliage I saw was normal at first, I began to suspect magic instead as those plants became stranger and stranger. There were patches of red, blue, and yellow grass. Bushes that were growing what looked like blue strawberries, and mushroom trees that reminded me of my time in the dwarven caves.
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“So, now that you all know I’m not originally from the world, I can finally ask some stupid questions.”
“You were holding those back?” interrupted Patience.
I shot her a look. “Yes. I could only rely on being from ‘Elfland’ for so long. Anyway, these plants, are they normal here?”
Nica shook her head. “They are not.”
“I didn’t think so.”
As we walked, we began peeling off our additional layers, and started needing to stop for water breaks in order to avoid overheating. It was a sweaty, miserable, walk, but Zevrack at least seemed to be in much improved spirits. He peeled off his patchwork coat, and adjusted his gear letting out deep relaxed sighs.
By the time we’d walked a few hours into the valley, the landscape looked strange and alien. It was clear that the rainbow scaled dragon enjoyed a very diverse aesthetic preference. Between the maze she’d created, the ways she’d impacted the landscape, and what she’d done to those she encountered I was actually less certain of what she would be like than I had been when I knew even less about her. I decided to make a mental note that perhaps the best thing to do was to go in with no expectations, but as much ass-kissing as I could muster. Just like I’d tried to do with the interview that had brought me here. Luckily, I could rely on the expertise of Tristus when it came to diplomacy, and Zevrack when it came to dragons. Assuming Zevrack didn’t immediately lose any semblance of self control upon encountering her. Actually, I shouldn’t discount Tristus trying to flirt his way into a legendary lay here either. It was possible I actually brought an entire party of liabilities with me.
With that sobering thought, I hesitated, and held up a hand for everyone else. “I feel like we're getting very close to the dragon. We should probably take a moment to talk about our plan.”
“What’s to talk about? You approach the dragon, discuss terms, and then she decides whether to agree to them or curse us in some way,” said Tib.
Tristus shook his head. “That’s not exactly the whole process, cousin. For instance, how will he approach the dragon? With deference? With strength? What terms are we looking for exactly? Just non-aggression or asking her to leave? Should we discuss trying to have her release those she’s cursed, return those she’s teleported away, and clear away that maze?”
“Any chance we could just get her drunk? That’s always been key in all of my negotiations,” said Patience.
“You were technically robbing them, not negotiating,” noted Millicent.
“They got a pretty smile and some mild flirtation from me, and I got their gold. I’d call that a negotiation.”
Tristus nodded. “I’d agree with that.”
“Well, I’d say we approach with deference,” I interrupted. “Rancor and his fellows approached her with ‘strength’ and it didn’t work out too well for them.”
“I agree,” said Tristus. “We make sure our weapons stay at our sides.” He looked around and took a deep whiff through his nose. “A bath and a change of clothes may not be the worst idea either.”
“There are pools of melted snow at the edges of the valley, possibly some hot springs” said Nica.
“Well, there’s one problem solved,” said Tristus. “And what of the terms?”
“I was going to go with a ‘please leave people alone’ and move on from there.”
“A good start at least. Unfortunately we don’t have any idea of what the dragon wants or why she’s done the things she’s done. Hard to negotiate without knowing the other party’s motivations.” He looked down at Zevrack, who’d already found a patch of sunlight to curl up in since we’d stopped to talk. “Any insights Zev?”
Zevrack opened a single eye to look at us, then raised his head, placing a claw under it as he thought. “She may have thought her view was ruined by the village. Or she simply wanted to breathe fire that day. The gods do as they will, their whims are everyone else’s laws.”
I nodded. I had more than a little experience with that. In fact, my encounters with Ren may provide an ideal rubric for dealing with the dragon. His goals were inscrutable, seemingly even to himself as he didn’t know his domain. With that mental adjustment done, I looked at the rest of the party. We’d been slimed, fought our copies, and walked through a steaming hot alien landscape of a valley. It was very clear what we needed to do before anything else.
“I say we make our way to the pools Nica mentioned and clean up before our combined stench draws the dragon here before we’re ready.”