Chapter 14: Chapter 12 On the Road Again

List of Characters, Part 2, the Second Wagon

Angel is a distant relative of Manuel, the summoner's angel. She is a first level commoner celestial elfess; she is very shy and keeps herself to herself other than with Rixande. She hopes she will somehow avoid having to kill to advance to The Leveling. Blessed with both twilight and ultravision, she pals around with Rixande as they are both pacifists, and Angel is fascinated by her eyes. Angel has silvery hair and eyes. She is more gifted than pure elves in the chest area, even surpassing Star, but is short like Rixande. Celestial elves don't show their random statistics until they undergo The Leveling, which scares her.

Atlanta is a first-level common mixed Wood and High elfess; her family has ties to the Lark clan, and they were pleased that she was chosen for this adventure. They are a poor family and proud that their daughter has a chance to become a hedge class. She is enthusiastic about leveling. Her hair is strawberry blonde, and her eyes are Wood elf green.

Grey is a first level low tier High elfess commoner. She is from the Lark clan and has a twin brother in the caravan named Blue. She was named for her gray eyes. She has the yellow-gold hair of the Lark clan. She is cowardly but loyal. She is disappointed in the naiveté of Star.

Raire is a third level arcane archer heroine. She is in charge of wagon two. She gathers and hunts because she has increased movement speed. A member of the Steel clan, she has their characteristic gray-blue eyes and dark black hair. She adores Tira and is a reliable heroine on the journey to the west. She was tasked with paving the way for her family to get to the human lands. Raire carries a device that allows her to be watched from a distance, so her family can keep tabs on their little girl. Raire is bustier than many elves, is fairly tall, and is the most physically powerful of all the elves in the caravan.

Rixande is a first level low-tier High elfess commoner. She has midnight blue hair and ultraviolet eyes that are pretty to infravision races, such as dwarves, but seem almost white to normal and twilight vision. She is slight and short. She has a negative view of being uprooted and is a candidate to reject The Leveling or to run away. She has no desire to be in combat. She is no relation to the Lark clan; she just got swept up in the net at System Day. Her family and her father, who is a hero, are quite upset about it.

Sylphianne is a first level low tier commoner. On the main continent, she is a rare Faerie elfess. She has amethyst eyes and blonde hair. She is a companion to the unicorn, Devoe. She is the most muscular and robust of the common elfesses, standing 5' 8" tall with a more athletic human woman build. Her people have longer ears than High and Wood elves, and they are cursed to be wary of other demi races because they do not listen to their god. Her family has genetic connections to Lark clan members. Faerie elves are cursed to be viewed favorably by them and a sub-race of humans known as Northerners, who, ironically, lived on the southern continent. They can select any one advancement during The Leveling.

Chapter 12

On the Road Again

For about half a week, the caravan made good distance. They had gotten their paperwork in order with the new clan of this region in Appletown, due to Etherstaria's and, strangely, Tira's diplomacy. The local resistance to the caravan passing through their lands had been calmed down by a sword maiden who was not acting superior.

The days were sunny, not too humid or hot, and not even a goblin was spotted. There was lots of game, and the unleveled elves that were interested in leveling, were making some good progress since there were more bows and slings now. Raire and her new charge, Alliasaz, along with Olier, brought down several deer and a feral pig, which gave some variety to the elves' diet. not to mention the various edible plants. Everyone but a few of the young elves were becoming friends, and Devoe, the unicorn, who had shed his disguise, normally had Moonmist or Sylphianne riding him as the wagons creaked along the elven druid enchanted pathway. Ambrose and Raythiel were closing in on their level. Raythiel demanded much of Star's attention, saying she just needed it for a while longer.

On the fifth evening, Zip reported that she had seen an enhanced reptile of some kind when she was taking her watch. Zip was a Woodling, so she had better twilight vision than everyone else. Zip said, "It walked on two legs, had a big head, and was staring with evil-looking eyes at the caravan." When she raised the alarm by ringing the bell, it fled.

"Did it look more like a person or more like a dragon?" rasped the summoner.

"Dragon," Zip said.

The slackers in the caravan were given more lookout duties. and the wagon kept going the next day, but a bit slower to allow for more scouting. Phenaquar, out in front of the caravan, made first contact. He saw a military company camped in a village. They seemed to be reinforcing the walls; this was not a good sign.

Phenaquar picked up and rode back to the caravan to warn them, then he went ahead to talk to the villagers and the company. As Phenaquar rode closer, he could see this was not a green unit like you would normally see this far into the middle of nowhere. For the past two days, the lands had seen very few settlements. As he rode into town, he was met by a sergeant. "Who are you, sir knight?" said the sergeant; his emblem was a white fox.

"I am a Lark knight, by the name of Phenaquar." Can I talk to your commander?

"You are looking at him," said the sergeant in an aggressively loud voice. "I, uh, haven't had time to update my uniform, plus this one is enchanted. I am Lieutenant Kafkaloudes, but everyone calls me Lieutenant Loud."

I think I see why that might be the case, pondered Phenaquar to himself. "In any case, what is the situation? I have a caravan I am helping to guard; is it safe to continue?"

"I don't know; this village sent out a request for aid to the White Fox clan, and since everyone was bored, we answered the call. However, it seems like the next two villages have gone silent. We decided to help out this one's defenses some before we checked it out. If you're heading west, this is the only road for quite a while because dragon lands are north of here," replied Lt. Loud, loudly.

"That isn't good; is the dragon active?" asked Phenaquar.

"Actually, no!" said Lt. Loud, picking up the decibels. "The dragon lady in charge is about a thousand years old but is deep in a sleep cycle. There is a chance it is some of her forces or a babyish dragon trying to take over the territory while mommy sleeps or something. You wouldn't think a true dragon would violate the treaty, but you never know!"

Phenaquar figured this Lt. Loud had suffered major hearing loss or something. He had his horse step back a couple of steps for comfort. "So, it is alright for us to continue?"

Lt. Loud grinned at Phenaquar for moving back. and really let loose. "The road hasn't been closed, because we haven't seen any enemies yet, but we will likely close it tomorrow when we go check on the next village. Suit yourself!"

Phenaquar road back to the caravan, which was already cresting the hill overlooking the small village by the name of Cress.

"What is the situation, Phenaquar?" rasped the summoner, as all the heroes were pulled in.

"Either a baby dragon or some of the forces of Lady Dragon, who has a territory north of here, have gone on a rampage for land, or for fun, I couldn't say. The old dragon is sleeping, so her minions and/or children are playing squash with the elves, I guess."

"We should go around," said Raire. "Better safe than sorry."

"We can't, unless you want to walk through the wilds. There is no network of enchanted roads around here, as this leads out of these dragon lands to the GER* valley," rasped the summoner. "It would be the one place we can't go another direction; the only choice would be to backtrack clear to the Lark lands and take the coastal road, which is about ten times more dangerous and twice as long."

"We can't take ships, because the whole area south of the human kingdom for hundreds of miles is covered in monsters. That would be suicide. So we would have to sail up the GER to Landing, which is mostly suicide but more expensive than we can afford. We can wait here for a decade until the old Green wakes up or this dragon war gets settled, but that is not exactly ideal. Apparently, that kind of delay might destroy the world, as we are on the clock. We need to get through before it gets worse, and it is going to get worse, and the roads will be closed. So let's put our heads together with everyone who might have a crazy idea, but we will need one fast."

A council, consisting of Twixia, their baby sage; Star, the reason they were here; Olier, a sneaky rogue; the summoner, who held most of the magical power of the caravan; and Tira, a legendary class holder, were held.

The summoner went through the options for the caravan and then asked for ideas.

"We will need to head through the path before it closes, or this expedition is doomed," said Tira. "I had very specific talks with the great oracle, and we can't afford years of delay. Months, sure; years, no. How exciting that I will finally be able to fight! We have some countermeasures for a dragon; it would only kill a few of us a round. I bet we can take any younger dragon than me on and win!"

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"Are you older than you look?" asked Olier.

"No, probably younger, and sword maiden training is a difficult life," Tira replied.

Twixia raised her hand.

"Yes, Twixia," said the summoner, forgetting to rasp.

"Can't you just summon enough stuff, or hide us in an illusion or something?"

"I could hide one wagon; the other six would likely get destroyed; it is a possibility; which eight or so of us should stay alive?" rasped the summoner. "As far as summoning enough stuff, probably not; I am not a super summoner; I get Manuel, or a summon, or a few lesser summons. And although that would help, it isn't exactly an overwhelming force, is it?

"I see. Maybe we could nicely ask some of the soldiers to assist us?" said Star.

"You are very cute, Star, but this is a regular company that isn't going to work for a variety of reasons," rasped the summoner.

"What about the villagers then?" asked Star.

"The ones hiding in their huts because they are scared of the professional soldiers sent to help them? I'm not sure they would even slow down dragons, even if you could charm them into committing suicide. I guess the dragons might take them and leave us alone if we sacrificed them, but the soldiers won't exactly let us do that," chuckled the summoner, then rasped.

"What if we sacrificed their favorites, Woodlings?" said Olier.

"We are not sacrificing Zip!" exclaimed Star, looking at Olier in horror.

"No, but what if the dragons thought they were Woodlings? The Lord Chancellor could polymorph creatures into Woodlings; that might work."

"Who is this Lord Chancellor you are talking about?" said Star.

Everyone else seemed to be in the know, so Star's uncle pulled down his hood and undid the wrap around his face.

"Uncle Almiel," said Star with a smile, "are you here to look after Grey and Blue?"

"Yes, but mostly looking after you, Star," said the elder statesman.

"I feel like I am getting a little too old to go around adventuring, but there was no other mage your father would have trusted to teleport you back home if needed," sighed Almiel.

"And to answer your question, very shady rogue, it would almost have to be an illusion. polymorph other is illegal, so I don't know how to cast it. The problem with illusion is that it would take concentration, and I would be out of the fight and could only use Manuel. Still, it is the best idea we have had. But what exactly would fool the dragons?"

"Well," answered Olier, "we have Zip with us, so we can duplicate her smell and put her atop a wagon while we go for bait, so the dragons will come for us during the day in their greed. "Now we just need some goblins willing to be sacrificed," Olier said evilly.

"How are we going to find goblins?" asked Star.

"Phenaquar said there were other villages that had fallen silent; there will be goblins or goblin tracks from their scavengers," said Olier. "Having a goblin as a former mistress is paying off."

"I am picking up what you are throwing down, Olier, and yes, any magical help by a civilized goblin with illusion magic would be helpful," said Almiel. "We will likely have some space after this madness."

"We will stop in the village for the night, as it is the only safe place, then see what the cost would be to get the company to delay going to the village for a day, so we can get to the village first, find some goblins, and proceed with the plan, such as it is. Devoe and I will use our teleports to pick up Blaze, and then I can rest to restore my mana. We will have Raythiel level up by killing as many chickens as she needs to do so. We can just sell some to the village. That will make her more useful for healing. Her spells won't be strong enough for dragon minions," said Almiel.

Almeil put his disguise back on, and he and Devoe teleported to the Sandshield's town. They returned a few turns later with Blaze. Almeil had Blaze cast her disguise spell, making Blaze look like a Woodling, and then they took the caravan into the village of Cress.

Raythiel reached level two! She had already talked over what to take, so it was pretty easy. She received an advancement to charisma, taking her to 4, which gave her a plus to appearance, which made it 2+. She received four additional pluses. So she gave a plus to wisdom, intelligence, dexterity, and appearance. This raised her will to 0, her health to 1, her dexterity to 3, and her appearance to 3, which gave a plus to her charisma, raising it to 4+. She now had 13 hit points, a 3 defense, a 1 attack, and a general ability. She took a +4 bonus to Use Magical Device (trigger items), so she could activate the wagon wands without issue as long as she wasn't under attack. Her mana pool was now 14. She learned the magical creature illusion spell for her automatic spell. She had enough mana to cast that and three healing spells each day now.

Almeil then spoke with Lt. Loud about taking a day off from exploring the next village over and fortifying Cress' defenses for another day. What they demanded won't be written here for now. The caravan paid their price and then set out the next day to continue on their dangerous journey to the west, ever westward, no matter the cost.

*The GER valley is the Great Elf River; think of the Mississippi River. The caravan is at a choke point with the lands being as wild as they get here within the GEN until you get to the main valley of the elves, which should be easier for the caravan.

The first big battle is looming closer, and there will likely be casualties. Let me know in the comments if you have a particular elf or elfess that you don't want to die.

The next chapter will have sex scenes. Feel free to skip if you want.

 

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