"You were a Scout, too? Cool!" Keri says, smiling. "Did you make it to Eagle Scout? I did. Started as a Cub Scout, like you. It was a big chunk of my youth, and even though I don't really think about it that much anymore, my time there helped shape me into the person I am today. Well, the person I was, at any rate. Although, they are allowing girls to be Boy Scouts now, so..." The elf shrugs and laughs.
Vultan has no choice but to laugh with her, he simply can't resist. He follows up with:
"Well, as long as they're letting girls in, Keri, I dare say you're my favorite boy scout."
He follows it up with more laughter and a long sigh before answering her questions.
"No, I never did. I got through boy scouts, though. I remember my dad telling me he'd do what he could to support me if I chose to try for Eagle, but that he didn't think it would work out..."
His brow is furrowed once more as he thinks back to such a distant time.
A whole liftime ago. Hah.
He doesn't stew long before he turns to Keri and says:
"He was right, though, honestly. It takes a lot more initiative, commitment, and resilience to follow through with being an Eagle Scout. I did not have what it took at that point in my life."
He gives a nervous chuckle. He was the furthest thing from admirable when he was younger, and reflecting on it made him eminently aware of it. He takes the chance to turn it around, though.
"All the more impressive that you managed, though! Did you have any favorite bits you enjoyed the most? I uh... My dad and I over-engineered a pinewood derby car one year and won first place by enough to make all the dads concerned about the physics of it. I still cried when they handed me the trophy, though."
Did I say too much? Probably. No helping it now.
He shrugs to himself before recombining his attention and giving it to Keri.
"I enjoyed all the outdoor activities we did. Besides camping, we'd go hiking, mountain climbing, whitewater rafting, canoeing... All sorts of things," Keri says. There's a distant look in her eyes as she reminisces. When I got to middle and high school and started getting into tabletop RPGs, that's all we'd do on campouts. Stay up way too late at night playing 'Star Wars' or 'Dungeons & Dragons.' Most of my closest friends as a kid were all Scouts. I lost touch with all of them after going to college, though."
Keri pauses, and a look of regret clouds her features. "I lost touch with a lot of people over the years."
Keri remains unaware of her surroundings as she is focused on her conversation.
Vultan sees the metaphorical storm clouds roll and and looks around as he attempts to come up with a way to steer the conversation away from the past and regrets.
Uh, uh, umm
He feels what amounts to a small ringing in his mind and he stops, turns around, and focuses.
Minutia, minutia... Are those... Oh no.
He gives Keri's hand two squeezes and stops walking, just slowly enough that he doesn't have to let go. For everyone else, he gives a harsh whisper:
"HEY!"
He throws a fist up at about head level, his elbow at ninety degrees. He lowers his body as he flattens out his fist into a knife-hand pointing skyward, then rotates it forward so it's level with the ground.
I hope they understand 'Merican sign language.
He points to his eyes with two fingers, then points the knife-hand towards the party of elves he's spotted.
He looks to Keri and gestures to himself as if indicating he has long flowing hair. Then he mouths more than says:
"Red hair. Friends?"
Keri stops at Vultan’s urging, looking at him curiously. She follows where he is pointing, then gasps softly when she sees the elves with their familiar prisoners. When Vultan asks about the red-haired man, Keri shrugs.
”Could be. I don’t know. I’ll talk to them. I’m an elf so they might trust me. Keep watch. Be ready to jump in if things go poorly.”
She gives his hand another squeeze, then looks to the others to be sure they know the plan. She creeps forward a bit to separate herself from the group, then she takes a deep breath and steps out of the grass.
”Hello. I am a friend. I mean you no harm,” she says in the Elven language. She doesn’t know how she understands the language, but she is fluent nonetheless.
Nick notices Vultan notice him/them but chooses not to comment, until Keri marches right up to the group to introduce herself in a language that must be elvish. He understands it perfectly, which is odd, but no more so than most of the other things that have been happening recently.
"Keri!" He declares, "I'm annoyed that you left me behind with those two!" He points towards the bound halflings, "But you had to get out of there, I understand! Thank goodness you're alright. Issi and Sadiki would never have forgiven me if you weren't."
He gestures to all the elves around them. "As you can see I was rescued by these fine fellows here. Is our companion around? I think they want to speak to all three of us."
Vultan is hesitant to let her go, but her argument has clear merit. He didn't want to think about what might happen if they were found instead of offering themselves in peace.
And besides, if the red hair means what I think it means... And they've got the filthy hobbitses, enemy of my enemy?
He replies to her as she says to be ready:
"Blink twice if you need help."
He doesn't let go of Keri's hand right away, but as she gives his hand a squeeze, he touches two fingers to his heart and then aims them toward her, saying:
"I believe in you."
He lets her go and waits with baited breath, thinking through all the possibilities. He digs his feet in and prepares to fly from the bush with all his might should things go south.
He eases up, but only slightly, when Keri starts speaking in Elvish.
She's got this. Oh, Summer Queen, please tell me she's got this. Tell me these are your emissaries. Bless us with your presence.
He squeezes his eyes shut, but only for a moment, realizing that habit came entirely from his own piety rather than a practice he'd found in one of the SotDL books. He dashes the distracting thought away and refocuses on what's before him.
Keri’s eyes widen as the realization of the redhead’s identity strikes her. ”Nick? NICK!” she squeals. The petite elf rushes across the distance and throws herself at her friend, hugging him tightly. She laughs in disbelief—she’d be crying if she were capable of tears.
”You’re back! You’re alive! How? I saw you... You melted... Nick!” She holds on for dear life, as if expecting him to go away again if she lets go.
Eventually, his words sink in and she finally lets go and takes a step back. ”Right, the three of us. Vultan! Vultan, come out! It’s Nick! He’s alive!”
He looks on quizzically, leaning forward as she exclaims once, then again, loud enough for him to hear.
That son of a b$*!*, he's alive!!
He feels immense relief, but curtails it as there is still a lot of unknowns. Keri sprints over and hugs him, holding on for dear life. Vultan wipes a vicarious tear away from one eye, allowing himself to smile.
She must be ten times as relieved as I am. What a blessing!
He refocuses a second time, trying to work ou--
Keri calls out to Vultan.
Oh, uh, ok, that can only be good, right? Just me? Hmm...
He gives a brief thought before doing his best to make an impressive entrance. He slides one wing between the grass in front of him and sweeps it to the side so he can walk through with his arms down at his sides, hands open.
That HAD to look cool, love these things.
He furls his wings behind him and looks at each person there in turn, returning his gaze to Nick and allowing a previously contained smile to paint his features. He approaches cautiously so as not to raise any hackles until he reaches Nick, reaches out a hand and clasps his forearm. He tries to keep it masculine, but he can't quite contain himself; his eyes water and he gives one sniff to keep his nose from painting his face with emotion.
Ugh, I can't.
He decides to toss the masculinity and pulls Nick in for a hug of his own. As they part, Vultan places a hand on Nick's shoulder and says:
"I... Man, I got so many questions. Questions for later, but like..."
He stammers before getting a grip of himself. He centers himself, reminded that they're surrounded.
"It's good to see you. Really, really good. So how is everything?"
He loads his question with as much eye contact as possible, trying to communicate that he knows there's some serious context going on without tipping off their company.
M'ushu notices the elves as soon as they're visible. He chooses to stop and lay low and looks to see if his companions have spotted them, too. Vultan issues silent hand commands to get everyone to stop and be wary of the elves.
We should lay low here and let them pass. They're bound to be up to no good.
To his dismay, Keri goes up to them with Vultan and starts speaking in some language he doesn't understand.
Probably speaking in Elvish. I hope those two know what they're doing.
"Tam, Con, get ready to jump in." M'ushu whispers, continuing to watch the interaction as closely as he can.
Tam had been a bit too busy to notice anything, covering the groups tracks to try and minimize how easy it would be to follow them. At the very least it would probably mean he disguised their numbers.
It wasn't until Vultan called out to the group that he got wise to something going on. He glanced over as Keri broke off and he decided he would try to hide in the bushes with Con and M'ushu.
It wasn't difficult to pick out the rhythmic sounds of marching over the crashing waves of the ocean. There were quite a few elves and Con panicked briefly. It didn't take any convincing for him to let someone else take the lead on this encounter while he hid.
He hunkered down beside M'ushu and watched as Keri got to talking. His heart was racing and his blood was cold watching her approach a whole platoon of elves.
"Halt!" one of the elves shouts out. The rest all stop, weapons at the ready.
One of the elves steps forward. He has a bearing of a commander; used to people obeying him when he speaks.
"Spread out! Search the area!" he calls out. All but four of the elves immediately make their way into the grass; stomping down on the grass to make it stay so the area is cleared. It will only be a matter of moments before they clear enough to spot Tamien, Con, and M'ushu.
As the soldiers obey, the commander speaks to Nick, "Ah, a fellow fae. You didn't tell me you were traveling with my kind."
He calls out to Keri, "I see you know each other. Tell me, have you anything to do with the temple to the north of here? No, no, don't speak, Nick. I just want to know if her story matches yours."
”Yes, we explored the temple,” Keri says to the elf. ”We replaced a trident which caused the temple to rise out of the water. A voice spoke to us, asking for aid. But...” She lowers her eyes. ”I suffered a panic attack. My anxiety overwhelmed me, and I don’t remember what happened next. Only that Nick carried me down and then we fled.”
The story is mostly true!
”We intended no harm! We are simply stranded explorers, trying to find our way.”
Vultan stands near to Keri and Nick as the elven regulars move past them and into the grass.
Sharp commander. I wonder if they ran...
He casually watches the elves walk by as the commander, Nick, and Keri dialogue in elvish.
I'm obviously not meant to participate in this conversation... guess I'll be a lookie loo for now. Just a dumb, harmless, heavily injured tourist, that's all...
The elves start stomping through the grass, and while his tension rises inside, he conceals it expertly. As he looks past Keri, he briefly makes eye contact with her and offers a comforting smile and nod.
Everything is going to be OK. Everything is going to be just fine.
He asks himself about four times per second if he should reach for her, grab her hand, anything. He's not certain if it's to comfort her or to comfort himself, but he's resolute in deciding that's intel he's not willing to give to a potential enemy just yet.
Smile and nod, smile and nod...
The commander gives Nick a look - the kind with a single raised eyebrow.
To Keri, he says, "Explorers, huh? From whence did you come? What is it you are exploring this far into the Steppes? Under who's banner do you seek out the temple?"
"We travel under nobody's banner. Our story is a long and complicated one. I would be happy to explain everything to you given the proper time and circumstances. But the bottom line is we mean you and your people no harm. You have nothing to fear from us. From any of us," Keri says, eyeing the elves scouring the grass.
Vultan reflects on the languages portion of his character sheet.
Vultan doesn't speak elvish. Vultan does speak body language, though.
He sees the rising tension between Keri iterating and Nick's silence that things weren't going smoothly. He clears his throat and looks at the commander, then sinks to one knee and bows so that the commander has him at an advantage.
Lower... until I can't see what the commander is doing... Ok. Here goes nothing.
"Commander, I beg your pardon if the common tongue is a disgrace to your ears. I'm not versed, yet, in beautiful elvish, though my companion is an excellent teacher that I care for dearly, and I long to learn."
Vultan puts one hand, palm up, towards Keri to indicate who he's speaking of.
"I can see that you're searching the area, which is wise. You should find three additional members of our party that we have clearly failed to offer you an accounting for."
"I will gladly call to them, that they would join us peacefully. Many of us are injured and we are, all of us, in no shape to offer resistance to your command. Please accept my humblest apologies for the insulting deception of hiding our numbers."
He extends both hands forward, palms up, nearly touching the ground. Still, he keeps his head down that the commander understand the degree to which Vultan is humbling himself before the commander's mercy.
"I offer this information and the opportunity to command me to call them out as tokens of friendship, that we may be glad for your company and any peace and joy it may offer instead of finding ourselves opposed in any way, even if that means offering you what we have to ease your passing."
Please.
Oh hell!
"Damn it, they're looking for us!" he whispered hurriedly to the other two. "They're going to find us soon. The trident has a few powers, one of them is breathing underwater as long as it's being held. If we can make it in we could dive below and probably wait them out."
That's when he heard Vultan begin speaking normally and begging the elven commander for leniency by giving them all up.
No! You idiot, why?! he thought harshly.
It might work, some part of him thought. It could all work out. But something adamantly refused to let him just give up and turn himself over. He'd been burnt too many times trusting someone else's judgement completely.
"He gave us up. I'm going. You two can come with me or not. Good luck either way." he said as he began to crawl back and out of the grasses and toward the water.
M'ushu hears Vultan reveal the full size of the party and all thoughts of hiding and getting away stop as resignation sets in.
Better step up now than get caught after all that was said. he thinks wistfully.
Just as he was about to step out, Tamien whispers his plan to sneak away due to his obligations to his patron. After giving it a quick thought, M'ushu gives him a thumbs up and whispers back, "Alright, but I don't think Con is in any condition to try to run. We'll try to give you a head start, so go, and be safe. Hope to see you again soon, man."
"C'mon Con. Hopefully, you'll get some rest soon."
M'ushu bucks up his courage and stealthily slithers under the grass for a more convenient position before "suddenly" appearing when a soldier sweeps the grass near him.
M'ushu exclaims in a mixture of Korean and English.
Hope this will buy Tam enough time to sneak away
M'ushu puts his hands up in a familiar Earth gesture of surrender.
"Stop! We're friendly! My friend is hurt, but is right behind me! Please, we need help!" M'ushu says in Commmon.
M'ushu tries to ease Con up and get him hobbling over to the beach.
"Con, c'mon big guy. We're almost out of the woods and then you can get some rest."
"Stupid elves. Always trying to step on me, just because I'm a bit short." M'ushu says under his breath as he tries to guide Con to "safety".
A trumpet sound blares through the air and you feel the ground start to rumble. The sounds of galloping horses quickly fills the air and soon you see dozens upon dozens of centaurs riding your way.
"Curses! Centaurs! Come quickly, we cannot be caught by them. They will capture us all! I know of an entrance to a hidden world not far from here!"
Keri’s eyes widen as the centaurs come into view. She sees Mushu and Con emerging from their hiding spots, but she doesn’t know where Tam got to. No time now!
”F@%!! Run!” the elf shouts. She reaches for Vultan’s and Nick’s hands to tug them along if they hesitate, following the elven commander!
Vultan shifts his head enough to see in the direction of the thunderous noise without stopping his display.
Then he sees the source of the noise and stops his display.
The commander shouts in elvish, and while Vultan struggled with the "flight" part of fight or flight, Keri did not. Vultan is sprinting as fast as he can go before he quite realizes he's being tugged along by Keri.
Oddly, time seems to slow down as he looks ahead, his vision filled with elves sprinting for everything they're worth, and Keri, looking over her shoulder, face painted with fright.
Centaurs are pretty fast. I dunno if we can outrun them. I'm pretty fast, I thought, but wow, Keri is fast, too. Still, probably not as fast as centaurs. Guess I'll die...
His eyes track down to where she's holding onto his hand.
...happy.
A smile crosses his face as the moment passes and he says, "Thanks." between breaths as he leans into the run, trying to use his wings as best he can to sprint faster. It doesn't help, but that doesn't keep him from trying.
Nik nods and breaks off from Keri to scoop up Mushu.
"Run!" He says firmly to Con and Tam before suiting actions to words. He runs much more easily in this form.
Con tries to keep up with the group but his heavy form just doesn't move as fast. He's never been a good runner anyway. It only takes a handful of seconds before he is yards behind everyone but he keeps pressing, trying not to lose sight of them.
M'ushu freezes at the sudden explosion of events as he tries to process everything that's happened. Nick was kind enough to scoop him up and carry him away to safety. As he is rushed away to a supposed entrance to the elven world, he sees Con lagging behind.
"Con! Keep running, you can do it!" M'ushu shouts encouragingly at him.
He digs around his bag for his incantation of Mist Form and grabs it, just in case.
Vultan swivels his head to see what he can, trusting his connection to Keri for direction while he does. He sees Con running along behind the group, and he sees Nick running, M'ushu in-tow.
Where's Tam?
He gets his bearings before swiveling his head the other way.
S$**.
He looks over at Nick and M'ushu and waves, shouting:
Once M'ushu looks his way, he shouts again:
He holds up his free hand and gives a thumbs up and a thumbs down intermittently to see if M'ushu might be able to indicate that Tam was ok. He hopes he just missed him when he looked, and that M'ushu, being able to look backwards unimpeded, could confirm that everything was alright.
I mean, he'd probably be throwing a fit if Tam was back there getting murdered, so that's a good sign, at least.
Tamien had given M'ushu a resolute nod as the serpent said his piece and moved carefully back into the grass before he slipped away from the group of encroaching elven soldiers.
Thanks, M'ushu. That'll do. he thought, as he heard the yelling distraction.
Then all hell seemed to break loose. The blasting of trumpets and the ground started to rumble along with the sounds of a veritable stampede of horses.
The feelings of uncertainty and doubt began to spike as he heard the others shout and begin to run. He wasn't sure about his next move was going to be. But after a moment, he exhaled a deep breath and controlled his thoughts. There was only one place he could go and still have autonomy. He'd already been planning on it anyway, another unknown wasn't going to change that. He grabbed hold of the trident and turned to run for the ocean.
"Time to see if magic really works for me!" he said, intent to dive into the water. If it didn't, he'd be in a lot of trouble.
As the elves run towards a patch of trees, the commander says, "Hi na- going na n- trickui. Im lonn't taken hi fen na i dolen realm in a an anand. Ha's a dúr near. Verui dangerous. But mín're fae, so hopefullui mín'll n- granted access. A safe passage. Mín'll baur a payment."
The commander looks towards Vultan, Con, and M'ushu. "Hain will ceri-."
In common, he speaks out, "To get to the hidden realm, we have to pass through an invisible maze. Please follow me exactly." He runs into an area of extra tall grass - blades as thick as some smaller trees that sprout up nearly ten feet tall.
To get through this maze, you need to pass the following challenge rolls. If you are fae, you get 1 boon to each roll. You get 1 boon for each size category you are below size 1, and one bane for each size category above size 1.
Challenge 1: A force of will; the area makes you want to turn away. Make an will challenge roll with 1 bane.
Challenge 2: The tricky turn. Make an agility challenge roll with 1 bane.
Challenge 3: Pushing past the tree-grass. Make a strength challenge roll, with 1 bane for each size category you are below 1, and a boon for each size category above 1.
Challenge 4: Seeing through the illusion. Make an intellect challenge roll.
Challenge 5: Run. Make a speed challenge roll.
If you fail any roll, you are teleported back to the beginning. You have three attempts before the centaurs show up to capture you.
Keri is alarmed by the elf’s remarks, but there’s no time to respond now.
The maze immediately turns her away at first. She grits her teeth and tries again.
This time, she makes it all the way to the last part of the maze but isn’t quite fast enough to reach the portal! She curses loudly as she is sent back to the beginning.
Keri makes it to the end again, sprinting for all she is worth. She is mere feet away as the portal starts to close! ”No, no, no!” she shrieks, giving it everything she has to make it in time!
Vultan holds on tight and sprints for everything he's worth directly into the trees after the commander.
Running after the commander wasn't easy, but he could do it. He felt the oppressive force of the maze against his senses. It was almost too much, but he powered through. He makes the cutback right behind the commander, and then tries to slip through the grass just as he saw the commander do. The grass rebuffs him with ease.
Gotta keep my wings tucked in...
He attempts to jump through the grass again, and comes out facing a horde of centaurs!
"S%!#."
He whirls around and sprints back into the forest.
This time, the forest's "will" was no match for his. He was expecting it, and that made it easy. However, he was so focused on powering through, that he misses the turn and powers right back out to the centaurs again. The centaurs narrowly miss grabbing hold of him as he sprints into the forest once more.
Ok, Ok, Ok, resist psychic oppression...
Make a turn here, lucky I saw the commander do it.
Tuck wings to make it through the grass
Oh look, it's Keri!
"Hey! Which way??"
Keri points him to the left, and he goes to grab her hand so they can run together...
...and it passes right through her!
"An illusion?! F~+#!"
Do I trust it? Was it her or...?
He looks around frantically before spotting the top of someone's head over some grass in the opposite direction the illusion was pointing.
Looks like Keri, might be an illusion... F%&~ it.
He sprints toward the maybe-illusion and comes through the grass to see another Keri. She's looking down a path that's...
That's not right. It's... Is it moving? Undulating? With a regular interval... 1... 2... 3... Okay, yeah, we can make that.
He reaches for Keri's hand and makes contact this time.
Hope it's not just a better illusion, but... are illusions this warm?
That warmth spreads up his arm, and he suddenly feels as though he can outrun a horse.
Or a centaur, hah!
He counts the timing aloud and dances his feet while he gets the timing just right, and then he takes off with Keri in tow!
Con wanted to stop and rest but the sound of the centaurs bearing down on them was more than enough to keep him moving. His slower steady pace made the sudden turn easy enough for him. However, he wasn't expecting the grass to be so much stronger now and hit it like a brick wall and was sent hurtling back to the beginning.
He started running again, slightly distracted by how he ended up back at the beginning, he made it back into the maze from the power of his expectation. The turn came just as slowly this time as the last and was no longer a surprise. Con slipped between the blades of grass by turning his body sideways. Seeing the others, like Keri and Vultan, move through the illusion gave him the confidence to run through it headfirst like it was his first time getting on the train to Hogwarts, and he pushed himself through the last stretch of the run panting a heaving.
"...Mín'll baur a payment." and looks towards Vultan, Con, and M'ushu.
M'ushu's nonexistent ears perk up when he hears the word payment and then looks at the commander, only to meet his meancing gaze as he looked meaningfully towards the non-elves of the group.
I don't speak "loser who lost my own world", but did he just say payment?! While looking at the non-elfish people in this group?! I should've tried to go with Tam, even if Vultan had said something. I better bail now, while I still have the chance to.
With his stomach feeling tighter as the situation kept getting messier, M'ushu slithers out of Nick's comfortable arms, as Keri, Vultan and Nick follow the questionable, and likely unscrupulous, commander.
"Con, my reptilian brother, we may have to part ways, here. I'll be sticking around for a bit in case anything happens to you or anyone else. Leave the chest with the coins and incantations here and do your best to survive." M'ushu says, picking up the hefty chest.
He then tries to cast the Mist Form incantation in his hand.
M'ushu successfully casts the spell on the leather hide and transforms into a miniscule fog, along with his clothes and chest. He gently floats upwards and away from the entrance to the maze, hovering at an inconspicuous height for any adverse happenstance to occur to his companions who entered the maze. After seeing them pop out for the last time, he gently floats away, moving on to locate Tam or do something else.
M'ushu turns into fog and slips away. Nick is nowhere to be seen. Was he even really there? There's no time to stop or worry about the others. The centaurs are gaining!
Con makes it through the portal, but Keri and Vultan are sent back to the beginning again. Last chance. Have to make it! Keri runs for all she is worth, feeling Vultan's grip on her arm. Pulling her along. They're almost there. So close! Vultan makes it through, and he is no longer holding her. Without his support, she slows ever so slightly. The portal is about to close. She's not going to make it! She throws herself through the air, diving through the portal. It closes on her...
The world explodes into a riot of color, light, and sound. Keri is falling between dimensions, dazzled by coruscating images, deafened by roaring fury. Her body burns away, crumbles to ash, only to reform again. Voices shout her name--his name, Russell! Russell! Russell! His wife. His children. His friends and family. A cacophonous chorus shakes him to his bones.
He is standing on a rocky bluff, the wind whipping around him. His wife stands beside him. He is in his tuxedo, she is in her wedding dress. The world flickers and lurches. She is in her tuxedo, he is in his wedding dress. A crash of thunder. The bluff crumbles. They fall--
--and Keri is falling again, tumbling end over end, through a silvery void. An eagle screeches. Wings beat from somewhere nearby. A hand reaches out of the aether, and Keri reaches out desperately for something solid, something to save her from an eternity alone--
--and at last, she breaks on through to the other side. She gasps for breath as she clings on to Vultan, her body shaking, her eyes wide with horror.
Vultan comes through behind Con. Con, making a better door than a window, prevents him from getting a good look at their surroundings. Before Vultan and Keri can...
Wait, she was just here.
He turns and looks back toward their entry point. With rising panic, he starts to say:
"Ker-"
And then the path undulates like it had before, the enchantment-laiden exit to the forest splits open in a way that hurts Vultan's mind, and he nearly averts his eyes before Keri breaks through the wrongness and stumbles into his arms. He begins to help her rise, but something is wrong. He sinks to his knees to make himself level with her. He remembers her anxiety attack atop the ziggurat and begins to ground her, hoping it helps.
Ok, five senses.
He cradles her head with one hand, stroking her cheek with his thumb. With his other hand, he grasps one of hers, pressing into the palm with his thumb and making slow circles. He tried to keep his face directly in front of hers. He has no idea what potential horror lay behind him, but if it was bad, she was in no shape to take it in right now.
"Hey, hey, it's ok, everything is ok, you're here, you made it, I've got you, I'm here, we're together, we made it together..."
Ok, that's hearing, feeling, seeing, then theres--
Ok, now is not the time, brain.
This time, he simply imagines the circle being drawn on his forehead, eliminating invasive thoughts and refocusing on Keri. Realizing his face is just in front of hers, he exhales in the direction of her nose before going back to the reassuring phrases.
There's smell, at least. Here's hoping stolians have pleasant breath. I'm about to teach this whole world about the toothbrush.
He'll stay close with Keri for as long as it takes for her to reconstitute.
Keri’s eyes are unfocused at first, staring at things that aren’t there. Slowly, she begins to come back to herself, feeling the touch on her cheek, the pressure on her palm. She looks into Vultan’s eyes—
—just in time for him to breathe in her face. The elf instinctively wrinkles her nose.
(This makes her face look very cute, incidentally.)
”Bleh. Not sure if that was entirely necessary,” she says. Keri closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and opens them. ”Thank you. I’m... I’m okay. That was not a pleasant experience. I’d like to speak to the manager.”
Vultan smirks as Keri wrinkles her nose, some small part of his brain involuntarily admires her as she does so, and the rest of his brain catches up as she starts speaking. He gives a single mouth-closed laugh and replies:
"There you are. Welcome back. Sorry about my breath, this world isn't exactly a shining example... of... dentistry..."
His smirk fades, his eyes widen slightly, and his heartrate starts to accelerate.
Her face is really close to mine, right? Like really close. Too close? Don't-don't-don't-
He glances down at her mouth, then back to her eyes.
Dang it! Why does she have to be so utterly enchanting. I mean, maybe I AM enchanted, like literally? How could I tell. Do I pinch myself? I must be dreaming...
His mind is throwing out thoughts fast enough that he can't grab onto any one long enough to think it through.
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Keri looks up at Vultan. She sees his eyes widen, look down at her lips and back up. Her heart is beating as fast as his. After what she just went through... After all of the chaos and heartache of the past few days...
He wants it. I want it. F!%+ it.
Keri stands on her tiptoes, closes her eyes, and presses her lips against Vultan's.
Part 1: Keri, Vultan, and Con.
You struggle your way through the maze and find the world getting darker and darker. By the time you reach the other side, it's late dusk with barely a hint of light in the sky. You're in a thick forest with overgrown shrubs and grasses thick around the many trees. You can hear crickets, frogs, flying insects, and an off-putting slow click. click. click. sound that reverberates through you, as if it was coming deep within the throat of some large beast. It makes you feel uncomfortable and gives the entire place an even more menacing vibe.
Then other elves with you look worried and scared, except for the commander. The commander looks annoyed. "I hate this place," he says under his breath.
"Soldiers, defensive positions." The elves move about, encircling the commander and the three of you, with weapons pointed out. You notice then that there's only five. Five elves, besides the commander. He waits a few more minutes and then gives out a sigh. "The rest will not be joining us. Come, it's a long walk and this is dangerous territory."
Part 2: Tamien, M'ushu, and Nick.
Tamien watches as the elven platoon and his companions all enter the maze. Hidden beneath the ocean surface, he is out of sight of the centaurs as they ride up. From the looks of it, most of the elves were unable to get past the hidden maze to the hidden world. The centaurs rode up and quickly surrounded the elves, all of whom surrendered. They were clearly speaking to one another, but hiding beneath the waves made it impossible to hear.
After a while, the centaurs walked off, with the elves in custody. All except for one. One being stepped out of hiding after the centaurs left. It was Nick.
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M'ushu turned into mist and made his escape, easily sneaking past everyone. He stayed low to the ground, whisping his way through the grass and keeping away from the winds. The winds blew above the grass line and over the beach, so the small snake knew that if he left the protection of the grass, he would quickly get swept away by the wind. So it was down low as an inconspicuous patch of mist that he stayed hidden.
M'ushu watched as th centaurs came galloping up.
"Invaders. Intruders to the sacred lands! By what foul measure have you dared to corrupt these sacred grasses?"
"We are not invaders! We are fae, come from the hidden realms to stop an usurper of power, to keep the world protected! We are on a sacred mission from the Queen of Summer herself!"
"The Queen has no power here. These lands are ruled by the sacred spirits of the plains. You are hereby our prisoners, lay down your weapons and strip off your armor. Failure shall result in your death."
The elves did as commanded, and soon they were captured by the centaurs and all of them were marching away. Only one remained behind. Only one stepped away from where the centaurs had been. It was Nick!
His breath catches as she closes the distance. His eyes close as they meet and the supple sensation of her lips on his is overwhelming. His entire perception draws down to the singularity of her kiss. His wings immediately flare up and out, arching above him. His hand, still cradling her head, subtly draws him further into the sensation. With his other hand, he slides his fingers between hers and slowly lowers his arm as his wings slowly descend and wrap her up in a gentle embrace.
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Keri allows herself to be drawn into the embrace. She squeezes Vultan’s hand as his wings envelop her, keeping her close. Keeping her safe. She melts into him. Her tail wiggles back and forth behind her as the kiss goes on for what feels like an eternity.
Eventually, and with great regret, she pulls away. Her cheeks are flushed pink as she looks up at him. Her first kiss as a woman. It was one to remember.
Annoyingly, the present situation asserts herself. She turns to the elf commander as he speaks, looks around, and counts how few elves made it through. There is no sign of Mushu. Of Tamien. Of Nick. She can only hope that the three of them are together and are safe. She prays she will see them again.
”May the Queen of Summer watch over them, and us,” she says quietly. She stays by Vultan’s side as they move to follow the other elves.
She looks up at him and smiles. ”That was nice,” she remarks. It is an understatement.
Vultan opens his eyes as the kiss draws to a close, and looks deeply into Keri's as he returns his wings to their furled position behind his back. He finds himself wholly enamored with her, and he admires her in brief, knowing this memory would be there to comfort him through potential hard times ahead. He heaves a growingly-characteristic, contented sigh and caresses her cheek, now flushed a passionate shade, one last time before letting go and straightening.
Such a singular woman~
Returning to earth, he looks around as she does, and affirms her prayer aloud with "Amen" and walks with her to where the other elves are, still hand-in-hand.
He positively glows as they walk, and he returns her smile warmly. He finds he's not capable of any alternative to smiling at the moment.
"That was nice", he affirms.
”Then why were you so scared to do it?” Keri teases gently as they continue to walk. ”I saw you hesitate again. We probably would have gone weeks without kissing if I hadn’t taken the initiative!”
His smile widens to genuine mirth as she continues to speak sotto voce.
"oh, pff, tch, no, I wasn't scared, shhh"
He feigns denial in reply to her banter.
"...I mean, it's more a nervous thing. I'm nervous. I mean, you make me nervous. You're very pretty, you know?"
He clears his throat, quietly, to interrupt his own stammering.
"In any case, we should... try it again soon? I'll brush my teeth next time, honest."
After a moment, he realizes he's missed his chance and resolves himself.
Next time, I'M going to tease HER, that'll show her!
He laughs an entirely-superficial, evil laugh silently and entirely through his nose.
Keri’s eyes sparkle with mirth, but she merely inclines her head to Vultan.
She looks back to Con, checking on the big dragonkin. ”You okay back there, big guy? We’re glad to have you with us, too. Let us know if you need anything.”
Belatedly, she remembers what the elven commander said before the mad dash to the portal. She momentarily steps away from Vultan and moves to speak to the elf. ”Pardon me, sir. You mentioned earlier something about using my friends as ‘payment?’ Could you, maybe, elaborate on that?” she says in the Elvish language.
It's working. It's actually working. I can breathe underwater! This is incredible... and very weird. He'd had a few dreams before like this. Vivid, detailed, and unforgettable dreams about being able to swim underwater and breathe as easily as though he was walking around on land. This wasn't quite as smooth as that, but it was close. He was ecstatic for a short time but the feeling had to be set aside as he watched the horde of centaurs approach.
Tamien watched and waited for the centaurs to confront the elves who hadn't disappeared, he realized. The majority of them in fact. After a while the elves were lead away. But before he could decide what else he was going to do, he saw someone step out from hiding.
He swam out of the ocean and came up on shore, waving to catch his attention.
"Nick? Hey, Nick! I can't believe it, you're alive! When you got turned into a puddle back at the house, I thought that was it. Or at least someone said that's how it worked for Undines. I wasn't sure the rules of this world and how we got here would mesh up. Glad to see you're still here." he paused.
"I didn't hear anything being said, what happened just now?"
Con focuses on Keri when she addresses him.
"Oh, uh, yeah I'm fine. These guys all seem to be a little spooked and that makes me a bit spooked too... Is all."
Once she steps away from Vultan to speak to the commanding elf, Con moves up to fill the void.
"So, uh... M'ushu took all the... stuff and, well, didn't come with us. I grabbed a handful of coin and a scroll. Figured you might want to know..."
He speaks right into the birdman's ear to keep his voice at as low a whisper as possible. That is, until.
"Also... What the s$*& Kyler... f#~@in' Margrave! Who the f$@# is Prince Vultan? What the actual f~## is happening?!"
He clasps his friend on the shoulder with one hand and the back of his own neck with the other to keep all the built up shock from bursting out all at once.