Day 19 (S10-11)

The next morning, four soldiers in the royal garb showed up to the penthouse. Rina had just arrived with coffees enough for all 8 of them. Two guards carried the barrel, and the party followed them into the center castle.
Upon arriving in the waiting area, Drake and Ida were there with Francis. 
“Good, good!” Francis started, “You have done well. Let us go somewhere more private.”
Francis then guided them all to a small room with a stone table in the middle. “Guards, please put the contents of the barrel onto the table, then step out.”
They did so, placing the wrapped, small body on the table - still a little wet from being in the bath. 
“This is a week-old dead body?” Francis asked, “There’s almost no smell.”
“The bodak that we saw before seemed to have an odd coating on its skin that might be preventing decay” said Kin.
“Well, unwrap it, then” requested Francis. 
Rina began to unwrap it. The top of its small body had a beak-like protrusion at the mouth, just like the previous bodak. It’s skin was also a brown-black and covered in small holes.
Ida gasped, “It’s… it’s CheepCheep!” 
Rina stopped, “What do you mean it’s CheepCheep? This is the bird person you met last week?!”
“Yes, I’m sure of it,” Ida said, “He was not brown, though. He had blue feathers… it looks like he’s been plucked!” she exclaimed as she started to cry. 
Rina then realized that the bodak she killed in Riverbend was another bird person - another Therianthrope. She dropped what was left of the wrappings in shock, “I… I didn’t know…” she said out loud to herself as she started to tear up as well. She now knew that she had sent another soul to the hellish place that she saw in her Blending vision. 
“So then the other bodak was probably another member of the Fearsome 5” Aurelius said, “which means there’s 3 more out there.”
Alice hopped on a chair and patted Rina on the shoulder to console her, “We can still save the other three,” she said.

Rina wiped her tears and pulled out the book Niktalia Eternal. “This is what CheepCheep got from the library, and it has your name on it” she pointed to Drake. “What can you tell us about this, and why was this so important to them?”
Drake took the book from Rina, “This was… over 600 years ago. I only helped write it, and don’t remember much about it anymore.” 
“Is there nothing else you can tell us that may help?” Asked Rina.
“All I can say is that the same phenomenon happened once before about 100 years ago on the top of Mt. Ivatim. Aside from that, I am not sure I can be of much more help here.”
Drake handed back the book, “The one who would know the most is Therius,” He said.
Just then, Drake stopped and looked around, lifting a hand to tell everyone to stop speaking. He then pulled out his sword and swung at Rina. She ducked, then realized he actually swung above her - shattering a Scrying eye.
“Now everything we've said here today is known by someone else," Drake said, "come with me, King Sullivan Frey will want to speak with you all - we now have a time limit on this.” He began to walk away, Rina and the others follow.

Drake lead them all to the center castle of Castle Frey. They now went past the waiting room where they had originally met Francis, and began climbing stairs. As they went up, they saw many different, luxurious rooms. One was a dance hall, with stone tables lining the edges where food and drinks would be served, and a large stage area in the middle. The next was a large courtyard. There were almost no plants in Castle Frey, but this courtyard was lined with pale trees surrounded by water, and a small fountain to one side feeding them. There were stone benches, and some small windows where little rays of light could shine only on the trees.
The next room was smaller and more comfortable-looking, with a fireplace, nice rugs, and many comfortable chairs surrounding it. This looked like a parlor for entertaining guests.
Finally they reached the height of their climbing and approached two large doors with metal knockers. Drake pushed one open, and they all entered a great dining hall. The walls were lined with torches, animal skins, and pieces of broken wood and iron that looked to be souvenirs from conquests of the Three Fangs. In the center of the room was a long stone table surrounded by chairs. The head of the table had a throne - taller than any of the chairs by 3 fold, but more modest than the throne of many kings.
Upon the throne sat King Sullivan Frey - a Dhampir as old as the country of Pennislovica itself. His large frame took up the entire throne, and the look in his black eyes was heavy with the weight of this ancient nation. His pale hands always wrapped around the hilt of his great sword, his long nails tinking against the metal. He wore a Golden Dragon hide over his broad shoulders, which matched the color of his golden crown.
As the group approached him, Francis and Ida were the first to bow - the party followed suit. The only one who did not boy was Drake, who simply nodded at the king.
"Friends," King Frey began, "Please, come sit at my table. We have much to discuss."

Everyone sat down as close to the king as they dared. Drake and Francis sat on either side of him, and Ida sat next to Francis. Alice and Kin also sat on the same side, both preferring to sit next to Ida over the brooding Drake. Rina, however, did not shy away from sitting right next to Drake, and Aurelius sat next to her.
"How are you all tonight? What are your names?" the King asked.
They all spoke their names one at a time.
"It's nice to meet you all," Sullivan answered, "are you enjoying Pennislovica?"
Rina answered, "I think it's one of my favorite places in the world."
"Wonderful," the Kin answered, "Do any of you have any questions before we begin?"
Then Aurelius spoke up, "I noticed your dragon hide."
The king paused, looking surprised. "This is a souvenir" he said to Aurelius, "This is the hide of the son of the Last Dragon."
"The last dragon?" Rina said with an eyebrow up.
"Yes," Sullivan answered, "I killed him, and left only his father alive."
"You mean to say there's another dragon out there?" Alice asked.
"There is only one - one golden dragon - he is far to the east now."
"He may not actually be the last one" Rina said, "we heard rumors of a Dragon woman in Cofamoso."
The king chuckled, "Many creatures were once thought to be extinct, like the Dhampir, for example. As far as much of the world is concerned, we don't exist, yet here we are."
"This may be something else, though" Rina said again, "like a dragon's spawn, or a dragon trying to disguise themself... something."
The king spoke again, "Many creatures try to disguise themselves as something else. We are not concerned of the goings on in Cofamoso."
Rina could tell this was not a topic the king wanted to linger on, so she dropped it and stayed silent.
"Now, it seems the four of you have solved many problems in the world of late" King Frey began, "Tell me, what brought you to Pennislovica to begin with?"
Rina responded, "We came here to find another Adventuring party who we heard had disappeared in the mountains south of here."
"Friends of yours?" asked the King.
"More like friends of friends" said Alice, "A different Adventuring Party told us their friends went missing, so we came to find them."
"If they were friends, why did they not come looking themselves?" the King said.
The party all looked at each other a moment, unsure how to answer.
"They knew it was something dangerous" said Kin, probably more dangerous than they wanted to take on."
The king thought on this a moment, a look of judgement in his eyes.
"If it is to do with Mt. Ivatim" he started, "then it is, indeed, very dangerous."
"They checked out this book" Rina said as she showed the King Niktalia Eternal, "can you tell me how it relates to what's up there?"
The king glanced at the book, "Ahh, yes. This. The Three Fangs wrote this with the help of the god Therius. He is... the last of the original vampires."
"The last of them?" Kin asked, "What happened to the rest of them? And, if they 'original' vampires are gone, what does that make you?"
"We Druse used to live only below ground" Sullivan began, "We were the mushroom people of the underground. The original vampires were blue-skinned beings who hunted us to near extinction. We tried to defeat some of them, but their immortality prevented us from finding victory. We tried to simply take a bit of land for our own, but they continued to hunt us mercilessly. When we were at our most desperate, we - the three fangs - stole the gift of immortality from them. We then gave that gift to our army, and wiped out the blue-skinned vampires. All but one - Therius. Who now lives in his underwater library in the sea."
"You left just one of them alive?" Rina asked, "Why?"
"We did not see him as a threat" Drake answered, "He always kept to himself, and he was worshipped as a god eventually. So we showed him mercy and left him be."
"Mercy?" Rina started, "More like a life of hell."
The Dhampir looked at her with surprise.
"To be the last of your kind, and to then live for so long knowing you will forever be the last one... knowing you are an endling" Rina continued, "it sounds like hell. And you've done it to two creatures now. Both Therius and the Last Dragon. You've made endlings of two intelligent and powerful beings. Are you not worried?"
The King seemed slightly annoyed, "We are not worried about either Therius or the Dragon. We have been living in our ways for almost a thousand years now."
Once again, Rina could tell that the King did not want to linger of the subject. So she changed it.
"Drake mentioned that people disappeared on Mt. Ivatim 100 years ago," Rina began, "which is what has happened in at least 2 more towns that we know of. Do you know what is causing it?"
Drake and Sullivan looked at each other, then the king took a breath, "We know that it is something that no ordinary people will be able to remedy" he said, "but you appear to not be ordinary people. You have already fought one of these creatures, and now we have another that we can observe up close thanks to you." The king then nodded at a soldier who was standing at the edge of the room, he came back with a bag of coins and put it in the center of the table.
"This was the reward for bringing me the body" he said, "it is yours."
"But we didn't actually kill him" Rina said, "those mercenaries did all the work. I don't feel like we deserve this."
The King and Drake looked at each other again.
"Those men did very little" said the king, "reportedly, the Bodak had barely even gotten to the bottom of Mt. Ivatim before it fell and nearly killed itself. They then hid the body from me in order to get payment before confirmation. You did what was asked of you, you all deserve the payment."
Rina didn't argue, and nodded to Kin to take the money.
"So you believe the bodaks came from the mountain?" asked Alice.
"Yes" answered the king, "and we believe there may still be one up there."
"Another member of the Fearsome 5 is still up there? Then we have to go" said Rina, "and this time we cannot just kill them. I can't let that happen again."
The king smiled, "This is what I was hoping you would say."
"If you want this handled so badly, why not sent troops up there yourself?" asked Aurelius.
"The threat on the mountain has not affected our people" said King Frey, "I do not believe if putting my own citizens in danger for something that is not a danger to us."
"But you don't mind sending four strangers into danger" Kin said bitterly.
"We will do it" said Rina, "and if Kin or the others won't out of some sort of weird principle, then I'll go without them."
"Oh, I'm going" said Alice, "I have to see what's going on up there."
"I'm going wherever Rina's going" said Aurelius, Rina just rolled her eyes.
They all looked at Kin, including Drake and the King.
"... fine... I'll go too" Kin answered, "but the least you could do is send us up there with something we can use to help us through whatever dangers are there. It's hardly fair to send us there with nothing when you won't even send your own soldiers."
The king nodded, then waived for one of his soldiers to get something from another room.
"Here I have two scrolls I can part with" he said, "Hero’s Feast and Greater Restoration. May they aid you on this quest."
"Thank you, King Frey" said Rina, "now we just need to figure out the fastest way to get there."
"You may use my private ship" said the King, "it is the fastest ship on the River Nives, and it is quite comfortable."
"Is there anything else we should know before we go?" Alice asked.
"Ah, yes" Sullivan began, "my older brother, Godfrey, lives at the base of the mountain in Youngru. It would be good for you to visit him, as well."
"Older brother?" Alice responded, "Doesn't the older brother usually take the throne?"
The king paused a moment and looked at Drake, who seemed uninterested in being involved in this part of the conversation.
"You see, we - the Three Fangs - used to rule this country together" King Sullivan began, "Myself, Godfrey, and Drake."
Rina looked at Drake who was right next to her, expecting him to have some reaction to this being said. But he simply stared at the same spot on the table with his arms crossed like he had for much of the time.
"We were the three kings of this nation" continued Sullivan, "Until about 70 years ago, when the two of them decided to live their lives doing other things. Someone had to remain king, so I did. Godfrey is happy minding his little tavern in Youngru, and Drake has been teaching at the ShapeSmithing college for many many years. We all have our place."
Aurelius then turned to Drake, "So, Drake, how does your wife feel about you working so much? Between being a former king, and now a teacher in the college?"
Drake looked at Aurelius while sipping his wine, "I am... unmarried."
Rina looked directly at Drake this time, and subconsciously smiled. He saw her out of the corner of his eye, and subconsciously smiled very briefly in return.
"Well, if that is all my friends," said the king, "I must return to my other duties. It is late in the day now, so I will have the boat ready by morning. It is only one-day's ride to Youngru on my ship."
"There is one more thing" said Kin, "I'd like to be able to speak with dead on this guy."
"We cannot afford to let you have the body" said Sullivan, "But... you can have the head, perhaps?"
"That'll work" answered Kin.
Sullivan drew his greatsword and sliced off the head of CheepCheep. Kin put it in his backpack to speak to later.
They all got up, and Drake left first - saying nothing to anyone.
"That went so well!" exclaimed Francis, "I know Sullivan seems serious, but he really is a very sweet man once you get to know him!"
The party all packed up their things in their respective hotel rooms to be ready to leave the next morning.

Rina 14, 5

Next: Day 20 (S11)