And lo did the great heroes meet the short king, getting recognized as the light warriors, saviors of the world. This was not, one might note, a cause for celebration. For they were told a tale most grim, a story of the world as it stood and the horrors that waited with baited breath to destroy the world.
They were the first, last, and only line of defense against these indescrible horrors from beyond the world.
They were lead by the ex-pirate Craig Amythest, flamboyantly dressed elf of adventure, his eyes brightly shining as he headed through the castle following the great smith Grensayer.
To his left was a yawning young warrior, Alex of Cresent Lake, a lazy swordsman, always looking for his next easy hit and not quite sure why he was hanging around on this adventure to begin with except that it was a good way out of getting another job at the moment.
To his right, the humble black magus Zack Blackmane, chosen among many for his skills and prowess... or ability to be in the right place when Matoya grumbled and smacked him aside the head telling him to go down and join a group of warriors who would be gathering there.
And finally, taking up the rear, was Quatre, a cheerful smiling white mage, his robes kept clean as can be, his blue-green eyes shining brightly as he followed Craig's lead.
These warriors might not look like much... but they recently captured the foul villian Garland, mightiest swordsman in the land of Corneria and returned victorious.
Having received the holy dynamite from the hands of the master smith Grensayer, we now continue the story...
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"Oh well. Thanks for all the help, though. We'd better be off." Craig started off, they were kinda on a schedule, sorta. He briefly paused at the door. "Do you happen to know where Seer Matoya lives?" He turned to look at the smith.
He knew something had slipped his mind.
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"To the north. Across the northern Cornerian bridge, a few days by horse."
Dracos
Quatre smiled and bowed to the smith. "Thank you very much for your time and assistance." He said, then turned back to his allies.
"Do we need to do anything before we start heading there? I mean... should we get horses, or just try walking?" He asked, looking thoughtful, as if he, too, was trying to remember anything he had forgotten.
"Do we even HAVE hourses," Alex asks to that as the party goes. "Probably take at least double that on foot." Scowling, he wonders once again why he got into this.
Worst, I can use it as a cheap and safer way to get to Pravokia...
"Well, I don't... But maybe we could request some? I mean, it isn't like we're asking for an army, and... we -are- relatively important to the safety of everyone, aren't we? Not like I want to take advantage of that or anything, but... I think it would help us a lot." Quatre said, smiling a little bit. "Worst case scenario, we just have to walk. It's not that big of a deal, right?"
Alex begins to nod, then stops as he suddenly feels very stupid. "Er...Craig," he turns to the pirate. "Did the King not say something about horses, now that I think on it?"
"Hm. We haven't received the harp either, come to think of it. We go back and get it and the horses?" Craig shrugged.
"I have no problems with that idea." Quatre said and smiled to the others. "Just do whatever seems natural, I certainly won't complain."
"Right. Let's go, then." Craig nodded and lead the others to the king's chambers to pick up the artifact that they'd need on their trip. "I just hope he has the horses ready for us."
"Well, I'd hope so too!" Quatre said, smiling. "Or at least give us a reason why he can't let us have them... hm... well, we'll find out when we get there, I'm sure." He nodded resolutely, mostly to himself, though.
The guards outside the king's room stopped them as they arrived. "Halt, do you have more business with the king?"
Dracos
"Yeah, he forgot to give us that artifact that we needed. And we need to find out if he managed to arrange transportation for us to Matoya's place."
The guards blinked. "Your horses are waiting for you by the palace gates, with the stable keeper, Joseph, as by his excellency's order."
Dracos
Quatre smiled. "Oh, really? That's wonderful! Now, ah... what about that artifact?" he rubbed the back of his head a bit.
The guard cast Quatre a LOOK.
"That...is also with the horses."
Dracos
"Oh!" He smiled, laughing a little, either oblivious to the look or too dense to get it. Who knows. "Well then, I suppose we should be on our way, everyone!"
"Right...we'll be off, then. Give our regards to the king." Craig shrugged and lead everyone off to the horses, hopping on top of his, and giving the others enough time to get on theirs, they rode off with the artifact in their possession.
"So, anyhow. You were Matoya's old whipping boy, right?" He smirked at Zack. "Care to lead the way? You'd know the fastest route there of the lot of us, afterall."
Zack fumbled on top of the horse, clambering on top of it, his robes not helping at all with the matter.
"I was not a whipping boy," he growled indignantly. "I was an apprentice." He sighed, and looked around, getting his bearings. "She lives in a cave on the northern cape of the continent. Across the bridge, through the valley, and through the woods. To Matoya's house we go." He pointed northward, accidentally firing off a fire spell that dispersed off the town walls that were in the way, but caused no harm other than just knocking himself off his horse.
Quatre laughed a little bit, offering a hand to the recently downed ally. "You should be more careful about that sort of thing, you know. You might hurt yourself." he said with a smile.
"Or, y'know, get us all arrested or something." Craig mumbled with wide eyes, while quickly setting a pace on his horse so they'd get out of there before the guards were onto them.
He'd already rebuilt Morte's house, that was it for his manual labor for this week. Rebuilding town walls weren't in his schedule.
Morte, meanwhile, chomped a bit in his bag as the horses road off towards the bridge, the sun high in the sky, a fortuitious sign.
Dracos
"Well, now that we're outside of the easily spooked confines of society..." Craig took out the talking skull from his bag. "You alright there, Morte?"
"Sheesh, a guy could sufficate in there! Cha-cha!" The skull chattered, floating up above his hand.
Dracos
"You're already dead. I think you're past that whole needing oxygen thing." Craig wryly stated, even as he slowed down his horse so he was on an even pace with the others. It kept him from losing control of his horse at the same time.
"Anyhow, Morte, meet my party mates. I don't think you got to meet them."
Zack climbed back on his horse and hurried to catch up with the others. Getting caught by guards for burning up a wall was not on his list to do.
As he caught up, he glanced at the levitating skull. Not knowing what else to say to a floating skull, he opened his mouth and said what had been on his mind since he first got a glimpse of him earlier..
"Say, what would you do if I lit you on fire? Think about it, wouldn't it be cool? You'd be a flaming skull of death! Wouldn't that be cool?"
Quatre caught up with the others as well, just laughing a little bit. He wasn't entirely sure what to say about the floating skull either, so he just decided to watch the antics for the time being.
"Yo, Yo... Morte in the houuuuse!" Morte rapped poorly, self-ignited. "Fire ye say, I got the jack of flames!"
Dracos
"Oooh, cool." Zack said, his beady little yellow eyes becoming starry. He blew on Morte to put the flames out. "Well, you can do fire. How about ice?!" Zack, appearing excited, threw a ball of ice magic at the levitating skull.
"Hey, what do I look like, a flying target?" Morte spun out of the way by ...well, not a hair?
Dracos
"Aw, damn." Zack snapped his fingers. "I could have worn a frozen skull on top of my hat if you hadn't moved."
"Is it really smart to mess with the dead like this?" Craig mused out loud to himself. "I mean, he can't even help you if he's as frigid as the Princess."
"At least he has good humor about the entire thing, right?" Quatre smiled, laughing a little more. "It's no fun if everyone is always serious."
"Try again and I'll bite ya fingers off, knucklehead!" Morte floated around Craig.
Dracos
"Oi." Craig sighed. "Anyhow, you've been awfully quiet up to now, Quatre. Why are you on this trip?"
Quatre blinked a little, smiling. "Me? Well, I don't really HAVE an option, do I? I have to help out everyone and bring peace back, don't I?" He smiled, looking around the countryside. "I couldn't bear to see all of this razed to the ground, you know...? I don't like to see people unhappy or in pain, so... that's why I'm here. I'm here to ensure everyone's happiness." he smiled, and added a nod to the end of his statement, as if to punctuate it further. "Aren't we all here for pretty much that reason? Unless you have a rival or something I don't know about?" He grinned.
"Well, I'm not in on it for such grand reasons, really." Craig shook his head. "I mean, all I really wanted to know was whether or not this light orb of mine had any history behind it, but y'know how things go..."
"My land's in danger, and if I get a good adventure to tell my kids someday all the better, right?"
"Oh, stab me with a staff." Zack let out a sudden moan of disgust, a sharp contrast to his previously happy mood just moments before. "You don't want to see people suffer? Gr-bah. Most of these people deserve to suffer, the way they treat eachother and act towards themselves sometimes." He shook his head. "Present company and Matoya excluded, I wouldn't mind seeing everyone suffer. But... it's the will of that old hag to not let that happen."
Seconds later, Zack lowered his head. "Ah, sorry. Bit of a drama-queen moment."
"Eh. The world has its moments when it's alright. It's all in what kinda hand fate dealt you, I find."
Quatre nodded a bit. "The world isn't a perfect place. Some people... are just... they're just bad. But hopefully we won't meet too many of those on our adventure together." he smiled, looking up towards the sky.
"I suppose. Anyhow, it won't matter much if those demons kill us all. We gotta take them out if we want things to hopefully get better someday. I'm not letting a smelly, horned monster trash everything I'm proud about."
Zack nodded. "You're probably right. No matter how bad most people can be, smelly demons have to be worse. That, and they smell. 'Cause they're smelly demons."