The Tale of Dragons and Dungeons

Chapter 4: Homecoming (again)

Oznerol saw no imminent threat to the party, and thus decided to allow his mind to drift back to earlier this day. It was almost nightfall now, and the group of heroes were making their way back to Blader, Oznerol, and Naunia's hometown of Staadsvar. Earlier today, he blew up an entire lake, Blader got a holy sword and killed a Linkospian Queen, taking some of it's slimy skin as his prize (He had heard from Stinell that Linkospian Queen's flesh is especially delicious, when cooked the correct way), and Naunia got the mayor back on his feet after having his entire body get half digested. They had just had a party at the dwarves' mountain base and were now seeking the warmth of the Rook's beds, as it was below freezing out. Oznerol patted his helmet, as it was carrying him all this way and giving him a bird's eye view. He immediately started falling as Blader moved up his saddle and waited for his partner in crime and good stuff to fall onto his horse. In about three seconds, his massive body was upon the trusty... Well I guess you could call him a steed. He was more of a packhorse (At least he looked like one) but he could hold onto Blader's weight, and was trained to be ready for Oznerol falling on top him. The small horse gave nothing but a little snort at the mighty warlock. Oznerol bounced off the horses body and landed with surprisingly good balance. "So how far?" Oznerol asked as he watched Blader, who was looking at the map while allowing the others to lead his horse. "About a day's ride on these horses, but it's night, so I think it's time for something new." Blader signalled Naunia while he also signalled everyone off of their horses (Or mounts I guess, as no one really knew what Gene was riding at that, or where Lightning Heart went.) "Heartbeat, turn back into a human..." Blader said, staring at the panda which Gene was riding. In a flash Lightning Heart reappeared before the group. Gene protested about losing his mount as he fell square on his butt. "Be quiet Gene, we're about to get something much better." Naunia whistled one long high pitched note and it carried through the air, seemingly passing all across the world. In about 20 seconds, the white dragon came soaring through the air to his master's call. The mighty white beast landed right near them and they all came aboard, sending off their own mounts and placing their gear on the dragon. Naunia sat at the front once again, and as soon as everybody settled, the dragon began flying through the sky. Blader laid himself back and took a nap (Or at least rested his body some, as Blader is an insomniac and no one really knows when he's really asleep or faking.) Naunia played a couple games with her pet, Gene challenged Lightning Heart for a rematch of checkers, and Oznerol tried to use some magic on the dragon scales to read what they do. The magic was a great success and Oznerol got every bit of information about the dragon scales implanted in his brain. "Okay, so long long long story short, these dragon scales amplify magic... A LOT." Blader revealed he wasn't sleeping and got up. "I have an idea." Blader told them of his plan to make a magic amplifying amulet with dragon scales, some magesteel, and a Magic Ruby he extracted from the ring he received from the Sklorpian. "So that's what that was." Oznerol explained that he had looked through Blader's bag to look for some apple juice and unearthed the small gemstone. "Oznerol, come on man. You've gotta give up this drink. You have a problem." Blader chastised his old friend. "NEVER! I NEED IT!" Blader sighed and laid back once again. "Fine, just don't spend all your money on it..." Oznerol quickly became suspicious, Blader has never been this submissive around him. "Jeez, you don't have to try to sleep every chance you get." Blader just continued lying there, as Lightning Heart once again beat Gene. "Fine, just get up, I see The Rook." Blader sat up and waited for the dragon to land, he and the party collecting their items as Naunia brought the dragon down. They all got off and Naunia whistled again, signalling for the over-sized lizard to head to his nest, as the dragon stable was not yet complete. They walked in and Naunia called out, "We're back with some more customers!" They all took their seats as Stinell brought out their orders- A glass of water and a Linkospian Queen steak for Blader, a fish filet and 2 kegs of apple juice for Oznerol, a mystery stew that quite clearly had chunks of lamb in it for Naunia, a cup of Pepsi and a salad for Stella (Which caused Blader to chastise her for drinking, as she could barely hold Mountain Dew,) and Gene got a plate of cookies (Which Lightning Heart stole.) Everyone finished their meals quickly and went to drinking their drinks (Oznerol drained half a keg in about 2 minutes.) Blader listened in on the conversations to everyone around him. Lightning Heart was enjoying her cookies and hiding on the ceiling beams (Even if Gene saw her, he wouldn't be able to get her down,) Oznerol kept feeding his addiction and drained the remaining apple juice and quickly ordered several more. Well, there goes that. Blader thought. He took in more of his surroundings in the Rook. Naunia was going through her medical gear but quickly abandoned that to sketch out a drawing of her mighty fire-breathing pet. Stella was already getting wasted on the Pepsi and she hadn't even taken 4 sips. Gene was looking for his cookies, a look of distress for his lost sweets on his face. Blader stopped just taking in his party and began analyzing the Rook's condition. A few broken stools which was normal, considering Staadsvardians were almost always the ones in the tavern/inn, Stinell was humming a song while cleaning Linkospian Queen grease off of his grill type object, and there was almost no one in the bar besides the group. That being said, Blader noticed a small girl who had ran into the Rook unseen by even Stinell's sharp eyes. The girl looked remarkably familiar, and Blader searched for her face in his memory banks. He almost immediately found a person who fit that exact description and sighed as he realized who it was. Naunia's little sister. "Well, nice to see you can still sneak past your father." She looked fearfully at Blader as he looked back, meeting her eyes with a calm gaze. Stinell (And the whole party) saw her, and he immediately put on his disciplinary face. "I was wondering where you were, dear." She got up and tried to run, but Oznerol picked her up by her shirt collar before she'd even made her first step. "What'd you do this time, you little devil?" "Umm... Nothing big..." She replied timidly, still afraid of Oznerol's large form and his title of Warlock, though knowing him since she was born. "Ozzy, please, allow me." Oznerol handed her over to Blader. "Lani, seriously. What'd you do?" His calm and steady gaze has always scared her, even though she knows he wouldn't hurt a fly unless it was a monster. That and the fact that despite his small body, he could whip out his sword and cut someone to shreds within seconds. His black coat and newly sharpened and cleaned sword didn't help. "Umm..." She looked at her sister for support, but found only questioning eyes. She looked to her father, and saw a satisfied look, as if liking the fact that Naunia's friends would do the disciplining for him. "I... Uh..." She continued stammering until eventually Stinell cut in. "That's enough Blader, if anything her sister should punish her. After all, she's the one who's room has gotten robbed by her little sister." Blader smiled as he took in this information, and gladly handed her off to Naunia, whose eyes were now enraged as she imagined what her sister did. "What did you take?" Lani attempted to keep calm and lie but her eyes betrayed her. "I just took some trash out of your room, it was starting to stink." Naunia turned the girl towards Blader and Oznerol. Stella was lying her head down on the table as the scene went on. "Okay! Okay!" Naunia turned her back. "I may have taken a gold piece or 2, but nothing else." Once again, her eyes betrayed her. She turned her again. "Alright!" And once again Lani was facing her sister. "I took a dagger, in order to train and become an adventurer like you and them!" Naunia smiled and Blader let out a light chuckle. "You'd have to be trained in something other than just fighting with a dagger. And for a long time, too." Oznerol said, and he smiled as well as he was thinking of Lani fighting the Linkospian queen with Naunia's old blunted dagger. "Well... Could I come with you guys? I'm sure you could teach me a thing or two." Blader and Oznerol opened their mouths in protest, but instead it was Stinell who cut in. "No way. I'm not letting someone as young as you out there. Besides, you'd just get in the way." "No I wouldn't!" "Yes you would." "No I wouldn't!" "Yes you would." "No I wouldn't!" "Yes you would." "NO, I, WOULDN'T!" She brought the dagger from out of her sleeve, and threw it accurately at her father's head. Before realizing what she'd done, a hardened long and slender metal object pinned the knife on the wall. "Nice shot, if I hadn't intervened you may have lodged that into your dad's head." Blader said, as he plucked his Throwing Pick from the wall and stored it back in his coat. He gave the dagger back to Lani. "I think we could use another blade thrower on our team." He smiled as he saw the massive grin growing on her face. "So we're getting a new member?" Lightning Heart asked as she swung on her tail and landed softly on the table as a dog. "Yup." "No! I still say no!" Stinell yelled in his 'angry dad' voice. "Now now Stinell, I could just as easily kill you as I can kill a Linkospian Queen." Blader bluffed as he walked towards him, improving his chances by reaching for Elucidator and sheathing and unsheathing it. Oznerol began handing Lani a few supplies they didn't need, while Stinell's face turned chalk white, fearfully eyeing the holy sword. "Now Blader, we can talk about this." "Sure. She's coming with." Stinell just nodded, not at all doubting the young man's sword skills. "Thank you. Come on guys and gals, we're stayin' here tonight."

Naunia woke up before anyone else, and the first thing she noticed was Blader's red face, practically steaming with heat. She felt his forehead, moving his messed up bangs and checking for fever. She knew she would find his head much warmer than normal, and that was the case. Naunia sighed as she went to get him a medieval ice pack (That means a silk sack of ice basically.) After placing it on his forehead, she went off to steal her self an early morning snack, estimating that she would have about an hour before her dad woke up. She grabbed a perfect piece of bread that was set on the old stove and took it back to their room, tearing into it with her teeth as she went. The smell of fresh bread immediately woke the rest of the party, including the feverish Blader. He continued lying down though, wondering why his head was pounding and what cold was on his head. "Bread!" Oznerol shouted as he jumped up and tried to grab it with his mouth like a dog, and missing by 12 centimeters. Lightning Heart literally became a dog and attempted the same thing, missing by only 2 centimeters. Watching through blurred vision, Blader witnessed the comical scene as literally everyone besides Gene, Lani, and himself attempted to obtain the bread. Stella may have had a hangover, but that didn't mean she couldn't try for some food too. After it seemed the fight was simmering down some, Blader coughed, a little more violently than he intended, to let them know that he was awake. "Oh hey. How're ya feeling?" Naunia asked, eating the bread she won fair and square. "Like a sheep that's just been hit across the head with a steel club." He replied, rubbing his head and feeling the cooling touch of the ice pack- and the water from the ice cubes his head had melted. "Well that's kind of to be expected, you're definitely sick." Naunia said moving to the freezer type object in the room. "So what's he sick with?" Oznerol asked, while being forced into a checkers match by Gene. "Not sure yet, but it's giving him a really high fever. I'm going to have to look into this." Blader took off his ice pack while Naunia put a new one on. Blader began coughing like crazy while Naunia looked in her medical book and Lightning Heart began playing a game about building with Lani. "Hey Oznerol, mind casting an identify spell on him?" "No prob." Oznerol said as he won his 5th match against Gene and was about to go face Stella.

Instead, he walked over to Blader and his head and hands glowed as he casted his spell. His spell moved quickly to Blader and infiltrated his body, taking in all sorts of facts about him. "Can you quit that? It feels REALLY weird." Blader said as he shuffled around. "Hmm? Oh sure, I've got what I think she needs anyway." Naunia walked over, her nose in her book and asked "So what's the diagnosis?" Oznerol searched his foreign memory banks and found what she was looking for. "He's got something called Linkospian Erratic Temperature Disorder (LETD.)" Naunia sighed as she saw the disease in the book. "It'll throw his body temp around until he goes into shock and dies." "So I'm gonna die?" Blader asked in between coughing fits. "Yeah, unless we unearth the Panacea from what used to be Crossdraugr Lake." Naunia said, while Lani accidently tipped over the tower, realizing her first adventure was upon her. "Oooh! The remains of Crossdraugr? I'm coming with you guys!" Blader shouted, almost forgetting about his fatal illness until he began coughing again. "No you aren't. You're gonna frickin die if you exert yourself too much!" Naunia said back, immediately chaining him to his bed. "That's not gonna stop him, you know." Oznerol said as he watched her finish locking the chains. "What do you mean?" "He can chew through steel." As he finished his sentence, Blader chewed through the lock. "Seriously. I'm kind of superhuman." "Yeah, if you wanna keep him from coming with, you've gotta do this!" Oznerol punctuated his sentence by slamming Holy Elucidator's hilt into Blader's stomach, effectively silencing him for at least a week. Oznerol planted the blade into the ground next to Blader's bed and they ran out, yelling to Stinell (who had woken up sometime earlier) to keep their room reserved.