the fantastic adventures of PENG and friends

the pursuit of knowledge

Marvin hurried down the hall, PENG and friends close behind, as the floor started pulsing under their feet.
They flew down a set of stairs, through a set of confusing corridors, down another flight of stairs and through two magically locked doors, before they ended up in front of a wall, with an engraved stone planchette in ancient words none of them could read. Marvin outstretched his arms towards the engravings, milimeters away from touching the the stone and started to speak words in encantos, the ancient language of power, and Ambrosia wondered if that was the language of the engravings as well. She couldn't speak it, only powerful mages and scholars learned it, which showed Marvin had to be an incredible student.

The mage's chanting grew in volume, his face contorting in concentration as his shaking fingertips emitted a static glow, similar to the stone.

Elana was looking around the marketplace when a shock ran through the entire city, knocking over some small items. She quickly discerned that the source was the odd, patchy building towards the centre of town, and now it was glowing too. Fair enough? Fair enough... She made her way in the direction, her curiosity getting the better of her, and found that the building was a magical college. Most students had gathered outside the main hall, specifically around a young elven man... hold on, that couldn't be right.
She stared at him for a few seconds, he looked like a drow, aside from his lighter skin tone and uncharacteristically short hair. She would report this later. She had time. Now back to the task at hand. In the middle of the hall stood a fellow tiefling, holding a guitar defensively, looking around. He caught her gaze.
"Greetings, fellow man... woman. The name's knowledge, bard, ladies man, part time assassin that one time."
He bowed.
"You don't happen to know where some of my friends went? I'm quite worried that they will get themselves into trouble again..."
Elana shrugged and gestured in the direction of the glowing.
"Perhaps there."
Knowledge scratched his chin awkwardly.
"I figured as much... but I can't just go down there..."
The warlock huffed and started power walking towards the stairs, the strange bard following her quickly.

With a last groan of concentration Marvin sent another shockwave through the ground and the glowing stopped, the cracks, however, stayed. The wizard dropped to the ground, losing his glasses and grasping his burnt fingertips to his chest.
"I... I have a lot to explain... don't I?"
Ambrosia helped him back to his feet and nodded.
"Yes, I do think so."
He blew onto his fingers and groaned in pain as he cast a healing spell on himself.
"Alright, follow me."

He lead them back through the corridors, where they eventually ran into elana and knowledge, who wanted to know what had happened as well, and finally, after a hike through the underground area that reached much farther than the building itself they found their privacy in an old lecture hall that was covered in dust and spider webs, clear signs that this place hadn't been used for a while. Marvin took the spot where a professor would have stood and the rest of the group spread out around him.
"Alright... what you just witnessed was me resealing the grave of the most powerful necromancer and lich in the world. The only reason why I'm able to keep him at bay is because he is weakened."
He took off his glasses and started to clean them absentmindedly.
"However... he is growing stronger by the day, and I have to exert myself greatly to push him back into his prison..."
Ambrosia was the first to ask the question whirring through everyone's mind.
"Who are they? And who sealed them?"
Marvin put his glasses back on and sighed.
"That's the problem, nobody remembers. Not even the elves, for obvious reasons. All we know is that it was a Male tiefling who reaked havoc on a nearby city with an army of undead orcs."
The wizard pondered for a few moments.
"He was sealed by a group of heroes back then, with the help of the grandmaster of magic... hold on!"
Marvin started to pace back and forth.
"I've heard rumour that he made a scroll before he passed away, in case the lich should ever escape..."
He stared into the confused round.
"Let me guess, we have to get it for you."
"Precisely."

They took the time to stock up on items and some potions, and Ambrosia, after everyone had finished their purchase, had gotten her hands on something special. A love potion. She didn't think she would use it, owning it alone was a thrill, but it was tempting. The fact that knowledge joined them in their venture made her giddy, though the fact that he hadn't joined them in shopping was suspicious to her.
'Calm yourself'
She thought, swirling a strand of blonde hair between her fingers as she stared into the paper bag with the tiny, curved vial.
'He's not yours YET."
A darker part of her imagined him in bed with several other women, but she shut the thought down.
It was his life. She had no business thinking about such things...
"Hey Ambrosia, knowledge is here, he brought the map, it's time to go..."
Tael, who had been silent since they had picked him out of a group of young wizards to come along, fidgeted.
"Uhhm... about that... I wanted to... ask if maybe I could... stay here and learn? With the wizards?"
Ambrosia crossed her arms and frowned, remembering the words of the drow on the ship.
"Not in a million years am I leaving you alone here."
The young elf looked to the ground, embarrassed.
"B-but I want to learn... and I'm not alone! Jenysse said she'd keep an eye out for me!"
He clasped his hands together.
"Please, please, Ambrosia, I want to go to school and become a wizard."
Ambrosia sighed. Who was she to refuse him that simple wish.
"Alright. But you take care of yourself, and tell Jenysse if I find a scratch on you when I come back you're never staying somewhere alone again until you're at least 200, got it?"
Tael nodded enthusiastically, hugged his supposed sister and jogged off, almost losing his hat to a sudden gust of wind.
"His mind is like a child's... I'm worried someone might take advantage of him."
Knowledge softly lay a hand on her shoulder.
"He's not stupid. Besides, sheltering him won't make him grow up faster."
Ambrosia nodded calmly. Calmly.
"I think that's right."
Oh God knowledge was touching her shoulder.
PENG was the first to shrug and start walking. He had taken over their shared backpack to avoid theft. After all, if he already had the backpack, there was no reason to steal from it. Elana followed him reluctantly, why was she going with these weirdos anyway? For information... she reminded herself.
Ambrosia and knowledge closed the group, knowledge insisting he be farthest back so his support could more easily reach all of then incase of a battle, though nothing much came up considering this was a frequently used road between two kingdoms, a few farmers bringing their produce to the capital.

As the sun began to disappear behind the horizon and the long, grassy meadows turned into thick pine trees, PENG and friends decided to take rest in a manmade opening with a fire pit. They set up watch, and it was mostly uneventful, until knowledge woke up Ambrosia.
"Wake up Ambrosia dear, it's your turn for watch."
The wizard lay on her back and blinked up at him. Had he really just said that? She finally got up and rubbed her eyes. Her back ached from sleeping on pine needles and hard dirt, but she took up post on a nearby treestump. Knowledge sat next to her.
"I can't sleep when the moon is full anyway..."
He started to tweak around on his instrument and started to strum.
"I... I guess it must be my bard blood calling..."
His voice wavered a bit as he said it, but Ambrosia hardly heard him, she had spotted something in the underbrush. She got up and snuck towards it, pulling back the twigs to reveal her assumption was correct. There, nestled between thorny bushes, lay an egg. A large, ivory coloured egg with tiny dots all over.
"Knowledge... I've found an egg. Do you recognize the creature?"
The tiefling shook his head.
"We should bring it closer to the fire, or it might freeze to death."
Ambrosia picked it up carefully as knowledge woke the others.

"Did you lay it?"
PENG tapped the warm shell with his index.
"No! PENG elves don't lay eggs."
The halfling shrugged and began chanting.
"Omelette omelette omelette."
This earned him a smack on the back of the head.
"We can't leave it here unattended... I guess I'll keep it?"
She carefully wrapped it in a spare cloak and bedded it into her personal bag.
"Well... my bag is pretty much full, I'd say..."
She gazed into the round of frowning faces, before starting to walk back towards the road, PENG still grumbling something about breakfast as they all went into order.

DM:
The more of this I write, the more mistakes I find on my part, so I guess this is making me better as a DM? I dunno, on the other hand it's a good amount of fun, and the goons seem to like it?

It's a form of archiving I suppose.
:)