Fantasy Cursed Island

[Darkling0096]

"Ah," Emfa paused, "You know that weird looking animal Jerry keeps in a cage? That's Urodor, currently."

 

[Fangs9090]

Corona nodded, glanced at Emfa’s horn, and paused. “...I feel like I’m missing something.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"You are," Emfa nodded and sat down on the tree's carcass. "Urodor was a dragonewt, kinda like Jerry. We walked into his territory, he decided he wanted to sleep with Jerry so he didn't kill us immediately. Asta called bullshit, we got into a fight, he broke my horn, Niudisa turned him into elf cheese, and then put his soul in a rock, and Jerry built a body around it." She shook her head, "It makes even less sense now that I've heard it out loud from my own mouth."

 

[Fangs9090]

“With what I’ve seen here, it fits in perfectly. Sounds like he was a dick anyway.”

 

[Darkling0096]

Emfa laughed, "Well he sure planned on using his!" Dragon never got the chance, but that was because Niudisa pulled a new trick out of nowhere that would have been really helpful a week prior to that event.

 

[Fangs9090]

“Pfft.” Corona laughed as well. She glanced towards the camp for a moment. “Why did she build him a body?”

 

[Darkling0096]

Emfa reached into her shirt and pulled out the repellant talisman, "Because Urodor was the only asshole in this dungeon that knew how to make these, and you can't talk to a soul gem."

 

[Fangs9090]

“Ah.” Corona nodded. “...man, I’ve missed a lot of stuff this group has done.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"You are incredibly late, yeah," Emfa nodded, "but don't feel bad. We met Nalla two days before we met you, she's missed a lot of stuff too."

 

[Fangs9090]

"I think we both need to just sit down so everyone can fill us in. Like, yeah, we all have the goal getting to the bottom, but knowing all the little things going on can help too. And technically I was early, because I was ahead of you guys and you caught up."

 

[Darkling0096]

"If you were early, you would have continued to stay ahead," Emfa replied, "You clearly haven't fought any bosses or looted any chests, or there would have been nothing when we came through. So there can't have been much stopping you from continuing."

 

[Fangs9090]

“I mean, I didn’t even see this Urodor guy, so I might have taken a different path. I know there was a cave in behind me at one point.”

 

[Darkling0096]

The party had found a cave at some point, but they hadn't explored it. Too dangerous. "Maybe."

 

[Fangs9090]

“Not to mention you guys can probably make faster progress than I can. You don’t have to step backwards every time you come to a narrow dead end...”

 

[Darkling0096]

Emfa giggled, "Oh, I think we're pretty familiar with that." If Asta was at full size and they weren't ready for a fight, he was probably in the back with Jerry, and when they found a deadend he had to go backwards.

 

[Fangs9090]

"At least someone knows my struggle. 'The best struggle is the one you share.' That's what Misery said, though I'm pretty sure she was messing with me..."

 

[Darkling0096]

Emfa shrugged, then stood and hefted her axe, "Well, I've got stuff to destroy. Hit me up if you wanna break something together."

 

[Fangs9090]

Corona gave a nod. "Sure thing." She figured it would be a good idea to clear out in case of falling trees, so she headed a little closer to camp.

 

[Darkling0096]

Back at camp things had more or less returned to regular function. Joanne went about sharpening and maintaining weapons, Jerry was in her tent doing something with her stylus and eraser, Adran was polishing off his labors with his new quiver of phoenix-feather arrows, Beri was curled up to sleep under the table. Veo was still tailing Emil for fear he may enter another Aria-induced coma.

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle and Fia were just returning from the pools, already dried and dressed again. Erina was at her loom, trying to get everything finished. She'd decided to finish everything and then hand it out all at once. Asta was sitting around thinking back on his training. Despite being in human form, he still sat like a cat without thinking about it. Niudisa was doing some theoretical study on paper while she waited for her alchemy to set or brew. Emil was doing his best to avoid wandering, for Veo's sake, so he pretty much just sat where he was, alternating between playing music and resting. Raine was sitting up in a tree, watching over the camp.

 

[Darkling0096]

Nalla returned to camp after a while. Once Shuffle and Fia returned, Adran approached the two, "Fia, can I ask you a favor?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Fia looked over and nodded. "Sure. What is it?"

 

[Darkling0096]

Adran nodded, "I need a feather from you, we're out of feathers from the bad phoenix. Just one, I promise."

 

[Fangs9090]

"Oh, alright." Fia glanced down at herself before flapping her wings. She sometimes had a loose feather in there that just needed to get shaken off.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Thank you," a few feathers came loose, it seemed Fia might have had some trouble preening without a beak or thumbs to help with that endeavor. Adran got down on his kees to collect the shed feathers, "I think that's enough." The elf took what he'd collected and went back to what he was doing.

"Fia, if you need help, I'd be happy to," Nyah offered, gesturing to the handful of feathers Adran had collected, "Help you take care of your feathers, I mean."