Fantasy Farewell to Kings: Temple of Hyxia

[alwaystheOptimist]

Winston scoffed. "Young people these days are always rutting like rabbits. Don't lie to me!" Tobias stood up abruptly, setting his hand down firmly on the table. "We did no such thing. I dare you to say it again!" He glared fiercely at Winston, who looked a bit taken aback.

"Leave them be Winston. They wouldn't do such a thing." Delilah had come down the stairs, her black hair braided and slung over her shoulder. She came to rest by the man, placing a hand on his shoulder. "There was no noise last night. You must have been imagining things."

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec swallowed. He wondered if now was a good time or if he should wait. No better time than the present, he figured. Once Delilah walked off, he'd approach Winston.

"Do you have a metal shield, or know where I could find materials to make one?" Though his question was quite random, it didn't take long to realize why he was asking. He was planning a defense against Aida's rifle rounds. Getting some protection was his priority. "Even just scrap metal will work. I can transmute metals with my magic."

Winston shrugged. "I have some pots and pans, but I need those for cooking on the trail."

"I can change it back once we take care of the sniper. After what happened last night I'd rather not take any chances."

"I don't know if I trust you or your devil magic. Perhaps we should just let her take a shot at you" He chuckled. Lautrec glared silently at him.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

"You better watch yourself old man, or you'll find your old hermit body flyin' out the window," Enius growled, walking over to the table. He was smoking a thick black cigar and he let out a spew of smoke as he walked over to the group. "There's a blacksmith down the road. When we set off, we'll ask him." He dragged a chair from a nearby table to the group, sitting down. Rheitz glared at the old man and looked back to Lautrec. "Is your sister really dangerous? Is that why you need a shield?"

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec looked towards Rhietz. “It’s not for me. It’s for you. It’s bad enough that Delilah was attacked, I won’t have you getting hurt in this as well. She’s as dangerous as any mercenary with an axe to grind. I don’t know much about her, except that she doesn’t have fangs. That tells me enough about her connection to the Dracül lineage. It’s my hope that we can get her to reveal her position and pin her down before she can run away.”

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

"Aww, look at you taking care of Rheitz. How adorable. Do you like her?," Delilah teased, placing her elbow on Lautrec's shoulder. "But how can I be sure that my men are kept safe? From what I've seen, you're sister likes to kill anyone who steps in her way, regardless of their innocence."

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec looked up at her. “Who doesn’t like Rhietz? She’s the fun one, after all. From what I can see you’re still alive. I recall she said she only intended to wound you. Perhaps this blacksmith can provide a number of shields for the group?” He asked. It may have been asking a lot for them to pony up money for their own protection, when it was his fight to have.
“I have considered an alternative. We ride with me trailing behind. If you’re all out of the way, she’ll have no trouble singling me out. I can only hope that she misses.”

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah frowned a little and let out a small laugh as Rheitz let out a bright smile at the compliment. Rheitz shook her head. "No! Then you might die. We wouldn't let anything like that happen, right?" she looked earnestly at the group, pouting at Delilah's blank expression. Delilah let out a soft sigh, dropping her arm from Lautrec's shoulder. "Fine. I'll let one of our company accompany you behind. Who do you want?"

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec looked around the table. He couldn’t let Rhietz or Delilah endanger themselves. He smiled when he realized it was his decision.
“I like Winston as my backup. Maybe she’ll take pity on us and put one in his head too.”
Winston chuckled. “Yeah? Hopefully she does you first so I get a good show.”

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah shook her head. "Nevermind. I can't let our healer die at the hands of a crazy lady. I'll hang back with you. Enius has a family and Rheitz and Tobias are too young to die. They can carry on without me if I die." She patted Winston's shoulder for emphasis and retreated to her room to retrieve her things. "Pack up! We're going to get that temple!"

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec rose from the table and went to gather his things. He was in the room with Rhietz putting everything together.
“Rhietz, have you ever had a problem, and wasn’t sure if it was better to confront the problem or to simply abandon it? Confronting it could mean hurting yourself and others, but leaving it might still hurt someone. Do you have advice for something like that?”

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Rheitz stared at Lautrec for a minute, spluttering. "I-I...what? Well...it depends on the problem?" She looked at him for a minute, sitting down on the bed. "What exactly is the problem? You've never asked me stuff like this before."

 

[Jodyguru]

“Well, things haven’t been as complicated as they are now. How much do I owe someone who I should love, but also might be forced to destroy?” It seemed like he was talking about his youngest sister Aida.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

"I guess you should consider how much you're willing to destroy yourself for them? I mean, would they be okay with you hurting yourself to protect them or would they rather die than seeing you hurt? I mean....honestly, you should talk to them about it. Figure out how loyal they are to you and how loyal you are to them?" She had begun to tug on her ear thoughtfully, staring off into space. "If you can figure out that, then you'll get the answer to your question." She shrugged, sliding off the bed to get her pack.

 

[Jodyguru]

He sighed. “I think you confused me even more.” He let out a sarcastic chuckle. “Nobody in our group will mind if I die. I saw it in their faces. The only people I’m here to protect are you and myself. That’s what the deal was.” He said, sounding like he was reminding himself.
“Thank you for indulging my concern. I hope I can confide more in the future. I wouldn’t want people thinking I’m a perfect being with all the answers or something.” He chided her with a smile on something she said in anger days ago.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

She blushed, embarrassed. "I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean it. I was angry that you didn't take my social advances and just....ignored me." She turned to him, putting her hands around her mouth as if to share a secret. "Everyone in the group cares about you by the way. Even Winston. They were talking about you yesterday morning before you woke up."

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec’s face turned downward at her. “Really, I might’ve believed that if you kept Winston out of it” he wasn’t buying it. If they weren’t willing to support him to his face, why would they appreciate him at all?

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Rheitz groaned, stomping her foot. "I'm telling the truth. They might act like a bunch of stone people, but they really like you! Enius said that you were a man made of good stuff. He said he respected you for the control and politeness you had for others. Tobias thinks you're super cool! He was telling me how awesome it must be to have a friend who could produce a ton of spells. He really likes spells and he says you're his idol. Winston said that even if you were a filthy, bloodsucking dhampir, at least you hadn't killed anyone yet. And Delilah-"

 

[Jodyguru]

He tried keeping his face straight, but his cheeks were red.

“I’m flattered. I hope to see them all when we find the temple.”
He left the room as she was talking. It was go time. Hood up, floating disc up. 90* degree heat day.

Horses were fed, saddled up, and ready with winter coats in storage. Winston knew that the barren earth would turn to 30 degrees by dark.

“Be ready to catch me if I pass out. The cursed sun burns hottest here.”

“Hey,we have enough wood to build a coffin. Why don’t we pack Lautrec innit?“ winston asked.

“is that racist?” Tobias asked. “it sounds mean at least.”

“Actually, I like that idea.” Lautrec replied.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

"Don't worry sleeping beauty," Delilah smirked, flipping her hair, "I'll catch you."

Rheitz laughed, "Maybe we could leave the coffin at the side of the road. He'd never find out." The bracelet she had bought at the market shone in the bright sunlight, casting flurries of blue light across the desert path. They had managed to stop at the market earlier in the day as Delilah had promised and Rheitz had bought herself and Lautrec matching bracelets. "For our new friendship!" she had said proudly, sliding it over her thin wrist.

"And let someone else find his sexy corpse! No way," Delilah laughed tipping the brim of her hat lower over her eyes to block out the sun, "-we'll lose our dhampir to a bunch of fangirls."

Winston rolled his eyes. "Who would find him nice to look at?"

Enius grunted, "You're not nice to look at an' even older women look at you."

Winston snapped his eyes to Enius, "You little-"

 

[Jodyguru]

“Please, I hate that word. It sounds so possessive. Se-xy. It’s foul. Put me in the casket already.” He groaned, wishing they’d listened. They went up a few hills into the mountain.
At the blacksmith’s home, he had only one shield for sale, a crude iron thing with a leather strap attached. Lautrec bought it for a song and gave it to Rhietz.
“I know what they said, but I still want you to be safe. There’s no telling how desperate our enemy will become once I foil her plot.”

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Rheitz snickered at his comment, her smile widening all the more. She had always had friends, people around her. But the people riding around her felt more like friends than any of those at home had ever felt. She leaned her face upward, feeling the warm sun heat her skin.

"Ah. See the problem is that you are sexy. You even sound sexy when you say "sexy"," Delilah smirked, glancing up at Lautrec, "-and anyway, who do you feel like you belong too if you think it sounds "possesive"?" Enius let out a short laugh at her cheeky remark, glancing at the dhampir.

"How much more time till the bridge Rheitz?" Tobias had sidled his horse up next to the goat girl, riding alongside her donkey.

Rheitz shrugged, looking down at the map in her hand. "'Bout an hour or two more. We should expect some toll officers, but nothing much else."

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec rode along, hanging at the back of the party. The heat was a difficult burden for him. Not only that, but keeping the floating disc spell was slowly eating away his mana pool. He was really starting to wish they’d put him in a casket.

“if it gets too hot, and I cannot continue, you will have to bury me up to my neck in dirt, preferably somewhere shady.”He told Delilah.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

"Won't that leave you a sitting duck for your sister to decapitate?" Delilah asked, pulling out her flask of water. Opening the cap, she stared at it for a moment as if contemplating something. Then she handed it to him. "Pour it over your head. I know it may seem not your style to do these kinds of things, but it'll help." She called out to Tobias, who was at the head of the group riding with Rheitz. "Hey! Do you know the disc spell that Lautrec is using?"

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec chuckled. Water. What a human solution to a problem. Did she think water would stop the process in which the ball of glowing vampire-killing energy radiated all around him?

Einus and Tobias put their hands out, expecting a disc to appear in some shape or another. Little happened.
“The motions for disc are similar to that of mage hand. Use symbols Argent, Ray, Soma, Pelican to create the disc.”
They moved their hands around, not grasping the concept. Suddenly, Winston had a purple shield appear in his arm.
“Whoa, hey! Check it out.” Winston laughed.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Rheitz gasped, amazed. "Oh! I want to try!" She held out her hand to create the shield, waving it in a haphazard motion. Delilah laughed, "No Rheitz. Like this," she waved her hands, and a purple disc appeared. Rheitz frowned in concentration. Waving her hand again, the disc appeared. "Woah! This is so cool!"