Sola took point, with Willow directly behind him and Zero trailing them both. Keizeron and Aka took the rear, the lamb faun looking around nervously as they started walking. Once they were sure they were safe they pulled the rod from their bag, and even though they didn’t say anything, Keizeron could tell pretty quickly what was bothering them. The beam was shifting as they walked, whatever had the next piece of the rod; it was close and it was moving.

  The team had to find a careful balance between cautious and urgent, and it wasn’t long before they made their way to the edge of the tree line. In the time it had taken them to get to the village most of the screaming had died out, and it was now eerily silent around them. Keizeron could just make out a muffled shuffling noise of something large on the other side of town, but being on the ground made it so much harder to pinpoint where sounds were coming from. Whatever it was, it was just beyond the city center that most of the villagers seemed to have fled to.

  The various buildings in front of them were crafted with sturdy white wood, like the trees surrounding the village. There were a few that looked like homes, and some that looked more like they were businesses all clustered together on one street. The building closest to them had a broken sign in front of it, labeling it as some sort of bakery. Keiz could see a thin trail of black smoke rising from the chimney, but didn't think it was a pressing issue at the moment. Besides, with how he had watched the centipede burn, perhaps more fire would be a good thing right now.

  Beside him Sola glanced around the empty street, and once he deemed it clear he moved forward. A quick wave encouraged his crew mates to follow him, but he only toke two steps next to the bakery when a window in front of him burst outward. A hissing centipede reared over him, more smoke billowing out behind it. The monster writhed when it saw so many new things to eat, and lunged towards Sola. The first mate only just got his shield out in time, preventing the large mandibles from snapping down on his head.

  With a flick of his wrist Sola summoned tempest from where it was wrapped around his arm, tearing the sleeve of his jacket slightly. However, with the angle the monster was bearing down at him he was unable to strike back with any real force. He realized he was in trouble when it started to pull back on his shield, nearly taking it from his grasp. Sola let out a small cry of alarm, trying not to lose his grip.

  Seeing his crew mate in trouble, Keizeron reacted first. He stepped off to the side of the street to get a better shot, and with a practiced motion he sent several fire bolts at the centipede. The first went too high, piercing the bakery in front of them, but the second two seared across its body and set it alight. The monster wailed in pain, dropping it’s grip on Sola’s shield and doubling over in pain. No, not doubling over, it was trying to roll in the snow to put itself out. They were smarter than Keiz originally gave it credit for.

  Attracted by the noise, two more of the centipedes crawled over a nearby home and approached them. Keiz felt a little smug when he noticed that one of the was missing an antenna. Upon seeing one of their fellow bugs on fire, the one that was closer spat a string of icy blue webbing onto it. The fire hissed as it went out, but the string had a secondary effect of tangling Sola who was still standing right next to it.

  “Oh come on!” He shouted with disgust, trying to pull it off his arm. The cold of the webbing didn’t permeate his jacket, but it stuck his sword arm to his side, greatly hindering his movement.

  ((“You’re the one who picked fighter and took the lead here, it’s just going to keep happening like this,” Caine observed. The battle field in front of them was a total mess, and the players couldn’t even see all the extra centipede mini figures Caine had behind his screen.

  Zenith shrugged, “Oh, Sola will gladly take the damage instead of his teammates. Doesn’t mean I won’t complain about it the whole time.”

  “You shouldn’t be so glad to take damage. Who’s gonna dps if you die?” Lucky asked.

  “Sola doesn’t really care if he makes it, so that is your problem to figure out.”

  “Oh we are going to have to have a therapy session about this in game.

  “What do you mean who’s going to dps?? You are a warlock, a druid, a rouge and a monk! All of you are dps except for Willow who’s a healer. And Sola is the tank?! He’s supposed to be a damage sponge! Am I the crazy one?” Caine ruffled his hair, this was getting out of control. “Willow save us, it’s your turn.”))

  Willow shuffled to Sola’s other side, and with a powerful two handed swing she brought her mace down on the head of the centipede in front of them. It made a loud wet crunching noise as it fell to the ground, it’s legs flailing painfully. It looked bad, but was still moving and snapping at her with it's jaws.

  From the back of the party Aka took aim at one of the centipedes that was crawling over the nearby home towards them. The enchanted ring they added to the gun caused the bullet to erupt into flames as it left the barrel, and their first shot cracked the monster's mandible, searing it off. Aka frowned, clicking their gun to spin the chamber. With their second shot they blasted off two of it’s back legs. Losing it’s grip from the sudden force, the centipede slipped and fell off the building, crashing through a fence. Now with shards of broken wood piercing it’s body, the second centipede reared and hissed at the faun.

  With the parties attention divided, the centipede in front of Sola snapped forward, grabbing the first mates leg and trying to pull him off his feet. Unable to keep his balance with his arm pinned, Sola fell backwards, cussing as the mandibles shredded through his trousers and cut deep into his calf.

  “Asshole!” He yelled, trying to kick out with his left leg. Things were not going well for Sola Rea this fight.

  Willow dropped her mace to grab Sola’s arm and try to prevent him from being dragged away, but as she did so Zero stepped over Sola. He bent over, grabbing the centipede by it’s mandibles and started to pry them apart, lifting it away from his crew mate. He quickly pulled them far enough apart that Sola could wiggle free from it’s grip, but he didn’t stop there. Zero continued to pull on it’s face until with a loud cracking noise, both mandibles snapped off with a spray of blue blood. The centipede fell to the ground, curling up before it stopped moving.

  “Holy shit,” Willow observed, still holding onto to Sola. “I forgot how strong automatons are.”

  “Are you alright Sola?” Zero asked, tossing the mandibles further down the street. He didn’t want them, they were dirty and had gotten blood on his poncho. The other two centipedes stopped hissing for just a moment as they watched.

  “Could be better,” Sola responded with a shaky laugh, his arm still tangled and unable to address his injured leg. Blood was starting to seep into his trousers, it had gotten him deep.

  “Zero, leave that to Willow, we’re not done yet,” Keizeron warned, as he and Aka faced off with the two remaining centipedes.

  The one with the missing antenna charged at him, but Keiz moved faster, drawing the fire bolt rune again. This time all three struck, one searing off an eye and the other two striking it’s pelt and catching it on fire. Already damaged from Duchess’s attack, the massive bug screeched as it started melting.

  Willow grimaced, but allowed her team to finish the fight while she fixed Sola’s leg. She quickly pulled a pair of sheers from a pouch around her waist, snipping the edge of his pants off so she could better see the wound. Though she was being as gentle as she could, she still heard Sola gasp in pain, and saw that his face looked pale. Never a good sign. The injury was deep, blood dripping onto her hands as she worked. She was alarmed to see the edge was already bruising, but upon further inspection realized it wasn’t a bruise at all. Some sort of thin dark blue lines were starting to spread from the wound. Willow grimaced, before grabbing her pendant and casting a healing spell over the injury. The torn flesh started to repair itself with her guidance, but the lines lingered.

  While Sola was getting healed, Aka turned their gun on the creature that was still burning, preferring to take it out before it could do any more damage since it was already so close to death. Holding their arm steady, Aka leveled a shot at it. The fiery bullet tore through the creatures carapace, and it slumped forward on the ground now just a blackened husk.

  Without waiting Aka turned to focus fire on the last centipede which was slowly advancing on them. Aka narrowed their eyes as they fired, but the creature reared back and the shot went wide. With a broken snarl the creature lunged at the navigator, swinging it’s single mandible like a blade. Aka stumbled backwards, and it nicked their coat ripping the sleeve.

  Kiez yelled something as they moved out of the way, and turned to cast another spell. Alerted by the noise, the centipede gave up its assault on the nimble rouge and instead whipped its head towards Keiz. Before the captain could get off his spell the monster spat a glob of icy cold webbing directly into his face.

  Keizeron let out a muffled shout, his spell interrupted. He reached up, trying to pull the webbing off his face or at least get what was covering his eyes off so he could see again. As the centipede reared again, Zero stepped forward, sweeping his captain behind him as he swung down at the creature. His knuckles made solid contact with the creature’s head and it dented inward, coughing up blue blood before curling up on the ground dead.

  “Can you keep it down, I need to concentrate,” Willow asked, barely glancing up as Keizeron continued to curse.

  “It got in my mouth!” Keiz complained, pulling at the webbing.

  “You’re only going to get more stuck, here,” Aka said calmly, attempting to assist their captain. Keiz waved them off, and with his right hand drew a small rune for a minor heating spell.

  The icy webbing melted off, leaving behind a red mark on Keizeron’s face. Once he was free he sneezed, shivering in the cold. “The sooner we get the equipment we need the better. Sola how are you holding up?”

  With the temporary reprieve the group turned to help the first mate out of his predicament. Keizeron cast the heat spell again, burning away the webbing that was still on his arm. Even though he was free now, Sola did not look good. Willow finished with the healing spell and his injury had closed, but the thin blue lines were still present. Even worse, they were growing thicker, and a white bruise was spreading from the location that he had been bit.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “Was it poisonous?” Sola asked, sitting up slowly.

  “You mean venomous,” Aka pointed out.

  “Does it matter?” Sola looked confused.

  Willow made a new rune in the air, concentrating on the white spot. It began to glow for a moment, but when it faded the bruise and the veins were still there.

  “Well, poisonous is when you bite something and you get sick. Venomous is when it bites you and you get sick.”

  “Please be quite,” Willow said softy, and Aka nodded. Willow tried a third spell, but just as quickly it was becoming obvious she couldn’t heal this. She had never encountered an ice based venom, she had no idea if her earth magic could even fix it.

  “I, I don’t know what this is. Keizeron, can you identify it?” Willow looked up nervously.

  The rest of the crew watched quietly as Keizeron moved to her side, and started to prepare an identification spell. Before he could cast it they heard a loud thump from just up the street.

  “It’s glacedea venom, pretty nasty stuff and hard to heal.” They looked up to see hulking figure in thick leather pelts. She was almost as tall as Zero was, and was wearing a dark mask that covered the lower part of her face. Her eyes were hidden behind wide snow goggles, and just a few strands of red hair were peaking out from around her cap. Most impressively was the large flame thrower she was carrying in her arms, sparks still coming out of the end. It was hooked up with large tubes that connected to a fuel supply on her back. “We have some antidote back at the shelter, but first I gotta know. Who the heck are you people?”

  “Just some sailors passing through. We noticed your town was under attack and came to help,” Keizeron replied, sounding a bit defensive. Sola could understand their need for anonymity, but he wished his captain wouldn’t act so cagey with someone who was offering to cure him.

  The woman raised an eyebrow, a gesture so exaggerated they could see it through the googles. “Well you sure are doin a bang up job of it ain’t ya?”

  ((“Yesssss, I love when Caine does their southern accent!” Lucky giggled as the stranger continued to speak to them.

  “I’m from Texas, it comes naturally.” Caine smiled. Normally their accent wasn’t very strong, but they could play it up when they needed to.

  “We are currently in the MOST northern continent in the entire world.”

  “Aw come on Winter, have you ever heard of this thing called fun?”))

  Without waiting for a reply the woman started to approach them. “It’s not safe out here, we can get your friend some help if you’d like ta follow me to our city hall,” She said calmly.

  Keizeron nodded, and he and Zero helped Sola back to his feet. The injury may have been healed, but Sola could feel a dull pain blooming in his right leg. He leaned heavily against Zero, the automaton easily handling his weight. His normal jovial attitude gone, Sola looked pale as they started making their way to the city center, wincing in pain with every step he took.

  “What do ya’ll think yer doing landing an airship while the warden is out huntin?” Their guide asked accusingly, keeping her flame thrower at the ready in case anymore of the glacedea centipedes decided to attack them while they walked.

  “While the what is hunting?” Willow repeated, clutching at her holy symbol. She didn’t have any fire spells, and hoped her divine magic would be enough. Though, it already proved ineffective at healing her friend.

  “The warden. Big sucker, been stalking this region for generations. I’m Cheif Meridia by the way, since none of ya’ll asked.”

  “Nice to meet you!” Zero responded immediately. “I’m Zero!”

  The chief looked taken aback by the vastly different moods the crew was giving her. Cagey, scared, welcoming. Poisoned. ((“That’s it, the four moods people can have.”)) Meridia shook her head in wonder. “Ya’ll shouldn’t have come here, did you not hear the warden howling? That means he’s out and huntin and you gotta hide.”

  “We arrived in Flolon yesterday, how could we have possibly known that?” Aka sighed, holding their gun at the ready. Though they hadn’t seen anymore of the swarm of centipedes Keizeron described, that didn’t mean they were all gone. However it occurred to them that they weren't the only people here who could fight as Chief Meridia stepped over another burned carcass. They had only been to Flolon once before on one of their father's expeditions, they had never heard of something called the warden before.

  “I’m sorry, ya’ll heard a loud other worldly howlin and decided it was a good thing to go towards it? What are you even doin here?” Meridia asked, looking back at them.

  “We needed heating enchantments. Not all of use can handle this level of cold,” Keizeron admitted.

  “Of all the hare brained reasons to be here right now, ya’ll have some rotten luck,” Meridia shook her head. “Once this blows over we can open the shops back up and then ya’ll can-”

  She turned a corner around a black smith’s shop and froze so quickly Willow almost walked into her. Keizeron motioned for the injured Sola and Zero to stop, while he peeked around the corner with Willow and Aka.

  The city center was directly in front of them, just past what looked like a snow dusted park. There were a number of statues depicting large warriors in various heroic poses. Around the outskirts of the park were several buildings made of the same white wood as the homes they had passed on the way here. Keiz could see that some of them were shops, one was a library, and a few more were community buildings. The city hall was the largest of any of them, and the only one that was carved from a shining grey stone instead of wood. Across the building there were shifting patterns of red and orange that were glowing in the mid day light. The whole thing was covered in heating runes, to keep it safe from the harshness of winter.

  Around the outside of the city center were the rest of the centipede creatures, keeping their distance but circling it as tightly as they could. There were a few more charred husks just under the building, the heat of the runes was enough to kill them for getting too close. There were a few squares in the front of the hall that should have been windows, but were currently boarded with more of the shining grey material. A set of stairs led up to wide double doors that were currently closed.

  However, that was not the problem that caused Meridia to stop in her tracks. No, it was more likely the giant set of legs that were currently creeping over the roof of the building, apparently immune to the heat it used to protect itself. The smaller centipedes ((“Smaller?? You described them as eight feet long and they are now the small enemies in this situation?”)) started to scurry out of the way as the howling started up again, nearly deafening with how close it was to them.

  The legs twitched as the warden pulled itself onto the top of the city center, frustrated it had not yet found a way in to where the village was taking cover. The creature was gargantuan, easily twenty times the size of all the other centipedes they had faced off with before now. The warden wasn’t an exact copy of it’s smaller comrades however, as if something had mutated it into this new grotesque form.

  Instead of just it’s back, the entire creature was covered in thick dark blue fur aside from the tens of skittering legs poking out from its segments. The peaks of the fur were so stiff that Keiz was sure it could impale someone. In fact, there were some wooden planks and other various bits of debris stuck to it from it’s rampage through the city. Looking around the roof it snapped it’s enormous mandibles, an arm of an unfortunate villager falling off and splatting on the ground below with a splash of blood. It was easy to guess what happened to the rest of the body, as the mandibles were on either side of a large hungry mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth. The antenna on it’s head twitched as the many many eyes it had all over it’s body surveyed the area.

  Nobody dared to say a word as it shuffled around the roof, looking for a way in. Meridia started to slowly lean back, waiting for a chance to hide back behind cover with the rest of them. Keizeron doubted her flamethrower could do anything about the monstrosity in front of them, he doubted his own magic would make much of a dent.

  Then, in this silent moment Keiz saw the light of the rod flicker to life. Aka reacted in surprise as the beam traveled across the courtyard, and above the city hall where it ended directly in the warden’s gaping mouth.

  “Oh Fuck.” Aka said calmly, as every eye on the monster registered the beam and then looked directly at them.

  ~*~

  Mea sat on the deck of the Fortunes Favor, breathing deeply. The snow had stopped coming down as hard which was nice, but Mea could still occasionally hear the other worldly howling and it was keeping her on edge. They needed to add some sort of protection or alarm spell to the boat, she couldn’t keep staying behind like this. Despite her aloof attitude, Mea cared deeply for her crew mates and would be devastated if one of them was hurt while she wasn’t there to fight with them. But with their current level of security someone needed to stay with the boat. They weren’t safe in this town, and if Keizeron’s paranoia was anything to go by they likely weren’t going to be safe for a while yet.

  Being from Oceas Mea had limited knowledge of the queen and her methods, but she doubted her captains fears were unfounded. So while she was stuck protecting the ship, Mea decided she would try to be productive.

  While Duchess kept a keen eye on the boat, Mea and Mittens concentrated on their training. She took another deep breath, feeling the warmth of her body against the sharp cold of the air around her. Mea furrowed her brow as she struggled to remember anything her dad taught her before she left Atoll. She remembered cool party tricks that didn’t rely on magic to pull off, the members of their clan that weren’t really trust worthy, and the secret place she hid on land when she needed to get away from the pressures of her life. And of course, her father telling her that she was the daughter of the clan leader, she shouldn’t take shit from anyone. He stopped telling her that after she turned thirteen and still hadn’t developed her powers. None of these memories helped her in her current predicament.

  All it really accomplished was making her miss her dad and the rest of the town. Well, not everyone, but she missed her sister and maybe even her mom a little bit. They hadn’t gotten along while she was growing up, but in hindsight Mea could understand why her mother was so much harder on her than she was on her sister Tai. Mea shook her head, trying to disrupt the line of thinking. Feeling nostalgic for her childhood wasn’t helping.

  Instead Mea tried to concentrate on what Mittens was telling her. The familiar was still in his fire fin form, a beautiful long finned fish that glowed in deep reds, oranges, yellow and even black hues. He looked like a camp fire that was burning low in the dead of night. He was even giving off an ambient heat, not too hot but enough that she felt comfortable sitting outside with him.

  It was a mixed bag, communicating with familiars. When Keizeron told Duchess to watch the ship and Mea the familiar reached out to her for the first time. But instead of words like how Mittens usually talked to her, Duchess had sent Mea an image in her mind. It was a pictograph of eyes watching, as well as a boat and an octopus, which Mea assumed was how she looked in Duchess’s eyes.

  ((“Wait, are you saying that Duchess talks in hieroglyphics?”

  “Actually, it’s more like she talks exclusively in emojis.”))

  Mittens on the other hand knew a little bit of common. He wasn’t fluent, but he could string together complete thoughts and sentences that Mea could hear in her mind when they were connected. They typically were, but Mea could dismiss him if she wanted privacy or just didn’t want to hear him nag at her when she was high.

  Still, it had surprised her when Duchess spoke to her. Connecting to someone else’s familiar was a surprisingly intimate act, and showed a significant jump in trust from Keizeron that Mea hadn’t expected. He had told her she belonged on the ship, and now she knew that he meant it.

  Mea took another deep breath, and tried to mimic the magic Mittens was using to warm the air around him. She exhaled, feeling colder than she had before. There had to be something she was doing wrong, some trick she could learn. Mittens gently floated around her head, his scales shimmering in the light as he moved. She remembered what he told her about vibrations, that when you moved you warmed up and when you sat still you got colder. The same applied to the world around her.

  Instead of trying to mimic his magic exactly, Mea envisioned her magic coming off of her in waves, vibrations that stirred the air around her. She took another deep breath and exhaled sharply. While not hot, it was clearly warmer than it was last time and with delight Mea noticed some of the snow on the deck around her started to melt.

  Mittens trilled with delight as she continued to focus, working on her temperature until she could do it consistently. Once she felt like she was comfortably warm, she started trying to extend her reach. After a few minutes the snow started to melt in a one foot radius around her.

  “Now we’re getting somewhere!” Mea shouted with excitement, standing up. “How are we looking Duchess?” She called to the owl. Duchess had been hopping around the railing of the upper deck, but fluttered down to the railing of the lower deck when the Aquan woman called out to her.

  The owl nervously clawed at the wood, staring intently in the direction her partner had gone. Mea blinked as Duchess sent a series of images to her in rapid succession. First she saw one of the centipede monsters, then Keizeron’s face, and finally she just got a feeling of panicked worry. Mea frowned, reaching out in an attempt to calm Duchess when another of the loud howling sounds tore through the air around them.

  Mea withdrew her hand sharply, the noise was far louder and more menacing than any they had heard yet. She couldn’t explain why, but Mea felt as if this was the first of the howls to have intent behind it. She didn’t need Duchess’s loud hooting to know something was wrong. Suddenly it occurred to her that protecting the boat wouldn’t matter if the crew didn’t make it back to her.

  Mea retucked her hair into her cap and pulled down her sleeves as she made her way down the gang plank. She hit the ground running, and started to race through the forest with Duchess and Mittens on her heels.