“Wooooow. What iz that!” Silandrazz the Vespian Servant asked as she pointed at a startlingly tall creature that towered over the forests below. It was so freakishly tall that it had to bend its long neck downwards to actually reach the tree leaves it was grazing on. “It’s a tall, long necked rat” Kallak replied, as he dusted off a stray piece of sand off of his Cloak of the Commoner. The pair had left the desert behind after Silandrazz had eventually managed to convince her sisters to let her go study and Kallak had sworn multiple oaths to both Atrifex and Tekret Et Heret that she would be safe. Now the two were halfway through their journey across the dormant volcano splitting the interior desert from the warm semi tropical forests and verdant plains that covered the east of the island. They were traveling across the rocky ground of the mountainside, a sparsely vegetated place unfit for living, though not one that was unoccupied. From her spot sitting on Chompy the Civitas ant’s thorax Silandrazz had already marveled at the sight of far away Sancta Civitas, its white walls unmistakable even at this distance, and at the crashed remains of the second of the three Vespain craft that had hit the island some 1400 years ago. Now she was taking in the wildlife she could see in the forests that they would be traveling though after they got down from the mountain. “That’s a weird name,” Silandrazz said, when told the epic creature she was looking at was called a tall, long necked rat “,What else iz in there? “Well there's long rats and knife-toothed rats and snaggle toothed rats and hoof rats and” “Sensing a pattern here” “Well there's also wolf ants. Legends also tell of a mysterious creature with ashen wings, obsidian fur and a long tong that it uses to suck out the souls of-” “what even iz a rat?” Silandrazz asked, still on the previos topic and disinterested in Kallak's ghost story. “You know those little furry things. Run around. Squeak alot?” “You mean marmots” “If it has skin it's a rat” Kallak explained, “Sure out here in the wilds you might give them non rat names for some reason, but to a Civitian, a rat's a rat.” “What. Really? So what, are Goblins just green rats then” Silandrazz joked “What. No. Do not go around calling them that if you want to keep your legs un-stabbed” Kallak said, turning round to look her in the eyes to make sure she understood how serious he was being. “Does. Does that happen a lot?” Silandrazz asked, suddenly worried “The stabbing or the insults? Either way neither that much, you just have to not fall into the wrong crowds to avoid that in the city. Now out here, there's a bit more tension” “Coz of the swarmlingz right” “A bit. There’s also some Goblins who are still holding onto the ‘we here first' mentality despite the one thousand four hundred and two years its been since the ships landed” “That... iz a really specific amount,” Silandrazz noted “The Queen has been counting the years since Artifex left” Kallak said before moving them back to the gobblin issue “anyway, we’re coming up on a goblin mining camp, so try not to cause a scene. I think they’ll be ok with you, most of the tribes that trade with the city are, so just don't go around insulting them and you’ll be fine” “Alright. No calling them rats. Got it” Silandrazz retorted, right before a nearby rock yelled “oy. Who callin us rats” Both of the insectoids screamed in surprise at the sudden intrusion into their conversation, Kallak literally turning white with shock while Silandrazz took off into the air in a panic, brandishing her trident. The two got a hold of themselves however when a goblin stepped around a nearby rock formation and revealed himself to be the source of the words “ahhh oh hello there” Kallak said, rolling right out his surprise into a greeting before asking “why were you just hiding behind that rock?” “Snuck up. Investigate noisy people.” The goblin, who had a sling by his side and was dressed in a mix of furs and fabrics, explained, before looking the pair up and down “You bee bug? Kallak?” he asked Kallak “no wasp with Bee bug last time” “I am indeed Kallak, and I did pass though the nearby town seeking the elusive Earth elemental bee some time ago yes” Kallak said, once he’d parsed what the goblin was saying “I’m not a wasp” Silandrazz corrected up at the goblin “Not rat” the goblin retorted with a hint of malice “Deal” Silandrazz replied The goblin blinked in surprise, and then laughed, “Deal. What name?” “Silandrazz” “Good. Am Gosyor. Chase Perfection Silandrazz.” The goblin greeted her “May your work stand ever strong Gosyor” Silandrazz replied Gosyor the goblin nodded and then pointed at Kallak and told him “You. Kallak. Elders will want speak with you.” before waving at them to follow and running ahead. “Is that a good or a bad thing?” Silandrazz asked. Kallak wasn’t sure [hr] In Silandrazz’s opinion it had turned out to be a bad thing, because after a brief conversation with a pair of the goblin tribe’s elders they ended up deep underground. “You don’t have to come, you know. it’s my issue to deal with.” Kallak told her as they crawled through the goblin sized mineshaft. The shaft was a natural formation that had been widened, smoothed and carved in places to make it easier to navigate down into the depths of the mountain. The six limbed Mantarin scuttled along with relative ease, and was having a better time of it than the Vespian, who was stuck shuffling forwards on her knees “You’re heading down to deal with an issue they’re have with the earth beez you… found, and I’m wanted to see them. I just wish these tunnelz weren't so horribly small” “Silandrazz little taller than goblin. Vespian dig hive underground. Why bad?” Gosyor asked. The goblin who’d found them had been tasked with leading them down into the mines his tribe owned, and unlike the other two was happily walking through the short access tunnel. He claimed his people have navigated it in the dark, but both the insects had insisted that Kallak be allowed to use a light spell to light their way. “We make them big enough to fly in” Silandrazz replied “or at least pole walk in.” the Vespian had brought her tribes signature trident with her, but the tool was proving more a nuisance than a useful crutch in the crammed tunnel. “Not perfect” Gosyor said, insulting her tribe’s tunneling skills in the worst way possible “is fine. Almost to big cave.” “Thank the prophets” Silandrazz sighed Sure enough, after only a touch more crawling they emerged to a wonderful sight. Before them a vast cave system sprawled out, one made from the eroded remnants of the volcano’s old magma tunnels (though none of those present knew that was what they where). Kallak’s light spell bathed the large tunnel in a cool blue light. Water ran down across the rocks, flowing to and from places unseen and unknown. In a place deeper down they could see the water had pooled, and within that pool ghostly white creatures could be seen swimming. Moss and fungus grew in small amounts against the cave walls, and insects roamed the caves, feeding on the plants and each other. “I didn’t know anything could live down here.” “Do. Good for snacks.” Gosyor explained before setting off up the cave and away from the fish “Come. This way” The trio headed upwards now, following the flow of the water and a rope guide through a veritable maze of natural tunnels. With the light of Kallak’s spell they could see where various parts of the cave had been dug out by the miners and as they traveled further they could hear them working, metal clinking against stone up ahead. They found the miners in an oasis of light provided by a few stone braziers that kept their burning contents up off of the water soaked floor. The goblins were busy extracting silver from the cave walls vie a process of heating the ore using fires lit from the braziers, then rapidly cooling it again using splashes of the running water to crack it free from the surrounding stone and finally using heavy hammers to smash the ore the rest of the way out. “Stoshri. How Bees?“ Gosyor yelled once they’d passed most of the mining team, attracting the attention of one of the goblins who was keeping watch over an area further up rather than mining, before explaining “Stoshri get bees somehow. Tell when about to make rocks angry” What agve the goblin his insight into the mana bees became rapidly clear when Silandrazz saw his eyes. “You’re like me!” she gasped, before buzzing far too close to the goblin’s comfort before he could even start talking, his rainbow flecked eyes blinking rapidly in surprise as she stared into them. “Am not. Am Goblin” “No no. I mean you are, but you're also a Servant like me!” “Am not servant of anyone” Stoshri insisted “That’s what they all say” Kallak said as he stepped past the pair, “you two clearly have a bunch to talk about. Me and Gosyor will go on ahead and I’ll show him how to deal with the Earth Bees” “Good. Mine Boss come too!” Stoshri said, before getting another goblin to come join them. “Make dig hard. Nest on metal. Wear metal as armor. Is strange. Come close to miners and get angry. How deal?” the leader of the miners said after he joined the pair, the three of them moving on ahead, leaving the pair of Servants to get to know each other. After some convincing Silandrazz dragged Stoshri up and away from the miners to a dry spot in the cave. There she rapidly bombared him with what she knew about what they both were. “-and Kallak says they can talk to each other using just their mindz! There’s two in the city and he sayz they do it all the time and that people kept bothering them to get them to send messagez to and from the dockz and I’ve been trying to contact them but maybe they are to far away or something because I haven’t been able to do it but maybe I can with you!” “Stop. to much” Stoshri interrupted the young woman’s word vomit, rubbing his temple as he tried to process what was, to him, a very inefficient manner of speaking “you. Me. talk with mind?” “Yeah!” Silandrazz replied “Wanna try?” “Sure?” he agreed in a manner that expressed neither confidence nor enthusiasm “Ok! I’ll try now,” Silandrazz said before lapsing into silence for the first time since she had met the goblin Servant. Stoshri sighed with relief, and was left to listen the clinking of hammers behind him and the angry buzzing from further up the tunnel. “Did you hear anything?” “No. try more.” A pause “Now?” “No” Another pause [i]Now?[/i] “No” “I didn’t say that out loud. Oh by the Prophetz it actually workz.” Silandrazz gasped, before mentally bombarding him with more messages [i]hello! Hey! say something back[/i] “I. What. Is not” Stoshri, who had mostly just been humoring the trident armed wasp woman for most of the time, gaped in awe at the voice shouting at him in his mind. [i]...hello?[/i] he tried tentatively [i]It workz! It workz[/i] “it workz it workz!” Silandrazz cheered first mentally and then out loud, before hugging the goblin, who was still gobsmacked by the whole thing. What followed was the pair running around to test the range of their new found communication(which they did not find), Silandrazz getting lost, panicked and then using the only bit of magic she knew to shoot sparks into the surrounding dark caves till Stoshri found her and lead her back to the fires where they got to talking again. In quick order Silandrazz had managed to teach the goblin servant how to cast the spark spell she’d used, much to the amazement of the other goblins. The pair’s Servant abilities had made the process of teaching far quicker and more straightforward than the evening it had taken Kallak to teach Silandrazz the spell in the first place. Working together they’d even managed to teach one of the miners how to cast it as well and the three of them were gleefully acting as a fire hazard by the time Kallak returned, smelling of Frankincense and carrying a jar of grey earth mana honey he’d harvested once the smoke had made the bees drowsy. The spark lobbers got themselves yelled at by the mining boss once he’d gotten over the shock, which brought an end to the magical tomfoolery for the time being. “Well that was quick. I knew Servants were supposed to be good at teaching but this is absurd.” Kallak noted “Maybe you’re just bad at it.” Silandrazz replied, her ego soaring through the clouds “Rude, but seeing as we’re heading to the library for exactly that reason, also fair.” “The library?” Stoshri asked “oh oh oh. Yeah. The Library. It’s this big building in the city that has two other Serventz and big frog people called Eloxochitli who teach and loadz and loadz of spellz.” “Many spells? Useful spells? Like light?” Gosyor asked, pointing at the smokeless globe of light Kallak had been using to light up the caves around him, while the mine boss nodded along. Both of them had instantly seen the benefits spell casting could bring to their tribe. “Oh there's already a lot of spells, and this is a fairly basic ‘tier one’ spell.” Kallak explained, “There’s people who know ‘tier three’ spells that can shoot balls of fire and command the winds and all sorts of other incredible things.” “You should come, you should come.” Silandrazz told Stoshri “Think of all the thingz you could learn to do there” “Leave tribe?" Stoshri said uncertainly "Do Servants mind thing instead?” “I couldn’t reach them before, but maybe we can now that we figured it out?” Silandrazz said Try as they might however, the pair could not contact the Servants in Sancta Civitas “Lifeblood’z curse, it’s not working. Is it still too far?” Silandrazz swore “So,” Stoshri said “stay or go” “Should go, should go,” Gosyor suggested, slapping his brother on the back encouragingly “Learn strong spells, come back, teach tribe” “Will elders allow? Is long way” “Elders see wisdom” Gosyor said, before scratching his chin “ore go soon? Go down in boat! Not so far.” “Suppose. Hmmm,” Stoshri replied, still uncertain “I come with” “ok,” Stoshri nodded, “To Library” “To the Library!” Silandrazz cheered “Don’t suppose you could take us too? Be a lot faster than slogging back through the forests. I can introduce you to the Library and set you up for selling this stuff too them,” Kallka asked, before shaking the bottle of magically infused honey. “Big ant come too? You pay. Put good word with elders. maybe not pay much.” Kallak sighed and then nodded, before the four of them began the long trek back to the surface to discuss the plan with the tribe’s elders and to hitch a ride on an oar shipment down to Sancta Civitas. [hider=summary] Kallak, avatar of artifex, and Silandrazz, a Servant and the first and only Lord of Nature, leave Silandrazz’s desert home behind and head for Sancta Civitas. While traveling over and around the extinct volcano separating the internal desert from the western part of the island Silandrazz learns about all the types of rats that there are and then the pair meet Gosyor, who is a goblin from a nearby tribe. Gosyor recognises Kallak from when he passed through their lands looking for earth elemental bees, gets into a brief tiff over racial slurs with Silandrazz that ends amicably and then tells them that his tribe's elders will probably want to speak with them. The three of them end up traveling down into the depths of the mountain, as the newly introduced bees are causing trouble for the tribe’s miners. Down in the depths they meet Stoshri who is the closest to an expert on the bees as the tribe has. Silandrazz instantly recognises him as a fellow Servant from his eyes, but as with her the goblin has no idea what this is or that he has special powers. The two Servants talk while Kallak handles the bee situation off screen using Frankincense smoke. Silandrazz and Stoshri manage to establish a mental link, Stoshri and an unnamed miner are taught how to cast sparks using magic. Kallak returns and after some deliberation Stoshri and Gosyor decide to also travel to Sancta Civitas so that Stoshri can learn more magic there which he can then bring back to the tribe. The goblins and bugs then return to the surface in order to seek permission for this plan from the tribes elders and to hitch a ride on an ore shipment down the river to Sancta Civitas [/hider] [hider=mp/dp/prestige] Servants +5 [@Legion02] Lords Over Nature +5 (total 10) [/hider]