Please rescue my daughters!"
Edward gave a toothy grin. “Well what are we waiting for then? Chance to get some revenge on that old Salamander, count me as one of the forward team.”
The Reaper rolled its eyes at him.
Sykes, however, had a different response to the king's request - a facepalm full of salt, not for the King, but for the Reaper. "Come on, Reaps, really?" He rolled his eyes and huffed. After a dramatic pause to survey the city, he folded his arms and turned to face the Reaper. "Princesses and Volcanoes. Mutants and kings. What the hell have you been doing all this time while I was struggling about, Reaps?"
The Reaper shrugged palms-up. "Oh, I was just guiding civilizations, creating races, playing god...you know, the usual. What have you been up to? Building ancient relics for the younger races to stumble upon?" Reaper squeezed Sykes's shoulder and chuckled. "It is good to see you again, friend."
A low growl got everyone's attention. They all turned to locate the source: Ravadon's stomach. It was the Reaper's turn to facepalm. "Ravadon..." the Reaper groaned, dragging its fingers down its face, "...please do not turn into Edward. I have enough hungry gluttons to deal with."
Thankfully, Ravadon didn't have food on his mind.
"My liege, we know there to be very little that can locate dragons, let alone harm them. If we are going to return your daughters here, we can't hope to make it back without any form of support. I'm certain your men will be needed here to defend against all those that lure in the woods, hoping to get in." He paused for a moment as it seemed people were starting to look his way. Ravadon was getting louder again. "As we know, you are a good king. One that places no price on the safety of others, whether these are foreigners in service of you or your very own blood. As such, I'm certain and fully confident that will spare no expense in providing us with the support we need to bring back your daughters. And I know it pains you every second to be without your daughters, so I will keep this succinct. What we and your daughters require from you right now are 3 things..."
"Firstly, a sum of coins. One that is sufficient to get the specialized transport, weaponry and magical ingredients to take down the great red dragon and open the way for your daughters to return.
Secondly, a representative of the crown. A person that might follow up on us and allow for safe passage in name of you, the king.
And thirdly, a specific subset of partners to help us overcome any other obstacle along the way."
Ravadon whipped out a pen and paper and wrote up the draft of a contract. He specified the following party members to be included:
- The bard, Ravadon of Xyllodan
- The leader, the Grim Reaper
- The half-dragon, Edward
- The representative of the crown, Isabella
- The ranger, Herodotus Sykes
- Another ranger
- A paladin
Admittedly, the last two party member roles remained unfilled. He handed it to the king, expecting it to be signed and stamped. The Reaper ripped it out of his hand and looked it over.
It shot Ravadon a look of contempt - if he could even see the Reaper's face (which he couldn't). "Why do we need two rangers? And why are we contracting people we do not even have yet? No, you know what? Don't answer that. You are the hero now. Do whatever you want. I have had
enough crud to deal with for one day." With that, the Reaper turned its back on everyone and let out a long sigh.
Ravadon, the new de-facto leader, had some decisions to make.
Lord Zee,
BellBottomBlues,
Lewascan2,
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