For the second time that day the women found themselves tumbling to the dirt. Though this time instead of the hard dusty dirt of the road they found themselves face first in the soft lush soul of the river shoreline. Madrona lifted her head just in time to see their canoe, sans them, crash into the rocks. The wood splintered under the force and the whole thing came apart and became hunks of wood flowing down the river. Madrona collapsed back to the ground, a wave of exhaustion washing over her. Maybe she didn’t quite have what was needed for a two person short hop and was not feeling the consequence of doing it anyway. Her body ached, though that might have been the hours of being battered back and forth by the rapids… What wasn’t the rapids was the deep hunger she felt, like no hnger she had ever experienced in her life, it was like she hadn’t eaten in a week. To top it all off she had a headache, the very act of blinking causing a thrumming pain to shoot from her forehead all the way to the back of her scalp. She realized that if she was like this, Kassadi would be much worse.
Forcing herself to roll over and push up to her knees the Inferni woman reached over to check on her companion. Kassadi did seem to be in bad shape, panting and huddled into herself and letting out soft wines, Madrona di her best to het the woman to a seated position. Kassadi was not happy with this. The human Wizard sat hunched and shivering, feeling as if every ounce of heat had left her body. She had a pallor to her skin and she was cold to the touch, Madrona wrapped her arms around the wizard and pressed their bodies together, Kassadi let out a sigh of relief and pressed into Madrona.
“Mmm, warm.” The human woman said.
“You pushed yourself way to hard.” Madrona said with admonishment. “That was stupid.”
“Yeah well it worked, didn’t it?” Kassadi rubbed her face, also suffering a rather severe migraine at the moment.
“That is so beyond the point, Kassadi.” Madrona said, shifting. “Come on lets get going, I’m starving.”
“Look who’s talking.” Kassadi said with a weak chuckle, though it became a groan as they stood. “Hunger is a clear sign of Magical Over Exertion. You pushed too hard too.”
“Yeah well I didn’t want the hassle of fishing you out of the rapids in your current state.” Madrona said as they began walking.
“Noooo.” Kassadi taunted, leaning into Madrona, needing the woman’s support. “You did it cause you were worried about me.”
“Maybe.” Madrona shook her head, smirking at the girl.
“Ha ha.” Kassadi said, a mocking laugh. “You like me… sucker.”
The two made their way to the Goblin village slowly, and leaning into each other for support. They both felt as if they had just finished a triathlon and then proceeded to do a second triathlon for good measure. By the time they made it to the village they could barely stand, they hobbled towards Lidya’s home. Recognized from their previous visit the village guards left them alone, they knocked on the door, leaning against the frame to keep themselves upright. Maryl answered, she looked them both up and down and bit into an apple she had.
“You two look like shit.” She said though her chewing.
“Thank you ever so much, could you let us in now?” Madrona asked, aggrevated.
“Don’t really think I can,” The goblin said, shrugging her shoulders. “Not really my house so I’m not about to speak for my mom ya know?”
“Oh for hells sake!” Kassadi blurted out, detaching herself from Madrona and pushing past Maryl and entering the house.
“Hey!” Maryl cried as she was manhandled, Madrona followed after. “Rude…”
Kassadi quickly found herself to the couch, collapsing on top of it. It strained against the weight of a falling human, but held firm. Madrona found herself slowly settling into the arm chair beside the couch, it provided support to the woman’s back, however her legs stuck straight out and her head rested about six inches above the headrest. It didn’t matter to the Warlock however, at that particular moment the chair was the most comfortable piece of furniture in the world. Maryl came in shortly after, taking her place in the stool across from Madrona. She bit into the apple and stared at the women.
“So, you have the wands?” She asked.
“You can’t give us like… five minutes?” Kassadi called out, her voice muffled with her face buried in the cushion.
“Yes we have your wands” Madrona stated, her eyes were closed however and it was difficult to tell she hadn’t fell asleep. “But we will discuss all of that after me and my companion have rested and had a meal.”
“Yeah whatever.” Maryl said, tossing the half eaten apple on the table as she rose. “Just don’t take too long, gotta get back to my people.”
Rest came, the two of them spending the next hour and a half sleeping right where they had fallen. As they both started to rouse they could smell the scent of freshly cooked meats and steaming vegetables. Stomachs growled and mouths watered and Kassadi and Madrona pushed themselves on to aching muscles to make their way to the kitchen. Inside they found an interesting sight, Lidya cooking up a storm and Maryl trying her best to keep up with her mother, and mostly just getting in the way.
“No a pinch, pinch! That’s not a pinch that’s a handful!” Lidya called out as she rushed over to a boiling pot to save it’s contents from Maryl, who stepped back bashfully.
The two tallfolk made their way to the table, but Lidya quickly shooed them away from the small table in the kitchen and pushed the towards a larger table in a separate dining room neither had seen previously. They were also sent in with a stack of plates, silverware, and a tablecloth they were told to set up. Kassadi and Madrona glanged at each other as they were directed to set the table and just shrugged. It was the least they could do, they figured, for all of Lidya’s ospitality. Throwing the cloth over the table with practiced ease Madrona went to work making sure the corners were all straight and the cloth hung at an equal length. Kassadi applauded this display, which made Madrona chuckle. Kassadi followed Madrona’s lead by placing all the plates out, six in total. She laid out the silverware, wondering who the other two guests were.
Eventually aftter the table was set and the food laid out, Kassadi and Madrona found themselves sitting next to each other on one side, Maryl and Lidya sitting at each head of the table, and Dulav sat with another goblin man, introduced to Madrona and Kassadi as Jax, Dulav’s partner. Jax was a startling departure from Dulav, who walked around with a shaved head, covered in pelts, and carried a twisted and gnarled staff that belied his nature as a Druid and signified a somewhat unkept and feral nature. Jax on the other hand was very well kept. A finely tailored jacket over a soft black silk shirt and slacks, shiny leather boots and soft golden blond locks slicked back against his scalp with a comb. He also carried a staff of sorts, a walking stick carved smooth and polished to a shine. Madrona and Kassadi wondered to themselves how two individuals who seemed so different could come together. But as Jax stood during the course of the meal to excuse himself to the restroom, the gentle squeeze DUlav gave his hand and the peck Jax pressed to the Druid’s shaved head made those curiosities vanished. The love they shared was clear and it didn’t matter, they made it work.
The food was good and it did well to reinvigerate the two casters. They ate ravenously, and cleared their plate more than twice. Lidya seemed more than happy to feed the two, however, seeming just happy to have guests to dote over. Maryl stared at them however, scoffing at the fact that she was a bandit who lived in the labyrinth of a long dead evil wizard and yet it was these two who seemed starved. Eventually Kassadi and Madrona had their fill and they found themselves staring down Maryl Madrona drew up the bag of wands and dropped them on the table.
“We have our part of the agreement, so why don’t you give us your part.” The Warlock state.
“Yeah yeah.” Maryl said, wiping the corner of her mouth with a napkin. “Sure yeah I know whats going on with those bracelets. Let me guess, you think they’re Bracelets of Spell Empowerment.”
“They are Bracelets of Spell Empowerment.” Kassadi jumped in, frowning.
“Not just, however.” Mary said, sticking her finger at Kassadi. “When we first got to the Labyrinth we did some exploring, figured we’d see if we couldn’t find some magic to use against the township that was makin this village miserable. Found that the areas we could get to safely were picked clean, the places we couldn’t get to safely.. well, we lost a few goblins in our hunt. But I wasn’t happy with that, decided to go out on my own once we were settled in our encampment. Nearly lost my life a few times but I managed to wriggle myself into a room that no one had stepped into in over 200 years.”
“Valel Hex’s thron room.” Madrona said, arms crossing over her chest.
“Exactly.” Maryl tapped her nose. “What I found were a pair of bracelets. Was thinking about taking them, till I saw the scorch mark they were in. Decided it was best to leave em be. But there was something else there, shelves and shelves of books. Valel Hex’s research notes, her studies, and her personal diaries.”
“You have Valel Hex’s reasearch?” Kassadi cried out, shocked. “People have been searching for that for decades! They figured they were destroyed with Valel.”
“Nope.” Maryl grinned. “Guess it just means all those archeologists, researchers, and adventurers ain’t as good as me.”
“So there was something there, in the books.” Madrona interrupted, pressing Maryl to continue.
“Yeah. Valel wasn’t killed by two bands of adventurers.” She said.
“No she was.” Kassadi said, furrowing her brow. “We don’t know the details but the tale is clear. Two bands drawn together to unleash their might but doubled. The ring of their clash with Valel, and the two bands drew out her very soul.”
“Oh two bands came togther.” Maryl said, gesturing towards the human woman’s wrist.
Kassadi glanced down at her bracelet, and then to Madrona’s. Her eyes widened with realization. She groaned, annoyed at herself for missing it. Two bands, not adventurers. The story was literal, two bands that came together were the Bracelets of Spell Empowerment! She gasped, her hands came to mouth in shock as the next revelation came to her. Two bands that came together, their ring heard round the world, which drew out the soul of the dreaded Valel Hex…
“That’s the Soul Grab! Its Valel’s soul. Valel Hex’s soul is in our bracelets!” She shouted, jumping from the table.
