Felix: I feel like we have been here before

Drake: Oh yeah! I remember we had to save some dwarven miners from a curse that was possessing their tools and such. You were at my service at the time and I had told you to take care of sending the message we were done no?

Felix: The mayor told me a gang of Ratmen is now inhabiting this place

Drake: You're telling me you forgot, and those guys used the fact it was cleared to make their home here, Because of you, we're stuck with ANOTHER underground dungeon.

Felix: …

Eleonore: *Hides a chuckle*

Felix: Should be a good training for her anyway so it’s not that bad of a situation. Why don’t you man up a little, it's just a cave

Drake: I'm not SCARED. I simply… don’t like it I okay? There’s a reason why elves live at OVERground, not UNDERground like those silly dwarves. The ground is for dead people and plants, not living people… tsss...

*The group heads inside, while Felix keeps poking fun and teasing Drake, Eleonore was looking around with curiosity the interior of her first dungeon. Everything the paths were carved in rocks, inside the walls themselves as they lounged a dark precipice. the hole was deep, getting smaller and tighter the furthest down you looked. on the walls, many wooden pillars are stabilizing and reinforcing the sides. Attached to the walls via metal hinges where pots housing white glowing mushrooms, the only source of light aside from Felix’s ball of flame he was using has a torch. Large copper pipes are carved in the rock. A venting system, according to Felix, who promptly returns to testing the limits of white-haired elf patience. Here and there, some parts of the mines look carved, probably the work of bored miners. The quality of the work… has very high variation going from masterpieces to not very mature or appropriate carvings, without forgetting the very basic shapes as well. Heavy pieces of machinery have been left broken and rusting at the bottom of the shaft. Also pistons, many many pistons on everything metallic looking.*

Felix: Drake, you know what to do, cast the spell

Drake: “Par les pouvoir qui me sont conférés par la déesse Gaïa, j’envois une onde qui me retournera la position exact de toute source aquatique.”

Felix: The result?

Drake: I detect some in large quantity in that direction, about 5 kilometres. I doubt it is located in this dungeon, so we should be safe. There are also other small pockets here and there, but not in large enough quantities

Eleonore: Detecting what?

Felix: Now traps! Let me show you how we handle those miss Eleonore

Drake: *sigh* maybe we should do it the PROPER way…

Eleonore: What do you…

*Felix dashes forward, trying to step on every centimetre on the ground ahead, scanning with his feet the area.*

Eleonore: What is he... *BOOM*

*Felix walk on a tripwire, who triggers explosives who were hidden behind the wall, inside a carved air pocket. The blast was heavily muffled by the wall but was still enough to launch Felix backward, making his body fall down the abyss. after a very disturbing sound of bones cracking, Felix dies on impact. After a little light show, however, he flies back up and goes back to where he had left of*

Eleonore: So your telling me the strategy is have him scan the ground for any trap, trigger them, die and mark where they were?

Felix: And destroy them if they are not single use

Eleonore: Seriously?

Felix: Hey, it works!

*Felix then promptly gets crushed by lots of large rocks*

Drake: This… may take a while, so how about a duel? I am curious about checking on what you have learned from Felix peculiar fighting style. “Mana, transforme toi en épée en bois, comme celle que je frabrica il y a de cela des centaine de mois!” *he makes a wooden sword appears in his hand*

Eleonore: Does it really need to rhyme?

Drake: It helps for some reason, so I don’t question it.

Eleonore: Those bound weapons seem pretty handy, not having to carry them and all, do you think I could learn to cast them myself one day?

Drake: To be able to make a bound weapon, you have to learn how to make the weapon itself without the help of mana. This particular wooden sword is a replica of the one I carved long ago

*A huge drill comes out of the wall, piercing Felix in the chest, after coming back to life, he proceeds on hitting the steam-powered machine until it breaks*

Drake: "En garde!"

*Already in position, Eleonore skillfully parries Drake with her rapier. One hand in her back, one foot forward, she focuses on gaining ground on Drake to force him into a difficult position, allowing her to open his guard. Drake is impressed by her prowess that matches his, he has to use all his strength to avoid getting hit, she is indeed ready to fight. One thing he notices, however, is that the princess has a very swift and agile fighting style, matching more his than Felix’s heavy hitter strategy. furthermore, she tends to hit and deviate Drakes strikes instead or merely blocking them*

Drake, ending it on a 2-1 for the princess: Interesting, I tough Felix would teach you how HIS fighting style

Felix, recovering from spike coming out his chest: I didn’t teach her how to fight like me, I taught her how to COUNTER me

Drake: Interesting, mind teaching me one-day miss Eleonore?

Eleonore: Ha! In your dreams mister Drake!

Felix: Okay, the next room should be cleared!

*The path leads to a door, carved deep inside the wall. Past the door reveals to be the main dinery. The group doesn’t have time to react to their surrounding, however, as a cloud of green smoke covers the party*

Felix: *sigh* Everytime…

Eleonore, slightly panicked: What is this?

Felix: *yawn* sleeping gas… *he slumps on the ground*

Drake: *yawn* I will… try to keep us… princess!

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*As she wakes up, Eleonore can feel the familiar feeling of rope on her waist*

Elenore: Again? *sigh*

*Instinctively, she starts to wiggle and try to free herself up, while she does so, she observes her new surroundings. She is attached to what looks like a giant stalactite, and after one quick look down, she realizes she is quite high in the air. Surprised, she quickly stops trying to break free before taking a dive inside the lake sitting about 50 meters down. It was quite obvious by the formation of the cave that they were transported outside the mines. Instead of the artificially carved surroundings she saw before the forced sleep, the rock formation seemed more natural formed by the water below. The only thing that had not changed was the glowing mushrooms lighting up the area.*

Eleonore: Okay, think Eleonore, you’ve been in worse situations before… Probably. There must be a way too…

*She is interrupted by the voice coming from the opposite side of the stalactite. The voice sounded like it was hyperventilating in a very heavy panic*

Eleonore: Drake? Is that you? Do not worry, I’m sure Felix is gonna figure something out to bring us down safely...

???: No no no no no, not good, this is bad, not like this!

*The smell of something burning fills up the air*

Eleonore: Felix!? Is that you?

Felix: No no no no no… *Hyperventilates*

Eleonore: Felix! Listen to me! Have to calm down! We need to think of a plan. I can free us from the rope, we might need to dive, the water should stop our fall.

Felix: From this height, we will be so fast the water will feel like a rock floor from the impact. If we fall, it's certain death by broken bones!

Eleonore: Okay… what about you? You can fly, right?

Felix: My wings are only enough to support my weight and my equipment, I cannot carry someone while flying.

Eleonore: In that case, at least you have an escape plan…

Felix: I am NOT gonna let you die here while cowering away! It is BOTH of us or NONE of us.

Eleonore, slightly shaken by Felix words, blushing a little: In.. In that case, maybe you can slow down my fall? Then with some rope, I should be able to fish out your body…

Felix: If I die in these water, I die DIE! No more Phoenix! DEAD, no coming back! Nada! No more...

Eleonore: Okay, I get it! Maybe we can…

Felix: I also don’t know how to swim, I’ll drown like a rock.

Eleonore: MAYBE we can wait for Drake to have more options…

*The princess could feel the rope loosen up. In a moment of lucidity, the one that comes just before a tragedy, she understood what happened. In his panic, Felix had probably started burning up, damaging the only thing keeping them from falling. Adding to that her trying to break free a few seconds ago and the rope had been pushed to its limits.*

Eleonore: Were gonna fall!

*SNAP, both Felix and the princess are free from the stalactite. As they fall, time seems to slow down as the adrenaline send their brain to overdrive, making the anticipation of the impact even more unsupportable. Instinctively, Felix grabs the princess and pulls out his wings. In a desperate attempt, he tries to act out her plan, but there is sadly not enough time. As the pond gets bigger and bigger, a sense of dread and desperation fills his mind and a chill runs up his spine. Behind the deadly liquid, Felix feels like he could stare in the eyes of death itself…*

Felix: DESPERATION CAST!

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*Eleonore opens her eyes, trying to figure out what happened. her entire body hurts a little, but she feels mostly fine. Under her, she feels something soft, is that someone? as she moves to the side, a sudden chill allows her to regain focus and open her eyes. She stands up on what looks like a platform made of ice. The platform shakes a little, but its semi-stability suggest there is enough ice below to act as a counterbalance and prevent everything from tipping over.*

Eleonore: What happened? Did we survive? Felix?

*She turns around, the soft pillow she was resting on appear to be the corpse of Felix*

Eleonore: Felix! Are you okay? I guess he managed to break my fall… but why is he not coming back already? Is there some sort of magic that nullifies his resurrection!? Did he reach some kind of death limit? *She shakes him in anger, a single tear rolling on her cheek* please...

*A long and beautiful feather comes out of his body, it looks exactly like the mythical Phoenix feather that filled her picture books from when she was young. As the feather burst in flames, it turns into what looks like a tiny baby bird*

Eleonore: Felix? *she brushes her tear* is that you?

*The bird lands on Felix's body, pulling on his clothes, Then, it flies away, and land on the side of the pond, shooting tiny flames on the cave floor.*

Eleonore: R..right… you probably want me to bring your body out the water *the bird starts chirping*... let’s see.

*She spots some stalagmites on the edge of the pond. Reaching for her fanny pack, she pulls out a bundle of rope*

Eleonore: Ha, told you Drake that rope is one of the most important things to bring in an adventure… right, gotta find him first before nagging him…

*She ties the rope into a lasso and pulls the ice raft towards the shore. She then proceeds to pull to move her the icy platform she is standing on, which is starting to melt. As she pulls, The bird lands on Eleonore's shoulder and starts nuzzling her neck*

Eleonore: *She blushes a little* Looks like whoever you are, you like me very much now do you, little birdy.

*The bird responds by giving a small chirp. Eleonore manages to pull herself out of the pond and picks up the body of Felix. She places him on the floor as she sees the bird dashing into his body and disappearing into flames. The body starts to burn in a familiar way, which reassures Eleonore that the plan worked.*

Eleonore: Felix! *she glomps him* I thought I had lost you…

Felix, gently pushing her back, looking somewhere else: I… erm… yes, sorry for making you worry princess. I must admit you successfully managed to save my life.

Eleonore, taking the hint and letting him go: What exactly happened there? Why did it take so long before you came back?

Felix: I guess you deserve an explanation. You are probably familiar with the myth of a Phoenix feather, right? They are said to be able to bring someone back to life. While it is false that all my feathers have those fantastical properties, it is based on one truth… the core feather.

Eleonore: That’s the feather that I saw coming out of your body? Why did it turn into a bird?

Felix: Perspective, it was indeed the core feather. For a human, it would be the equivalent of my heart. This feather is what allows me to regenerate this human shell. This "Heart" has to come out every time I need to resurrect, and if during the process it comes in contact with enough water to cool it down, I would then truly expire. This is why I… lost my composure at the idea of potentially dying underwater. The bird you saw was a manifestation of what my true nature is, as this human body is mostly just a shell. As a Phoenix, I have the ability to be completely unaffected by any damage done to this human body and regenerate it at will.

Eleonore: *with a sly smile* So that means when it was nuzzling me...

Felix: *he looks away. Eleonore has time to notice him becoming flustered and very red* I erm... I... must have been a side effect of well... Maybe some other se... hmm... anyway, where is Drake?

Eleonore: *Helping him change the subject* I don't really kn... Wait… you are a being made of fire right? How did you manage to make an ice spell?

Felix: To think those hundreds of years spent on learning a silly snowball spell would one day save my life, it would seem it was just enough of a step inside the path of ice magic to provide the appropriate spell for the situation. I wonder what new spell I learned. I must have learned a way weaker version of the spell considering how bad my affinity with anything cold is…

Drake, running out from an entrance inside a wall that was unnoticed before: *pant pant* no time to test… *pant* finally found you… *pant* … Ratmen... coming!