It had become morning as Cetrid exited the Inn to see Rumfus getting Brandy, their Ribios traveling companion, ready for the journey to the Dan'Burk mountains.

Ribios are cattle-like creatures usually raised and harvested for their meat, Brandy, however, was found and raised by Rumfus when he was young.

Now Brandy follows Rumfus wherever he goes, carrying equipment and supplies for him.

"Cetrid! You're awake, come now, the path to Dan'Burk is a long one, best to get going as soon as possible."

Cetrid slowly makes his way down the stars.

"Oh... I was hoping you would have changed your... uh... mind about going there..."

Rumfus laughs and walks around Brandy towards Cetrid.

"Cetrid, those Cyclopes need our assistance, how would You like it if your home was attacked by creatures and no one came to your rescue, huh?"

Cetrid looks down discouraged.

"Point... uh... taken..."

Rumfus puts a hand on Brandy's back and the other halfway to the ground.

"That's what I thought, now let's get going!"

Cetrid nods then jogs over to Rumfus and Brandy and uses Rumfus' hand as a springboard to get up onto Brandy's back.

Rumfus then walks over to Brandy's butt and gives it a smack.

With that, the two were on their way to Dan'Burk, they passed through many towns, sometimes to rest for the night, sometimes to resupply.

On the way, they met many different colorful characters, one of which was a bright blue bird-like creature that wore a wicker hat and had spider legs.

It was creeping through bushes, following them all day until Cetrid had noticed him.

"Hey, Rumfus, there's something... uh... following us."

Rumfus was ahead of Brandy and Cetrid, he stopped and turned around to see the creature attempting to hide in a bush, the creatures wicker hat was peeking out of the bush's top.

"Excuse me, you there, in the bush!"

The hat then quickly went into the bush.

Rumfus looked to Cetrid.

Cetrid shrugs.

Rumfus cautiously walked over to the bush and poked into it with his staff.

"Hello, do you speak, creature?"

Rumfus' staff poked the creature, startled, it jumps out from the bush away from Rumfus.

"My word, the gem on that staff of yours is mighty pointy!"

Rumfus gets out of a fighting stance.

"My apologies, I wasn't sure if I should have considered you a threat or not, my name is Rumfus, that is Cetrid and my Ribios, Brandy, who might you be?"

The creature smiles and bows to Rumfus.

"The name is Spix, glad to make your acquaintance."

Rumfus nods his head towards Spix.

"I've got to say, Spix, I haven't seen or heard of a creature like you before, where might you be from?"

Spix nervously repositions his legs.

"Oh, well, that's a long story I won't bore you with, I'm sorry if you got a fright from my following you."

Rumfus shakes his head.

"No no, don't worry about it, friend, but I must ask, why Were you following us?"

Spix excitedly steps towards Rumfus.

"I very much do enjoy going on adventures, Rumfus, trouble is most people get startled at the sight of me, so I travel the lands looking for anyone nice enough to allow me the opportunity to join them on their adventures!"

Cetrid and Brandy had walked over by the time Spix had finished speaking.

"Is everything alright, Rumfus?"

Rumfus turns towards Cetrid.

"Why yes, Cetrid, this here is Spix, I was just about to ask him if he wanted to join us on our journey!"

Cetrid looks from Rumfus to Spix.

"I guess we should take all the... uh... help we can."

Spix flaps his wings a couple of times and smiles.

"I'd be ever so grateful if you allowed me to tag along, what might the nature of this quest be?

I'm hoping there's no fighting, though, I'm ever so opposed to violence..."

Rumfus and Cetrid look at each other for a moment before Rumfus turns back to Spix.

"Hmm... as it turns out, this quest is going to be very violent in nature."

Spix's head slinks down in disappointment.

"Oh drats... I wouldn't have guessed by how light you were traveling..."

Rumfus puts a fist on his hip.

"My apologies, Spix, we wouldn't have minded another companion on our journey, hopefully our paths will cross again when we're on an adventure that doesn't require any roughhousing."

Spix's head bobs back up as he smiles.

"Right-y-oh, then I shall bid you two farewell, until our next encounter!"

Rumfus and Cetrid wave to Spix as he wanders away.

Cetrid then looks up towards Rumfus.

"What an odd... uh... creature."

Rumfus watches Spix, who had gotten quite a distance away, climb up a large rock, he then grabbed both sides of his wicker hat and seemingly vanished.

"Indeed he is... hmm... alright, let's go, we've dawdled long enough."

Cetrid led Brandy back down the path they were originally heading as Rumfus stayed behind for a moment pondering the creature they had just met.