“Nyx. Hey Nyx.” Ari quietly says as she shakes him awake. Nyx gets up with a shock of unfamiliarity, then remembers the girl and the events that had occurred the day before.

“Are they moving?” Nyx responds with a stretch and a yawn. The morning is cool and still a bit damp from the previous night’s rain, the sky now clear and blue.

“Yeah, I kept Asu trailing them. They headed into a small town a couple miles in that direction.” Ari says as she sucks the campsite back into her pendant after pulling Nyx up from his blanket and offering him an apple. The two get the horse resituated and climb up onto their cart.

“What town? I’ve never been outside Crystalis.” Nyx asks as he gives Ari the reins to pull them back onto the road.

“It’s called Edinborough. Not very big, mostly just full of farmers selling their crops and drunkards fooling around at the inns.” Ari says leading them down the road. “My guess is that the kidnappers use being merchants as a front, so that they can hide their prisoners in the cart with the goods. Maybe they have a contact or someone that they’re trying to sell your family off to.”

“Then that will be our moment to jump in.” Nyx says, cracking his knuckles in anticipation. The two travel for about an hour before they start to see the edge of Edinborough over the next hill. Nyx and Ari see a bunch of other wagons and carriages entering and exiting the town.

“Shit, how are we supposed to find them now?” Nyx sighs, feeling a bit of his hope start to dry up.

“Don’t panic. I’ll send Asu to fly over the town and take a closer look.” Asu takes off from his perch on their cart and soars to start circling over the city. Ari and Nyx start to approach the town, and Ari pulls their horse up to a stable at the town’s edge.

“He hasn’t found them yet, but don’t worry. We can leave the cart here and try to ask around. There shouldn’t be very many carriages with the insignia of the Coastal Coalition here in a small town so far away from the coasts of Midgard.” Ari pays the stable to watch over their wagon, and they enter the town of Edinborough. Asking the townsfolk for the better part of an hour, the two are finally directed to an inn called “The Pulled Finger”, where someone had supposedly seen the caravan stop by.

As they reach the inn, Ari and Nyx are met with a loud commotion. Outside The Pulled Finger, there is a crowd surrounding the entrance. Pushing his way through the rowdy assembly, Nyx gets to the middle and sees what the shouting and cheering is about. A group of three seemingly drunk elven men appear to be riling up one of the most visually confusing pairs in all of Alfheim, a large female half-orc standing in front of a small male halfling who is cowering in fear. The half-orc looks to be over 6 feet tall, with a towering build and rippling muscles. Her grayish green pigmentation is marked up with battle scars and dark red face paint, which matches her red hair that is shaved on one side and is tied into a ponytail in the back. Her prominent teeth flash as she smiles eagerly at the three elves, two large tusks jutting out even when she closes her mouth. The orc is clothed fairly skimpily, probably to show off her muscles, with only a small leather vest with a fur collar around her neck and a matching short leather skirt strapped up in belts and hanging with fur at the bottom. A pair of metal plated bracers are the only form of armor she has, and her tooth riddled necklace dangles from her neck as the half-orc gives a mighty laugh and puts down on the ground the two large battleaxes that were hanging from her back.

“I won’t even bother using these!” she roars as she charges away from the halfling towards the jesting group of elves. The half-orc makes quick work of the three, as they lay on the ground groaning and the crowd around them cheers and laughs. The half-orc then turns around back to the little halfling and reassures him with a pat on the head. After telling him she will buy him another drink the orc picks up her axes and leads the halfling into the inn and the rest of the crowd follows them in.

“Let’s ask them!” Ari says after witnessing this all happen, pulling Nyx by the arm and entering The Pulled Finger Inn. Upon entering the inn, the crowd has dispersed to different tables, diverging into their conversations and drinking games. Wasting no time, Ari takes Nyx straight up to the half-orc and halfling sitting at the bar. Taking the seat right next to them, Ari introduces herself.

“Wow that was amazing!” Ari contends looking up at the large woman. Caught off guard since everyone else had been too afraid to approach her after she took down the three drunkards, the half-orc looks down and greets Ari with a hearty laugh.

“Well thank you! Those men were trying to pick on my small friend over here and I just couldn’t have that.” she says, as she gives the halfling next to her a pat on the back, almost knocking him out of his seat.

“How brave of you! Actually, we were wondering if we could ask you a question to help us a little bit.” Ari says pointing to Nyx who stands quietly behind her.

“How about I get you a drink first!” the half-orc says, motioning to the barkeep. As Nyx whimpers a bit to himself that he was fine, the half-orc reaches her hand out to shake hands with him.

“Hello, I’m Vola Strongboar!” she says, and slaps her hand on the halfling’s shoulder. “And this is my pal Felix.” Felix flinches for a second and then shyly raises his hand to say hello. A bizarre pairing, the outwardly, strong presence of Vola drastically contrasts to the timid appearance of Felix. Very skittishly looking around the room with his bright blue eyes, Felix’s blonde wavy hair is tucked under a navy-blue feathered bard’s hat. His matching blue cloak drapes over his tan tunic and red striped pantaloons. Wrapped around his back is a surprisingly ornate wooden lute. With such a jumpy composure, one would question if he could even calm down enough to play it.

“My name is Askari Sylverwin, you can just call me Ari. This is Nyx, he’s a bit of an idiot.” Vola laughs again.

“Aren’t we all a bit?” Vola declares, accepting a drink from the bartender and passing the rest to her new acquaintances. “So, what was it you needed?”

“We’re looking for a caravan. It has embroidery of the Coastal Coalition on the side of its cloth covering.” Nyx speaks up for the first time. Hearing this, Felix jumps up onto his seat shocked, and whispers into Vola’s ear. Vola turns back to Nyx, her face having a dramatic change to a much more serious look.

“This caravan. I’m guessing they killed someone close to you?” Vola asks, a newfound passion clear in her eyes.

“You’ve seen it?!” Nyx perks up, thrilled about potentially having a new lead to finding the caravan they had lost in the town. With a concerning look of sadness from the otherwise jolly half-orc, Vola gestures to the door.

“Let’s discuss this outside for some privacy.” Vola leads the group out of the inn, and around to the back for a spot free from any prying ears. Leaning on the wall of the inn, Vola looks to Ari and Nyx.

“I’ve been following a group of slavers myself. You might have been confused at first when you saw a half-orc so deep into Alfheim, I’ve never even been this far from home before. As you might have guessed I’m from Jotunheim.”

“But isn’t that all the way on the other side of the continent?” Ari questions.

“Exactly. I’ve been chasing them for almost a year now. As you probably guessed they aren’t merchants from the Coastal Coalition. Almost a year ago, my tribe was attacked by drow mages from Helheim. They had disguised themselves as merchants carrying fancy little magical toys, only to attack us once we let our guards down. Only a few of us survived, and even more were taken as prisoners. I had managed to track them across the Dead Wastelands and into Alfheim, but I lost them a couple towns ago. I ran into Felix here a couple weeks ago, he’s a lot more helpful then he might look. If you’re looking for the same group, then I guess we got back onto the right track.” Vola asserts.

“Hmm, well the merchants we’re looking for were human, but maybe they were using a disguise spell. And tracking them all the way from Jotunheim? That’s pretty damn impressive.” Ari remarks, as Nyx gives her an annoyed glare for breaking her promise that they could catch up with them in the morning.

“Well nothing escapes my nose. I can follow a smell that’s miles away.” Vola claims, sniffing the air. “I don’t smell the mages that attacked my village anywhere nearby, so either the ones you are looking for are different, or they must have found some way to mask their scent and escape. If they are bringing prisoners that you're looking for, then they can’t be that far out of the town.”

“With your nose and Ari’s falcon, we should be able to find them again right?” Nyx speculates. “Would you guys want to come help us?” Nyx motions in the direction of the stable where their carriage is.

“I don’t see why not.” Vola says after beating her chest with a brutal grunt. “I’ve been craving my revenge for a while now.”

♦♦♦

The new group of companions hit the road leading southeast from the town of Edinborough heading farther out to the edge of the Crystalis Empire. Together in the wagon, Ari and Vola managed to catch the faintest trail left behind by the caravan, following the scent of Nyx’s mother that Vola was able to pick up after Nyx offered Rhea’s necklace as a possible lead.

“I do smell the same scent that’s lingering on your necklace heading in that direction, so hopefully that is your family, but they are a long ways off and starting to get out of my range of detection.” Vola states.

“They must have only stopped by in Edinborough for a brief amount of time then if they managed to get that far already.” Ari says. “I’ll send my falcon up ahead to search for any trails they left behind.” Asu materializes from the spatial plane and takes off into the sky ahead of them.

“Beautiful bird you have there.” Vola praises, admiring its blue-grey feathers spread out across the blue sky.

“Thank you! What is your mark by the way? I haven’t seen it.” Vola laughs and starts to remove her fur vest, causing a curious Nyx to get up from his slouched position in his seat and look forward. Quickly covering the half-elf’s eyes, Ari turns back to Vola. Vola twists her back and flexes her muscles, looking at the two with a hearty smile.

“The mighty boar!” Vola grunts. Covering her defined traps, is a large dark-green symbol of a wild boar head.

“Bo! Come come!” Vola calls. The air surrounding the left side of the cart starts to darken and then a huge wild boar, standing 5 feet tall and 6 feet long, suddenly appears running alongside them. The horse jerks to the other side of the road for a moment, before Ari manages to settle him down and realign the cart in the correct direction. Nyx screams and falls into Vola’s lap as she laughs and pats him on the head. Staring up at the shirtless half-orc, Nyx gets caught in a drooling daze as he calms down and phases out. Putting her vest back on, Vola claps her hands and unsummons the boar.

“That is Bo, my village’s champion beast! If not for him, I would not have survived when we were attacked by the very same people we are tracking now.” Nyx shakes himself out of his daze and sits back up in his own seat, a look of slight embarrassment on his face. Ari rolls her eyes at Nyx, possibly a little jealous at the attention he gave Vola, but not acknowledging it as jealousy, and turns to the back of the cart where Felix is laid out fast asleep.

“What about him? He’s been pretty quiet this whole time.”

“Oh, don’t worry about Felix, he’s just a very light drinker and had one too many drinks back at the inn.” Vola reaches back and grabs the snoring halfling’s leg. Pulling off his right shoe, Vola reveals the mark shaped as a small, sharp claw found on his ankle.

“This little sneaky one has the mark of the fox. Gotten me out of more situations than I’ve saved him so far, that’s for sure. What do you have Nyx? You look strong, want to fight?” Vola asks with a grin. Nyx shies away, both intimidated and a bit enticed by her strength.

“Well I’m no tribal champion or elven princess, I’m just a peasant unfortunately. Don’t really have a mark.” Nyx sighs.

“You still seem mighty strong to me without one.” Vola compliments him with a look of approval.

“Not strong enough yet to save my family apparently.” Nyx says, clenching his fist and staring down the road ahead. “How long do you think until we catch up with them?” Vola takes a moment to close her eyes and sniff the air.

“We haven’t managed to close much distance, but they are still within my sense of smell. If Asu up there manages to find tracks left behind we will probably be able to confirm their pace and catch up faster, but it may be a while.”

“Ok, then just wake me up when we get closer.” Nyx says, leaning back and closing his eyes for a nap.

♦♦♦

“Hey, wake up there friend. Good news!” Nyx opens his eyes to see the image of a large blue hat right in his face.

“Ummm, what is this?” Sitting up from his reclining position, Nyx sees the now much more perky and high-spirited face of Felix waking him up with his lute in hand.

“Ah that’s more like it, lad!” Felix says in his high-pitched sing-song voice.

“You’re a lot chirpier than before.” Nyx groans put off by the sudden change in the halfling’s presence.

“Sorry about that, I got a little carried away with me drinking.” Felix says with a giggle. Strumming a chord on his lute, Felix gives Nyx a bright smile.

“There once was a boy, who woke from his sleep,

As his eyes opened up, such a sight he did peep.

The most beautiful man, such a sight made him weep.

For his savior had come, and with joy the boy leaped.” Felix sings.

“That was quite possibly, the worst song I’ve ever heard in my entire life.” Nyx says with a straight face. “Please tell me there’s actually good news and you didn’t just wake me up for that.”

“Ah! I am offended my good sir.” Felix responds.

“Felix leave the boy alone; nobody wants to hear your wailing.” Vola says from the front of the cart. “Nyx we might have a problem.” Nyx climbs up from the back of the cart and peers ahead at the road over Ari’s shoulder.

“We started to catch up, so we were going to wake you up, but then I started to smell something different ahead. Almost like there was a scent of blood.”

“What?! Why would that be good news?” Nyx yells, tensing up and looking back at Felix.

“Nyx don’t hurt him just wait. I sent Asu to scout it out, and I found where the smell’s coming from but it’s not what you think. It seems like the caravan got attacked by bandits, but don’t panic, I think they were fine. The only blood Asu found was from the bandits’ dead bodies, I think the drow kidnappers used magic to kill a couple and scare the rest off.” Ari says, leading the cart down the road at a faster pace.

“Let’s just hurry up, can’t this horse go any faster?” Nyx says as he intently looks ahead.