As they near the town of Redwater, there seems to be no other coming traffic in or out. Deciding to leave the cart outside the town with Asu and Bo guarding it, the group walks into the town. Almost a ghost town, Redwater is very dark and dreary, and the only people in sight either stare at the four intimidatingly or shrink back into the dark. The few people they come across are an odd collection of humans, dwarves, half-orcs, tieflings, and even goblins. As they walk through the empty streets, Nyx and Ari give each other a grim look.

“Well this certainly isn’t as bustling as Edinborough.” Felix asks, hiding behind Vola.

“Did the goddess tell you where the Purple Mage would be?” Ari asks.

“No, just that he would be in Redwater.” Nyx responds, as he returns a mean look from a dwarf lurking in a nearby alley. “I don’t really trust these people to go asking around.”

“Maybe we should look for purple stuff?” Felix suggests. Nyx looks around at all the grey and dark colors of the dark town and turns to Felix.

“That’s an amazing idea.” Nyx says mockingly.

After a half hour of quietly walking the streets of Redwater, suddenly Felix screams and jumps up into Vola’s arms like a baby.

“Felix what’s wrong? Did you see another spider?” Vola asks giving him a comforting pat on the head.

“Something touched me!” Felix shrieks, squirming around in Vola’s arms. “What if it was a rat?!”

“This place is a dump of course there are rats.” Ari jokes. Felix shakes his head with his eyes wide open frantically looking around.

“Well this one felt BIG!”

“Don’t worry little one, I will protect you.” Vola says hugging Felix close. Felix blushes and starts to calm down but keeps an eye out for any rats. A few moments later Ari shouts out in a similar fashion and punches Nyx in the shoulder.

“Ow! The hell was that for?” Nyx asks, rubbing his hurt shoulder.

“Why’d you slap my butt you perv?!” Ari questions.

“What? I didn’t do that; it was probably just a rat touching you calm down.” Nyx responds. “Why would I even want to slap something so small.”

“Wha- You!” Ari yells as she lunges toward him with a balled fist. Nyx manages to barely catch her hand before his collides with his face and tries to hold her back. Vola walks forward to stop the two from fighting each other. Behind the group, Felix’s eyes catch something moving down an alley to the right.

“Um guys!” Felix points toward a dark hooded figure running away from them with something shining in his hand. Ari and Nyx stop fighting and both look down at their necks to realize their necklaces are gone.

“Hey stop!” Nyx cries as he rushes into the alley after the figure with his friends close behind. They follow the figure down a couple alleys until they turn into a dead end. At the end of the alley the figure is standing before them laughing. Their face is covered under the shadow of the black hood; however, an eerie smile is peeking out of the dark. Nyx takes a step forward and the group is instantly hit with a flash of bright purple light as they all fall back and collide into each other. Looking up, Nyx sees the figure hovering in the air above him, the two necklaces magically floating at their sides.

“I heard some fresh meat was looking around for the Purple Mage.” The figure says as their creepy smirk widens and a faint glow of bright blue eyes peers from under the hood. The figure reaches a hand out towards Nyx, who accepts it and stands back up.

“I’m guessing that’s you huh.” Nyx says, dusting his clothes off. “Can we have our stuff back?” The figure laughs and dangles the floating necklaces in front of Nyx.

“Depends on who’s asking.”

“This is Nyx, I’m Ari. That’s Felix and Vola.” Ari says, standing up. “We were told you could help us. You seem like a pretty strong wizard, are you any good at tracking people?”

“Sorcerer actually. Easy mistake.” The Purple Mage says. “And what lovely person gave you that information?”

“The goddess Sanaa did! So, you better not disrespect her recommendation and give them their stuff back or I’ll- I’ll!” Felix yells as Vola keeps the halfling back from lunging at the floating sorcerer.

“Great Purple Mage Sir, if you would do us the favor of assisting my friend Nyx here, then I can promise there will be some coin in it for you.” Ari proposes. The figure is silent for a moment, and then lowers down to the ground and grabs Ari’s hand to kiss it. Nyx coughs a bit to hide his jealous look as Ari blushes.

“Ah well how can I refuse a lovely lady like yourself?” The figure says, taking off its hood to reveal the indigo skin of a young male tiefling. His cerulean blue eyes look brimming with mischief, sitting underneath his two curled horns. His dark blue hair is slicked back behind his ears, as he grins with pointed teeth.

“Well then, follow me.” The sorcerer says as waves his hand creating a dark vortex in front of the group. The mage jumps through the vortex and disappears.

“Do we really just trust him?” Nyx asks the group.

“Not like there’s much other choice!” Vola says as she jumps into the portal with Felix in her arms. Ari turns to Nyx and shrugs, then jumps in too. Nyx looks around the alley a bit skeptical, and then follows the rest.

♦♦♦

Coming out the portal, Nyx falls into a small, dimly lit room. A few candles are lighting the space up, and after adjusting his eyes Nyx takes in the rest of the details of the room. Despite having such little room available, each of the wooden walls are covered in ornaments, with the room’s furniture holding a variety of jewelry and knickknacks. Nyx’s friends stand in front of a table and he joins them, watching as the Purple Mage sits at the table holding the two stolen necklaces.

“We never caught your name.” Ari says.

“My name is Levity, but you can call me Levi. So, what can I help you with? Tracking someone down, huh?”

“I don’t like the look of this guy.” Felix whispers to Vola.

“We’re trying to chase down a pair of mages. You’re a magician too you can do that right?” Nyx asks.

“Hmm, well depends on how strong they are. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m incredibly powerful.” Levi says with a wink to Ari.

“Well Levi, you kind of seem pretty young to be so powerful.” Ari adds.

“Oh, little elf when you haven’t been pampered in a palace your whole life, you tend to learn a few tricks to survive.” Levi responds with a snarky smile.

“What makes you think I lived in a palace?”

“Oh hun, your face practically spells out ‘uppity noble princess.’” Levi says with a chuckle.

“Yeah, you kinda do. He’s not wrong.” The rest of the group agrees.

“Ugh whatever. Can I have my pendant back now please.” Ari snorts, holding her hand out. Levi flicks his finger and the necklaces float back to their owners.

“Okay now down to business. Who are these mages we are looking for?” Levi asks, leaning forward and folding his hands on the table.

“They’re dark elves from Helheim.” Nyx says, clutching his necklace close.

“Oh shit.” Levi remarks, with a sudden serious look of slight fear on his face.

“They kidnapped by mother and siblings from Alfheim, and we’ve been tracking them this far. I had a vision from Sanaa that told me we were close, and you would be able to help us.”

“Hmm, well I’m sorry about that hun.. Do you happen to have any of their belongings? A piece of cloth or anything. Makes the process a lot more efficient.” Nyx places his necklace back on the desk.

“Well actually this is my mother’s. Her name is Rhea.” Levi looks a bit guilty, and then picks up the necklace to examine it more closely.

“A nice jewel here. I’m actually not sure what stone this is made of. Let’s see what I can do.” Standing up, Levi takes off his cloak and sets it in his chair. Quite different from the dark, plain cloak, underneath Levi wears a maroon red vest with matching red pants, boots, and a cape that covers his tail. His clothes are lined with magical runes that occasionally flicker with a purple light. Levi grabs some more candles from out of the desk and places them on a mat in the middle of the room.

“Nyx come sit in the middle of these candles and close your eyes. Everyone else back away from the mat.” Levi hands Nyx his necklace back. “Hold this is one hand and grab my hand with the other.” The two sit down on the mat surrounding by a circle of candles and close their eyes. The light in the room dies for a moment, and then comes back with a glowing purple aura. Levi starts to mutter some arcane words, and his blue pupilless eyes turn deep purple. A faint pink aura starts to emit from Levi’s hand and travels across his arm to Nyx’s necklace. With his eyes closed, Nyx’s vision fades from black to purple.

Opening his eyes, Nyx is no longer in the dark room. Looking ahead, Nyx sees waves slowly crashing onto a dark rocky beach.

“Nyx? Nyx do you hear me?” Nyx hears calling out from no particular direction.

“Levi? Where am I?”

“This spell lets you scry on a location. Can you tell me what you see?”

“Well it’s just an empty beach… Wait, hold on.” Nyx says as he notices a figure walking down the beach in his direction. “There’s somebody coming, should I hide?”

“Don’t worry, as long as you keep holding my hand, they shouldn’t be able to detect you while you scry. Who’s there?” Levi responds. As the person gets closer Nyx can make out their image better, describing her to his friends. Stepping over the rocks is a dusky purple skinned female drow, her long white hair tied behind her in a ponytail. Looking back behind the rocks with her piercing blue eyes, the drow calls out.

“Hurry up, we’re almost at the site. Zel make them keep close.” She orders. Walking up behind her, Nyx sees a tall woman with two small figures by her side.

“Wait, its them!” Nyx exclaims.

“Who? Your family?!” Ari asks. Rhea and the two siblings look tired and dirty from the days of travel without rest. The kids look toward the ground with empty stares, while Rhea glares at the female drow with hate as she holds her children close. Nyx looks closely, as suddenly another figure appears behind his mother, a muscular, charcoal skinned drow holding a greatsword. When Zora almost trips over a rock, the large drow grips the butt end of his sword and strikes Rhea in the leg.

“You heard Aza, keep your child in line.” He says, pushing Rhea to the ground. “Get up.” Zora and Alana cry out and help their mother stand back up.

“STOP! Leave them alone!” Nyx shouts, unheard by the group.

“Nyx what’s happening?!” Ari yells, starting to rush past the candles to the mat. Levi waves his hands using a magical force to hold Ari back.

“Stop you’ll mess up the spell! Nyx what’s wrong?” Nyx does not respond and watches as Aza the female drow makes a motion in the air with her hand, starting an arcane chant. The dark air starts to turn white and a portal on the beach. The male drow Zel kicks Rhea into the portal and the two children go running after her. Aza gestures to the larger to bend down, and whispers into his ears a few words. Nyx moves closer to listen in, but only manages to catch a few words “Helheim…Azazel…eyes…”, before Zel turns in the direction from where Nyx is watching. Swinging his greatsword, a large black magical energy is released and flies in Nyx’s direction. Unable to dodge it, Nyx is hit, and his vision turns to black.