The Crucible Campaign

30: Ice-Cold Vengeance

.^^ Young Beholder ^^

— Teagan —

My watch went by without any issue, with the only exciting thing being the newly christened 'Saint' toddling over and sleepily peeing on the hooves of the Buck, who head-butted him about five feet away in annoyance. The puppy didn't seem to mind, trotting over to Sariel and gnawing on one of his horns casually.

A fire message spread in front of me, surprising me. 'We're nearly at the Portal, coming through soon. You're ready?'

I nodded and wrote back. 'On schedule. Be Safe, Be Brave. I love you all.' The spell ended, and the message flashed, disappearing.

The tiefling boy woke slowly, and smiled. "I'll get you a bone to chew on, but no more chewing on my horns, okay, Saint?" He sat up, the puppy hanging off him for a moment, then releasing and falling back down.

Caroline stretched, and kissed my cheek sleepily. "Hello, My Love. Ready for today?" She asked.

"As ready as anyone can be, Lover. Let's get a head start, the girls are nearly at the portal." I nodded, and stood them both up, brewing coffee quickly and handing it out.

Caroline handed Sariel a slingshot, which I supposed she'd built last night. "You and Saint will stay far away from any fighting, but that's for if you need to throw a stone at someone."

He grinned. "Wicked. Oh, hey, Mr. Teagan, look, I forgot to show you!" He shoved his Satchel into my face, grinning widely.

I raised an eyebrow and looked inside, finding nothing. Literally. "Is this... a Void?" I asked, as my Truesight showed me that it was indeed a Magic Item, where it hadn't been last I'd looked.

He grinned even wider. "Yes! And I made this one as well!" He showed me a second one, which I saw to be an 'Alchemist's Bag', an item that would create only a few basic formulas, alchemical, magical, or both, and magically replenish itself.

"Intriguing... where did you learn these?" I asked.

He held out the book I'd given him. "They're explained in chapter Two... you didn't read it?" He cocked his head.

I chuckled, and flipped through, finding the pages he mentioned. "Well I'll be damned... alright, then. Good for you, very well done!" I handed them all back to him, and chuckled at The pleased smile on his face, as he skipped ahead with Saint.

"Were they genuine?" Caroline asked, curious.

"Without a doubt. Apparently, even the youngest Artificers can create a wide variety of lesser magical items... as they get stronger and wiser, they can create an ever-growing repertoire of magic and alchemical creations... it's impressive, though, he's already at the peak of the First Level. There's only Four Levels of Magical Spells and Items... Interesting. I need to become an Artificer soon... or a Mystic... faaaaugh there's too many things I want to do!" I grumbled.

Caroline laughed, and patted my head. "Don't worry, you'll live for a few centuries, here! I'm sure there's time to master them all!" She caught up to Sariel, and tossed him onto her shoulder, making him laugh, and the puppy growl at her adorably.

We reached the chasm, around noon, and turned west, seeing the castle in the distance, as well as the glowing gate, on the other side of it, the side closer to us.

The forest began to get very weird, as we approached the Gate, as if the Feywilds being closer caused the woods to either gain or lose something, something I couldn't name, really. The deer didn't follow us, once we were about half a mile from the portal. That's what really tipped me off, when the buck simply stopped, pawing the dirt, and snorted loudly, halting the Herd.