The two women and Aleksei decided to travel back to the camp in the morning. Aleksei knew the way through the forest very well. Then, the three of them heard some strange noices.
A big animal came running towards them, a bit limping. It was making loud noices. The three people recognised it as an owlbear, also pictured on the badge of Rilat. No one knew that this animal actually existed, they only knew it from fairytales and stories. The mythical creature in front of them had a clamp on his left leg. The creature seemed very mad, since it were humanoids who caused his pain, and right here, in front of it, were three humanoids. He attacked them.
For a moment, Aravis didn't know what to do. She loved nature, she loved animals. She couldn't hurt this poor creature, that was already in so much pain from the clamp. Shemira and Aleksei fought until the creature was down, while Aravis was watching the scene in pain. She decided to heal the owlbear. Aleksei noticed this and got a bit irritated. 'Well, you two can decide what you want to do with this animal, I'm not gonna interfere with you.' And he ran off into the woods, leaving Aravis and Shemira behind. The owlbear was healed, only to be knocked down by Shemira again. Aravis wanted to find another solution. You can't just kill a mythical creature, right? Therefore she tried to take the clamp off. She failed very badly, and only made things worse. The owlbear felt the sting of pain in his leg, and came to his senses again, even more mad than before.
Even though the owlbear had dealt damage to Aravis, she still wanted to save it. She felt the pain the owlbear must have felt with that clamp on his leg. Shemira, on the other hand, was just as mad as the owlbear. He had dealt damage to her, and she couldn't take it anymore, so she knocked it unconcious again. Aravis now tried to remove the clamp once more, and this time, she managed to do it. She stabalised the poor creature, and told Shemira: 'Let's get outta hear before it wakes up again!' and the girls ran off.
With the help of Shemira's map with the marked spot on it, the two women managed to find the camp. On their way, Shemira asked for the crystal, since she was the one who had to return it to the camp. Aravis handed her the crystal.
Back in the camp, Shemira headed straight over to the biggest tent. She totally ignored the guard in front of it, and wanted to enter. The guard tried to stop her by throwing his handaxe to her, but he missed. Luckily for Shemira was the woman in the tent not busy. 'Very well, I see you got the crystal...', the woman said. 'You completed your first part of practice. I will give you some days to rest in the camp, as long as you don't keep entering this tent without permission. Tomorrow, I would like to talk to you about your next quest. Now please get out. Can you ask if the woman you got to this camp with can come to me, please?' Shemira did what was asked and called for Aravis.
Aravis entered the dark tent. She wasn't able to see in the dark, so all she could see was a silhouette of a person. 'You came here with Shemira, right? I don't know who you are and what you're capable of, so I would like to give you a simple quest', the woman said to her. She picked up a pouch and a letter, and handed it over to Aravis. The flames from the fire pits in the corners created shadows on the woman's face, and Aravis thought she could see that the lady had one darkred eye and one blue eye.
'Go to Rilat, and buy the things on the list for me. In the pouch is enough money for this, and I will notice it if you steal some of the coins', the woman continued.
The next morning, Aravis left the camp to go 'shopping' in town. She was walking through the woods, when she got a robbed once again. The thieves saw the pouch she was carrying, and took it. They were with the three of them, and Aravis had no idea how to get the money back. Once she was chasing the thief with the pouch, he just threw it to one of his fellas so they could run away with it. This 'game' continued for a while. Aravis remembered what the woman had said: she would notice it when some coins were stolen. Aravis took her longbow and shot the thieves, all three of them. She quickly checked their bodies, only to find a few copper pieces and a fancy looking bracelet. It was silver-coloured with a red gemstone on it. She decided to take it with her, leaving the dead bodies behind.
That same day, Shemira stayed at the camp. One of the guards invited her to go into the biggest tent, where the mysterious woman waited for her. As soon as Shemira had entered, the woman started talking. 'I've got another quest for you and your friend Aravis, ...' She couldn't finish her sentence, because Shemira interrupted her. 'She is not my friend! We aren't friends, I don't even like her!', she said. The woman sighed and continued her story: 'The King's daughter is going to get married against her will. We want to help her, to ruin the wedding. I want you and Aravis to go to Rilat and make sure that the princess isn't going to marry to that exotic prince. See this as a practice for your next, bigger quest.'
The next day, when Aravis was doing some shopping in Rilat, she accidentally ran into Lek. She rolled her eyes and sighed. Lek always annoyed her so much. 'Where the hell were you?', Lek asked, worried. 'I expected you back here earlier', he continued, 'please come eat lunch with us in the Inn.' Aravis agreed, she was hungry after the long walk. Back in The Silent Inn, which once again wasn't silent at all, the innkeeper Donk called out for her. 'I got a letter for you, a few days ago. Where have you been?' Aravis responded with an awkward uhuhm and took the letter.
Dear Aravis,
come to the castle, now. This is the King's command.
Signed,
Sander, secretary of King Oska
As Aravis had bought her groceries, she decided to visit the castle immediately. The castle of Rilat was hoar, it looked like it was built only for defence and military purposes, it didn't have any beauty at all. She walked towards the gate, and showed the guard the note she got from Sander. The guard called out for someone to walk with her towards the royal apartments. They entered the tower in the middle of the courtyard, this so called keep was the highest tower of all five. They walked up the spiral staircase, up to the fourth floor. 'You may enter here', the guard said, pointing at a big wooden door. Aravis opened the door, finding herself in a office filled with parchment piles, books and folders. Behind the desk sat an old man. 'Finally, there you are, Aravis. I will tell the King you arrived', the man said with a creaking voice. He entered a room, and came back less than a minute later. 'You can talk to the King now.'
Aravis entered the room, which looked more like a lounge. King Oska, a stocky man of about fifty years old, sat on a big, comfortable chair. 'Please, have a seat. I invited you a few days ago, why didn't you come earlier?', he asked. 'I was doing research on the Bearers of the Crystal', Aravis answered politely. 'Oh yes, about that. I heard you ran into the forest after a fight with a Bearer of the Crystal?' Aravis was a little bit shocked. What if the King knew she helped a Bearer of the Crystal? What if the King knew she fought on the rebels their side instead of with the soldiers. Aravis didn't show her insecurities and answered very convincing: 'Yes, I followed the Bearer of the Crystal into the forest when she escaped the fight. I have been spying on her for days, it even got me into trouble with your soldiers, who didn't knew I was spying on her.' The King, stupid as he was, believed her completely. 'Oh poor girl, you must be very tired now. Here, have some tea', he said, as he filled a cup and handed it over to her. 'Also I wanted to give you something', he continued, and he stood up to walk towards a drawer. He handed Aravis a clip with Rilat's badge. It was purple and green, with one little golden dot on it, and a drawing of an owlbear, the mythical creature that appearantly wasn't mythical at all. 'When you wear this, you can enter the castle without a problem, everyone who works for me has one, soldiers, guards.' 'Thank you.' 'And also, I heard some rumors that the rebels are planning to ruin my daughter's wedding with the help of those awful Bearers of the Crystal. Can you please find out more about their plans and stop them?' 'Sure', Aravis said, before she left the room to go back to The Silent Inn.
The next morning, Aravis woke up early to travel back to the camp, this time with a lot of pack. Luckily she knows a lot about the woods and got back to the camp safely that evening.
