xytis
Having a polite groin grabbing
Dark alleyway, where Wataru and Nai had stopped to inspect Neirius' condition previously empty and desolate filled with action and tension. Out of the blue vedalken turned a corner and bumped into firm loxodons back.
“Ach!” blueish creature exhaled.
“What just…?” Wataru started a sentence as a ghostly skeletal hand appeared out of the thin mist and grabbed his smaller snout and clutched painfully.
“HRGMTH!” surprised elephant released a weird and awkward sound into the alley.
Out of the darkness, a figure in Neirius voice shouted:
“What are you doing with me?!”
Nai carefully inspected the creature in the shadows:
“Put your coin-sack down and slowly emerge” she ordered.
The creature stepped out from the shadows. It was a teenage girl, with silvery hair and pale white skin. Her festive Rakdos apparel menaced with leather straps and metal spikes shimmering in mage-light illumination.
“What are you doing with Neirius!” she grunted in low voice and charged forward with her scythe unsheathed.
Wataru grabbed his hammer and did the same. While the two were running at each other, Nai slid into the shadows. Vedalken stood at the end of the alley dumbfounded, trying to make any sense on what is going on. Her friend was lying on the ground, bounded and barely functioning. A large elephant was charging with a large war hammer in his strong arms towards a teenage girl with a deadly scythe in her hands and a shady looking lady with a dark blue cloak shouted something and just vanished somewhere in the darkness.
The Rakdos girl fluidly ran around charging elephant and stopped above Neirius: “Oh, what trouble had you gotten me into now?” she asked in a softer voice.
Loxodon stopped in his tracks, made a sharp turn and slammed his hammer in the girl’s stomach. The girl responded by pointing a finger at the elephant and demonic flames engulfed the Boros Cleric.
“Dtud yxuqqg toyd, gio piiq!” she hissed in abyssal.
Before she could do anything else, Nai appeared behind her, pressed her dagger to her throat and carefully, for the third time in all this chaos, demanded:
“Put your coin-sack down and drop your weapon!”
Rakdos girl did not answer to her demands, she instead demanded to tell what they have done to Neirius. She mumbled something about a letter and being his friend, but Wataru was not having any of it.
Meanwhile, vedalken conjured a bunch of festive sparks around her, dragging all attention.
“What is going on?! Can we analyse the situation like civilized…” she could not finish the sentence before Nai quickly bonded the girl with rope and Boros loxodon euthanised the poor girl with his fist. “… people” blueish figure helplessly exhaled.
The remaining trio did manage to talk, instead of fighting. They realised that Katrille, Simic scientist, was a close friend of Neirius and did too receive his call for help, just arrived a tad late. They decided to leave the Rakdos cultist unconscious in the corner and quickly find the closest healer. Wataru suggested his acquaintance Wyn Zumro, a Selesnyan Forest Keeper, who should know how to dispel Neirius' enchantment.
Before leaving, Nai gathered her rope back. She reasoned that there is no use in wasting a perfectly good rope on a person she has no interest in meeting again. Nai noticed a letter in Rakdos girls hand with a broken Izzet seal.
Wataru grabbed Neirius and they rushed through Fourth Districts rubble to the Selesnyan Forests.
“So it is your wolf, you say?”
The three of them, with a fading Izzet scientist in the strong elephant hands, marched through rubbles of older Ravnica. Old buildings were demolished and already reclaimed by nature. Forests, canopies and ruins passed as quickly as the trio could move. Before long they were on the edge of orderly Selesnyan forest. A wolf howling, which followed them for the last fifteen minutes came closer and closer, eventually passing nearby and continuing in the thick forest.
Suddenly the sound of the wolf changed. It sounded more like a yelp.
Nai decided to inspect the situation, as the sounds were now coming from directly ahead.
She sneaked ahead and found an half-ogre and four goblins surrounding a dire wolf, which was pressed against a tree.
“Breegork take hide! Breegork kill wolf!” large half-ogre with a huge battle axe shouted.
Surrounding goblins were chanting: “Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!”.
Suddenly an arrow came out of nowhere and sunk in the arm of the Ogre.
“WRRAAARGHHHH! Breegork no feel pain!”
Nai calculated her situation and released an arrow herself into the back of the monstrosity. Arrow did not sink too deep and the half-ogre only scanned his companions, who were still aggressively chanting. He took his axe with one hand and sliced the wolf. He hit just under the ear, previously white fur became blood red. Wolf yelped and retaliated, but her teeth grasped only thin air as Breegork jumped back.
Another arrow came from the forest, this time sinking deep into half-ogre’s back. Nai followed by dodging past unaware goblins and stabbing his sword into the Breegork’s ribcage. Then she swiftly jumped back, and seeing only one goblin which paid at least some attention to her actions, she made a cloud of dust and disappeared into the thick foliage.
“WAAAAAAAUUUUUUURRRGHHH!” ogre shouted through the pain. He took his axe with both hands and slammed it deep into the wolf head. The beast slumped on the ground helplessly, it was breathing hard.
All goblins exalted shouted together with their leader for his victory, as an angry loxodon stampeding through the forest appeared. He was carrying a limp body of Neirius in his snout and appeared to be ready to smash some goblin heads in.
Goblins quickly scrambled into the forest with their weapons ready, trying to flank the elephant. Few arrows flew wild, few hits slammed into the thick armour of Boros Cleric. A dark-haired elf ran out of the forest and sprinted to the dying wolf. Meanwhile, Nai climbed the back of the ogre and firmly drove her sword into his head. Goblins seeing the situation radically change followed their primal instinct and ran as fast as they could. Only one, apparently the meatiest and dimmest of them all, stayed behind and tried to fight with the towering elephant man - Wataru. But he was quickly disposed by few ice bolts from the hands of the vedalken wizard.
The fight ended as quickly as it started. The dark-haired elf kneeled next to the dying wolf and started to softly sing an elven melody. Her hands glowed and fatal wounds started closing. It was far from enough to heal the wolf, but at least its eyes opened and it was able to get back on his shaking legs.
Elf thanked her unexpected allies and asked how she could repay them. Nai pointed at Neirius body in the Wataru snout:
“We require a talented healer, do you know anyone like that here?”
“I… I do. Follow me.” she helped the limping wolf down the dark forest. Party followed closely behind.
They came to a livewood hut at the edge of the well-kept forest. Neia, the dark-haired elf, pointed at the door and led the wolf to shelter between two strong oaks, where other animals were resting from various injuries.
One long knock on the door later, a figure appeared in the doorway.
“What brings you… Och! Neia, what happened?” an elderly elf, with black hair firmly packed into a bun behind his head, started gracefully walking towards the injured wolf.
“Wait! We don’t have much time, please help this man!” Wataru interfered
Elf took a long look at the elephant:
“Wataru? Is it really you? Long-time ago you roamed my gardens…” elf stood still for a moment, and remaining party members started rushing the elf to help Neirius. He nodded his head and moved over his body. A few minutes later the magical shroud concentrated into thick chains and broke disappearing in the dew-covered grass. Neirius gasped for air and fell unconscious.
“He needs to rest” the elf stated. Wataru closely inspected his condition and confirmed that Neirius will sleep for at least a few days.
The elf moved to help the wolf and chatted a bit with Neia inaudibly to others. He turned back while helping Neia to bandage and clean wolf wounds:
“I do not have much, but you seem tired. Would you like a place to sleep for the day?”