1.2 - Onward to Neverwinter

That night, the group talked. In a rare exception, everyone passed on more drinks for the night. It did not take them long to make their intentions clear. Most of the group wished to return to Neverwinter. Their reasons were their own. They soon came to the conclusion that they might as well travel together, if they were all going the same way anyway.

At that moment, Echo pulled out Meek's letter. She read it out loud to the group. They quickly came to a decision after that. They'd all travel to Neverwinter, the place where their journey had begun. They'd see what Meek had to offer them, as a final adventure together. After that, most of the group would probably return to their own business.

Many goodbyes were said that morning, both between Nala and Quelleen and between Mialee and Daran. The half-elf wasn't happy to see her leave. But he accepted Mialee's decision, once again assuring her that she would always have a place in his orchard to return to.

They set out for Neverwinter not long after that. It was a wonderful morning, with blue skies and a sweet ocean breeze blowing against their backs. On days like this, the Sword Coast was absolutely beautiful. The group found themselves enjoying the peaceful change of pace.

At the front of the group, Yorda and Nala were walking together. The pale half-elf was, once again, drilling the Dragonborn with questions about her biology.

'…that how it happened? But if that's it, then how come you don't have the wings, as well? Or is that something that is purely meant for dragons?'

'No, some of us can have wings,' Nala replied through clenched teeth. 'And we did not descend from dragons! Honestly, when are you going to give this a rest? I'm not asking you weird questions about your heritage, am I?'

'Well, no, but yours is much more interesting! Wouldn't you be a little curious if you were me? Wouldn't you?'

The Dragonborn let out a long, drawn-out sigh. This was never going to end. A row behind her, Alatar and Echo were both smirking, highly amused. Mialee and Telyn brought up the rear. They were meant to be keeping an eye on the road behind them. But the weather was so nice that the brown-haired elf was more occupied with the sky. So was the rest – it kind of felt like a vacation. The weather was perfect, and there was not another creature in sight. They all had their guard down. They were enjoying themselves, even Nala.

So when a weird reptile-like chicken beast came dashing out of the shrubs to their left, nobody reached for their weapons. Yorda titled her head, looking at the weird creature with interest.

'Is that a chicken?' she asked curiously.

'It's way too big to be a chicken,' Nala replied. The thing was completely featherless, with a long lizard-like tail scraping on the ground behind it. Its arms ended in two pointy, bat-like wings. They were almost leathery. Its beak was parted and it was hissing loudly at the group, clearly riling itself up.

'Shoo!' Alatar yelled at the weird chicken. It did not seem to appreciate that. Its hiss got even louder. The bushes behind it rustled. A worried frown appeared on Nala's face when three more chicken-like beasts jumped out onto the road.

Then, without warning, they pounced.

'Watch out!' Mialee yelled at Alatar. Too late. The closest monster went right for him. The wizard tried to dodge out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough. It bit down onto his arm, tearing into the flesh under his robes. The beak was sharp enough to instantly draw blood. Alatar let out a scream, scratching at the beast that had latched on to him. He wasn't strong enough to yank it off.

But someone else was. Mialee reacted the fastest out of everyone. She grabbed the weird chicken and yanked with all of her strength. It came loose from Alatars arm, pulling parts of his flesh with it as it raked the sharp edges of its beak through the wound on the way out. It looked incredibly painful. But the wizard was free. Nala quickly positioned herself in front of him.

The other monster-chickens did not take long to pounce, either. Two of them bounced off against Nala's shield and a third raked across Yorda's ankle as the half-elf quickly jumped out of its range. Drops of blood splattered against the ground. Echo reacted by blasting a hole through the critter's wing. It let out a horrible screech. That only seemed to anger it more. It pounced again.

From behind them, a pained voice suddenly cried out.

'Aaaaaaghhhh!'

It was Alatar's voice. The wizard was hunched over, clasping his wounded arm. Something was happening to the wound. The skin around it was rapidly turning a deep shade or grey, hardening and cracking.

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

And then it became clear just how bad their situation was. As the rest of the group looked on in horror, the grey mass rapidly spread throughout his entire arm. Then his chest. Then his neck. Alatar's body convulsed in pain… and then stopped. His expression was frozen in fear as the wizard turned to stone.

'Alatar?!' Nala screamed, panicking. Another reptile-like chicken jumped against her shield. It missed her exposed fingers by only an inch.

'Fuck, fuck! Don't let them touch you!'

Arrows missed the little monsters and fell into the sand. They were too quick and too close to them to aim properly. Mialee let out a curse and reached for her swords. Together with Nala, she started hacking away. Even though they looked like creepy chickens, these things were no pushovers. They had to form a circle around Alatar, backs towards him, to keep the things from attacking anyone from behind.

'Aim for the wings!' Echo yelled at the group.

'Is that a weak spot?!' Telyn replied.

'No! But it pisses them off!'

'That's not helping!'

One of the monsters got splattered against Nala's shield, just as another fell to Mialee's blades. There were only two left. The larger one of the two pounced Telyn, beak open in a furious screech.

'Overgrown turkey!' the bard yelled. She swung her rapier forward, driving it right into its chest. It went down screaming.

The smaller one of the two used the momentary distraction to once again try and worm itself through the circle. It got halfway before Echo caught it, grabbing it around its leathery reptile-like neck. With a truly murderous look in her eyes, she muttered a single word. The monster's body convulsed with a painful screech as 250 volts of electrical energy were driven through, frying all of its innards. The beast fell on the ground with a dull thud, never to rise again.

They were dead.

And Alatar was turned to stone.

Almost immediately, Echo turned to Yorda. The Tiefling roughly grabbed hold of her leg and turned it, exposing her wounded ankle. It was bleeding. But that was it. There was no sign of the greyness that had taken over Alatar's body. Anywhere. As far as the eye could see, it was a normal wound.

'The fuck? Why aren't you a statue?' Echo asked. Yorda was just as confused as she was.

'I don't know.'

To their left, Telyn and Nala were inspecting Alatar's body. He was completely unresponsive. Even his robes and tome had turned to stone. The Dragonborn placed a finger on his throat to search for a heartbeat. She found none. A deep, ominous frown appeared on her face.

'Does anyone here have the magic to fix this?'

'I can try,' Yorda said softly. She walked up to Alatar and touched his petrified hand. A green arcane energy spread from her fingers to his. For a moment, he was enveloped in a soft green glow. Then the light faded… and Alatar was still the same. Frozen. Stone. With a look on his face of utter horror.

'This is beyond me,' the pale half-elf muttered.

'Fuck! Then what do we do?' Echo spoke. 'What if he's stuck like this forever?!'

'He won't stay a statue forever,' Nala growled.

'What if he will? We don't know!'

'What do we do now?' Telyn asked. Mialee looked northward, in the direction of Neverwinter.

'We bring him to town. Surely someone there must know how to fix him.'

'We can't lug a giant statue around! He must weigh a ton! And what if we accidentally drop him? He could shatter into a thousand pieces!'

The pink-haired bard had a point. Moving Alatar was out of the question. There were too many risks involved – if the wizard was even still alive.

'Then we bring the healer to him,' Yorda spoke. Her form shifted and took the shape of a white horse. She looked at Mialee. The brown-haired elf understood the intention right away. She'd practiced riding Yorda before, near the entrance to Wave Echo Cave. In a fluid motion, Mialee jumped on top of her back.

'Find Butch,' Nala ordered her. 'He'll know where the nearest cleric is that can deal with this mess. And be careful.'

They nodded, after which Yorda took off as fast as she could. Before too long, the two of them had vanished into the far distance.

Telyn, Nala and Echo were left behind. They cast glances at Alatar, unsure of what to do now. In truth, there wasn't much that they could do but wait for their companions to return. Echo kicked one of the dead reptile-chickens. They really didn't look like anything. Just a mean chicken with no feathers. Turns out that they were much more dangerous than that.

Eventually, the Tiefling turned to Nala with a grin on her face.

'So, this brings your total of murdered chickens up to how many?'

'Oh, shut up,' the Dragonborn growled.

Half an hour went by. The road they were on was sparsely travelled, and they didn't run into any other people on their way to Neverwinter. They really couldn't tell whether Alatar was alive or dead. And so, none of them was sure if they should be mourning or just impatient. Echo and Telyn had started a simple card game. They'd invited Nala to join. The Dragonborn declined. She stayed close to Alatar, her conscience not allowing her to relax. So Nala just paced. Back and forth. Back and forth.

From the far distance, a figure approached. It was in the opposite direction of Neverwinter, so it couldn't have been Yorda and Mialee. The Dragonborn squinted her eyes against the sun. It was hard to make out at this range… but it wasn't a person. It wasn't running, either.

That piqued Nala's curiosity. She watched as the figure became more clear as it drew closer and closer. It was a… deer? A stag, judging from the intricate antlers on his head. That was weird. Deer didn't just walk in the open like this. Especially not so… brazenly. There was something very strange about all of this. Nala squinted her eyes again. The stag's head looked strange. It took her a few seconds to realize that he was carrying something in his mouth. As he drew closer, she could finally make out was it was.

In his mouth, he carried a scroll.

By now, the others had become aware of him, too. Echo raised a single eyebrow as she saw the beast approach.

'Is that a fucking deer?'

'Looks like it,' Telyn shrugged. 'What do you think it wants?'

'Do I look like I'd know? It's a damn deer!'

Nala had a spell for situations like this, she realized. The Dragonborn muttered a short incantation and placed a single finger on her throat – right on the spot where her vocal cords were. It felt weird. It always did. But for the next ten minutes or so, Nala would be able to understand and speak to that stag.

It turned out to be the right thing to do. Because the deer walked right up to the three of them. He even passed them, marching up to the spot where the statue of Alatar was. He dropped the scroll in between him and Nala, staring right at the paladin. It was all incredibly weird. In a hesitant tone, Nala addressed the stag.

'H… hello? What are you?'

For a moment, nothing happened. The stag stayed completely still. Then he let out an indignant huff. If a deer could look irritated, then this one definitely did.

'Well, what do you know? You can understand me, after all. Then bringing that blasted thing all the way here was all for nothing, wasn't it? Wonderful. Just fantastic.'

His words were brusque, arrogant and irritated all in one. It took Nala completely by surprise.

'That… that thing?'

'Yes, you buffoon! The scroll! Why else would I carry that with me all this way? But noooo, someone here can cast speak with animals all by herself!'

It took the Dragonborn several seconds to process that he was angry at her. A deer. He was a deer and he was angrily talking to her.

'Wait, wait,' she said, pointing at the scroll by her feet. 'So that scroll is a-'

'A scroll bearing the spell Speak with Animals, yes. Wonderful observation. Top-notch, paladin.'

Telyn and Echo were looking at one another with confused expressions on their faces. From their point of view, Nala and the stag were suddenly very busy deer-grunting at each other. They couldn't make heads or tails of it. But it looked hilariously awkward.

'Okay, well, sorry for wasting your scroll then,' Nala finally said, still incredibly confused. 'So who are you? What are you doing here? And what do you want with Alatar?'

'I came to check up on him, of course. The blasted idiot. Always causing us no end of trouble, that one. My master felt a negative change in his physical condition, and sent me to check up on him. Of course the dimwit went and got himself petrified. I leave him alone for five seconds, and this is what happens.'

'Your master? And that is?'

Nala was trying to keep up, she really was. But the whole situation was just absolutely ridiculous. The stag in front of her huffed again.

'His teacher, of course! Don't you even know who your own companions are?'

'Ah. I see. And I take it that you are his familiar, then?'

'Indeed! My name is Capricornicus of the Cornucopia of Cleft Cloven Clovers. Of course you know of the Cornucopia of Cleft Cloven Clovers, yes?'

'I- uh, yes. Of course.'

'Eh, I doubt that someone of your calibre would qualify for that knowledge, paladin. Nevertheless. What is to be done about this idiot here?'

Nala was starting to see where Alatar got his habit of talking down to people from. It was frustrating and oddly amusing at the same time. The Dragonborn pointed behind her, in the direction of Neverwinter.

'Our friends are on their way to find a cleric that can heal him. But if you know a spell that can bring him back-'

'No, that will do. Wonderful. In that case, my work here is done. Keep that idiot safe, please. He truly is no end of trouble, that one.'

'We've noticed,' Nala smiled. But the stag already stopped listening to her. He put the scroll back in his mouth and walked away, arrogantly keeping his head raised. The three of them watched as Capricornicus walked off, left the path, went around a tree… and never came back out the other side. Just like that, he was gone.

Echo walked up to her, a confused expression on her face.

'So… what the fuck just happened?'

Nala could only shake her head.

'I have no idea.'

Two hours later, a familiar white horse returned. Yorda came dashing back down the road as fast as she could, only barely paying enough attention to the figure riding her to keep him from falling off. It wasn't Mialee. On her back rode a young man with short brown hair and blue cleric robes. A single silver earring gleamed in his left earlobe. The man was holding on to Yorda's manes so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. His hair was messy and his face was locked in an expression of pure terror.

Yorda didn't look too hot either. The horse was drenched in sweat, and as soon as she saw her group in the distance, her speed started to fall. The last few feet towards them were done in a slow, shaky trot. Then her form just vanished.

'Ah!'

The cleric fell down from the horse, as he was suddenly riding nothing. He landed on top of Yorda knees-first. The pale half-elf let out a pained gasp as all the air was squeezed from her lungs.

'Owww…'

'I'm sorry!' the man blurted out. 'But a little warning next time?!'

'Yeah… sorry. I'm used to this happening.'

He hastily stood back up. His hair was still ruffled. The cleric tried his best to straighten himself out as he, very wobbly, made his way towards the group.

'All right, which one of you is in need of healing?'

Telyn, Echo and Nala all pointed towards Alatar, who was still frozen in place as a statue. With a slight frown, the cleric inspected his body.

'Had a run-in with some cockatrices, did you?'

'Cock-a-whatnow?'

'Cockatrices. The things that are lying scattered on the ground there. Nasty little buggers. They're usually not deadly, though.'

'So Alatar isn't dead, then?' Nala replied. The cleric shook his head.

'The petrification from a cockatrice's beak only lasts 24 hours, if the inflection takes root at all. Most people are strong enough to shrug it off.'

'That's good to hear,' Nala sighed. 'Thank you very much, mister…?'

'Bartholomew. And it is my pleasure. If you wait for another half a day or so, your friend should turn right back.'

'I'm not waiting here for another twelve hours,' Echo complained. 'Can't you do something to help him now?'

'Of course. That will cost you, though.'

'Yeah, sure. The pay is coming out of his pocket.'

She gestured at the petrified Alatar. Nala shot her a warning glare.

'We can pay for his recovery from the party funds. It will not be a problem.'

'All right, then. In that case, this will cost you 30 gold pieces.'

'Thirty?!'

'Restorative magic is pricey,' Bartholomew said, with an apologetic look at Echo. The Tiefling just huffed.

'Fine. Whatever. It beats having to wait here for a day until his skinny ass turns back to normal.'

The cleric nodded, accepting the gold from Nala. He stepped in front of Alatar and began his spell. Nala used the moment of preparation to cast a quick glance around her.

'Yorda, where is Mialee?'

The pale half-elf was still lying on the ground. She was soaked in sweat and still breathing heavily. With a coarse voice, she answered the Dragonborn.

'Neverwinter. I can't carry two people.'

That made sense. The elf had probably gone to Butch's tavern to wait for the others to catch up. Nala gave an approving nod and turned back towards Alatar. As Bartholomew chanted the incantation, a green light enveloped the wizard's stone form. Slowly, ever so slowly, his body turned back to flesh. His robes lost their stony texture and a breath of air escaped from his mouth. As soon as the spell completed, Alatar collapsed to the ground.

Bartholomew caught him with one hand at the last second. He was stronger than he looked.

'Whoa, there. Easy, now. Deep breaths. Organs turning back from stone is a painful experience.'

'No… shit,' Alatar gasped. The wizard looked pale, as if he was about to pass out. Bartholomew slowly lowered him down on the ground to catch his breath. Other than a confused look on his face, Alatar looked fine.

'What just happened?'

'The cockatrice turned you to stone,' Telyn said.

'How long… how long was I like that?'

'Oh, ages! We had to raid a forgotten temple and steal gems from the king of Neverwinter just so we could afford to bring you back.'

He gave Echo a blank stare.

'Oh, fine. A couple of hours. Still too long if you ask me. Yorda and Mialee went to get someone to fix your stoner. You're welcome, by the way.'

He mumbled something in response. Telyn helped him back up. The wizard still seemed a little shaky, but otherwise all right. As he dusted himself off, Echo clapped her hands in anticipation.

'Right, then! Let's continue to Neverwinter. I am just dying for a bath.'

She turned around and took off, but stopped when she realized that she wasn't being followed.

'What is it this time?'

Nala just pointed at Yorda. The pale half-elf had sort of gotten up, kind of. She was heavily leaning against the Dragonborn. Her legs were shaking from the marathon that she'd just ran. Yorda was clearly at the end of her strength. Unless someone carried her, they would not be leaving this road anytime soon.

'Fucking- damn it. Fine. We'll continue in the morning.'

That night, as everyone else was asleep, Echo woke up Bartholomew. The cleric looked up at her with groggy eyes.

'What is it?'

'I need you to look at something for me.'

He got up, suppressing a large yawn.

'All right. What do you want me to look at?'

'Not here. Follow me.'

To his surprise, Echo moved away from the group and into the bushes. That was definitely unusual. Bartholomew was used to strangeness, though. So he just shrugged and followed. Echo led him behind a tree. She positioned the two of them in such a way that they couldn't be seen by the group anymore. As soon as she was sure that they were not visible, the Tiefling pulled up her shirt.

'Whoa – hey!' Bartholomew protested. He quickly covered his eyes. Echo clacked her tongue in irritation.

'It's not like that, damn it. I want you to look at my waist.'

'Oh.'

He nodded. Echo turned sideways, exposing the green spot on her side. As soon as he saw that, Bartholomew clicked back into cleric-mode. He muttered under his breath as he ran his fingers over the spot. Arcane energy flashed between his fingers. Echo could feel a warmth course through her body, in a similar fashion to what Yorda had tried a while ago. It had the same result. The spot was still there, not diminished in any way.

'This is very strange,' Bartholomew frowned. 'It doesn't seem to be causing you physical harm, yes?'

'No, I don't feel it at all. So can you get rid of it? Or tell me what it is, at least?'

He shook his head.

'I'm sorry. I have no idea what that is, or what you need to do to cleanse it. It looks… like a curse, almost.'

That was not the answer that Echo wanted. At all. Curses were very bad news.

'When did you get this?'

'During a trip to Thundertree,' Echo replied. 'We were attacked by a dragon. I noticed the spot not long after that.'

It wasn't quite the truth. But Echo was not comfortable with sharing anything more. Definitely not with a random stranger like this. Bartholomew frowned, crossing his arms as Echo covered up.

'There is one thing that you could try. Neverwinter is home to a remarkable structure called the House of Knowledge. The arcanists there can answer any question through magical means. There is a woman there called Salyndra Shaern. If anyone can tell you what caused this, it's her.'

'Salyndra Shaern in the House of Knowledge,' Echo repeated after him. 'Where will I find this house, then?'

Bartholomew explained the route to her. It wouldn't be hard to find, he said. By now, Echo was nodding at almost every word that came out of his mouth. She printed the information in her head as well as possible. She had to. This was the only lead she had. But it was better than nothing. Her desire to go to Neverwinter doubled.

Finally, some answers.

The next afternoon, the group arrived at the southern gates of Neverwinter. The last time that they'd been there, it had been in the middle of the night and they hadn't seen much of the city at all. Not this time. The Jewel of the North basked in the rising sun, lighting up like a pearl on the sandy shore. The group entered through the south-eastern district, walking along the river as it ran though the town.

'Why do they call it Neverwinter?' Yorda thought out loud as she looked around her. 'The seasons here change like they do anywhere.'

Alatar coughed, puffing out his chest as he answered her question in the way that only a scholar could.

'The city was named that way because of the Neverwinter River. Even though it is situated in the north of Faeruin, the river is heated by fire elementals that live under the nearby Mount Hoteno near Neverwinter Wood. The heat from the river causes a permanent warm climate in this immediate area.'

'You're serious?' Echo replied, slightly impressed. 'Fire elementals?'

Telyn placed her hand in the river's water as she walked. A surprised expression appeared on her face.

'He's right. The water is warm.'

'Of course I am right,' Alatar huffed. 'That is also the reason why Neverwinter remains such a popular trade port. Honestly, you can find this information in any history book. The sea around the city won't freeze over, so ships can sail in and out during any time of year. Also the city was originally named-'

'Okay, enough with the history lesson!' Echo complained. 'Old city, great for trade, yadda yadda. We get it.'

Alatar huffed. The rest of the way was travelled in silence as the group took in the scenes around them. They passed a farmer's market, riddled with carts full of delicious-looking meats and spices. They passed Bartholomew's temple, large and impressively gleaming in the morning sunlight. Bartholomew excused himself and left the group at that point.

Finally, the group arrived at their destination. A large square – although square was the wrong word. The area was completely round, with houses and buildings placed around it in a perfect circular pattern. Beautiful statues of knights in full armour were stationed next to the four gates that gave access to the courtyard-like square. In the middle stood a perfectly round fountain, thirty feet in diameter. Beautiful, crystal-clear water shot fort from the centrepiece – a round block of white marble with multiple emblems of Neverwinter carved into it. In fact, even the way the water fell resembled the shape of that emblem. It was magnificent.

One of the buildings near that fountain was a beautiful tavern made of white stone, with a sky-blue roof. It was a lovely building, with large, bright windows and little potted plants resting behind the windowsills. The entire building just breathed homeliness and hospitality.

They had been there before. It was Butch's inn, the Trouncing Pony.

'Daaaaaaarlings!' Butch yelled, as soon as he saw who was coming in. 'I haven't seen your lovely faces in too long!'

'Good to see you too, Butch,' Nala replied. Butch still looked the same. It was a bulk of a man, with a squarely shaped head and an ash-blond, fabulously thick moustache that could best be described as a handlebar chiseled around his lips. He was wearing a high-class steward outfit, but had put an apron over it with a giant heart embroidered in the middle. This time, his apron was purple.

The group instantly felt at ease. They reserved their rooms for the night, Echo once again flirting with Butch as they went and Butch once again hinting at Alatar that he was "always available". They spent the evening with another fancy meal, this time from the Trouncing Pony itself. It was absolutely delicious. Everyone went to bed that night with a warm feeling in their stomach and a satisfied smile on their face.

For a last journey together, this wasn't bad at all.