Chapter 31

It was a warm morning when they reconvened. Everyone was armed and ready. Kiara led the party to the north gate, to the hired cart and they went to the village. Everyone rode on the large cart save for Temma, who had his own personal riding horse named Casa. They reached the village without any trouble. Then, they headed north, sticking to the chef's directions. Temma took it to himself to scout ahead on horseback after asking Aloe to hover over the traveling party to spot for enemies. Thanks to the formation, Aloe warned them about a pride of hunting lions. Instead of trying to go around the hunting area, they set up camp for the night.

Much to their surprise, the chef had actually prepared some premade food that tasted quite delicious when cooked over the fire. Sleep was undisturbed thanks to the Tiny Hut Nene summoned. They still had to post watch but only to watch over the knight's horse.

When morning came, they packed up and continued on their journey. It was then they came across a large watering hole. They stopped by to refill the waterskins and to rest a little. Suddenly, two loud roars echoed through the air. They looked up and saw two… dragons? Their arms were fused to their wings and they had a long barbed tail. Distracted, they didn't notice two watery figures making their way towards them as they rose up from the watering hole. However, this didn't escape Lamy's awareness.

"Elementals?" she murmured in surprise. She then pointed at them, saying, "What are they doing here?"

"This cannot be good," muttered Temma aloud as he ran over and mounted his horse.

"...Better get ready," said Botan as she moved away from the watering hole and nocked an arrow. Meanwhile, the half-snow elf started chanting prayers and blessings on the party.

It was then the elementals surged forward in spite of getting peppered with attacks. They engulfed a few of them, Lamy, Aloe, and Leda, in their watery bodies. At the same time, the wyverns dove down and snapped at a few of them with their maws. Of the three, the succubus managed to release herself, bursting out of the body with the flap of her wings.

"Hurry! Get them out before they drown!" shouted Kiara as she slashed the watery body while Civia conjured a flaming sphere and rammed it into the nearest water elemental.

Botan and Nene sprang into action, trying to get Leda and Lamy out respectively. Meanwhile, the knight had quickly circled around and charged by on his horse, his glaive cutting through the tops of the elementals while making sure he didn't hit anyone still trapped inside. However, they were persistent and continued to engulf more people. The succubus was dragged in again along with the half-unicorn warlock and the fennec fox monk, who was battering the nearest elemental.

"Argh, out of the way," shouted Temma as the wyverns suddenly started targeting him as he finished his pass. He hissed as a stinger from one of the wyverns jabbed the back of his neck, injecting its poison load. The scratch was just that but the wound burned and was a little distracting. He had lashed out with his glaive and dealt a superficial blow, but it wasn't enough.

As the wyverns circled around in the sky, he powered through and reined Casa on. The horse neighed and burst into a gallop, bringing him around for another pass. He grit his teeth as he sliced through the head-like construct of the water elemental that was trying to drown two of the ladies. With half the party trying to free the engulfed ones while the other half tried destroying the elementals, he was confident that everyone would come out alright. Then, he ducked down to avoid another pass by the wyverns.

"Take that!" he roared inwardly as he lashed out at retreating wyverns, blood running down the side from one. From what he had noticed, Leda was busy shocking them with his lightning powers. Aloe and Kiara were keeping up with striking them while Nene and Botan were busy trying to pull the others out, who were also struggling to get out as well. Overall, making good progress in whittling down the elementals, in his opinion.

He then turned around to make another pass. This time, he had a wry grin as he was able to slice through a significant chunk of the water elemental he was targeting. However, fortune wasn't favoring him when the wyverns dived down for another pass. He bit back a cry of pain when he could feel their stingers make contact with his skin and pump him full of poison. It was like several red-hot metal bars were being shoved down his spine. It came very close to making him pass out from the pain but he held on.

"Damn it… keep it together, Temma. You can do this," he mentally urged, gripping his glaive tightly. Whipping the reins, Casa thundered down and he swung hard, his glaive dealing the final blow to one of the elementals. It's body burst as the water lost its shape and splashed all over, releasing its current captives. Nene and Lamy coughed and gulped down new air as they got to their feet.

"One down, one more, then we do something about these wyverns," he thought with renewed determination. This time, the diving wyverns didn't find purchase as he actively fended them off with his weapon, parrying their maws and batting away their tails. Feeling someone touch his leg, he looked and saw the cleric. He then felt the pain running wild down his back numbing down to a dull throb.

"Thank you, my lady," he stated politely, also full of gratitude. He noticed that a spectral sword had appeared and assumed that she summoned it. Reining his horse around, he then said, "Now that they are taken care of, let us settle these fake dragons."

"Let's do this!" cheered on Nene as magic, daggers, and darts battered the wyvern that was already injured. Not to be outdone, the spectral sword went sailing into that wyvern's throat as a blast of light lit up its bleeding head.

The second wyvern, ignorant of what happened to its hunting partner, still dive-bombed him. Letting a wry grin form on his visage, he twirled his glaive skillfully, turning aside its attack and drawing blood. As it rose up, it got bombarded by magic, darts, arrows. Apparently all that damage was too much for one, and it flew away instead of sticking around. As it did so, everyone cheered in victory. Glancing over at them, he blushed and quickly turned his horse around. As most of the fine ladies had spent time trying to survive their drowning attempts, the ones that had forgone wearing armor only had the clothes on their backs. It wouldn't do for a knight to stare. It wouldn't do at all.

After the battle, Temma pointed out that he spotted a village nearby and suggested going there. Everyone else agreed, wanting to rest a little before continuing their journey, so they headed towards it. The village itself was relatively new and was built over another village that had been razed by a marauding band of goblinoids a few years ago. As it was still new, they didn't have much, but being a small hunting village they at least have some amenities. They got some food and drink while they rested, with Nene deciding to sing a little ditty to help the food go down.

The village leader offered to house them but they politely declined as there was still some light and they could still journey on. Instead, after their meal, they helped to drag the wyvern they killed over from the watering hole. It was then presented to the village as a payment for the food and drink. This brought a smile to the village leader and he thanked them on behalf of the entire village.

"Alright, good luck in your travels," he wished them as they got ready to go, "If you head north without any deviations, you would come upon a former bandit camp. I heard that it used to be the base of the raiders that attacked the village before us and that it was the Smiter of Fear herself that destroyed them with her friends."

"Huh, I guess we'll head there next," stated Botan as they moved away from the village.

"We should not take that long to get there," stated Temma while Casa trotted beside them, "Right, spot for us Aloe. I will ride ahead."

After the fight at the watering hole, the party was thankful that nothing else decided to accost them. They reached the former bandit camp with the evening sun just about setting behind the mountains. Much to their surprise, the abandoned camp was deserted… as expected. The wooden doors were in disrepair and the wooden walls looked like they were going to fall apart any second. Inside, it was barren and desolate, as if nobody had ever lived here before.

"I think we should camp elsewhere," stated Lamy after the party went inside, "The place seems strange, like something evil lives here."

"Unless something is attacking us from above, I'm sure the place is perfectly safe," rebutted Leda.

"...I actually agree with her," Civia spoke up, "I feel uneasy here."

"I suppose being in a cul-de-sac is a bad idea right now," mused Temma as he looked around, "There does not seem to be anything resembling an escape route out of here should anything attack from the front."

"If this place doesn't feel right, then we should camp elsewhere," spoke up Botan, agreeing with her friend.

"Alright then, let's camp outside at the gates then," suggested Nene, "That way, we can see from all directions. I mean, we have to watch out for the horse anyway."

"That is certainly a good idea," agreed the knight, "Then, that is what we shall do."

With a decision agreed upon, they settled in for the night.

Lamy yawned as she kept herself awake by staring into the fire. Occasionally, she would look away and her eyes would dart around to observe for any sign of danger. The flickering embers crackled outside the shimmering dome of Nene's magical construct. Casa slept silently, standing stoically against the dark backdrop of the night. It was only the first watch and she had to stay up until it was time to wake Polka for her turn.

Suddenly, she noticed dark shapes moving towards them from the corner of her eye. Standing up and turning her gaze into their direction, her eyes narrowed. Several figures were moving towards the Tiny Hut at a slow pace. She could feel the lingering emptiness that emanated from them as they came nearer and nearer, step by step. Keeping her eyes on them, she went over to the monk and shook her awake.

"Uwah… is it time yet?" murmured the fennec fox girl as she yawned out her words.

"Something or some things are approaching us and I don't think they are friendly," she stated as the shapes slowly became clearer.

This woke her up and she scrambled to her feet to shake everyone awake. Meanwhile, the tattered armors and pallor skin of the approaching figures were very clear to her. Undead. Ugly reanimations of restless souls in her eyes. And it was her duty to protect the beauty of life from this perverseness. It was time to lay them back to rest.

"Gods damn it," swore Leda as he got out of his bedroll and got ready to fight, "There goes my sleep."

"We better finish them off quickly then," snarked Aloe as the knight rushed donning his armor and ran out of the dome to get on Casa.

"Alright, we go out and beat them down. No problem," quipped Kiara as she stepped outside.

"Nene, this dome can't be damaged right?" asked Botan. Getting a nod from the bard, she continued, "Alright, you, me, and the spellcasters can take cover in here. Polka, Lamy, Aloe, and Kiara go outside and make sure we don't get surrounded. Temma… well, he's outside already. Let's go."

One by one, the designated defenders stepped out of the dome. Upon noticing them, the undead increased the pace, the ghouls and zombies stretching out their hands to grab at them. Since they are faster, the ghouls reached them first and started clawing at them. As they were tied up, the ones in the dome would move out, cast their spells or in the archer's case, shoot, and then step back inside. The arrangement was doing well, as the ghouls and zombies were quickly cut down, with Temma making hit and run attacks to also whittle them down. However, instead of recklessly charging in with them, the wights had stopped moving.

"Fire! Kill the living fire!" shouted the lead wight from his horse. They shot arrows around Kiara, focussing on the fighter.

This didn't hinder her. As the arrows rained down, she ignored the scratches and pushed back against the last ghoul she was facing. Then, eldritch blasts from Civia sent it flying into the last zombie, causing them to tumble over each other.

"Yosh! Nice one!" she cheered on as the warlock stepped back into the dome.

"Fire! Kill the healer!" shouted the lead wight again. Arrows rained around Lamy.

To everyone's surprise, she didn't raise her shield higher and a few arrows punched through her armor and sent her falling over.

"Lamy!" yelled Nene in horror but was held back by Botan, who had just come back in.

"No! Don't go out. We need you to keep the dome up," she said as halted the bard by hooking her arm under her shoulder.

"But..."

"We are already handling it," she assured sternly, "Look."

And look she did. The ghouls and zombies were down, and the defenders were moving on to taking out the wights. Temma had started to hit their back end and threw them into disarray. Aloe was throwing daggers at the frontmost wight. Kiara had moved to shield the downed cleric while the half-unicorn girl knelt down, pulled out the arrows, and laid her hands on her barely moving chest. A soft, white glow washed over the half-snow elf as her breathing steadied. She then stood up and sent two more eldritch blasts at the lead wight, knocking him off his skeleton horse.

"Keep it together, Nene," the archer chided one last time as she went out and shot her arrows to help the others.

The bard stood there as she looked out from the dome. One by one, the wights and the skeletal warhorse fell. As the last undead fell, her unease did not abate. Until Botan came over to hug her.

"You feel that you could do more. It's fine to feel that way," she stated as she released the hug, "Let me tell you this. If you didn't have this dome up, those archers would have shot at Leda and Civia. Then, we would have more people down and we might not have survived this. You've already done a lot just by keeping it up."

A few moments of silence passed between them. Then, Nene let out a relieved sigh and replied, "Thanks. I needed that."

"Anytime."

AN: Hello again, readers. Welcome back. Time we continue our observations on this larger party. We follow them as they journey to the mountains. Quite eventful. Elementals and wyverns in the morning and undead at night. Most troublesome.

Before I forget, here is something about Kiara.

Kiara Takanashi

Half-Phoenix Fighter

Battle Master

Protection Fighting Style with her shield and the Chef feat are the notable traits of this bird. After adding some levels, also gave her the Tavern Brawler feat. Now, again with the half-phoenix but that's just a simplification as she is technically both human and phoenix. Phoenix as she was involved with a ritual that bound the soul of a phoenix to hers. They became one of the same and thus Kiara was created. Still following her HoloMyth lore, being that she still dies of natural causes and reincarnates as someone new every time, losing her memories as she does so. However, she can also have a Phoenix Rebirth to come back to life if she dies due to other causes. Of course, she loses her memories as well, but not as severe as her reincarnation. And since she also counts as human, this enables her to visit Calliope in the realm of the dead. Come to think of it, she is Hololive's very own Deadpool minus the 4th wall breaking.

As a half-phoenix, plus one Dex, plus two Cha and 35ft. move speed. Knows Celestial and Common. Has Fire Resistance, Hollow Bones (Your body is very light. If you fall from a height not higher than 10 meters, you fall as if you had feather fall), and Phoenix Rebirth (Failing 3 death saves, becomes a phoenix egg that can't be damaged. Returns back to their body at full health but must make a Wis save to see if you lose some memories).

Next chapter, we shall continue their journey. Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.