A/N I don't like time gaps normally but this one is necessary
Secondly there ARE stats for Zerglings in the D&D sites and require the Improved Familiar feat and being a 6th level caster. Xapferey is by all intents and purposes the equivalent of level 10 by this point.
Thirdly, Nethalus' story will be written in time by him, I just have to encourage him to get to it and the man needs prompting, I'll probably need my katana to get him moving.
Chapter 3: Love and friends.
6 months later
Over the course of the last 6 months, Xapferey had continued to see Deedlt, and begin what would be considered dating by modern standards, though the two did not start officially courting till 3 months into their relationship. For both of them that had been a nerve-wracking moment, but not as bad as the time Xapferey snuck off to summon a familiar.
Deedlit had followed Xapferey only to find him undergoing a strange magical ritual, which summoned a strange quadruped creature covered in spiky chitin. Its limbs ended in two-fingered claws, a pair of short tusks poked out from its mouth, and two scythe-shaped barbs protruded from a pair of long, thick antennae-like structures and a pair of wings protruded from its back. Xapferey had summoned a modified Zergling to be his familiar.
Deedlit was surprised at the need of a familiar, but Xapferey had explained that since he was not from Lodoss, his magic and how it developed was different to native magic users. Deedlit accepted the explanation offered and Xapferey introduced her to his familiar, which he named Abathur in 'honor' of a unique Zerg character from Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm. Familiars aside, Xapferey was beyond enjoying his growing relationship with Deedlit. Of course part of that relationship was to explain the changes that were occurring in Xapferey.
By now the first of the Draconic changes were showing, though not unless one knew what to look for. Xapferey's finger and toe nails were turning to claws, and his teeth were growing sharper and stronger, golden scales were forming on the still covered parts of his arms and legs, and his sense of smell, sight and hearing sharpened to exceptional levels.
Xapferey sighed in contentment; he was due to meet Deedlit outside the city for another walk in the woods when a scent caught his attention and a whistle of something small passing through the air towards him. "Fethos." (1) He barked, an invisible shield snapped into being in front of him, stopping the weighted chain. Xapferey sprang upwards, the magical runes inscribed into his boots enhancing his jump so he alighted on a tree branch, high above the ground.
Xapferey peeked out and nearly got snagged by another chain; he sent a few frost ray cantrips back as a form of 'suppressing fire' only to have three throwing darts miss him by a hair. Xapferey jumped towards a few branches only to halt as he ran into a very familiar Dark Elf.
Pirotess smirked at him and lunged with her rapier. Xapferey parried quickly with his longsword and lunged forwards with an overhand chop. Pirotess stepped back from the forceful blow and swept low only to find Xapferey had blocked her again.
Xapferey attempted to sweep her legs but Pirotess leapt over the blow. Xapferey gritted his teeth and began advancing, focusing on trying to overpower the slender dark elf with his powerful sweeping attacks. But Pirotess skipped away, and Xapferey followed, three times they exchanged and three times Pirotess jumped away from the powerful chops, her slender rapier not well suited for parrying the heavy blows from Xapferey's longsword. Xapferey winced as his next blow split a tree branch; he just knew Deedlit would give him hell for that move.
'Ugh I really should have practiced sparring with Deedlit more.' Xapferey mentally grumbled as he slipped around a thrust. Pirotess was a very skilled fighter; one of the best Xapferey had fought against, possibly better than him in some ways. Xapferey lunged forwards and managed to shoulder check Pirotess causing her to yelp and fall out of the tree. A whistle of parting air caught Xapferey's attention too late as a pair of chains wrapped around his legs binding them before a tug caused him to lose balance before another pair bound his arms. Xapferey crashed into the ground with a loud grunt of pain and indignation and glowered at the dark Elf.
"Why exactly were you attacking me?" He demanded as he noticed Abathur standing over the sprawled unconscious form of his friend Michael.
"I want you to call that thing off of Nethalus." Xapferey raised an eyebrow, though he knew Nethalus was the chosen fantasy name for his friend. Pirotess stiffened a moment later as cool sharp metal rested on the back of her neck.
"Back away from Xapferey peasant." Deedlit ordered Pirotess who stepped back with Deedlit staying near her with Deedlit's blade still touching Pirotess' neck.
"Your reputation for being a stuck up princess seems well deserved." Pirotess sniped in reply; Xapferey continued to squirm to try and escape the chains and had no desire to be near a brewing Elven catfight.
"Hi, yes, excuse me… A LITTLE HELP WOULD BE NICE IF IT'S NOT TOO MUCH TROUBLE." He roared at the two women. His roar caught the attention of Abathur to him, and with a careful application of talons, the Zergling snapped the chains apart. "Thank you Abathur." Xapferey said petting his Zergling, which made a purring noise as Xapferey stood up then sent his Zergling to get his sword, which had fallen somewhere nearby. Xapferey walked off to his stirring friend and Xapferey waited for him to wake up and focus on him. "Hey… Nethalus,"
"Hi… Xapferey." Xapferey squatted down near his friend and spoke with a grin on his face.
"You know, out of all the times we played Starcraft, and of the many hundreds of times I beat you, this is honestly the first time where I took you out with a single Zergling." Xapferey backed away now shorting with laughter while Nethalus gave him his typical I-am-not-amused stony expression. Xapferey quickly regained his composure after his laughter and helped his friend up and pulled him into a bear hug, eliciting a slight pained hiss.
Xapferey looked his friend over; Nethalus was an inch shorter than him still, but his eyes held hard experience, something they did not hold before they came to Lodoss. Nethalus now held himself like a fighter, keeping aware of his surroundings, his muscles loose and ready for action, though the training Xapferey gave him before they came to Lodoss helped with that.
"So what have you been doing?" Nethalus asked after the two shared a man hug.
"Making a life for myself, you?"
"Same, though considering where I ended up that's been somewhat delayed; I've been here for about 9 months." Xapferey shook his head and sighed.
"That's something that puzzles me; I went through a portal I'm guessing… but how would you be here for longer? I've done enough research on magic similar to what I wield to theorize likely possibilities." Xapferey then took what Nethalus said "Marmo I'm guessing." Nethalus nodded in response despite his friend's obviously rhetorical question. "So, going to introduce me to your friend?" He asked, while pursing his lips slightly in warning to Neth about 'spoilers.'
"Xapferey, this is Pirotess, my… you're the history buff, you tell me."
"Depends, are you getting married or are just 'getting together?'"
"Getting married, we both love each other very much." Xapferey smirked, he was glad he had spend several years teaching his friend how to speak Draconic.
"Svanoa tonn jahus coi ekess xett jacioniv?" (2) (How hard was it to persuade her?).
"Wux tir ti tuor ekess vucot." (3) (You don't want to know).
Xapferey winced slightly at his friend's comment; that was bad, when Nethalus said that, it was probably for the best to not know.
"Svabol shinalta ekess wux?" (4) (What happened to you?)
"Tenamalo, wux tir ti tuor ekess vucot." (5) (Again, you don't want to know)
"Ugh, xoalir ekess itrewic irthir ekik di wux ui hefoc xoalir ekess itrewic ulk'igh de Smaug." (6) (Ugh, trying to get information out of you is like trying to get money from Smaug)*
Nethalus glared there was no way he was that bad, though Xapferey was feeling quite smug and vindicated. Nethalus just glared at his friend before shaking his head and stepping away.
"The term is betrothed by the way." Xapferey said to finally answer Nethalus' question. Nethalus nodded and muttered a spell, which disguised Pirotess as an attractive darker-skinned human woman.
"Our mutual 'higher' friend gave me that spell." Nethalus explained to Xapferey about the spell; Xapferey nodded in response as the four of them walked to the city while Abathur burrowed nearby to wait.
An hour later saw Pirotess and Nethalus getting a room nearby at the same inn, celebrations for the king's heir were beginning to get underway and the two were lucky to get one of the last available rooms. Xapferey went out walking to find Deedlit. She'd been avoiding Pirotess like the plague, and he found her being picked on by the same people who'd been harassing her the first time they met. The group harassing Deedlit found themselves telekinetically thrown into the nearby stone wall.
"Here we are again, I told you last time you pulled this stunt again you would regret it," Xapferey thought for a time and smirked dangerously as he created a spell that would be perfect for these men, so he raised his hand and incanted the long spell "Shartleg nomenoi hofibai svaust bevi lowd sia itov sari wer trilvol si tuor. Sjek astahii xoa ekess levnim lyriki persvek vi svaion idol nomeno chikohk nishka affect astahi huena throdenilt." (Transform these fools who dare attack my love into the image I desire. If they attempt to harm others in a similar way this curse shall affect them once more).
The small group was transformed into a group of monks, and the first began chanting a verse in Latin before smacking himself in the head with his bible, then the group followed sort. Xapferey sighed knowing that only he and Nethalus would understand the reference but it made him feel better.
Deedlit watched the group walking away chanting and occasionally hitting themselves on the head before she turned to Xapferey and raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Care to explain what that was my love?"
"Cultural reference dear Deedlit, those fools failed to learn their lessons the last time they attempted to harass you so I created a special spell for them; each time they try to bully a someone in the same way the spell will take effect. Every time their penance period wears off they have a chance to learn, hopefully they will."
"The spell will not harm them?"
"No, they will have time to eat and sleep as necessary." Deedlit shook her head with a smile.
"Thank you Xapferey."
"My pleasure as always," he said as they walked back to the Crystal Forest Inn, Xapferey caught a glance of Parn walking around gawking at the sights as they headed back to the inn but brushed it off, there would be time to immerse himself in the main Lodoss story soon.
Making their way into the inn, Xapferey noticed Slayn at a table with Gihm, Not far from Nethalus and the disguised Pirotess. Xapferey sat down in front of Nethalus and gave him his best questioning gaze.
"I'll tell you later." He said to Xapferey who shrugged in acceptance… for now. In the meantime, Xapferey noticed Slain eyeing Deedlit in curiosity, noticing this, Xapferey was thinking on how he could get the two groups to meet, but the answer was eluding him until he felt something pulling him outside then inn.
"I'm going to get some air, I'll be back in a bit." Xapferey said, he gave Deedlit a kiss on the cheek as he left; as he walked he wondered what that pulling feeling was. Possibly a form of foresight, but it was not one of his spells, it was beyond his powers at the moment. 'Gods meddling, I suppose I asked for it considering the god in question.' As he walked, he noticed Parn approaching, the poor boy was drunk, obviously having had a mug of ale too many.
Xapferey cringed as Parn tripped and fell to the pavement in a tremendous clatter of armor and stone.
"Yeesh… you alright there?"
"'M fine." Parn mumbled.
"Where are you staying?"
"The Crystal Forest inn, it is supposed to be around here I think." Parn muttered and Xapferey rolled his eyes amusingly.
"Come on let's get you up and home, I do not envy your hangover." As Xapferey helped Parn up Deedlit came racing outside.
"Xapferey are you alright I heard a tremendous clatter… who is this?"
"A young man staying with his party at the same inn I am, the clatter you heard was him tripping and crashing onto the ground." Deedlit nodded with a slight wince but she helped Xapferey pick Parn off the ground and help him into the inn, the two carried him through the door.
"Come on snap out of it." Deedlit said to Parn.
"I'm fine." He grumbled drunkenly, Xapferey looked up to see Etoh and Slayn staring at them and Etoh spoke.
"Parn you're drunk." Etoh said surprised at his friend, while Slain stood up to greet Xapferey and Deedlit.
"Excuse me you two, I'm Slayn, thank you for bringing Parn back. We'd best leave him to sleep it off. Etoh take care of him." The named priest nodded and went to take care of his friend, while the dwarf smirked behind his mug of ale.
"How pathetic him getting drunk like that or did some pretty girl poison him with her charm." Deedlit being an Elf could not resist a barb at the Dwarf due to their racial rivalries but Xapferey put an arm on Deedlit's.
"My love for all the respect I have for the Elves I do not understand this ridiculous feud with Dwarves." He said quietly, Deedlit huffed quietly but acquiesced to his words and remained silent. Slayn in the meantime watched silently. Slayn like any mage could sense magical potential and Xapferey's was staggering, he easily could become an archmage with sufficient time and effort.
Slayn could feel the power inscribed into the equipment the two wore and was curious to this power; it seemed similar to enchanted objects yet different. Enchantments were static, unchanging, the magical flows suggested that these 'enchantments' could be altered or even removed by the caster with ease.
Slayn smiled in a friendly manner and spoke to Xapferey and Deedlit. "Won't you sit down? I'd like to talk to you." Xapferey nodded and sat down with Deedlit beside him
"My name is Xapferey," Xapferey said as he introduced himself to Slain "this is my love Deedlit." She smiled in greeting and Slayn nodded politely in reply.
"I was wondering if you would tell me about these enchantments I could sense on your gear, they do not feel like enchantments I am familiar with." Xapferey nodded and replied.
"A mage then? Well my profession is runecrafting, and it is much like enchanting; I inscribe the runes then charge them with magic, sometimes it takes days or even weeks to complete depending on the runes I choose."
"Sounds quite impressive, what drawbacks do these runes have?"
"Well if improperly written, the enchantments can either be warped or blow up in your face rather spectacularly." Xapferey said wryly.
"Yes your eyebrows finally grew back." Deedlit said teasingly making Xapferey roll his eyes.
"Ugh, not quite true, I avoided the majority of the explosion and was slightly singed." Slayn's eyebrows rose but a slight smile appeared at both the comments and the love the two shared. "But certain armor can only handle a certain amount of runic combinations."
"Runic combinations?" Slain asked, not quite understanding what Xapferey meant.
"Runic combinations are words or even sentences, runes strung together for a more powerful enchantment, but also in some ways more limited because the runes act like words in a sentence, you cannot change one without changing the meaning of the sentence." Slayn nodded in understanding.
"So the runes are they resistant to damage? Would destroying the items cause a backlash of sorts?"
"In order of your questions, yes and no and possibly." Xapferey said before he elaborated. "Runes are resistant to damage in the case of increasing the durability of an item. Take Deedlit's leather armor for example, I runecrafted it, after experimentation on other parts of leather. And I can guarantee that it offers the same level of protection as your young friend… Parn's armor." Slayn was rather impressed at this statement.
"The armor remains leather then?" Xapferey nodded "Could plate armor grant the mobility of leather armor with these runes?" Xapferey thought for a moment and nodded.
"With the right runes, yes."
"As for the backlash what could be expected? An explosion? Or something else?"
"It would depend on the situations, in the earlier case that Deedlit was teasing me about, I was inscribing some explosive runes as part of an experiment and well I sneezed at an inopportune moment and I jumped away just as the runes overloaded." Deedlit stood up
"I'll leave you two mages to talk, I'll go ask Nethalus for some stories of your youth." She said patting Xap's shoulder lovingly.
"Nethalus?" Slayn asked Xapferey.
"My brother in all but blood." Xapferey replied nodding towards the man Deedlit was now talking to and Slayn nodded in understanding.
"Could runes be used to augment a spellcaster's power? Boosting the strength of the spells cast?"
"Theoretically, but those types of runes are beyond my current power and expertise currently."
"I suppose every magic has limits, I could sense your potential but your power seems to from within rather than from the ley-lines of Lodoss, would you mind sharing."
"Not at all, my magic comes from within, I have a magical core, and much like a muscle, the more I use it, the more powerful I get. Runecrafting however burns through my reserves like you wouldn't believe. But I can also make my spells more powerful or weaker as I desire."
"But runecrafting is a constant drain? You cannot control how much is required for empowering the runes?"
"I can control how much I put in at a time, but the more complicated the runic structures, the more energy it takes to gain the proper effect."
"Are you able to sense how much energy a rune or runic structure will absorb to function properly? What I mean is how accurate does the empowering have to be for the runes to function correctly? What is the margin for error?"
"Runes can and will absorb up to a certain point safely, which will cause them to work normally, others can absorb extra which means they will fulfill their function better but it is risky as well because if the runic structure breaks, it could cause the backlash. As for charging the runes, I would say for runes alone, less than one in 100 runes would be dangerous. As for runic structures I would say I would make 1 mistake for every 6 or 7 runes, but not a hazardous mistake. Anything more complicated like the runic formations would be one hazardous mistake for every 5 runes. Bear in mind I am rather new to this profession, and have only been practicing for half a year."
"Well aside from what you told me I have no experience with said profession, so I cannot claim an accurate judgment of progress, although I would be interested in learning such a profession in time."
"And I would be happy to share what I know, my people have a saying which I'm not sure exists here as well but, two heads are better than one." Slayn nodded with a smile, understanding what Xapferey meant and the two continued talking for a few hours.
Pagebreak
A few hours Later Parn came back down with Etoh, Parn was in a simple black tunic with short sleeves and hunched over a mug of water while groaning. Nethalus had been discussing some minor healing techniques with Etoh after introducing himself as Xapferey's friend. The fact that Xapferey was still discussing magic with Slayn made it easier for Etoh to accept and discuss with Nethalus who was a Favored Soul (The sorcerer version of a Cleric).
The group however broke for the night and rejoined each other during the day with Parn looking much better, having had a proper chance to sleep off his hangover. Slayn offered to have Xapferey's party join with thiers, being a skilled mage himself, Slayn could see the value of having another in the party… provided Xapferey was willing to join them.
Xapferey wanted to go but he had to convince Deedlit first, since Nethalus wanted to join Slayn's party as well and Pirotess would be with him. Another reason Xapferey wanted to be on the move was that Abathur was getting restless, and for something like a Zergling, that was practically impossible.
Surprisingly it was Nethalus who had convinced Deedlit, as a divine spellcaster Nethalus was mildly sensitive to the flows of fate and explained such to Deedlit that they should join up with Slayn. As they were making preparations a person came running in and shouted
"Something… Something terrible has happened! Kanon… *gasp* Kanon has been destroyed! Emperor Beld of Marmo has invaded Lodoss."
"Wha…WHAT?" Parn roared in shock, only to clutch his head.
"This means a war, and a big one at that." Slayn commented.
"Here, let's make our final preparations and head to Valis, the Valisians would most likely fight first, if we move quickly enough we can get there before the border is closed." Slayn nodded to Xapferey's comment, it was the most sensible idea at the moment, even if the Allanians would join the fight, it was better idea to move to a guaranteed armed reaction rather than a possible one.
"Let's hurry, we leave in half an hour, an hour at most if we're lucky we'll make it to the border and cross in a few days." Xapferey said to the group and they departed to their various tasks to get ready.
A/N Done and done, almost 4k words, not bad. Next chapter more interactions between the two groups and Slayn meets Abathur and learns about familiars and their abilities.
