The portal couldn't bring them directly to Yaga-Shura's lair, much to their annoyance, but it could at least bring them a spot four hours' walk from there. "Better than nothing", Yoshimo commented, but judging from Meg's grimace, she didn't agree at all. "What good is a portal, if we still have to walk for hours on end like before?", she grumbled, kicking a stray pebble and looking around with a huff.
Saying the scenery was dismal would be an understatement: all around them was rust-colored earth with large patches of ash, small puddles of lava and a complete assortment of rocks, from small pebbles to huge boulders. The heat, being so close to an active volcano, was nearly unbearable and could only be kept at bay by the wise use of a spell created by Imoen which mixed ice and wind: she called it the 'Imoen the Magnificent's Amazing Icy Refresher' and it made a light fresh breeze surround the party members as long as they stayed within a four meters radius from her.
It was objectively useful, the only downside to it was that the breeze had a slight pink tint to it on the outside which, from a distance, caused the group to resemble a huge walking cotton candy cloud, but all in all they were more than willing to sacrifice a bit of their dignity to avoid death from heatstroke.
They were still more or less an hour's walk from the fortress, which turned out to be an enormous palace carved entirely into the side of the volcano, when they heard some whispering from up ahead the path, right behind a group of boulders. Before they could take another step, they were attacked, but the arrows and the spells cast by the unknown enemies slid harmlessly off their enchanted armor and protective spells and Sarevok quickly advanced towards the boulders, bent at the waist and took one of the enemies up by the collar, frowning in puzzlement when he saw him clearly. "What the...?".
The captive was a small kobold, who tried desperately to wriggle out of the warrior's grasp, "Please, great Bhaalspawn, no kill me!", he begged. "Let him go, please, we surrender!", a xvart came out from his hiding place, followed by a chicken and a goblin, all three of them looking terrified, "We thought you were here to kill us, so we attacked first! Please don't hurt us!". The Deathbringer blinked, "Why in the Abyss should we come all the way here just to kill such insignificant beasts as you?". "That is the way of our kin: great and powerful Bhaalspawn like you kill small and weak Bhaalspawn like us", the chicken answered and a heavy silence descended upon the party.
Sarevok's eyes went as wide as dinner plates, "You. Are. WHAT?!", he shouted, half-shocked and half-disgusted, letting go of the kobold as if scalded. Meg's shoulders started to shake, then she burst out laughing so hard that she had to sit down, clutching her stomach and all eyes turned on her. "Maggie?", the warrior called and the look on his face said loud and clear that he was very worried about her mental health.
"It's just...Oh, Gods...They're all so afraid of Bhaal...", she wheezed, "The Big Bad Scary Lord of Murder...All evil and dangerous...And he actually screw a chicken!". Imoen thought about it for a moment and her face turned a very interesting shade of green, "EEEEEWWWWW! Thanks a lot for the nice mental image, sis", she muttered, looking as if she was about to throw up. The Ilmatari dried her cheeks, "Sweet Lord Ilmater...And they say Cyric is nuts!", she giggled. "Damn, seems like the old man really got around!", Daniel commented, doubling over with laughter and Gromnir followed suit.
Sarevok and Imoen didn't seem to find it funny at all, though and the chicken even glared at Daniel, though its glare didn't result as scary as it had intended. "Hey! What's wrong with being a chicken?", it protested, outraged. Yoshimo snickered, "Well, my feathery friend, maybe it escaped your attention that in some regions fried chicken is a much appreciated meal". The poor creature squawked in terror and hid behind the Kobold, not that it offered much cover, "Don't eat me!".
Aerie walked forward, her empty hands open in a sign of good intentions, "Don't worry, we won't harm you. We came here to get something from that fortress over there, see?", she pointed to the entrance of Yaga-Shura's stronghold. The goblin cleared its throat, "Maybe we can help? Me Tibbit", it introduced itself, "Me good with club. That Chincilla, he can do magic", it pointed to the chicken, that straightened and even seemed to puff its feathered chest proudly. Edwin facepalmed, "Kossuth, now even real chickens can cast spells!", he groaned, "As if that fool Melicamp who was turned into a spell-casting rooster wasn't enough! (I've never felt so humiliated in my whole life!)".
Imoen glared at him, "Oh, you feel humiliated, Eddie? And what about me? I'm a Bhaalspawn too, remember? That means that my Sire...", she trailed off and had to clamp a hand over her mouth as a wave of nausea hit her. "I agree with Imoen", Sarevok nodded, "I sincerely hope this will not become public knowledge, or I'll be forced to go and hide in the lowest layer of the Abyss in order to avoid the teasing". Tibbit blinked and tilted its head to the side, "Why you so upset?". "Nothing, please do go on", Margaret Dawn said, clearing her throat to suppress another fit of laughter.
"Oh. He be Toop the Brave, he leader, he shoots arrows", the goblin pointed to the xvart, "And he Merlinious, he heals us when we hurt", it said, indicating the kobold, "We can help, we good at fighting". "I, er...I appreciate the offer, but we need information more than anything", the Painbearer said gently, "What do you know of the fortress?". Tibbit shrugged, "We saw lots of Giants come and go, but we no know what inside".
Toop intervened, "He's right, we've never tried infiltrating that place, sorry. One of us could scout ahead, though: we're smaller than you and we could pass unnoticed more easily". "But if you're caught, they will kill you". "I know", he stopped, surprised, "You care?". "You are our brothers, aren't you? So yes, I care". All four of the small Spawn beamed, clearly happy at being considered brothers by a human. "Why are you trying to get inside the fortress, big sister?", the xvart asked. "We need to retrieve Yaga-Shura's heart, along with that of his foster mother Nyalee. She told us that they are somewhere in there, but she has no idea where exactly we can find them".
Daniel snorted, "Yeah, they could be anywhere and that Godsdamned place's huge! It'll take days to check every room", he grumbled, adding a curse in Elvish that caused Aerie to start and blush furiously. "And we can't afford to waste days on this mission", Sarevok noted, "Isn't there a magical way to find them?". "Well, there is something", Imoen said, thinking, "Lately I've been tinkering with some spells…"
"Don't we know it", Anomen sighed, his mind going back to the state of his poor Shadow Dragon armor turning from black to bright glittering pink because of a spell gone wrong, it had taken it two weeks to return to normal. "As I was saying", she grinned, she remembered the incident too, "I read in a tome in the Suldanesselar library that there's a way to extend the radius of the Wizard Eye, but it takes tons of power away from the caster, so for the rest of the day I'd be more or less useless to ya guys".
"Nothing new there", Edwin muttered, but there was the hint of a smile on his face and a mischievous glint in his dark eyes as he said so, "I think the best course of action would be to join our powers, as we did in the Windspear Hills: there is four of us mages now, counting also the…Chicken…And splitting the cost of the spell between four people, the individual amount of arcane power sacrificed would be smaller, leaving us with a sufficient amount to serve our needs in battle (Not that I couldn't suffice on my own anyway, I'm an Odesseiron after all)", he concluded.
"This is a great idea, Edwin, as always", Meg praised him and he beamed like sunshine, "You too, Immy, you're definitely worthy of the title of 'magnificent'. We'll go back to the Pocket Plane while you work on the spell, no need to camp here and roast our poor booties for hours on end. You know the drill, form a chain", she ordered. The whole party, now including the xvart, chicken, goblin and kobold, linked hands (or wings, in the chicken's case) and were teleported back to the Pocket Plane, this time the nausea wasn't as bad as before and Yoshimo smiled. "Well, at least the travel was less unpleasant this time".
"Yeah, I think I'm getting the hang of it". "Well done, sekai no hikari", he said with a small bow that she returned. "Arigatou gozaimasu, sensei. Guys, get to work, we've got no time to waste". "Aye aye, captain!", Imoen joked, playfully saluting her sister, who rolled her eyes fondly. "Great One is back!", Cespenar came flying and its muzzle was lightened up by a huge smile, "Hello Great One!". "Hello, Cespenar", the Painbearer smiled back and caught it as it flew straight into her arms, "How are you?". "Me is happy that you're back", it purred, rubbing its head against her chest like a kitty and she chuckled and cuddled it. "Aw, you're so cute", a sudden thought hit her, "Guys, is any of you hungry?".
"No, but I could use something fresh to drink", Daniel spoke up and everyone agreed. "Cespenar will bring you drinks! Is water good?", the imp asked. "I'd rather have a beer, but yeah, water is fine by me", the Elf shrugged, his throat was so parched that he would have drank anything at the moment. "Me goes and is right back!", Cespenar gently disentangled itself from Meg's arms and licked her cheek, then flew to the kitchen, leaving behind a stunned young woman.
Sarevok couldn't help laughing, "Seems like you have an admirer, Maggie", he commented, then turned to Anomen, "Better watch out, that little critter could steal your wife". The Helmite joined his laugh, "Heh, you may be right: it's hard to compete with Cespenar, it's like competing with a puppy". "Oh, I don't think you have anything to worry about, beloved: he may be a cute puppy, but you're my sweet teddybear", Meg reassured him, wiping her face with a cloth, "Bleah, I need to wash my face. Oh, this reminds me…Once we've dealt with Yaga-Shura and we have a moment to relax, I'll create four rooms for you guys", she said, turning to Toop.
The xvart shook his head with a smile. "It's kind of you, big sister, but we'd rather have a room to bunk all together: we don't need much space and besides, we are used to staying in a cave, so a room would be more than what we have ever had". "Why a cave?", she frowned and he shrugged. "Most innkeepers aren't very fond of kobolds, goblins and xvarts and as for Chinchilla, well, the last time we tried getting near an inn we had to flee because the cook wanted to roast him on the spit. A cave was the safest option".
"I see. But as long as you're staying with us, you'll have the most luxurious room I can create, with the softest beds Faerun has ever seen!", she promised. Overhearing their conversation, Edwin cleared his throat, "I thought you had created the most luxurious room possible for me, Meg", he said, trying and failing miserably to hide his pout, "(Preferring these insignificant creatures to me…How could she?)". "Oh…Yeah, that's true", she admitted, "I guess theirs will be second best, then", she concluded with a smile.
He considered it for a moment, then nodded, "Fine. Maybe I could help you with projecting it? I have quite an extensive knowledge of luxurious places, after all, being native of the glorious nation of Thay", he offered generously. "I'd love that! And maybe you could also give me some tips on how to customize your own? I tried making them tailored to the owner, but I'd like them to fit each of you perfectly", she asked.
"Of course: my room must be absolutely perfect, just like me. And now cease your yapping and let me get to work, girl, or those simians will never get anywhere with the spell". "Sure, sorry, go ahead. I'm counting on you!", she added and he smirked, obviously pleased with her faith in him. Toop tugged on her sleeve, "May I give you some suggestions for our room, big sister?".
"Of course! You know what, let's gather the others, I want to write down all of their advice too. Oh, don't worry, I won't disturb our casters for now: I'll ask them after this mess is solved", she reassured him and he nodded as they gathered the rest of the group in the living room and enjoyed the quiet, knowing that it was the calm before the storm.