"Halkeginian "

'Thoughts'

'Telepathy'

'Spells and the like'

"Common/Dwarven/Elven"

"Speech: Draconic"

"Speech: Abyssal"

Several hours earlier.

As another arrow flies by Josh's head he can quite firmly say that today is probably the worst day of this month yet. "I must say that the target practice in and of itself is rather appreciated." Muttering to himself as he takes a shot at one of the archers before ducking back behind the parapet "I could do without being fired back at however." He says to the rapidly cooling corpse of Skinner, and he smirks to himself as he hears a scream of pain vaguely from where he shot at.

Looking over the inner side of the wall to check how the defence is currently faring he sees that on the ground it is a rather even affair. The bandits might have numbers on their side, the dwarves however are not giving an inch without taking half a dozen lives first. "And to think I questioned the mites on why they always wear their heavy armour."

The wall itself is not faring all that well however, as these brigands at least seem to know how to use a bow to suppress enemy archers.

Deciding he has overstayed his welcome at this particular spot of the wall he crouch-walks over to pilfer skinner for his quills before heading to a different part of the wall. He hasn't moved ten feet before he hears the clatter of a ladder right next to him.

"Ah great, they are learning. Marvellous." Placing himself right bellow the ladder and staying in wait he anticipates the moment one of the bastards show his face to him. And he doesn't have to wait long as a ugly mug of a bandit peaks over the edge, only to receive a quill right between the eyes courtesy of Skinners former crossbow.

Judging by the sound heavier than expected thud coming from the other side the falling corpse must have pulled its compatriots with it of the ladder. Not one to waste an opportunity Josh uses the grappling hook they had been issued for whatever reason, but is now glad of having, to lift the vacant ladder up and over to his side of the wall without revealing himself to any archers.

This small victory is short-lived has he hears the sound of boots hitting stone to either side of him, obviously these people did not bring only a single ladder with them.

Luckily for Josh the one to the left of him got hit in the shoulder by a watchman further down the wall, and while it didn't take him out it would severely hamper him. However not having reloaded his crossbow yet, he is left with little else than to fight the two of them in melee while being at risk of being shot at by enemy archers, joy.

And while it would certainly be heroic if it succeeded, he did not particularly want to fight two armed men on either side of him. So taking the few precious moments of stunned negligence from the one wounded earlier he stood up and charged him, ramming his spear into the man's chest.

This had two effects, one it made it so that he only had to fight one person, and two he got his spear stuck inside of a mans body. Oh and third it enraged the other person.

Now Josh was left with only his unloaded crossbow, and his backup short-sword. Here is the deal about swords, they are not all that good against shields, especially if you yourself do not have one. And joy of joys his now opponent had a shield on him.

Tough apparently his nervousness was misplaced, this bandit had no idea how to use the bloody axe he had properly. Really? An all out vertical strike as an opener. He did not even feel bad for stabbing the fool through the shoulder after dodging the strike, followed by a stab through the mouth he so conveniently opened up to scream.

One thing that Josh forgot was the fact that he was positioned precariously close to where a ladder was positioned and as such did not see one of the attackers that had climbed over and prepared to strike him from behind.

A strike that would never come as the bandit stopped for a brief second before jumping of the wall on the inner side. Josh turned to look what the sound was that he just heard and saw one of the attackers on the ground on the inside of the compound. Which would have been alarming had he not had a broken leg and was he not crawling towards something single-mindedly before stopping and erupting in a loud scream of pain.

Looking over in the direction where the man was trying to crawl towards Josh saw one of the dwarves he had seen a scarce few times before. From what he could gather this was Kloin's father, a blacksmith and priest by trade.

Josh was not entirely certain what kind of religion had their priests dress in matte gray full-plate, or wielded a rather intimidating war-hammer. Mind you the hammer itself was rather standard looking, runes carved into it aside. It was more the fact that the thing seemed to be oozing acid now.

The dwarf must have noticed his gaze and gave him a nod of what might have been approval, before staring to walk right towards the gate being flanked by his son. The dwarves at the gate letting the newly arrived pair pass with little resistance.

Two of the bandits seeing this as a good chance to attack charged the pair, only for one of the to be catapulted into the other by single swipe of the older dwarfs hammer, causing them to land in a unmoving heap to the side.

"Note to self, do not mess with that particular dwarf." A notion that is affirming itself in Joshua's head even more firmly as he sees arrows harmlessly bounce of his shield and armour.

Speaking of the shield, the thing was as white as freshly fallen winter snow, it looked more like a mantle piece than an object of combat. Yet it cannot be denied that it seemed to work as intended.

The older dwarf turned to his son and said something he couldn't hear from the distance. Nor could he pay much more attention as yet another attacker had decided to climb the ladder next to him, this time had did not miss it and entered combat with him.

A few seconds later he heard a call issued by Kloin "Attackers, listen and listen well. You are hereby offered the option of surrender. If you accept no harm shall come to you and you will be handed over to the authorities for judgement. Should you refuse we will show you no mercy."

Predictably the bandits thought little of this offer other than a joke to be retold later, and made this opinion rather clear by not stopping their current actions in the slightest.

This attitude changed when the dwarf who was now at the forefront of the combat lifted up something hanging from his neck towards the sky, and from it shone a light so bright it momentarily dazzled Josh who was facing in that general direction. Thankfully his opponent was more interested in knowing what was going on than he was in exploiting his brief moment of weakness, though he did not let his guard down.

After the light receded what remained were four figures gracefully hovering in the air by lazily beating their wings.

Three of the figures were male, while the last was female. They all shared several characteristics with one another. Their skin was like gray marble as though some temple statues had come alive, their eyes were glowing and sparking with yellow light, their hair was silver and wings like doves. The only word that anyone could think of that would properly describe these things was angelic.

But one thing different form angels told about in stories and tales was the fact that each and every one of them carried a massive flame wrought greatsword. Clearly these are not pacifistic messengers of peace.

These angels set upon the attacking force methodically, neither angry nor remorseful. It seemed as though they were merely doing what was their duty, nothing more nothing less.

The angels split up and started hunting bandits wherever they may be. And no matter what the humans did it left scratches at best on the skin of these beings, where as their swords wend trough flesh and bone with little to no resistance at all.

Those that fled were targeted first, those that fought were cut down and those that surrendered were ignored. And while these four creatures could not be everywhere at once their appearance was morale shattering for the bandits. Making it easier for the defenders to take their opponents out.

Enemies who surrendered where quickly bound, and the rest were quickly taken care of. And only a brief two minutes after the angels had been summoned they vanished without a trace in a puff of light. Leaving naught but defeated attackers and battered but not beaten defenders in the wake of their passing.

"Cheers for magical dwarves." Muttered Josh as he finished tying up his recent opponent.

Golarion

Under the clear night skies, if one were to pass by this exact location right now, there lies a peculiar sight.

Two women are talking over the prone form of a third, while standing next to a shimmering hole in reality.

"So you are telling me that as you flew about you spotted a camp of people in the middle of the woods. And that you decided to kill all but one of them after, admittedly, confirming them to be bandits." Raskreia really just wanted to wake up from what must be a dream right about now.

"That is correct." Sadly Rask also knew that he did not have the ability even dream of such a monotone voice, that somehow still carried with it a sizable portion of pride. Or at least she thinks it to be pride.

"And you kept this girl alive because she registered under your magic as being good?" Raskreia had also activated her arcane sight so see whether or not the girl had any magical ability, which she did not.

"Yes, I thought that if I showed the ability to not engage in wanton slaughter of everything around me and actually be able to pick targets you would be more please than if I simply killed all of them."

Raskreia couldn't help to submit to the urge of massaging the bridge of her nose "Well you are not entirely wrong, though I would have appreciated if you could have asked about my opinion in the matter first. Then again, they are bandits and no one is going to shed a tear over them so I suppose it doesn't matter too much this once."

"Are you… displeased?" the disappointment in Cathilia's voice would have been obvious to even the most social inept of people.

"No, not really at any rate. I have a healthy dislike for bandits of any kind. On one hand I would gladly see them all exterminated for… some past events that happened due to their kind. But on the other more rational hand, I cant exactly put them all in the same category due to the actions of some." Raskreia shrugged before continuing once more " Honestly I'm just a bit miffed with myself at the moment for not actually considering that if I give you such loose requests you could do allot of bad things. But I must say that this outcome is, in a darker sense, rather pleasing to me. Don't do it again though."

Cathilia nods her head down before fixing her gaze on the unconscious individual that sparked this discussion in the first place.

"So what, are we to do with her then?"

Rask fixes her gaze on the sleeping person as well and scratches her cheek in thought "You wouldn't know how to erase memories would you?"

"Not selectively, no. I could however torture her until she forgets… everything. Though I believe that is not what you are after." The rhetoric nature of the statement seems to ha flown right over the demons head muses Raskreia.

"No, no it isn't what I want. Also that was supposed to be a joke." Raskreia was about to say something else when a groan makes itself know on the ground.

"Ugh… where am I?" The girl is about to sit up when she sees two pairs of glowing eyes fixed right on her, one harsh orange and the other a soft blue. Upon registering the fact that she is indeed not hallucinating the girl cant help to utter a sound not quite unlike that of a frightened mouse.

"Ah you are awake then. Just in time." As Raskreia says that she takes off her necklace and hands it to Cathilia so that she may understand what is being said.

Raskreia crouches down near but not very close to the girl to be at the same eye level as her "My name is Raskreia, would you be willing to tell me yours?"

After a few moments of silence it seems as tough the girl was not going to answer and just kept looking back and forth between the two creatures in front of her.

"Its all right, no further harm shall come to you. But it would be nice to have a name to call you by." Raskreia tied to sound and look as reassuring as possible as she was crouching close to the frightened girl.

After a few more moments in which it seemed as tough the girl was not going to answer, she hesitantly opened her mouth to speak. "Anna, my name is Anna." She once more looked rapidly back and forth between Cathilia and Raskreia before continuing "What is to become of me now?"

"Honestly? I'm not certain. I was not prepared for that murderous ball of violence over there to pick up a stray, if you pardon my terminology."

Anna chuckled at that, more out of nervousness than mirth. "You could always let me go." She had to gather all of her remaining courage to choke those words out.

"Well I suppose I could, though what stops you from just joining another band of brigands the moment you are gone? I should probably hand you over to the local authorities as soon as we reach town."

"No please kind Lady, they would hang me for crimes I have not even done yet. I swear I will never even consider a life of crime again. I will become an honest working member of society." The desperation in here eyes was as clear to see as the sun in the sky on a cloudless day.

"If I had a copper for every time I heard someone say something like that… id have not all that much money all things considered. But answer me this. Why did you turn to crime, no one does so without reason. Petty as they may or may not be."

"And do not bother lying about your reasons, your mind is like an open book to me mortal." This was Cathilia who spoke up from where she stood. Raskreia knew it to be a bluff. Balors may be powerful and skilled in magic, but reading minds is too subtle an art for them. She didn't call the demon out on it however.

"I- I was being set up for an arranged marriage between myself and a boy from another village. This was done to lessen or even end a long standing animosity between the two villages. Problem is that the person I was promised to is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my life. A few days later I somehow ended up with a newly formed band of bandits. That was some four weeks ago."

'I swear to the gods, why cant she be a homicidal maniac.' Raskreia thought as she put her hands on her hips and stared of into the distance. "Last question. Can you cook?"

Visibly confused the girl falteringly answered anyway "I suppose I am not the worst cook out there."

At which point Raskreia turned around and walked toward the oval portal "Great. Come on, lets make some breakfast then. You can help me by scrambling some eggs and frying bacon."

Anna practically leapt at the lifeline she had been offered, and she quickly followed Raskreia through into the conjured mansion, shortly tailed by Cathilia.

Only for her to bump into a stock still Anna right after passing the portal.

"You are trying my nerves girl. Why did you stop in the portal?" the poor girl had a typical expression on her face of someone stuck between a rock and a hard place as she turned around to face the thing she now feared the most in life.

"B-but t-there is a dragon right there. A blue one!" she was obviously undecided on whether to be polite or to speak in a low whisper. The result being a semi loud broken hiss.

Thankfully Raskreia took pity on her and quickly clarified the situation. "Oh that's Sylphid, she is probably going to be one of the friendliest beings you will meet. Just let her sleep"

Anna did not further question the reptile's presence, as getting past it meant getting space between her and Cathilia.

Shortly later

The three women prepared large helpings of pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and big roast pieces of meat for Felniir an Sylphid.

Anna took care of the eggs and bacon, while Rask made the pancakes. Cathilia volunteered to roast the meat, something that was rather novel to watch for the other two. Mainly due to the fact that she used her tail as a heat source by wrapping it around the meat. The hungry gaze she was giving the morsel reminded Raskreia of particularly hungry puppies, might just be her though.

"You know, I just realized something. You have not eaten anything last night with us."

Cathilia's eyes instantly focus once more as they turn to Raskreia "I had not realized I was invited to partake in them. Nevertheless nothing served yesterday caught my interest, call me dramatic but I would like my first meal in ten millennia to be something special."

"Ah yes that. Its hard to imagine for me to live being denied all the little things in life one grows accustomed to. I'm still impressed you are as mentally stable as you are." Silence returned between them for a few minutes before Raskreia thought of something to ask. "What did you have in mind for your first meal after such a long time?"

The demon took up a thoughtful expression as she moved the now roast meat onto a nearby plate. "I'm not sure. Elf sounds quite appetizing." She said in an even voice watching Raskreia out of the corner of her eyes. And promptly started laughing at the horrified expression of the half-dragon. "I jest is jest. Besides elves tastes terrible anyway."

Raskreia suppressed a sigh of relief, and cracked a smile instead "You know, that would have been funny, if I was still not of the opinion that that had a very real possibility of being meant seriously rather than as a joke."

To which the demon merely shrugged, placing a new chunk of meat in her tail-coil "I'm not much into cannibalism, there is so many more palatable foods out there that don't have the ability to wage war upon you. Naturally I tried it at one point as I hear others of my kind take to it with gusto. Never seen the appeal in it."

"How is it that you can seem so normal one moment and then you just throw such a harsh reminder of your nature out into the room." As soon as she said that Rask realized that that might have not been the best choice of words for what she had meant to say.

"You know, that sort of wording can easily be taken as an insult. Though I realize that that was not your intention. As for an answer to your question, its simple really, I'm proud of what I am." She took a moment to gauge the expression on Raskreia's face before continuing "I am proud to be a demon, as you should be proud of what you are. I accept my role in life to be that of the thing most fear, I accept the fact that I'm driven mostly by instinct and desire for personal fulfilment. Doesn't mean I cant have traits other beings would perceive as 'good'. But enough about the morality of the multiverse, I care little for it. Now to answer a much more important question, I am rather partial to fish and sweet things such as fruits."

Felniir who had come into the room a few moments ago chuckled before speaking, once more startling Anna who was by now getting used to surprises. "Talk about a change of topic. Anyway, I smelled meat so I came." She then looked at Raskreia "You should change back to your human form, the kids should wake up soon."

With a start Raskreia realized that she was indeed still in her natural form, but then though about something. "You know, I might as well come clear about me not being human to them. Two already know it, even if one of them thinks I'm an elf. They all took the non-human nature of Cathilia rather well too."

"How come the change of heart about this so suddenly?" as the tigress said that she was inspecting the pieces of meat that were up for grabs.

"We are soon going to have to enter a city, and there I would have to drop the transformation anyway. So might as well do it here in a controlled environment. Besides I'm getting tired of always having to stay as a human. If I could at least be an elf that would be fine, but no I had to choose human." She says as she starts preparing the table.

Not a minute after Raskreia said that the first of the children entered the room, those being both Tabitha and Kirche.

Tabitha only gave the briefest of curious glances at Anna and then Raskreia before nodding and heading for the prepared food. Kirche on the other hand…

"Good morning, I have got to say those beds that are in here are just perfe-" when she simply stopped speaking mid sentence and stared at Rask, before rubbing here eyes as if to confirm she was not in fact still just groggy, still the image persisted. "I take it you are not human either then?"

This reaction caused Rask to raise a curious eyebrow "You are reacting rather calmly. That's kind of disappointing actually."

"Darling. You come from a different world, wield magic no one has ever heard of before, and are friends with a talking tiger to name a few things. The fact that you are not human is not very shocking in light of this, in fact it merely makes it easier to understand how you do everything that you do. On the other hand I'm looking forward to seeing how Guiche and Louise will react." She then took a bite out of the food she had been placing on her plate. "Wow, this is actually pretty good. So, are you a balor like Cathilia? Cause you look a bit similar, you know horns, tail and wings."

What she did not expect was for Raskreia to start laughing "No, no I am not a balor, and today is going to probably be the only time I will ever be confused for one ever." She managed to say after having calmed down "No I am not a balor. Now quiet I can hear someone coming, act as everything is perfectly normal."

After a few moments both Guiche and Louise came into the room to come upon the rather strange sight the room currently made for. Or at least they perceive it as strange, anyone who adventured for a few years would consider what they are right now as a rather mundane morning.

Louise actually got her bearings back first, while Guiche was still simply standing there unsure of what he was seeing.

"Raskreia, I two questions for you. First of who is that woman?" it was impressive how level her voice managed to stay.

"That's Anna, someone that Cathilia… picked up during a nightly flight." Rask for her part found both Guiche's and Louise's reactions funny in their own right and was trying rather hard to keep a straight and even face.

"I see, and secondly. Why do you now have those extra appendages?"

"That would be because I'm a half dragon most likely." As soon as those words Louise slapped her own face.

After a moment of palming her face she growled out from behind her hand "And how come you forgot to mention that tiny little fact? I was under the assumption you were an elf."

Kirche chose that moment to enter the conversation breaking through her fit of suppressed giggles "An elf? Oh! She introduced herself to you as an elf didn't she?"

"I did indeed. But to be fair I was raised as an elf by elves, and have thought of myself as such for most of my life." Causing Kirche's and Tabitha's eyes to widen slightly.

"I would probably be more shocked if I didn't already know you were something even more outlandish than an elf."

"I will take that as a compliment." She then shifts her gaze towards Guiche who was still staring slack-jawed at her subtly shifting his legs, and growing reder by the second. 'Drench' not a moment after finishing her spell a tiny rain cloud appeared directly above Guiche and completely soaked him in water.

"Wha-What?! I'm here, i'm awake!" he shook himself, almost like a wet dog, after the spell ended "Was that really necessary?"

"No, but it was funny, and i think you could have used a cold shower. Now sit yourself down and eat the food prepared by myself and my two assistants"

They sat in silence for a few minutes after that before Kirche spoke up after having finished eating her fill. "So what is the plan for today?"

Raskreia took a moment to swallow a piece of food before answering "Well I thought that I would re-summon that chariot and we could carry on where we left off yesterday. I had Cathilia look for some things we might be interested in visiting last night, she said she found a few and would lead us there."

Guiche who was still dripping wet perked up slightly "What sort of things?"

"She said something about a large field of flowers, some kind of natural grove with a small lake in it, some form of ruins, a ritual circle and a cave system. The grove being the closest from here."

"Interesting" this was the first word spoken all day by the small blue-haired girl in the room.

"I think it will be interesting." Raskreia said with a smile. While the kids were finishing with breakfast she took out a piece of paper and quickly wrote something on it before folding it up in the shape of a crane.

She turned to the newest additional person in the room and handed it to her. "Here, when we leave I expect you to head for Highhelm, take this piece of paper and find Kwalin's smithy and give it to either Kwalin or the woman behind the counter. You are hereby hired as an apprentice cook in a soon to be opened tavern."

"You are giving her/me a job?" This was said by both Felniir and Anna at the same time.

"Yes I am. I mean I seem to be branching out with businesses so I will need workers. And she needs work, those are two problems that fix one another."

"I- Thank you. Truly thank you." The girl said with a bow of her head.

"No problem, it's the least I can do after my… companion? Familiar? What ever, after Cathilia probably sacred your for life. Think of this as my way of apologizing."

Raskreia's only answer was a nervous laugh from the woman.

Half an hour later saw the group minus Anna on a newly conjured chariot. Cathilia was flying along the chariot, admittedly she was only leisurely flying so she was significantly slower than the summon, this however was offset by her simply teleporting ahead of the group every now and then.

"So she is immortal, can fly at respectable speeds AND can teleport? What else can she do?" Guiche asked Raskreia without taking his eyes of the demoness leading their way.

"She is immune to all forms of poison, heat and electricity, she is resistant to both acid and Cold, and is resistant to the effects of magic in general. She doesn't need to eat drink or sleep, and non enchanted weapons have close to no chance of harming her. Oh and she must have some form of healing ability since she her wings were broken when I met her yesterday. And in the span of a few minutes where I have not seen her they were healed. That's about all I can tell you, since I don't know more either."

Everyone who was listening was looking wide-eyed at either Raskreia or Cathilia.

After a moment of this Kirche spoke up "Since I'm sure all races must have a bad apple or two among them. How do you people deal with one of her kind when they are hostile?"

"We run like hell." Was what Raskreia said in a voice that held no trace amount of humour in it.

At that point they decided to drop this topic for fear of not being able to sleep later.

They rode the chariot like this for a good hour before they came upon the start of a forest.

Not stopping for such trivialities Raskreia pull the chariot into flight over the tree tops, shortly after which they see Cathilia stop a short distance away after another teleportation.

From this angle they also see why she did, as there is a large grove with a lake at the centre of it. Gently descending from the sky Raskreia lands at the shore of the small lake.

"This is not something one sees every day." Guiche says looking at the very large tree which is growing at the edge of the lake. "That tree almost seems alive, well more alive than a normal tree."

"This takes me back to when I was adventuring with my friends. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point a fey will settle here." She then spots a sizable metal chunk that is being wrapped up by the roots of the oak tree. "Is that adamantine I spot there?"

"Indeed it is, however it wasn't wrapped up when I left it there last night." Cathilia says as she too drops from the sky.

"That would be my doing." Almost as one everyone in the clearing turns to the new figure that has appeared. It was a in the shape of a beautiful woman, but what stood out were its bark skin and leaf hair. "I would have thought you to be with those thieves, were it not for the fact that you do not appear sort that wouldn't resort to such petty things."

"Erm, Raskreia? Is that sort of thing normal?" Louise said from where she stood beside Rask.

"Perfectly within the frames of normality… well, my normal at least." She says to the students before turning to the dryad. "Greetings fair woodland being, it was not our intention to trespass on your domain, we will leave post haste if you desire it so."

"That was not my intention when revealing myself. I welcome guests in my home, as long as they behave themselves. Alas, these times are troubled, as have been most ages. And as such friendly visitors are few and far between." The dryad moved past them to a examine the phantom steeds of the chariot. "These apparitions are most fascinating, are they based of off some real creature?"

"They are supposed to be dragon-horses, I recreated them as best as my memory would allow it." Raskreia for her part leaned herself onto the chariot to observe the woman as she strokes the creatures. While doing so she tosses her translation necklace to Kirche so the foreigners can understand what is going on. "You said something about thieves. What was that about?"

The woman paused in her petting of the new and fascinating creatures before fully turning to Raskreia. "A few days ago a small creature, not of the natural world, stole something very important from me. An enchanted necklace a past love has gifted me. This is also the reason why I am talking to you currently, I propose a trade."

Raskreia raises an eyebrow at that "A trade you say? A trade of what?"

"You friend over there seemed rather interested in that rock over there. I propose that if you can return my necklace to me I would be willing to give you that rock."

Cathilia looked like she wanted to object, but a look from Raskreia kept her from saying anything.

"I think that is exactly the kind of thing we had been looking for." Raskreia says.

She turns towards the students with her and smiles "I think I found what could be your first quest!"

AN: its bit shorter than I intended the chapter to be but I just couldn't figure out how to go from there without making it feel like its dragging on a chapter. Also apologies about not updating but my life was a bit busy the past few months. New job and stuff like that