The bard was dead and there was nothing they could do to help him from there. At one point, the musician had been human. But an odd thing happens when you take slip and take fall down the side of a cliff. The bones have an odd way of bending in ways they ought not to. This is particularly worrying if any of those bones are in the neck. Kailin had been staring silently at the corpse for an hour or so. Before the fall had made the bard into a corpse, they were hoping he might prove to be a helpful teacher. That’s because it was not I who killed the bard. It was that rat prick, Zeus. I turned my back for a fraction of a second and he’s puppeted the bard to leap into the water, dashing his empty little head against the rocks. Anyways, here’s these assholes, i guess.
“It’s a good thing his lyre isn’t broken,” howled Dale.
“A man is dead,” said the wizard. “Fuck.”
"So what?" said Dale. He picked at his teeth with his despicable hand-talon. "Loot his corpse and make for the town with the nearest tavern, I'm craving booze, shit-wizard."
"We can't just leave him here."
"Why the hell not? You're a satanist aren't you?"
The wizard looked down at the corpse and then back at Dale. "Just because I'm a satanist doesn't mean I don't have any ethics, you know?"
"No I don't, you're being a moron, let's go. We should be near Thonis. They have great wine in Thonis if I recall," said Dale. His horrible wings fluttered wildly in his cage.
Kailin picked up the dead man's instrument and clumsily tried to play out a tune. Their fingers pressed on two of the strings simultaneously, producing an off-key hum that hurt their pointed ears.
"Well hells bells, maybe you did need the bard's help. It's no matter, I can help you. Our lord and master, Lucifer was the choirmaster of heaven, and I'd rather crawl through a field of broken glass than have my own musical skills doubted." said Dale.
Kailin looked at him, unamused. "I don't think that's how it works."
"No?" said Dale. He shrugged. "Who gives a shit, let's go to Thonis."
And so they went. When they walked into town, they witnessed an orc woman in a yellow cloak and armor staggering out of the tavern, piss drunk.
"Hey!" called Dale. "You there! Orc woman!"
The orc stopped and looked at him. "What do you want?" she slurred.
"We're looking for a place to stay," said Dale. "Do you know of any inns in this town?"
"Why do you speak using my father’s voice, owl?" the knight shouted at Dale. "No, I don't, I'm not from here either."
"We're sorry, you just seemed like the most knowledgeable at the time," said Kailin, trying to ease the conversation between the demon and the knight.
"I'm sleeping in the woods," She said. "I'd recommend you do the same, but a stick like you will be food for the wolves within hours."
Her head bobbed wildly from side to side as her eyes narrowed, trying to get a good look at the elf and the owl. For a moment, she thought they looked a bit on the familiar side, but she couldn't recall being a close acquaintance of any elf that wasn't in the Heraclean order.
"What's your name?" asked Kailin
The orc thought for a moment. "Betta," she said. "What's yours?"
"I'm Kailin and this is Dale, he is an owl that was horrifically deformed at birth,” The demon shot them an annoyed look, but said nothing to contradict them.
"Pleasure to meet you both," said Betta. "I'm going to bed, good luck with finding an inn."
She passed out in the middle of the street the second she stopped speaking.
Dale's eyes felt hot; for a moment,he envied this unconscious knight. He too desired sleep. Sleep and enough booze to kill half a dozen elephants.
"We should probably find a place to stay as well," said Kailin, looking down at the sleeping knight.
"Yeah, I don't think she's going to be much help," said Dale.
They found an inn and got a room for the night. Kailin tried to play the dead bard's lyre. But they couldn't get their fingers to properly pluck at the strings without catching two at a time, producing discordant note after discordant note. For a moment they thought about giving up for a moment, but then their eyes wandered over to the demon in the cage. It was licking like a foul animal at a puddle of wine on the floor of the cage. If things were to go wrong, Dale might find some other way out of the cage and puppet their flayed skin. As the night went on, the booze made Dale’s eyes heavy, and to Kailin’s astonishment, the demon sunk into a drunken pile on the cage floor.
Kailin made their way from the room and down into the tavern proper. They'd noticed it when they entered, but the bar was decorated with hieroglyphics, though their arrangement lacked any meaning. Above the bar, they roughly translated it as "Brick Layer", they imagined the bar's owners simply liked the aesthetic of the Egyptians but lacked any understanding of the material. It was sparsely populated. The man at the bar looked ready to fall asleep himself, but what was most striking was Betta. They spotted her drinking at the bar, but she was ignored by the barkeep. Kailin took a seat beside the knight and gestured at the barkeep.
The knight was perhaps the tallest orc they'd ever seen in their life. The crest that she wore on her yellow cloak felt familiar, though their mind could not place the lion's head that was wreathed by lightning.
The barkeep came over and Kailin ordered a drink. They downed it in one gulp and ordered another. It was then that Betta took notice of the strange wizard.
"You again," she said, scowling. "I take it you found luck finding an inn?"
"We did," said Kailin. "My owl has fallen asleep and I came down to perhaps get a drink or three."
"What are you doing here?" she asked. "You don't seem like you're from around here."
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"We're not," said Kailin. "I am on a novel quest, I think."
"What kind of quest?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Kailin shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure. I'm looking for a means to open up up my owl's cage. The only way to do that is through magic, I'm afraid."
The knight snorted. "You and your quest. I'm looking for something too."
"What are you looking for?" asked Kailin.
"I'm looking for a bear leech," she lied. "I'm told it's in a cave somewhere in the south."
"A bear leech?" said Kailin, confused. "What on earth for?"
The knight shrugged. "I don't know. I just have this feeling that I need to find it."
"I see," said Kailin. "Well, perhaps we can help each other. I could use a companion on my quest, and you could use someone to help you find this bear leech."
The knight thought for a moment. "All right," she said. "We can help each other."
She extended her hand and Kailin shook it.
"My name is Betta, by the way."
"Kailin," said the wizard. "Though you said as much before you fell asleep in the street."
"Ah, yes," said Betta, sheepishly. "I'm sorry about that. I've been on the road for a while. My social skills have rusted in their scabbard."
"It's all right," said Kailin. "Where are you coming in from, Lady Betta?"
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"I'm from the city-state of Treason," she said. Her arm unconsciously moved to show off more of the coat of arms on her cloak.
"I cannot say that I've ever been. I'm coming down from England, myself."
"So, you're an English...woman? Man? Something of the neutre variety?" she asked.
"More of the latter, but I am by no means English," said Kailin.
"Ah, I see," said Betta. "So, what's your story then?"
"I fancy myself to be a citizen of the world. In truth, I don't know where I came from."
"That's quite a sad story," said Betta.
"Why so? I'm not a vagabond, I have a home in Pontefract. I have my works, my religion too even though I'm bad at it." said Kailin.
"I see," said Betta. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."
"It's quite all right," said Kailin. "If i may ask, what do you want with this Bear Leech character?"
"He...I think it's a he, is guarding something my king wants. I have been given this labor and I aim to carry it out or die trying," she said, fighting back to urge to proudly proclaim this to the heavens.
"I see," said Kailin. "I have no such loyalty to a king. My loyalties lie with myself and The Black Goat.”
"The Black Goat?" she said, confused.
"He is my god," said Kailin. "Lucifer, Satan, Whatever name they're comfortable with, really. But I knew them as The Black Goat of the Woods."
"I see," said Betta. "I'm not sure if my god would approve of me working with a follower of The Black Goat."
"Your god?" said Kailin, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you said you were from Treason. You're a worshiper of Zeus."
"I am," she said. "Though there feels something unwholesome about the ordeal."
"I see," said Kailin. "Well, I think we can still help each other. It's a business arrangement, yeah? I think that leaves wiggle room."
"I suppose," said Betta. "But I think we should probably get some sleep. We can discuss this further in the morning."
"Agreed," said Kailin.
They finished their drinks and made their way back to the inn. Kailin crawled into bed, though they found it difficult to sleep with the weight of the quest on their mind. They eventually managed to drift off into a fitful sleep, filled with dreams of The Black Goat and the fields.
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