Chapter One: Nightstone, Part Six

When Phil and his party got back to the motel, the first thing they did was to check on Ledias. Cyprus, Sorvex, Slayer, and Ace with the baby, stayed at the bar while Phil and Midnight went up the stairs to her room. They opened the door to find a bizarre sight. The room was a mess, ruble littered the floor. To the left of the room, there was a destroyed wall with two bodies lying on the floor. One was Ledias's body, bleeding from her right knee, and the other was Riley's, blood dripping from his chin.

"Ledias! Riley!" Phil ran towards them, making sure they were alive. "They're still breathing." He let out a sigh of relief, then turned towards Midnight. "Can you cast healing magic?" he asked the Anthro-Fox. Midnight shook his head, but he took out a couple of band aids, healing potions, some medicine, and offered them to him.

He gave one potion of healing to Ledias and applied some bandaids where the splint was. He then gave another one to Riley and put them both on separate beds. "What the hell happened?" Phil asked rhetorically. He looked outside and saw a pig trying to drown itself. He decided to tell the others what he saw upstairs and went down to the bar.

"So basically, they got it on and Ledias was being to rough and they destroyed the wall? That's my theory anyway," said Ace, still holding the baby. He was surprisingly good with human children, even though he was a bird. He would dangle his wings above the baby, and the baby would treat them like toys.

Phil gave a slight smile. Even though he was a strange pervert, he was still a good guy.

"No, since i'm pretty sure you wouldn't break a leg and destroy a wall," Sorvex replied. He was slightly disappointed that he wasn't able to peek on them since he was hoping that they would "do it." They heard the creak of a door opening on the second floor. Riley and Ledias came walking down. Ledias was still limping from her injury and Riley made a weird noise when ever he exhaled.

"How did it feel for your first time?" Ace asked as his feathers were being pulled by the baby.

"Heh, you wish. I've already been with many women over the years." Riley said with pride.

"I sensed a lie," Ledias said, smirking. Riley's face turned red. "But anyways," Ledias started to explain what happened, how Riley became possessed by a demon and attacked her, and Riley told about how he met a strange old lady and that when he lowered his guard, he felt the demon possess him.

"Sounds like a Necromancer attacked you and summoned a demon to possess you." Phil stated. "They can summon spirits, demons, and can also raise the dead. Guys," Phil called for everyone's attention. "If you ever encounter a Necromancer, don't lower your guard or else she'll take control of you with a demon. Got it?" Everyone nodded in agreement, but Ledias spaced out after she heard the words "raise the dead".

"I can bring Grog back… back home…" she muttered under her breath as corrupted thoughts and temptation entered her mind. A hand grabbed her shoulder and shook her back to reality. Phil stood in front of her with a stern look.

"I've known you for a while now, so I know what your thinking," Phil said. Ledias looked up at his eyes. Beautiful green with a pinch of yellow stared back at her dark blue eyes. "He's gone. Please accept that before you become corrupted." Phil spoke the truth. There was no trace of fairness in his voice, just true sincerity.

Tears swelled up by her eyes as the truth echoed her mind. She had to accept it, but she kept denying it internally. She nodded as her face turned red. It was embarrassing for her to let others see her cry.

"Ah, Phil! I got a letter from the Queen. I forgot to tell you earlier." Sorvex pulled out a letter that was addressed to them by the Queen. He gave it to Phil, who gave it to Slayer since he was the only one in the group who could read the Queen's messy handwriting. He could finally be useful.

"Psh, you peasants couldn't even read this simple piece of pap-" Slayer boasted until Ledias smacked him in the back of the head.

"Get on with it, or else we're having fried dragon ears for dinner," Ledias said menacingly. Slayer shivered in fear. Cyprus still slept on the floor while babbling nonsense about a dragonborn and dwarfs fighting wizard towers.

"Yo..." Slayer cleared his Throat. "Dear brave Adventurers, I have sent mercenaries from the Seven Snakes to the town of nightstone. Fear not, for they are there are backup. There has been movement North-East of the town. We are suspecting that the goblins and ogres have made their move towards the town to attempt to extend their territory. I would suggest getting some rest and supplies for the incoming raid. From your beloved, The Queen." Slayer perfectly mimicked the Queen's voice that they almost believed it was her. Some people who are completely useless sometimes have unbelievable talents. "How was that?" Slayer asked. He still feared that Ledias would cut off his ears. They applauded him.

"Still crap but-" Sorvex joker until Slayer kicked him.

"Okay, now that we got a job to do, we should get some rest and ready up," Phil said, grabbing the leader role once more. "We'll take turns looking for resources and things that we need in general. Me and Slayer will go first."

"Hold up, why me?" Slayer asked.

"Because you have a knack for finding trouble, so if your ever attacked by goblins, we can kill them and loot them for items," Phil replied, giving a pretty solid statement. Everyone nodded.

The rest of the adventurers went to the second floor to rest in the rooms while Phil and Slayer went to search for resources. As they were roaming the town in search for anything that could be useful to them, Phil turned to Slayer and patted his back. "Sorry for losing my temper back then in the church. I hope you can forgive me," Phil requested.

Slayers ears perked up as he heard Phil's request to be forgiven. "I mean sure, but after all the emotional crap you put me through I'm not too sure you are legit about that man, give me about 400 gold and i'll call it eve-" He was suddenly cut off when Phil pulled on his ears.

"Never mind about me asking for forgiveness if your gonna be a smart ass about it," Phil said with anger, but it was more of a brotherly love kind of anger and Slayer noticed that. He released Slayer from his clutches as he kept walking down the path. Slayer smiled. He liked having friends.

Day approached as the morning dew of the sun pierced the cracked glass of the second floor. The rays were directed towards Ledias's face as she awoke. She sat up from her bed and stretched, the light reflecting off her pure white skin. She moved her long black hair from her face and turned towards the hands of what was her friend's. She wasn't sure if she was just hallucinating, but she could somewhat feel the presence of Grog's soul hovering above the hands. The hands seemed to be preserved by it. She smiled sadly and greeted the hands good morning. She could feel his soul say good morning back.

Ledias got out of bed, got dressed and equipped her armor, did her daily routine to keep up her hygiene, and went downstairs to get breakfast that Midnight made; he was a surprisingly good cook for a sorcerer. She was surprised to see the bar filled with mercenary's as she stepped down the last step and onto the stone floor. They were all large with muscles and covered head to toe in armor. The baby was in a makeshift cradle that Ace put up. It was surprisingly well made for a bird.

Their races ranged from humans to dragonborns, but she didn't spot a single elf, for some elf races were forbidden to meddle with other races except their own. Justin Time, who was a frost elf, was supposedly an ambassador of the frost elf kingdom. He wanted to bring peace with all races and bring them together to have harmony, but he struggled to do so since he couldn't understand what peace was in the first place. It was just an internal impulse for him to do so.

A familiar voice called for her at the very back of the bar. She saw her party sitting at a U-shaped table already chowing down on their servings. Phil waved and signaled to come over. She gratefully did so.

"Good morning," Phil greeted.

"Good morning, Phil," Ledias replied back respectfully. She sat by him with Cyprus across from her, sober. It was a rare sight to see her sober, her orange-red skin making her stand out from the crowd. If they squint their eyes and looked at her from a distance, they could possibly mistake her for an imp. Cyprus looked up at Ledias and saw her staring at her.

"What, never seen me eat before?" She asked with a full mouth. She showed too much skin, even for a Rogue.

Ledias smiled. "No, I was just thinking about how beautiful your skin is," Ledias said. Cyprus didn't hear; she was shoving more food into her mouth and creating a mess.

"I smell some forbidden love in the air from you two," Ace said while shoving a full live tuna down his throat.

"If it's forbidden love story's you want, I can hook you up with a story about me and my 26 dead cousins," added Slayer. Everyone gagged from disgust as he started to tell the tale, but Ace seemed into it as he listened to the story the whole time, nodding his head and making some connections with his own family. Some of the mercenaries were also curious too, since they started to gather around the party.

"...and so my 13th cousin came up to me while I was busy getting it on with the other 12 and asked if she could be my wife!" Ace and the mercenaries all laughed, but the rest of the party was slightly green from the story.

"Even I can't handle this," said Sorvex. He gagged a bit. They were all saved when Lieutenant Timbel entered the bar. All the mercenaries turned around and saluted.

"Commander Timber!" They chanted and praised him. He smiled at the praises, but then frowned as he saw Phil and his party. He then approached them with a smirk on his face.

"Greetings, Phil." Commander Timbel said with some disgust as he said Phil's name. He looked at the party of "misfits".

"Greetings, 'Commander' Timber," Phil greeted him, saying "Commander" sarcastically. "I see that you've been promoted from Lieutenant all the way up to Commander. What's your secret? Did you kill your old man just to grab the spotlight?" Phil questioned.

Commander Timber snickered. "Oh, so like how you killed your career as a teacher?" he asked Phil back. Phil froze in shock. He got up and grabbed Commander Timber by his collar.

"You son of a b-"

"Oh, I wouldn't advise to resort to violence here, Phil," Commander Timber said with a sneer, repeating what Ledias said to him a while back. Phil looked around and saw dozens of eyes pointed at him. Even his party stared at him in confusion. Phil, defeated, released his grip and sat back down.

"I'm sorry but what just happened?" Slayer asked Sorvex as he began to sit next to him.

"I have no idea," Sorvex replied. He turned towards Ledias. "You?"

She shook her head. Even her, the closest one to Phil, had no idea what was going on. Commander Timber walked away towards the center of the room.

"Hello gentlemen and gentlewoman, races of all kinds, I have an announcement to make," he said in an assertive voice. "Goblins and ogres have officially been seen heading in this town's direction. We have 12 hours to set up and prepare for battle. Company A will take the walls and shoot the enemies that are below. Company B will head down to the battlefield and keep them at bay." He turned towards the party. "You folk, stay back and let the professionals handle this." He then signaled for the mercenaries to follow him and walked out of the bar.

Phil was silent. He was clutching a kitchen knife so hard that the wood started to crack. "Phil?" Ledias wanted to know what was going on. He didn't respond.

He got up and left the bar. "Prepare for battle," Phil told his party as he exited through the door. Ledias got up and followed.

"But what about Commander Timber's orders?" Sorvex asked.

"Screw his orders," Slayer answered as he got up. "Let's get moving."