ChaoZ: A Royal pain in the elves.

"Run forest run."

Rol cheered on, forgetting the objective they had.

The Maghi brother was too slow to notice and slipped on the ice. Allowing them to catch up to him as he struggled to get back up. "You're under arrest Mr. Maghi."
"We would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddlesome kids and their manticore! YOU! Ai knew you was trouble, fuckin' outsiders."

Turoh put the man in cuffs. "You're not getting away this time!"
He then dragged him into the house and forced him to sit down while waiting for the other officers. "Okay then lets check out those explosives."

He carefully opened one of the crates and indeed found explosives. "These are illegal mr. Maghi. What are you even doing with these? You really screwed up this time. Sheesh"
He then turned to Jex and Rol. "I should thank you. If you hadn't helped us we wouldn't have caught them. And if we find evidence near the destroyed bridge these two are going away for a long time... Wait that makes us sound incompetent. I swear we aren't, we're just under staffed. It's a small town but were also in charge of the nearby farms and two other towns. And there are only seven of us. So.. We can't always respond on time." He laughs awkwardly.

After waiting for a while the other officers arrive. The female Officer walks up to them. "Thank you for your help. Here is your bounty." She hands them a small bag with Fifty gems. (Giving each of you a total of 34 gems) "We are going to be busy for a while investigating here and at the bridge. If you wish to leave you can, we can handle it from here."
"If you need a place to stay for the night we can probably get you a room in the local Inn."

Jex flipped his staff and let it float beneath him. He sat down on it and allowed it to float horizontally as they waited for the guards.

"It's no trouble."

He said as he nodded off the guards' praise. He looked at the female police officer when she came.


"We should have a place to stay. Thank you for the offer. If you need anymore help, just come look for us."

Jex nodded and started towards Melope's farm. He needed to let them know that justice was brought to the Maghi's and to make sure they were safe.

The bounty hunter nodded and stayed silent letting his friend deal with the officers and the bounty, though he was pouting underneath his facemask.

His lack of satisfaction from not being more involved in the bounty dealings quickly left as they headed towards Melope's farm. "I wondered how Fluffy is?" Rol pondered happily.

The sun had completely set when the two adventurers reached the farm again. And just like last time Fluffy came to greet them. The lights were on inside the house to the right. Fluffy walked towards it indicating he wanted them to follow.
Inside Melope and Leaf were eating dinner.


"Welcome back." Melope smiled.
"Are they in jail now?! Are they?" Leaf jumped up wanting to know if everything turned out fine.
"Leaf, they just got back. I'm sure they'll tell us what happened but you should calm down."
Leaf pouted and sat back down. "If you want you can join us for dinner, we have more than enough."

Jex smiled upon seeing Melope and Leaf.

"Yes. Both of them."

He decided not to tell them the details about what exactly happened, lest asked. He nodded his head and walked towards the table.

"Don't mind if we do. Thank you, you two."


Right before anything else, he asked,


"I know it might seem like a lot but is there any chance my friend and I could stay here for the night? I swear we'll be gone by tomorrow."

"We will not steal any of the melons you farm. I Promise." Rol said, forgetting the reason that Melope's nickname was Melon and reverting to his original thought.

"Yay. Serves them right the bastards." Leaf responds before returning to her food.
Melope let out a sigh of relief.


"Don't be silly. After all you did it would almost be rude to not let you stay. And you don't have to be in a hurry to leave. If you want you can stay for breakfast too. I don't mind making a bit more. You'll probably need the energy for you adventures." Melope smiled warmly.
"I thought that was obvious." Leaf added while giving a piece of meat to Fluffy.



"Uh, she doesn't farm melons. She HAS melons. Right there o-"
"LEAF!"
"Oops, sorry."


They spend the evening talking over dinner and then all go to bed. The next morning Fluffy wakes Jex and Rol up. Melope and Leaf are already up and making breakfast.
_{(Eating the Re'turnip will now return you to the farm. In case you need it.)}

Jex stands up and adjusts his ever-present glasses. He picks up his staff and stands up, using it as leverage.


"Good morning."

He greets Leaf and Melope. He pat's Fluffy on the head and stretches, letting the sunlight hit his face. Looking over Melope's shoulders he tried to find out what they were making. Well, whatever it was it looked good.

"We really should be going but that looks way too good to pass up."

Rol woke up. But didn't get up, he just laid there in thought. Nothing deep of course, mostly just wondering if trees could talk to animals.

Melope smiled. "Breakfast is important especially if you're going off adventuring. You can't battle on an empty stomache."
"Melons cooking is awesome! "
"Leaf.."
"Oops. I mean Melope's cooking." Leaf giggled.
"You said that on purpose."
"Maybe."
Melope shok her head and sighed. "You're getting extra chores for that."
"Aww damn it."
This time it was Melope who giggled. "Alright breakfast is ready. Eat up."
She put four plates full of food that looked and smelled delicious. And a bowl of meat for Fluffy.


Meanwhile Fluffy tried to get Rol out of bed by licking his face.

Jex sat himself down and clapped his hands together.


"Thank you."

He started eating. However, he was still aware of their time constraint. It made him wonder what Ziome and Az were going through. He had not felt anything unusual from the mana he had given Ziome, so he didn't worry too much. As much as he had wanted to stay longer, Rol and him needed to leave as soon as possible.

"Ugh what, Fluffy?" The bounty hunter wiped the manticore sober off himself.

"Why do you smell of bacon? Huh.. Morning.. BREAKFAST!" Rol yelled and shot out of bed ran towards the food and threw his face in to his plate, somehow removing his facemask and not breaking anything in the process.

((Because Rol will only be able to post about once every two days I'm gonna change my plans. For the limited time that Rol can post I'll go with Jex's idea of Ziome's infused mana alerting Jex. Jex and Rol go to help out and When Rol can't acces the internet anymore they'll go back and Jex can do the last part of the Leaf and Melope quest chain. Which shouldn't take long. When Rol gets back they can then head to the dungeon together.))

Melope and leaf were surprised by the bounty hunters sudden entrance. But the girls just giggle and resume their meals. Fluffy goes and finishes his meal too.


A while later everyone has finished their meal and Jex and Rol are about to head out. But before they can say goodbye to the girls Jex senses a disruption in the mana he infused with Ziomé.
Melope notices Jex's expression changing. "Is something wrong?"
"Huh?" Leaf expressed her confusion.
Fluffy also seemed to notice something was up. He turned towards the general direction of where Ziome and Az were and frowned.

Jex had finished eating before Rol came shook his head when he did. How disrespectful to come so late, yet he couldn't expect much from him. He sat at the table and made conversation with Leaf and Melope about mundane tasks at the farm. He nodded, waiting for Rol to finish.

Just as everyone else finished, he stood up and thanked the two. He assured them they would come back to check on them and this wouldn't be the last they'd see of the duo. Just as he was about to leave, however, Jex flinched. There was a very clear disturbance in his mana. He wasn't sure at first but it came to him quickly. 


"Ziome and Az."

He quickly turned to Rol, the distress in his face was clear.


"We have to go. Now."

Melope told them they would be welcome any time. Leaf agreed and wished them good luck. The two girls didnt know what made Jex show such distress but didn't say more. They waved at the duo as they left. Fluffy hesitated for a moment but seemed to decide to follow Rol.

(I'd post more but I'm thinking Jex knows a magic way to get there faster. That or They fly there, Jex on his staff and Rol on Fluffy. Leaf DID mention a saddle as a reward for escorting her. But Rol didn't seem to like flying Fluffy so.. I dunno. Walking would take days.)

Jex looked at Rol, and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Let's go."

Allowing his sensory magic to take over, he found out exactly where Ziome was. After that, he infused magic into his left and right hands, allowing the end of his staff to touch Fluffy.


"I'm not sure it'll bring all of us considering the length of the travel but this is our best bet."

He said,


"Ire."

And in a flash, they would port nearby where Ziome was.

(Not sure if this works but if he replies we can both go if not, I suppose he could stay and I can solo help?)

"Ugh, I fell jet lagged and as if I were irrelevant for the last like four posts."

After the teleport the bounty hunter shook his head.

"What's going on? Why'd we leave? Do you have to rescue your princess, and by princess I mean apprentice of our scary lesbian friend?"


Rol readied his hands near Pew and Pew in case of an oncoming battle.

The teleportation worked. The two adventurers and manticore were now inside some old building. The walls and floor were made of a dark metal that seemed to have rusted somewhat over the ages. Large glowing white tubes ran across the walls, illuminating the room. The lack of windows would cause this place to be pitch black if it wasn't for those tubes. Unfortunatly the tubes weren't that bright so the visibility was not that good.
Aside from the tubes there were also several huge black pillars around the room.


"Why are you guys here? And who are you calling scary?" Az's voice sounded from behind a pillar. "Never mind get over here. Staying out in the open makes you easy prey."
Az and Ziome were crouching behind the pillar. Ziome was quietly concentrating on healing a wound on her own arm. She probably hadn't even noticed anyone teleported in.

Jex whipped his staff out the second they teleported. He looked at Az when she spoke  and quickly ran towards Ziome.

"Are you alright?"

He whispered, putting his hand on her shoulder.


"Easy prey for what?"

He asked Az.

"Who you calling scary, she said threateningly."

Rol whined at the witch who was behind the pillar.

"Easy pray? Are we in a church? Is this a cult. I hate cults. Maybe."


The bounty hunter himself stayed out in the open. Not paying any particular attention to Az's warning.

Ziome flinched when Jex touched her shoulder. "Huh? Oh.. Yeah, it's just a minor wound. I've almost finished healing it. I'm sorry for worrying you."


"There is some kind of monster in here. When we first got here the place was completely dark. We managed to get those tubes to light up by restoring the power. But when we did that we woke something up I think.
The Prince and his dark elf are also here. They brought about fifty dark elven soldiers. We encountered ten of them and had to defend ourselves. One of them managed to wound Ziome. I thought we were going to be in trouble. That's probably why you're here, right?
Anyway we were cornered but then suddenly something snatched one of the soldiers up into a hole in the ceiling.
The other soldiers seemed to think that I had done that and they kept firing arrows at us. Then suddenly that thing drops down the hole again. It was tall, had spikes coming out of its head, bone claws and several rows of teeth. It seemed to move by sliding on giant tentacles.
It was about to charge at me, I told Ziome to run and got ready to attempt fending it off. Luckily those idiot dark elfs attacked it and got its attention off us and on to them. As soon as it turned around I grabbed Ziome and ran here. The last thing we heard were the dark elves screaming in pain."

Az turned her attention to Rol. " That thing is fast so I suggest at least having your weapons ready if you're not going to hide. Either way at least that thing is keeping the prince and his dark elf from chasing after us. which gives us a head start to get-"

Suddenly a sound came up from above. As if something was moving towards them quickly. "Fuck."
Ziome got back on her feet. She seemed to be shaking. "It's here?"

"Yeah, but the real question is can we eat it?"

Rol asked, still lading laxly in the open, though mentally on guard. Or as mentally on guard as he can be. Az and Ziome's reactions to the monster made him slightly more wary, only slightly though. "Also, probably should check for poison in that wound. Dark elves like it nasty. Though you probably did that. I just wanted to make that pun." He added in as an afterthought directed to Ziome.

"I think I try and see what a mouthful of explosive'll do to it, yeah?"


The bounty hunter turned to Jex. "Unless you got other plans?"


Then he was hit by an epiphany. "Oh, I know. Fluffy and I can keep it company while you guys grab the relic thingy."

Jex's eyes widened as he pulled himself up, Rol leading the story by contributing a possible option!? They must have done something to him!


Jex pulled himself up and held his hand out for Ziome. He could support her. The minimal healing magic that he knew of could help.

"Alright, sounds like a good plan, coach."

He turned to Az.


"Where to?"

"Did that just happen? Rol had a viable plan? What.."
"I'm confused."


"Alright, let's go." Az turned and led the way.
Ziome took Jex's hand and smiled.

Suddenly a dark blurr shot down from a hole above Rol. Bone claws wrapped around him. But before he could be taken away the creature was tackled by fluffy.
The Creature released Rol from its grip as it tumbled over the floor with the manticore.

The two creatures jumped apart. The Manticore growled at the creature that was much larger than him. It roared back, baring three rows of teeth. It didn't seem to have eyes but still knew how to locate its prey. The monster was twice as tall as a human and slithered on several octopus like tentacles that came out of its abdomen. Its body was covered in spikes and it had two elongated arms ending in sharp claws.

"Shit!" Az decided to make a break for it hoping Rol could handle this thing.
She ran out the room and headed to the artifact.
Ziome held on to Jex his hand as they ran trying not to look at the creature.
Az followed the Glowing tubes to wherever they led.