Zilo floats in a space of darkness with a helm like that of the Lich King supported by the Sword of Lich King.
"Hello Master." Says the helm in an echoing disheartening voice.
"Master? Me?" Says Zilo motioning to himself.
"Yes, You are the new holder of the Mantle of the Lich King."
"No thanks." Says Zilo waving him off. The helm shifts side to side as if to shake his head.
"This is not like something you can just refuse, the only way to pass this power on is to die at the hands of someone else who is worthy of the Mantle." Says the helm.
"Well I don't need that sort of power, all I need to do is protect my friends."
"I can help you do that."
"How is that?" Asked Zilo, now looking intrigued
"Its very simple, as a Lich King you have immense Necrotic Power."
"Yeeeeah?"
"So you can therefore lend that power to them as well."
"I see."
"All you'd need to do is kill them and add them to your undead legion."
Zilo stares at the head, with his jaw agape for just enough time for it to be awkward.
"I don't want to kill my friends."
"Why not?"
"If you have to ask, then that is more of a problem!!!" Exclaims Zilo.
"It seems I'll need to wait until you wish for the power, not an issue, the last King needed a year or two to come around. Until then, goodbye."
Zilo jolts awake in the back of a cart. The sky looks very blue and the dwarven city is nowhere to be seen, suddenly Zilo is pinned to the ground by a familiar looking Tiefling.
"Thank the Gods Zilo! You're okay!" Shouted Maldrek as he lets go of his hug he was giving the fetchling, but before he does, he says, "Play along and pretend you don't know what happened."
"Won't need to, I have no clue what happened."
Suddenly Cruxis jumps onto the cart and Alaroc and May look from their positions on horseback and at the reigns respectively.
"You live Zilo? You've been out cold for the last day and a half." says the horseback Alaroc
Maldrek waves his hands about and sweats, saying, "Clearly he must have ingested some form of hibernation root when he tripped on the Lich's arm, and therefore-"
"That's not what happened Maldrek..." Says Zilo cutting him off. Maldrek's forehead is drenched in sweat as Zilo turns to his friends.
"I'm sorry, the battle must have taken a lot out of me, Fetchlings have a lighter body than most, but it is also a bit more frail, I apologize for worrying you all."
With that the friends all return to their spots and leave Maldrek to explain what happened since Zilo went unconscious. Apparently the dwarves rewarded the group with a custom crafted cart and horses, but They then left at Maldrek's request.
"I see, but why did you want us to leave?"
"You're... Fetchling frailty." Says Maldrek as he motions to Zilo's side. Zilo looks down to see the Sword of the Lich King. Zilo immediately panics and hurls the sword and it's sheath out of the cart.
Maldrek looks at him disappointed and says, "Don't you think Cruxis already tried that, look again."
Zilo looks to his side again and sees the sword, still there. His eyes go wide with panic and he looks back to Maldrek who puts up his hand in a calming motion.
"Worry not Zilo. I've studied the blade along with Cruxis, and I have a theory. So long as you keep it sheathed, you will remain yourself."
"Also that I need to die to someone else who is worthy to pass on the power?"
Maldrek is now the one who looked perplexed.
"What?"
Zilo hoists the sword by it's holster, "That's what the spirit I spoke with said."
Maldrek thumbs his chin and looks to his own blade before Zilo says, "He also must have a grudge against you guys since he also asked me to kill you guys."
Zilo reaches forward and hugs Maldrek, "But he's clearly delusional, what person would kill a best friend like you Maldrek?"
Maldrek's grip on the hilt of his blade weakens.
"Yes, just what I was contemplating."
Zilo lets go of his friend and says, "So what is our heading then?" Asks the bard looking around to the winding path on a mountain pass.
May speaks over her shoulder, "The dwarves spoke of a ghost ship without a crew toward the back of these mountains, Maldrek thinks it would be a worthy vessel for us."
Cruxis hops up onto the cart and opens a map.
"We should be able to see it just past that ridge." The group looks up over the ridge to see... nothing.
Maldrek looks disheartened, "Hm, well that is disappointing."
Alaroc dismounts his horse and falls to his knees.
"DAMNIT! I wanted to to move from ale to rum! What am I to do with this now!?" He shouts as he takes a bottle of blackish brown liquid from his bag.
Cruxis walks forward puts a hand on Alaroc's shoulder, "Perhaps now is the time to give it up my friend, and move to a much healthier lifestyle, aye chum?"
Cruxis pats Alaroc's back, but Alaroc still must have been a bit drunk as he fell forward and tumbled a over the edge. Suddenly Alaroc was falling toward the sea. But then in mid-air he crashed into... nothing.
Alaroc was on the air, but looked as if he had hit the ground 15 feet over the cliff's edge.
"Hold a moment, Dispel Magic" Maldrek motions out his hand toward the spot below Alaroc. Suddenly it is shown that an entire pirate ship is there below Alaroc, and he had only crashed into the crow's nest. The ship looked not to be made of wood, but it was composed tip to bottom of ivory bones.
Alaroc stood and looked down past the crew's nest. There seemed to be a huge, shadowy glyph on the center of the vessel.
"Well look at that! I found it." Shouted the knight, waving back to his friends.
While the group looks down to the Knight, Zilo leaps off the Cliff, past the crow's nest. he grips a rope and suddenly is flung to the front of the ship and he cracks off his whip and attaches it to the mast. He slings around the mast before landing with a flip onto the deck.
He kneels down to the source of his sudden leap of faith, the glyph at the center of the ship.
"Are you the same Idiot who couldn't hop across the acid pool when we met you?" Asks May as after she makes a similar acrobatic leap down to the ship.
"As an Umbral bard, we are trained to make our Performances Versatile as we learn new ways to entertain. It makes us naturally talented at picking up new skills, in this case, when I learned to dance, it translated fairly well to my acrobatics."
May looks up to see Maldrek laughing as Cruxis and Alaroc attempt to get the cart down into the crow's nest.
Zilo stands as Maldrek casts Feather Fall down with the two horses that pulled the cart.
"Maldrek, can I bounce Something off you?" Asks the concerned looking bard. Maldrek walks over to the glyph.
"Tell me Maldrek, how common are Fetchlings in this Plane?" Asked the bard.
"Less so than Tieflings who themselves aren't common, I'd say you're sort are quite the rarity. You and the Shadow Caller in the port are the only ones I may claim to have seen in my lifetime."
"Well it seems that this ship was manned by a Fetchling, this glyph is the summoning circle that boosts the power of a Shadow Caller, I suspect that our old friend and this ship may be kindred."
Maldrek thumbs his chin then looks over the side of the ship after a moment he turns back and leans on the railing, with a smile. As he opens his mouth there is a crash as Cruxis and Alaroc crash into the deck with the cart, leaving it damaged. May hits her forehead then walks over and begins casting Mending on the disabled cart.
Maldrek coughs then looks to the group, "Lady and Gentlemen, it seems as though our new ship already has a name and a crew."
The friends grab their weapons and look left and right.
"Don't worry, they seem to be away, we very well may have taken a different path on the roads to the dwarf city, lucky for us." Says Maldrek with a sly smile. Cruxis walks forward and puts his face to Maldrek's.
"Are you suggesting that we rob these folks Maldrek?"
"Tell me , Cruxis. Do you recall how our journey to this dwarf kingdom began?"
Crxuis' eyes go wide.
"You don't mean...?"
Maldrek's smile seems to spread to all of the friends.
"It seems that we have stumbled upon the Bonesaw, and it looks like you all remember the going away present it's crew gave us. I say we return the favor."
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