Aldred

"Alright, now that we have had our fun, let's get down to business," Luke says while floating towards his office with us in tow.

Finally! It's about time he got serious.

"You said that you had finished your quest?" Luke asks while turning a corner in the Guild building and starting up a set of stairs.

"Yes, and to our-" I begin before being interrupted when Luke suddenly flashes over and shushes me.

Luke then quietly says, "Tell me in my office," and continues towards his office.

My first thought was to admonish him for interrupting me, but I decide otherwise when I look I over at him and see the look on his face.

I don't remember the last time he had looked this serious.

There has to be something thing that I don't know about that quest for him to act this way.

"But what is it?" I mutter to myself while following Luke down the hall towards his office.

"Is something wrong Al?" Amber asks me.

I glance towards her and notice a worried look on her face.

"Wait until we reach his office, okay?" I whisper to her.

Amber nods her head after a brief pause.

We continue through the Guild building for a few more minutes before we eventually reach Luke's office on the third floor.

Luke immediately floats over towards his desk before closing the door with magic as soon as we all make it inside. He then sets up a privacy barrier around the room.

Hm, more of a secret than I had initially thought then.

"Alright, you may speak freely now," Luke says after double checking his barrier.

"Okay, what's up with all of this secrecy?" I straight up ask Luke.

Luke hesitates for a second before answering, "It's about the Island Lord's motivation behind the quest."

Luke pauses again before taking a deep breath and continuing, "I have recently learned that he is planning a rebellion against the ashborne and he wants to raise his army on an unoccupied island."

My jaw drops open as I stare at the Guildmaster in shock.

Who in their right minds would plan a rebellion against one of the ruling races?

The Guildmaster's office is dead silent while everyone thinks about what Luke had just said.

Wait, shit! What about Shawn?

"Wait, what will happen to Shawn then?" Elizabeth asks, worrying about Shawn's safety.

Luke turns towards her and asks, "Who is Shawn?"

I answer for Elizabeth, "He was a draugr we had found living on the island."

This time, it's the Guildmaster who is stunned into silence with his mouth agape.

Thus I begin to describe the events that had happened on the island over the next half hour.

"Well, that's..." Luke begins before pausing to find the right word.

"Unexpected?" Amber finishes for him.

Luke points towards Amber and says, "Yes, exactly that!"

A short silence blankets the room as we all think about this absurd situation we have been dragged into by the Island Lord.

Suddenly, Varthurg speaks up, "Could we just not tell the Island Lord about Shawn?"

We all turn and stare at Varthurg for a few seconds before Luke says, to our surprise, "Sure."

"Luke! We can't just go around lying to our clients!" I shout at Luke.

Luke floats up from his chair with his hands raised in a placating gesture and says, "Wait a minute! Remember that Shawn is a draugr, so the Island Lord would probably just assume that we didn't want to annoy him. Not only that, but we wouldn't be lying to him. We would just be omiting this one detail about the island, seeing as he is the only one living there."

Luke does a lap around his desk before continuing, "I also get the feeling that Shawn won't just show his face to the Island Lord and his people whenever he shows up to the island."

I rub my temples while thinking about Luke's words.

He does have a point I guess.

No one would blame us for trying to get on the good side of a member of one of the ruling races, regardless of the Island Lord's rebellious attitude.

"Okay, say we do that. What happens next?" I ask Luke.

Luke stops floating around and smirks above his desk before saying, "What happens next? Well, you guys are going to be the group directing the Island Lord and his people to the island."

Shawn

I make it back to my cabin after about an hours walk.

Before I walk inside, I glance around at the empty clearing surrounding my house.

Still no animals anywhere near my house.

Is it due to my undead nature? Or is it just thanks to my royal lineage?

I shake my head and head into my cabin.

"Pondering about it won't change anything," I mutter while taking off my scabbard and placing it at the foot of my bed.

After following my normal routine of making some soup and sitting down on my bed to eat, I begin to wonder how my parents are doing.

I hope they are okay.

If it weren't for my eyes and hair then I would want to go visit them, but the ruling races can't find out about the existence of a hybrid of multiple ruling races.

After all, that is why I am secluded on this island by myself.

I bring up a bowl of water and look at my eyes in the reflection.

At least my nature as a draugr stands out, so people would assume that both of my parents would have to be draugr.

Most undead can't reproduce in the normal way, and even the higher level undead can only do it as long as it is with their own species.

My dad, however, took some sort of potion that allowed him to reproduce with another species during a short window of time, hense how I came about.

Thanks to that, no one would ever suspect me of being a hybrid.

Regardless, I am not going to take that risk.

I let out a sigh before setting the bowl of water on my bedside table and leaning back on my bed to look up at the ceiling.

Maybe I will be able to see them again one of these days.

I hear a wolf howling a ways away from my cabin right as I fall asleep.

At the central hub of the Isle of Fallen Snow

The quiet of the night is shattered as six glowing lights appear on the central hub.

These lights quickly fade and turn into six different people.

Before these people even move off of the central hub, seven more lights show up and also turn into people.

This repeats over and over again until fifty people arrive at the central hub.

"So, this is the Isle of Fallen Snow," says a man with bat wings and a pointed tail.

The man looks around for a little bit before turning around to look at those gathered behind him.

He then announces to the people assembled before him, "Alright everyone, let's get to work. Find a good location for a headquarters."

A few minutes later, forty-three of the people scatter to look through the island.

Of the remaining seven, six are Aldred and his party, while the remaining one is the man from before.

A demon with black and red wings and a tail, as well as a strange looking crown on the top of his head.

The man turns towards the party and says, "Thank you for directing us to this island. If you have any business here, please handle it as quickly as possible before leaving."

Soon, a pack of wolves howl after noticing some of these people.