I smiled as I extracted myself from the two sisters’ embrace. “Siora, Vestele. I am glad to see that both of you are well. You both look just as delightful as the last time we spoke.”

And it was true. The two sisters were clearly not hurting for funds, if the look of their gear was anything to go by. In fact, the two were decked out so that they probably could have made a go at defending themselves from the paladins, if the odds were more even.

Siora, the Beguiler, was wearing a mithral breastplate designed to look as frightful as Ebonheart’s barding, full of spikes and demonic figures, all centered around the symbol of Malcanthet over her chest. I could feel the magic coming off not just her armor, but all her gear, especially her weapons. She must have pushed the limits of enchantments.

Her sister, the Cleric of Malcanthet, was the same, except she was wearing what looked to be the plate version of the same armor that Siora had on. Vestele also had a shield, with Malcanthet’s symbol clearly set upon its face, punctuated by jagged spikes. Her weapon had changed from the last time I met her, however. Before, she’d used maces and morningstars, but now she had a coiled whip-dagger, which looked more than a little menacing.

As I took in the changes in the twins, I heard Ebonheart coming up beside me. Reaching out to stroke his mane, I said, “Let me introduce you to my companion, Ebonheart. Ebonheart, these ladies are Siora and Vestele Faydark. I think I’ve told you about them.”

The black unicorn whinnied a laugh, and said, “Oh, these are the followers of the Succubus Queen who helped you fight those wolves? You should have told me we were meeting them. I would have polished my horn.”

“Uh-huh. I thought you had a couple mares in the camp you used for that?”

“As if a couple mere horses could be enough for a stud like me!”

Siora chuckled. “Well, you’re certainly an interesting one, Ebonheart. But I think there’s someone still unaccounted for, unless you fired those arrows earlier, Mel?”

I shook my head. “No, it wasn’t me. And they weren’t arrows, not the normal type, at least. I could see them streaking in from the side of the road, over there.”

As I pointed to the shrub, some ways off, that I saw the arrows fly from, there was movement. Almost like I had signalled for it, a winged creature burst out of the shrubs, and flew forward, on draconian wings. As the creature came closer, I saw that it was a kobold! And when it landed, the wings shimmered like in a heat haze, and transformed into a cloak hanging down the kobold’s back. I recognized it as a variant of the ‘Wings of Flying’, a cloak that typically allowed the wearer to fly on leathery wings like mine.

Turning to the little reptilian creature, I grinned. Switching to the Draconic tongue, which I knew that kobolds spoke in more often than not, I said, “That was some impressive shooting before. Though I admit that I am surprised to see a lone kobold so far from any others. I didn’t think your people went out on their own, as a rule. Especially not in the sunlight.”

The kobold was wearing a shirt of mithral rings, but carried no weapons that I could see. Not that I expected to see any. If this kobold was at a level where he could wreck that lead paladin so severely, so quickly, then it wasn’t unheard of for them to have some way of storing weapons away. Hell, I did that with my own weapons, most of the time.

He made a yipping, dog-like laugh, but his tone wasn’t laughing when he said, in the same language, “What you mean to say is it is rare to find one of us who grew strong enough to challenge paladins like that one, don’t you?”

Vestele shook her head. “You’ll find that we are definitely no friends to paladins, and those like them. But I guess what you imply and what my friend said go hand in hand. Kobolds are not exactly known as the strongest warriors, and typically remain with their clans, no? And I know that you are weak against sunlight, like most creatures who primarily live underground.”

The kobold nodded. “Well, you’re not wrong about that. If my clan were still alive, and not murdered by the ‘righteous’ followers of Torm, then I would likely be there still. But they came, and they killed, and left me as the only survivor. So, I have hunted them since that day, as I swore to Kurtulmak Steelscale that I would.”

Vestele’s Knowledge (Religion) check: 1d20+16 = 22 (Success)

The priestess nodded. “I have heard stories of the Horned Sorcerer and lost Darastrikhurthi. This is not the first time your people have suffered unjustly by those who think themselves better and more righteous than you. You will find yourself in good company with us, friend.

“I am Vestele Faydark, and this is my sister, Siora. We both serve Malcanthet, Queen of the Succubi, I as a priestess, and she as a beguiler. The one with the feathered wings over there is Melinda Eriksdaughter, warlock and Twice-born servant of Auril Icedawn, and with her is Ebonheart, who is…” She paused, and looked at the unicorn, “Do you serve any deity in particular, Ebonheart?”

Ebonheart whinnied a laugh. “Garagos the Reaver, lord of battles and slaughter, is the one I give devotion to, and I am a ‘barbarian’ to use the ‘civilized’ term. The Ice Queen, as her people call her, offers me the chance to see the battle I crave, so I follow her, at least until the prospect of battle fades away.”

The kobold nodded. “Then, I am Szel Murkblood, though I am known as ‘Fartooth’ by my clan. I offer praise to the Watcher, as I said. As for my name, well, I earned it by my powers of the mind, allowing me to turn that power into a weapon I can use against my enemies.”

I took a breath. “So, I somehow doubt that all of us, each powerful enough to enforce our will upon a small populace on our own, and together following four different gods who have little connection to one another, arrived at this place and time simply by chance. Especially since those prophecies have been making waves.”

Fartooth nodded. “I was given a vision of Kurtulmak, and he said that, if I wished vengeance, then I would find allies in the fight if I came this way.”

Vestele grunted. “I got a vision of Malcanthet, as well, telling me to come here, so that we could gather allies for what was to come.”

I sighed. “I, too, got a vision from Auril, directing me here.”

Siora chuckled. “That’s probably why the leader of those paladins, Palodius, was after us. One of his men mentioned that he had had a vision, that they needed to stop us from meeting. Poor boy talked in his sleep, you see. Too bad that I had to use him to set a false trail, which gave us a head start on this chase.”

Shaking my head, I said, “Well, if that isn’t a literal sign that we’re going to be going into some serious trouble, I don’t know what is. I was told to come here for allies, and then to get stronger. I’ve found allies, it seems, so, where will we look for trouble to solve?”

Siora shook her head. “Well, there is always the time-honored idea of checking out the local taverns, and asking around. Or there are temples in the city, including one to Malcanthet.”

Vestele nodded slowly. “And the local garrison will probably have a message board for mercenaries or the like. But whether we’ll find anything here is another question. This isn’t exactly a major hub for traders or adventurers.”

Fartooth chuffed. “Yes, but our gods wouldn’t have brought us here if there wasn’t something to be done that would advance our, or their, goals.”

I grinned. “True enough. So, I guess the only thing to do would be to head on into the city, and see what will happen.”

The kobold frowned slightly as he looked up at me. “You and these ladies might be able to get in easily enough, but city guards don’t exactly like ‘monsters’ running around town. It will cause a commotion if we just go in through the gate.”

“Fartooth, I’m counting on it. It is like throwing a large rock in a small pond. If there’s anything hiding here, or anyone who might be wanting something done that would need people like us to do it, then walking right up to the city, as we are, is the best way to force it to the service.”

Siora laughed. “True enough. Besides, it isn’t like there’s anyone in this little town that can truly challenge us as a group. Those paladins weren’t based out of Breledo, so their teleport spells would have taken them far away from here. Even in the temples in town, I doubt there’s anyone powerful enough to be a threat.”

The little kobold shook his head. “Fine then. Always knew tall people were crazy. Because there’s no air up there.”

Vestele nodded. “Excellent. You can ride with us on the wagon. Depending on how this goes, we’ll have to see about getting you a mount that you can ride, if only so you’re not always using that cloak of yours. Flying is fun, but it makes you a target for anyone who can spot you, and there isn’t anywhere to hide in the sky.”

I laughed as I swung up into Ebonheart’s saddle. “You might be right, Vestele, but I’m sure our new friend has his ways to be unseen, even in the air, if he wanted to. Even if it just boiled down to getting a few magic items. It isn’t like we haven’t exceeded the limits of what we can do on our own with the items at our disposal.”

The priestess just stuck her tongue out at me, as she mounted the wagon beside Siora, while Fartooth simply walked up the side of the wagon, to sit on the roof, his feet hanging down between the two women’s heads. Laughing, the kobold said, “Well, I don’t have anything that will turn me invisible, except to those using darkvision, but I had my boots enchanted to create a mount with a spell. It only works once a day, but it ought to last for the length of a day’s travel.”

Siora grunted once. “I know the spell. Useful, as far as it goes, but any magic can be dispelled. And that would leave you forced to run on foot, or take to the air, and hope that they couldn’t dispel your wings, too. Either way, it has problems.”

I grinned. “True, but we don’t know where we’ll be going next. Might be we’ll need to take a ship, or even an airship, to get where we need to go. Or cross the planes. And I don’t know any spells that will let us carry enough through to bring that wagon with us.”

Siora pounted. “Fine, if that happens, I’ll just need to find a Gate scroll, or a portal.” She pouted more as we laughed.

We were already in sight of the city, so it didn’t take us long to reach the gates. There was a squad of very nervous guards looking at us as we rode, all of us wearing armor designed to intimidate, and myself at the front on Ebonheart’s back, sitting straight in the saddle. The guards were most definitely nervous. There were only twenty of them, after all, and we looked like we were about to do unspeakable things.

Melinda’s Intimidate Check: 1d20+35 = 47

Guards’ Modified Level Check: 1d20+11 = 20 (Fail)

Looking down at the guard in front, I said, simply, “Stand aside, and let us enter.” OK, so I might have spread my wings a bit, and put a bit of a threatening tone to my voice, but hardly anything too impressive.

For some reason, the guards couldn’t move fast enough to let us into the city. They didn’t even bother asking us about an entry fee, if there was one. I’m sure it was because they wanted to help us, and not because they were trying to get us out of there as quickly as possible.