495 Two for One (1/2)
[Summons: Rhylia]
Rhy appeared in front of Nezbit; although she was a skelly like everyone else, her wings were still beautiful black feathers. She flapped them once before furling them. ”We're undead?”
Nezbit nodded. ”It's me, Nez!” The Inferno cleric offered her companion a hug.
Rhylia Thundercloud
Air Wight [Royal Court]
Class: Pathfinder
Rank 1
Kills: 0
The newly christened wight found Nix immediately and wrapped him up in a hug. ”Nix! We've been so worried.”
Rhylia has joined Alpha.
/Alpha: Rhy: I'm happy to be here!
/Alpha: Sharl: What's the plan now?
/Alpha: Nix: Relieve Morti so he can get some rest. We'll move to this location until the 2-day timer expires.
/Alpha: Rhy: There's no air power here? Will I be able to fly wherever I want?
/Alpha: Alfie: Doubtful, but you should be able to get high enough to scout our two bordering precincts.
/Alpha: Nix: Find us a tent that we haven't burned out and send me its location. The rest of you get some rest. Sharl will take over duties as the Main Tank (MT).
Nix and Pon headed toward the minefield since the fire mage insisted on showing the Inferno leader something.
Nix stopped at the edge of the minefield, well aware that it was a ruse and that Pon had lured him away to talk privately. ”What's up?”
”I can summon a spirit companion; the problem is that it isn't Lorenzo.”
Nix thought about his own companions; if the order started with his first one, then Soup would have been first. The default companion in this instance must be the strongest, which, of course, would be Mortimer. ”You have just the two, right? Isn't Lorenzo the stronger?”
Pon shook his head slightly. ”He was until I picked up a third companion.”
”Shit... Don't even say it.”
Skelly Pon shrugged slightly. ”She surrendered and made a strong case.”
Nix felt the lack of lips at that moment; he would definitely have been grinning. ”Fine. Let's have her.”
Pon shook his head. ”Bonded her and then killed her.”
”Er...” Nix stared at the fire mage for a long moment before speaking. ”Not the best way to bond with a new companion.”
”It was her idea. She realized that we wouldn't trust her. So the deal we made was that I would leave her unsummoned until we left the Bone Fortress.”
Nix laughed at the fire mage. ”Damn old man... Fine, keep this bit of information to yourself. We'll just skip the part where you summon companions here.”
Pon nodded. ”Thank you, Nix. I'll have Ducky present the first time I summon her.”
”No worries. Let's get back to crafting tomorrow.”
”Nix... Did that Key of Tides explanation make any sense to you?”
”That's what I think too. We have too many unanswered questions.”
/Alpha: Rhylia: Two unburned tents at grid 565,943.
/Alpha: Nix: Thanks, we'll go pick them up.
Pon followed Nix as he moved toward the gridpoint. The Inferno leader blazed his emerald flame aura as if daring anything to attack him. If there were any lingering members of the Ice Faction, they didn't approach the two fire users.
/Alpha: Nix: Help me pack up these up, then we can drag them back to camp.
/Alpha: Pon: Sounds good.
After several minutes, Nix rolled the two packed up tents onto a larger tarp and started dragging it back to the choke-point. The old man started to help but then quickly stopped.
”Why are you still so strong, Punk?”
Nix continued dragging the two tents, pausing to laugh at the fire mage. ”We still have the same physical stats; we just can't access them.”
”While we're at it. How come you have five spirit companions?” Pon asked a question that always bothered him. Nix's companions were all very strong; the issue was that there should only have been four.
”The hell are you rambling about? Soup, Ducky, Morti, and Fey! That's only four. My three Arch Wings are summoned with a bracer; they aren't Spirit Companions.”
”What about Shae? I've seen you summon her.” Pon brought up his hud and adjusted their path slightly. ”We really could use her flames.”
Nix nodded in agreement. ”That's a mystery to me also. We have a close bond, but she's never actually appeared on...”
Pon stopped when Nix dropped the end of the tarp. ”Tired?”
Nix shook his head and placed a bone hand over his ribs, and pictured her. ”Shae Balefire.”
A moment later, the skeleton form of a salamander appeared in front of them. It stared at the yellow-eyed skeleton for a moment before knocking him over when it leaped at him.
”NIX!”
Nix hugged her salamander skeleton, chuckling when she wouldn't let him up. ”I should have thought of this right away.”
/Alpha: Pon: Nix just summoned Shae!
/Alpha: Nezbit: Really?