Amber Ablaze – blogpost 9

We’re back in the inn and take a short rest. I feel refreshed now since my horrible underperformance earlier today. The innkeeper contacted Bralens’ aunt, she’ll come and get him. After eating something, Celeste wants to go back to the bar. Lurlille doesn’t want to join her because of the half-orc Borac the other day, so Solarion joins her instead. Mivyre wants to go to a shop to find himself a new shield since the old one got stolen. Lurlille convinces me to go to a bath-house with her. She’s been there already in the past, but I haven’t. She convinces the owner to give us a discount – I pay. Entering the bath-house I immediately feel pretty uncomfortable: Lurlille puts on some music while my eyes scan the room. It is luxurious here. I see copper handles and a big pool. Above the water, it is misty from all the heat. Po-pau is with us as well, and a couple of older-looking people are scared of the little dragon. I allow myself to go into the water – a bit too quick perhaps, because when my hair touches the water, it sizzles. Normally, the water feels cold, but now it feels like a second skin! I relax and talk with Lurlille. She tells me that when we killed the priest, she found some Mirabar pipes. She knows to whom they belonged – a group of people she knows very well. She fears for their lives… If she only found those pipes, and not them, the priest probably killed them or something. I get sad and decide to leave the bath-house and find the party again.

Back in the inn, Lurlille shows me the Mirabar pipes. They look like gold bars but metal-like. A symbol is printed on them which Lurlille recognizes as the sign her traveling friends have on them – the sign of Mirabar. The lady that runs the inn, refers her to room 24. Someone from Mirabar lives there. He says that he has seen a group of people from Mirabar travel towards Red Larch. They should have crossed this city already. If we only found the bars near this city, he says, we should be worried.

Downstairs, Celeste convinces the party to travel to a farm where weird animals live. He shows us a picture with an animal on it: it looks injured and not from this world. We decide to investigate. Outside of Red Larch, we quickly see the farm. A guy (Tian) explains that these beasts are called ‘giraffes’ and that he raises these animals to eat. Why would you eat these creatures… They look unhealthy to me with their long necks and spots all over their bodies… A giraffe (the size of Lurlille) disappears as suddenly as we see it. In the dark forest, it disappears for real, but not before we see it transform into a small weird man with a white hat on. Tian tells us that those little creatures are Alps and that they harass the giraffes – they break their legs and such. He asks if we could solve his Alp-problem. We agree and walk into the forest.

The forest is really dark. Even the clearing is pretty dark: it feels like some enchantment is active here… The Alps are there, I can feel it, but they turn invisible when I spot them. Mivyre tries to reason with the Alps, but I have a feeling they don’t understand us – I feel crept upon, and before we know it, a battle breaks loose. There are around five Alps. They curse me: I feel unstable for a while. Mivyre and Lurlille suddenly fall asleep! What the hell..?! How can you fall asleep during a battle! Hellooooo?! We manage to wake them up, and I slap an Alp with my produce flame. The Alp cries and tries to put the fire out by slapping himself. Mivyre uses his breath weapon to see something because we are surrounded by a thick fog. When it dissolves, I have to give it to them: they are quick. Most of my attacks must have missed again. Oh, bullocks! When one attacks me or comes too close to me – I kill it. I feel great that my maneuvers finally pay off. Another hits me really hard. I touch my side and have to admit that I’m bloodied. Together with Mivyre, I am still standing in front. It feels kind of nice to have him there – united against an enemy. Most of the party stays in the back or hides behind a tree. This – together at the front line – is how you should really fight your battles!

There is only one Alp left now. Poof! It transforms into a duck! How odd. I don’t mind a piece of roasted duck, so I use my produce flame again to roast it. When I want to bring the duck toward my mouth, it transforms back into an Alp again – disgusting! I drop the Alp as quickly as I can. We killed every Alp in the clearing, suddenly the forest starts to lighten: as if a curse is lifted. The forest is pretty: I can see flowers, bushes, and all the trees look more healthy. We drag all Alps to one pile to investigate them. Lurlille drags an Alp as well. She was behind us during the whole fight, so I totally missed that she had to fight an Alp all by herself! Wow! She looks tired, but proud as well! I am proud of her too!