“Finally!” Madilyn exclaims once she is within earshot of Ted next to the immense walls. “At least you had the decency to wait outside for us!”

With two somewhat dramatic puffs of black smoke, Beth and Jessie disappear from Ted’s side and reappear on either side of Madilyn.

“So this is a childhood friend of the Eternal Wanderer,” Beth begins with a sly smile.

“And she is so feisty, which is fitting for a companion of the Immortal,” Jessie finishes with a grin showing off her incisors.

Sia interrupts before Madilyn finishes processing things.

“Your eyes are so pretty! I was always told they look like they are glowing from up close!” she says, bouncing up to the trio.

As Sia continues to bounce back and forth proclaiming the beauty of the two vampires, Sydney, with Bill on his head and Lyle in his arms, joins Ted not far away.

“So what’s with those nicknames?” he asks.

“Well, you know how we have talked about wandering the lower floors for what seems like forever? And they may have assumed I never taking damage or bleed in fights.”

“Haven’t I seen you get hit a few times though?”

“…We may need to intervene over there,” Ted says, pointing at the scarlet colored Madilyn, who appears to be the focus of the other three hominoids. Luck, having landed on Sia’s shoulder appears to have an amused smile on her face.

Sydney and Ted make their way over as Madilyn becomes more flustered. Upon seeing Sydney approaching however, she tries to shout.

“Don’t listen to …!” is all she is able to get out before she has a red, featureless mask slipped over her lower face, silencing her. She attempts to take it off to no avail as Sydney becomes irritated at the sudden attack.

“Hey! What was that for! Take it off of her!” he begins, before turning to Ted. “Take it off of her, it must be stuck on with magic!”

Glancing back at the troublesome trio, Ted replies in a somewhat flat tone.

“She’s still breathing, but now you’ve given them something to bargain with. Jessie, Beth, what game shall we play then?”

“Oh, for this game there is no we,” Beth begins.

“Our little hero seems to have volunteered for the trials himself,” Jessie finishes.

“,” they both intone as if they have rehearsed the line hundreds of times.

Sydney glares at the twins, handing off Lyle and Bill to Ted, Madilyn appears confused, and Sia whoops and leaps into the air before grabbing Madilyn and Sydney and rushing off to the gate.

“Proper introductions are in order, but first,” Ted says, holding up Lyle to look at him. “Go play their games, this will be a once in a lifetime chance for you.”

Lyle sparks briefly and nearly disappears as he jumps, landing immediately behind Sydney. A small lightning bolt smacks Sydney in his butt in retaliation for being left behind.

“Spicy little fellow isn’t he?” Beth says.

“The Lightning Jack or the boy?” Jess asks.

“Ladies, as you are likely aware by now, this is Thunderhammer Bladebill, and the Ancient Dragon Luck,” Ted says, interrupting them.

“Lord Thunderhammer, thank you for sheltering us under your wings all those years ago,” Beth says with a slight bow, more a nod of the head than anything.

“Lady Luck, welcome back to your valley,” Jess continues, “Or more properly the basement of it.”

Far too noisy for me in recent centuries, Luck comments. Though I did manage to get a few good naps in the boughs of the tree some of those years. Never did like staying long.

“Looks like they almost have it ladies,” Ted says, walking towards the gate. “So the circle works? I was curious about that, we just gave the elders the plans and said use it to make money.”

Resurrection magic was just a money making scheme?! Luck declaims.

“Of course!” Ted exclaims, duck and dragon along for a free ride. “It is no secret I collect soul stones as it were, and who else would be long lived and reliable enough to keep them safe from harm or necromancers. Have to give the delivery crew some incentives for following through, delivering goods to bloodthirsty creatures of the night and all.”

“,” the twins chime in, showing their canines.

You two are adorable little murder kittens aren’t you, Luck says, smirking.

“Hey, we resent that!,” Beth declares.

“That’s right, we haven’t killed anybody in at least a hundred years!,” Jessie supplies.

“And I’m sure they deserved it, though with the energy you two are giving off I’m guessing it was the same person and you cut off bits of him at a time.”

“I got his tongue,” Beth says.

“And I got his other tongue,” Jessie continues.

“Then we lit them on fire.”

“Before he passed beyond this mortal coil.”

“I initially assumed a human but was it a Xavarkian Orc?,” Ted asks before continuing. “They have two…”

“Got it!” Sia shouts, interrupting him as the gate flashes, opening with a dozen lights along the base of the wall lighting up.

“Excellent!” Beth shouts. “Follow us to your task young hero, and you’ll see why a bit of silence is necessary.”

- - - - - - - - - -

Arriving at the edge of a fenced in field with a single animal in it, the group looks over the fence while the twins sit atop wide posts. Having seen the fence and livestock, Sia has retrieved a large hat and foxtail from her storage ring, despite the perpetual twilight.

“This is a bit of a twist on an old game we used to play,” Beth begins.

“It’s relatively simple at first,” Jess continues. “Without weapons or using any magic at any time, you hop over the fence…”

Beth hops down from the fence…

“Run over to the bull and slap it on its rear.”

For a certain definition of running, or more properly ambulating in a relaxed fashion, Beth slaps the Bull Terror-Beef on the rump…

“And run back before it catches you.”

The bull does nothing. Beth again ‘runs’ back to the group.

“Then for the twist we add two more bulls to the field for the next round, three more for the round after, and so forth.”

“And how many rounds are there?” Sydney asks, irritated something so simple is the task he has been assigned.

“Twelve,” Beth says with a smile as she hops back onto her post. We move to a bigger field after the third, fifth, seventh, and ninth rounds. Hard to make it sporting if 364 of them are all bunched up in there, you could just walk across their backs if you were good enough.”

“Fine,” Sydney says, even more irritated. “I shall go smack your docile beasts and get this over as fast as I can. I’ll just approach from the back like you did.”

“Remember,” Jessie says brightly as he hops the fence, “no magic!”

Sydney walks towards the bull just as Beth did, while Ted asks a few questions to the twins.

“That’s a variety of Terror Beef isn’t it? Slightly smaller than I remember them.”

“Oh yes, much smaller in fact, years of breeding to make sure they kept the best qualities and introducing certain traits that we have come to love in our food supply,” Beth says with a wide grin.

“And what would that be?” Sia asks, curious as she tips her hat back.

“They are much faster,” Jessie says with a wicked smile. “And that one is now aware there are intruders in his field after Beth’s demonstration. As a boon, keep quiet so it doesn’t notice him quite as quickly”

Jessie releases the mask from Madilyn who glares at them. Looking back towards Sydney, she asks, “Is there any chance he could get himself killed doing this twelve times?”

Seeing her fixed gaze, the twins look at Ted before they glance at each other.

“”

“Though it might hurt a bit in the middle,” Ted finishes when the bellow of the bull rattles their souls.

Excerpt from Balmer's Guide to the Brawling Battle-Tribes:

Xavarkian Orcs: In brief, they are sentient beings with two heads. The only ones that survive to adulthood are the ones with heads that get along. May have drastically different personalities, but have to get along. Double the trouble if they specialize in different things. As with any great tribe, there are always stories about him, though their oral tradition leaves much to be desired in the way of accuracy, as they refer to their fights with 'The Moon Dragon's Avatar of Strength.' No spells are flung in these epic tales, the ground shattering, valleys deepening and mountains fractured as meteors fall from the sky. Though a curious fact does remain that their mountain home is in fact a colossal fragment of rock from the heavens, not matching any of the surrounding geology. In their deepest caves however, where a young Xavarkian must travel upon reaching adulthood, his likeness is crudely carved into the rock and preserved with a magic far beyond anything the tribe has been capable of.