The City of Karaxess

"I don't care what that stupid will says I am not eating that" said Shadow.

"He was a friend, and if he wanted to be eaten by his friends when he died then I will do it for friendship" said Aust taking another bite.

What a strange day thought Gordan Ramsee as he rolled over in his sleeping bag and tried to fall asleep. He had wanted to cook with exotic ingredients and well, now he was not as certain as he had once been. In some ways he wished it had not tasted so good.

The next morning the group set out towards Karaxess. It seemed strange that they had not yet reached the most dangerous part of their journey and yet had already lost Quack!. They put that out of their minds and tried to focus on the task ahead and the lure of the magical treasures that awaited.

Honkess flew in a circle above the mercenaries below. At this height the aarakocra would look like a bird to those on the ground. Two dozen mercenaries had gone into the tower, and now four had come back outside and set-up a camp. The place gave her the creeps and she hoped that being as high as she was would mean she was safe from any of the chaos magic she had seen happening below. There had been 30 mercenaries at the start, six had died from a magical explosion when one of the mercenaries tried to kick what appeared to be a squirrel. It was just an explosion of colour then the kicker and five others seemed to expand like overfull waterskin, and then just burst into a glittering bouquet of flowers. She needed more information, that was what she was getting paid for but getting a closer look meant going into the city.

Below another group was approaching the tower, adventurers from the looks of them. Strange they were not even looking around the abandoned buildings, not searching at all, like the mercenaries they were headed straight for the tower. Then Honkess had a thought, it meant going down to the city but why not give it a try.

Honkess landed in front of the group greeting them as one might an old acquaintance. Aust spoke up first and then the others greeted the new comer. Honkess was forthright and suggested that she would like to join the group if they were heading into the tower. It was not her best idea but this group seemed interesting and there were other women in the group. The last group she had been part of were all men, and they all snored.

The group spoke with Honkess for a while and agreed that she could join them for now. They moved on towards the tower. The group of mercenaries outside the tower told the group they could not enter the tower, but then added unless they paid. They wanted 200 gold as entrance fee. Then Shadow noticed a badge one of the mercenaries was wearing, it had the name Frodnonag stitched into it. Shadow realized that Frodnonag was Ganondorf spelled backwards. Anger rose in him as he realized that these men were working for the one who had taken everything from him, and destroyed his home.

The group was discussing whether to pay or fight the mercenaries when Shadow said "we fight" and the battle began. It was a short fight, the mercenaries were no match for the strength of the group. Still some among them were wounded so they rested and planned to go into the tower in the morning.