The couple of months the team had been walking through the desert provided them with a much needed break but it got old pretty quickly. Rahz had Jazz and the others make a camp while he took Xiao and sore through the skies in search for a town they could stop at and asked for directions.
Xiao and Rahz moved extremely fast in the Northeast direction but a whole day past before they finally saw a little caravan moving south very slowly.
Rahz put a very proud face and said "See! I told you, It always works out…. Let's Go!"
Xiao rolled his eyes and descended at high speed scaring every single beast pulling the caravans causing chaos, some of the beasts ran wildly in the opposite direction while others just prostrated themselves while trembling.
The people standing around looked scared and many pee themselves at the sight of the flying tiger that had no wings attached and the little tornados in his legs gave him a mystical feeling. Rahz saw what was happening and immediately told Xiao to slow down and land 30 meters away from everybody while he yelled at the top of his lungs.
"IT'S OK ….WE COME IN PEACE!"
Rahz jumped off the back of Xiao and stood in place waiting for the leader of the caravan to step forward so they could have a conversation. The people looked towards an older man standing by the last cart of the convoy who was able to remain calm despite the situation they found themselves in.
The leader of the Caravan had being trading goods for a long time and he knew that anybody that could tame a flying beast was a very powerful individual and didn't need to give them so much leeway.
"How can we help you Sir"
"We are looking for the closest town, we are kind of lost"
The majority of the people relax a little but still didn't move from their spots just waiting for their leader to respond to the inquiries of the mysterious young man.
"The Town of Willowdale is about a week due west and Waterford is 2 months heading south"
"Thanks!"
Rahz jumped on Xiao and went back to tell the news and the team quickly made their way towards the town of Willowdale. The team travelled fast, the Spirit of the Wolf provided by Elune plus Accelerando and Cord Resonance made them travel extremely fast, if people were to see them, they would just see magic particles fading in the air. The team ran at high speeds and traveled for four days before caravans started appearing sporadically and from time to time small groups of thieves appeared and were tormented by Hennesy that burned a couple with her fireballs before fading into the nether and then burning a few more.
Rumors quickly spread around the area that the south road towards Willowdale was hunted and that there was a ghost burning people along the road.
In the meantime the team arrived at the door of the town and not only Xiao caused an uproar but Remulos as well, the keeper of the grove was a very uncommon demon race. The military of the town was alarmed by the Rahz and the others and didn't waste a second in reporting it to the captain of the guard which in turn told the major.
Rahz was surprised about the amazing changes to the whole town during the years they had been away. The streets were a lot wider and there were a lot more shops that were buzzing with activity but what really brought Rahz a smile to his face was that a lot more people wearing animal skins were seen moving around and this brought him fond memories.
"I guess all the ore from the mine really boosted the Economy of the place" Said Elune while looking around.
"Yes it has" said a middle age man that was walking towards them, it was the Mayor of Willowdale, Pryleus.
Rahz quickly step forward and said, " Mr. Pryleus!"
The Mayor just looked at the group trying to recognized the face of the young man in front of him as not many people knew his actual name and the only reason he had come over was to introduced himself and check for himself if the information relied by his captain was correct.
"I am indeed Pryleus but I don't seem to recall meeting your group before"
Rahz stepped close to the mayor and inadvertently smack him in a friendly way on the back of the shoulder and continued "I am the Kobold Man"
The mayor bone's almost shattered due to Rahz but the pain didn't registered at all when he heard the real identity of the person in front.
"Rahz?"
Nod!
Rahz moved to hug Pryleus but it immediately caused a horrible feeling of danger that force the mage to use his defensive Skill Fade.
The Mayor appeared 10 ft away and with a smiled said, "You are back! Where is the purple fellow and the girl?"
"I am Right here" said Riddick stepping forward
Pryleus eyes opened wide seeing the exact replica of Rahz staring back at him while he could see the deep footprints in the ground.
"S'up I am Jazz, you must have some good booze back at your place, why don't you invite us? I am about to get the shakes and we can't exactly stay in a small place thanks to Remulos over there, he can't reduced his size"
"That sounds like a great Idea" said Riddick inviting themselves in.
Pryleus didn't really have a problem with it, he was curious about what happened after the war with the Orcs and the reason for the incredible jump in strength. Rahz told their story but it was very vague, he just basically said that the manage to reach a few towns close to the great city of Blackrock and that they had manage to join a powerful temple.
The fact that there were a vast amount of resources available to that side of the realm was not a secret and Pryleus had many friends that traveled back and forward using mage Portals.
"I hear there was a War going on, you didn't participate?"
Six pair of eyes looked at him and he felt like he had just been dropped in a freezing lake, Pryleus started sweating profusely and quickly added " My friend came about a year ago and said that it was a great opportunity to make a buck but I decided not to go".
Everyone relaxed a little and Elune used a very cut and dry tone said, "We didn't participate".
Pryleus was a very smart guy and didn't continued to inquire about the war and decided to call a maid so they could be shown where they would be staying. Jazz took note of the maid through his goggles and then left with Riddick to walk the town while Elune and Rahz stay in the room having their own fun.
A week passed in a blink of an eye and Rahz said goodbye to the to the Mayor before they move North towards their old Village, unlike the south entrance to Willowdale the north side had a lot more people going and coming and there were a lot more soldiers a patrolling the road. The team was now eager to get back and zoom through the back roads and very soon they saw the snow covered ground, the closer they got to the village the more Rahz frowned. They saw Orcs, Kobolds and Barbarians wearing different fur that the Bear one Helgahvall people wore indicating that they were from a different tribe.
Rahz accelerated in order to see with his own eyes what was going on but what he saw left him perplex, the village gates had grown massive and they now covered an area three times as big while all the different creatures were coming in and out like it was the most normal thing.
"Stop!!"
A very beautiful barbarian holding a lance made out of Iron was walking towards them and when all the guards heard her stop the incoming group of people, they immediately took their weapons and got into a fighting formation.
The pixie on the shoulders of the Barbarian Shaman was trembling non stop and said in a voice that everyone could hear, " Mama, it stinks"
Elune almost cough up blood and said, "I guess we are having Pixie for dinner"