Lucas and his team had finally hit port after days of sailing at sea Mina Jebel located on a sandy continent. Lucas wasted no time. There was no transportation heading out to Kashna, so he quickly looked at his map and lead his team through the vast deserts. The winds were harsh and the sand burned. The water in each persons canteen was to the point of boiling.he team was exhausted and complaining about the heat and lack of water and food while Lucas held his pride high and pushed through the desert.
As the team was traveling through the desert a giant scorpion a plunged its tail at the team. Lucas summoned a shield in a nick of time, giving everybody time to jump back. Waateef jumped at the giant scorpion and began punching its back. but his hits were no match for the scorpion's exoskeleton. Kilkyl launched a rocket at the scorpion simultaneously with Zarz's fireworks, but their was very little damage done. Vagron and David stood back with nothing in their abilities to do except watch as their muscle houses struggle to lay a crack in the giant scorpion's exoskeleton. the scorpion then began rapidly jabbing its tail at Kilkyl and Zarz, preventing them from being able to attack. Meanwhile Waateef was barely able to hit the scorpion due to its constant movement.
At a moments notice, a giant dark purple bullet shot at the scorpion's head. A second giant scorpion had then appeared. It shot its tail at the first big scorpion's head and used its pincers to hold down the other scorpion's pincers. The first scorpion used its tail to attack the second scorpion, but Waateef jumped to hold it down by punching it. Waateef announced to the rest of the team that the second scorpion has no ill will against them and asked them not to attack it. The second scorpion then seized the moment to rapidly attack the first scorpion with its tail. Though the first scorpion was bigger and obviously stronger, it stood no match for the onslaught of tail jabs from the second scorpion. Soon the head of the first scorpion came off. The first scorpion's body was first acting frantically, but the second scorpion and Waateef continued to hold it down.
After the first scorpion was officially dead and its body stopped moving, Waateef and the second scorpion backed away. Something odd had then happened. The second scorpion did not turn towards the team nor paid any mind the the now dead first scorpion. It had only left into the desert leaving the team confused as to why it came in the first place. Waateef sensed that the scorpion had wanted to protect them for some reason, but did not know why.
The team carried on through the desert. they slept in the cold shivering night to then roast in the burning sun. After nearly two whole days the team had arrived at the city of Kashna. Kashna was a more of a wasteland than a dessert. There were numerous oasis' and quite a few canyons. There were no scorpions here, but rather spider who had eaten all of the scorpions by utilizing their webs. Kashna was a well diverse place full of people from all over the world.
Lucas walked into town with a mischievous grin on his face ready to fondle exotic women at the strip club before continuing the mission until Rael's face appeared. "Hello" said Rael. Lucas gave zero hesitation. He quickly grabbed Rael by his face and tossed him out of sight behind himself. The then carried on about their intention to sleep and and get wasted burying their faces between the legs of women far and wide. Thus three hotel rooms were rented and large allowances were given. all of the men headed out into town to venture to different strip clubs with the exception of Waateef and Ponto who ventured out to eat. As Ponto and Waateef headed out, they realized that Rael had a room on the same floor. "How did he get a hotel room here" wondered the two, and "more so, how did he get here so fast". Waateef and Ponto knew that Lucas was not the only one that was lying. Yet, they did not see Rael as a threat either.
Waateef and Ponto then approached Rael and asked if he wanted to join them on their food hunt. Rael was excited and insisted that he knew the best places to eat for he had been there numerous of times. So Rael took the two to a number of different places to eat. But unlike before, this time Rael had plenty of his own money to feed himself.
Later, Lucas was out with the guys stuffing their faces between every nice pair of legs they can find. The team wanted everybody to know who the top dogs in town were and did so by splurging all of their money, and snatching every beautiful woman in town. They fought many others and reigned victorious. They rented many one hour rooms to indulge in a beautiful woman in private and in some cases did so in public. But with all of the racket being caused, the team eventually caught some unwanted attention.
A local gang came across the partying adventurers and started a fight. Lucas and his team held none back and fought against their assailants. Next thing they knew the authorities were after them. Lucas' each ran out and split up to avoid being caught. Unfortunately this ended in failure. Each member of the team was so drunken that they mostly ran in circles and continuously bumped into each other due to lack of coordination and knowledge of the city.
The next day Waateef and Ponto woke up in Rael's room on his bed. Rael had slept on the recliner. Rael had then asked if the two Waateef and Ponto wanted to make some money hunting spiders, but Waateef instantly dismissed the idea. Waateef noted that Rael was very conniving, reckless, and immature. Waateef then insisted that Rael was just like Lucas and will one day grow up to be like him. Ponto then noted that Rael had ignored what Waateef had said. Rael denied, but openly admitted that he will take Waateef's advice with a grain of salt. Waateef took offense to Rael's words, but Rael did not care. "We are each here for a reason. I suggest we each stick to ourselves on that" said Rael with a grin. Waateef and Ponto then headed out to try to get back in their rooms when Rael then told them that everybody had been arrested.
Lucas and his crew were each siting in a group jail cell with other inmates together. A guard came to speak to the group asking for Lucas. "Present" Lucas responded. The guard brought Lucas out to shower and get dressed. Lucas was then brought outside in handcuffs and sat down on a camel's back. The escorting guards then sat tightly on each side of Lucas. They then rode the camel up a small hill to a beautiful tower with windmills. Lucas was let down from the camel and brought up to the high floors of the tower. There sat on his knees the mayor of Kashna on a rug. Lucas took a slight bow before being welcomed by the Mayor to come onto the rug with him.
Later that day, Waateef and Ponto stopped by the prison to see if what Rael said was true. But on the way they has seen Lucas walking back with the rest of the team now free from prison. "where is the kid" asked Lucas. Waateef nor Ponto knew where he was, only that he had gone out to hunt spiders. "Figures" replied Lucas. Lucas then began explaining to the team the deal. "Kashna has been having multiple problems. First, the town gets its power supply from wind which is being messed with due to the over population of giant spiders. Next, the town's primary mode of transportation is camels. However the camels have been hunted down by spiders who loves to eat camels. Third, the town has been trying to expand for some time now over the lakes and into the canyons, but can't due to to the spiders territory. In whole, the mayor has asked that we eliminate these spiders to help the town in exchange for the information needed. in returns they will also pay us for our work". "How did they give us such an offer" asked Zarz. Lucas only grinned and nodded that apparently Rael has been here for a few days and impressed everybody with the amount of spiders he has killed and web he has obtained. Rael apparently made the deal with the mayor for Lucas to get the information needed in exchange for killing off the spiders.
Everything seemed clear and fair to the team. All they had to do was head out and kill a few arachnids. the next question however was Rael. Once the team found Rael, Lucas scolded him on making a deal on his behalf. The fact still remained that it was a good deal and Lucas himself would not have been able to do better. But Lucas never revealed this to Rael. Instead he allowed Rael to tag along with the team as they began taking missions to kill off all spiders.
After a week of taking on spider missions during the day and night, Rael revealed that the town seemed to have taken advantage of them. Lucas was beyond furious with Rael at this point for the spider were over 10 feet tall when standing on their 8 legs. There was even a special spider known as the camel spider which was just as big, spewed out a paralysis gas that caused the victim to freeze numb while it ate them alive. Rael then made a suggestion that Kashna will soon be going to war and that they could help them due to their low military power instead of killing off the spiders. Less than 2 hours later, Lucas was kneeling before the mayor again about their dilemma with the neighboring country Kashkiri. The problem with Kashkiri was not to the point of war yet, but has been an on going problem due to the trade war for control over the port. Lucas made the deal to resolve this war and in return for the information needed. Thus the deal was accepted. Lucas, Rael, Kilkyl, and David all four headed out back into the desert riding on camels towards the city of Kashkiri while the rest of the team stayed back to hunt spiders.
As the four approached Kashkiri, elephants were seen marching near and far from the town. Each with carriers on their backs. "That's pretty interesting how they travel here" said David. David had never left Tristram so he was simply amazed by everything he saw whereas Lucas, Kilkyl, and Rael had each traveled plenty in the past to not be phased. "I remember coming here once with my old squad back in the day." Kilkyl stated "We took an elephant from port to their town. It's pretty nice here at least before the trade war it was". The team parked their camels outside and tied them to the worn out stables. Lucas lead his team through the streets of Kashkiri. People were begging on the streets. Buildings were falling apart. Children were stealing from food stands. Men were carrying weapons of all sorts. A young girl the same age as Rael came and pulled on David's shirt asking for food. David handed her an old apple that he no longer wanted. The little girl took the apple and tucked it in her clothes. She then began rubbing David's groin to which he quickly pushed her hand away and shook his head no. The girl began crying and running away with the apple.
The team kept walking through the streets until they came to a fancy tower with beautiful purple drapes hanging all around it. "Wouldn't it be nice if we blew up the whole tower" suggested Kilkyl. "Maybe then these people could have some wealth to go around" added David. "These people's problems have nothing to do with us. Just stay focused" said Lucas. He then smirked and added "we may blow it up if we can". The team then headed inside to see the mayor as ambassadors of Kashna. The mayor was not pleased to see them. Kilkyl remembered the mayor from his younger days, but the mayor had very little care for the past. None the less, Lucas was determined. Lucas took control and promised to help the mayor gain wealth. the two disputed one another for an hour. Rael then suggested to help resolve their scorpion problem out of frustration. The mayor was mildly pleased with this idea. The team was instantly frustrated with Rael's suggestion, but Rael suggested that they take out the queen scorpion to decrease the population of scorpions in the area. "This will allow trade to increase between Kashkiri and the port, but it won't permanently stop the war with Kashna" said the mayor. The mayor was settle on this deal. His only alternative was for Lucas to blow up Kashna. Thus Lucas took the mission to slay the scorpion queen.
Lucas was storming back out of the streets cursing Rael openly. He then began lecturing Rael on how the teams was nearly killed by another scorpion a few days prior. But Rael paid no mind. Rael suggested blowing up the scorpion. "How" demanded Lucas. Rael lead the team around an alley looking for merchants of weaponry until they stumbled across a merchant selling cow fertilizer. The merchant owned a cow farm in the town north of Kashkiri. He sold fertilizer on the surface. But secretly he sold some of the most powerful explosives on the continent. "Once again the kid knows more than what he should" noted Lucas as he bought a few explosives. The four then headed out of town towards the stables to retrieve their camels, but when they arrived there was blood and limbs scattered over the sand. The team looked over and saw scorpions eating the camels, some of which were still alive while being eaten. Lucas stomped the ground pissed by now having to walk to the queen. "Don't waste your time on the scorpions. We'll need our strength for the queen". "Let's rent an elephant" suggested Kilkyl.
The team ordered an elephant and had their driver march them through the desert. The scorpions were more scare of the mighty elephant's crushing strength and thus avoided them. The team came towards a cave where the queen was said to live. The elephant driver agreed to stay outside and aid the team if possible for an additional cost. Lucas then demanded Rael to go inside and lure out the queen scorpion. Rael stood a little shocked and scared at first. He then made his way inside of the cave. Just as Rael had stepped foot into the cave, Lucas slammed a rock on top of Rael's head. Lucas then announced his plan. The team will head into the cave together and set off a bomb to scare out all of the scorpions. Once the queen comes out they will blow up her head. "How do we know which one is the queen" asked David. Rael then stated that the queen is the big black one. As Lucas was about to lead the team into the cave he stopped and thought of Rael's word "Big". David then note that Rael's choice of words was disturbing Lucas as well as himself. Kilkyl then intervened saying that "the female scorpions are more aggressive than their male counterparts. That is why there is only one female per hive. The males tend to work together to hunt and take care of the hive while the women battle for dominance". Lucas then suggested that Rael and Kilkyl goes in alone due to their extensive knowledge until Rael reminded him that he will never obtain his rank again. Lucas instantly smashed another rock onto Rael's head that caused Rael to start crying. Thus the team waltzed into the dungeon full of scorpions just as Mcgregor waltzed into the boxing ring.
The team waltzed and waltzed with no hope to live. A scorpion even walked past them leading Rael to yell "hi". The team did not care, they knew they were going to die. As the team waltzed through the dungeon David began wondering about Rael. He appeared to be genuinely be walking not with fear nor stupidity, but rather confidence that no other had. Not to mention David felt safer knowing Rael was coming with them. "We are not far" said Rael. Lucas then questioned how Rael knows whether they were far or not. Rael froze for a minute before stating that he talked to somebody in town about the cave prior. Lucas called Rael out on his bullshit. Rael turned towards Lucas and repeated himself in a more serious tone. David then realized that Rael was not merely repeating himself but was squared towards Lucas as though he was ready for a fight. Kilkyl then intervened and suggested that he should launch an explosive spell to attract the scorpions. Lucas approved of this and ordered the firing of Kilkyl's rocket. Kilkyl fired his rocket launching an explosion down the dungeon. Soon crawling critters were heard heading towards the team. Rael threw down a bomb and everybody began running out of the dungeon. Once everybody was nearing the exit, Rael pressed a button which activated the bomb he threw down. The explosion was so strong that it rattled through the whole dungeon. A sudden silence followed the explosion with the team reaching the outside. Lucas looked back asking "is it coming"? Loud banging was then heard coming towards the exit. "we got this" said Kilkyl. Lucas stood at the front ready for the queen. Kilkyl took a knee in the far back with his rocket ready. Rael stood with two explosion on his back, goggles on and wood swords in his hands. David hopped onto the elephant to give necessary instructions for the elephant.
The rumbling got louder and louder until a giant black scorpion jumped out of the dungeon. This scorpion was the size of ten elephants with pincers the size of a car. The team saw in horror what they now had to face, but Lucas was not stopped. Lucas rose his sword, allowing it to shine brightly in the sun. This captured the queen scorpion's attention. The scorpion slammed her pincers into Lucas who had just summoned a full magical barrier around himself. Kilkyl launched a rocket at the scorpion's head to which it was not phased. The pincers were quickly breaking the shield created by Lucas and moving its body towards the team. Lucas jumped out of his barrier before the scorpion could break it. David quickly lead the elephant to jump on the scorpion's tail before it could use it to strike, but the elephant was not strong enough to hold it down. The queen scorpion moved as though its tail and pincers thought for their own giving nobody a chance to attack.
The pincers once more came to attack Lucas whose sword was still shining bright. But Lucas was not able to create a full barrier like before. He rose his sword to create a shield and move, but he was too slow. Kilkyl then appeared behind Lucas, jabbing his rocket into one of the scorpion's pincers while Lucas' shield held the other pincer at bay. The scorpion attempted to immediately move it's pincers, but Rael used his wind abilities to throw a bomb onto the scorpions head and activate it. The scorpion was barely stunned by the explosion and began jabbing its tail as Kilkyl was still charging his rocket. David attempted to use the elephant to stop the tail, but the elephant was only stabbed through its torso and poisoned. Kilkyl's then launched his Hurl Blast from his rocket. The scorpion's pincer was fired away and blew up three times, but still remained intact.
Rael jumped onto the scorpion's tail and began electrocuting it to stun it. David then coated his sword in holy aura that he then used to pierce through the tip of the scorpion's tail. David left the tip of the scorpion's tail dangling as he fell from the air where the tail pierced through the elephant. The scorpion reacted the the simultaneous pain in its pincer and tail quickly spinning around and knocking everybody away with its body and momentum. Lucas used his magical shield to reduce the dame he and Kilkyl received from the impact while Rael used his wind abilities to push himself and David away before they could get hit. The elephant driver however was then crushed with his elephants.
"To hell with this, we are getting out of here" yelled Lucas. "I got a plan" responded Rael as he quickly handed David a compact explosive. The scorpion hurled itself at its assailants with both of its pincers ready. Rael only dashed towards the scorpion, launching a gust of wind and sand in the scorpion's face. Lucas Chased after Rael and shot out a blast of light at one of the scorpion's pincers in order to delay dodge it. Kilkyl shot out a rocket at the scorpion's face in hopes to delay it a little. Rael then launched himself high into the air until he was higher than the scorpion's tail using his wind abilities where he then launched a giant fireball down onto the scorpion. The scorpion quickly looked up to attack its flying opponent when David coated his sword one more time to not only pierce through the scorpion's throat from below, but also twisted his blade so that there was now room to implant the bomb. David quickly shoved the bomb inside of the hole in the scorpion's neck, but the scorpion was then fixated on David. Lucas Ran to David's side creating another barrier as before around himself, Kilkyl who was with Lucas, and David. Kilkyl then grabbed the Lucas and David and jumped away while the barrier stayed around them. The scorpion attempted to attack them, but Rael shot down ice pillars to delay the scorpion by a few seconds. Rael was using his wind abilities to stay afloat when he then set off the bomb causing a mass explosion.
The explosion was big and loud, causing sand to fill the air. Rael was thrown off by the blast and fell down away from the scorpion. Lucas was panting as well as David. Both were done and ready to call quits if the scorpion was still alive. Everybody stared as the sand cleared away. The scorpion's head was still in tact. Rael then figured that David did not plant the bomb deep enough into the scorpion's wound, but there was nothing he could do now to save them. The scorpion fixated her now damaged head unto Lucas, David, and Kilkyl. Lucas then ordered them to run, but only David was listening. Rael was exhausted and lying in the sand. Lucas began yelling frantically for Rael to get up and run until he realized Rael couldn't. Lucas froze remembering how his reckless actions got his comrades killed before only to see it happening again. Lucas snapped back and ordered Kilkyl to run while he himself will grab Rael, but Kilkyl ignored Lucas.
Kilkyl threw his rocket launcher down and began walking towards the scorpion. Kilkyl's skin began changing red and black his nails grew sharp like that of a reptilian. His pupils morphed into black slits as his eyes glowed yellow. The scorpion slashed its pincers at Kilkyl, but Kilkyl only grabbed it with his bare reptilian hands.
Lucas saw the monster Kilkyl had turned into and quickly ran to grab Rael. Kilkyl squeezed the scorpion pincer and channeled his fire energy into it until the scorpion's exoskeleton began cracking and withdrew its pincer. Kilkyl then dashed into the scorpion punching and kicking it rapidly in its face.
Kilkyl then jumped back and hurled a series of dragon fire bombs at the scorpion. Each fire bomb cracked the scorpion's exoskeleton. Kilkyl then jumped onto its back, punched his hand through the scorpions shell and began burning it from the inside. The scorpion began jumping and smashing itself onto the outside of the dungeon as it was being burned from within. Kilkyl only smiled as has threw the scorpion in so much pain that the scorpion then began to hit its own head. Kilkyl then shot a flaming blast straight through the scorpion's body and jumped off as it slowly incinerated. Kilkyl began reverting to his regular form, but stumbling as he did so. Lucas handed Rael to David who had stopped not too far away while he ran towards the collapsing Kilkyl.
One day later
"How are they doing" Lucas asked the nurse. The nurse explained that Kilkyl healed fast and he has to merely take things easy for a while. "No problem, but what about the kid" Lucas asked. The nurse further explained that Rael had left early in the morning. His wounds were not serious either. "Rael was never really hit by the scorpion. he was only exhausted from using too much energy" David stated. But the nurse disagreed. Rael did not faint due to a lack of energy, but rather from straining his body too much. In fact, Rael refused to relax in the hospital as well. Lucas' curiosity was even further picked by Rael. None the less, Lucas asked to take Kilkyl with him. The nurse asked if Lucas wanted to wait for Rael, but Lucas only stated that he did not care for the boy in any way.
Lucas and David greeted the hero Kilkyl as he clutched his way through the rotten hospital in Kashkiri. Lucas explains to Kilkyl that all teammates are now safe and the mayor has accepted the peace treaty. "Well that's good" said Kilkyl before he sighed. "Well, time to go" added David.
The trio headed onto a elephant rented out by Lucas. But as they were boarding the elephant, so did Rael. Lucas began scolding and hitting Rael as usual as they other two prepared themselves by getting comfy. The poor driver asked if everybody is ready, to which David gave the clear. As the driver was leading the team out of the town gates on the elephant, he stated that you can get a beautiful view of the palace from their angle. Everybody glanced at the beautiful tower as it glimmered in the sunlight. Rael quickly called everybody including the driver to watch the tower as he pulled out a bomb detonator. "What the hell is that for" asked the driver. Rael set it off and watched the Kashkiri tower blow up completely and collapse into the streets. "They are going to be really pissed off by that, but oh well" said the driver. "Why the hell would you do that" yelled Lucas. "You said we would if we could." replied Rael, "So I went and got some bombs and..". Lucas began strangling Rael before before he could finish explaining himself. The driver firmly recommended not to go back and to leave Kashna as soon as possible. The driver hated his government and was happy the tower blew up.
Later that day as the team arrived at Kashna Lucas ordered David to retrieve the team as he spoke to the mayor for the information. Lucas did not bother explaining to the mayor that they blew up the Kashkiri tower, but instead showed him the peace treaty and received information that the man he is looking for is in Nyrheim. The mayor in addition explained that he now works for a bank there in secret. Lucas showed no hurry, but took the information and left. Lucas returned to the elephant with the driver and the entire team and headed to port. As the team was now venturing through the desert on the elephant's back, they saw the Kashkiri army headed towards Kashna on their war elephants. Rael looked saddened by the consequences of his actions leading Waateef to once again lecture him as before regarding taking the live of others. Rael only smirked and asked "how far did that moral code get the orcs"? Waateef was saddened yet frustrated by what was being thrown in his face by the little Rael. "What's wrong" asked Rael, "you're sad because the orcs were killed off and enslaved. Maybe if your people thought and cared about your own as well as the planet as much as you say you do, you would have fought back and defended everything you all claim to stand for". "Yo, i'm done with you ya hear" yelled Waateef. "But it's true. The orcs are in reality just a bunch of failures who could not fulfill their duty and fell to the same evil as the humans have" Rael continued. But Waateef was truly done speaking. "Damn, that quick" said Lucas referring to how quickly Waateef sat quiet to Rael's comment. Vagron spoke up defending how peace loving orcs are and how they believe in peace, but Rael countered that only a few orcs share that ancient belief in the current world and regardless the orcs never defended it. Zarz then explained "the world became corrupted a long time with a calamity of darkness striking the planet that instilled negative qualities such as hate, greed, and envy, among other negative traits, into people which lead people to commit immoral acts. Humans were the only ones to have sustain their darkness and utilize it for its true power. So in the end there is no real "innocent" beings which includes the now widely enslaved orcs".
Nobody's opinion changed, but it was now clear where everybody stood. Regardless, Lucas was to take his entire team to port and lead them all to a successful mission regardless of their beliefs and background.