"Okay, first let's just calm down," Eodum said as Luara took Kali from Sheila, "Let's just head inside fir-"
"NO!" Freyr yelled fiercely, "You're gonna tell us what exactly you did to our daughter!"
Eodum raised its hands defensively, trying to calm down a clearly angry Freyr, "Calm down, okay? Look, we were just making our way through town, when we noticed that she collapsed, and that this guy here was crying trying to get her up. We came over to help and had him lead us to somewhere where she could rest."
Freyr looked taken aback by the calm and reasonable response, "Oh, I'm sorry. It's just, I saw my daughter like that, and that she was brought in by these new strangers in town. I just assu-"
"No, no, we understand, we aren't the most trustworthy looking group." Henry interrupted.
Sheila suggested, worried for Kali, "We should get her somewhere to rest."
"Already done." Luara disclosed as she came back empty handed, "She's resting comfortably on her bed."
"I'll go in and continue to heal her, I'm a paladin of Gnos." Sheila said.
"Aren't you undead? Wait, come to think of it, how's an undead like you talking!?" Freyr realized.
Sheila sighed, "It's complicated, but either way, I'm a paladin under Gnos with healing magic."
"Right, right, let me show you to her room." Freyr said as he stepped back. Sheila walked through the tall doorway. Sheila was quite tall at 6'8", so she would normally have to duck down out when walking through the door. The change of not ducking down and not banging her head against the door frame was a pleasant change of pace.
Luara stepped back, "Here, I'll lead you to the living room." Luara waved her hand urging Henry and Eodum to come with her. They followed, slightly on guard, but confident that nothing would happen. Even if something happened, they knew they were stronger, at the moment, not many things could threaten them. Luara had the two sit down on a pale yellow couch, and she sat down in a pale tan armchair across from them. A dark brown table was in between the three, so it gave off the feeling of an interview or interrogation.
"I want to thank you for saving our daughter," Luara started, "Our family is in your debt since you helped one of us in a time of need. If there's ever anything we can do for you, we'll help to the best of our abilities."
Eodum shook its head, "No, we were just doing what anyone would've done. We just need to know one thing."
"Of course, ask away." Luara responded.
"It's pretty simple," Eodum said, "We just need somewhere we can sleep for a few days. In addition, we also need a large amount of food."
Luara looked surprised, "That's all? That's pretty easy: there's an inn near the edge of town you all came from and a market in the center of town. Fruits, vegetables, pastries, meat, and other things the people here have either made or farmed are sold there."
"Thank you," Eodum expressed its gratitude, "We'll be off now." Eodum and Henry rose from their seats, and left for the door, "Sheila! We're going."
"Alright!" Sheila yelled from another room soon walking out of it, "She should be fine, just needs some time to rest."
Eodum nodded, "Great, we'll be off then, thanks for having us."
"No, thank you for helping our daughter and son." Freyr smiled. Eodum waved and began their way to the market in the middle of town. It wouldn't take very long to get there as the village wasn't very big. Its structure wasn't complex so navigating it would be a breeze.
Its structure resembled a cross with the market being in the center. The party traveled down the easternmost side of the cross where the Nossraillacs' home was. The inn would've been near the side they came from, so the side closest to Nomed: the southernmost side.
As Eodum thought of where they had to go, they came across the market. Dusty ground was disturbed by the busy stepping and treading of the people. No humans could be seen, like Nomed, Eman Village was occupied by demi-humans, demons, and the occasional monster or spirit. They rushed about to all different varieties of stalls ranging from those who sold plants, to weaponry, to live animals. Different colors flashed about because of the presence of such a wide range of beings and styles.
Eodum's eyes quickly locked onto the sight of a short green dragon humanoid clerking at a shabby, wooden stall. Behind them was a stronger-looking, wooden fence with many live cow-like creatures. The creatures in question were vinol: they looked like cows but were slightly weaker with more fat, but they had an innate affinity with fire as seen by their reddish tint. When in danger, a small, slightly hot explosion of sparks would explode out of them. They would use this as a form of distraction and an intimidation ability. Quite effective in the wild, where monsters and animals alike found surprise in a burst of a fire-based attack.
Eodum walked up to the merchant, "Hello, how much would some of those cows be?"
"Oh, alright," The merchant responded, "That'll be seven zole for one vinol!"
Eodum reached into the void through its pocket and pulled out one silver coin and one large copper coin. The merchant reached his hand out expectantly, and Eodum dropped the coins onto his palm. The merchant let out a charismatic smile and announced, "Great, the vinol is all yours! I'll go ahead and get you one." The merchant opened the gate to the vinol and attempted to herd one out. The vinol however, all had a vague idea of what was to happen when they were sold off, and promptly resisted the merchants pulling.
The merchant scowled, "Damn, it doesn't… want to… get out!" The merchant huffed and puffed as he wrestled against the vinol, each pulling in the opposite direction. The merchant got slightly closer to the beast and startled it while trying to get a better hold of the rope he was using to wrangle it, and it released an explosion of sparks. The sparks rapidly and wildly shot towards the merchant's face as he prepared for scales to get a little burned. He closed his eyes expecting the burning pain of the sparks to envelope him, but even after ten seconds nothing came. He opened his eyes to see that the sparks were frozen in the air.
"What in the…" The merchant trailed off as the sparks flew from their resting position to fly around Henry. He controlled the sparks and made them gravitate around himself for fun, but finally released control of them. The glowing red, yellow, and orange sparks dissipated into the air, returning to the magical nothing from whence they came. The man watched in utter amazement, completely unaware of an encroaching Eodum.
Eodum grabbed the vinol while activating [True Fear], making sure the vinol wouldn't be shooting off more sparks. The vinol got the message as it felt an apex predator, something which far outranked it had appeared, and that no matter what it did, it wouldn't survive. The other vinol felt Eodum's aura and backed off as far as they could, and even the merchant fell to his ass in utter panic and terror at Eodum's presence, Eodum carried the vinol over its shoulder and looked down at the merchat, "Thanks, we'll be on our way."
"Y-Yes, sir!" The merchant yelped in alarm as Eodum walked off to the inn with the vinol over its shoulder. While Eodum used the same, monotone, unfeeling voice as usual, in the ears of the merchant who was under the effect of [True Fear], Eodum sounded cold, oppressing, and belittling. The other people in the market watched the spectacle and too felt unease and fear at Eodum. Eodum however, couldn't care less. As soon as the party made it out of others' lines of sight, Eodum chopped off the head of the vinol, gave the body to Henry to store, and swallowed up the head as it fell to the ground.
Eodum let out a big gulp as it moved on to making its way towards the inn. When Eodum arrived at the slightly more colorful sign of a yellow-gold glass of beer and the words "Wheat Inn" under it after walking past many drab, pale, sunny yellow houses. Eodum opened the drab, pale, sunny yellow door and walked onto the gray, creaking floorboards of the inn. Eodum walked to the clerk running in front and said, "One room, one bed, one night."
"Y-Yes, that'll be two zole." The alerted androgynous smoke spirit said. They reached their hand out, and Eodum dropped a large copper coin into their grasp. They held onto it and gave Eodum a key, "Here, this is for room seven, enjoy your stay!" As the smoke spirit bowed, Eodum was already off for their room. Eodum found itself in a hurry to get to the room because of a long awaited event. It hurriedly rushed to the room, unlocked it, and hurried inside. Eodum turned to Henry and Sheila, "I'll be in the void for a while, keep watch in case anyone has discovered us."
Sheila and Henry nodded, and a portal formed below Eodum's feet. Eodum dropped inside and immediately opened up its status.
[Status:]
Name: Eodum
Race: Void Rat
Gender: Male
Age: 28 days
Level: 15 (MAX)
Hp: 236/236
St: 337/337
Mp: 149/149
Str: 45
Dex: 22
Agi: 54
Wis: 60
Int: 72
Cha: 20
Con: 56
Mnt: 38
Lck: 140
Skills: Tunnel, Aura Slash 3, Gravity Crush, True Fear 2, Body Scan 10 (MAX), Presence Detection Alteration 5, Muscle Tension 4, Void Body 6, Pinpoint Precision 11 , Acid Resistance 3, Blunt Damage Resistance II 3, Support Magic ll 6, Magical Perception 5, Petrification Resistance 2, Rat Command 4, Regen Enhance 11, Tail Elemental Transformation 3, Gravity Magic II 5, Teamwork 8, Stinger Proficiency 3, Void Entry 8, Translate 7, Accelerated Thoughts 8, Stealth Attack 5, Pressure Boost, Shadow Element Boost
Accomplishments: Genocide, Stone Breaker, Lord Slayer, Torturer, Snakes' Bane, Coup D'etat, Dark Horse
SP: 3
AP: 10
This is a long-awaited and quite satisfying neat!