It was roughly 6 in the afternoon when Xetal, Sheva, Kelagar arrived in a horse drawn wagon with supplies to trade.
What Xetal noticed first was the Anointed Blood skeleton halting his path. Sheva was the first to get out. "Don't worry. It's the summon of lord Lovo" she said to reassure Xetal.
"Julki. It's me. Sheva. Kelagar is with me and we brought a friend that would like to meet your master."
Julki nodded and lead them to the castle walls. What shocked them was immediately after Atlas and Bulwark stepped out of the woods on either side. None of the adventurers noticed the two. Kelagar and Sheva never met these two either.
"We have guests!" one of the Hunter goblins called out while on the wall. The main gate to the castle wasn't fully repaired but Gorgo was making progress with rebuilding the wooden doors and even a pen for the two Goreboars he caught earlier that week.
As the adventurers entered they were quite surprised by the interior of the walls. Sheva and Kelagar both stated how it looked much better since last they came. Some of the walls were still missing stone but it looked like people lived her and kept it clean. Xetal was surprised that humans, Forest Goblins and an Ogre all lived together. Let alone under the protection of a Vampire.
Master Fontana and Toma were the first to greet the new arrivals.
"Welcome to our home. I am Master Fontana and this is Chieftain Toma of the Forest Goblins. It is a pleasure to see you again; Sheva and Kelagar."
"It's an honor to meet you!" Toma did his best to act more human before the group.
The three just smiled inwardly at this.
"Aye. It's good to see you too" Kelagar said "we even got our Guild Master Xetal to come out. He was excited to see the Blink Beast puppies you promised us."
Master Fontana smiled.
"Of course. They are doing fine and are very healthy. We are happy to show you them."
The two lead the adventurers through the inner walls. They left their horse and wagon tied to the inn that was renamed "The TurnTail Inn".
The adventurers examined the budding town. There weren't many people, but Xetal was already thinking of ways to make peace with these people. He could kill everyone here, but a Vampire ally is much more important then a dead one.
Making their way to a makeshift barn they all saw Balor milking the silk from the Trancho while Ethinu was tending to the Blink Beast mother and her puppies.
"Ah hello Master Fontana, Toma, Kelagar and Sheva. The puppies are doing good!"
She leaned back to show the playpen she made out of sticks. The mother was laying on her side letting one of the puppies drink her milk while the other four were playing and running around.
"Have they started to Blink around yet?" Sheva asked impatiently.
Ethinu laughed "no not yet. They are still too young. Although the one that passed is now a pet to Lord Lovo and that one has been Blinking in and out. Even getting into our fertilizer supply." Ethinu started to sound like an old woman. "Darn thing doesn't even need it! Just rolls around in it."
Xetal started to look around and noticed someone was missing.
"Speaking of Lord Lovo" his voice box was as mellow tone as ever. "Where is he? I thought the Lord of this castle would great us."
Both Toma and Fontana sighed as they weren't sure they should say what was going on. Toma just looked at Master Fontana for his judgement.
"He is unfortunately indisposed right now. He has been for nearly a week. I will tell you as a show of good faith. Please follow me."
The three adventurers and Toma followed Master Fontana to the castle itself. He lead them down to the new room that was renovated for Lord Lovo. The once torture chamber had all the metal cages ripped out by Gorgo and the Druids and Goblins went to work making it a nice ish room. They even were able to make a bed out of a mix of silk and straw they had. And laying on the bed was a set of new clothes for Lord Lovo. Similar to ones he already had on except no holes and not nearly as aged. Ethinu was glad she had purple and gold dyeberries for the clothes.
Going through the room Master Fontana stopped the group.
"Unfortunately the next room is Lord Lovo's masters chambers. I can not bring you all. And even I am not allowed to enter."
The three adventurers seemed confused by this, but remained quiet.
Master Fontana stood at the doorway.
"Neasa. We have guests here. Please come out and introduce yourself."
"Just a moment" a feminine voice called back.
After a minute or two Neasa showed herself. Her caramel color skill, short brown hair and bright green eyes. She seemed to have bags under her eyes from staying up too many hours reading.
"My apologies. I am Neasa. Apprentice to Lord Lovo. Unfortunately this room is owned by Lord Karik, Lord Lovo's master. I can only bring one of you in to see them. Who am I bring?"
Xetal stepped forward.
"I am Guild Master Xetal of Oswik. I would like to meet Lord Lovo."
Neasa was slightly taken aback by Xetal. A tall Sauran that looked like a mighty warrior. She knows about his race, but never met one in the flesh before. What struck her odd the most was he opened his mouth to speak, but the box around his next spoke for him. She shrugged it off and lead him through.
Xetal was amazed by the state of this room. It was much nicer then anything else in the castle. Bookshelves with rare and valuable books. He didn't recognize them, but he could instantly tell that even the capital of the Coalition would want these. As he looked around following Neasa two things caught his eye. An ornate skull with gems adorned it floating in an alter and a large red egg in the corner. He knew what that was instantly. A monster evolution egg. If That was Lord Lovo he knew that this would be his 4th or 5th evolution. He would become even more powerful then he was.
Neasa decided not to let Xetal know that the skull was Lord Karik. That wasn't her master and didn't know if Lord Lovo was hiding him or not. So she just lead him to the egg Lord Lovo was evolving in.
"As you can see Lord Lovo is undergoing his evolution right now and is indisposed."
"Fontana said he has been in there for almost a week. Is this his fifth or fourth evolution?"
Neasa smiled at this.
"It's actually his first. He hasn't gone into details of his past, but he said he was always a Vampire."
Xetal jaw dropped.
'First evolution?! Most monsters need to evolve into a a vampire. To be born as one is extremely unlikely! Most think it's impossible.'
Xetal started to wonder what Lord Lovo's master did to create a creature as a pure vampire as birth. Being a Vampire at birth would mean he has 5-6 evolutions to get even stronger! Normally a Vampire would only have 1-2 evolutions after being coming one. He if had 5-6 more evolutions he would become a deadly force in the future.
He started to reach for his weapon to break the egg. Interrupting a monsters evolution has a chance to prevent them further from evolving and getting stronger. Just as he gripped his weapon he felt the eyes of the undead upon him. He started to calculate the fight before suddenly he heard the cracking of the egg.
It was too late.
A surge of energy exploded out from the egg knocking Xetal, Neasa and even the skeletons to the ground.
They all looked up to see a naked Lord Lovo. Neasa was the only one to notice this. Lord Lovo's eyes were a different color. Instead of black eyes with red irises they were grey eyes with orange irises. She also turned away and blushed seeing Lord Lovo naked.
She was impressed.