(c) 2007 - 2008 by LFox
A World Apart
Chapter 06: Through Snow and Ice

The next day the four of them meet back up in the middle of the streets of Ralion.

They glance around briefly then Nathan smiles and waves.  “Hey Elwyn”.  Elwyn looks at them somewhat unsure but waves slightly in reply as they walk over to her.  “We left on pretty weird terms yesterday”

“Y-yeah” says Elwyn.

Jessica looks at her sympathetically knowing she’s having a hard time coming to terms with things.  “So, did Elisha explain everything?”

Elwyn nods slightly.  “Yeah, I find it all kind of hard to believe but…to be honest I believe you”

Elisha smiles warmly.  “You know I honestly never thought I’d say something like this but, I’d be glad to be friends with an NPC like you”

Jessica smiles and nods.  “Me too”

Nathan nods.  “Yeah”

Seeing them smile Elwyn can’t help but smile herself.  “Thank you”

Elisha looks at Elwyn curiously.  “Tell me, what’s the first memory you have?”

Elwyn looks at her blankly.  “First memory?”

Elisha nods.  “Yeah your first memory”

Elwyn puts a finger to her chin as she goes into thought.  “Mmm, now that you mention it.  I never realized but, the earliest thing I can remember is two weeks ago when I woke up under a tree in the forest”

“I guess that means you’re only two weeks old”

Elwyn looks at her in surprise.  “Two weeks?  I’m two weeks old?”

Jessica sighs.  “She’s so young”

Elwyn laughs slightly.  “I guess, I guess that explains why I didn’t know about all this NPC stuff huh?  Hehehe.  …By the way, why do you guys come here if this place isn’t real?”

“For us it’s fun” says Nathan.

Elwyn looks at him confused.  “Fun?”

Jessica’s eyes sparkle as she begins to talk.  “Yeah fun.  You know having adventures, fighting strange creatures, exploring the world”.  Jessica pouts.  “You can’t do anything like that in our world without a lot of money so it really sucks.  Plus we got more advanced technology so you don’t see these kinds of towns or large forests anymore”

“I probably forgot to mention it earlier but we don’t have magic in our world” says Elisha.

Elwyn’s eyes go wide.  “You don’t have magic?”

Elisha nods.

“That reminds me I wanted to ask you something” says Nathan.

“What?” asks Elwyn.

“Why are you always floating with magic?  How come you don’t walk?”

Jessica perks up hearing his question.  “Hey you know that’s a good question”

Elisha folds her arms and goes deep in thought.  “Come to think of it I was wondering the same”

Elwyn puts a hand on the side of her head and turns a little pale.  “Ummm, well, I don’t know ahahaha.  It’s just something I’ve always done.  I guess I just don’t really like walking”

After several moments of silence Jessica stretches her arms in the air.  “So what are we going to do today?”

“Well today there’s an event on” says Nathan.

Jessica looks at him curiously.  “An event?”

“I take it you don’t read the website?”

Jessica shakes her head blankly.

Elisha cracks a smile.  “Well today an events starting where players who have been registered six months or less can turn in silversage plants that are growing around the mountain region of the city of Esper, it’s a dwarf village”

“So, what’s the reward?” asks Jessica.

“The rewards are random.  For every ten silversage you turn in you’re given a magic sphere that morphs into a random item.  It can be junk or it can be a unique item worth millions”

“That sounds pretty good, if you’re lucky”

Elisha turns to Elwyn with a smile.  “You going to be joining us?”

Elwyn smiles.  “Sure, sounds like fun”

“Don’t suppose your able to teleport us over there are you?” asks Nathan.

Elwyn nods.  “Yeah but, do you have a map?”.  Nathan takes out his map and shows it to her.  “Oh that’s where it is.  Okay one moment”

Elwyn motions her hands and several moments later they appear high up in the mountains in the middle of a town.  The town looks similar to Ralion with building design and it even has a massive wall around it with large towers.  Unlike Ralion the town is well kept and fresh snow covers almost everything in town and across the mountainsides.

Busy walking around town are dozens of dwarves.  The dwarves themselves look more like pite sized humans than anything else as their bodies look like normal full grown humans.  Most of them though don’t even reach 3 feet in height.  Despite the ghastly cold weather with heavy winds the dwarves are mostly dressed in small tops and shorts and a lot of them are covered in dirt from the mines.

Moments after the gang arrives a heavy gust of icy cold wind blows past sending a chill through all of them.

Jessica holds her arms and shudders.  “God it’s freezing here”

“Y-yeah, no kidding” says Nathan.

“Hang on, I’ll, I’ll warm us up with my magic” says Elwyn.  Elwyn focuses with her eyes closed for a moment then motions her hands.  After several moments one by one they all stop shaking.  “Is that better?”

Jessica looks over herself in surprise.  “I don’t feel cold at all now”

“What did you do?” asks Nathan.

“I warmed the air around our bodies to keep us warm.  It doesn’t take much magicka so I should be able to keep it up for most of the day without problems” explains Elwyn.

“That’s great” says Elisha.  She motions her hand behind them.  “Let’s look around town.  There should be a human merchant called Emily with a stall setup somewhere”

They walk briefly through the streets then Jessica raises her hand and calls out to a female dwarf as she walks past.  “Hey little girl”

The dwarf woman turns around with an annoyed look on her face and her brow twitches in anger.  “Little girl?  I’m twenty-seven for christ sakes.  You elves and humans are all the same”

Elisha whacks Jessica across the back of the head sharply.  “We’re in a dwarf village idiot”

Jessica holds her head in pain.  “Owe, sorry.  I didn’t know what dwarves look like”.  Jessica kneels down to get a better look at the dwarf woman.  “You look like a mini human”

Nathan puts a hand to his face and shakes his head.

The dwarf woman glares at Jessica angrily.  “Do you honestly think a child would have breasts this big?”.  The woman motions a hand at her chest which is quite big for size but in comparison to a normal human next to nothing.

Jessica turns a little pale and waves her hands in front of her.  “Sorry, sorry.  I didn’t look proper”

Nathan clears his throat.  “Do you happen to know if there’s a human merchant in town?  Goes by the name Emily.  She should have a stall open somewhere and be collecting plants from people”

The dwarf woman leans to the side to look behind Jessica.  “Her?  Yeah she’s over on the other side of town”.  She points her thumb over her shoulder.  “She’s collecting silversage or some crap.  Said it sprung up recently with the fresh snow.  In fact some of the rewards she’s been handing out for the stuff have been pretty good.  My friend picked some up on the way back from the mines and got a C grade sword in return.  Really good craftsmanship too”

“Thanks for the help”

They all bow to her and quickly make their way over to the other side of town.  Once there they find dozens more dwarfs and all sorts of people from all different races walking around the town.  In front of large building a human mage is sitting behind a table with dozens of crates piled around her.  Seeing her the group quickly makes their way over to her.

“Excuse me are you Emily?” asks Nathan.

The woman smiles at them.  “Yes, I take it you heard I’m looking for silversage?”

Nathan nods.  “Yeah”

“Just bring me batches of ten and I’ll give you a magic sphere.  The magic spheres will morph into various items, some good, some bad”

“Where can we find the silversage though?” asks Jessica.

“It grows all over the place you just need to look around in the snow.  Most of the mountainside around this village should be covered in it right now”.  Emily grabs something to the side of her and holds her hands out in front of her showing them a snow white plant that has a light aqua shade to its leaves.  “When you harvest them try to get the whole plant.  I’ll be here all day so you can take your time”

Jessica stares at the plant in surprise.  “That thing will be practically invisible in the snow”

Emily smiles.  “Well no one said it’d be easy to find them”

Jessica turns a little pale.  “Hehehe I guess not”

“Come on let’s get going” says Elisha.

They walk through town for a short distance and exit through the gate on the eastern exit.  As they emerge from the town they come out onto section of land overlooking a massive snowy mountain region ahead of them.  Trees, flowers and bushes are scattered about the land completely covered in snow.  In the distance several different types of animals, wolves, deer and several other types can be seen walking around in search of food.

Elwyn stares at the brilliant landscape in wonder.  “Wow, this place is really beautiful”

“It’s so white” says Jessica.  Suddenly a snowball flies out from the side and hits Jessica square in the face.  “What the hell?”

They all quickly turn to the side to see Elisha with a smirk on her face as she hefts a snowball up and down in her hand.

Jessica puts on a pissed look and clenches her fist in anger.  “Why you”

Elisha throws the snowball in her hand at Jessica but she quickly ducks before it hits.  A moment later the two of them run off pegging snowballs at each other.  Meanwhile Elwyn and Nathan stand around watching them.

“I wouldn’t have thought she was the type to start a snowball fight” says Elwyn.

Nathan rubs the back of his head.  “Uhh, I don’t think her intentions are quite as noble or kind as your thinking”

Suddenly a pair of snowballs fly out and hit Elwyn in the face knocking her out of the air.

Nathan stands over her looking worried.  “Are you alright?”

Elwyn sits up looking rather annoyed.  In front of her she sees Jessica and Elwyn standing with snowballs in their hands and smirks on their faces.  Elwyn quickly rises into the air with her magic along with four dozen snowballs.

“So you want a snowball fight huh?” asks Elwyn.

“Oh crap” says Elisha.

Jessica turns a little pale.  “So much for your bright idea”

Jessica and Elisha glance at each other then suddenly drop their snowballs and run.  Elwyn quickly flies after them firing snowballs like bullets at them as they run around dodging and ducking in a hopeless attempt to avoid being hit.  While the three girls are busy fighting Nathan stands around watching.

“Well this is going to be an eventful day” says Nathan.

The snowball fight rages on with Jessica and Elisha using sneak attacks to retaliate against Elwyn’s magic.  Even when they get a clear shot however most of the snowballs are stopped before they hit her as she raises a magic shield.  Before long Nathan is knocked clean off his feet by a triple snowball attack.  When he sits up he finds all three girls looking at him with mischievous smiles.  Grabbing a handful of snow he runs after them as he quickly joins in the fight.  Almost an hour later they call a truce and stand around talking.

“That was the most fun I’ve had in years” says Jessica.

“It was a lot of fun” says Elwyn.

“Next time we’ll have a no magic rule” says Elisha sternly.

Elwyn turns a little pale.  “You’re, you’re kidding right?”

Elisha glares at her sternly confirming that she is indeed very serious.

“So anyway how are we supposed to find the silversage in all this snow?” asks Jessica.

Elwyn puts a finger to her chin for a moment as she thinks then suddenly her face lights up as she gets an idea.  “I got it, I could melt the snow with my magic”

Elwyn raises a hand up preparing to cast a spell however Nathan quickly grabs her hand stopping her.  “Woah, woah, don’t do that.  You might mess up the plants and animals around here.  This is the mountains, there’s always supposed to be snow here”

Elwyn quickly lowers her hand looking a little depressed.  “Sorry”

Jessica stares ahead of them with a serious expression.  Suddenly her face softens up as she quickly realizes what she’s looking at.  “Hey there’s one”

Jessica runs over to a nearby tree where she saw a tuft of green poking up from between the snow.  She drops her knees and carefully starts removing the snow around it.

“That’s a bit of grass genius” says Elisha coldly.

Jessica turns pale as she sits in front of a now uncovered hunk of lush green grass.

Nathan cups his chin as he thinks for a moment.  “Hmmm, I think it’d be best if we split up.  You can keep your heating magic going when we’re apart right?”

Elwyn perks up.  “Uh, yeah.  Providing we’re not more than a mile apart I guess”

“Alright let’s split up then and look around this area.  Yell out if you find some”

They all nod in agreement and disperse in different directions.  As they walk around the area they look closely at the ground searching for any hint of silversage.  Jessica walks over to a tree and searches around the base not finding any.  She glances to her side as Elisha passes by then looks back at the base of the tree finding a small silversage plant in front of her.

“What the?” says Jessica.  Jessica kneels down and carefully digs the plant out.  As she pulls it free from the dark fertile soil she suddenly notices another silversage plant next to her.  “Huh?  That wasn’t there a moment ago”.  As she starts to dig out the second plant she yells out to the others.  “Hey guys I found two so far”.  Just as she finishes digging out the second plant the three of them come over to her to take a look.  Jessica holds out her hands showing the plants off with a smile.  “See”

“Well I’ll be their actually silversage I thought you mighta dug up some grass again” says Elisha.

Jessica pouts and glares angrily at Elisha.

“Good work” says Nathan.

Jessica smiles getting Nathan’s praise.  “It’s weird though.  When I looked a moment ago they weren’t there.  It’s like as if they suddenly just sprouted up”

“That’s probably exactly what happened.  Don’t forget this is an event.  They probably have the plants set to regrow as soon as the amount goes down” says Elisha.

Jessica looks at her blankly.  “Oh I see”

Elwyn goes in thought for a moment then suddenly smiles.  “Why don’t we try to collect forty?  That way we can all get a magic sphere”

“Hey that’s a good idea.  Alright let’s try to get forty then we’ll head back to town” says Nathan.

With that they all disperse again as they begin to look for silversage again.  After hunting through snow, ice and bushes for almost two hours they have a total of two dozen plants to show for it.  It all comes to an end though when they hear Jessica let out a squeal.  As they rush over to see what happened they find a pair of humans standing in front of Jessica who has her sword drawn.

One of the humans is a powerful looking female mage with exquisite black and gold dress with long black hair down to her waist.  The other is a male with scurry blond hair who’s wearing a full set of heavy white plate armor with gold designs.  His armor though doesn’t really match his body or look like it fits too well as it’s made for an Elf male rather than a human.  In his hand he has a beautiful thin Kodachi (type of Japanese short sword) that literally glimmers in the sunlight as it’s razor-sharp blade looks brand new.

Jessica glares at them angrily and yells.  “What the hells wrong with you two?  I told you I’m a player”

The male smirks at her.  “You think that matters?”

Elisha suddenly whips out her bow and with lighting speed she draws an arrow and fires it right at the males face.  Seeing it a look of shock runs across his face and he takes a step back quickly.  Just before the arrow nails him in the forehead it hits an invisible wall and bounces off.  A small rifle of blue energy flickers around where the arrow hit before disappearing a few seconds later.

The male looks to his side at his friend.  “Thanks”

She smiles back at him.  “No problem”

“What the hell is wrong with you guys?” snaps Nathan.

The male looks at Nathan emotionless.  “Nothing’s wrong.  We’re just playing the game”

Jessica’s glare deepens and she grits her teeth angrily.  “You’re not supposed to kill other players”

His face remains emotionless as he taps his sword against his shoulder then shrugs.  “So what you all die the same anyway”

Jessica’s fingers tighten their grip on her sword as she gets angrier.  “Why you”

Jessica pulls her sword to the side and rushes him.  Just as she’s about to strike and take off his head the woman next to him motions a hand at Jessica.  A brilliant jet of white and blue light rips out in jagged lines from her hand.  In an instant they hit Jessica in the chest blowing her clean off her feet.  She lands on the ground several feet away with smoke rising off her body as she twitches all over as electricity courses through her veins.

Nathan looks back at Jessica, his hand begins to shake with anger then he looks back at the pair and draws his sword.  “If you want a fight fine”

Elwyn suddenly appears in front of the woman with her hands together and light blue ball of energy growing between them.  The woman stares at her in shock for a moment.  Just as Elwyn releases her magic attack the woman manages to make a defense by forming one of her own.  As their two attacks meet she slides backwards through the snow as she’s pushed away by the sheer force of the attack.  In the middle of them their blue magic attacks sparkle and dance wildly.  Shards of energy start flying off hitting bushes and trees which are instantly turned to ice from the freezing cold magic attack.

A shard flies past almost hitting the male.  “Hey watch it”

“Sorry, but she’s really strong” says the woman.

Seeing he’s distracted Nathan decides to seize the opportunity.  He rushes forward and swipes at him with his sword.  The male just barely notices it in time to doge the attack to the side.  As he regains his footing he quickly grips his sword in both hands as he prepares to fight Nathan.  As they begin Elisha draws an arrow and silently waits for an opening.  As the male steps away she fires, just as it’s about to hit him in the throat he raises his sword causing it to hit it and bounce off.

Meanwhile the beam of ice magic between Elwyn and the woman has grown to the size of a massive bolder.  The magic ball swirls, expanding and contracting violently for several moments before finally reaching critical and exploding.  Both Elwyn and the woman are blown away landing several feet away on their backs in the snow with ice and snow encasing their bodies as if they’d been lying there for days.  The woman is the first to get up and she panting heavily to regain her breath from the excessive use of magicka.

Elwyn sits up looking rather exhausted herself as she tries to steady to her breathing.  Jessica finally recovering from the massive charge of electricity she received slowly stands up using her sword to keep herself from falling over.  Elisha releases another arrow, it flies under Nathan’s arm and just before it hits the woman aims her arm at her friend raising a magic shield.  The arrow comes in contact with a blue aura just as it’s about to hit.  Energy swirls around the arrow in a spiral for several moments before it’s finally blasted away to the side.

The male steps forward and hits Nathan in the stomach.  Nathan’s sword goes out to his side as he reacts to the pain leaving him unguarded.  The male raises his sword but just as he’s about to strike Death herself suddenly appears in front of him and slugs him in the gut.  He quickly crumples to the ground holding his stomach as he looks up at her with one eye open.

The woman looks at Death surprised.  “Who the hell are you?”

“Death?  What are you doing here?” asks Jessica.

The woman looks at Jessica confused.  “Death?”

“I picked up a pair of Pkers about to kill a group of players so I came here to deal with them” says Death.  She looks back at Jessica and the others.  “Funny, I never thought it’d be you three again, trouble seems to be drawn to you.  And it looks like you even gained a friend”

The male pker gets up looking pissed.  “Why you bitch”

He swipes his sword at Death but she avoids it easily seeming to almost float away from the attack.  As he goes for her again she flips her scythe around and holds the blade towards her.  Not seeing it soon enough he runs right onto the razor sharp spikes on the back of the scythe blade.  He stands there motionless for several moments with a look of shock across his face as trails of blood slowly flow down along the length of his armor.

“SAM” shrieks the woman.

Death steps back and wrenches her scythe free of his body causing blood to splash out along the snow.  Her scythe quickly comes to rest against her shoulder as she glares at him.  “Samuel Dixon, Marina Hunt you are in violation of the rules of play for attempting to kill another player and will therefore be eliminated”

Death’s body phases out and phases back in, in front of the woman like a ghost.  She grabs the woman around the neck and effortlessly lifts her into the air like she’s a rag doll.  The woman claws at her hand feebly trying to pull it away.  Suddenly the very life starts to drain out of her.  Her skin looses all its color and her veins become visible as dark purple streaks across her body.

The male stands up and glares at Death’s back.  “You bitch”.  He runs at Death and swipes at her with his sword.  Each strike goes through her body leaving a small trail of black mist that disappears after a few seconds.  “MARINA”

Death continues to hold onto the woman draining the life out of her while her friend feebly tries to save her.  The gang watches the spectacle silently and unmoving.  After several more moments the woman’s body turns to a ragged zombie like corpse as everything is finally drained from it.  Her body goes limp and Death tosses her aside like a piece of garbage.

She then turns to the male who’s glaring at her while shaking in anger.  Suddenly he makes an odd face and clutches his chest.  His eyes go wide and he stutters as his heart tries to escape his chest.  He slowly sinks to the ground clawing at his chest as he slowly dies of a heart attack.  As his body goes lifeless Death turns to the gang.

“You, you killed them” stutters Jessica.

Death flicks her scythe to the side shaking the blood off in one swift motion before putting it to rest against her shoulder again.  “Pkers are parasites, their unwelcome to this game”

“I know your death but I thought you’re not allowed to kill players” says Elisha.

Death glares at them coldly.  “My job as death isn't for show.  I've been given permission by the creator of Eden himself to govern life and death of this world.  In it I decide who lives and who dies.  People like pkers are not welcome in this world.  Next time a player is trying to kill you call a world keeper immediately.  Well, I’ll be taking my leave now.  Do as you wish with their belongings”.  With that Death’s body phases out.

“I can’t believe she killed them so easily” says Jessica.

Elisha looks at her.  “What no morality speech?”

Jessica turns her head to the side looking annoyed.  “For someone who tried to kill us?  Their scum as far I’m concerned”.  Jessica turns around and starts walking away.  “I’m gonna go look for more silversage”

Elisha looks at her as she leaves seeming a little surprised.  “Well that was unexpected.  I was at least expecting some sort of objection from her”

Nathan lets out a sigh.  “Well they did try to kill us”

Elisha smirks.  “Well I’m going to seize this opportunity and bag their stuff”

Nathan looks at Elwyn.  “Let’s try to find some more silversage”

Elwyn perks up.  “Uh, sure”

The two of them quickly run off together leaving Elisha the grueling job of disrobing the former pkers.  When she’s done Elisha looks around the area until she finds Nathan and Elwyn that are busy searching around several small bushes.

“Find anymore yet?” asks Elisha.

Nathan shakes his head.  “Nope, still looking”

“Well I got something for you”

Nathan stops and turns to face her.  “Hem?”

Elisha opens the bag on her side and lifts the chest piece of the plate armor that she took off the male pker partially out of the bag.

Elwyn looks at the armor.  “That’s…”

“It’s from those pkers.  It looks like C grade, pretty good stuff.  I figured you could use it” says Elisha.

Nathan rubs the back of his head as he looks at the armor.  “I don’t know if that’d fit me I mean that guy looked quite a bit bigger”

Elwyn floats over to Elisha and bends down to look over the armor carefully.  “Hey you know this is Elvin armor”

Elisha looks at her surprised then looks at the armor again.  “It is?”

Elwyn nods.  “Yeah, he probably got it off someone else”.  Elwyn looks back at Nathan and smiles.  “It’ll probably fit you a lot better than it did him”

Nathan looks at her surprised.  “Alright I’ll give it a go”.  Nathan walks over to them, grabs the armor and lifts it up halfway out of the bag before suddenly pausing.  “Uh, now that I think about it we should probably go to a warmer place”

Elwyn smiles.  “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you warm while you change”

Elisha smirks at him.  “Come on get changed and don’t even try to give me crappy excuses like Jess.  I’ve seen you butt naked more times than I can count”

“Yeah yeah I know” says Nathan.  He pulls the suit of armor out of the bag and looks over it noticing blood has dried and frozen over around the stomach area where Death’s scythe ripped through the armor.  “Hmm should probably clean this blood off first”

Elwyn smiles warmly.  “I’ll do it”.

She puts a hand to the armor and a faint orange glow envelopes her hand.  After a moment the blood liquefies and runs down the armor onto the snow where it pools together as a small puddle.  As the last of the blood drips off, the armor looks completely clean and brand new save for the series of tears across the stomach area.

“There we go” says Elwyn.

“Wow, I didn’t know you can use magic like that” says Nathan.

Elisha smiles.  “Try it on”

Nathan sits the armor on the ground and starts unstrapping his own armor.  The two girls watch silently but as Nathan’s underpants become visible Elwyn grows red in the face as she blushes.  She even turns away slightly but her eyes strain on the side trying to continue watching.  Elisha remains calm while he changes she even lends a hand helping him take off and put on the sets of armor.  Before long Nathan is standing in the set of plate armor which hugs his form perfectly in every way.  With his new armor on he stretches and flexes to check out his mobility.

“Hey you know this actually fits better than the other armor” says Nathan.

Elisha smiles.  “I got one other thing for you”

Nathan looks at her confused making Elisha’s smile broaden.  She reaches into the bag and pulls out the sword the male pker was using then holds it out for Nathan to see.

Nathan takes the sword from her and holds it near his face as he carefully inspects it.  “Very nice”

“It’s not too small is it?” asks Elisha.

Nathan shakes his head.  “No this is perfect”

Elwyn smiles.  “Looks like you got some better equipment now”

Elisha smirks.  “I think he looks like a real hero now”

Elwyn holds a hand near her chin and giggles.  “I guess so”

Nathan’s face reddens as he blushes.  “Thanks”

The four of them spend the rest of the afternoon walking around the mountain region hunting for silversage.  By the time they manage to find forty the sky is already dark blue with thousands of stars sparkling overhead with a beautiful purple nebula streaked across the sky.

As they walk into town again towards Emily’s stall Jessica lets out a heavy sigh.  “I can’t believe it took us all afternoon just to find forty”

Elwyn nods.  “Yeah, it took a lot longer than I thought it would”

“Well let’s turn them in and see what we get” says Nathan.

As they reach the area where Emily’s stall is they find a group of orcs busy turning in their own silversage.  The orcs are by far the most powerful looking of all the races with slightly pointed ears, dark pale green skin and massive body builder like bodies that give them twice the strength of humans and stand between 6 to 8 feet tall on average.  The males look like absolute juggernauts with chests, arms and legs twice as big and thick as even the most heavy human body builder.

Despite what one might think of females the woman look just as tough and fit as the males although much slimmer with more feminine bodies.  The women’s bodies bulge with heavy muscles on their arms, legs and even on their abdomen.  On their chests they have massive round yet firm breasts that stand proudly on their muscular bodies.

The attire of the orcs is of the tribal nature with loose tops, skirts or shorts.  Their hair is dark black woven into dreadlocks on most.  The particular group standing in front of the stall is wearing heavy sets of bronze plate armor that protects only the essentials such as the upper chest and the crotch.

Nearby the stall a human male wearing plate armor is holding a blue sphere of energy in his hands that’s about the size of a tennis ball.  The sphere quickly glows brightly with white light as it morphs into a thin long object that turns out to be a high end C grade long sword with brilliant craftsmanship.

Seeing the item he got the human’s face lights up.  “Oh cool, what a great item”

“Looks like everyone’s getting in on the event” says Elisha.

The gang heads over to the stall and waits behind the group momentarily before they leave.  As they walk past Jessica looks at one of the massive female orcs.  She makes a weird face then shudders and shakes her head.

As they come up to the front of the stall Emily smiles at them.  “So how’d you do?”

Elisha grabs the bag on her side and pours the silversage out onto the table.  “We managed to get forty.  Enough for one sphere for each of us”

Emily smiles.  “That’s great”.  She leans to her side and picks up four magic spheres from one of the crates and holds them out.  One by one they reach out and take a magic sphere from her hand.  “All you need to do to have them change is to hold them firmly and say transform.  Just be ready because some of the items can be quite large and quite heavy”

The four of them quickly thank her and walk off looking at the spheres in their hands.  “So these can turn into anything?” asks Elwyn.

“Well not quite anything but pretty much.  They can’t turn into anything higher than C grade” says Elisha.

Jessica looks at her sphere then glances at the others.  “So, who’s going to go first?”

“I will”.  Elisha stretches out her hand in front of her.  “Transform”.  The magic sphere glows brightly with white light as it quickly morphs into a beautiful large white silk cloak.  Elisha looks at the cloak in her hands somewhat surprised.  “Well that was unexpected”

“Nice cloak” says Jessica.

Nathan holds out a hand.  “Mind if I have it?”

“Uh, sure” says Elisha.

Nathan takes the cloak from her and throws it around Elwyn.  Elwyn looks at him then at the cloak.  “What are you doing?”

Nathan smiles.  “I think it suits you best”

Elwyn blushes and looks at the girls.  “You guys don’t mind?”

Elisha shakes her head.  “Not at all”

Jessica shrugs and holds out her hands while looking very uninterested.  “I don’t mind”

Elwyn smiles.  “Thank you”

Jessica stretches out her hand.  “Let’s see what I got.  Transform”.  The magic sphere quickly glows and changes shape to become a pretty steel chain necklace with various designs.

Elisha looks at the necklace oddly.  “A necklace?”

“Weird, well it looks pretty nice at least”.  She holds out the necklace to Elisha.  “Here why don’t you put it on?”

“No thanks” says Elisha.

Jessica ignores her and moves forward to put it on Elisha.  “Oh come on it’ll look nice”

Elisha rolls her eyes and stands still.  “Fine”

Jessica hooks the necklace together behind Elisha’s neck then stands back to admire it.  After several moments dozens of little white particles appear around Elisha’s ears and backside.  Her ears quickly morph into a set of large cream colored cat ears and on her backside a long slender cream tail with a white tip appears.

Nathan stares at Elisha confused.  “What the?”

Elisha tilts her head and looks at him confused as she’s oblivious to the changes that occurred.  “What?”

Elwyn stifles a laugh as she looks at Elisha but as she continues looking she becomes unable to contain herself and starts laughing hysterically.

Jessica holds her stomach as she starts laughing heavily herself then points at Elisha with a hand.  “She’s a cat girl”

Elisha looks at them blankly.  “C-cat girl?”.  She reaches her hands up and feels her ears then looks at her backside seeing a tail moving around on its own accord.  She turns to look at Jessica looking almost mortified.

“You look so cute ahahaha” laughs Jessica.

Elisha’s face grows dark as anger boils up and she clenches a fist angrily in front of her.  “You did this deliberately didn’t you?”

Jessica wipes away a tear of laughter.  “I didn’t but I’m glad I put it on you”

Elisha glares at her.  “Well you’re forgetting one thing.  This kitty has CLAWS”.  Elisha draws her swords and glares down at Jessica with killer eyes.  Jessica quickly goes silent and turns pale as she looks at Elisha.  “I’M GONNA KILL YOU”

Jessica squeals and runs off with Elisha chasing after her.  “You can just take the necklace off”

“Not before I kill you for putting it on me in the first place” yells Elisha.

“Well their as lively as ever” says Nathan.

Elwyn puts a hand to her chin and giggles.  “What a weird magic item”

“I guess they threw some special magic items into the mix to make things more interesting”

A few minutes later Elisha is standing in front of them still looking rather pissed off but Jessica is standing silently by her side.  Jessica however looks utterly depressed as the necklace hangs around her neck thus giving her cat ears and a cat tail.

“Well now that you two are done let’s see what else we got” says Nathan.

Elwyn grips her magic sphere tightly and holds out her hand.  “Transform”.  The sphere in her hand quickly glows and morphs into a novel sized book.  “A book?”

“What’s it about?” asks Elisha.

Elwyn turns the book and looks at the cover.  “Advanced magic spells 3rd edition”

Jessica waves a hand back and forth in front of her.  “Well that’s pretty useless”

Elwyn opens the book up and flips through its pages briefly.  “No actually this might be of some use to me”

“Well there’s only one sphere left now” says Elisha.

Nathan holds out his hand so they can all see the sphere.  “I wonder what it is.  Transform”

The magic sphere glows brightly and quickly changes shape.  As it finishes Nathan is left holding a brilliant thin 5 foot long white metal staff.  At the very top of the staff the metal curls into a crescent where it holds a large red ruby the size of a tennis ball in the shape of a sphere.

Jessica’s eyes widen in surprise seeing the staff.  “Wow, it that looks expensive”

Elisha nods in approval.  “Yeah it does”

Elwyn leans towards the staff looking over it.  “I’m not positive but I think that’s a B grade item, top of the line too”

Nathan smiles and holds out the staff to Elwyn.  “Here”

Elwyn looks at him blankly.  “Uh, for me?  But…”

“We don’t have any other use for it”

Elwyn takes the staff and holds it close to her then blushes.  “Still, I feel kind of bad getting all this stuff”

Jessica looks at the book, cloak and staff Elwyn now has.  “Yeah it’s kind of a rip off actually”

Elisha whacks Jessica across the back of the head.  “It’s no big deal”

Jessica rubs her head.  “Owe, I, I guess so”

Nathan smiles.  “Yeah, after all your part of our party”

Elwyn blushes.  “Thank you”

“That reminds me” says Elisha.  She takes the ring off her finger and hands it to Elwyn.

Elwyn looks at the ring then glances at Elisha.  “What’s this?”

Elisha smiles.  “A unique ring called the Stone of Jordan.  It has a powerful magicka well.  You’re the only one of us who knows magic so you might as well take it”

Elwyn looks at her seeming uncertain.  “Are you sure?”.  Elisha nods.  Elwyn slides the ring onto her finger and smiles.  “Thank you”

Nathan rubs the back of his head.  “Well, I suppose it’s about time we get going.  Think you can teleport us back to town?”

Elwyn nods then motions her staff.  Moments later they appear in Ralion as their bodies form together.

Elwyn looks sad as she looks at the three of them.  “You guys will be here tomorrow right?”

Nathan smiles and nods.  “Of course.  We’ll meet you here in the afternoon”

Elisha smiles.  “We’ll see you again soon”

The three of them disappear in a rush of white particles as they log out.  Elwyn stands there for several moments looking into nothingness then turns and walks away”

To be Continued

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