A bowl of Cassits and Ponflap
Saycha, Krowny, Phan, and Baesar made their way out of the Gobsty grey and back onto the Tarms road. It was a red brick road laid by the Bodifits.
The Bodifit’s are a race of people that have huge, long muscular arms in the men and the women have huge muscular legs. They also have almost square heads, with a flat upright forehead. Their skin is slightly green and hairless and they have either straight white hair or seal black long thick curly hair. The men wear only brown corduroy pants and various pieces of jewelry as well as tan leather work boots, but never shirts. The women wear only one piece black silk mini dresses as well as loads of jewelry.
“We’ll make good time on this road as long as the Bodifit’s don’t get frisky,” said Krowny in a concerned tone as he looked at a pair of Bodifit men up ahead on the side of the road.
“Who are the Bodifit’s?” asked Baesar anxiously.
“They’re the people who live out here. They made this road we’re on. They’ve been known to start the occasional problem just for the fun of it. Ya see they love to fight and are always looking for a reason to do just that,” said Krowny as he kept his eyes on the Bodifit’s up ahead.
As they drew closer the 2 Bodifit men dragged a 4 wheel black wagon out onto the Tarms road blocking the way.
Saycha saw this and asked,” Now what?”
“Don’t worry, Saycha, if they want to tangle with us then we’ll let ‘em have it good,” said Jamce sternly as he reached for his dagger.
Krowny stopped his Durion just short of the Bodifit’s wagon as did Saycha.
Krowny asked,” What’s the holdup, kind Sir’s?”
The taller white haired Bodifit Kameal walked up to Krowny’s Durion and patted it on the neck. Then he kissed it and asked,” This is a fine animal you have here, she looks pretty fast, is she?”
“She can move pretty good why do you ask?” asked Krowny as he looked down at Kameal.
Kameal smiled and shook his finger at Krowny. Kameal laughed and said sternly,” I ask, because she is now mine and I needed to know her potential. Now go ahead and get off my animal.”
Krowny smiled at Kameal and then looked at his friend. Krowny said calmly,” We don’t want any trouble, but if you want to dance my toes need tappin’”
Krowny stood up on his Durion and did a front flip. He landed on Kameal’s head knocking him to the ground and then Krowny turned to Saycha and said,” Fell free to join in any time.”
“Oh,” said Saycha quickly and then he climbed off the Durion but his foot rolled slightly when he hit the ground.
“I’m in the mood for a fight. Let me have the little one,” said Jamce boldly as he tapped Saycha on the chest. Then Jamce ran screaming at the seal black haired Bodifit Bopen.
Bopen saw Jamce screaming and running at him and ran to the other side of the wagon.
Jamce saw this and chased him around the other side.
Meanwhile Krowny was beating Kameal to a pulp with punch after punch. Krowny asked snidely,” You still want my Durion or do you want another face full of punches?”
Kameal looked up and said dazed,” Neither, I want to live another day, Sir.”
“That’s what I hoped you’d say. See I knew we could come to a reasonable accord. Wasn’t that easy? Now get off of my road before I change my mind!” barked Krowny as he waved his fist in front of Kameal’s face.
“I’m off it, I’m off it right now,” said Kameal quickly as he scampered to his feet and ran over to the wagon and started pulling it out of the road.
Behind it Jamce had finally caught up to Bopen and jumped onto his back and slammed him into the brick road. He gave him 6 quick punches in the kidneys and Bopen yelled out with pain with each. Jamce flipped him over and gave him a head butt that knocked Bopen unconscious.
Jamce said proudly,” Another satisfied customer and that wasn’t even my best go of it.”
Kameal pulled his wagon the rest of the way off the road and ran over and threw Bopen over his shoulder. Then he staggered off the road and put him in the wagon. Everyone got back on the Durions and then Krowny shouted,” I’ll be back in an hour you’d better not be here!”
“I won’t, we won’t sorry, Sir,” said Kameal nervously.
They rode off down the road at full gallop. They went through the rolling hills and came finally to the town of Marbou.
It has a perfect circle of a hundred villas around the outskirts of town on a continuous mountain ridge. There are four holes dug out of the ridge for the Tarms Road and the Kong Road that intersect one another in the exact center of Marbou. 40 feet down from the villas there is the village of Marbou which has thousands of small houses and large 6 story buildings, interconnected with wooden staircases, passageways, tunnels and a skywalk that are all surrounding the Mechamp castle.
The Mechamp castle is propped up off the ground 30 feet with wooden pylons. It is shaped like a turtle shell, with 6 circular decks that run around it every 25 feet. It goes a quarter mile up into the sky. It is made of dark green wood and has thousands of windows that make it look like its own universe at night. On top of it is a single open air bed where the ruler of the Stayherm Province Wanrol Kort slept every night with his wife Cawo and young son Tylu.
Wanrol Kort is a Bodifit and an Aram mix, which is a very rare heritage as the Aram believed that you should never marry outside of your race. He has their large muscular arms and slightly green skin, but he also has peach colored hair that grows long on one side of his head and not more than an inch high on the other. His eyes are the darkest of greens and he has a long nose with a wide bump in the middle (and a bulbous tip the size of a golf ball). He is 6’2” and 765 pounds with a tiny waist. He always wears a golden necklace with a jeweled locket with a piece of parchment inside that has the words,” I’m only dying of anticipation of my new life, even if my body will tell you different in a few days,” which were the last words of his late father Porrison before he died.
“Maybe you should take the reins, Baesar, seein’ as I don’t know how to get to your villa,”
said Krowny as he looked over his shoulder at Baesar.
“Just ride right through the center of town and continue up the opposite slope. My villa’s just off the main road,” said Baesar as he took in Marbou and remembered all the years he had spent there.
“You got it, straight through,” said Krowny happily as he gave the Durion a kick and laughed.
They rode down the gentle slope and underneath the Mechamp castle. There were lots of large wagons and horses milling about Marbou as it was that time of year for the Jesalk festival.
The Jesalk festival is a huge fair and also has a Duness competition. Duness is a board game that involves teams of 2 where you each controlled 4 mechanical warriors and you fought the other team’s sword wielding warriors as you each tried to climb a mountain in the center of the board. The mountain has ladders and tunnels as well as half a dozen railroad cars that you could ride to the top. It is also covered with booby traps and trap doors that you have to avoid. At the top of the mountain there is a Cyclops that stands in front of a gold chest filled with jewels and gold coins. If you were able to defeat the Cyclops by killing him (or knocking him off the mountain called Deabo’s peak) then you would get the chest and win the game. The top of Deabo’s peak would open up and dumb waiter would bring a large gold coin to the top (which is your prize). Also the song,” Let’s start and end this quick,” by the Sword Jugglers would play and the fake trees all over the mountain would spin in a circle and light up. To win the Duness competition you had to amass ten of the large gold coins and the first one to do it would win all of the gold coins from every game played, as well as a baker’s dozen of the pie contest’s winning pies (and a case of Bourbon).
“Boy there is a lot going on here today,” said Jamce as he smiled at a beautiful brown haired woman who was walking the opposite direction eating a Guros.
Saycha looked around and then a beautiful red haired woman threw him a smile.
Saycha said,” That is a huge understatement, Jamce. It’s a shame we won’t get to enjoy it.”
“Speak for yourself old Jamce doesn’t have any spells to learn. So while you’re doing that I may have to spread a little joy around Marbou,” said Jamce slyly as he smiled at a pair of beautiful black haired women coming out of a shop who waved to him.
“You’re gonna leave me and go have a good time without me?” asked Saycha as he glared back over his shoulder at Jamce.
“You better believe it. There’s no reason for us both to suffer, especially when the people of Marbou need me so urgently,” said Jamce smoothly as he laughed.
“Oh tell me another one. Well maybe I’ll learn a spell that can turn you into a pile of Palant crap and accidentally utter the spell in your presence. Hmm wouldn’t that be fun?” asked Saycha sarcastically.
“If you did that who’d laugh at your jokes?” asked Jamce jokingly as he nudged Saycha.
“No, Dear Saycha, this town needs the unending love of Jamce Mospet and I’m the only one who can give it to them,” said Jamce slyly as he grinned.
“Boy,” said Saycha as he looked at a beautiful young lady and then said glumly,” I have no luck with me today.”
They continued up the hill and Baesar said,” Take a left and it’s the third one in.”
“Will do,” said Krowny happily as he steered the Durion off of Tarms Road and onto a white marble road.
There are 2 colossal white villas right before Baesar’s and then his (which is off white). It is 7 stories high and has 6 towers coming out of the sides that look almost like bent arms. The body of the villa is solid square block with 30 round windows per side and a dozen marble statues on the roof arranged in a circle, that are of all the great green wizards of all time including Havermo Blemsink. In the inner circle of the statue’s there is a swimming pool that could be raised or lowered to any floor you wanted to swim on. The front of the villa has a gradual staircase in the center that goes from the first floor to the 7th. There is also a mural of Baesar casting a spell painted on the front and right side in vivid colors. It also has a black door on either side of the staircase.
“You know I’ve seen nicer back home, but it will do,” said Jamce sarcastically as he looked at Baesar’s villa and then jumped off the side of the Durion.
“It looks like a place where I may never call home, but I get too for a few weeks and that’s fine with me, Jamce,” said Saycha brightly as he climbed down off the Durion and looked over the villa.
“This will be our domain for the next several weeks and I want you to feel right at home. So feel free to go anywhere, use anything or eat or drink anything in the whole house. Now that that’s said, c’mon in,” said Baesar and then he smiled like a sunrise. He hurried over to the door on the right side of the steps and then he pressed in a small square panel on the staircase. The front door popped open and he went inside.
Inside there were 2 large rooms on the 1st floor that were each 150 feet long, with 12 foot high ceilings. In the one room on the right there is a kitchen, pantry, dining room and workout area all in the same large space. In the room on the left there is a living room and an assortment of games from Caligaly men to Duness.
Everyone went into the room on the left and sat down on the blue cloth h shaped couch.
They put their feet up on a black crystal table. On the walls are 2 dozen liquid paintings that Baesar has casted a perpetual moving spell on and they are constantly changing into new and different colorful painting (like Baesar slaying a Canto or a school of Blatip fish attacking a person’s foot). On the floor there is a 6 inch thick Dacue rug.
The Dacue are a 30 foot tall bear like creature that has thick yellow fur all over its body, but its head is completely bald. They have 6 limbs and a set of small wings on their sides. They are known to eat anyone who comes near to them, but they are scared of fire so they are easily shooed off.
Jamce looked around and saw the Caligaly men and laughed and said,” Fert really did a number on those Caligaly men.”
“Who’s Fert?” asked Saycha as he squinted at Jamce.
“Oh that’s right, you weren’t with us. Fert was a good honest man who helped Dorama and I on our way to rescue you. He was killed by the Cornstar Guild right in front of my eyes, it was terrible,” said Jamce as he thought of Fert.
“The Cornstar Guild are vicious, they must not have approved of him using black magic.
I’ve seen that happen before to a dear friend of mine. It’s just the way of things. Ya know there’s something I’d like to show you, it’s a hugely popular game called Duness. It’s part of the festival here in town,” said Baesar as he walked over and grabbed a black square suitcase, then took it and put it on the table in front of Jamce.
He twisted a knob on top and the side of the suitcase unraveled revealing the Deabo’s peak, as well as the 4 sword carrying warriors at the base. Each warrior wears different colored suits of armor either gold, silver, or red steel (and have long swords that could stab or slash at their opponent).
“Now that looks like a great game. I’ve played games similar to this, let me guess you have to race to the top of that mountain there, and get that chest of gold from the Cyclops?” asked Jamce as he grabbed a hold of the black warriors joystick and started moving him around and slashing his sword.
“That’s right, that’s exactly it very smart, Jamce, and you play as teams of 2. You know they’re having a tournament tomorrow and they’re giving away basically a real chest’s worth of gold coins,” said Baesar then he started for the kitchen.
“Really, I might have to master this game tonight and go enter that tournament tomorrow.
Then go get my chest of gold coins that of course…they’re holding for me,” said Jamce slyly as he moved his warrior around.
“You should do exactly that, but I must warn you they’ll be hundreds of people competing, so it won’t be as easy as you think,” said Baesar as he opened the icebox and pulled out a bottle of wine and asked,” Is anyone thirsty?”
“I could use a glass of whatever it takes to get me drunk. Those years in that cell have given me an incredible urge for alcohol,” said Krowny as he walked over to Baesar and Baesar handed him a large glass of wine. He drank it in one drink and asked,” Is there any way I could get my own bottle, I hate to ask?
“Yes, or course I’ve got 6 in the icebox, help yourself,” said Baesar as he looked at Krowny and smiled.
“Well you’ll have 5 less in the morning,” said Krowny slyly and then he opened the icebox and grabbed a bottle, opened it, took a 10 second drink and then belched.
“Well I’m exhausted and I’m going up to bed. There’s bedrooms on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors so sleep wherever you want. I’ll be at the end of the hall on the 4th floor if you need me.
And, Saycha, we’ll get started on our spell work tomorrow bright and early alright,” said Baesar warmly then he took a sip from his glass.
“I’ll be ready, Baesar, and thank you for all you’ve done and are doing, really,” said Saycha as he looked over at Baesar and then nodded.
“You’re welcome, but don’t thank me yet, we’ve still got a lot of work to do before you’re ready. Good night everyone,” said Baesar as he went up the spiral staircase at the far end of the room.
“Thanks, Baesar, good night!” yelled Jamce as he played Duness.
“Good night, Baesar, thanks for the wine!” shouted Krowny and then he took another drink and finished the bottle he had started.
Krowny took another bottle out of the icebox, opened it and took another large drink.
Jamce meanwhile was mastering all of the controls of the Duness game. While Saycha’s thoughts were of Dorama, Dlarm and Micavello, but especially Dorama had his attention.
“Jamce, do you know how lucky we are?” asked Saycha and then he glanced over at Jamce.
“You mean Dorama, Dlarm and Micavello, yes I know, but we can’t let ourselves get too wrapped up in what happened to them. What we have to do, and it’s all that we can, is get them home by any means necessary,” said Jamce as he stopped playing Duness and turned to face Saycha.
“You’re right, but I still can’t help feeling like it’s my fault they’re there,” said Saycha softly as he started to tear up.
“Stop, stop right there, you did what had to be done and just because the spell went haywire is no reason to blame yourself. Honestly, what else could you have done?” asked Jamce sincerely.
“It’s true, but God Dorama especially is now in the Underworld. I mean Dlarm and Micavello can protect themselves, but Dorama doesn’t have their powers,” said Saycha softly then he looked blankly forward.
“Dorama’s not as weak as you might think. She can do a whole lot of damage if she gets backed into a corner. I’m not worried I have no doubt that one, we’ll see her alive again. And two she will be coming home with us. Trust me, Saycha, she’s the best of us,” said Jamce honestly and then he put his arms around Saycha.
Saycha nodded and said boldly,” Ya know, you’re absolutely right she can take it. And she will be coming home with us even if I have to take Drayne on myself and destroy him.”
“Now you are talking, Saycha. You need to take that fire and use it when the time comes.
Now, what I need from you is someone to help me play this Duness, because I need to go and get my chest of gold coins before someone gets their hands on it alright,” said Jamce implying a question.
“Good idea, and then when you win you can give me my half and we’ll both be rich,” said Saycha slyly as he smiled.