Year 23

"HHHHHHHHHH!" you gasp as you suddenly sit up from a table.

Cold air emanates from your mouth though you don't feel very cold. You don't feel much of anything except a mild sense of panic and confusion. You briefly look at body which is completely naked and see that you are now a pale blue coloring.

You look around the room and see a lot of lab equipment, books, and other alchemy related items. Ral stands by watching you. Tych is also hovering near him dressed in who looks to be very tiny winter clothing for him.

"See, told you he'd survive." Ral remarks and then makes a note on a piece of parchment.
"Oh joy, I get to go with him now." Tych says.
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO ME?!" you shout. You'd probably get up and attack Ral, but apparently the geas is still in effect.

Ral strokes his beard and frowns a bit before answering you.

"Well I made you better for one thing. You don't have to ever worry about the cold ever again."
"I can't fucking feel anything! Everything is a numb sensation!"
"Hmm, yes, I thought that might happen. A minor drawback I assure you. You are now practically cold personified. Your body now magically produces cold around you. Even I can feel it from here. Seriously, you could stand naked on top of the Cloudpeak Mountains now and never freeze to death. You'll also find that you're a little slower than you were, though you're also probably a little stronger as well so it all evens out. Unexpected side effect. In any case, we should probably get you ready for your task. As ready as you are, I doubt you want to go naked."

You might not be able to do anything against Ral, but that doesn't stop you from getting pissed and start yelling at him about your situation. When he mentions more than a year has passed, you even start to destroy his equipment until he stops you with some sort of hold spell.

After a few more warnings about you continuing to getting an attitude with him, Ral finally gets on with explaining your task.

He says he's teleporting you to a plateau in the Cloudpeak Mountains. From there he says Tych will lead the way. Apparently in the year he was experimenting on you, he was also having Tych locate a wazia lair in that area.

Other than your regular clothes, he enchants your short sword so it will be more effective in combat, and then hands you one of those rare repeating crossbows and a quiver of bolts.

"I hope you know how to use one of these." Ral remarks.
"I'm more familiar with flintlocks, but I imagine this is probably easier seeing as this is one of the state of the art crossbows. These repeating ones are rare and expensive. Didn't know you kept up on technological advances though." You say.
"Why wouldn't I? Just because I don't have any use for it, doesn't mean I don't see the utility of it for the unwashed masses. I figure between that and your enchanted weapon, you should be more than prepared. Your pack is over there. Has some food and climbing gear in it. Should be more than enough to help you."

You go over and get your pack; Tych is hovering by it, looking just as miserable as you feel right now.

"The pair of you ready, I trust?" Ral asks.
"I guess." You say.
"Tych is magically tied to me, so there is no need for fairy circles or any other places of power this time. You just need to very close to him for the transportation to work on you, along with him making the appropriate signal so I can pull him back here, I trust you remember was that was Tych?"
"Yes, Ral." Tych responds in a defeated manner and flies onto your shoulder.
"Good, I expect you'll be successful like last time and just think, you'll be a free man afterwards, so you have plenty of motivation."

Without another word, Ral waves his hands a bit and your eyes are met with a bright light, followed by more bright light, though this is of the natural kind.

You look and see that your surroundings are that of a flat icy, snowy landscape with mountains and hills nearby and the sun shining overhead. There isn't a soul around though save for Tych who instantly gets off of you.

"Fuck, you're not much warmer than this horrible landscape. So much for using you for extra warmth." Tych says.
"I can't feel much of anything. I mean I can sense the wind blowing, but there's just a dull cool feeling. It's not unpleasant, but it isn't pleasant either." You respond.
"Well, Ral did experiment on you. I have to say, I'll be glad when this mission is over with, because I've had enough of freezing my fucking wings off here. Scouting around for large hostile monsters in the snow and cold isn't my idea of a good time. I'd rather be in the fucking jar."
"I don't understand why he needs us to do this anyway. I mean he's a fucking powerful wizard, couldn't he have done this himself a lot easier?"
"Of course he could have, but he's a fucking sadist. Why else would he make you into some slave boy and then turn you into a freak and keep me in a damn jar, play teleportation snap back with me for the past year and also have me scout around this icy wasteland?"
"How long has that been going on?"
"Oh a little after he put you in that trance and started cutting into you and doing who knows what else. Ral's experiments on you might have been done sooner if he hadn't gotten distracted with other things. He keeps trying to make greater strides in teleportation spells and I think he's planning on making a portal next. Of course he needs to test shit so he uses me as a fucking canary and then snaps me back home when he thinks enough time has passed. Makes me physically ill every time he does it. Those first few months I puked on every trip."

Tych fixes his little fur hat before continuing.

"And in these last few months? I've teleported back and forth to this fucking place looking for a wazia like I'm some great monster hunter! I don't want to fucking do this! My instinct is to fly AWAY from really big ravenous monsters, not seek them out!"
"Trust me, I don't want to be here either."
"At least you're free after all this! I'm not. Even if the wazia kills you, you'll still be doing better than me, but I don't think that will be the case, check you pack. You'll find something better than what Ral supplied you with."

You take off you pack and at the top you find a clear bottle of something dark green. It feels slightly warm even to you.

"What the hell is this? Looks like some sort of poison." You say.
"And you would be correct. It's greenfire from the plant of the same name. They're normally only found in the Sotakian swamp and even then they're rare. In any case, Ral had it lying around his lab and while you two were talking I took the opportunity to lug it into your pack. Hey, I'm stronger than I look, especially with all the hardship I've had to endure." Tych explains.
"So…what's it do exactly?"
"It's not called greenfire for nothing. It gets in your blood and makes you feel like your blood and innards are on fire. The effects are pretty quick though you're in excruciating pain before you die.
"Okay, so I should just dip my bolts into this to bring down the beast a lot easier."
"Hah! Are you kidding? Even with this poison, I doubt very seriously that you'll be able to kill it before it kills you. I take it you've never even seen a wazia."
"Nope, just know them by stories."
"Well I didn't know anything about them at all, but after seeing one, I can tell you that the stories don't do them justice."
"Then what the hell are you suggesting then?"
"Nothing, I'm just telling you that your odds aren't good."

You've practically been asleep an entire year and this is the situation you've awoken to. You've been magically altered and thrust into a bad situation and now you have to put up with an obnoxious sprite on top of everything else.

"Tych, just take me to the fucking lair." You say.
"Alright, alright, no need to snap at me, plivik." Tych responds.
"I know what that means, you little shit."
"Oh yeah, you do…well let's just get on with it then like you said."

You begin to follow Tych. Every now and then you reflexively wrap your cloak around yourself in order to stay warm, but then you also remember you don't really have that problem anymore. It wouldn't help anyway; you still feel a numb coolness no matter what you do since that sensation is coming from within your body as opposed to the external reasons.

You suppose this condition is beneficial out here in a place like this, but you can't imagine going through the rest of your life like this. After all this is over, you're going to have to seek out a way to reverse or cure it, if it's even possible. You wonder if that's what Ral has planned for you. He "frees" you, but in exchange for changing you back to normal, you have to undergo some sort of servitude again.

You really wish you just let the mob back in Teckleville kill you at this point, with any luck maybe the wazia will.

You travel in the freezing mountainous terrain for two days. (At some point during all this you take the opportunity to poison your bolts) Even with your immunity to the cold, it's still a treacherous journey given that you're no mountain climber. Tych has lead you through to the path of least resistance to the lair and fortunately it isn't actually very high up, in fact it's actually at a lower altitude than where you originally teleported in.

"Let me guess, it's in this large sloping dark cave." You say to Tych.
"Got it right in one. I saw it entering here a few times and judging by the large pile of bones out here, I'd say it's definitely a permanent home for it. Well I'll wait out here. If you aren't out within a day, I can safely assume you've met your demise." Tych says.
"Wait, how the hell am I going to see in there? Despite my magical alteration, I don't have dark vision unfortunately. I need you to come with me and sparkle a bit so I have some light."
"What? That wasn't part of the plan. I go in and start sparkling and I'm going to be a target since it'll see me first!"
"Yeah, but you're also a small target that can fly all over the place. It's not like it's going to go after you if it can get a target on the ground that's shooting bolts at it a lot easier."

Tych REALLY isn't keen on this idea, but given that he wants to be out of this situation as much as you do, he relents.

"Alright, fine. But only because you're probably right about the wazia going after you and the fact that despite everything, you've dealt pretty straight with me. I still remember when you didn't rat me out to Ral about the last time we worked together…wait…you hear that?" Tych suddenly says mid sentence.
"Shit, is it the wazia?" you ask, not hearing the sounds other than the wind, but readying your crossbow.
"No, if it was that, we'd already be fucked. It's a small whine. You don't hear it? It's coming from over there."

Tych points over to a group of rocks and large bones. (and then he flies behind you). You now hear the sounds too, and with your crossbow ready and slowly move towards where they're coming from.

Whatever is making the noise can't be that big since rock and bone pile isn't very large either, when you finally walk around it, you see what is making the noise.

A small feline creature with an odd-looking face making pitiful whimpers. It looks up at you and backs up and raising its tail, which looks like it has small spikes on it. It attempts to growl a bit, but it's obvious the beast is frightened. As it stands right now, the pair of you are both ready to shoot.

"Shit, that's a manticore." Tych says and takes cover behind you again.
"What? That? I thought they were much bigger." You say.
"It's a cub, plivik. Still, I wouldn't want to get shot by one of those spikes."
"Well that must mean its mother is nearby. Are you sure you got the right lair?"
"Yes, I'm sure! Its mother probably got eaten by the wazia and somehow it managed to escape. Hey, you know we could use this."
"What do you mean?"
"Wazias pretty much eat anything thrown at them. If you poisoned this cub, you could toss it at the wazia who would inevitably consume it and the poison would work even better. At the very least it would cause the creature so much pain it would slow it down giving you a chance to shoot it a lot more with bolts."

You look at the manticore, which is still looking pretty pitiful, but still also in a fighting position. You aren't sure if you'll be quick enough to shoot him before he shoots you.

Back off slowly

Maybe it's because you're in a shitty situation yourself that you're feeling a bit sorry for the pitiful creature that presumably just lost its mother and now has to fend for itself.

"Fuck it." You say, and slowly start backing away, though the beast never lets its own guard down.
"What the hell are you doing. Shoot the little bastard!" Tych remarks.
"I don't feel like it alright? Besides, I'll probably need to save all the bolts I can for the wazia."

You get out of the line of sight of the manticore, but Tych won't let this go.

"Are you actually feeling sympathy for the creature? This thing would eat you if it was big enough! In fact, given that its probably hungry without its mother around now, I'm surprised it isn't at least attempting to anyway! Think of it this way, it can't survive very long on its own, you'd be performing an act of mercy if you killed it and at least its death would help us."

At this point you take off your pack and look for some of your remaining rations. Dried meat, it's as good as anything.

"Wait, are you actually going to feed it now? Have you gone completely barmy?"
"Probably." You say.

You go back to the manticore which once again has adopted a defensive stance, but you toss the meat in front of it which it cautiously moves close to, sniffs and then starts to eat, all the while still eyeing you suspiciously.

You leave the beast to feed.

"You know, you could have at least poisoned the food if you didn't have the balls to just shoot it." Tych remarks.
"Well, I guess I'm just going to have to get my balls back by killing this wazia, now stop bitching at me and let's get this done." You snap.

You enter the cave with Tych barely following ahead of you. He's flying as high as he can which provides just enough light for you to not break your neck walking around the cave.

As you were travelling here earlier, Tych was telling you a bit about wazias. He mentioned that they resembled very large moles with a huge gaping maw where the face would be. The mole comparison doesn't sound very threatening, but he also said that it has a very tough hide and layers of fat, which is why Tych doesn't think your bolts, would be as effective as they might otherwise be.

You suppose you'll find out.

You start to hear loud sounds, you can't see anything yet, but you have to be getting closer.

The loud sounds soon become rumbles and then Tych suddenly shouts to you.

"Shit, it's digging under you! Get the hell out of there!"

Tych begins flying back towards the exit and you do likewise as the rumbling is nearly right under you.

While its hard to keep up with Tych, you manage to do so. By the time you see the light of the exit, the rumbling is nearly coming from right underneath you. You instinctively jump forward just in time for the wazia finally come up and try to eat you.

You get up as quickly as you can and that's when you finally see the creature. And it does indeed resemble a giant mole. A giant mole with nothing but a giant mouth with rows of teeth for a face. It also has pretty large claws as well, but you're too busy trying get out of its immediate grasp as opposed to admiring them.

You make it outside with the wazia following close behind. When you're out in the open, you take advantage of the light and space and begin firing your crossbow at the thing which has mixed results.

Your aim isn't exactly true due to nerves and generally trying to staying away from the wazia, but it hardly matters when it's as big as it is. Most of your shots hit, but much like Tych warned, its tough hide seems to be outright deflecting a lot of them. And for the bolts that are actually sinking in, you certainly hope the poison starts working soon, because so far it hasn't had any notable affect.

The only thing that's in your favor is that the beast isn't exactly the fastest when not underground, but it tries to keep you off balance by smashing its claws on the ground and causing minor quakes. Large clumps of snow begin to fall from above and given your location, you're wondering if an avalanche won't just bury you at this rate. (Of course maybe that's its intent, it can just easily dig itself out and eat your corpse later)

You see Tych keeping his distance, flying about watching everything.

"Tych, distract it damn it! I need to reload this thing!" you shout while running and fumbling with the cumbersome crossbow magazine.

To his credit, Tych actually listens somewhat to you and shouts at it (in his high pitched squeaky voice) and even flies near it very briefly, but his presence is mostly ignored. Tych doesn't try too much harder than that, but you do get another helper.

The manitcore cub that you fed earlier and completely forgot about starts flinging its own spikes at the wazia. They don't seem to do anything to it, but between it and Tych, it's enough to refocus its attention briefly giving you enough time to reload your crossbow properly.

You fire a few times at the wazia with mixed results again, the manticore cub runs fast enough that the wazia doesn't bother to follow it and quickly turns its attention back to you.

It charges at you, but now you're starting to notice the beast is getting even slower and now begins making loud wailing noises and they aren't just due to anger. The wazia is finally feeling the affects of the poison and begins flailing about. It begins smashing its entire body into the ground and now even larger chunks of ice and snow begin to fall from above.

Along with it trying to cause an avalanche, it begins trying to dig underground again since it isn't sure what is exactly causing it such great pain, and is trying to escape. You can't allow that to happen though, because if it does, even if it dies, it's going to be so deep underground that digging its carcass out is going to be a nightmare.

Throwing a bit of caution to the wind, you get closer to wazia and fire upon it. Your fortunate enough that this stops it from digging long enough to try to swipe at you with its claws. It clumsily tries to do this several times. At this point you've run out of bolts and drawn your sword though realistically you wouldn't be able to get close enough to it that it couldn't still kill you. You're just trying to keep the beast from escaping and hoping the mountains don't come crashing down on your head.

Eventually as its motions towards you stop altogether and it opens its maw completely one last time to let out a woeful howl and then collapses. It twitches a few more times and finally stops moving completely.

You just look at the wazia for a moment before slowly moving closer to it. Just as you get to its body, Tych sneaks up on you.

"Is it dead?" he asks, buzzing in your ear.
"Damn it Tych, you fucking startled me!" you snap.
"Apologies, but I figured you'd be more aware of your surroundings."
"I guess its dead. Shit, I was wondering if that poison was ever going to kick in."
"Yep, looks like I saved your ass on this one."
"Hm, I guess you did your part."
"Damn straight I did, which is why I think YOU should help me now!"
"How the hell am I going to help you?"
"By killing Ral obviously."
"Nice idea, but I'm still bound by a geas remember?"
"Well after he takes it off of you, just chop his head off."
"Yeah, like he isn't going to take precautions. I'm fairly certain that if he does stick with his promise, I'm not going to be able to just chop his head off as you say. In fact I imagine he's set this up so I stay bound to him so he can reverse this condition I have."
"Wait, you aren't actually going to DO that if freedom is an option are you?"
"What choice do I have? It's not like I want to go through the rest of my life like this."
"Shit, I'd go through life with my wings fucking clipped if it meant not spending most of my life in a jar and being at that plivik's whims!"

You suppose Tych has a point and it is one you're more inclined to go with since it might be possible to get your condition reversed elsewhere.

All this might not mean anything however, if Ral has no intention on releasing you from the geas anyway. In the meantime you have a heart to carve out of the dead beast in front of you.

About midway through Tych starts calling to you again.

"Hey! Watch out, the manticore is back!" he exclaims and hides on the other side of the dead wazia.

You turn from your bloody work and look. The manticore cub is indeed back and watching you, but its not in a defensive stance anymore, it seems to be more curious than anything else.

"I'm not worrying about it since it probably isn't going to do anything, but if it makes you feel better…"

Tych probably thought you were going to follow up that statement with you trying to kill it, but you instead you just reach into your pack and give it another piece of dried meat, which it happily eats and no longer is interested in anything else.

"There you go Spikey." You say coming up with an on the spot name for him.
"You just gave away the last of the food!" Tych exclaims.
"What does it matter? As soon as I dig this heart out, and you perch on my shoulder, Ral will teleport us back anyway right?"
"I guess, I just don't understand why you're indulging that creature."
"Good thing I did, since it distracted the wazia better than you did."
"Hey I did my best considering my size, you dick!"

You go back to your unpleasant work. Not so much because of the gore and blood, but the smell is awful even with your dulled senses. Eventually you cut the large organ out and carry the thing out of the wazia's body. You then sit down to take a breather.

"Shit, I think that was almost as much work as killing this thing." You say.
"Did you get it?" Tych asks.
"Yeah, why are you so far away? I figured you'd be anxious to get out of this cold at least even if you don't like the jar."
"I would, but that thing is nearby!" Tych remarks and points to the manticore that is now coming up to you.
"Tych, you're worrying over nothing. He'd fling spikes at me before you given how close he is. Just get over here and get us home."
"Fine. Did you think anymore on killing Ral yet?"
"Yeah I've thought about it, and I guess you'll know soon enough."

Tych isn't enthused by your response or the manticore being nearby, but he flies to you anyway. He sits on your shoulder, makes a few weird hand gestures and before you know it, a flash of blinding light hits you and you're in the lab again. You also feel something bump your leg.

You look down and see that the manticore cub has teleported with you and is currently nuzzling against your leg.

"Shit!" Tych remarks and flies away to hide again.

Meanwhile Ral walks in from one of his other rooms in the lab wondering what all the noise is about.

"So you're back and successful as I knew you would be. Hello, what's this?" Ral asks.

Spikey growls a bit when he sees Ral.

"Spikey no!" you say and do your best to try to calm him which involves petting his head and neck. This seems to work somewhat since he relaxes, but still eyes Ral warily.

"Hmm, I see you brought back more than just the heart. You didn't need to go beyond what was required, but I appreciate the enthusiasm. The manticore parts will come in handy for spell components." Ral says.
"What? No, it helped take down the wazia and I guess it got caught up in the teleportation process."
"So?"
"So, I dunno seems sort of fucked up to just hand him over to you for parts after he helped me."
"What are you going to do with him, keep him as a pet?"
"Well I suppose I could…"
"A pet manticore? What do you think you are a frost giant? That's silly, you aren't going to have the means to tame such a beast when he starts to grow! You sure you don't want to hand that beast over? I could give you something extra."
"Can you reverse this fucking condition you imposed on me?" you ask.
"I imagine could, but that would require that you stick around a bit longer. I mean that can be arranged..."

You're not getting trapped. You can't get trapped again.

"No, I'll figure out another way." You say.
"Very well. Put that heart on the table and... wait a minute where did Tych go? I saw him fly off to hide, not sure why he bothers to do that, since he knows I can just teleport him back in the jar at anytime." Ral says as you lift up the oversized organ and slam it on the nearby table.

"Can we get on with this?" you ask getting impatient.
"In a moment and don't presume to give orders, I still haven't freed you yet and you'd be well to remember that. Now step back, you're very cold you know." Ral says.
"Of course I'm fucking cold, you did this to me!"
"And I offered to reverse the process, but you declined."
"Damn straight I declined, I'm not going to fall for your tricks again. The first time you enslaved me, the second time you made me into a freak!"
"If you like, that can remain your reality." Ral warns.

Ral raises his hands as if to cast a spell and that's when you see Tych flying over his head struggling with a small-uncorked glass tube that's as big as him.

"Hey glakface, try casting magic now!" Tych shouts and then pours a clear fluid on Ral, who looks up just in time for it splatter on his face, and he even gets some in his mouth.

"Gargh! (cough) (hack) blagh!" Ral gags and begins hacking up and rubbing his eyes.
"He can't cast magic! Don't just stand there plivik, kill the bastard!" Tych squeaks.

You take advantage of the situation

Given your recent exchange with Ral and your own suspicious nature, you question if Ral intends on releasing you. Perhaps getting rid of Ral IS the way to go and this would be the best time to do it.

You're still under the effects of the geas, and any violent action towards Ral by you would be met with immediate pain, however with his temporary inability to cast spells you wonder if you couldn't dispose of him quick enough that you'd survive it.

Not to mention you do have a pet manticore now.

"Spikey attack! ARGH!" you shout and feel a sharp pain to your crotch, which causes you to nearly double over. The only reason why you aren't completely laid out is your new condition has dulled some of your pain reception to a small degree. (Now is one of those times it came in handy)

Spikey isn't completely sure what you meant, but given that you're excitedly pointing at Ral who is also making loud noises and flailing about due to the shit that Tych poured on him, Spikey isn't feeling comfortable towards him anyway.

Spikey flings several small quills into Ral's body. The old wizard howls in pain. Spikey may be just a manticore cub, but it still hurts.

Due to the geas, a large part of you wants to stop Spikey from attacking and it's taking everything for you not to do that. You feel the pain spread over your body and it's getting worse. You finally collapse to the floor.

Spikey runs forward and begins biting Ral, he even succeeds in ripping off part of his hand. Ral is begging for mercy at this point, but he's getting nothing, but Tych's taunts.

You weakly pull out a dagger, but you can barely hold it in your hand as you attempt to crawl over to Ral. The pain you're experiencing is nearly unbearable.

Meanwhile Ral is experiencing his own form of pain, but despite being unable to cast magic and being a frail old man, he somehow manages to get Spikey off of him, who yelps when thrown into a nearby table.

"Come here, you little bastard!" he snarls and with a blink, Tych is suddenly within the one good hand of Ral. It would appear his powers are starting to come back.

"I'm going to crush you into…ARGH SHIT!" Ral shouts as you plunge your dagger into his ankle.

The old man partially falls on top of you, but that doesn't compare to the wave of agony you experience after stabbing Ral. Your condition is no longer numbing anything, not even a little bit.

You feel like you're suffering a heart attack, castration and a mace smashing your brains in, all the while being burned alive.

Unsurprisingly your body goes into complete shock, shuts down and you go unconscious. Blackness follows.

Time passes and eventually you wake up to a couple sensations. One being a rough tongue licking your face and another being a faint sweet taste on your lips and in your mouth.

"Hey! Did it work? You alive?" Tych remarks.
"Guh, buh, what work?" you sputter and move a bit causing Spikey to stop licking your face.
"The healing potion I tried to pour into your mouth. I guess it did, you're alive. Wasn't sure it worked since you looked pretty dead."
"I felt really dead. Is Ral dead?"
"Oh that plivik? Yeah. Your pet took care of that soon after you stabbed him. Ripped out his throat. I don't think that spell is on you anymore."

You look at your wrist and it's true, you no longer see the mark there anymore.

"So that's it. I'm free. Finally free." You say.
"Yeah, thanks to me." Tych sniffs.
"Ral was planning on releasing me anyway."
"You don't believe that. If you did, you wouldn't have nearly killed yourself, trying to kill him."
"Well I suppose I did have my doubts and followed your lead. What was that shit you poured on him anyway?"
"Oh, liquefied gazer eye. Not sure what Ral was planning with it, but then he was always experimenting with shit."
"Not familiar with gazers."
"Lucky you, they're even worse than wazias. Anyway, you're not the only one who is free, so I guess this is where we part ways."

As strange as it seems you're a little taken back by how quick Tych is to part company, but then it wasn't like you two were great friends or anyway.

"Oh. Okay. Yeah sure, I suppose you'll be wanting to go home to your wife." You say.
"…what the hell, I'll let you on a little secret, I'm not married. I just said I was hoping it would gain me sympathy when we first met." Tych admits.
"Why am I not surprised?"
"But you're right, I am still going home. I need to straighten out some things there. What were you planning on doing?"
"Dunno really. I still got this condition. First thing I think I need to do is try to figure out how to reverse it. Guess I'll start by heading to Holgard."
"Well sounds like you've got the adventure ahead of you. Can't say it was a pleasure being forced to work with you, but I suppose it could have been worse. And we both got revenge on Ral, so it worked out I guess. See you around blivik."
"What's that mean? Dickhead or something?"
"What? Oh blivik? No, it means friend. Well maybe not friend, but comrade in arms I guess."
"Sounds very similar plivik."
"Yeah well, sometimes in our culture the two are interchangeable."
"That I can believe. Bye Tych and thanks."

Tych nods his head and flies out the lab door, leaving you alone. (Well with a manticore cub that is currently eating Ral's body nearby).

You don't leave right away, instead you take the opportunity to start going through Ral's lab seeing if you can find any clue of what he did to you. You find lots notes, but his handwriting is pretty bad and you can't make much sense of the diagrams. You think they might pertain to you, but you aren't really sure.

You temporarily slump in a chair nearby realizing that you've lost some of your life and your thoughts keep wandering back to Lisa. What happened to her? You were supposed to meet up with her in Holgard as you often did. At the time the city was on the verge of a rebellion. Does she even still live? And if she does, she surely must believe you are dead and moved on.

It's a bit depressing considering your feelings for her, but lost love is the least of your concerns right now. You suppose either way, your next move is to Holgard, either to seek her out or to seek a way to fix your condition.

In any case, you're sitting on a small fortune of magical equipment. Granted you don't know what most of it does, but at the very least, you'd be able to get a good price for some of the stuff that you can't figure out. Holgard will be the perfect place to

At the very least you can use this place as a home of sorts which seems strange given that you've been stuck here, but then you're not exactly beholden to Ral anymore and it's not a bad place as far as homes go. You even have a pet to defend it when you're not around.

You spend a few more days going through Ral's house before finally deciding to make your way to Holgard. Takes awhile to convince Spikey not to follow you, but eventually he gets the hint and stays around the house. You figure he's probably more than able to hunt whatever wildlife is in the area.

You make your way to Holgard and the journey is uneventful and the same as you remembered, though you're noticing that when you camp down for the night, the next morning the grass has a layer of frost on it. You're going to be leaving a trail of it at this pace.

When you get to Holgard, you find that the city is a lot calmer than when you remember. While doing some business with an apothecary, you learn that the old ruler got overthrown and his daughter now rules the city.

"Yeah, be glad you missed that one. It was a pretty brutal time…did it just get chilly in here? In fact, did the temperature drop outside because everything you've handed over to sell feels a bit cold to the touch." the apothecary says.
"Hadn't noticed." You answer.
"…you uh sure you're all right pal? You look a little pale. I figured when you came in here you came in to buy, not to sell."
"You got anything that can cure this?" you say and grab the apothecary's wrist.
"Shit! You're fucking ice! Let me go! Please! Take anything you want!"
"I'm not here to rob you! I'm serious when I ask, if you have anything that can cure this condition." You say and let go of the man's wrist.

The apothecary steps back and rubs his wrist a bit.

"I can honestly tell you that I have nothing that would help you. I can only believe that magic must be at work. Is that the case?" he asks.
"Yeah, and I killed the wizard who did it."
"Well, I guess he had it coming. Wasn't one of those Dornans was it?"
"No."
"Hm, okay that's good, because they're about the only folks that I think would be able to help you. They're pretty interested in all things pertaining to magic, though I'd be careful since it'll be the knowledge that's important, not the person. You might have killed a wizard, but I don't think even you would be able to kill a whole temple of them if things go south."
"Noted. Can't think of anyone else?"
"Not really, I mean unless you want to head all the way to Delantium Kingdom and their magic university. It has a good reputation and they aren't swayed by religious fanaticism. There's a small magic college in Klyton, but I wouldn't waste my time."
"Why not?"
"Because I graduated from there and the magic college there is rubbish, that's why. It's understaffed and only kept afloat due to one of the council members being a mage. It's not bad if you want to learn how to mix potions and such, but the wizards there aren't exactly the most skilled in magic and they'd probably be just as baffled by your condition as I am. You'd probably end up as a toad with their bumbling."

Great, more wizards.

You head to the Delantium Kingdom

The Dornans might be closer, but they also sound like religious fanatics. You don't really need to deal with that right now. You're not exactly keen on dragging your cold ass all the way to the Delantium Kingdom, but if it's your best shot, then that's where you need to go.

Besides, maybe it might be good anyway. You've spent more than enough time around Holgard and its surrounding area and it hasn't got you very far, maybe a change in scenery is in order. It isn't like things have gone that great for you around here and as for Lisa, if she's still alive, you have no doubt that she's moved on with her life. Maybe she's even some high-ranking Ebony Claw member. Whatever she's doing, you hope she's doing well at it.

You leave the apothecary and head to the docks to book a passage to the Delantium Kingdom.

Unsurprisingly you get some strange looks, and the first couple captains turn you away believing that your unnatural chill must be the result of a curse and don't want it rubbing off on the voyage. (You can't blame them for their caution since they're at least half right about it being a curse of sorts)

Eventually though you get a captain with less interest in gods and suspicion and more interested in coin. You pay the man and make your way to the cargo area since he doesn't have any more room for proper passengers, and he apparently thinks you'll keep some of the food fresher on the long trip just with your presence.

Doesn't matter, you've been in less than ideal conditions before. You just need a ride; this isn't going to be forever.

You make your way down to the cargo hold where you make a place for yourself near the crates of lemons and limes. It's as good as any. You'll have lots of time to think on your way to your destination.

One of your main thoughts is what you're going to do with your life if you do get cured. Obviously being a rogue never really worked out for you. Arguably, you haven't been one since you left Teckleville. You've had more "work" as a monster hunter of all things. Not that it's something you necessarily wanted to make a living at doing, but you have raised your skill with a weapon over the years, not to mention all your new outdoorsman skills. Maybe you should be doing something using those talents instead at this point. You're sure you'd be good at it.

Makes you realize that if you had those skills to begin with instead, you probably wouldn't have gotten lost in the forest and in Ral's debt in the first place. Of course if that hadn't happened, you wouldn't have gained what you do know now. Funny how that works. Also funny how it finally took you until now to realize that your parents were right all along and that this "life" was just going to lead to trouble.

In any case, you aren't sure what the future holds, if you'll be cured, if you'll remain this way or if you'll be killed in the process. You do know however that your days as a common rogue are over.