Kori Yanhu

art by cats-dont-draw

Kori Yanhu is a weak and cowardly nekomimi, who had only recently gained the ability to cast magic, though he doesn't understand its source. His fear belies his constant desire to help others, and paired with a familiar with a mouth too big for its own good, sets off to face the things he'd usually run from. As long as he has allies around.

Currently, he makes his home at **Maldrik's** keep in Shorewood, though his ability to teleport and his innate habit of traveling means he can be found almost anywhere and occasionally hard to find.

## History

Kori hails from a small community of traveling kemonomimi, moving across the continent. Kori's never had the physical strength to help in hunting, nor the magical ability to aid the shamans of the group. He was never treated less for any of this, but he was never happy with himself. Though he had a way with words enough that he would occasionally be brought along to aid as an emissary when discussions would have to be made.

Unhappy with his abilities, feeling that simply being able to talk isn't enough of a skill, Kori left the community in the hopes of finding some kind of meaning or to find himself or for some kind of \*awakening\* or something that he could actually contribute something to the society. Unfortunately, no such adventure of self-discovery happened, and Kori struggled to fend for himself on the roads having to hide from everything he sees and quickly running out of coin to buy himself more food. Up until he happened upon a strange market, with strange characters.

### The Witchmarket

The Witchmarket was probably the start of it all for Kori, though he can barely remember his time there. A gap in his memory is apparent from the moment he met these strange merchants and practically begged them for a job and for guidance to the moment he suddenly found himself outside Fort Fair Maiden, a sack of gold and a fortune-teller's deck on his belongings. As well as a strange butterfly that wouldn't stop following him. He does however retain bits and pieces of how he had worked as a fortune-teller for the crew.

Though he could not tell you this himself, his inability to read as well as the shift in colour of his hair, which used to be black, had only happened after his time with the market. But to him, it felt like it had always been that way.

## Appearance

Kori is much shorter than most others at a mere 5'2", with a relatively lithe build. He has small brown stripes on his cheeks and between his eyes and a red heart tattoo below his left eye. His hair is bright pink, and short aside from a small braided ponytail. Two pointy ears adorn his head and he sports an expressive, fluffy tail of the same colour as his hair. His turquoise eyes have slit pupils like a cat, which can adapt slightly to low light.

His most common outfit is his performer's outfit, which involves a black half-top held to him with dark grey straps which shows off most of his upper body, a bright blue sash adorned with various golden ornaments and a nice pair of pants and shoes. He also tends to wear a small top-hat, which is decorated with feathers and usually Flux.

Kori's wings had finally grown out fully, it's growth spurred on from exposure to strong fey energies. A large pair on his upper back and a smaller pair on his lower, they're a bright blue translucent colour that fades into green at the tips. Previously he would cover the wings with a cloak, but now they're too large for him to hide. Where he previously avoided using his Flight hex and hid his developing wings, his inability to do so now means he's forced to live with it as they are.

## Personality

*"I may have been powerless for so long, and have doubts even now, but even if I still rely on the people around me, that I can make some difference is better than nothing."*

Kori bears a strange mix of cowardice yet being easily excitable that spontaneously swap around. Loud and boisterous one moment and timid and silent the next, it all depends on how comfortable or focused Kori feels in a particular situation though he tends towards the latter more often than not.

He's very friendly, and would tend to be the first to introduce himself to get to know other people better provided he doesn't have reason to believe they're hostile. Not one for violent conflict, he'll try to resolve situations peacefully and tends to give people the benefit of the doubt more often than not.

In general, he's a strong believer in Fortune as a nekomimi. When in doubt, Kori tends to rely on fate, flipping a coin or rolling dice to make a decision. Despite being fearful in most situations, he tends to take leaps of faith to see what would happen, especially if his allies are doing the same with the trust that they can pick each other up.

Kori has extreme self-esteem issues bearing from a strong sense of feeling useless, largely stemming from his past where he could not wield a lick of magic nor have the strength to fight on his own. While he still lacks physical strength, his newfound affinity for magic has filled him with a new sense of self-confidence, which is slowly working its way up.

He reveres several gods, but most of his respect goes towards Shelyn and Desna.

## Relationships

Previous thoughts show how Kori used to think about a person, if it's changed significantly since currently.

Maldrik Shiarza - "Maldrik? He's very confident. He's never afraid to speak his mind, and I really respect that, even though it frightens me sometimes what he'll say in certain situations. Aside that, have you seen what he can do with just a dagger? He's been an ally since the start, and I'd trust him with my life. He seems to have really high aspirations," *Kori smiles a bit, amused,* "but I think I'll support him the best I can along the way. With the way he's going, who knows? Maybe he'll be able to achieve that greatness he desires."

Bhelgra Jathslag - "Bhelgra is great. Her honesty makes her really easy to talk to, even if she's a bit blunt. Plus she's fantastic at keeping scary fellas away, not even mentioning the healing she can do. If there was one person I had to choose to protect me, it'd have to be Bhelgra. I'm not so sure about her eating habits though, is it physically possible to eat that much?"

**Magnus** -
"I'm... not quite sure what to think of him right now." *He refuses to say any more.*

Jin Cassius - "He's a really nice guy! Very kind, and wields some really neat magic. I'm thinking of traveling with him too. I've been traveling mostly by myself, but he said he's working on a caravan group! It'll be like old times..."

Witchling - *Kori suddenly seems on edge, his ears perking up as if listening for something. He looks around nervously, worried. His gaze notably keeps returning to the ceiling and the corners of the room.* "T-The little, the little witch? Do you think he's around?

Jacob "Death" Johnson - *Kori seems visibly irritated at the mention of the name, and speaks with surprising aggression.* "A horrible creature, I refuse to be associated with him. He would kill a child with little regard, and I speak no exaggeration. Stay far away from him, he's unpredictable. Dangerous."

Regnar - "I barely know Regnar, but he's very kind. He seems to have gone through a lot of hardship, yet would be so open and nice to a stranger like me." Kori pauses for a moment, his tail flicking, "Have you ever seen what the planet we live on looks like from beyond the sky?"

**Iselia Azureleaf** - "She's very kind, and very skilled." *Kori muses,* "I remember in my first adventure, my first real time fighting, I basically just cowered behind her and she said she'd protect me. It was... embarrassing, but I don't think she ever really judged me for it. I hope."

**Irisviel Ashlight** - "I can't say I know very much about her personally, but I know she's very smart and extremely capable with support magic like me! She always carries a book around, I wish I could understand what it says, I'd love to know the kinds of things she has documented in there. I wonder if I could ask her about it? Then again, I haven't seen her in a while. I wonder where she's gone?"

El Macho - "He seems like a swell guy. But I don't like how he kept picking me up at the time. I can stand on my own!"

## Flux

   *"Does everyone speak Sylvan these days?"*

Flux is a small butterfly, an extremely low ranked fey despite his prideful personality who lived close to Magdh's domain, but not actually within it, and was sent to act as Kori's familiar. Despite his delicate appearance, Flux is more than ready to mouth off anyone he sees fit, preferably if they don't understand what he's saying and it won't land him directly in trouble. He's perfectly capable of communicating with Kori via a special familiar-master link like any other familiar, however he much prefers to make his voice known, speaking in Sylvan out loud despite not having any apparent mouth. Despite being a familiar from Magdh, he represents little of her usual ideals and is more prone to typical fey personalities including a penchant for fun chaos, though he is loyal to her, .

Despite his abrasive personality, Flux genuinely wants to make sure Kori is safe, seeing him as his 'charge', and tries to advise him against doing anything particularly stupid. He of course makes sure to support Kori with his own abilities, though he doesn't make it obviously known. Though he seems to be able to cast spells, he hasn't yet shown many of them.

The familiar is rarely found away from Kori, often preferring to sit on his hat, appearing as a decoration to the less observant. He will hide in Kori's familiar satchel when there is obvious danger he feels threatened by, or if he simply doesn't want to get wet in the rain or other unfavourable weather.

## Abilities

Kori's strength lies in his ability to alter luck and bolster his allies. He's extremely incapable of dealing directly with foes, relying instead on his allies and supporting their abilities to do so. Having Kori around likely means enemies will have trouble hitting their targets, while he makes allies' hits strike true. When pushed, Kori can pull out a few spells from his arsenal ranging from additional buffs to specific area control and even some nasty curses. As of recently, he's started digging more into enchantment type spells, as much as he's doubtful on the morality of these mind affecting types, largely because they feel quite natural for him to use alongside divination spells.

He lacks the ability to read, even with magic. Any written word becomes illegible scribbles to him.

## Patron

Kori's ability to cast spells is thanks to his connection to the Eldest Magdh, who has become his patron through a series of unknown events during his time with the Witchmarket. He continues to be painfully oblivious of this, under the false assumption that him shifting into a fey and his magical abilities was due to his ancestry that had only recently awakened itself and started manifesting. Flux also doesn't correct him, because he finds it hilarious and wants to see how long it takes for Kori to figure it out. Him turning into a fey is in fact because his weak body was unfit to properly wield Magdh's gifted magic, and the influence from her had been slowly transforming him into a more fitting vessel to wield the magic.

He's slowly starting to get some suspicions that there's another factor involved, largely because he'd occasionally get overwhelmed to do bizarre things when dipping into some of his abilities, almost as if under an order.

## Adventures

### The Chicken Hunt

Kori's very first proper adventure involved helping Farmer Bob find out what happened to his chickens. It's also where he met Maldrik, to which he and the self-proclaimed noble would continue on many adventures together afterwards.

A simple standard affair adventure involving wolves and goblins, Kori could do little but cower behind his allies as he tries to get the hang of his newfound abilities. He did, however, manage to get a kill on a wolf with his dagger, which has proceeded to never be used again afterwards.

*Relations made: Maldrik, Iselia, Levina*

### The Glade of Amaryllis

A message on a leaf arrived to Kori. Unfortunately, he couldn't read. Thankfully he had friends who could, and so he ventured out to the Whispering Woods with a reliable looking bunch of people to save the fey creatures there from cultists, culminating in a fight with a horrifying eldritch being.

They managed to save the fey, though with an ominous warning from the eldritch beast.

*Relations made: Bhelgra, Sabine, Arcidel*

### The Grandfather's Disappearance

A young woman was looking for help finding her grandfather, and who was Kori not to try to do so? An interesting venture into the grandfather's warehouse, him being a wizard. Baby mimics were involved, a community of [ask gidon what the things living there were], and a giant barrel golem which literally bowled Kori over and probably almost killed him.

*Relations made: El Macho, Jin (run by Morgan)*

### Shorewood Arc

There had been disappearances happening around Shorewood, and Kori offered himself to help with the situation. Between the merchants and the mayor, the group decided to help the mayor in the hopes that he better had the interest of the city in mind rather than the merchants who seemed to only care for money.

Tasked with the job of catching an escaped drow prisoner, the group goes against a tough group but manages to get the drow back to the mayor.

But the disappearances continued, and Kori returned with some old and new allies to investigate, venturing into the forest.

There, they found elves facing off some drow around what looked to be an altar of some sort, and helped drive the drow out. It was also here that Kori felt the first effect of his patron, a command that he couldn't help but perform leading to an interesting case where he momentarily started dancing around the altar.

After the whole situation, the group was thanked by the elves and the situation of what had been happening was explained to them, by an elf named Turin. Of how sacred the forest was to the elves, how they had warned the merchants and the mayor and they chose to ignore these warnings to continue collecting sacred trees from the forest. They also learned some details about the society of the High Elves.

After learning of this situation, they bid Turin and the elves farewell. The group then made a plan to cause a rebellion by spreading news and rumours to the populace of Shorewood of the negligence of their leaders. With the help of Maldrik's cohorts, Kori, Iselia and Irisviel quickly get the truth out to everyone without getting themselves caught.

Unfortunately, in the final day, Kori was hit with a particulaly bad bout of fevers, hallucinations and overall delirium from his body changing, rendering him unable to assist his allies in the overthrowing of Shorewood much to his dismay.

*Relations made: Irisviel, Turin, Yonas*

### The Monkey King's Trial

Invitations were sent out around Babel, calling for heroes who wish to take on the Monkey King's trial, an old ally who trained the heroes who stood up against the old Empire. Highly interested in this, Kori set out to take part in this trial alongside several allies new and old. Along the way, they meet some friendly slimes, who follow them home after a little snack of magic. He named his Squishy, who lives safely and comfortably at Maldrik's keep with Maldrik's own slime from the same area.

The trial itself involved not as much a test of power, but a test of wits and problem solving. After the fall of Fair Maiden, the group was given a trial of saving a burning city. The goals included rescuing civilians, taking down but not killing the cultists, and minimise destruction of the city. The fires were quickly spiraling out of control, and Kori could only do his best to actually use his wings and try to save civilians, largely using teleportation, which afterwards became something he uses very often. Overall the group managed to scrape together in the end. It was noted however that Kori failed to inform his allies of a situation he saw as he passed a building, which affected their 'grade' from the King. After which, Kori learned to be much more vocal about what he sees in combat.

*Relations made: Sra, Bellerophon, Tyrran*

### Tower of Death: Preparations

*"I don't see why this is something that we have to get involved in. Those undead or whatever are holding them at bay right? Whatever, they'll be fine. Maybe they'll tire each other out."*

Kori's ear flicks in irritation as Flux flutters over his head in circles. Ignoring Flux was a skill he had learned and honed, unfortunately the butterfly had also learned the best ways to make himself heard regardless.

*"And Maldrik has those mooks of his going out anyway yeah? We should just stay, your magic is going to have trouble affecting them anyway. Undead are like, too stupid to be affected by all the fun enchantment spells. And even your divination spells can't pierce through whatever the heck is going on there… Let's leave this more suitable to dealing with zomboys and skellingtons. That weird dwarf could probably handle it on her own I bet!"*

It was a little bit ironic, really. Kori, the one who's constantly afraid of anything, is always the one who dives headfirst into dangerous situations. Flux, the one who's constantly berating everyone and always so self-confident, is always the one advising Kori *against* doing these dangerous things.

He let out an exasperated sigh, as he exited out the open door of the keep into the courtyard, where he watched Maldrik speaking to his cohorts, getting them ready for the potential battle to come. "Look, I can't sit around and hide just because… half of what I can do is useless! As far as I'm aware, undead aren't immune to having their luck manipulated the way I do it, for the most part at least, and I can still support the others with my beneficial spells. All it means is I have to be reliant on everyone else even more so than usual, but it doesn't mean I cannot contribute."

Kori continues before Flux could say anything. "Besides, you always *yap* on about wanting me to get better at my magic. What better way than to see how I can contribute to an unfavourable situation? If you just want me to run away from everything, how do you expect me to be able to get better at all?"

For once, the familiar is quiet, and Kori manages to hide a satisfied smile. He waves to his friend and the owner of the keep he lives in, inquiring about any needs he and his cohorts might need that he could aid with, offering small spells and his general charisma to boost their morale.

From there, Kori started considering if there was something he could do to aid the work that people are preparing as a whole. His penchant for teleporting he decided he could make use of, traveling out to the borders of the Ghostland to familiarise himself with the area, as well as finding a base camp set up from others preparing for the situation. From there he offered a service, as small as it was, to aid people with teleporting between there and Babel or other cities. Though he could only bring up to 3 other people with him, his miniature taxi service let him bring some adventurers quickly to the area, or bring people who might be urgently needed. And though his divination spells wouldn't work for scouting or scrying anything within the area, he was able to make use of it to try finding certain people in this tumultuous time, and even Divining for answers if people approach him with questions they and he are unsure of, if his knowledge on various topics aren't able to help. While there was little he could do to prepare himself for the situation with his limited ability to handle undead, there was a lot he could do to aid others and make sure they're prepped to be able to do so.

### Stealing What Was Stolen

A strange mission with little to note of, it involved speaking to a suspicious woman who wanted an item of hers back, a king of magic rod though she did not let the group in on the details of it, and to steal it back from a merchant's home while he was gone. Despite suspicions, she insisted that it was stolen from her first.

As they searched the merchant's home, they found a suspicious secret entrance to an underground cave area, where the group was accosted by numerous slimes. After clearing them out, the group found some kind of hidden treasure room, where the rod was seated nicely in the middle. Divinity grabbed it, which triggered an explosion trap, but they managed to quickly react to it before it could cause too much damage to everyone. The rod was returned with little fanfare.

*Relations made: Bexenar, Divinity,*

### Merovingian Malefactors

Hired to investigate an issue of bandits, supposedly armed with a terrifying monstrosity, that had been attacking caravans near the Merovingian Mountains, the group decided to look into the situation by luring the bandits out by pretending to be a merchant cart passing through. They found the bandits were tatulani armed with strange firearms, an especially large, possibly altered one as well as a giant mechanical swarm of some kind. Though they managed to fend them off, the large one got away via a teleportation which the group failed to track. Instead, they captured one of the tatulani bandits, which Kori dominated and Witchling baleful polymorphed into a pig. The ending result being that Kori now has a pig following him around as he waits for an opportunity to use it to lead the group to the bandits base.

*Relations made: Jacob, Witchling, Faenor*

### Monster in Babel

T'was a normal day in Babel, as Kori was doing his usual reading out fortunes to people in the bustling city. However, screams pierced the bustle and hustle as a giant, horrifying monster rampaged through, killing many and gaining strength from the people it killed. Kori struggled to get people away while Sra and Bexenar who were there at the time fought it off. As the two killed the monstrosity, it let out a garbled 'thank you'.

The group decided to investigate where it had come from, something just appearing like that in the middle of Babel was not something to be left alone. What they found was horrifying, a house burst open revealing a basement, the fetid stench of rotting corpses overpowering. A mangled body, a cage with broken bars, strange murals, it was clear there was some kind of ritual. Kori would find some notes, that seem to be research logs detailing horrible experimentations performed on people. Sra and Bexenar would discover a hole filled with bodies, humanoids with horrifying monstrous features protruding out. Kori would take as many notes as he could, as well as a ring that Sra had found on a dismembered finger, of which the ring had an inscription reading "One Betters All". Sra would leave a false paper trail to burn though not touching the bodies.

Kori, heavily shaken after the fact, turns to his allies in the Order of the Tunum Khav to share his findings and ask for their aid. With Elyn, Alesia, Jin and Maldrik, they manage to translate the notes Kori had scavenged to discover some horrifying information about the experiments being conducted, as well as some leads on where to investigate the situation. Kori further managed to Divine for some information on these leads, and read the psychic imprints on the ring to discover it was owned by a researcher, who had received it from a lady with pale skin, red eyes and dress, though it was but a flicker. Who says a single word, "re-ascend".

### A Strange Dream?

Kori is uncomfortable talking about the situation. If you reached into his memories, however...

\*First, you will see from Kori's point of view a beach. It's very calming and relaxing, and multiple other people are there. He'll recognise Magnus, and Jacob among the group. There is also Mhorina, Haroun, Alion, Azeria and Kyras there, though whether he recognises them is another question. Everyone seems extremely relaxed, and Kori seems to just be playing around, some unicorns fly in the distance.

\*The next minute, they're on a ship. It's covered in rainbows, and there are unicorns on board. He licks some rainbow juice that Haroun was spraying out somehow. A couple of people seem to be waving frantically at the group, but Kori is getting distracted by clouds of glitter.

\*The next minute, Kori is in water, talking to some mermaids. But suddenly the illusion snaps, he finds himself surrounded by sharks, almost drowning if not for teleporting away. The 'rainbow juice' turned out to be blood, and Kori sees his body singed and burned. Not too far away, there is a gate.

\*Then, they are in another area. A floating island of sorts, Kori is attempting to talk down some unicorns threateningly approaching an elf child, and Kori grabs the child to attempt to get him away, only to find the boy limp, killed by Jacob's effect as the undead man went to kill the unicorns.

\*The next minute, the boy is alive again, they learn his name is Thane. And they are in a different area, a strange plane of... weird... it's... okay I don't know how to describe it but its just kinda bright and surreal. There are a multitude of Nightmares about, and everyone is attempting to bring down a strange figure known as 'The Shade Man', though he seems to be caring little.

\*There is an argument, Thane is sleeping, and the group is going back and forth about what to do with him, learning that he is a nightmare wyrmling. Multiple people are arguing about where to take him, Magnus vying to take him  back to the order, Kori and Mhorina arguing to bring him back to his home, Alion wanting him dead, and some other discussions.

\*The last minute, they're in a small room. Magnus declares something about how the child cannot live, that it's too risky and it will only end badly. Kori tries to argue, but ends up looking away. He glances over briefly for a small view of Magnus with his hands gripped Thane's throat. The vision is blurred from tears, and Kori laments over what Magnus did, with Magnus assuring it had to be done. Thane's body disintegrates into ash. Then the view shifts as Kori teleports into his room in Maldrik's keep, and falls into his bed.

*Relations made: Haroun, Mhorina, Alion, Kyras, Azeria*

### The Rage of Kanaloa: On Butterfly Wings

"...Alright, there we go. That should be good." Kori said, holding up a decently sized red crystal with a glowing core, as Flux flitted off to look at it closer. "You should be safer with this, if something happens. You know I always get worried your big mouth is going to get you killed one day, so, it's really nice of Elyn to have given this to us." He explained as he got up, setting the crystal down on a bookshelf that notably held absolutely no books.

Flux looked at it, *"Hmm… I mean, my mouth isn't going to kill me, it's other people that don't know how to hold their tempers. But sure, this is nice to have as insurance."*

 "I mean, you-- Ah, whatever. Alright, well that's all that done." He stretched, feeling a little stiff after sitting around for so long. It was a pretty lazy day in Maldrik's keep all things considered, so Kori had been spending time in his room dealing with a few magical items.

At the door to the room, a short knock came before opening a few moments later as Jin burst into the room in a hurry, startling Kori who was used to visitors being announced first. “Kori, Flux, I need your help! Well, mostly Flux’s help. But still.” they rambled, panting slightly as if they had been running previously. “The volcano.. Lalotai.. There are giant elementals that are attacking the island!” they explained between ragged breaths as they tried to regain their lost breath.

Kori quickly went up to Jin, making sure they were okay… Wait… "Wait, ''Flux's'' help?"

*"Of course my help. I'm the most reliable guy arou--"* Flux began, but Kori interrupted him, more focused on Jin's words.

"S-Sit down, here," Kori lead Jin to a chair set in front of a table with various incense. "The elementals are attacking Lalotai? What could prompt that all of a sudden, did the fey lord aggravate them or…"

“You heard about how they were going wild right?” Jin questioned as they began to regain their breath. “They suddenly organized and pulled back, then a bunch of giant magma elementals rained down from the volcano onto the settlement from what I heard. They need help.” Jin explained, their voice still tinged with worry for the people of the island settlement.

*"Damn, the guys there just can't catch a break can they?"* Flux commented, as he sat himself back on Kori's head.

"Oh no, and, this is happening now? S-Should I teleport us there now?" Kori's voice started to display some urgency as well, as he began picking up his haversack and the longspear he had left leaning against a wall. "Wait, hang on. You said you needed Flux's help, what exactly… Was there something specific? He's not exactly fireproof…"

“Listen, I got my followers in Kuapuiwui to help. I’ve got like 80 butterflies gathered up and stored in the Scarlet Keep right now.” Jin explained, making very little sense considering how harmless normal butterflies would be against the elementals. “I need Flux to get them to help us attack the elementals.”

"Uh…" Both Kori and Flux displayed obvious confusion. Flux was the one who continued that thought, *"Okay look, Tom, you're absolutely right I can communicate with those dumb butterflies to ask them to do stuff but uhm, like I'm different, but the bog standard butterfly? What are you trying to get having them charge in to fight fire elementals? Like trying to fight fire by tossing paper in. And you are absolutely right to have confidence in me to do something like that but I'm not stupid enough to go on such a suicide mission!"*

Jin looked at Flux like he had suggested something completely stupid. “Of course I’m not sending in normal butterflies.” Jin explained, asking “Don’t you know what my magic does? I’m going to enhance them so they can fire beams of ice to freeze the elementals from afar. The more bodies I can get ahold of the better, so the butterflies were perfect.”

Flux's wings fluttered rapidly upon hearing it, *"Beams of ice? Shit can you give that to me? Well in that case, heck yeah I could do that. Leading an army of shi--Uh, fellow butterflies along. They should know who's leading the charge so it'll be easy as pie!"*

Kori rolled his eyes a bit, "Don't let it get to your head too much, Flux. But yeah, wow, that's not something I would have expected at all. I know you can manage alterations and the like but I definitely didn't expect an army of ice shooting butterflies. If Flux is fine with it… And well I guess that's obvious he is, I could definitely come help too. He'll probably need my help anyway… He's not always the best with his words, and I'm a touch nervous of him actually being in combat."

“If we are doing things right, we shouldn’t be coming within a hundred feet of the elementals themselves. Feel free to come though, like I said, the more bodies we have the more beams we can fire.” Jin replied as they stood up “First we need to get to the Scarlet Keep. Kori, can you send us there?”

"You never cease to amaze me, Jin. Yeah, I can get us there just fine." He double checked that his haversack had a few items in it, "Alright, let's get going. No time to waste." He placed a hand on Jin's shoulder, and without even a word the three of them suddenly found themselves in the Scarlet Keep. Because Kori forgot to take account of the fact Jin was sitting, they fell to the ground as they suddenly found the chair missing. "Oops, uh, sorry."

“It’s fine.” Jin said as they stumbled to their feet and dusted themselves off. They looked around their new environment, the endless blue sky surrounding the trio on all sides save for the castle towering behind them. Following the cobblestone brick path, they lead Kori to the garden where the Gates to the various cities and towns were located, a covered wagon waiting for them as they arrived. Jin then threw back a tarp to reveal a huge cage lined with bug netting filled to the brim with dozens of butterflies. “Alright, I will get them ready, so prepare for your speech.” Jin says back to Flux and Kori, before turning as their blue fox flames burst into life.

Kori could see the lights of the foxflames grow dimmer and dimmer as Jin began to cast, over and over, blue tendrils of flame reaching out to the butterflies one at a time. Each butterfly the spell touched was obviously changed as the vibrant colors of the many jungle butterflies’ wing patterns were replaced with icy blue that shimmered almost like an ice crystal. The final spell cast wrapped around Jin, Kori, and Flux themselves. Huge butterfly wings with a matching pattern grew from Jin’s back, as both of the feytouched gained similar patterns as well and could feel the power of frost in the core of their bodies. Kori could see that the orbs that normally burned bright with Jin’s magic were dull and spent, barely more than glowing blue embers at this point.

The sound of metal hitting the ground drew the attention of the butterflies as Kori slammed the butt of his longspear against the ground, holding it up straight as the banner attached to it drew the many, many eyes. Flux, from atop Kori's head, spoke boldly in a manner the butterflies could understand. *"Alright folks, listen up! I'm sure you guys are stupidly confused as to what's going on, but trust me, you guys have been awoken for a fantastic job!"* Kori stood stock still, acting as Flux's podium for this sake, but it's clear he could understand what his familiar was saying. *"You've all been searched for, gathered and blessed to aid innocent fellas having their lives ruined by some nasty elementals!"* The butterflies stirred, whispering murmurs among themselves. *"I know it's definitely a strange thing to have to barge into, but thanks to our friend Tom--Uh, Jin over there, you'll all be able to utilise some hella awesome beams to knock em straight out of the park! As a butterfly myself, even blessed with grace as I am, I know full well how dangerous any kind of shot at us would be. But that's why we'll coordinate, hit em where it hurts from a range, swarm em, they can't stop all of us!"*

Kori, having cast a spell to allow him to speak with animals while Jin was preparing because he was unsure if they'd have known a language when awakened, spoke afterwards in a bold, clear, and loud voice. "The threads of fate have lead us all together this day. No lives will be wasted, and your selfless aid will benefit the many who have been caught in circumstances that they could not manage." He slammed the butt of his spear against the ground again, "Will you lend us your aid? With your newfound abilities and power, to push back the threat against Lalotai's people?"

The elementals were fierce. After doing what they could to get the people of the village out of harm’s way it was time that Jin and Kori joined the battle properly. What followed could only be described as a scene from some sort of fey picture book as an army of butterflies led by twin butterfly-winged generals began their assault on the magma giant that was drawing closest to the village. The great butterfly swarm kept their distance from the giant, firing volley after volley of beams of elemental ice that froze chunks of the giant’s molten body into solid stone.

As the solid stone chunks broke off the body of the giant, the butterfly army continued their assault creating more openings for the other adventurers to strike at the momentarily distracted magma giant.