Syrasza

Lynden would rely less on his gut, and more on the environment. He would use the sun, the moss on the trees, broken terrain around him that would suggest humanoid figures had passed by, all of he would be constantly checking to make sure he was pinpointing his way towards the barracks. There was, however, a small chance that he could get lost, but Lynden was trying everything in his power to avoid that.

He traveled with his sheet rolled up to hold the turkey. I his hand he carried his makeshift spear, which he also used as a walking stick.

First he noticed a burning smell, but he dismissed it as one of his friends, but then he noticed the smoke in the direction he was traveling. With luck, it would be a small goblin encampment. Goblins meant better tools he could acquire rather than his spear.

So, he kept going on his way. Besides, he didn't want to steer too far of his course.
 
After traveling in the direction of the smoke for almost thirty minutes. The smoke seemed to be growing thicker ad thicker the closer Lynden got to the source. This didn't seem like a camp fire. If Lynden continued on he would be stopped by a wall of flames, consuming all that it could as quickly as possible. The sound of weeping could be heard coming from inside the flames. Lynden couldn't see anything, but he could definitely hear the sound of crying, a child's crying. It could be a human inside the flames, it could be an elf, the only way to find out would be to brave the raging fire.
 
Lynden reflexively covered his mouth with his forearm. His eyes watered because of the smoke. He thought to turn around before getting closer, but the he heard something faint. For a moment, he dismissed it as the cackling fire, but curiosity drew him closer. Then it was undeniable. Crying.

Without hesitation, he climbed a tree so he could jump over the wall of fire without getting singed.
 
The nearby tree was warm to the touch. The fire was quickly approaching and in moments to would engulf the tree, meaning Lynden had to act quickly. Shimmying up the tree, Lynden reached a height safe enough to jump from without endangering his limbs and high enough to get over the eight foot tall flames. Lynden could see a lone child curled up over a backpack, crying and choking on smoke. What had caused this fire? Maybe the child knew...

Lynden was forced to jump as flames engulfed the tree. He would reach the ground unscathed, rolling upon impact. The child was a little human boy, no older than seven. The pack he defended with his life was almost the same size as him, clearly meant to be carried by an adult. No more than thirty feet away, the dead body of a man laid, burnt and charred on his hands, face, and chest. The source of this flame was still not evident.
 
Lynden jumped, rolled, and stood without anything bad happening yet. That's all he could really ask for.

He found a boy sitting in the ring of fire.

"HEY, WE HAVE TO GO KID! HOLD ON!"
He would then unwrap his sheet, throw the leftovers of the turkey through what seemed like the less dense part of the wall of flames. He then wrapped the child in the sheet, then lifted him and put him over his shoulder, and ran through the flames, protecting his face as best as he could with his free arm. After he passed the flames, he would put down the child quickly, and a bit roughly. He would then pat out any flames on him, then any flames on the child.

After all the flames that were put out, he would drag the child by the arm away from the wind direction to avoid getting caught by the flames again. He also wouldn't leave without his prized turkey. But his stick and rock were gone.

Checking the moss and sun, Lynden would do his best to reposition himself to the direction of the barracks. He kept his hand on the boy with the pack's shoulder both to guide him, and to keep him from running.
 
As Vaughn walked he was contemplating the flavors of the world and what he would be leaving behind when he left his home. Quickly it his him, he stopped and set his bag down before continuing. Vaughn opened it and began to rumage, obviously lokoing for something. He let out a sigh when he found what he was looking for. A thick journal that he had previously purchased with some of his working money not too long ago. Once removed he pulled out a tool used for writing that required no ink, something very popular in the Caverns. Once Vaughn had everything he needed he put his bag, back on his back and kept moving.

I can't believe I almsot forgot to write the flavors down

Vaughn thought to himself in the midst of his writing. He wrote done every tone of flavor that he tasted in his father's meal. This was the firs entry on his journey and it deserved to be in the place that it was in. He made not of everything he cuold think of, even drew small pictures of what the food looked like and likely its preparation methods. Obviously he would change the format if he actually saw how it was completed but this would do for this particular meal. In the midst of writing he came to the smithy, not even realizing how into his entry he was. Vaughn looked up to see Gilhom, who was waiting by a fence post.

Gilhom greeted him and immidiately set the ground rules when it came to his cousin. An odd area in his house hold since, his mother was gung hoe about him, but his father had nothing but a distaste for him. Still Vaughn was fairly inpartial and didn't want to offend the man who would be taking care of him in a sense. So he decided to take the side that was most beneficial.


"Grayvaughn Quartheart, and don't you worry, you won't hear a peep from me about him." Vaughn extended his hand in appropriate dwarven gesture, accompanied by a joyful smile.
 
The boy would continue crying, only coming along with Lynden if he was being dragged or carried. The boy wouldn't say anything to Lynden at all, unless Lynden spoke first. Once reaching a safer area, the boy would want to stop and look through the pack, so if Lynden was carrying him, he would struggle to get down, or if Lynden was dragging him, he would fight for the first time.

Should Lynden stay, he would see the boy dump everything from the pack. Falling on the ground would be two rations, a compass, a map, a dagger with a very ornate sheath, miscellaneous cloths, dyes, and materials for tailoring. The boy reached for the pouch and held it close to his cheek, rubbing it and smiling.
 
Lynden would essentially start dragging the kid. He was a witness, and one of the trainers could decide what to do with him. Besides, the child was young enough to be his brother. He couldn't just leave him alone.

Once the kid wanted to stop, Lynd would with hesitation.

The boy didn't seem to care about the other things in the pack save for the pouch.

"Whats your name, and who was that died? Is this his pack?" Lynden would ask while picking up the map to see what exactly it was a map of.
 
"The pleasure's mine." Gilhom smiled as he shook the Vaughn's hand. He ventured out alone before, it was exciting for the first couple days, but then it got extremely lonely. Finding civilization was the most important thing before, but now, now him and his companion could simply explore and discover! It was exciting the first time, but now it felt even better since Vaughn was coming along too. Aside for being company, Vaughn was also known as a great chef, meaning they would be eating more than just trail rations every day! It was exciting indeed!

"OH and before I forget, take this."
Gilhom pulled a short sword out of his pack and handed it to Vaughn. "I know ya not the fightin' type, but ya never know when ya might need to stab somfin' to save ya life." Gilhom nodded and smiled at the half-breed.
"An now we're off!" HE said, making his way towards the cavern exit.

After leaving the cavern, Gilhom led Vaughn to a rope ladder that hung from a cavern skylight. Climbing this was a quick exit rather than traversing the entire cave network. After reaching the top of the ladder, Gilhom gave Vaughn a hand and pulled the ladder up.
"There we are. So, ya cook, eh? That takes a lot of knowledge. I'm not too fond of the idea of filling my head with recipes, though. I'd rather remember sword techniques. But hey, at least we can both enjoy the other's skill, yeah?" Gilhom smiled at Vaughn, small talk was not his forte.
 
Lynden would immediately recognize the map. It was a map of the kingdom, trade routes, and a big red X on one spot, not too far from where Lynden was now, judging by his calculations. The boy turned his head to look at Lynden. "Unless you want to end up like that man back there...I suggest you give me that Turkey and leave me to my musings, mortal! This does not concern you!"

The boy turned back to his pouch and opened it, pulling a pure orange crystal out. He rubbed it between his fingers and smiled menacingly. The boy was acting extremely strange. It was almost like the gem he was holding had something to do with his odd behavior.
 
Gilhom's handshake was both rough and firm, he was clearly a warrior at heart. In retrospect Vaughn's hands were not unlike his, but tailored from the battle in the kitchen rather than on the field. He smile as their firm grips were familiar but so different. Vaughn was so excited to get out to the cavern and learn so many new things about food. The many different ingredients that the world had to offer made his stomach flutter. he was so nervous but entirely ready to change himself, and the world. Gilhom was very important in this dream because he was going to protect him mostly, but Vaughn new he would eventually have to learn how to defend himself. Gilhom was attempting to get the jump on that as well as he drew a sword.

When Gilhom handed him the sword Vaughn was a little taken aback at first, not having wielded a sword before. He stared at it for a moment inspecting the blade as if it were a chef's knife, although it was much different. He his senses came to him he realized he was dealing with a trained warrior and he was, acting like a newbie in front of him. He quickly grabbed the blade and sheath and put it away in his bag, not really knowing how to fasten it in any way. Immediately after Gilhom signaled the cast off to leaving the cavern. Vaughn nodded in response to his statement to leaving and followed him.

They walked through the mouth of the cavern which Vaughn had actually been through many times. He walked through there to get all kinds of indigenous ingredients, he bypassed them today though since he had bigger fish to fry. When he arrived at the rope ladder he assumed that it was some sort of shortcut since the caverns were very vast, and could take days if someone wanted to reach the surface, especially if they didn't know where they were going. He did just as Gilhom did, climbing the rope ladder to get to the surface. During his ascent he could feel his eyes adjusting, it was slightly painful, but he wasn't about to let that stop him. It was very bright, and almost blinding the higher he got. When Vaughn reached the very top he was blinking a lot trying to get adjusted.

Gilhom asked him a question, and Vaughn did the best he could to answer in the midst of his uncomfotability.


"Yes"

Vaugh answered to the first questions rubbing his eyes, as the pain was beginning to settle in. After the second second statements he laughed in response to them, still adjusting.

"Well cooking is just like fighting to me, I have to fight to make the best meal I can every time, just like you have to battle to win."

Vaughn smiled at his unique interpretation of cooking. Adjustment was gradual but it still may take some time.
 
"Who, what?" Lynden said, looking over the map, then back to the child. He raised an eyebrow, not really believing him. "Yeah whatever kid, you some kind of fire demon? I could have just left you, ya know."

He leaned down and grabbed the knife, and inspected the blade. Though the kid said some weird things that he dismissed, from the corner of his eyes he watched his movements and actions.
 
Gilhom laughed at Vaughn's statment. "Ah, yes, I guess you could say that."

As the duo walked a ways, there was no doubt Vaughn would have questions, so Gilhom answered everything to the best of his ability. He told Vaughn about all the different fruits that grow on trees, he warned him that some plants were poisonous so he would have to learn what is good and what's not good. He talked about books that have been written about what plants are poisonous and how to tell a poisonous plant from a non poisonous plant. Gilhom couldn't stress enough the topic on toxic ingredients, he really didn't want the eager chef picking up poisonous and cooking his meals with them.

Other than those topics, Gilhom didn't say much on his own. It would have been up to Vaughn to ask questions if he had any. As time went on, the duo found themselves in the wilderness at dusk.

"There aren't any villages or towns nearby so we will have to make camp. I'm sure you know how to start a fire, so I'll just start getting the tent set up. If you want, go gather some random things you think are edible and I'll tell you what I can about them." Gilhom was both excited and scared to test Vaughn's culinary abilities.
 
The child snapped his head around and stared at Lynden. "Are you mocking me, you fool!?" The child stood up and clutched the orange gem. "If I had my physical form, I would burn you to ash right where you stand...now obey me! Leave the turkey and go away! If you listen now, I might just spare your pitiful life when I cover this wold in the flames of chaos!" The child was screaming now.

When Lynden reached for the dagger and grabbed it, the boy paused and snarled.
"Don't touch that! It does not belong to you!" When Lynden unsheathed the dagger to inspect it, something unexpected happened. Only the hilt came unattached from the sheath when Lynden pulled. There didn't actually seem to be a blade at all...instead, only after three seconds of being unsheathed, a red blade the side of a long sword formed and became covered in fire.

"You fool! Return the Fyrebrand at once!" The child was standing in front of Lynden now, his hand outstretched, the other gripping the orange gem tightly.
 
"Fyrebrand?" Lynden said, ignoring what the child was saying to that point. He held out the flaming dagger sword straight, then waved it a bit to see if the fire dripped like oil, or if it extended with his swing.

"This is a magic weapon right? These are really rare I think. Is this elven magic?" Lynden said to no one in particular. Instead of waiting for a response, he tried sheathing the blade as best he could. If he wasn't successful, he would try for a few moments before giving up.

"So who are you kid? I never got your name. And whats with this magic sword?"

Lynd saw it as he was the one in power at the moment. Should the child act up, he now had a flaming dagger sword he could use to silence the potentially mad child. Lynd made a note of how attached the child was to the crystal. Should this kid keep talking as he was, he was surely going to piss Lynden off, and he wasn't above taking a crystal from an angry kid.
 
The child stomped his feet. "You have no clue what you're tampering with, do you!? Ah, if only I could burn you!" The child slammed his fists onto the ground. "Wait...you unsheathed Fyrebrand without...an you're much...but your heart is..." The child 's voice trailed away...He looked at the gem then looked back at the sword as Lynden successfully sheathed it.

"Here. You have the right to this now. I have grown tired of searching and holding my presence in this plane of existence anyway...My name is Valia, do not call me for trivial matters...and do not use my, MY Fyrebrand!"
The child tossed his orange gem to Lynden then fell to the ground, unconscious. Lynden didn't have to catch the gem, as it automatically flew and attached itself to Fyrebrand's hilt. The orange gem attached and through the clear orange gem, Lynden could see the face of a female fire elemental.
 
As the two walked his eyes adjusted to the point where it was a lot more comfortable to do things. Once he wasn't thinking so much about seeing he finally had a look at the world above. It was so different than what he was used to. So many sites to see, the colors changing from the dark colors he was used to; to being the vibrant ones that lay above ground. Vaughn was looking all over probably giving Gilhom more questions than he normally might be able to handle.

He paid particular attention to the explanation of poisonous ingredients on the surface. Vaughn was used to actually working with poisonous fungi that grew below ground. Handling those ingredients was something might be able to handle, but since he was unfamiliar he would likely hurt himself and those around him. He made a note of it in his journal as he listened to any notable poisons.

Night fell quickly and his eyes were much more used to this setting. Gilhom went on to talk about a camp and now Vaughn would be in charge of setting up the fire and making some food. He proceeded to gather things to be used in feeding a flame: dry grass, sticks, and other things of that nature. He placed them in what would be the center of the camp. Next to it, using his rune drawing kit, he created a rune of flame; an essential for most dwarven chefs. Once it was created he placed the fuel on top and did some kindling to make sure it would be a good flame. Once Vaughn was done with that he went into the wilderness, carrying the short sword just in case, hoping to find some fine ingredients
 
In the wilderness, Vaughn searched for particularly tasty looking ingredients. He fond all sorts of berries, sweet, sour, and bitter. He found wild leafy greens, ripe nuts, green onion, wild red radish, a peculiar brown root type plant, a single shimmering fruit growing from vines, and a small stream of mineral water, what he was used to cooking with at home.

Once he brought the ingredients back to Gilhom, they were checked once over and approved as non-poisonous.
"That root is good for energy regeneration, but it's bitter." He eyed the shimmering fruit. "Now I think ya got something special here...never see this fruit before in my travels...but then again, I've only traveled but ten leagues from the caves...in all directions, heh." He didn't wat his travels to seem inadequate, but he was slightly afraid the first time he ventured out of the caves.

After setting up the tent, he went over to watch the master chef at work.
"So, what are you doing, exactly? I've never cooked anything beyond roasted meat over an open fire. That's about as far as I've gone, and even then, it didn't taste too great." Gilhom scratched his head and looked at the soon to be dinner.
 
((Done in collaboration with Doc.))

"Huh, what, what?" The jewel attached itself to Fyrebrand, which startled Lynden as it was so unexpected. He eyed it closely, seeing the female figure on it. He had heard of elementals before, but he didn't connect the two at the moment.

"Why can't you just give me a straight answer?" He said to the jewel not expecting an answer.
What are you talking about? Answer what questions straight?

A woman's voice said, creeping into his mind. Lynden yelped and threw the dagger to the grass.

Well that's just rude.


Lynden looked over to the boy who was laying unconscious He was alive, thankfully, but definitely not in any shape to be speaking in a woman's voice. So Lynden made the assumption that the magical blade, Fyrebrand, and the jewel that was connected were the ones communicating. He walked over to where he threw the dagger and picked it up, looking at the jewel closely.

"Are you some Goddess that I've failed to learn the name of? What are you exactly?"

I told you my name. It's Valia. I am a fire elemental, cursed this miserable plain of existence.
"Oh. Well... damn." Was about all Lynden could say in response. He had heard of elementals in stories and legends, but he dismissed them as myths. It was a bit funny to be proven wrong.

"Who is the kid? And why was there a man burnt to a crisp?"
He stuck the dagger in the ground, pommel up so the jewel was unobstructed. After, he started to inspect the map and chart his position relative to the map.

I killed him. He was weak. And annoying. and that needy brat of his... I almost wished he would have died in the fire.

She was so frank that he winced.
"And that gave you right to kill him? Harsh. Well, let's try to avoid that, shall we?"

Prove yourself useful and it might be avoided.

"Useful?"

Excite me. This plane of existence is so boring. I've been trapped in this gem, lying on the floor of some dark dreary cave for far too long, only to be found by this boring traveling peddler and his brat of a kid.

"Excite you? How I see it, your the one stuck in a gem. If you got out of line, couldn't I just break it? I think a good rock will do."

She actually laughed at his remarks without a hint of humor. More of a snide piercing mocking.
If that was the case, I might actually have you attempt it in order to free me of this prison.

"Oh. Right. Wouldn't want that. I suppose I could just bury you. Or throw you down a well. Or off the port side of a ship. You thought a cave was boring, right? I wonder how exciting a well could be."


Oh HA HA, very funny.

Lynden smiled and took a few more moments to chart his location. Once he was positive where he was relative to the sun and local moss, he picked up the dagger, and pointed the jewel to the map.
"What's this X?"

You know you dont have to point me to what you want me to see right? I can see through you.

"Through my eyes?"

No, through the goodness of your heart, YES YOUR EYES you dolt!

"Scary. No real privacy there then. Well, whatever, what is a fire ghost going to do from a dagger anyways. What's the X about?"

She audibly sighed.

You really don't know anything about this do you? You have to have the intention of me seeing in order for me to see. Same as if you wish to summon me. You have to hold Fyrebrand and have the intent to summon me.

"Ohhh... Alright. I guess... I'm new to this whole... magical weapon deal. Here... Can you see it?"
Lynden said, straining his eyes and hoping she could see the X.

Yes, I can see it. And I also knew what it was since I had the man the man place it. You likely wouldn't care with your little enfeeble mind, but it's the location of my sister.

"Your sister? Another elemental bound to a dagger?"

No...well, she is another elemental... but she is not bound to some weapon... I'm not bound to some weapon! This weapon is mine! It is a part of me! Why do you even care? Oh, let me guess, you want to bring me to her out of the goodness of your heart? I don't need your pity!

"Right, whatever. It's important to you right? Someone died over this ordeal at least, and I don't want that death to be in vain."

You realize I killed him right? There's no in vain. I was just tired of him.

"And the goal was to come here right? So inadvertently he died for this cause."

Okay. Whatever makes you feel better about the situation.

"So what am I to expect at this X?"

I don't know. I just know that's where she is. I can sense her.

"There's something funny about a vague fire ghost that I'm failing to catch. In any case, we'll stop there before I finish this mission."

First off, I'm not a fire ghost, and second, what mission?

"I'm on my final trail to become a knight of Lumina, I have to travel back to my mentors through the woods. A test of my survivability." He said, gathering everything back into the pack, save for a long cloth that he twisted tightly into a rope, which he fashioned the dagger to it. Once he was sure the dagger wouldn't fall with his movements.

Wait, so you're saying that you're not much better than that traveling peddler?

"I know how to wield a dagger. Is that a start? Honestly I don't care if you think of me more or less than a peddler, but I can't imagine many people would put up with a sassy fire element."
He said, slightly offended.

Yes yes, whatever. You're just lucky I expended all my strength killing the last man, else you would have the same fate.

"Now now, I thought we were becoming friends. It's not often you meet a fire elemental dagger woman. If you start thinking about killing me in fire, I start thinking of throwing you in wells."

Why would you throw me down a well when you could get a pretty good amount of coin. Peddler.

"Well we all know how you feel about peddlers. And that's an option too, but if you become too much for even me to handle, then it's likely you shouldn't be in the wrong hands anyways."

No matter whose hands I am in, it's the right hands. I'll make them the right hands at the least. Either burning them or using them to burn.

"Yeah yeah, it's mighty exhausting conversing with you. Do you want to see your sister or not?"

She remained silent at that. Lynden smirked and picked up the child who was resting. He fastened the pack on the child's back, and put the child on his back. Carrying him like he had carried his brother many times before. One arm wrapped around his leg, and he leaned forward so his weight was on his back. He was thinner than his brother by a bit, but the extra weight was going to suck.

So, Lynden left to go to the X, following the map closely. He knew it was delaying him, but he wasn't willing to just leave. As messed up as Valia was, she was in need of help. And truth be told, he saw Valia more as a victim to circumstance more than anything. Perhaps that would be a mistake later, but Lynden was one to go with his gut.
 
The area marked X on the map was not far from their current position. After an hour of walking, Lynden would stumble upon a burrow of sorts. It looked deserted and had the appearance of an unnatural formation. Valia could feel her sister's presence now.

"In there! go into that hole!" She said excitedly. What awaited Lynden in this strange cavern? If Valia had been here for hundreds of years, surely her sister had been too, and if that were the case, something most likely made it's home in this large burrow.

Upon entering the burrow, Lynden walked down a slopped dirt ramp, leading him into darkness and farther into the unknown. The walls of the tunnel were at least three arms length apart and the ceiling was twelve feet high. The smell of damp dirt would fill Lynden's nostrils as he became more and more blinded.

"Summon me, I will light the path. I know you can't see and we won't make it to my sister without your vision." The elemental spoke with a bothered tone, like it was annoying that Lynden couldn't see in the dark. She didn't know why Lynden was helping her, but she didn't really care because she was getting what she wanted.