We left the castle and started our trek to the next town (on foot for some reason) and we had to travel through an odd set of woods (The trees had needles instead of leaves!)

After traveling for a while, we were ambushed by, and I kid you not, THREE BEARS WITH OWL FACES! THEY WERE SO CUTE!

I cast Speak with Animals to try to understand them. But before I could try the diplomatic approach, the others just blindly started attacking with the Scary Lady going on about wanting to ride one. One of the smaller bears charged toward me. I held out my hand and said “I don’t want to hurt you”. They stopped and stared at me.

A few rounds of them attacking and me reasoning went by until the Scary Lady got frustrated and charged a Witch Bolt aimed straight for the weakest one (it would kill). I said “NOOOOO!” and lunged to block the attack (ooc, that was the first time I rolled a Natural 20) and I took the full force of the hit. The battle ended and I was healed by Sunshadow. We were given an escort, and Scary Lady got her ride.

I swore that day that I would figure out how to become one of those bears with owl faces and master it.

Hello, my name is Riolu Ungart. I am a Druid and a lover of apples. Anyway, today was a very strange and very exciting to me.

I come to the capital city (I can never seem to remember place names) having heard word that there was an AMAZING festival going on with food and drink and all sorts of fun stuffs.

I got to town and immediately found a tavern called “The Laughing Tongue”, so I went in for a bit of ale to mix with my cider. Little did I know, not only would I not get my ale, but I would find some interesting people-type-peoples.

Over in the corner there was a purplish red lady with a blindfold staring at (I’m still not quite sure how) at a large metal man whom looked cobbled together out of need.

In another corner, there was another hooded guy with a mask on (I’m guessing hoods are a fashion statement here) and he had an aura that said “DANGER, DANGER, RUN!”, so I avoided him.

About 2 booths over there was a big-strong looking man looking rather stoic. I know better than to interrupt meditation.

Anyway, just as I was about to order my ale a huge BOOM came from outside that shook the whole tavern. I ran outside and was accompanied by the tavern people. There was this big red fiend-y looking creature just wreaking havoc on the main castle with what looks like an human man in expensive robes in his hand. (I now know that the creature was called a Balor and the human man was/is apparently the king of this region).

The other four started attacking the Balor. The Metal Man used a sword that looked like a sunbeam to slash at its tail, the Scary Lady used what I could only assume was a Witch Bolt or something like that to try to blind it, the Tough Guy just started punching it with a flurry of punches and kicks, and the Masked Person started firing arrows. The attacks took enough focus from the Balor that it dropped the man.

Being opposed to violence when I can, I focused on saving the human man. I wildshaped into Giant Owl and caught him before he could hit the ground or be grabbed again. I took him over behind a crumbling wall and reverted back to “Riolu Form” to cast Cure Wounds with as much power as I could.

The man regained consciousness and seemed to be stable. By the time I looked back over to the Balor and the attackers, a big hole looked like it opened in the sky and an EVEN BIGGER red fiend-y creature came out, grabbed the Balor, and took it back in. The city was quiet for a moment, until the denizens looked up to see a hairline fracture in the dome protecting us. Panic ensued. The remaining members of the Royal Guard did what they could to keep the peace.

The human man introduced himself as the King and invited us to his castle to formally thank us with a hot meal.

It was a lovely meal (best Apple Crumble I’ve ever had!) and the king asked us who we were. The metal man’s name turned out to be Michael Sunshadow, a paladin going around ending as many demons as he could find (I guess he has his reasons). The Tough Guy turned out to be a monk from far away; traveling, seeing the world, and trying to find enlightenment (not much of a talker though). The Scary Lady is Crudelia, a warlock with motives she kept to herself (She frightens me. She really does…) The Masked Man just said his name was Destin and left it at that. (I ship him with Crudelia. I really do.)

Acquaintances made, the King tasked us with going to a town a few miles over to take care of a what can only be assume was what he called a “cult” (I guess I’ll find out what THAT is). Destin just walked away, but the others and myself agreed (I honestly just wanted some company. It gets lonely traveling alone all the time.)

So the King gave us rooms for the night and in the morning we headed out.