You in Felarya III

"Not to mention me." Alris growled loudly, "My power is unmatched."

"Alright...lets get going then." Said Spenser, sighing.

Alris and Daniel both took off.

“It would be easier to catch a man fleeing on foot,” Doug said, driving amid the trees. It wasn’t a quiet process, as the suburban drove through the underbrush and over small plants. “Besides, the car would provide us with protection from other risks as well. Still it’s making quite a racket. We’re fortunate Arrayya and Dan were the first ones we bumped into.”

Gradually, as they neared the ruins, the trees began to thin out as the rainforest began giving way to drier climates. Doug found himself getting nervous as the canopy providing them with cover began to have gaps and holes. He kept checking his rear view mirrors to make sure Arrayya was still following them.

“There goes our cover,” Doug commented, as the forest canopy gave way altogether. They had come to a grassland of sorts, but the desert and the ruins still lay ahead. “Would you two do me a favor and keep an eye out for any dangers. I can go faster over the grasses, but this suburban’s gonna stick out like a sore thumb.”

"Sure thing." Brent said as he looked out the window, checking to see if there was anything that would present a danger to them. So far, he hadn't seen anything, and he hoped he wouldn't see anything. Not that he was worried, since Alris, Daniel, and Arrayya were with them, but Brent never was the type for conflict.

Arrayya kept up with the group. Daniel had provided her with a specialized sword that launch energy waves on command.

Daniel and Alris were in the air. Daniel was armed with a high-tech rifle that he had crafted.

(((Does anyone have any plans for the ruins?)))

(No, not really.)

Daniel saw something headed towards the Suburban. "Dammit." he growled, "Alris, fly in lower and charged your cannon. We've got company."

Brent noticed that Alris was charging up his cannon from the car. 'Uh oh. That doesn't look good. Wonder what he found.' he thought.

Meanwhile, a black feathered harpy with light red skin was flying through the canopy, looking for something to eat, when she noticed Alris and his huge size. "What...in...Felarya is THAT?!" she asked herself. She began to fly toward Alris to get a better look.

“What the…?” Doug said, looking in a rear view mirror. Briefly, he saw a black something flying toward them. He glanced back out of the window for a moment, and his jaw dropped for a second at what he saw.

“Sonova! We’ve got a harpy!” Doug shouted. He slammed the gas, and the engine of the suburban revved as they surged forward. His knuckles white from their tight grip on the steering wheel, Doug drove for the nearest spot of cover, the ruins far ahead.

The harpy noticed the speeding suburban as it quickly drove off. She didn't seem interested with it or the humans inside it, as she just let out an "Mmmhmm." and continued to fly towards Alris at an unhurried pace, trying to figure out how he managed to obtain such a huge size.

Meanwhile...

"WWWHHHHOOOOOOOOOAAAA!!!" Brent yelled out as Doug floored it. "So basically when we get to the ruins, we just basically get out and duck for cover, right?!" he yelled over the roar of the engine.

"Got you now, harpy." Alris growled as he surged forward at the harpy. He was ready to kill the harpy because the harpies actually wiped out most of his kind.

The harpy yelped as she barely flew out of the way of Alris's surge, and angrily yelled out, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

"Your kind nearly wiped out my species!" Alris roared, "Now it's time that I returned the favor!"

"Alris! Enough!!" Daniel yelled. He then turned to the harpy. "I'm sorry about his behavior." Daniel said, "I'll see if we can land somewhere and tell you about it."

“That’s the general idea,” Doug shouted back. “If anyone has any better ideas, I’m wide open to them!” Meanwhile, the ruins were getting closer. Doug could see some buildings ahead, in various states of disrepair. It must have been a rather primitive settlement, because all the buildings were made from bare stone and wood.

Coming to the ruins, he aimed for the largest building that appeared like it wouldn’t spontaneously collapse any time soon. Slowing down, he flipped on the headlights and drove through an arched doorway (The doors had long since fell off some time ago.) Doug came to a stop in what appeared to be the ruins of what was once a medieval dining hall. He turned off the engines and the headlights, leaving them quiet in the dark room.

“Hopefully, that harpy didn’t see us drive in here,” Doug said. “All the same, I’d rather find a good hiding spot.”

"Actually, I think that's one the BEST ideas we've got so far!!" Brent yelled back. He looked at the scenery surrounding him, and noticed how old the ruins looked. 'Looks like a predator cleaned this place out years ago.' He took in the view of the former dining hall, and thought to himself, 'You know, if no other predators come around here, we could probably stay here!'

When Doug mentioned that he hoped that the harpy didn't see them drive in here, he said, "Actually, come to think of it...I don't think she was interested in us. I mean, I was looking out the window, and she was looking straight at us, but she didn't do a mad dash at us or anything. Eh, maybe it's just me, but it seemed like she more interested in Alris than anything. Still, a little caution never hurt anyone."

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The harpy was about to yell out something about not all harpies being the same, when a human on the humongous beast told him to stop. She heard the human apologize for Alris's behavior, and heard his offer to tell her about it. The harpy flashed a weak smile and said, "Sure." She then landed on the ground, and waited for Alris to land.

Alris landed. Daniel got off Alris' back and Alris transformed back to his human form.

“Maybe, but this is Felarya. Until proven otherwise, it’s going to try to make you a meal,” Doug said, taking the keys out of the emissions and getting out of the car. He glanced around the wreaked hall, and stooped a moment to pick up part of a clay goblet. “I wonder if there’s anything we can use here, though,” Doug said after a moment. “Preds wouldn’t be interested in plundering the place. After all this time, food stores are out of the question, but I wonder if there’s an armory or wizard’s study or something like that.”

"True, true." Brent replied to Doug's response. He got out of the suburban and began to help Doug look around for anything that would be of use.

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The harpy stared in awe as Alris changed from the huge bulking creature he was to the size of a human. But she quickly shook it off, and said, "Well, I think it'd be best to be on a first-name basis with each other. I'm Narin, and you two are...?'

Setting the broken goblet back down, Doug walked to the back of his suburban and began rooting around for something. Moments later, he found a large flashlight.

“Maybe we can find some hint of where we are as well,” Doug said, clicking on the flashlight and shining it around the abandoned dining hall. The light fell across an open doorway leading to an old stairwell. Figuring that it was as good a place as any to start, Doug went to the stairwell and shined his flashlight around. The construction seemed stable enough. After testing one of the steps, Doug began to climb down.

It wasn’t long before he came to a basement of sorts. The walls were reinforced with stone blocks, and the ceiling suspended by massive beams and pillars. Despite their age, they didn’t appear to be rotting. The floor was tiled with stone as well. Covering the basement floor were rows of crates and barrels. Some sealed shut, some opened with their contents spilled about. Some of it must have contained food in the far past, but there was nothing left save for a few dried out bones and husks. Some of the crates, however, contained various weapons and pieces of armor. Others still had sealed vials and potions, and numerous scrolls that seem to have resisted the test of time admirably well.

“Hey, Brent! I think I found a stockpile of sorts!” Doug shouted back up the stairwell. He moved to one of the crates and began rooting around in it.

"I'm Daniel." Daniel said, "And this is Alris."

"Pleasure to meet you both." Narin said with a slight smile on her face. "So, Alris, you said something about my race wiping yours out?"

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As Brent was looking through the hall, he heard Doug yell out that he found a stockpile room. He hurried down there to see what Doug was talking about. "This is awesome!" He then started looking through the crates with Doug. "Let's stock up on many of these as we can! These'll definitely come in handy out here!"

“Yeah, I think our chances of survival just went way up,” Doug said, grinning. He pulled out a small scroll from one of the crates, and unrolled it. The top line read ‘enchantment of darkvision’, but everything else was written in a strange script. “Nuts, and here I was hoping that it would be in English. An enchantment of darkvision sounds useful in…what?” Doug fell silent, but a voice could still be heard, speaking in a strange language. Doug looked at the scroll, and each word was lighting up in turn as the voice read them.

As the voice finished, Doug was suddenly blinded by a bright light, forcing him to shield his eyes with a hand. After a moment, he realized what the light was. It was his flashlight. He clicked it off, but the dark stockpile was still as bright as day to him. His eyes seemed to glimmer faintly.

“Wow…Is this magic? It can't be but... I’d never thought…Brent, you have got to try this,” Doug said, “This room would be pitch black without the flashlight, yet I can see just fine. Here.” Doug put on a pair of dark sunglasses and clicked on the flashlight again. Even with the sunglasses the light was still very bright, but he could deal with it. “I want to see what other spells are stashed in here.”

He looked at the scroll that Doug had given him. He too heard the voice speaking as the words lit up on the scroll. As the spell finished, the bright light of the flashlight began to blind him as well. "GAHH!! Dang, that's flashlight's bright, but...dude, this is AWESOME!! Anyway...let's see what we've got here. Hmm...fire spells...ice spells...teleportation spells...wow, nifty sword!" He pulled out what looked like a silver sword with a hilt made of sapphire and emerald, made in a Celtic patter. "Wow, this even has a scabbard to put this in! Hey, Doug, you want this sword?" he asked Doug, showing him the sword.