Koth and Malek
They sat down in Malek's parlor, which was adorned with all manner of crafted animals. Mostly payments for his work over the years. Barnstenagor was not a wealthy place, and Malek often didn't take coin for his work, but those he helped nonetheless wanted to repay him. Since Malek was wealthier than almost anyone in the land, they gave him the only things they could that might be of value, pieces of craftwork. Knowing he knew a great deal about animals, that always took the form of an animal. It made him smile every time he sat down and looked at them. It was angering when a child ran through the room and broke one. Luckily, the lesser spells of repair were easy and Malek could still use them readily.
Koth always had trouble in this room, everything was so delicate. Once he broke something while playing with one of the kids. Malek had always assumed it was the kid and Koth had never corrected him. This was the most depressing time Koth had made the trip. He hoped none of the kids stumbled in as they spoke.
"News has come of a gathering. At the mountain of Sutyr in Baenrl." Koth, in his age, spoke haltingly, as if each sentence took his breath away. It didn't but he felt the the desire to move and speak slower, and it was just easier to give in than fight it when not necessary. The orcish half was winning.
Malek smiled, it had been a long time since he had to use his full talents. Life was good hear, but there was always an element of danger and excitement missing that he had so craved when he was younger. It would be nice to live that again for a time. He looked at his belly and thought he should have been better prepared for this.
"Gnarion bids me go. I will obey. We will defeat Sutyr. He will be banished from Habololy. The world will be more free." Koth saw the smile widing on his old friend's face. Koth's sadness deepened. "That leads me to my favor." Malek started to rubs his hands and go over spells in his mind. "Will you stay here?"
The room grew still and silent. Finally Koth continued, "If we lose, Sutyr's vengeance will come for our land. There will be no one here to protect the republic. I, we," Koth motioned to the house, "Need you to stay. You are capable. But we don't know if any summoning of power will work. If Iott aids Sutyr, we will have anti magic and you will not be protected outside it. Their elementals will not be summoned. You will not be able to control them." Koth didn't know if all of these would be true, but some of them would be. "Please stay."
Malek was hurt and he said nothing for quite a while. He felt useless and as if this was his last chance to make a huge difference. But he began to think of his family, of the people that had given him all those tokens of appreciation. Helping them, protecting them made a huge difference as well. He trusted Koth.
"Okay, I'll stay. But you'll be back and we'll be back here talking again, when the world is free." Malek doubted his works, but he said them anyway.
"Good. Let's have a drink and eat. I have two days before I leave. I need you to tell me all about creatures of the plane of fire." For the next two days, the old friends spent a great deal of time together.
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