Midnight's Journal: After Welcome to the World

"Well that was certainly an interesting time. Magical powers that turn me pastel pink, give me some crazy muscles and a shapeshifting cloak? Hah, crazy, right? It was enjoyable though."
 
"Nichol called me to help with a favor with the Kukla. It was my first time interacting with them. I'd heard mention of them but never saw them before. Was expecting to be impressed by this massive colorful bird. Instead? Turned out to me a tiny arrogant little snot that could use a good suplex. I kept quiet though for Nichol's sake. This was his job, I wasn't going to ruin it for him. Apparently he was only that small because he used up all his power fighting redcaps and needed our help negotiating with the people who left him so he could get more teeth. Reminds me of a certain situation where someone stole a lot of the crew's teeth... anyways, we had the Spindels in a volcano to the north and some fairies apparently hiding to the east and we were given some magical teeth with some of the Kukla's remaining power."
 
"I suggested we go North because the volcano situation reminded me of a little bit of a situation I had overheard Royce mention about him going to 'hell'. Don't know much of the details, I just remember it had to do with fiery rifts and them coming back smelling like sulfur. So my thoughts went to the prospect of 'what if volcanos can contain rifts in lava'? It honestly made me believe that the Spindel might be in the most potential danger. The others seemed to accept my reasoning so away we went, stopping to try and salvage some weird table thing. It didn't go well with Quet breaking her finger and Lio ultimately breaking the table. So we did things the old fashioned way. I acted as the pathfinder as we headed North. Reminded me of home really. Eventually during one of my scouting trips I found a hot spring that looked very red. Red water and an apparent Redcap incursion in the past? I had to check it out, so I approached and tried to get a good scent of the water to see if it smelled like blood like it appeared but slipped and fell in."
 
"Turns out I was more right to be concerned than I realized. Not only were there Redcaps in the water, but they had a clutch of eggs. I was spotted pretty quickly and at first that didn't worry me. I had my shadow magic after all and I had struck down some scarier creatures. Except small problem. My more powerful magic wouldn't work. I could bring out a little bit of my shadow but unleashing everything at once was just not going to happen. I had to retreat to the surface to collect my thoughts and get the assistance of the others. Thankfully the others were worried and arrived quickly. We would have a good fighting chance together I thought. But then something happened I can't quite explain. A sense of fear washed over me. Not the kind of fear I normally feel that excites me and gets my blood pumping. The kind of fear where I instead ran. This cold chill like I've never felt before. I ran... abandoned the group. The most shameful thing I've done in my entire life. I can't even explain it. There were worse situations in my life. Why would I betray everyone like that?"
 
"Thankfully my running had a positive effect in that I took two of the redcaps with me. So when I finally came to my senses I turned to fight them, invoking the power of the tooth. That's when the transformation happened. A strange, but amazing transformation. I felt like I had reached a physical peak in my new form. I had a body that I think even Aspara and Gus would have been jealous of. The strange outfit and fur color change were unsettling, but still, I couldn't get over the shift. There was also a strange energy to it. Like it was balancing something in myself. It was incredible. So incredible that the two redcaps that chased me didn't stand a chance. I pulverized them both and took a trophy from one of them. I think I'll be mounting it and putting it in my home at the Silver Thimble."
 
"When I returned to the others, apparently things were not going well. They were struggling a bit with the remaining two. I mean, they froze one but the other had Quet's hand. So I yanked it off them and held it down for them to finish off. We were then about to leave when I sensed something. There was a pulse of life from the redcaps and the eggs below still. I realized they still were a potential threat and called out a warning as I struck down at the frozen spring with all my might, shattering the redcap and the eggs. We then moved on to the north."
 
"This is around when we reached the spindel village. They were making things out of obsidian like crazy. They're lucky that they wear masks regularly. The dust from that stuff is not great to breath in. I also noticed Lio distinctly uncomfortable with the situation, though Nichol was there comforting him. I admit a little irritation as I felt I should have been the first to notice something was wrong, but can't always be the first to notice things I suppose. Not entirely sure what the issue was, but I do remember Lio's scar being caused by an obsidian blade. So perhaps all the obsidian was reminding him of that day. Anyways, apparently the reason they have stayed away was because the Kukla treated them like absolute garbage. I wasn't sure how to take that. We accepted a job and needed to complete in but at the same time? The Kukla clearly isn't a very good ruler. They're like an arrogant spoiled prince handed everything to them their entire life. They needed a lesson in humility. This was Nichol's call though and Quet handled conversing with them rather well. Eventually however we heard a roar and the sound of the volcano erupting."
 
"Getting a sense of things myself and Quet figured things were mostly safe for the city, especially thanks to some trenches which we went to check out. I thought maybe the Spindel prepared for this eventuality. But when Nichol led us to check it out? We found more redcaps. They had dug the trenches and assumedly triggered the eruption to try and destroy the Kukla's temple. All things aside if the Redcaps wanted the temple destroyed, that likely meant we didn't, regardless of what the Kukla had done, so we fought them. Myself and Lio took one while Quet and Nichol handled the other. At least until we saw this MASSIVE Redcap surfing down the lava. I made a mistake of throwing the redcap me and Lio were fighting at it. Apparently they have no respect for their allies as he just culled and fed on it, growing in strength. Nichol meanwhile tried to freeze the lava while Quet protected him. That last redcap was eventually taken care of before I had an idea and asked Nichol to create as large an ice lance as possible, Quet to electrify it and Lio to use his power to charge us up. I then took this lance into the hand my cloak formed and threw it at the last Redcap. It was a struggle at first. The cape had a problem handling all the power surging through it but remembering what was at stake I threw it and the attack obliterated the last Redcap."
 
"Had this strange feeling that I should have shouted, 'Shocking Radiant Diamond Lance' while doing it too, but who shouts their attack names? Really? Hah!"
 
"Anyways, with the lava frozen and the redcaps dead, we returned to the Spindels. Apparently them and the Kukla worked something out so maybe the spoiled prince learned a lesson in humility after all? If so, good, maybe they won't be an utter trash ruler after all. Either way, with all of us drained from travel and battle, we decided we needed to leave the fairies for another time. They couldn't be in THAT much danger comparitively, right? We were also allowed to keep the teeth we were given, though their power has been drained. I think I will hold onto it though. Turn it into a necklace. Who knows, maybe one day it will come in handy again."
 
*click*