In short order, I found myself on the way east by southeast, the Twelve Daggers mountain range across the visible horizon.
"Well," the arcanist said, "We have about two days of walking. Whatever shall we talk about?"
I sighed. "I am Rhishisikk. Among my other classes, I am a Truthspeaker. I literally cannot lie to you."
"Oh." he said back. "My name is Nogar." He began pointing at our guards. "Doran. Mohr. Negla. Zoltar."
"The GREAT Zoltar." Zoltar said.
I blinked. "Your parents named you Negla?" I asked the thin guard.
"They did." she said. "You aren't the first to mistake me for a male."
I shook my head. "I will not be the last."
She shared a laugh at that. "So long as my male wife remembers my gender on nights when I want him to, we'll have a happy marriage."
"I wish to state," Nogar interrupted, "that none of us wish to be eaten."
"Wait, I thought that was a rumor." Mohr said.
This chapter, I think, was harder to write than I intended.
That's not why it's late. I lack Rhishi's resistances - when I get sick, I get sick. But that's not what made this hard to write.
If you don't know what a five-man band is, that's explained on Youtube. I particularly like the Overly Sarcastic channel's explanation, but...
I mixed up the physical expectations, actual role, magical aptitude, and behavior. And THEN I worked on bringing those disparate elements to make a coherent set of complex yet coherent individuals.
Hope you like them, because they ARE going someplace very dangerous.