Iliana, familiar with her capital city, led the party not to a blacksmith, but to a shop where a wizened old mare smiled up at them. "Oh, customers? I hadn't even hung the sign today... They must know me from somewhere."
The Queen nodded at her. "Your reputation spread wide and far, as well it should. We have use for your enchantments and the funds to pay for it." She produced her crest and laid it on the counter for the shopkeep to examine.
"You aren't nearly as clever as you think, but let's do business." She slid from her cushion and raised upright as if every bone complained of the movement. "Now what are you hoping for?" Her eyes traveled over the party. "An enchanted bow for the little one, I imagine?"
True squeaked with strong approval, bobbing his head.
The mare raised a brow at True. "Why doesn't he speak?"
Morning glanced back at him. "He was injured by the very same fiends we ride out to battle."
"Oh?" She moved towards True, eyeing him front and back. "Do you want him fixed as well then?"
Iliana smiled. "If you can and would, that would be appreciated."
"I am no wizard. I commune with the spirits of the land, and healing is not beyond me." She settled beside Morning, where True perched, and reached out. "Come here, little one, let's see if we can't fix that."
He looked nervous a moment before he hopped into her waiting lap, or at least what passed for one as a pony, and she began to sing a song, entreating that he be made whole for the fight that waited for him.
A cat peered over the shoulder of the elderly mare, apparently having ridden along quietly. True looked up at it, but broke the gaze quickly. The cat had an uncanny stare, even for a cat.
He could feel warmth building in his throat. It hurt, kinda. Things were moving, adjusting. Still she sang. He fidgeted but tried to stay still until the last word was done. Then she looked at him as if expecting something. "What?" he asked. His eyes went wide. "I can talk! Thank you!" He hugged the elderly and comparatively huge mare in thanks, nuzzling into her. "Thank you..."
Ixer took flight briefly to reach a shelf and began peering at the things there. "Your store is full of magical things."
"That it is," agreed the elderly mare as she slowly stood up. "And I'll thank you to not take any of it, friend dragon, and I will return the favor with your hoard."
Ixer huffed and landed, her plan aborted for the moment.
Twilight gestured between herself and Sunset. "Il-- I mean our friend mentioned something about defensive wards?"
She looked between the two mares a moment. "Dragons, pygmies, crystals, metal, and outsiders. This is a fascinating group... What manner of magic do you use, outsiders?"
Sunset gestured with a few alien words at the door and the door swung open, Sunset coming in and waving before it faded away to reveal a closed door.
"Arcane," she said confidently, poking at Sunset lightly. "Wizard? Witch? No book, no familiar..."
"I just weave the magic and it works. I've been learning new spells since I came here, but through practice, not books." She raised a brow, then pointed at the cat on the pony's back. "Yours?"
"Sharp," she spoke, nodding. "Sorcerer, I imagine. No armor for you, but anklets and amulets we have that will keep the arrows and swords away from your pretty hide."
"What about me?" Twilight pointed to herself before she looked around and decided to fire some cold at the ground rather than risk hurting anything in the mare's shop, leaving a small patch of frost.
"No spoken words, no gestures, hmm. Not a spell... No..." She circled around Twilight then, looking her over. "Can you do something else?"
"She's a kineticist," said Ixen with some impatience. "Me, I'm just a dragon." She smirked. "Don't bother with armor, I'm usually bigger, ditto weapons, but I won't say no to jewelry."
Morning was testing the heft of a blade, noticing that it crackled with electricity when she swung it right. "What a powerful weapon, it must have a price to match."
The mare matched eyes with Iliana. "It looks like you have the funds to match, or at least I get to present the bill to the castle." She looked towards Twilight then. "I don't think your magic is restricted by much, save your own practice. We should at least get a chain shirt on you. I'd recommend a full plate, but you'd look ridiculous and feel twice as bad if you've never had the practice."
They emerged, looking like proper warriors. The only ones not bedecked in some level of armor were Iliana, who had selected almost nothing, Sunset, who glittered with new jewelry on her legs and around her neck, and Ixen who sported a similar look, though her amulet looked similar to Roll's, not Sunset's. "I knew following you would pay off."
Iliana pointed at Ixen. "You are now bound to help us, in return for the gifts we've given. That is no small sum of money you're wearing."
"Yeah yeah." Ixen stuck out her tongue. "I may not be above a casual looting, but I do keep my word. What are we fighting again, gnolls? Pfft, easy."
Roll glanced back at her weapon. "It is fitting that this weapon, gained from gnoll hands, is now enchanted to thirst for their end. Ah, this reminds." She pulled a sword free and laid it down. "A fey bane weapon."
Iliana frowned at it. "There's no good reason to want such a thing, though I realize how false I sound when I just paid for two gnoll bane weapons... I trust in your discretion and pray we find no use for it."
Roll reclaimed the drow blade and tucked it away. "Shall we proceed?"
Twilight shuffled a bit in place. Her new chain armor was draped over much of her clothes, protecting them, and herself, from the angry attacks of the gnolls, in theory. "Alright, I think I'm proficient with this."
Sunset raised a brow. "Do you feel comfortable with it or not?"
"It's like I'm not wearing anything at all. Is this made of mithril?" She did a slow circle in place as she looked at herself. "I feel ready."
True pointed from Roll's back at Iliana. "It pays to have friends in high places."
Roll swiveled an ear back. "I'm not accustomed to hearing you speak. This will require time."
True rolled his ears back. "You don't dislike it, I hope."
Morning came up and nuzzled the small pony. "Perish the thought! Now you can speak how lovely the mares you're surrounded with are. Look at you, the only stallion in a party full of females. So many would go dark green in envy."
True blushed faintly, but didn't argue the point. He enjoyed his place.
Ixen pointed to the east. "We got everything we need. Let's make some dogs yelp and be done with it."
Twilight shook her head. "We aren't going to beat them, though that's likely involved."
Iliana sided with Twilight. "Well said. Our goal is to rescue his kin." She directed towards True. "Their liberation is the target, not the elimination of the gem gnolls. It is said that all things the sun touches have a place on this world, even them."
Morning bobbed her head. "So we'll keep our eyes on the prize. Now I imagine we'll take the rail?"
Sunset raised a brow. "That'll get us closer, but--"
"Or," suggested Iliana, "We could take the map. It will get us there instantly, but it will be up to us to get ourselves back."
Even as they started for it with Iliana at the lead, Morning provided answers for those of their party looking lost. "The Mythril Map is a treasure of the city, of the nation you'd even say. Stand in the right place and say the right word and poof, off you go. They say the words are a very specific kind of Sylvan, Elven to be exact. I've never taken it myself. The fees for anything but established cities is quite high for the luxury of instant travel."
Roll nodded in agreement. "I have made use of it once to return home. It works quite well and without error, provided you follow the directions."
Sunset nodded. "Right, don't play around with the all-powerful teleportation device. So, is the, uh, 'Queen' paying for this?"
"The fees are to cover our upkeep," explained Iliana. "And to help the city. The artifact requires no money intrinsically. The crest should get us in without a challenge."
Twilight moved to Iliana's side. "I don't entirely comprehend. If it costs you nothing, why charge different for different places?"
The queen glanced aside at Twilight. "We have no problem facilitating commerce between the cities, but there is too much mischief when someone wishes to go to arbitrary points. For sake of safety, we make it prohibitive. We also don't want people hurt by teleporting into hills or the sky."
Sunset let out a nervous laugh. "That won't happen to us, right?"
Ixen shrugged. "It will if we go to the wrong place. Tell me you know a place we can hop to close to where we're going."
Iliana nodded. "I do. We'll jump ahead of the planned location of the Lightning Rail and hike the rest of the way." They arrived at the entrance to the map, which looked more like a hedge maze. She showed her crest and was allowed past with the others. "This way."
Sunset approached with a raised brow. "You don't know all the code words, do you?"
"Not all," confessed Iliana easily. "But the one we need. Some of the words are shared, and there is a pattern. For the average person, testing would be prohibitively expensive, and we're alright with that. That hasn't stopped me from having some bright minds working on this."
True leaned off of Roll's back. "That's very clever, and a little sneaky."
"Would you say it is unwise?"
True seemed to consider that a moment. "I suppose not. The world is full of people who don't just want love."
Iliana caught a moment, then looked over her shoulder. "I have a question for you. How did you come to have skill with that bow in a tribe of loving pygmies?"
True sat up on his mechanical friend. "I'm a hunter. I hunted animals for leather and food. I prayed to Lashtada over every kill, and always avoided mated couples and pregnant females."
She seemed satisfied by the answer as she stopped and ordered the others into a circle. "Let us be off." She spoke the Elven word and they vanished together.