The Fae happy that the situation was handled, Sits down and focuses on the patrons of the Tavern, one by one, shaping the next part of his fun.

  —---

  Bright and early, two of the team met,

  A longer rest the Knight did get,

  To give the Alchemist their fresh loot,

  And observe their deadly labours fruit,

  Within seconds of entering the Alchemists place,

  They saw a joyful and excited face,

  The iceblooms were accepted and disappeared

  Into a crucible that white flames had seared,

  Petals separating quickly into liquid and plant,

  While the Alchemist kept time with a metronome chant,

  The liquid was drained off into a pot,

  Then there were the other things the Alchemist got,

  A powder that shined with the colours of a rainbow,

  That fell slower than the lightest snow,

  A liquid that stunk of fresh bread,

  And the tail from something quite dead,

  The potion turned red then perfectly clear,

  Then they added a crystallised yetis tear,

  Pulsing coldness radiated from the result,

  Downwards the rooms temperature did catapult,

  Putting out the fires and making them all shiver,

  The Alchemist filled three vials with barely a quiver,

  The tops were plugged and sealed with wax,

  And quickly stored within their packs,

  Then it was back to check in on the Knight,

  To see if he was ready for a fight,

  Clearly wounded and not at his best,

  He still insisted in not being the hospitals guest,

  Quickly another potion was imbibed,

  Definitely more than the Healer prescribed,

  It was clear that the Knight would not stay,

  And would try to complete the task anyway,

  So an ice potion was freely given,

  And they left motivated and driven,

  Through the gatehouse and out of town,

  The entire time the Lady did frown,

  Regardless of the Knight saying he was well,

  Behind the other two he regularly fell,

  The trip to the Demon portal took twice as long,

  Clearly showing that something was wrong,

  The Lady demanded to camp for the night,

  So the Knight would be more ready for a fight,

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Our Hero and the Lady let the Knight sleep,

  Whose dreams were restless and deep,

  Taking turns watching the surrounding darkness,

  The night passed peacefully without any mess,

  In the morning they approached the gate,

  Ready to disturb the portals fate,

  What they found was a group of Demons waiting,

  Over a fresh kill they were loudly debating,

  What they were saying the Team didn’t know,

  Yet how heated the argument was did show,

  Two arrows were airborne before the Demons reacted,

  Finding their targets made the rest howl for revenge to enacted,

  The Hero and the Knight advanced with blades ready,

  Though the hurt Knight was far from steady,

  More blows clanged off his armour than really should,

  As his movements were fair from being good,

  Though still they overpowered the Demonic group,

  It took quite a while for his breath to recoup,

  The flaming portal was still as imposing as ever,

  Such size implied to would be there forever,

  With a nod of agreement they stepped through,

  Their resolve cemented ready and true,

  Once more they entered the black stone room,

  Ready to enact upon this portal an icy doom,

  Black stone surrounded them just like before,

  The heat of the place started to make their eyes sore,

  The burning runes danced evilly within the floor,

  Were waiting there for them to start their pour,

  So equally distanced around the circle they did stand,

  And they each grabbed their bottle with their hand,

  Unsealing the bottles, the temperature started to drop,

  As the heat and cold fought, the air did pop,

  Onto the runes they poured with great care,

  Until the bottom of the bottles were bare,

  Soon the flames on the runes did start to shrink,

  Feasting up the ice now available for them to drink,

  The change in temperature caused cracks to appear,

  Loud enough that the entire realm should hear,

  So they turned and ran through as the portal started to bend,

  As the approaching horde was something they couldn’t contend,

  They dived through without waiting to see the portal fade,

  Hoping to get through before it was completely unmade.

  —---

  To find their thief the Ladies sent a request,

  That the Light and Darks courts reveal the pest,

  Who had taken what wasn’t theirs for the taking,

  Causing a weave to approach breaking,

  There was a reckoning aimed at that one,

  For having some questionable fun.