Between Rinsfeld and Last Harbor
Early 214
On the group’s journey between Rinsfeld and Last Harbor, he broke off to a particularly dark corner of a street market in search of enchanted items. The creepy pile of robes barking his wares didn’t strike him as necessarily out of the ordinary, given the chilly winds of the north, but Lumotu was the only customer in this darkened back alley. After purchasing a Staff of the Moray (at decidedly “cursed item” pricing), the speaking pile of robes rolled up their offerings and fled the alley as quickly as they could, freshly grifted gold jingling in their pockets.
Carefully eyeing the staff in the empty alley, Lumotu was too enchanted by the beautiful splotchy pattern stained into the wood to feel a subtle brushing around his ankles. It slowly crept up his legs like an itch as he fumbled with how to work his new artifact. Once he found the activation rune, the eel was already halfway constricted around the halfling.
“Oh my, well hello to you too!” snapped Lumotu in eel-speak (which was certainly the hardest to sound cheery in of the ones he had magically spoken before). He tried to hug his new friend back, but it was pretty difficult with his arms pinned to his sides.
The head of the eel, about as large as the halfling’s entire body, stopped coiling for a moment and slowly turned to face its prey.
“What did you just say, walker?” it snapped.
“I said hello! You must be the beast summoned by my new staff! W- wait, where’s the staff?” He traced around the splotch pattern of the eel as his eyes grew wide with recognition. “Are YOU the staff?! Oh man, how long has it been since you’ve been trapped in there?!”
“Far too long, I’m afraid. I’ve grown quite hungry…”
“Oh, well my friends and I are on our way to the land of the giants. We’ve got some nasty characters following us. I can summon you again when we’re attacked next! It seems like it’s happening more and more… What do you prefer to eat?”
The eel’s razor teeth snapped open and shut as it contemplated its next move. The coils slowly softened from a constriction to a cradle.
“It has been a long while since I was last able to be understood. And conversing might be the only thing I enjoy more than eating… I will accompany you on your journey, but only if you speak with me once each day.”
“Oh fantastic! Of course I will! What do you want to talk about first? I’ll bet you’ve got some crazy stories! What’s your name? How’d you get so big? What trapped you in this staff? Is it comfortable in there?”
As the pair slithered out of the dark alleys, Lumotu listened to the quietly hissed exploits of a beast 10 times his size, asking for more at each tale’s end.
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