Moving on to the next we have an unlikely pair: Draye and Caesar! Caesar wants some help with testing out a ritual he found in a spellbook and who better to volunteer than the local adventurer prey: Draye! What could possibly go wrong? Enjoy!

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“Alright, so we have the crest and sigil carved from an oaken tree, a talon of the hawk, grass from a sunlit plain, and some powdered ants. That’s everything you needed, right?” Draye asked, taking a seat by the spell circle.
“Yes. I have the last part,” Caesar answered as he held up a small tuft of brown fur. “Thanks for your help in this stuff, Draye.”
“Happy to, I guess,” He answered with a shrug then looked over Caesar, “So what’s this stuff supposed to do again exactly?”
“It’ll give you a few beneficial traits of a mouse. I figured we’d start with something small in case it might go a bit awry. But we have everything we need according to this spellbook,” Caesar explained, tapping on the open page of a book in his hand.
“Right, right. Well, just make sure you’re actually doing this stuff right. Last time I was supposed to get traits from something with animal fur, I got turned into a wolf and eaten by Jack.” Draye grimaced at the thought, “It was awful.”
“Relax. Remember that I have holy powers as well which are commonly used to dispel various enchantments, curses, and unwanted transformations,” He said dismissively. “You’ll be fine. And need I remind you that I’m not actually Jack?”
“There’s a joke to be made there,” Draye said dryly and stood up on his feet, “Let’s get this over with I guess. Abandoned house or not, I don’t want anybody catching us in here. Let’s get this done quick and go.” He walked into the center of the spell circle while making sure he stepped around its markings.
“Alright.” Caesar took a moment to read through the spell’s instructions once more and kneeled down by the circle with each of the ingredients laid out in front of him.
The drolf began chanting the spell in Dwarven and as he did he began to mix the ingredients. He first poured the ant powder into a large bowl, then sprinkled them with the grass. Setting the book down he carefully wrapped the hawk’s talon in the fur from a mouse and laid it in the center. A sudden wind blew by him and at Draye who quickly raised his hand up to block a cloud of dust from getting into his eyes. The drolf’s eyes flashed with magic to light the contents of the bowl ablaze. The wind and energy of the spell swirled around Draye making his clothes and hair whip in the wild gale.
Suddenly Draye’s entire form lit up in a brilliant flash that blinded Caesar just as he finished the chant. The drolf fell back and rubbed his eyes as the wind finally died down and when he looked at the circle he found Draye was missing entirely. His eyes shot open and he quickly stood up and looked around the room.
“Draye…? Are you here? Please tell me you didn’t get vaporized.” A sudden loud squeaking rang out. Caesar swallowed and slowly looked down to see a small mouse currently seeming to have a panic attack in the middle of the spell circle. “Draye? Is that you?”
The mouse looked up at Caesar and suddenly any semblance of fear that had been there was turned into fury. Loud, angry squeaks came from the mouse who quickly scurried over and began biting at Caesar’s shoes.
“Hey! Hey! Draye, stop! I didn’t know this was going to happen!” He shouted desperately as he danced away from the mouse while trying not to step on him. Caesar leaped back and focused his energy forward to grip the small mouse and carefully lift Draye from the floor with his telekinesis. The drolf stared as his test subject flailed in the air furiously before finally falling still to glare at Caesar while panting heavily. Reaching out with telepathy, he touched the mouse’s mind, “Draye, are you okay? Do you understand—”
“Okay? Okay?! I’m a goddamn mouse! What the fuck do you think the answer to that question is?”
Caesar recoiled at the shouting voice in his head, “Draye, I swear I didn’t know this was going to happen! But I have a spell prepared in my room back at the inn just in case it did. Mixed with my magic it should be enough to reverse this.”
“Should be?”
“Will be, Draye. I know it’s hard, but trust me right now. I’ll check where the spell went wrong on the way back and we can figure it out,” Caesar offered, forcing a reassuring smile. “I promise I’m not just going to leave you like this or something.”
Draye’s glare softened ever so slightly and he finally sighed a small sigh, “Fine. Let’s just get back there before—”
The front door of the home suddenly burst open and from the floor below the pair heard a voice, “Who’s castin’ shite in here?! Show yourself!”
The pair looked at the door to the room as they heard multiple people storm into the home and start tearing apart the first floor. Draye glanced back to the drolf with a desperate look, “I can’t do anything right now. What’s your plan?”
“Oh, sure! Just put it on me!” Caesar grabbed the spellbook and pat his pants only to swear under his breath, “No pockets in these. I don’t know how I’m going to carry you.” He froze for a split second and approached Draye’s floating form, “Sorry about this. Best I have right now.”
“What do you mean? What are you going to—Caesar, no!” Draye watched helplessly as the drolf’s jaws came down over his shrunken form. As they shut he felt Caesar’s telekinetic grip vanish to let his full weight on the drolf’s soft tongue. Before Draye could manage to get on his feet, Caesar tilted his head back and swallowed Draye effortlessly. Draye squeaked in protest and squirmed against the drolf, but he was no match for the powerful beast. Forced into the throat, he was quickly guided downward by its peristaltic grip.
With Draye taken care of, Caesar threw his hand at the floor around the door, igniting the old wood with a wall of flame to stop any who might intrude. Hurrying to a window he hit the glass with a telekinetic blast that cleared out most of the glass. A hard fist pounded against the door beyond the flames and somebody jiggled the handle for just a moment before crying out as their hand burned from the heated metal.
Perching himself on the windowsill, Caesar felt Draye slip into his stomach just as he took off with the book. Spreading his black-furred wings he glided gently at first until he was away from the building, then flapped them swiftly to gain altitude. Waving his hand back at the room he dispersed the fire before he flew too far away and disappeared into the night sky with only a hint of dark red visible from the moonlight reflecting off the membranes of his wings.
Finally managing to get some peace he reached out with his mind to form a link with Draye’s again. “Are you okay in there?” He asked cautiously, bracing himself to get yelled at again. But much to his surprise instead of rage or shouting he heard laughter from Draye’s mind; for a moment it worried him.
“I’m fine, Caesar,” He answered finally much to Caesar’s relief. “Could be much better overall, but I suppose this isn’t the worst situation we could be in. You have the spellbook?”
“Yes, I have it. Why were you laughing?” Caesar asked, resting his free hand on his gut while the other kept the book tucked into the crook of his arm.
“Honestly, this just makes me think of the adventures Jack, Ryuu, and I got into after we first met. Not quite the same since we never ate each other, but the same sort of random desperation and frantic solutions. As horrible as some of those times were, a lot of them were fun as well.” He said reminiscently.
“I see. Sorry it ended up with me eating you. It was the safest place I could think to put you. Though I can see why you might not think it safe really…”
“Stop. You have no idea how many times Jack and Ryuu have done the same thing. You at least have a good reason. Granted, that doesn’t mean I want to stay in here forever. Drolf gut really doesn’t smell that great and I’m going to be smelling like it for a while after this.” Draye relaxed and curled up in Caesar’s gut.
“I understand. I’ll get back to the inn and get you fixed. Letting you out first, of course. Then maybe you can tell me about some of the adventures you three had, hm?” He asked hopefully.
“We’ll see. The longer I’m a mouse, the fewer I’ll tell,” Draye taunted back. Caesar chuckled and quickened his flight back to the inn, eager to get as many stories from the mouse as he was able.