dfordragons

[dfordragons]

Branded and Shattered

“We don’t have all day, get this going.” Said the man whose face was underneath the magical darkness of his hood biting some flesh off his hand before spitting it out. Blood started flowing down his palm, dripping on the chalice that the statue of Bane held, leaving no trace of it.

Leonard quickly followed his lead, taking a swift slice towards his palm under the statue of Bhaal.

“Be thankful that Myrkul’s greed only required for any one soul.” the man continued, panting and looking towards the caved in head of the female drow sorceress he previously fought against. She had met her match.

The ground underneath them started shaking softly, as the floor depicting the sun in its centre started slowly drifting apart with a pedestal being elevated; On it stood a notebook in leather covering, it had seen better days.

“This is my part of the deal” the man said as he snatched and shoved it under his shirt

“Now you have to keep yours.”

Yliv shouted at them to come back in while Sarajevo was busy diffusing the arcane field holding a rather peculiar, constantly shifting cube; He carefully analysed every single movement and connection. His hands had surgical precision, his grey hair and beard would falsify any educated deductions one could make for a man of his age. His irises kept readjusting, reminiscent of an eagle. He was an odd man.

The rest had started shuffling around the arcane lab of the Beholder they had just fought, which soon after turned out to be an illusory copy of the lord of the keep, the current one, that is. They were already part of his game.

“Oh dear, you have made quite the mess.”

A calm, male voice echoed in the room.

“I admire your guts, but I can’t let this go, after spilling the guts of a favourite creature of mine.�� “That wasn’t real” Leonard thought—

“Where are you?” Yliv’s voice echoed in the room. “I’ll be with you shortly, dear.”

The man under the hood made sure his hood was on as he patiently waited, weapon in hand.

They quickly barricaded one entrance, while guarding the other.

Leonard not having learned a lesson from last time he barged into a room, he casually opened the other door as necrotic energy burst through his angelic form, barely being able to shield himself with his translucent wings of a bat.

“Idiot” Sarajevo thought as he heard the explosion, instead he went with a patronizing

“Don’t kill yourself yet.”  but remained focused, eventually cutting the final connected wire and grabbing the peculiar cube glowing with arcane energy from its place.

“You suck” he kept hearing in his mind, unaware of Leonard’s ability to speak in one’s mind, at least in his Deva form, he thought his systems may have suffered some damage during their initial battle. Curiosity had taken Sarajevo’s mind for a split second.

“We can’t take him in this state, we’re hurt. I just need to grab my cape from him, and I can get us out and back here without any hassle.”

“We can get out ourselves” Leonard said

“But you can’t get back in..” the man sighed “And we have a deal.”

“Why don’t we just kill him and take the godamn book?” Munkustrap thought as they kept shuffling through the scrolls while eyeing some clean, enchanted parchment and ink, wigging their feline tail in celebration.

Kiwi, on the other hand being a curious Goblin checked each of the scrolls, most of which were unfinished equations of spells, with 3 of them seemingly complete, yet he was unable to read them.

“Could make good money from these” he thought as he pocketed them.

As Leonard slowly looked through the door, Yliv noticed his translucent wings fading for a single second. The silhouette of a man quickly became apparent near them, positioning himself at a wilfully disadvantage, as a sign of his confidence perhaps. His face was covered while one of his eyes emanated a blue arcane glow, and the other a purple one, reminiscent of Yliv’s eldritch blasts. Potentially that was the Eye of Zeltec, the famed eye which could bring back to life just about anyone

. Before he got a chance to speak, Leonard leaped towards him swinging, only to be stopped by a single finger before pushing his blade aside into the ground.

“We don’t really mean trouble..”

Munkustrap said while looking at the trashed laboratory

“We could just walk away really.”

Manshoon looked at the cat in curiosity “Provided you hand whatever you retrieved from the pedestal; we could have an agreement”

“Oh about that, it had nothing so I guess we could just be on our way” their feline teeth showed as they smiled towards the stoic, unconvinced wizard.

Leonard swung his blade towards Manshoon once more, only for him to slap it out of his way, almost hitting Munkustrap.

“An interesting yet incapable bunch” he said looking at them before glancing at Yliv “But you, what would a mage of your magnitude be doing with these.. Lowlives?”

As he finished his sentence, two blasts came towards him for trash talking her group, neither managed to scathe him.

“You could be a fine apprentice.” He stomped his staff on the ground as a blue glow from a palm-sized mirror at the top filled the room. As the glow dimmed, Sarajevo his bodyguard, Margo and his praised steel defender weren’t there.

The fight broke out, each time he dodged a distasteful effort to be touched by the likes of any of the ‘lowlives’ he referred to he snapped his fingers, bursting them in flames.

“What did you do?” Yliv said collected, there is always a way to reverse a spell, this one wouldn’t be any different.

“They’re dead weight dear, don’t you see?” she scuffed at his response as she hexed him.

“Pereghost?” Munkustrap muttered looking towards the hooded man, as he kept silent.

“I believe you’re about a century late” Manshoon responded instead. The cat’s cunning mind quickly caught to his scheme;

“Bazinga!” They shouted as the dancing sword came out of its sheathe and shoot straight for the staff’s mirror-like surface in an attempt to break it, hopefully releasing their comrades while they still had time. 

The cat was also slightly enraged by the fact that some of their favourite earrings were burned by this seemingly unfashionable wizard. 

Kiwi seeing Munkustrap relentlessly aiming for the staff followed suit from afar while Manshoon was busy dealing with Leonard. They couldn’t penetrate his defences, but the mirror was another matter. Each hit made it crack even further, sparse blue light rays were escaping from it.

Inside the staff, Sarajevo, his partner and Margo fought for survival in the thick mists of the mirror against a predator. It didn’t take long before it snatched Margo and it became a blind chase. Yet the predator quickly became the prey, with blows dealt to it from every corner. It’s burnt flesh started giving off a nauseating scent and blood kept splashing the wet, muddy soil. He could hear cracks as from the outside, the mirror slowly broke but these were drowned by the growls of the beast and Margo’s battlecry.

“We already killed one of you, you won’t be any different”

Leonard’s voice cockily echoed in his mind through his angelic form while snatching his staff away from him.

Manshoon snapped his fingers, Leonard’s wings started withering, his warmth did too. The hooded man found the perfect moment to grab his cape from Manshoon, a dim light pierced the magical darkness of his hood as the cape came under his possession.

“I see.” Manshoon also responded telepathically. “They’re holding you down” he said continuously looking at Yliv

“And I will prove it to you” He continued as he extended his hand towards Leonard’s chest “No!”

She screamed internally as she attempted to counter it. She had no idea what it was that he was attempting, and that made it all the more dangerous.  And she was right, the energy was so abundant that she couldn’t hope to absorb it.

An eerie feeling engulfed her from the back of her mind as his palm touched Leonard’s chest plate before a thin, light-green coloured ray penetrated him.

He never felt this kind of pain before, his entire body felt inflamed as his airways started shutting. He wasn’t bleeding, he was rotting. He fell on his knees as he grasped for air before passing out while Manshoon kicked Leonard’s filithy hands off his praised staff. Aenon saw this, for the first time she was scared. None of her arrows could penetrate his shield. She wasn’t as much afraid of death as she was afraid of seeing everyone die before her eyes.

“Not again” she kept thinking.

Her attempts to hide and wait for the opportune moment fell a short as her breathing.

Kiwi ran towards him in an attempt to shield Leonard’s body with his tiny goblin silhouette while taking a slash at Manshoon under the belt with his almost invisible blade. Playing dirty was part of being a golbin.

It wasn’t enough. Manshoon was toying with them, motes of fire gathered in his palm towards Kiwi’s face before being snuffed out in mockery. Yliv used this moment dashing towards him and rapidly forced a potion down Leonard’s throat as she looked towards the hooded man.

“Are you going to do it or am I going to do it?!” she shouted at him in panic “I need your consent.” “Huh?” “Just say yes, everyone needs to say yes.”

Manshoon had the most opportune moment to take them all out in a single blast, assuming he was out of the blast’s radius. Yet he despised Yliv’s alleged disrespect towards her talents by defending them instead of joining him. As Munkustrap’s sword went for another strike on his staff, Manshoon’s figure dispersed into mist, reappearing in the distance.

The dancing sword continued to rush towards the staff as a blood hound would chase down its prey, generating enough velocity to create brief echoes of it carving its way through the air; As it pierced the mirror, bright light spread in the room. It’s pieces hit the floor, shattering even further. Sarajevo and his defender was back, Margo was bloodied but alive, her silver hair now had highlights of red, standing in front of a demon-like, yet somewhat adorable beast which had scraps of her skin on its teeth. Her teeth and claws had started growing themselves as she prepared to lunge towards it.

“JUST SAY YES DAMN IT” Munkustrap screamed towards everyone as the hooded man started incantating, or in fact, praying. Everyone screamed yes, in their own peculiar, somewhat puzzled tone.

“Yes?” Sarajevo followed as he threw a bolt of fire towards the beast, missing, to his surprise,

“That worked better in the mist” he thought. “If that is indeed your choice, then you are unworthy of the arcane gifts that have been bestowed upon you” said Manshoon as he incantated at much faster pace than the hooded man was praying while looking at Yliv. As he finished his incantation he stomped on the mirror glass, shattering it.

Yliv felt the cracks in her head as an intense migraine took over her; Everything around her started making less sense. Her anger and worry sank to oblivion, as did the rest of her mind. Her eyes were empty.  As Pereghost finished his incantation, Manshoon sent his final gift towards Yliv, four arcane projectiles emanated from his fingers pointed towards her. Whistling sounded for a split-second as each projectile battered her vital organs, forcing more blood up her throat before it gushed out her mouth before losing her senses.

The hooded man’s chant ended, his cape quickly started engulfing every one of his allies, distorting the space around them as they disappeared from Darkhold… Towards where? They had yet to learn. They had won the war, but could they let this battle remain lost? Ichigo VS Ulquiorra Artwork by  Dannykowalczik <3   Wizard/Manshoon Artwork by Ari-Matti Toivonen <3 

[dfordragons]

A TL;DR for The Divine & The Damned

The party ventured forth in Glimmerwood, where Lyreth, their odd patron had required them to extract an item of great importance to him and potentially the entire continent. Fighting through unfortunate past explorers now overrun by fungus and animated vines, they encountered a threatening at first Banshee that turned out to be sweeter yet still somewhat creepy creature. She led them through the safer parts of the woods while weeping about her days of being alive as an inhabitant of the forest. After a couple of telepathic messages, a prank gone wrong and awkward night flirting the party made it to the tree, only to see it wither and have the prize they had travelled for explode in their faces. However, their fight was just about to begin; a betrayal from one of their own and a reunion gone sour called for desperate measures, at a cost. (And a lot of DM sweating) 

[dfordragons]

Meet The Heroes (Sort of?)

Current Level: 8. Doronin - Aasimar Storm Sorcerer - 33% Harry Potter, 33% The Flash, 33% Jedi - Yliv - Half Elf Warlock of the Raven Queen - 70% Raven from Teen Titans, 30% Soi Fon from Bleach -  Leonard - Human Paladin of Vengeance - 90% The Lich King, 10% Dr. Seuss. - Rynvia - Dwarven Life Cleric - Honestly, 100% female Gimli, just much more badass- Honorary Guest Members: Aenon - Tiefling Rogue/Gloomstalker Ranger - Much Shonen, Much Isekai- Kiwi - Goblin Arcane Trickster Rogue - 100% Kawaii -

[dfordragons]

A Couple of Disclaimers:

Pictures will always be credited. Due to neither the players nor me being artists I tend to browse daily for inspiring pictures and scenes. 

I’m no author, this is more of a passion project that takes place within a hectic schedule. Therefore, proofreading is done quickly and very inefficiently. I would love to have more time to dedicate to this, and hopefully I will.

This is the story of our campaign, it is heavily homebrewed and constantly bends the rules. The ‘hows’ and the ‘whys’ are irrelevant. We tailor 5E to our needs (or wants) as a group. 

Constructive criticism on the writing is much appreciated <3 

[dfordragons]

The Divine & The Damned

The last of the unfortunate explorer of Glimmerwood, now entangled in poisonous animated vines was finally blown away by the silver-haired elfs peculiar yet somewhat majestic purple eldritch beams before she got back to scratching her painfully itchy injuries.

“That’s it?”

A deep voice sounded from under the black helmet with the meticulous resemblance of a skull, the dark tone of which was mitigated only by a grey gem embedded in its centre as he perceived the environment around them. The weeping that had surrounded the forest for a while had yet to stop, if anything, it only grew stronger.

“I think so?” A taller, slender man responded; his pale skin highlighted his blue eyes.

“Oh no” A dwarven girl, sharing the same colour tone as the elvish figure said in awe.

“Rynvia? What is it?” Another dwarf patted her on the shoulder, unlike her, he was covered in deep wounds from his bald head to the toes most likely, but nobody could see below his shoulders with the swamp water up to their neck.

The weeping grew stronger as a figure hovered from tree to tree.

The figure in the skull helmet went back into his battle stance, yet he knew not what they were even talking about, he wasn’t the most perceptive, nor the sharpest tool in the shed.

“Okay make us fly, Doronin make us fly right now!”

He screamed as he eventually saw the figure approach, hovering and crying, but magic wasn’t that simple.

The hovering figure looked magnificent as she approached them, her messy, green hair had a charm to it, while her blue eyes only added to the wood-elven characteristics she bore. Yet her translucent figure only spelled trouble in their heads. As she saw them she stopped weeping, well, sort of.

“Who.. Who is this?” she asked.

“She talks..?”

“She talks.”

“Wow.”

“She’s so pretty.”

They all whispered amongst them.

“I..Am Leonard?” he said through the helmet as he sensed her undead nature.

“And I’m Doronin” sounded the declared sorcerer from a safe range.

“And Rynvia” the dwarven girl said in awe while the other dwarf stayed silent as did the elven figure, not a few seconds passed before she took note of her.

“And you…You…Who are you?” She said as she hovered towards her, in just as much awe as Rynvia spoke to her. Her eyes pinned on her.

In an awkward, somewhat troubled by her behaviour tone she responded hesitantly

“I’m Yliv.”

“You’re so pretty Yliv” she continued

“She is isn’t she?” He mumbled before getting back to his senses

“That’s not the point, who are you, what are you doing here?” Leonard turned around to look at her, still sceptical and caught off guard.

“I…” she scratched her translucent head.. “I don’t remember who I am” she said as she started crying again

“I remember I was so pretty… And this forest was so pretty…” all of them looked around in the horrible swamp they were currently in.

Rynvia remembered, she remembered the vision she had from Lyreth, the one who had sent them there. The one who had started this quest of theirs. She remembered how pretty the forest was, and grew sad knowing what it turned into.

“But then.. Fire.. A mad dragon.. A FUCKING HORRIBLE DRAGON. MEN ARE DICKS” She screeched as she continued remembering,

“AND THIS SLUT, THIS HORRIBLE SLUT CAME FROM ALL THE DEATH AND DECAY AND TOOK EVERYTHING AWAY. EVERYHING. USED MY OWN PROTECTORS AGAINST ME. THIS SLUT.”

Her voice pierced their ears as they were trying to listen yet cover them. They all looked at each other. Her eyes never stopped looking towards Yliv in awe despite the hatred in her voice.

“Um..” Leonard broke the silence after her bipolar monologue.

“But you’re so pretty” she continued saying towards Yliv.

“You are too” she responded awkwardly

“But I’m dead” she started weeping again.

The rest stayed silent before Leonard continued.

“Have.. Have you by any chance come upon a pretty tree.. Like Yliv?”

Without looking away, she responded in a sweet voice

“A pretty tree.. I like that tree.. But I can’t get close..”

Yliv figured that this was due to her not being part of the living, her experienced had taught her at least that much.

“Would you be able to take us to that tree?” Doronin added.

“I.. I could.”

“We could also help you with this.. Slut?” Leonard continued

“This slut.. THIS SLUT. SHE’S A HAG. SHE’S A HORRIBLE HAG.”

“How about you take us to the tree, and once we are done there we will help you with her.” He tried to reason with the creature.

“What is this?” the dwarf whispered to Rynvia

“I think that’s a Banshee, Dean. But she’s so pretty” she responded with her pupils dilated as he grew silent, unsure of if her response was troubling or reassuring.

“I can guide you there.. Because.. Because you are pretty” she continued looking at her.

“I shall lead the way.. Do you want to lead with me Yliv?” she said eagerly.

“I think I’m better in the back.. Looking around….” Her tone was more of a questioning tone on whether this excuse would work than a statement.

“Okay..” She said disappointed as she led them.

“But stay.. Stay quiet, my creatures.. My beautiful creatures from this THIEVING SLUT are very perceptive”

They treaded for hours in the swamp waters and the mud before reaching the drier part of the swamp. The humidity combined with the summer heat even below the thick tree line wasn’t making their journey any easier. Eventually they decided to settle for the night in a hollow tree trunk. It wouldn’t fit all of them, but someone had to keep watch.

Yliv against her better judgement decided to go above the tree line to measure the distance towards the bespoke tree. She soon found out that she should’ve trusted her instinct, as she turned into a raven, she flew through the tree line.

Before she knew it she became entangled in a spiders net. The only problem was that the spider was much bigger than anticipated. Lucky for her, as a giant raven she was also stronger than her average bird, breaking free from the web right before she became dinner. Flying down entangled in the web she had an anomalous, yet still elegant landing.

“Um.. You have white stuff on your hair” Doronin pointed out while the rest laughed.

“Could be worse.” She responded.

“Was everything okay up there?” he continued

“Everything was fine.” She smiled back before turning her back and facing the creepy, yet somewhat cute Banshee they had met.

“So how far are we?” Leonard asked

“I couldn’t see much.” She responded before Kaylen, Doronins owl flew upwards.

Luckily, he was much more elegant than a giant raven. Seeing through him, Doronin saw the beautiful night sky without the light pollution of Westgate, but not much else aside from small, star-like looking lights far from where they came from, perhaps the Irraebor. Coming down from his brief flight, the party had decided to gather a few materials for a fire.

Doronin, willingly scattered to find possible materials to use, before sticking his blade handle on a tree and.. Taking a piss.

In the meanwhile, Dean stayed with the ladies, rather silent.

Until everyone except for Dean heard in their mind

“Dear Arthur”

“Dear Rynvia”

“Dear Yliv”

“Dear Doronin”

“I, Lord of Waterdeep, Chosen of Mystra, Laeral Silverhand summon you to have an audience with me about your recent claims. Force Grey will meet you and accompany you from Irraebor to Waterdeep safely. They shall await at the Black Talon Headquarters for 3 days starting tomorrow. Don’t be late.”

The authoritarian voice finally seized to speak.

“Um..We’re kind of busy.” Rynvia responded while Yliv didn’t bother responding.

“Don’t. Be. Late.”

Doronin stuttered in the sound of the Lord of Waterdeep

“Um.. Can we get an extension or something? We’re out of town for now.”

The same response as Rynvia sounded in his mind.

“We’re in the middle of something here. Isn’t the fact that the king of Cimbar has said so?”

Leonard had grew in cockiness

“The king of..” she said laughingly in his mind

“It’s funny, because the king of Cimbar is here for talks these days.. Tell me, when were you the king Arthur?”

Leonard started panicking. His brother was there. If he was there, that was bad.

“Listen closely. Do not trust him.”

“You listen closely. Don’t. Be. Late”

“I won’t be responsible for you losing your kingdom.”

He never heard back.

“So I was wondering.. Where did you say you got that armor from?”

Yliv asked Dean while resting in the tree trunk, fully knowing the armor was identical to the bladesinger she had met a few days ago.

“This Vanduin tailored it for me.. It was a gift for winning my first fight in Ysgard.”

“So everything has a price for him?”

“Proving yourself is his moto.. Not one I’m fond of, I died many times in this place, rather not talk about it” he said in a more serious tone

“I understand.”

Rynvia was just looking at her brother, both happy and nostalgic about how they were as kids.

“I..” He took out a small gem stone

“I have this.”

“What’s this?” Yliv tried to get a closer look to the stone

“It’s meant to take me back if I wish”

“And.. Do you?”

“Not really, but it’s something I thought that’s cool” he smiled back at her and looked towards Rynvia

“We have to find our brother.”

Leonard overheard the last sentence as he was coming back from his gathering trip with Doronin.

“I believe we have to speak, Dean, Rynvia.” He also said in a serious, yet somewhat uncomfortable manner.

“Yes?..”  She responded.

“I had told you that before I ran away I was a general of the army of Cimbar..”

“Yes?..” She kept repeating

“Well, we were fighting barbarians in the mountains for a while, at some point we fought these Bhaal priests, at that time Bhaal was unknown to me, aside from them being murderous heretics.”

They both remained silent.

“Long story short.. I think your brother was a high priest for them.. And he may be in our dungeon..”

Both of their eyes went wide, no, everyones eyes went wide.

“WHAT?”

They both screamed.

“And.. This thing you described, Dean. About him being a different person after touching this staff. I believe it’s the same thing that happened with my helmet.”

“OH NO” Rynvia screamed

Indeed, the situation was dire, he had fought for his life against this cursed helmet before claiming it against a Bhaalspawn, he called himself. He was warned that should he fail, his soul would be trapped in the helmet, and instead, his body would now be used by whoever sat in the helmet, waiting for a victory for so long.

“I had a message from the Lord of Waterdeep, she said that my brother is there for talks”

“We did too” Rynvia spoke for both her and Yliv.

“Same here” Doronin raised his hand.

“We could potentially intercept him once we’re done here, but first I need you to contact Fenduin and have him plead to Silverhand not to trust my brother.” He said as she Rynvia already started tracing the spell glyph in the air.

“Um… Hi.” She said counting words with her fingers.

“Tell Silverhand, not to trust the king of Cimbar…” She said looking at Leo in a ‘Is that fine?’ fashion, nodding back at her.

It wasn’t long before she heard Fenduins calm voice and elven manners respond.

“I already have done so as promised. Glad to hear you’re alive. I’m in traveling to Irraebor looking for this Alia Arthur had mentioned…”

As she transferred the message to Leonard a sigh of relief sounded

“At least there’s some good news.”

It was good news indeed; she was the only thing that he missed from home. Although as of lately, the feelings of nostalgia had started fading away, or rather replaced with the fulfilment of the present, maybe for the better.

Under the wing of a powerful political figure and archmagi, she would have little to fear, he hoped.

Conversing back and forth, eventually the party ended with the hope of returning Leo to power in Cimbar, and, getting her brother out of whatever predicament he had found himself in, assuming it was a similar case.

“Maybe have a convict touch the staff, then he can take their body”

“Or maybe a different race, did he ever want to be something else when he was little..Like.. Taller?”

The conversation went on and on before they eventually warmed a few stones to bring into the hollow tree to keep them warm, a fire would probably attract unwanted attention.

“I can keep watch…” said the Banshee smilingly.

“Um..” Leonard doubted her.

“I’ll do it, I don’t sleep” Yliv continued

Her patron had given her many gifts indeed, curing her insomnia was one of them, there’s no insomnia when there’s no need to sleep.

“And if she does anything weird, I’ll wake you up.” She said in all seriousness this time around.

Leonard stayed out with her for a while before passing out, trying not to stare at her like the Banshee did.

“So.. It’s been a while since we stayed in the same room, I miss being roomates..” he muttered before he said it out a little too loud for his own good.

“Really?” she responded.

“I was used to having someone creepy staying awake all night.” He said laughingly, but with a few pinches of truth in there.

“Well, we’ve grown richer, and more comfortable.”

“That’s true.. But it was pretty nice” He kept hinting with no luck.

“Do you like it?” He pointed at the owl hair pin he had paid rather handsomely for.

“I do, I hope I never have to use it though” she responded as she played with the magical strings.

Each of the strings once broken would emit a painful ping in the receivers mind. Yet they would also let them know that someone was in trouble.

“It’s a good night.” He said looking.. Well, at the trees above them, possibly for any giant spiders.

“Oh, good night” She said before his eyes went wide in awe

“No I meant it’s a good night..”

She busted out laughing.

“True.”

And so the night passed, Leonard passed out near trunk entrance, with the Banshee staring at Yliv all night long, her idea of ‘keeping watch’ was vastly different from what the group had in mind. There was no dawn break to measure the time, nor there were any birds to be heard, but few light rays eventually started penetrating the thick swamp.

As she blinked, she bathed in darkness. She knew this darkness, she had grown in it, she felt safe. Yet it felt different, the Queen was not there to greet her, nor could she hear her steps.

Another blink, and she appeared amidst a village square. It rang no memory bells. People screamed and ran away as she walked towards the source of terror. Only to see what she originally thought to be a tiefling standing above a crying female elven teenager. An older male elf begged for mercy as the bodies of villagers lied on the ground. From where his spine was, bones that were as sharp as razors came out.

“Do not worry, I shall not hurt her, but our deal was I could have anything I wanted.. Anything that you owned.. You own this village..” the tiefling said with a grin in his face.

As she blinked once more, she was back to the swamp, with the Banshee creepily staring at her, yet Yliv finding it weirdly comforting that she was indeed still there. Whatever that was, it was new. And she wasn’t sure it was for the best.

Staying out during the night was rough, she was sure to catch a cold, yet Leonard slept outside too, he was too big for the tree trunk, or perhaps he was just making sure she was safe. And his warmth, even when he slept, kept her from catching a cold in the middle of nowhere. Leonard, on the other hand had ironically woken up with a cough in the morning.

Rynvia opened her eyes to the sight of Doronins peculiar owl indiscreetly staring at her chest. It wasn’t long before she regretted the fact that she could talk. With her being a minor annoyance, she snapped her fingers as battlecries sounded in the forest. Leonard jumped out of his sleep, grabbed his sword and charged towards the sound at the distance. Rynvia may have gone a little overboard with her thaumaturgic cantrip, but she sat back and enjoyed the reaction nevertheless.

It wasn’t long before she called the cantrip off. Leonard had only ran some meters away, still within the vicinity of Yliv and the rest as he stopped, listening carefully after the abrupt ending of the screams. It was then that he heard the sound of multiple insectoids screeching around him, preparing for their first meal of the day. A dozen of ooze-leaking spiders had started coming around him, probably attracted from his own battle cry. They didn’t look very threatening, aside from being the size of his palm. With the rest of his comrades rushing to help, Rynvia wrestling each of them until they were squished while Dean, Yliv and Doronin had a the backseat of electrocuting and barbecuing them, it was over quickly.

“That was eas---” Leonard spoke too quickly as one had crawled inside his plate armor, he felt its teeth.. Or was it claws? Dragging along his back, her acidic poison burning him to the bone as he screamed in pain. It looked bad, but nothing Rynvia couldn’t take care of with the divine powers Liira had entrusted her with.

Despite their victory, they kept looking around for the ‘barbarians’ Leonard had heard… Rynvia never told him the truth, she liked her head in-tact, plus, nobody would argue about the fun factor of the situation they had gotten themselves in without anyone getting hurt.. A lot.

The party proceeded eating their not-so-glorious breakfast compared to their time spent in Westgate, at the Baron Fenduins keep, or any other day before their arrival to the mansion, be it a casino ship, or representing a magic shop owner at the fighting tournament in Oakrun. The banshee slowly but steadily led them through the drier parts of the swamp towards the tree they had been talking about all along.

Eventually, they arrived. The dim light from the thick forest line of the swamp finally started breaking by the summer sun. The dirty waters and the musty, somewhat decaying smell around them started changing. In front of them lied a clear, deep blue lake. A small island sat in the middle of it, bearing a tree beautiful enough to make up for the entire unfriendly swamp that they had treaded in.

“That’s as far as I can go” said the Banshee as if she was about to cry..Again.

“We’ll be back” Leo assured her as he started taking off his armor.

“I can make us walk on water” Rynvia said halfway, receiving a miffed look from Leonard which spent the last 5 minutes donning off his equipment ever so slowly.

After a bunch of small discussions on how wise it would be to walk on top of uncharted waters, they had decided to take the risk. Leonard took the first step in while fully expecting to sink, to his surprise, he didn’t. Yet something else occurred.

A pinching sensation surrounded him from head to toe, for a split second he wanted his skin to melt off him, before a peculiar sense of warmth he hadn’t sensed in a while surrounded him. The smell of lilac replaced the smell of the swamp entirely. His dark, somewhat rusty helmet became partially grey, as if it was purged from the misdeeds of the past.

The rest followed, experiencing similar sensations, with Rynvia being the least affected, she was used the divine energy surrounding her, yet not necessarily that kind.

After treading rather quickly to the other side of the shore, hoping they wouldn’t attract any lake predators, they had arrived to the centre of the island. The warmth grew ever more stronger with every step towards the tree. The entire island was covered in its roots. Pink petals were scattered in the air and in the ground. None of them could remember the last time they encountered something this beautiful. Edgar, Ylivs Raven went on a patrol with Kaylen to scout ahead. Through his eyes she saw a tall statue of questionable material standing near the tree bearing an inscription at the bottom of the platform it stood on. In the meanwhile, Leonard examined the tree through his divine senses. The entire place seemed to overflow with abjuration magic, whilst a stronger aura came from the statue. The tree itself radiated with divine magic. He proceeded to touch the tree, looking for potential passage, yet only found a small hollow, only enough for his hand to fit through.

Rynvia took an alternative approach, deciding to hug it instead, while her brother kept an eye out for potential threats. The warmth as she hugged it overtook her with positive emotions. She remembered this place through her vision of the past. The dying place of a deity. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for what had happened to her.

At the same time, Yliv and Doronin examined the inscription plate of the statue, it read;

“Only the bold and the worthy shall be blessed by her divine grace. Those who prey and steal shall lose much fore than their filthy hands”

Simultaneously, Leonard had already placed his hand in the hollow, using the bag Lyreth had given them in their first encounter, remembering his words on the potential hazards of the item he had sent them to recover. As his hand went deeper, he could feel the warm pulse of whatever lied in there.

Yliv and Doronin were debating on what the inscription could mean, clueless of what was going on behind them. The statue was marvellous. It wasn’t stone yet it was sturdy as stone, it wasn’t plate but it shined just as much. And last but not least, it may have only been a statue, but they felt intimidated.

And then, Leonard finally pulled something from the tree.

“I got it.”

He said loudly.

As they turned around and headed towards him, he felt the abjuration magic that surrounded them fade away, the tree had started to wither. Rynvia started screaming to Leonard to put it back as it turned into just another tree of the swamp. The dirty waters that were being kept out finally slipped in the blue lake, the water slowly became muddier by the second. The smell of lilac had turned into the musty smell of the swamp waters. Yet he felt something else, as he saw Doronin and Yliv head his way, the abjuration magic from the statue did not cease to exist. Instead, as they turned around they saw the statue leaking of blue, most likely arcane energy from every part of it where its armor had a gap. The runes on its shield and weapon had brightened up, as it stepped off the platform.

Leonard wasn’t surprised but wanted to get its attention to protect the rest. And so he did;

He walked forward with the stone in hand. The statue remained in position. Everyone who could sweat within their party was already sweating.

The phrase below the platform started echoing from within it. Yet nobody knew what it meant. The knew that it was neutral, for now at least, towards them.

“We are not here to steal.”

He said.

“We.. We work for Lyreth?” He hoped a name would work.

It didn’t.

“Orion maybe?”

Neither did that. Or potentially the language was not correct.

Doronin decided to step it, not for the good of the group necessarily, but because he secretly wanted this very stone himself, but nobody ever really suspected it.

“I could speak to it in celestial, just give me the stone so I can have its attention”

Leonard passed the stone to him unknowingly.

Repeating the very same steps, no progress was made. With the statue eventually slowly clobbering his shield and weapon, Doronin took it as an act of aggression. That wasn’t the case, not until he put the stone in the bag at his side. From 40 feet, the statue took a step only to leap a breath away from Doronins space. They all had finally realised its true height, standing at just about 7 feet it was already intimidating before it was animated. Yet it didn’t attack.

“Bad move. Let’s reset this.” He thought as he took the stone from his bag and held it in front of him once more using the bag as a glove.

“What do you want us to do?” He spoke in celestial as the statue extended his arm that had yet to unsheathe his sword. He placed the stone on it with the bag, before the statue tore the bag apart and left it on its open palm.

“You said you weren’t allowed to touch the stone..Why?” He looked at the rest

“Not sure.” Yliv responded.

“Do you trust this Lyreth?”

“He looked genuine. Why?” Leonard said

Doronin wasn’t sure but he was getting the message to touch the stone.

They spent quite some time debating their next move while the echoes of the inscription kept sounding through the statue. Eventually, they had decided if one was to touch it, it should be Rynvia. The purest of them.

She walked up and Doronin tied to pick her up before realising dwarves are not as light as they look. She slowly climbed up the statue before she touched the stone. The magnificent energy she felt flowing from it was majestic, yet it soon turned into scorching pain, but she didn’t leave it. She fell on the ground with it and kept holding it.

What the rest saw was Rynvia slowly turning into dust, that’s where her brother stepped in and grabbed the stone with her, slowing its effects while looking at the rest. They were all hesitant, yet she wouldn’t let it go, and they wouldn’t let her go. Leonard stepped in next, with Doronin and Yliv following suit. The energy overwhelmed them as they were trying to hold it for as long as they possibly could

‘The worthy and the bold’

Gif Taken from: https://www.quora.com/Avengers-Endgame-Why-wasnt-Tony-disintegrated-after-holding-the-stones-just-like-guardians-of-the-Galaxy-in-GOTG-vol-1

It kept repeating into their minds before a shockwave sent threw them on their backs. A cloud of shimmering dust was raised by whatever had just occurred as they called for each other.  

Eventually the dust settled, they all lied on the ground looking at each other. Dean rushed to Rynvia making sure she’s alright, only to realise a halo flickered on top of her. Rynvia looked at him as he was running towards him as his movement seemed otherworldly as if he glitched. Doronin saw both as he realised sparks of lightening, or static electricity were flickering in the same manner, he turned to Leonard as he felt an uncomfortable wave of heat radiating from him, yet there was nothing to note.

“Maybe the arcane users had experienced a malfunction due to the arcane explosions” he thought.

“Wow.”

Said Leonard as he looked around him making sure everyone is alright before finally stumbling on Ylivs otherworldly appearance. He always found her clothing style creepy, possibly because of the cloak of raven feathers that occasionally seemed to somewhat animate on its own while making the dim candlelight in the room that they used to share even dimmer. But this time it was different. Her eyes constantly flickered between green and endless, pupil less purple glitter. As if the sky had found refuge within.

Yliv looked at him with a curious grimace

“Huh?”

“Your eyes” he pointed

“Um..”

“Oh shit, the stone!” he remembered as he started looking around. The statue that was previously echoing the inscription on its platform now lied on the floor, half shattered in dust and the rest partially dipped within the ground. They all searched for the stone with no luck. Instead, using his divine senses he felt a beat of divinity from each of them, including himself. Unsettling, yet warm.

Looking around them, they quickly assumed they wouldn’t be the only ones who heard the loud explosion, with whatever little was left from Rynvias miraculous water walking ability, they started rushing for the shore, away from the opening which could end up being an arena, or a tomb.

While crossing, they saw two figures heading towards the island before noticing their presence. A tall, grey haired man alongside a red haired woman started to approach them.

“Yo, Doronin” she shouted from afar.

“Shit” He thought, quickly clenching his fist and muttering an incantation silently to replicate the stone they had just lost.

Being a mistrusting bunch, they kept on their course until they reached the shore, with the two figures quickly catching up to them.

“Long time no see, comrade” She smiled as she walked towards them. She wasn’t as elegant as he had originally met her, partially bloodied and worn off. With the head of a some forest creature hanging on her side.

The rest looked at him curiously

“Who is she?”

Yliv said first

“Oh? I thought you’d mention me to them already, I’m somewhat offended.”

The man behind her seemed at a much better condition, one would doubt he had even drawn his sword during whatever encounter they had in the forest.

Rynvia, seeng she was wounded, gave her a.. Hug.

She was just as surprised being on the receiving end

“That’s some good illusion magic, I’ll give you that”

she said as she noted the flickering halo on top of her head.

Leonard looked for their newly baptised Banshee, Geltrud, with little luck.

“Before we go on, have you seen a banshee by any chance?” Leonard interrupted

“A..Banshee?” she responded while the man stayed silent.

“Yeah, we sort of promised we’d take care of a hag for her.”

The rest of the party mentally face palmed while this conversation took place.

“Met a hag, killed a hag.” she pointed towards some partially destroyed woods on the other side of the lake.

“Are you sure she was a hag?”

“It was a hag. She can give one hell of a massage” she said as she fixed her dislocated shoulder.

“Well, that makes it easier for us, I still wanted to say goodbye but I guess there’s no nee—”

“I can see you’re in a hurry so let’s make this quick, Doronin, that is Nathan, Nathan, that is Doronin.”

Nathan looked at him surprised

“I’ll be damned. So it is true” looking at him somewhat fascinated from whatever he thought he looked at.

Doronin looked in awe

“Wait..” his eyes went wide.

“I promised you information, I found the next best thing.” She said smilingly at him as she extended her wrist, he knew what she expected.

“Wait, wait” he said repeatedly.

“What are you saying? This is my..Dad?”

Nathan laughed

“I’m not your father boy. But I am an associat—”

“No more talking before you hand over the stone.”

The rest had finally began to catch up with whatever was taking place.

“The stone?” Leonard looked at Doronin.

“You didn’t tell them about being one of the good guys either? Really Doronin?” she sighed.

“You threatened me not—”

“And I thought you’d know better than that” she interrupted again.

“Oh well, that’s something you can work on later, may I have the stone, please?”

“Why would you want the stone, and who are you?” Yliv moved forward

“Oh? My name is not necessary, my mission is. The stone rightfully belongs to Ezekiel, and that is more than enough of a reason for me to acquire it.”

“Eze..Who?”

“Look, girl. We’re the good guys, you can hand over the stone as you have no need for it. In return, we will make sure everyone in the realm remains safe. Win-win, see?”

“I don’t. We are working for the good guys too.”

“Oh? And who would that be?” she said as her eyes flickered for a second as she rested her hand on the grip of her sword.

“I’d be careful with your response.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It very much does.”

While the conversation went back and forth, Rynvia silently prayed to Liira to calm the spirits.. It wasn’t a good idea. As the calming hymn sounded towards the woman she hugged, she looked down, knowing what she had just tried as she pulled her sword.

“Tell me, is that what the good guys do? Charming everyone else?”

In the meanwhile, Doronin had sneaked away and towards Nathan.

“So.. You know my dad?” he tried saying without his voice breaking.

“Yes.” Nathan looked at him with even more interest, and somewhat sadness as he was closer.

“How would I know?”

“We can arrange a rendezvous. And you can meet him. How else?” he said stoically towards him.

“Wow” he said astonished.

As the scene became more heated on the side of the party, Nathan drew his sword and took a swift slash towards the red-haired woman, severing her head.

“That just made things much easier.”

Leonard said looking at Nathan.

“It has. I am going to try and say this once, please, leave. I have business to attend with Doronin.”

Doronin looked back at him.

The rest of the party looked towards him.

“We can’t really do that.” Rynvia responded.

“This man just betrayed your trust. Are you willing to defend someone like this?”

“He’s right.” Leonard thought

“No, but he has to explain himself.”

He looked around them.

Doronin started explaining the story to the rest, while the atmosphere grew more static by the minute.

Nathan didn’t stop looking at each of them with pinches of regret.

“My dear Doronin. What you have just narrated was the story of how secrets never stay secrets unless you’re the only one that knows about them.. And I, have to be the only one who knows about what happened to you and your mother. I want you to understand, I never wanted to do this, nor do I want to do what I am about to do. But it was for the greater good. The good I and your father have done; I can’t allow it to be undone. Not for a single life. “ Nathan followed as Doronin finished his story.

He raised is open palm towards the party, as neon blue sparks flew from him towards them. It had finally occurred to Doronin, his powers were identical to Nathans, identical to the ones that Aerdrie had slowly been handing over to him from when he was struck as a new-born. The overflowing energy shook everyone to their core, most of them barely made it while Leonard stood in front, taking most of it. Doronin was overflowing with lightening, a little more barely harmed him. Yet he knew the gap between their power levels was unprecedented. While angry, he maintained his composure to think. He had to survive.

“Please.” He looked at the rest, “Leave.”

Dean had rushed towards him seeing his sister overwhelmed, taking two swings at Nathan, slightly disrupted from the eldritch energy coming his way, as well as keeping Leonard at bay in combination with Deans peculiar fighting technique he managed to tear a small wound on his otherwise stone-hardened skin. In return, Nathans sword flew out of its sheathe, while unpredictable, Deans reflexes saved him, only for it to make a 180 degree turn before stabbing him in the back. Rynvia saw this, as he kneeled and coughed blood on the ground. A bolt of divine light gathered in her palm as she shot it towards him with all her might. Nathan didn’t move, he instead stood in front of it, taking it in full force, only to barely be scratched to Rynvias surprise.

Radiant energy burst from Nathan, knocking Dean unconscious as Doronin and Leonard could hold their ground. Doronin muttered an incantation as he started growing in size, ripping apart his armor. White body hair started replacing the tears in his armor with electric blue highlights as he roared and tried to punch Nathan. It was then that Nathans wings finally spurted, lightening the blow of the giant ape before he took off the ground to gain the higher ground on them. Rynvia barely ever missed with the hammer she was given by Tristan, yet Nathan not only evaded it, but used it as a boost to fly higher.  

The fight kept breaking out, yet the more blows the party missed the more they realised that their enemy was formidable. Too formidable even. Yet he was holding back. He wasn’t actively trying to kill them; he was trying to make them falter. Leonard had never sensed this scorching aura from a being before. If they did manage to take him down, it wouldn’t be without sacrifices.

Leonard kept seeing himself within Nathan, as Nathan did see himself in Leonard. They shared the same sense of duty, making absolute sacrifices for the greater good. He couldn’t fight him, not like this, not for someone who had just jeopardised their trust. He went near Yliv as he asked her to trust him and follow his lead, unknowingly of what he was about to do, she nodded. Nathan had finally found their weakness; Comradeship.

A glimmer of hope grew when one of Ylivs blasts finally landed while the ache from her hex symbol on his face had him lose his edge for a split second, only to wilt as he rushed through the party, grabbing her by the neck and scooping her off her feet. He was worn off, they all were.

“Stop.” Leonard shouted as Nathans sword had just landed in his arm as he was about to pierce through her chest.

“We don’t want to fight you anymore, you were right.”

He continued, while Nathan looked at him, somewhat confused. He could sense lies, and Leonard wasn’t lying.

He took his sword up and slashed towards Dorinin with necrotic energy overflowing from his sword.

Doronin roared in pain, even in his adrenaline-induced form as blood gashed out of his wound.

Leonard looked towards Rynvia, nodding at her, she was confused but trusted him, she knew the situation was dire, she then started taking swings. Yliv wasn’t sure what was happening, yet she held tight on her staff as she waited for the right moment the tides would turn.

Dean was appalled, but his sister had asked signalled him to follow, he couldn’t afford risking her life.

Doronin eventually started turning back to his plane touched Aasimar form, as he panted, bleeding, he muttered an incantation while coughing blood. He flipped a diamond in the air, and from the diamond came fire. Fire strong enough to match the breath of a dragon. Nathan was caught off guard, yet he stood there, taking it. His face had partially melted as he walked towards Doronin, always with regret.

“You can leave. You don’t have to see this.”  he reassured the rest.

Yliv had rushed to them, she was looking at all of them, waiting for a sign.

Doronin started running towards the depths of the swamp, confused as everyone was attempting to strike him down. He couldn’t think anything else than making it out alive. Dean looked at his sister once more with doubt as he ran towards him, giving him the final blow as he cut his tendons before he passed out. Leonard followed him, as he lied in the ground, he plunged his sword in his back, blood started soaking the ground as it run towards the swamp waters. Even Nathan was caught off guard. The cool air that often surrounded his sword grew hellish hot, almost burning him as he gripped it as firmly as he could, making a final twist. He always thought the wind surrounding it was attuned to his emotions. Yet this time he wasn’t sure if that was his state of mind that was reflected in the temperature of the wind or someone elses.

“I told you, he was our problem.” Leonard continued.

“I..” “I am sorry.”

He looked at all of them and their wounds.

Yliv hadn’t partaken in this. She just stood there, her legs below her raven-feathered cloak were shaking. Her eyes had gone wide.

“I didn’t do anything to him”

She kept thinking

“I didn’t do anything for him”

The echoes were interchangeable.

Nathan headed towards the dismembered body of the red-haired woman. As he placed it over her neck and chanted a couple of words radiant energy started searing the wound.

“I wasn’t planning to kill any of you. Your courage is admired, and so is your sacrifice.”

Those were his final words before he flew above the tree line, leaving them to mourn.

The woman eventually gasped as she woke up and grabbed her sword heading towards the group standing on top of Doronin.

“You’re lucky the rest of you lot is alive after trying to take us on.”

Leonard looked at her dead serious

“Your friend cut your head off, nobody tried to take you on, now leave.”

She stared at them confused.

“I..”

“You can sense if we’re lying can’t you?”

She could. But it didn’t make sense.

“He also brought you back, if it helps.”

Her confusion only grew.

“Did he take the stone?”

“There is no fucking stone. The stone disappeared. You don’t believe us, go and take a look. Now leave us, we have a burial to take.”

“If what you say is true, then the entire Faerun will turn into a burial because of your incompetence.” She said as she walked towards the now withered tree.

They sat in silence for twenty minutes. Dean moved away from the group as he couldn’t stand the sight.

The woman eventually came back, only to ask for further details, yet nobody was willing to speak. She couldn’t blame them. She had failed, and it did not matter how, the consequences were what would matter. She sweated as she walked towards the forest frantically before they lost sight of her.

They all remained silent for the next few hours, they buried Doronin, Rynvia made the utmost preparation to pray for him in the afterlife before rushing towards where she had seen her brother last. She found him, wiping off his already clean sword.

“Why did you leave?” she said silently

“I need some time” Dean said as he avoided eye contact.

“Is this what you’ve been doing since I was gone?” he continued.

“Doronin betrayed us, it was a bad situation.”

“Is this how you justify it? Is this how you’ll treat our brother? He killed our parents.”

“That’s different.”

“No Rynvia, it’s the same. If not worse.”

“We spent a month with this guy, we spent our entire lives together with Damon.”

“A month that you could’ve all died. You fought zombies, pirates, demons, a dragon, Rynvia. A dragon.”

“Did you never think of killing our brother when he sent you in Ysgard?”

“Never. I was angry, I was mad, I died a thousand times. But it never occurred to me.  I don’t wanna know what would happen if I betrayed you”

“You really wouldn’t.” she said in a serious tone before her voice broke and tears started dripping on the ground.

“When I came back, I wanted to see my sister and family. I was sad to find out what had happened, but I at least was happy to have my sister back. But now I see that it’s not the person I had known for the better part of a century. And I’m.. I’m confused.” He never made eye contact, he just kept on wiping his blade.

“I…”

“Go back with the rest, Rynvia..”

“Promise me you’ll come back.”

“I’ll try.”

She started walking back as she shouted

“I love you.”

No response echoed.

In the meanwhile, Yliv and Leonard sat around the burial site in silence. Leonard look at her shaking hands but wasn’t sure if he should try to comfort her.

“You didn’t follow my lead.” He said bothered

“I’m not sure what you expected me to do” she responded after a long interval

“Are you okay?”

“I’m not sure about that either.”

She had never imagined killing an innocent, let alone a comrade.

“He had betrayed us. If anyone was going to die in this it was him.”

She didn’t respond. Neither did he continue to justify what had happened.

“He redeemed himself.”

She looked back at him confused

“Do you still trust me?”

“I don’t know”

“Help me unbury him, please.”

They both started excavating the grave once more, as Rynvia was coming back she cluelessly helped whatever they were trying to do, perhaps one of them wanted to give their regards, she was too disoriented.

Eventually, Doronins cold, muddy and moist from the swamp body was finally uncovered.

A burning sensation started radiating from Leonard as a couple of withered wings spurted out and his armor turned entirely dark, aside from the grey gem that remained embedded in his skull shaped helmet. From under his helm his eyes had turned bright red as he started chanting.

Both Rynvia and Yliv were daunted from the intimidating sight yet somewhat comforted by the unexpected warmth that emanated from his grim appearance. He continued to chant for the better part of the hour, as he did, he felt the divine essence slowly going dormant and his emanating radiance fading while Doronins colour returned and Leonards sword thrust that pierced through his heart started mending, physically at least.