#holding up vax between them and the way he just fucking chases her and it's like that harrowing heart sinking moment of

[yashley]

the legend of vox machina | the hope devourer: vex'ahlia vs. umbrasyl

[waltwhitmansbeard]

New prompts hype!!!!!

#8 for Vaxleth, please? If it doesn't fit mfl, cr is also okay. ^_^

8. On a whim, pulling your lover into an alley and pressing your lips firmly against theirs, getting lost in each other's touch while the streets bustle outside.

In the few months that have passed since freeing Whitestone of its necromantic overlords, the city has resumed somewhat of a bustling nightlife. it's not uncommon to see the young people who have returned to their hometown out and about after dark, tavern-hopping and dancing to the various musicians often found on street corners. It is also not uncommon to see a certain band of misfits among the revelers, getting deep into their own cups in various locales in the city.

Grog's gotten bored of their current den of iniquity (or perhaps he's merely drunk all of their ale), so Vox Machina trips their way through downtown Whitestone to the next place, Scanlan leading them all in a too-loud rendition of some vile tune to which none of them know all of the words. Keyleth, five drinks in and fully incapable of walking on her own, is draped over Vax's shoulder, fiddling with the feathers of the Deathwalker's Ward.

"Why...do you..." Fuck, words are hard when you're drunk. "...wear this? Is just fun night. No fighting."

Vax laughs, a low, throaty rumble that lights a fire in Keyleth's belly. "Well, you never know with us. Trouble tends to find us when we least expect it."

Okay, well, first of all, fuck him for being so coherent. "Mmkay, that...that makes sense. Plus, yummy!"

Vax gives her a side eye. "Are you eating the feathers over there? Because if you're hungry I can get you actual food, Kiki."

Her body moves faster than her sloshy mind. She stumbles to the side, yanking Vax by the arm with her. She pulls him into an alleyway between an apothecary and a cobbler, shoving him up against the brick. He makes a surprised noise, but she ignores him, burying her nose into his neck. "No," she murmurs, "you are yummy."

Vax lets out a groan as she drags her teeth along his throat. "K-Kiki." Good, at least she's not the only one sounding muddled anymore. "You are...very drunk."

She hums in agreement. Bracing herself against the wall, her hands on either side of his head, she brings her lips to his. "And you smell good."

"Fuck." His hand tangles in her hair, crushing her mouth to his. The other snakes around her waist to pull her closer, and Keyleth's thoughts devolve into something primal, something burning. She falls into him, gripping the sides of his armor to hold herself as close to him as she dares. It is dangerous, this wanting, this hunger, and she cannot get enough of it.

"OI!" She is vaguely aware of shouting coming from the mouth of the alleyway. "Are you sluts coming or not?"

She whines when Vax gently peels her head back to snap at his sister, "You fucking suck, Stubby."

"And so very well, too. C'mon, you freaks." She stalks off back in the direction of the rest of the group.

Keyleth collapses against Vax's chest, head starting to pound. "Mm, I don't feel so good."

Vax rubs a hand up and down her back. "You know what'll help with that? More alcohol."

Keyleth has her doubts, but she lets him scoop her back into the main thoroughfare, chasing after their friends and the next adventure the night holds.

[enkelimagnus]

A Castle in the Forest

Percy x Vex’ahlia, Chapter 11, 2942 words,

A Modern AU, in which Vex is a park ranger taking over the Alabaster Sierras post, and finds much more than she bargained for.

Read on AO3

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Vex had succeeded in evading Vax’s questions about the bow.

She hadn’t really given him the option to speak at all. After resting for the night, her exhaustion had melted away and left all the space for anger. She’d driven out on her truck, not on the motorcycle, but that was only because the bike wouldn’t go on the snow very well. She’d just wanted to get to one of the temples fast.

They let her walk right into a fucking trap. They hid this from her and she could have died. There is going to be a scar on her shoulder, even with the healing she’s received. She wants to scream at all of them.

What if she’s not the first one to get hit by whatever the fuck the fiend is capable of doing? What if there are bodies literring that castle, bodies of innocent people who walked in on a fiend and died because no one fucking warned them?

Her rage carries her through the whole drive, until she stops in a furious screech of tires not far from the temple and basically runs to it. It carries her as she slams her whole body into the door and it bursts open. She doesn’t care about the bruises she’ll have after this.

She’s lucky, she guesses. They’re all there. Pike, and Grog, both priests and Cassandra. Somehow, the latter’s presence is no surprise. They were acting a little weird about everything, after all.

“What the fuck is up with the thing in the castle and why did none of you bother telling me about it?” Vex roars.

She can feel her hands shaking as she balls them into fists, trying to canalize her anger at least somewhat. She’s a professional, she can’t go and yell the heads off of clergy. Or maybe she can. Maybe she needs to, right now, because they let her walk into an incredibly dangerous situation.

Grog is still holding up his axe. He doesn't look specifically aggressive but she knows he’s ready to defend his friends against her if necessary. She appreciates that, even in this situation.

“You saw him?” Cassandra asks, standing up. “Does he… look alright?”

Vex blinks.

She wasn’t expecting this. Cassandra seems concerned, but more about the thing than about the fact Vex was in close contact with it and could have died.

“He’s a smoking fiend in the shape of a humanoid and I don’t know what kind of shit he packs but it made a hole in my shoulder. A big one!” Vex snaps back. “That doesn’t sound alright to me.”

Cassandra’s face hardens in as neutral of a face as Vex has ever seen. Pike reaches for them, gently putting a hand on their arm, beckoning them to sit back down.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Pike says quietly. “Do you need more healing?”

Vex shakes her head. “No. I have a couple of Healing Spells, and my brother gave me a potion. I’m fine.”

She’s mad that they’re showing concern, when they should have told her this was a threat. Pike and Grog make it all worse. They knew, when they took down the Barbed Devil, that it wasn’t the fiend Vex had sensed. And yet, they let her be fooled, let her believe that she’d done her job correctly.

“Lady Vex’ahlia, I think you should sit down,” Father Reynal says then, with his serene priest façade that Vex wants to smash through right now.

Grog gets up to bring another chair and they all stare at her until she moves and sits down at the table. They all settle back down.

There’s a large file on the table, closed and title-less. Vex raises an eyebrow. Father Reynal takes it and pulls it off of the table, away from her prying eyes and wandering hands. Smart of him. Suspicious too. Vex is on high alert and everything right now is a threat.

“I’m not a lady,” she mutters.

“I know,” Father Reynal nods. “But I’m being polite.”

Vex rolls her eyes. “Cut to the chase. What the fuck is going on here? What is that thing and why didn’t you tell me?”

They all settle back in their seats, all tense, all very unwilling to talk. Vex isn’t budging until she’s given answers though. She’ll camp here and harass them until they crack. She doesn’t give a fuck how long it takes.

“We didn’t tell you,” Keeper Yennen starts. “Because there was no reason for you to know. The fiend cannot walk out of the castle, the trail had been condemned by our work, and the secret tunnel was… well, secret.”

Vex sighs slightly. “Until Keyleth told me about it.”

“Our dear Keyleth is not skilled in the art of deception,” Father Reynal adds then. “We should have expected this would happen. But we couldn’t take you into account when all of this started. Your predecessor, Ranger Regae was not… exactly zealous. He was either oblivious to what was happening or didn’t care enough to stop it. All the contrary to you, my lady.”

“Not a lady,” Vex repeats. “Please stop calling me one.”

They nod as well. “Apologies,” they mutter. “Now. As for your other questions…”

Cassandra bristles. “His name is Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III,” they rattle off without even blinking. “Depending on which succession law you follow, he’s either Lord of Whitestone, or just my brother, in which case I am Lady of Whitestone.”

Vex takes a second to take in all of what she’s just been told. The De Rolos are not all dead. At least two remain. She’s staring at one of them, and the other is the thing in the castle. And they’re all covering it up.

“What happened? Because that’s not a person in there anymore,” Vex points out. Cassandra flinches at that.

Well… The eyes flashing to blue and the humanoid voice could belong to a person. The part that had yelled her to run… that could be a person.

“We don’t know exactly,” Cassandra continues, despite her flinching and obvious uncomfort. “We know that he’s been possessed by a fiend. Which I’m guessing you sensed and came in contact with.”

“Do you know how he came in contact with the fiend? What kind of fiend it is?” Vex crosses her arms.

“He.. came back to Whitestone with the fiend already with him. I haven’t been able to get more details from him.”

Every time Cassandra or anyone else says something, it just adds more questions to Vex’s plate. Where was he before coming back? Why had he left in the first place?

“As for the kind,” Father Reynal interjects. “I haven’t gotten to see it up close since he became possessed by it the way he is now, but from Keyleth’s description, it seems like a demonic creature. Perhaps a shadow demon of some kind.”

Shadow demons are more difficult to take down than barbed devils, but they’re not… impossible. Between Keyleth, Pike, Grog and the others, they should have been able to take it down a long time ago… Though it isn’t just a fiend. It’s also Cassandra’s brother. That changes things, she guesses, for all of them. There’s a person trapped in there, the one that made it so Vex could get away.

That’s the thing with possession. There’s always someone else than the creature involved in it.

Vex sighs heavily, putting her hands over her face. “You haven’t told any sort of authority, I’m guessing?” She asks.

“They’ll just… kill him to take out the creature,” Pike points out. “None of us want that to happen. We want him safe. As safe as possible.”

“Or they’ll fuck up the barrier we put up and he’ll be free to roam and probably kill more,” Keeper Yennen adds. “That’s another one of our concerns, and one of the reasons we didn’t tell you. We’re aware rangers have some spellcasting abilities and we did not want to risk you messing with the barrier.”

Vex huffs. “Well, I can’t promise I didn’t do anything but I don’t think my encounter with it fucked up your spell.”

They all fall quiet then. As she looks around the table at these people, these people of faith, of knowledge, of ability, it suddenly dawns on her the mess she’s gotten into. There’s a nobleman possessed by a fiend, with a weapon from the nine hells that shoots holes into people. They’ve been dealing with it for who knows how long, and they’re not getting anywhere. They seem at a standstill.

It’s all terrible. She should run away now. Grab Vax, pack her bags, and never come back to Whitestone again.

She’s not going to succeed at her job here, not when the fiend in the castle is much stronger than she is, not when there are people who won’t let her deal with it quickly and efficiently because it would mean murdering someone. Not that she would murder someone to do her job, but… it’s just another thing to think about.

She should give up and leave.

But where can she go? She can’t go back to Syngorn. Syldor’s made it incredibly clear in the letter she read yesterday. It was only yesterday but it feels like weeks. The emotional distress and the encounter with the fiend, or Percival de Rolo… It all seems so far away.

So she has to stay, and she has to deal with this somewhat. Because there’s no way she can go back to her life when she knows about the thing in the castle. No way. She’s too… stubborn.

“I have many questions,” Vex starts after a moment. “And I want you to answer them to the best of your abilities. If you want me to help in this matter, you’re going to have to be straightforward with me. Honest. If I catch you in a lie, you’re fucked.”

She doesn’t really think she’ll tell any authority about this, but she is going to use every bit of power she has to get her way and get the answers she’s desperate to have.

“Fine,” Cassandra nods. “I think that works with us.”

Vex doesn’t reply that they don’t have a choice anyway. She’s not that big of a dick.

“My very first question,” she moves forward. “How did you know my last name?” She stares at Father Reynal, with his chestnut eyes.

He sighs heavily and takes out the folder that had been on the table when she came in. He slides it over the table towards her and she takes it, and opens it.

Everything. They have everything. They have her grades and report cards from the schools she attended in Syngorn, from the noble general educations to the specialized ones, to the ones from her training with the TWC. Things on Vax as well. And then the Shademurk. Reports on the fire, a copy of the report she wrote for the TWC about what happened. Pictures of her and Saundor at the official parties he dragged her to, both because she was the ranger attached to the Shademurk, but also because she was his trophy, and he wanted to show her off.

She remembers the specific day this photo was taken on. She remembers the pretty green silk dress with the completely open back, almost the exact color of his skin. He’d insisted she made her hair in a way that uncovered her ears. He’d made a braid of vines that wrapped around her neck in a necklace. He’d called her perfect. She’d been the only non-fey in attendance, and all eyes had been on her, and on him, because he’d brought her.

She’s smiling in the photo in front of her. It was taken when she was already tipsy on sweet and heady fey wines. That was why she was smiling so much. The evening hadn’t been pleasant. Some sort of anniversary of something where she’d obviously been there for people to stare at, for Saundor to have. He had not let her move out of his side all evening, arm wrapped around her waist, hard as stone, unmovable. Possessive. She’d already known better than to try and break his hold on her, it had been months after she’d realized he was much, much stronger than her. When he decided to hold her, there was no getting out.

She slams the folder shut when it gets to more details about the fire.

Her hands are shaking when she looks up at the priest in front of her.

“Why?” She asks. Her voice is weak. It’s shaking, it’s ugly.

“We had to know who you were, who had replaced Regae. If you’d be a threat for us and Percival,” Father Reynal explains. “I’m sorry.”

He’s not. It’s obvious he’s not. Vex gets it, but it doesn’t qualm her anger and betrayal. She grabs the file in her hands. “I’m keeping this.”

None of them deny her that. Good. She would have exploded if they did.

Her mind is swimming. The pictures of those nights in the Feywild, the reports on the fire and her escape, the fiend, the trapped noble, her father’s hatred of her, these people… all of it was too much. She needs a fucking break. But they won’t let her have one.

“I need to go for a moment,” she says. This time her voice is steadier, and she’s so incredibly glad.

“You have some decisions to make,” Keeper Yennen nods.

Vex stands up. She’s not as shaky as she expected she would be. “I’ll be telling my brother all of this. You’ve involved him.” She points at the file. “Non negotiable.”

Cassandra looks a little uncomfortable at that but says nothing. Good. She’s getting Vex to help in saving her brother, Vex is involving hers.

This is too much to deal with alone, anyway. She needs Vax by her side with this. Despite everything, she needs his presence, she needs him. They’re both unsteady and neither of them are the rocks the other needs, really. But they’ve got each other and that’s at least something. It would be horrible if they couldn’t have each other.

She walks out of the temple with barely a word. She can’t do the goodbyes and everything else right now. She can’t pretend her mind isn’t full of questions and fears and anger. She needs to take time with all of this.

It’s hard. A part of her feels for Cassandra, and even the rest of them. She can understand why they did what they did, why they hid it from her, from the world. But she’s still so deeply angry about all of it.

And the file just made it so fucking worse. It’s all there, all the things she wishes to forget, all the things she prayed there were no traces of. She hoped the fire of Shademurk destroyed all evidence of her presence there, of the months spent in Saundor’s thrall.

Just like the memories and the scars she bears, just like the bow under her bed, it’s not going to go away this quickly. She should have expected pictures to be taken of the parties, she should have expected the reports to exist somewhere in the system.

What kind of research power did they even have, to acquire such information from her schools in Syngorn and the TWC?

Fuck. She gets into her truck and punches the leather outside of the wheel, cursing out loud. She puts the file down on the passenger seat and exhales. She needs to calm down. Her hands are shaking and she needs to be calmer to drive home, or she’ll drive herself into a fucking tree.

She would have thought being researched would be the worst part. But the worst part is the memories of Saundor the research brings. She’s fought so hard to put this behind her, she’s spent months bothered by horrible nightmares, every time she fell asleep. She’s better now, but this is a lot to deal with.

She really thought she was going to be safe from him now that she was hundreds of miles from the nearest portal to the Feywild. But the memories will not leave her and the scars are still obviously on her skin.

She can’t be safe. Not when she has her memories intact and his bow under her bed. It hasn’t been long enough. Maybe she’ll be done with him in a few years, or a few decades. Hopefully it will fade away faster than what her father did.

Falling from Syldor to Saundor was to be expected, now that she thinks about it. She was desperate for approval from some sort of authority figure and Saundor was that. And he had her wrapped around his little finger within days of meeting him.

Gods, she loved him. At least somewhere in the middle. Not at first, no. It had been all for comfort and pleasure. And then… at the end, it had been fear and hopelessness. But she had loved him in the middle. She’d worshipped him.

The great powerful Lord Saundor the Forsaken.

Her forehead hits the leather covering the wheel and she sighs heavily. She’s so tired. Her fingers find the key and turn it, sending the engine roaring on. The radio turns on with it as contact is made. It’s still on that pop channel since they went for a groceries run whe Vax arrived.

It feels like it happened weeks ago. The onboard calendar says it’s the 28th of Cuersaar. Vax has been in Whitestone for three days.

[araminia16]

Slow Growth (C7)

Chapter 6

She wasn’t avoiding him. Vax was sure of it. She still pressed next to him on the ship while they watched the sea waves in silence. She snuggled into his embrace at night like always and he got better. Better in the sense that he felt more steady now than he had when he saw the Raven Queen. When he was wrenched from her grasp by Pike and the love of his friends and family. By the second day at sea he felt restored to health. That night he pressed Keyleth down into the bed with eager playfulness and she obliged him with kisses but they lacked heat and passion. The only thing he could feel from her embrace was her constant love and adoration. It sobered him somewhat as he eased off of her and let her snuggle into his embrace as the boat rocked around them.

Back in Emon at Greyskull keep he tried again when they arrived home and pressed his lips to her neck and cheek eager to show her his affections and she pulled and directed him back up to her mouth while she stroked at his shoulders and arms. Stiffness accompanied his hands down her back instead of the soft relaxation he anticipated.

He pulled back and Keyleth made some excuse to leave the room. He didn’t hear what it was as he lay back against the headboard, confused and a little hurt.

Vax thought back to her timid, curious exploration in Vesrah. The heat in her gaze when she explored his exposed flesh and the excitement when she had him on his back in the bed. When she brought him off like he was some inexperienced boy. Her body language screamed her interest. Maybe his death had thrown her off? Nothing else had changed between them so that had to be it, right.

Keyleth entered the room again with a smile as she hopped into bed with him and laid her head on the dark spot on his chest to listen to the beat of his heart with a small smile. “I love you.” She whispered into his flesh.

“I love you too, Kiki.” He brought his palm up to stroke her hair and down her back and she accepted the touch. Her entire body relaxed into the bed while he petted her and still he tried to puzzle out the conundrum of Keyleth.

When they traveled to Zephrah and Keyleth accepted her new role as the Voice of the Tempest Vax had never been prouder of her. The way she stood tall and proud before the tree as it blossomed and the song that pulsed through the very earth he smiled and couldn’t wait to hold her again.

In fact it was Keyleth who pinned him to the doorway with a kiss that night and he couldn’t help the pulse of excitement as it rolled through him when she did so. He helped with eager hands to remove his armor and she kissed and kissed him while they stood together. Her lips pressed to the softer skin of his cheek and chin, down his throat and chest then back up again to his lips. She pulled the mantle off and her top set of armor but left on her underclothes and he made plans for their removal soon enough. Keyleth pressed a soft kiss to the bruise above his heart while bright eyes shone with love when she pulled him to the bed.

Keyleth needed to see him look at her again. To give her that look of rapture. His pale, deathly visage kept following her in her dreams and she wanted to replace it with his enjoyment. She wanted to chase away the chill of it with his warmth. With how beautiful he was when he reached his end. Nothing would ever compare to it.

So she pressed her lips to the flesh she could see and used gentle hands to stroke lean muscles. He pulled her up to him and tried to pull her shirt from her body but she palmed over the tented pants and he sucked in a sharp breath and released her. His distraction allowed her to move just out of his range as she pulled him free and went to work on him while he clenched his jaw to muffle his groans while he kicked his head back and forth in an effort to keep control. He could get lost in her. He was lost in her again while she bit her lip and watched him come apart with eager eyes. Each stroke and twist of her hand along his length brought him closer. He dug his heels into the bed and thrust into her curled hand with more choked moans. Eyes fluttered shut as he reached for her while his released barreled down on him. “Kiki.” He managed to bite out and she moved back to let him hold onto her when he curled into her and with sharp spasms released over her hand and the bed nearby.

When he felt able he released her from his needy embrace to relax into the bed. Just for a minute then he would pull her under him and pay her back for two orgasms in the best way.

Except... he didn’t. She stood and cleaned up what little of his release had made it onto his sensitive skin and her hand then the covers and stroked her fingers through his hair with devotion and pleased pride. When he reached for her after his heart stopped pounding in his chest she caught his hand and pressed a kiss to each knuckle. It lacked the heat she had minutes before and threw him off when she lay down to face him with her usual cheer and a goodnight kiss.

She found him attractive and desirable. The heat in her gaze, the possession, and love didn’t lie. He was certain she was incapable of deception on such a level. It baffled him how it seemed as if she was unconcerned with pleasure on her side. Maybe she was one of those who didn’t require it but there was no way he would let her continue to service him as if she were a prostitute without getting anything for herself. If she didn’t wish for her needs to be addressed then he wouldn’t let her do anything for him either. Perhaps she was afraid of getting pregnant when their lives were so unstable. He would have to ask her later. Definitely later.

There was little to worry about in Hell. Literal Hell. It was the one night where she didn’t sleep plastered to his body. They were as far apart as the could be from one another in the oppressive heat and neither of them slept well for it.

While they made their way through the prison he watched the monstrosity tower over Keyleth’s prone form as a widening blood pool stretched outward from her and his heart seized in his chest. Catastrophe avoided narrowly when they managed to achieve their goal and plane-shift from the prison with little time to spare.

Then drinks...and Trish the Dish taking Taryon for what Keyleth knew had to be sex. People just did that randomly with people they didn’t know. The whole concept sort of baffled her but it was fun and so she cheered them on with the rest of her friends.

“That was fun, wasn’t it?” Keyleth giggled through her drunken haze. “He looked a little scared and what kind of a weirdo is Percy anyway? Who would want to look in on that stuff? She’s going to probably hurt him a little. Tary’s such a delicate boy.” More giggles. She spun around and felt the room shift in a good way and then a really bad way as she collided with Vax.

“Hey. You are going to fall over you know.” He laughed and pulled her close to kiss her and she sunk into him languid and boneless while he dumbly helped her out of her armor. Normally dexterous fingers caught and fumbled on buckles and straps while she place sloppy kisses on him. Vax massaged her sides and rear while he undressed her and felt her lean into his touch while he managed to strip her down and kiss her sillier. Keyleth stumbled through is buckles and treated him to extended touches as well as they giggled and nuzzled foreheads. No god was going to take him from her.

Her bright, intoxicated smile and adorable ramblings while inebriated warmed him far more than the alcohol and he pulled her closer while he drifted off to sleep. Nothing to fucking do. Nothing at all.

Chapter 8 

[cupcakecoterie]

Cupcake Coterie vs Prices Paid

@true0neutral - Hazel, half-elf cleric

@fauxfire76 - Darvin, human bard

@hyperewok1 - Remi, human paladin

@sfwarlock - Nai, elven warlock

@miaaoi as Froseth, dragonborn monk

Marion - Ava, human ranger

When we left off, the Cupcake Coterie were still recovering from their encounter with the spine blights (or, as we call them, Cactuar from Hell) in preparation for continuing their trip to various spots around the northern part of Alama-Ver’s wasteland to get, among other things, nasty poison and chunks of gelatinous cube. They had to take a short rest because the pain they went through with the poison on the spine blights’ spines was brutal. Eventually, they went on their way.

Due to a series of incredibly bad Perception checks (distracted by Darvin having a four-hour attack of Bunny), things went ... interestingly as the day progressed. They had travelled all day and set up camp when Ava stated that she was concerned that they hadn’t encountered anything else that day, and Flitty went out scouting all invisibly while they prepared dinner and such for the night. Flitty came back and mentioned having seen shattered crates, but hadn’t got too close. He agreed to go check things out a little further, still under the cover of invisibility.

Darvin and Nai took first watch, and were visited by His Majesty, one of Nai’s patrons (the one he’s currently doing the mission for). He indicated that they were at the spot from which they needed to head west to fetch the dagger His Majesty wants. Darvin was ... excessively freaked out. He can hardly be blamed, when he is faced with a being of immense power who was apparently literally wearing the night as a cloak.

Then came Ava and Remi’s turn on watch. Remi, rather unfortunately, did very badly on a Wisdom saving throw and got hit with Suggestion - that she should go after Flitty. It honestly made sense, given that the smashed crates that looked like they’d possibly been thrown off an airship would have got Remi a bit agitated, given that Alisaie left by airship around the same time they did, but the fact that she wouldn’t wait for Ava to wake the others ... not so much. Either way, Ava did wake the others (with some difficulty in Darvin’s case; Froseth had to take ... steps) and they chased off after Remi.

Remi found herself alone, lost in the desert, haunted by the dying screams of her squad as the black tainting ooze claimed them. She at least managed to shake off the Suggestion at that point, but ... again, lost in the desert - right up until a returning Flitty found her. There was a language barrier issue, but Flitty managed to convince Remi not to go anywhere, left a Dancing Light to comfort her for at least as long as Flitty stayed in range, and managed to rendezvous with the others, who’d followed Remi’s tracks (which were oddly obscured and blurred, as if they were hours old instead of minutes). They eventually got back together, though Remi was decidedly the worse for wear given that the dying-and-worse screams of her squad were joined by similar screams from her parents, and from Alisaie. Unfortunately, at around that point, something else went after them, locking Remi and Ava in the depths of their own minds. They heard the rattling of chains and a horrible voice claiming “I WILL RISE” before they were deposited in nightmares of the death-and-worse of her squad in Remi’s case and the razing of her home and death of her family in Ava’s. Remi shook it off first, thanks to Hazel casting Protection from Evil, but Ava was caught in it far longer. Eventually, they figured out that there was some kind of leakage between the prime material plane and the plane upon which the gods remained separate from their creations, letting the influence of a god they only knew as The Chained Oblivion in. They attributed this, correctly, to the activation of the ritual circle in the old temple to Tiamat, because of course Tiamat wants off the plane in which she’s trapped as well (you know, as something other than Blondie von EvilBitch).

While waiting for Ava to come back to herself, though, Flitty told them that the crates were from a downed ‘lifeboat’ from an airship. That brought Remi and the others over in a hurry, and they found out that a red dragon of indeterminate age had attacked the airship. They also found out that the airship might well have got away, because ‘some crazy blonde with a giant axe sprouted wings, told them to run, and then launched herself at the dragon axe-first’. They reasoned, quite rightly, that Alisaie had taken steps to at least give the airship a chance to run. Remi asked a few questions and discovered that at the absolute worst, the airship would have gone down five miles north of their current position. They had to head in that direction for their main mission anyway, so they marked the spot from which they had to head west with a flag and went back to sleep as best they could, determined to carry on north in the morning just to see if the airship had gone down and if anyone had survived.

The first thing they found when they started north, after a couple of hours of walking, was a massive splash of blood that Ava identified as dragon blood. A ways further north, they found a large chunk of wing, which Darvin stashed in one of the Bags of Holding because “dragon bits are worth money, I dunno”. And in the distance, they saw a lump of red that Froseth was the first to identify as the unmoving body of a red dragon. When they got there, they saw that the dragon was dead, as much because of impact with the ground as the nasty axe wounds in its wings and body.

Unfortunately, so was Alisaie, still pinned to its front paw by the large dragon talon piercing her chest.

Hazel, she of the Never Say Die (literally, all things considered), cast Spare the Dying and Revivify. Yes, OOC she knew that these spells should not have worked because Alisaie had been dead for too long. However, she still had to try. And because I as DM hate saying ‘no’ to players, I made an executive decision. Instead of just the cost of the diamonds and a skill challenge, I had Pelor demand a sacrifice from three of them. To show them what sorts of things might be acceptable, Flitty sacrificed the abilities he gained when he aged enough to turn blue, so that’s an entire spell he can no longer cast.

Nai, upon stating that he wore his hair long on one side as a token of mastery and that he didn’t really deserve to anyway because she’d shown him what true mastery was, cut his hair off on the long side. It was a giving up of part of his culture as much as anything else, and will have repercussions further on down the line.

And Remi ... Remi took out the letter Alisaie wrote to her, held it over Alisaie’s heart, held her amulet of Tritherion in her other hand and said that she had given her life to Tritherion until her task - to sort out the black tainting ooze - was complete, but she would give whatever was beyond that oath to give Alisaie her life back, because Alisaie didn’t deserve this. Basically, she pulled a Vax.

And I rolled a natural 20 on whether it’d succeed. True Love’s Crit strikes again, perhaps. Either way, we ended it with a very confused Alisaie getting healed up by an exhausted Hazel, and getting her armour fixed with Darvin’s Mending, while waiting for the various stories of WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED. And Remi is wearing a brand of some kind over her heart, that no one else knows about yet.