#and I turned human for a few seconds before turning back into a kenku

[aussie-bookworm]

I just figured out a twist in my D&D game because I saw a meme about the Crowdstrike crash from last week

[ask-the-crimson-king]

Tales from D&D: The Players Become Bewildered

The title is a pun. I will explain.

I am running a Ravenloft campaign that is drawing off the new Van Ricthen's Guide and also older 2e/3e lore and a bit of homebrew along the way. The party comp is pretty interesting;

MAIE - Kenku, Creation Bard. Stays out of conflicts as much as they can. Died once, seeks immortality. Player is thorn in my side very smart. BLUR - Swiftstride Shifter, Armorer Artificer. Has a bit of history with the eponymous Rudolph van Richten and traveled with him for a time. Trying to befriend a dangerous party member. VARIS - Drow, Astral Fists Monk. Seeking assassin order that killed his master. THETMATHOF THE LEARNED - Human, Undead Warlock. Patron is Azalin Rex. Hails from Darkon. Hates his "dad". It's complicated. Goes by 'Thet'. ZARANAI - Githyanki, Spores Druid. From the Underdark directly. Fascinated with everything. Dislikes those who reject the cycle of life. -3 Str go brr. FINDALOR - Moon elf, Twilight Cleric. Works directly with Rudolph van Richten as a fellow monster hunter, and has done so for a few decades with him. Has saved the party's ass twice. Dislikes monstrous beings vehemently. AND THE NEWEST ADDITION: ANIKA - Air Genasi, Battlesmith Artificer. Just rolled up. Very confused. Azalin has already spoken to her. Has a dope ass metal tiger. Mom friend[?]

The party also has two NPCs traveling with them: RUDOLPH VAN RICHTEN - Monster hunter expert, has been doing so for literal decades. Getting on in his years, but can still kick some fucking ass. GENERAL VYCHEN - Ancient vampire general who worked for Azalin Rex. Has been convinced/tricked by the party into coming with them to 'raise an army' under the guise of Thet's request. Disliked and distrusted by most of the party.

SO, the party has just gotten out of the domain of Mordent and find themselves within Kartakass. They notice the moon is full and they arrive in the night despite waking up in the 'morning' out in the mists.

Immediately, they meet a wereraven on the road who calls himself Sunrunner and asks the party to help him deliver a shipment of wine from his family's brewery. Another face appears from the woods, one Harkon Lukas, who greets the party and tells them to follow him to a place called Skald. He owns the Old Kartakan Inn there, and to 'sweeten the deal', if one of them can beat him in a play-off, he'll give them their rooms for free.

The party is IMMEDIATELY suspicious and untrusting of Harkon, so they say no. But they do agree to follow Sunrunner to Harmonia and to his brewery. Sunrunner explains to them that the Wildersung forest, the forest all around them, has a melody that plays through it, and that if one hears singing, they need to be silent.

Fin casts Detect Evil and Good. Harkon comes up as fey.

Now the party gets to the brewery. They get a tour, they give the wereraven a bit of Red Dragon Crush that they found elsewhere which has started to go bad, and then they're led to an adjacent tavern called the Raven's Feather. They go in, try some of the wine they're going to be delivering, and have a chat.

There is also a single bottle of Evermead that Fin buys immediately for 30gp for the bottle. Otherwise, the party grabs some drinks and chats about life. After some idling, they head up into their rooms, and they go to sleep.

And they wake up, back in their cart, exiting the mists and entering Kartakass.

This time, there are some differences.

All money they spent has not been spent. And instead of a wereraven in the road, they meet Harkon Lukas.

The party tries to explain that they've already met, but Rudolph and Harkon are doubtful and dubious. They have no memory of meeting before. The party has no trust for Harkon, and one notices a silhouette in the woods. Maie runs at hearing Fin mention the fey, and comes to the figure.

Instead of it being Sunrunner, they run into a Martikov. Thet & Anika go after Maie, while the rest of the party deals with Harkon. Harkon offers a stay at the Old Kartakan Inn, with no strings attached, but the party turns him down and decide to go into Harmonia to investigate. They leave Harkon behind and set out into the woods.

The music is different. They hear singing. They go quiet.

They hear wolves.

And then they are ambushed by four werewolves, declaring that the party is trespassing into clan territory. They also mock them, telling the party that they'll eat them.

Initiative is rolled.

The first round is mostly uneventful, with both Artificers being able to provide some crowd control in the form of Web and a good distraction. Maie grants inspiration and creates a silvered dagger, but does not attack. At the end of the round, the werewolves go, and bite three times; Fin and Vychen fail their Con saves against lycanthropy. Varis saves.

Luckily, the party is level 5. Unluckily, Fin doesn't have Remove Curse prepped, and the full moon, in this timeline, is the following day.

Turn 2 comes around and there are crits galore, thanks to one werewolf becoming paralyzed and another still restrained in Web. One werewolf gets its head cut off by Rudolph, another gets its throat torn out by Vychen, and a third gets uppercutted unto death by the monk.

One got moonbeamed by Fin on his turn, turned back into an elf, looked ready to bolt, but took enough damage to kill on its turn and died. Fin bullied the fuck out of the poor kid once he turned back, cause the kid was like,

"Hey, hey, we're cool, right?" And Fin was like "You fucked up, kiddo."

And then he got yeeted.

The party reconvenes after everything is killed. Vychen reveals he's been bitten, and Fin immediately groans. Maie helps to heal Vychen's wounds since magic won't work. Blur takes Vychen aside for a chat, (secret corner time), basically telling him to bite him. Vychen asks why, and Blur explains that he's felt like shit recently, and he feels bad about just killing everything. So Vychen bites him, asks his true intentions, gets a 26 to his insight and learns Blur wants to try and befriend him. Vychen remarks on how a general should have allies, and Blur says "Not allies. Friends." And Vychen agrees, saying, "Friends, then." And ruffles his hair before returning to the party.

After a bit of bantering, they hop in the cart and begin heading for Harmonia.

So. Allow me to pull back the DM screen and explain what the fuck happened.

The party thinks it is a time loop. A couple think it is a fey illusion.

The real answer is a bit more devious, as I am running 2 Domains of Dread simultaneously. One is Bluetspur, the other is Kartakass.

The God-Brain is manufacturing one half of the events the party experienced. The other is the real events as they play out. The second line of events is what is real, the first line was fake.

In order to hint towards it, I am relying on music and musical cues. Especially since Kartakass is a domain of music. Of course there's a few other aspects (them meeting Harkon vs them meeting Sunrunner for example) to tip them off, but we'll see how long it'll take for them to realize which is the illusion.

The more they discover it, the harder the God-Brain will work. Eventually, they may have to engage it directly in order to free themselves from its grasp entirely, and it may be the way out of both domains. They'll have to play and see.

And I am very excited to see how they progress.

[creativerogues]

Campaign Diary #6: Northbound

So... It’s been a while hasn’t it.

Well with quarantine ruining all the fun, and teaching people how to Zoom becoming the single greatest ordeal in my life, it seemed like the Campaign would’ve been put on hold indefinitely, or at least until all this blew over.

But no, I wouldn’t allow such an awesome campaign to be put on hold, and so while writing the Player’s Guide I’ve been setting up a session, and now it looks like we’re back on track, at least a little...

Anyways, here’s a recap since it’s been a while...

We have a Kenku Rogue still frozen by Magic, a recently resurrected Tabaxi Bard, a super-peeved Aarakocra Barbarian and a Tortle Wizard and Human Druid all trying to kill a Green Dragon called Danae, the Deathlady.

It you want a better Recap, you can find Campaign Diary Number 5 HERE!

Anyways, let’s continue by actually starting this thing.

Episode #6: Northbound

The Party awakes to find the three Silver Charge Members they hired in Episode #5 already packed up and ready to go. In fact, they’re actually having breakfast, with the Human Man cooking rations in a metal pan over a brass brazier.

The Party gets everything ready, and enjoys their own breakfast, which is nothing because they brought no food with them…

As everyone gets ready for the first day of travelling, the Minotaur speaks, saying that they should move through the light snow areas to avoid leaving traces in the snow that animals could follow, and the Wizard can cast his Spells to make their journey a little safer…

Meanwhile, the Human Wizard (Who they STILL haven’t learned the name of!) begins throwing strange objects into the Brass Brazier. At first it was just coal, which seemed sensible enough, but then he starts throwing sticks and grapes into the fire, followed by some leaves and branches with strange flowers that he pulls out of a sizeable pouch.

Then he starts making strange sweeping gestures with his arms: sculpting the flames in the brazier, slicing, patting, poking and even smacking and punching the fire while slowly chanting and humming under his breath...

And after completing this strange ritual, the Man goes down on both knees in front of the brazier, and whispers under his breath: "Come forth my other half, I want to find myself again".

And bursting forth, a bright white snowy owl flies out of the flames of the brazier, landing on the Man’s arm as he stands, and places the large owl on his shoulder, as he grabs a few handfuls of snow and begins extinguishing the flames and packing away the brazier into his Pack.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is how a badass casts Find Familiar...

And as the Party sets off, learning on the way that the Human Wizard's name is Quill, a Northern Man clad in a heavy purple coat with green trimmings and thick furs around the neck, while the Minotaur's name is Sticks, and the Tortle's name is Pieces. So yeah: Quill, Sticks and Pieces.

Quill then sends his new Snowy Owl Familiar into the skies, and his eyes turn cloudy as he places his hand on Sticks’ arm, and everyone just kinda waits until his eyes become clear, and he reports that the area around here is clear, and they can rest in a few hours so he can scout the area again...

A Strange Request...

During the morning preparation, Potosh asks if he can get Hard Hat to cast Sending to his Mother or Father... 

A bit of a strange request but I allowed it because roleplay...

I ask Potosh's Player to make a History Check to remember the faces of his mother and father, which tells you something about his Character. He succeeds but now I make him roll a Performance Check but rolls a 7, so he doesn't give Hard Hat the detailed description he needs.

According to Potosh, his father had a long face with blue eyes and slick back dark brown hair, probably in his early 60′s now.

His mother he speaks more fondly of, talking about the floral dress she always wore and the short curly blonde hair she had. He says she’s probably in her late 40's to early 50's, tall and thin with a face similar to Potosh's...

Hard Hat apologises and says he needs more details off Potosh, but Potosh quite literally cannot remember them, having lived away from his Parents since... well since they pushed him away...

Ice to Meet You!

Quill sadly has no "Snow Avoidance" Spell to cast on the Group, so they all end up having to deal with the Penalties from the Snow and Difficult Terrain.

The Party trudge through the snow for about an hour (with Potosh in the form of a Snow Leopard), until they encounter some strange, what could only be described as “long thin blue sticks” poking just a few inches out of the snow, before the faces of the three Silver Charge Members suddenly turn pale.

“Nobody move. Nobody move a f**king muscle…”

Everybody freezes, and they begin to see the blue sticks move, swaying in the wind…

Potosh, who is in Snow Leopard Form and leading the group, tries to back up from these things, rolling a 17 on his Stealth Check, with an extra +10 from the Pass without Trace he has cast just before they set off… Rolling a 27 total and managing to very slowly back up away from these weird little sticks out of the ground...

Quill describes that they just messed up big-time, and the Group is currently standing on top of a Creature: A Remorhaz, and it’s currently feeling the vibration of footsteps on the hard snow crust.

And now everybody gets to roll Stealth Checks! But thankfully, no one fails...

Quill then sends his Snowy Owl over to these blue sticks, which turn out to be antennae, and the Snowy Owl pecks the antennae, and the Remorhaz emerges in a cloud of steam and slush, attacking and swallowing its Snowy Owl whole and causing it to poof out of existence...

And the Party rolls initiative as a large ice-blue centipede with leathery wings like a cobra's hood, an insect-like head with a flat face and giant bulbous eyes, and a long scaly segmented body with dozens of legs, with horns along its body and a line down its back that glowed red with an inner fire, bursts out of the snow in a cloud of steam and a pile of melted snow…

I roll for all the NPCs, Quill getting a Natural 20 on his Initiative, but Potosh acting first with a 22 on Initiative:

Potosh runs forward in his Snow Leopard Form and claws at the Young Remorhaz, missing with his first attack but scoring a crit on his second.

So all is looking good! Until Potosh is sprayed in the face with the Remorhaz's boiling hot blood and takes some fire damage... Then all is not looking good.

Next up is Quill, the Human Wizard and Silver Charge Mercenary, who casts Otiluke's Resilient Sphere on the Young Remorhaz, trapping the large monstrosity in a sphere of shimmering force and getting the Play of the Game and title of Most Valuable NPC.

You know, instead of the person that literally just resurrected their friend...

During this time, Quill casts Sending using some of his Spell Slots to message some other people in the Silver Charge: Specifically someone called Eli and some other person he refers to as Leatherback.

Meanwhile everyone else is panicking as this Remorhaz is clawing and biting at the sphere, which won’t be able to hold for as long as they’d like...

Quill casts Seeming to turn himself, Sticks, Pieces and everyone else (except Hard Hat), turning them all into other members of the Silver Charge, and commands Hard Hat to cast Sending and send a message to each of them for him, since Quill is currently focusing on containing the Young Remorhaz.

Hard Hat goes along with it and casts Sending as many times as he can to contact all these people, saying: "I am Hard Hat, I am paying your Mercenaries for protection. We have Remorhaz bound on South-East peaks, it is breaking free. We seek aid."

Minutes pass, and tension is rising as two Spellcasters suddenly appear out of a shimmer purple doorway.

One makes a remark to Quill, before they tell him to end the Resilient Sphere Spell and let the two deal with the creature.

The Sphere is reluctantly dispelled and one Mage casts Reduce, shrinking the Young Remorhaz, while the other Mage casts Charm Monster, succeeding and charming the Young Remorhaz. 

The Mage then casts Dimension Door and teleports out with the shrunken Remorhaz, the other Mage also Dimension Door-ing out of there and the Party Members (as well as Thrak the Half-Orc and the three Silver Charge Members) are left kinda stunned…

This is what happens when you ask NPCs that are several levels higher than you to help out, they get it done quick and easy and make you look like a bunch of scrubs...

Now the Party is left just kinda standing there, since they basically just panic speed-dialled every important person in the Silver Charge.

 So naturally, they decide to take a quick short rest to gather their thoughts, because WHAT THE F**K?

Wasting Time...

The Party takes a Short Rest after the Encounter with the Remorhaz and decides to chat, with Hard Hat speaking with Potosh about how they're going to get the Money to pay these people, since hiring highly skilled Mercenaries means paying several gold pieces a day, and they currently have a total of absolutely nothing...

Potosh thinks that if Foot can charm Thrak, they can use the Diamonds she still has on her to pay the cost, but Hard Hat says that robbing from the person that literally just resurrected their friend yesterday is somehow just a little too far for him…

Potosh also says that time is running out for him to get his pet bear back, since Thrak the Half-Orc said that in order for her to resurrect any Creature, she'll need a bunch of diamonds, and the more important part, the creature has to be dead less than 10 Days.

Hard Hat says that he's trying his best, and he knows they have maybe two days tops to get to the Capitol and get back here to resurrect that Bear…

Why is the Bear suddenly important? Ask the Nature-Loving Druid…

An Argument? Oh My!

So with the Short Rest over, Hard Hat suggests they all take Phantom Steeds to speed up the process, and asks Quill if he knows that Spell.

He does, but he doesn't tell Hard Hat that, instead lying and saying he's heard of the spell, but does not know the incantations necessary to perform it.

Why is Quill lying? Because for every day the Party travels under his protection, that's some extra pay for him, and turning what could be a two week journey up north into a couple of days would mean a whole chunk of money lost, an angry Tortle and a very angry Minotaur...

But of course Potosh and Foot, both with pretty good Wisdom Scores, notice Quill's words not carrying as much sway as he thought, and rather than ask him in private if he's lying, Potosh calls him out and says that they've got two days to get everything done, and they're just slowing down the Party.

Hard Hat calms down the situation by saying that he might have a way to fix this, up-casting Sending at 4th Level and asking Kenzo to speed up the process, saying that she has two days and apologising for the time crunch.

She responds saying that she'll have to track down some people, but she might be able to get to where they are within a day, a day and a half at most, and says that while she doesn't think she has exactly what they're looking for, she does have something, and she hopes that they haven't forgotten about their deal…

Hard Hat relays this to the group, and the three Silver Charge Members go from "we're here for the money" to "you guys don't deserve us", saying that they'll take their money and go if the Party thinks they're so dang high and mighty.

But then Thrak butts in: Saying that the three mercenaries were hired to help the group travel up north, and they should help each other instead of asking for money.

And thin strings of smoke begin to emerge from Thrak's mouth as she speaks to Quill specifically, the smoke travelling a few inches into the air and vanishing, as Thrak casts a Spell: Geas...

I roll to see if Quill notices the Spell being cast, and he does, and attempts a Counterspell.

However, with a 3rd Level Counterspell, and Geas being a 5th Level Spell, he has to roll a 15 or Higher to counter the spell.

But he fails, rolling a 9 total, so Thrak's Geas Spell succeeds, with Thrak feeling a little guilty that she was "forced" to cast it to ensure the Human Wizard's loyalty at this time.

I also roll to see if Sticks or Pieces notices what Thrak is doing, and they both fail, which I flavoured as them not knowing she was casting a Spell at all because they don’t know any magic, let alone know the specific components to spells...

Quill's eyes glaze over for a moment as Thrak asks him to kindly stay here with her and the rest of the Party protecting them until further notice...

She then takes out her small wooden chest again and gives Sticks and Pieces enough diamonds to pay for their work for two days, the day before and today, so they have no need to be here if they don't want to be.

And of course the big Minotaur fella decodes that to mean "go away" and takes the hint, telling Quill to cast whatever Spells he has left to take them home.

But Quill doesn't respond the way he usually does, saying that he's staying with the Party until their friend arrives, and will be returning to them after such a time as he feels they are safe…

Does Thrak feel guilty about forcing the Wizard to stay with them, of course she does, but if it ensures the Party's survival for the next day or two, then despite feeling bad about it, she'd still do it...

And now the Party has the task of waiting for a day and a half for Kenzo to get there… But the question is, can she get there in time?

[samael76]

Princely (A Widojest mini-fic, set after C2E81 and written before E82)

The Lavish Chateau. Evening. Caleb’s room. 

“Caleb?”

He looked up from the spellbook he was studying, to find Jester hovering above him. They had all accomplished the unthinkable yesterday. After barely managing to put down Halas’ malformed clones and nearly losing Fjord and Beau in the process, they had found Yussa and succeeded in burning away the Laughing Hand’s heart. The creature was mortal once again; Yussa assured them of it.

Now they were taking a well deserved rest at the Chateau, while Yussa conferred with Allura, the archmage from Tal'dorei. As partial thanks for their assistance, the elven magus had gifted Caleb a potent book of spells, which he was eager to dig into. But Jester took precedence.

She always did, these days.

“Yes, Jester?” Caleb asked, giving the faintest smile.

She was leaning against the doorframe, seemingly deep in thought. He could only wonder what she had come to say. Was it time for dinner? Did Nott or Beau need to speak with him? Had Yussa sent a message?

“Do you really think I already look like a princess?” Jester said, rubbing her neck.

Caleb felt his heart start to beat faster. This was most unexpected.

“Er… I…well, of course. Yes, you…you check all the boxes,” he stammered. “Out of a storybook.

She shook her head and walked into the room, only a foot away from him now. Thump. Thump. Thump.

"But I donnnn’t! I’ve read soooo many books about princesses and like…I don’t really seem like any of them,” Jester whined. “Like this one!”

She reached over to the shelf behind Caleb and pulled out a bright blue book, with silver pages. She pulled it open and showed it to him. The page had a colorful drawing of a pale human woman with long golden hair, standing above a kneeling knight in shining armor.

"That is Princess Arabella Wintermist. Mama used to read this to me all the time. She’s super pretty and kind and has lots of gold-ok, so like, I have those parts obviously, but she’s…she’s a human. They’re always humans or sometimes elves. And like, one dwarf.”

She sighed. “There are no tiefling princesses. If there are, I’ve never read about them.”

Caleb closed his book and stood up. He looked Jester in the eye and frowned. "So this is an issue of race, ja? I find that surprising, considering who we travel with and the alliances we have formed. In the months since…we formed this company, we have worked alongside giants and kobolds…kenku and pirates…we have personally had an audience with a dark elf empress and seen a city filled with people who make tieflings look quaint in comparison.” He gave Princess Arabella a dismissive glance. “Scheisse on the stories. The world we live in shows the truth.”

Jester was silent at first, before she began to giggle. Thump. Thump. Thump. “That was really good Caleb! If the wizard stuff doesn’t work out, you could like, run for marquis!” She paused and put a hand on her chin. “…Is that even something you can run for?”

It was Caleb’s turn to laugh. A rare occurrence, but the idea was well-worthy of mirth. “I will…take it under consideration.”

Jester laughed with him for a moment longer, before she looked back at the storybook. “I do have a few more things in common with princesses, though…”

“Oh? What are those?” Caleb chuckled.

“I was kidnapped by a monster,” she whispered. “And a…dashing man died trying to rescue me.”

Caleb felt a chill run down his spine. He felt images flash through his mind; memories he had tried to suppress. An empty campsite. A grinning, blood-covered man. A friend lying upon the ground, eyes frozen open.

“J-jester, I’m so-” he started to say.

She shook her head. “It should have been a dragon, right? That’s what takes the princesses in stories!” She laughed again, but it was joyless. “But no…the first dragon I saw nearly…killed me! Nearly killed all my friends! And then the next one did too!”

Jester picked up the storybook and chucked it at the wall nearby, where it impacted with a loud BANG, the spine caving in and flopping onto the floor. 

“Then there was the demon bug…thing! That was fucking creepy! And the…the fleshy mouth pit! And then, I had to watch my friend get her brain taken over by Oballsack the Dickhole!“

She fell backwards against the wall, slumping into the wood and landing on her rear. She was crying now, openly. Caleb rushed over and knelt down next to her. He didn’t say anything. Not yet. He just listened.

"And…I’m the one who sees her…I’m the one who has to watch Yasha, every time I take a peek at what they’re doing. I watched her killing all those people…she was crying, Caleb,” Jester croaked. “She was crying and I know she fucking hated it, but she couldn’t stop it. And I couldn’t save her! Not even last time!”

Jester had begun to clutch at her knees and dig into her skin. Caleb reached out and took one of her hands into his own. Her skin was warm, but tougher than many might suspect.

“We have failed…many times, in the last few months. But we always fail together, as a group. We learn and grow, every time. And when we do succeed, like we just did…the victory is all the sweeter,” Caleb stressed. “Oban may not yet know one of his champions has been made mortal. Just imagine the shock on his dummes, hochmütiges face when he sees the Laughing Hand brought down for good.”

Caleb made a faux-shocked expression, his eyes wide and mouth agape. Jester gave a weak chuckle.

“How could this beeeeee?! My beautiful Gigglefist, killed by the Mighty Nein!” Caleb whined, doing a truly atrocious Oban impression. But it seemed to work, as Jester laughed again, much more naturally.

“Yasha will not be prisoner in her own flesh forever. If we can kill the heart of a dark god’s servant, breaking the shackles on our friend should be a piece of kuchen.”

What he did next felt instinctual, but it still shocked him as he did it. Leaning his head down, Caleb kissed the back of her hand. Thump. Thump. Thump. He looked up at her, staring right into her eyes.

Jester looked a bit shocked herself, but it soon morphed into a wide, bright smile.

“You know Caleb, maybe I am a princess after all, cause…you sure seem princely.”

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. It was only a few seconds, it felt like an eternity. Had he finally unlocked the mystery of chronomancy?

“Caleb! It’s time for dinner! Some kind of fish! You can reply to this message!” Nott’s voice echoed in his mind.

He tried to form the words he needed, but all that came out was…

“F-fish…”

Jester looked puzzled for a moment, but then her eyes lit up. “Oh! We’re having Silverscale Salmon and croquettes! It’s tasty as shiiiiiit!”

Jester stood up, pulling Caleb with her and hugging him tightly. “Thank you, Caleb,” she whispered into his ear. With one last wink in his direction, she strode downstairs, yelling something as she did.

“Nott, you better save some for me!”

“I PROMISE NOTHING!” Nott shrieked, from below.

Then Caleb was alone, standing stock-still and processing the last several minutes. His face was as red as some of his favorite spells.

Willy crept up behind him, with Frumpkin draped around his neck. Caleb looked down at them and took the golem’s stubby hands, beginning an awkward dance.

“Oh meine Schönheit, oh meine Schöne. Mit deinem Gesicht aus Lilien und Rosen…” he softly sang, smiling. Frumpkin purred and rubbed his head on Caleb’s arm.

He went down for dinner a minute later, feeling like royalty. 

[goldstonegolem64]

Side story Monsters and Mana Defenders of Aurita

The land of Aurita a world that was built by the gods to imperson there most damages creation seven fallen  celestial beings each one the embodiment sin. An after hundred thousand years of imprisonment life started to grow on the prison. At first the gods wanted to destroy this new beings thinking they were going to free the seven but after a hundreds years of arguing they decide to guide the new races of Aurita. But even though the gods were guiding them.division still appeared between the races splitting them into two groups the higher races which were the Human,Elves ,Dwarfs,Dragon born ,Gnomes and lizardfolk  Called the Solar Alliance  . An the lower races. the Goliaths,Orcs, Gobins,Beastmen,Kenku and tieflings called the Red frontier .Which has left the world divided in a constant  war between the two factions which normal ended in a stalemate.But after thousands of years of wars the seven’s prison have been getting weaker and weak which as allowed them to  influence the latest war as their attempted to break free.to unleash there wraith across the world and the gods that imprisoned them. But the gods had a fail safe nine weapons that could re-imprison them   

Now are story begins In the neutral country of Dayruin.  A dwarven Warrior in heavy plate armor with a war ax resting on her shoulder. A Blue bird kenku Monk in a red and orange Gi with crescent moon spade on his back  and Elven sorcerer in brown robes and a long wooden staff that doubled as a means of flying when the user need it   walked toward the tavern that they were Call their home for the time being. They had just he turned  from a job that had them defending  against a band of goblin bandit that were attacking the supple wagons which near the end attracted an ogre to attack both sides.  

“  Not going to lie I was not  ready to fight that ogre”  The Kenku said as the rubber their bruised” But a least were got paid for it “

“ And we got this map that the Leader of the bandits had all we need is some that could read goblin ”  the Dwarf said as they entered the tavern and sat down waiting for some one to take their order   

“ Hey Meklaver Can I see that map really quick I think the new spell I learned may help us  “  The Elf said 

“ Ok Here you Go block”  Meklaver hand the map over to her friend 

Block took the map and unfolded in and placed it on the table  and chanted a small incantation and tapped the side of his head and casted Comprehend languages and looked at what was written on the map. It wasn’t much just the routes for the supply wagons .an some guard route for the nearby towns that was a little concerning but if they did return to the town of Stillfall they would in form the guards.

“ Did you find anything interesting?” The kenku asked 

“ Not really Quill just the route which we took when we handled the Bandits and maybe the location of their base but I will need more time” Block said as he looked at the map as a waiter walked up to their table 

“ Can I get you folks anything” The young human man asked 

“ The something as last time.”  Quill said as he looked at the map as well

“ All right two number 5 and a number 7.I’ll be right back” the waiter said leaving the three adventures. 

“ Ok while you two look over the map I’ll talk to the bartender to see what She knows about that other  thing we found “ Meklaver said as she got up and walked to the bar and took a seat  “ Uh Bar keep can I have a moment of your time?”

“Give me a Tick ” A female voice said from the kitchen Then a  Semi muscular tall women with a orange mustache walked out of the kitchen with a Cup of ail and a plate of food and placed it in front of another patron then Walked up to Meklaver “ So what can I do for you today Mek?”

Meklaver reached in to her pouch and pulled out a small green Crystal “ We found this on an ogre that was a lot bigger and stronger then the ones we fought before. I wanted to see if you know anything about it “ She then place the crystal on the table.

The Bar keep picked up the crystal and looked at it”  This is a Crystal that when given to a someone it doubles their strength. I remember two people before you showed up had one as well one of my waiters told me they were looking for the person making them. I think they called him Dakin or something “ Meklaver  froze up hearing that name “ Something wrong?”

“ That is the name of the man who turned Block’s Village to stone so there’s a lot I have to unpack with that. But you said someone was already looking for Them did you catch their name by any chance ?”  Meklaver asked 

“ No but I won’t forget what they looked like One was a female elf with white hair that shimmered whenever light hit it she was wearing pink robes you couldn’t . I assumed that she was a ranger of some sort. Then their was her companion He was a tall man I couldn’t tell his race because the helmet he ware hide his face and he wore Heavy Splint armor with a gear design burnet onto it. “ The bar keep said 

“ Are they still here?”

“ No they left about an hour before you and your party got here But the girl did say they were going to fort Caleb to see if they could cross the border. If I could guess they might be looking for that Dakin‘s Base in Galeford which last i checked was frontier “

Meklaver was quiet for a few second trying to figure out the best way to tell her teammates about this “ Thank you for the information “ Meklaver put two gold pieces down on the counter top and started walking back to her teammates . 

“ pleasure doing business with you “  the Bar keep said as she picked up the coins

As Meklavr walked back to her table she saw three hooded who she thinks were people watching her but she paid them no mind  

“ So did you find out anything about that crystal we found on that ogre?”  Block asked 

“ Yes I did and there is go news and bad news. The good news is I found out this crystal doubles the strength of the person it’s give too” 

“And the bad news ?” Quill asked 

Meklaver sighed little “ The person making them is Dakin the man who turned your home to stone” She looked toward Block to see his reaction There was a mixture of Fear, Anger and sadness” also there seems to be two other people looking for they were heading to the border to cross into Galeford. I want to join them  But I want to see what you two wanted to do”  

“ Well first we find them hope they let us join them. But Block it’s your call do we go as we are or get stronger and tackle this later on “

Block was quite for a few seconds before speaking “ I have spend the passed ten years looking for him and now I found him or I know he’s nearby So if were doing this were going to need more help then just two random people that might help us “ 

“But who’s going to be brave enough or stupid enough to help us “Quill said 

“ Will do it”  A voice said behind them 

They all turned to see he three hood figures get up and started walking towards One wear paladin armor. Another wear a mixture between Chain mail and scale mail while the last one  who was the taller then everyone in the tavern was wearing what looked like a dress suit with a breast plate in it as well slithering toward them in 

“ Hello my name is Jiro Paladin of Avan god of Justices “ Jiro  said then removed his hood to reveal a Human man who looked to be in his mid twenties “This is Allister Red fang “ that was followed by the tallest of the group to remove his hood to show the head of the king cobra but the colors of a Burmese Python

”. It’sss nicccce to meet you “ Allister said 

”and this is Thunder storm Darkness but just call him Stormy or thunder.”

Thunder did not remove his hood “  Hi “

“We heard you were going on into  frontier Territory. We would like to  join you on your quest If you will let us “ Jiro said with a smile n his face 

“ How much do we have to pay you ?” Quill asked 

“ Will figure that out once we finish the job if you do take us  “Stormy said

Meklaver looked to her teammate who both liked what they were hearing and giving her a look that said we should take it “    Alright well talk that deal.” Meklaver raised out her hand for a hand shack 

“ That’s good to hear “ Jiro said as he took Meklaver hand and shook it

“ Ssssso when do we heading out I hope as sssssssoon as possible so we do want to make it to the fort before night fall?” Allister ask

“ I guess as so as we finish are launch “ Block said as he pick up the cup that was next to him

“  Alright then Will sit with you and discuss what we’re going to do once we cross the border  “ Jiro said as he took a seat 

Elsewhere 

Two Adventures walked down the worn path that lead to the nearest border fortress  Fort Caleb. The tallest of the two was wear a full suit of dark blue splint with  a silvery grey cape with his family’s crest on it which was of a four winged bat. The helmet that covered their face and race with two curled horns protruding from where the forehead would be the only thing the helmet showed was two glowing gray eyes. They carried a warpick an shield that was half of his size and looked like it was made of gears. While his companion was a white haired Female Elf that wore leather underneath her pink robes with a long Bow  on her shoulder as while as a quiver of Arrows that had several different magical ability that activated when they were fired from her bow. 

“  Krieg I most thank you again for joining me on this quest to explore the world“ The elf said 

“Don’t thank me Lady Valayun i have served your family for most of my life it's just part of the job “ Krieg said in a dull voice  

Valayun rolled her eyes a little “ Can’t you lighten up a little krieg were out of that stuffy castle.and were out in the world aren’t  you just a little excited ?”

“Not really”  

“ Your such a stick in the mud at times “ Valyaun sigh  

“ My job is to keep you safe no matter what " Krieg stopped in place, Readed a battle stances  and looked ahead the road they were walking on to see multiply figures in the distance   

“What is it “ Valayun asked as she pulled her bow of her shoulder  and readied an Arrow 

“ Figure in the distance“  he said As the figure we’re slowly getting closer followed by the faint sound of what could possibly be scream 

“ Something about this doesn’t feel right” Krieg said looking at the figure that got closer an noticed that it was a women and a little girl running towards them. Krieg lowered his weapon and shield thinking he just overreacted  

Then Valayun noticed three shadows moving into towards them She looked up and saw three flying figures that were diving towards them “ In coming “ Valayun Yelled as she raised her bow and fired off the Arrow. The arrow missed it’s target but she quickly fired of a second arrow that hit the lead one in what she could tell was it’s face 

. The thing let out a screech of pain as it now changed targets to look at her. While the other two still targeted the Women  and little girl. The first one tried to pick up the Women only to miss . While the other picked up the little girl and started to fly off with the child 

“Mommy!!” The Child yelled as they were being pulled away from their parent 

“ Amber!!!” The mother Yelled as her daughter was being flown away

“ Not on my watch “ Krieg yelled as he raised his War pick and pointed it towards the flying creature and yelled in a commanding tone  “ Burn in my Holy fire !“ As that was yelled White fire engulfed the beast causing it to screeched in pain dropping the child and crashed into the ground. The girl fell to the ground with a loud thud the child quickly got up and started to run back to her mother with her Attacker started to get back up . They both noticed that the creature had purple skin with sharp spines pultruding from the back of it’s head Shoulders and back. They also noticed that it was holding a trident in it’s right hand and it’s body was covered in burns . It let out a screech as It tried to get back to sky only to have two Arrows shot into it. It let out a weak screech before it hit the ground dead then erupted into flame leaving  no body behind 

“Krieg what are this things?” Valayun asked as she watch the mother and Daughter ran into the tree line to hide   

“ Don’t Know  “ Krieg said as his voice return to a dull tone as well as his  pick started to glow with a holy light as he readied himself for the on coming attack 

the two beasts Dived towards them. The one with an Arrow in it’s head charged towards Valayun. First it tried to stab with it’s trident only to have it be knocked out of the way by Valayun’s bow . Then it tried firing off  two of its tail spines the first spine missed while the second one meet it’s mark an stabbed into Valayun’s shoulder. Valayun first felt a stabbing pain in her shoulder followed by a scorching pain that caused her to scream in pain. 

“Lady Valayun “ Krieg yelled as the second one launched it’s tail spikes. But krieg  raised his Shield to block the Attack . Only for the creatures trident to punch through   the shield and into his forearm. Krieg gritted his teeth as he raised his war pick and slammed it down onto his attackers head with a sickening crunch  causing the creature to let go of it’s trident and started to fly off not wanting to die . But before it could get away three darts flow out of the tree line stabbing into it causing it to erupted into flames. 

Krieg had no time to recated to that as he turned to help Valayun. An as he turned to help her. He watched as two arrows flow through the air and hit their target the first one punched into the it’s target stomach then the second one that had frost covering it hit the creature in the face an as it landed the frost began to spread across the body  freezing in mid air.The creature then Fell to the ground and shattered on impacted and just like it’s fallen companions the was fell was engulfed in flames leaving nothing behind.

With this battle won Krieg quickly slammed his war pick into the ground and grabbed the trident that was still in his shield and forearm and pulled it out. Then he quickly chanted a healing spell “ My the goddess cure me of my wounds “ krieg body finally glowed as the pain in his arm disappeared. . As he did this Valayun did the same and pulled out the barbed spine in her shoulder and chanted the same thing as Krieg and after she did that she walked over to where the People they had just saved was.

“ Are you two alright ?” Valayun Asked as the mother and daughter came out behind some trees . Now that there was no creatures to Valayun couldn’t help but notice that the people they save were elves  

 “ Were fine and Thank you for saving us “Woman said as she was holding her daughter closer to her

“ May i ask why you were being chased by those things .” Krieg said voice returning to its normal dull tone as he walked next to his teammate.

The mother held her daughter closer to her as the taller heavily armored man got closer to them. “ We were running from fort Caleb there is an Attack going on are village was nearby and was attacked those Flying things.” 

“ Well that’s not good to hear “  Valayun said

“ No it’s not but we still we most go there to continue our mission“ With his questions answered he started walking towards the tree line where the dart had come from.

“ Krieg where are you going what about this two” Valayun said a little annoyed  

Krieg stopped turned around  and walked back straight towards the women and child. Which caused the mother to step back a little scared   “ Their is a town about a mile back” Krieg then reached in to his bags  and pulled out  a pouch full of coins and gave the mother six gold “ Go there an this will be enough to get you room and board at the local inn. You’ll know when it’s safe to return to you home when the border guard coming looking for you and your daughter “ Krieg said in a soft tone of voice

“Thank you “  The mother said as she and her daughter started to walk

“ Bye pretty lady and big scary kind man“  The little girl said wave goodbye to the people that saved her and her mother 

 Valayun smiled happily as she watched the two walk out of site. She turned to look at her teammate only to see that they were alright walking toward the tree line again “ Krieg what are you doing ?”

Krieg stayed silent as he scanned the tree line . As he looked he noticed a tail sticking out of a tree.” You in the tree who are you and why did you help us?’ Krieg said as he walked up to said tree and slammed it with his war pick. The tree shook violently as a man with a cat tail and ears  fell from the tree. “ Hello stranger “

“ Hi” said a  the beast man said back 

“ Now who are “ Krieg asked again 

“ Names Pike A master Assassin and thief “ Pike smiled a little as the tip of the  warpick slowly pushed into his chin.” Mostly thief  i don’t really like killing people all that much” pike said as he slowly got up to his feet 

“ Why did you help me “ 

“ You looked like you need a little help so I made my move when i saw the opening “ Pike said just a little scared of the tall me with a pick at his throat.

“ Krieg put the pick down he helped us and his clearly scared of you “ Valayun said as she walked towards her companion to see a Tabai man Wearing awhat looked like a grey one piece jumpsuit that was one size to big  on his shoulder there was what looked like a half poncho colored black that ended in yellow flame it also had to gold buttons that were connected by a yellow rope. On to of that was a red tattered scarf. On his shoulder were two metal pauldrons and on his knee  were to spiked metal pades  around his waist there were two belts with a small pack on each and to finish the look was a red headband “Sorry about Krieg he is very protective of me mainly do to my mother’s orders “ Valayun said as she placed her hand on Krieg’s warpick and lowered it only to have krieg bring it back up

“ It’s fine and understandable “ Pike said still a little on edge  

“ Now thank you for the help an If i may be so bold could you lend us you strength and help us in are quest to save Fort Caleb and help us stop Dakin ?” Valayun said with a smile 

Pike looked toward the beautiful women the towards the massive helmeted  man threatening him “Ok as long as i get a cut of the reward for taking out this Dakin guy an a well as this guy dose kill me “ 

“ I won’t as long as you don’t bertary my ladies Trust “ Krieg said as he lowered the pick and started walking away 

“ Again don’t mind him. Now lets get going “ Valayun said as she followed Krieg

Pike sighed “ Pike what have you gotten your into this time “  He then ran after them “ We should stay in the tree line to avoid any more of those demon thing and other bandits that roamed these parts” 

Back with Meklaver, Block, Quill. Jiro ,Allister” and Thunder storm darkness

The team was moving by a wagon that Jiro and his party had been give after there last job. Down the path towards Fort Caleb 

“ It’ s nice to finally has a faster way of getting to places”  Block said as he sat there taking in the land

“ Yes it is “ Quill said as he sat and mediated 

At the front of the Wagon Meklaver was sitting there cleaning her war ax while Jiro  was drive the cart 

“ So Jiro I just have to ask why are you helping us?”  She asked 

“ You were going to cross into frontier territory to stop a wizard that turned your friends village to stone and as a paladin it’s my duty to help those in need “  Jiro said with an air of confidence to him. 

Meklaver rolled her eyes a little hearing that but she was happy to have some help  “  Now here’s another question”

“ Ask away “

“ Where did you meet Allister  and stormy. “ 

“ I meet  Allister doing a guard job for a lords son that was recently found  or I should say I was guarding the lord’s son  While Allister was trying to kill them .”

“And he became your teammate after that “

“ Well it’s a long story but lets just say It had a happyish ending “

“ And how’d you me stormy “ Meklaver asked now worried about her teammates 

“ Stormy just kind of showed up one day after we set up camp and just followed us around . Now your turn how’d you meet your teammates?’ Jiro asked 

“ Well I meet Block about a year back when I first came to this country. As for quill I’ve only known him for about a mouth we worked a few small jobs together. An that really it sorry I don’t have a crazy story of how we meet “ Meklaver said 

“ That’s fine we all walk different paths on are road to adventure. Now what brought you to the forefront of the war  ?”  Jiro asked 

“ My family’s heirloom was stolen and I was the only one who had the guts to leave are mountain home to go find it” Meklaver said 

“ My Village was turn to stone by Dakin” Block said 

“ I’m looking for a way to break the kenku curse and have my people retake there place in the sky. “  Quill said 

“ Well ssseeing as were all SSSharing are personal questssss. My patron wants me to find his missing pieces an mage them whole again”  Allister said  pulling out a half broken sword 

“ i’m trying to find my clan  “  Stormy said 

“ And for me I’m looking for the man the killed my master and my twin brother “ Jiro said 

“ Well now that we know each other a little bit better uh Stormy what are you. Sorry for prying but I’m just curious. You don’t have to answers if you don’ t want to” Block asked 

Stormy remained quite as what everyone though was a cloak slowly unraveled into a set of bright red wing and reveled a human like being with black hair, purple eyes red scales creeping up his face as well as two horns that were curved back. The were wear  simple leather armor with a long sword on his back. The wings closed around stormy again. “    Are you happy now “ 

“ Yes I am I wasn’t expecting to ever see or work with a dragonborn at all” Block said with a smile on his face 

“ Ok that was unexpected” Meklaver said as she turned back to see a Woman and her child wave at them from the side of the road 

Jiro slowed the wagon down as the woman and Child got close to them. “What can we help you with ma’ am ?”Jiro asked 

“ Are you heading to fort Caleb” The women asked with a visible look of worry on her face

“ Yeah why” Meklaver asked 

“ Well you better hurry then it’s under attack” the lady said 

Everyone in the wagon was surprised to hear that normal the frontier respected neutral countries what could be going on   “Ok before we go, this there anything we need to know ?” Jiro asked 

“ Yes there are two other adventures heading that way they save me and mommy “ the little girl said 

“ Yes they did Amber but I don’t think they can handle it on their own so please hurry and help them”  The mother asked  

“ Alright then Is everyone ready because once we get there. there is no turning back” Jiro said .everyone looked at each other and nodded in agreement 

“ Were as ready as well ever by “ Meklaver said 

“ Alright then thank you for the information would you like us to bring you to the closest town first ?”  Jiro asked 

“ No will be fine just go” the mother said 

“Ok let’s get going” Jiro said as he whipped the rains to tell the horse to get going and to pick up their speed. The wagon speed down the path and as they did the people in the wagon could see columns of smoke arising from fort Caleb as they got closer to it they could hear the sounds of combat as well as people scream

“ This doesn’t look good “ Block said as the sky was getting dark do to the clouds of smoke and the sound of combat got loder 

As they got closer to the fort they started to see about ten bodies of soldiers stroud across the path ahead. Jiro stopped the Wagon “Ok guys stay in the wagonfor now then will walk carry on “  Jiro said as he got off  the wagon to investigate the bodies. As he got close to the first body he notice puncture wounds in the armor He assumed that the holes were made by either a spear or an Arrow but he wasn’t sure.He then looked at the other bodies and notice that all the other soldiers had the same injuries on them.He also noticed that their weapons looked more barbaric then now  “This doesn’t look go” Jiro was so busy looking at the body to notice the orc in the bushes nearby  that was slowly leveling a crossbow at him and fired

The arrow flow through the air and hit Jiro in the shoulder. The orc quickly Yelled in broken common “ Drop weapon, gold  you live . do die and we take n-way”  As that was said the soldier bodies started to move as the got up he notice that it was a mixture of orcs and humans . Jiro guess this guys were just bandits taking advantage of what was happening  at the fort . Then the orc with the cross bow spoke again “ There more you ?”    

“ No Just me” Jiro said calmly 

The orc glared at then looked at one of the human there and nodded his head toward the Wagon. The human bandit walked towards the back of the wagon but before he got there an Axe cut through the tarp that covered the wagon and slammed into his shoulder followed by a longsword stabbing him in the side. Than a loud fiery explosion that engulfed four other bandit. Killing three of them the remaining bandit from that explosion was then hit by a bolt of eldritch energy that blow a hole in the bandits chess . Quill Jumped out from the front of the wagon and brought down the flat head of his spade onto the head of another bandit followed by him taking up a defensive stance.  Jiro Quickly followed suit and grabbed his broadsword and as he did the blade ignited with holy fire. He quickly swung the blade at the closes blade bandit . But the bandit Quickly  parried the strike 

The remaining bandits quickly registered what happened and Attacked . The bandit that had been stabbed twice when he  tried look into the wagon. Tried to stab his attackers only for the first swing to hit one of the metal ribbs of the cart His second strike hit something and he heard someone curse in pain. Sadly just as he thought he was winning a  eldritch blast punch was the last thing he saw before his head exploded . After the body hit the floor Allister slithered out of the wagon and pointed his blade toward the orc in the bushes and fire off another eldritch bolt only for it to miss.

 After that Stormy followed and moved to help Jiro and as he made to his teammate side his wing parted so he could grab his longsword and slashed the bandit back which was followed another strike to the back leaving a bloody x on the back of bandit.

the bandits that were the furthest away started to run to help their fellow bandits. As they did that Block popped his head out of the front of the wagon and looked toward them he had used up most of his high level spell today on the fight with the Oger earlier that day so he burned about two of his sorcery points “ Close your eyes and dream of a better life “ block said as he casted sleep. The first bandit stumble and hit the floor knocked out . The second one followed suit and hit the ground hard. The third one pushed through and started to book it. “ Oh come on i’m sorry  but you brought this on yourself. “ Block said as he pointed his staff at the bandit as a ray of frost hitting the bandit freezing them in place.

Them Meklaver Followed Quill’s example she jumped from the front of the wagon and brought her Axe down on the Bandit’s head cutting the bandit in half. She landed next to Quill “ You know i’m happy we teamed up with Jiro and his team “

“ your right this so much easier” quill said 

“ An a whole lot more messy ” Block said       

The Orc in the bushes watched as his last  crew member being cleaved in half by the paladin  so he fired one last arrow that missed its mark and started to run  only to bumped into something made of metal. The Orc looked up to see a tower of dark blue armor standing in front of him. the last thing he saw was the mountain of metal raise it’s right hand with something in it and brought it down 

There was a loud cracking sound that echoed through out the area. Everyone turned to look where the sound came from and saw a hulking metal figure with piercing gray eyes walking out of the tree line . The figure gave off an intimidating  but that was quickly thrown out the wing when a deep melancholy voice spoke “   Hello I killed the last one for you “

As ever looked at the metal man. Two more people came out of the tree line. One was a female dark skinned elf woman in a pink robe and the other one was a Tabaxi man  

“ Hello I’m Lady Valayun This is my companions  the big one is Krieg and the tabaxi is Pike and we are on are way to fort Caleb “

Meklaver looked between Valayun an Krieg they matched the description the barkeep. She then pulled out the green crystal she got from the ogre and showed it to“   Hey besides going to fort Caleb to help them are look you looking for a wizard name Dakin?’ She asked 

“ Yes we are “ Krieg said 

“it looks like it’s we have a common enemy then and more Allices ” Valayun said with a smile. But before they could all became friendly Aloud demonic scream could be heard as two huge winged beasts arose from the fort and started to fly into different directions the bigger of the two fly in the direction of Galeford while the other flow towards them

“ That’s not good” Quill said as he readied his weapon 

“ Get ready everyone here it comes” Jiro said as the beast landed  in front of them 

The Creature was huge it’s body was bone white it had long bone thin arms and legs the tips of each ended in a red stain. It Also had a tail of a scorpion that ended in red as well. It’s wings were like that of a bug’s and had holes in it. It’ s head looked like that of a Human skull attached to the body by a long thin neck. The team readied themselves for the fight of their lives  

“And that’s where will stop for tonight “ Coran said as he clapped his hands tighter 

Everyone groaned as they heard this 

“ Right when thing were getting good “ Adam said as he looked at Jay “ So are we going to see what Krieg looks like under the helmet ?” 

“Yeah what's under the mask man” Hunk ask

“ Maybe someday you’ll find “  Jay replied with a wicked smile as he got up to leave the room

“I’m happy I joined in on this it how about you Keith?” Lance asked doing the same as Jay

“ It was fun I'm kind of mad I didn’t get to use any of the spell I pick but I guess that’s why were doing this again next week “ Keith said as he got up and followed them

“ This was a fun way to kill time I can’t wait to see what happened when we get to the fort “ Shiro said

“ Oh I Can’t wait “ Allura smile 

As the Paladins left the room Coran cleaned up the pieces that each played you to show their character. He smiled as he place each character in a box with five other character that once belonged the to the original paladins .Coran hoped to finish this campaign with a happier ending then his first then he closed the box placed it on the table and left the room   

[sockablock]

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Chapter 10: A Technicolor Sunset

“They’re asleep right now,” Jester murmured when she opened the front door. “And they smell really bad, but that’s because we found them in the trash.”

“Ah,” Molly said knowingly. “They must be one of Beau’s relatives.”

Beau glowered at him from over Jester’s shoulder. “I would kick your ass for that, Tealeaf, but we’ve got more important things to deal with.”

“If she is avoiding violence,” Caleb nodded, “then it must be urgent. What exactly did you find?”

Jester moved aside so they could walk in. “See for yourself,” she said. “And take your boots and coats off, all of you are covered in snow.”

They entered the living room, unsure of what to expect. They stopped short in front of the couch. Three pairs of eyes went wide.

“Tolle,” Caleb breathed. “Is that…?”

“They’re kind of cute,” Jester murmured. “But I’m a little worried. They didn’t wake up when I put them down, or when I turned the space heater on.”

“Or when I sprayed them with air freshener,” Beau added. “And I’m not really sure how to check for a pulse on…on…whatever these are.”

Molly and Nott only stood and stared at the bundle huddled against the cushions, but Caleb crouched down to get a better look. Right there in front of him, snuggled tightly within a pile of blankets that smelled like a tropical sunset, was a tiny, ruffled, little black-feathered kenku.

It was breathing faintly. But it was breathing.

He turned back toward the others. “Do you have any more heaters?” he asked quietly. “Or any more blankets?”

“I think there’s an extra quilt in my closet,” Beau nodded, and ran off to fetch it.

In the waiting silence that followed, Nott leaned over and tugged on Jester’s sleeve. “What, um, what are we going to do when they wake up?”

Jester glanced hopefully towards Caleb and Molly. “I’m not sure, yet. I was kind of wondering if you guys had any ideas?”

Molly took a seat on the coffee table and sighed. “Let’s just wait and see what they say to us,” he tried. “Then I guess we…wing it?”

Caleb snorted. “Oh, wing it,” he chuckled, and shook his head. “Good, that is funny.”

Molly blinked a few times. Then realization hit and he grinned, nodded, his horn charms jingling brightly. “Ha! I didn’t even realize, myself. Well do—”

“Look, look!” Nott hissed, cutting them off suddenly and pointing frantically at the couch. “Look, it’s moving.”

The bundle on the cushions quivered. It trembled. It shook slightly, and a pair of bright yellow eyes slowly peeked open.

Then they immediately snapped shut and the kenku chirped in terror, frantically trying to hide itself under the blankets.

“Wait, wait,” Jester cried, “don’t—don’t be afraid, this is just my couch!”

This was met with another scared squawk, and more flinching.

Caleb leaned forward carefully and said, as softly as he could, “We do not want to hurt you. We are…well, we want to be friends.”

It seemed to react to that, and paused. “Friends?” it echoed back in a perfect imitation of Caleb’s voice.

The group exchanged surprised glances. Jester was the first to recover.

She nodded and said, gentle as could be, “Yes. And we want to help. Could you let us help you?”

Its face re-emerged. At a closer glance, it sort of looked like an enormous raven, but with a smaller beak and much larger, golden eyes set in more human-than-bird-like proportions. And as the group stared, the kenku returned with its own intense, searching gaze.

“Help you?” it echoed.

“Yes, help. We found you outside, are…are you okay?”

It considered this for a moment. “Okay?” it responded.

And then Beau rounded the corner with a tall stack of blankets in her arms. “Alright, guys, I’ve got the—”

She stopped at the entrance to the living room. She looked around in mild panic at this new development.

“Hey, Beau!” Jester called. She, on the other hand, was nearly vibrating with excitement. “Say ‘hi’ to our new friend!”

Beau carefully moved closer, not taking her eyes away from the kenku. “Uh…hi, there?”

“Hi, there?”

She dropped the blankets onto the rug. She sat down.

“Well, then…alright. Sure. Talking bird. That’s definitely not the weirdest thing to happen to me today.”

“Don’t be rude,” Jester admonished, then turned to the kenku.  “Ignore her, she’s not good at being nice. What’s your name?”

It opened its beak to respond, but nothing came out. It seemed frustrated by this, trying a few more times to speak before giving up and looking frantically around the room. After a moment, its gaze fell on the coffee table, where on of Jester’s discarded magazines lay. It pointed at them meaningfully.

“Your name is Iva?” Nott gasped. “Oh my gods, are you the writer of the column?”

Molly rolled his eyes. “Obviously they want paper to write on, you little gremlin.”

“Hey! I’m a goblin—”

“Hang on, hang on,” and Jester grabbed her backpack off the ground. She rummaged around, then produced a notebook and a pen.

Caleb’s eyebrow went up. “Isn’t that your chem—”

“Dooon’t worry about that.” Then Jester turned again to the kenku and added, “Feel free to write all over that, little birdy! Or, wait…are you little?” She tapped her chin. “Are you a grown-up, or are you a kid?”

“A kid,” came the echo.

Nott’s wary expression immediately melted. Jester’s heart had already turned to mush hours ago, but she still found room for her eyes to soften further. Even Molly was starting to look mildly sympathetic.

The kenku held up the notebook. Scrawled across a page in surprisingly tidy handwriting were the words:

Thank you.

“Oh,” Jester squealed, brining her hands up to her cheeks, “oh, you are welcome! How old are you, what’s your name?”

“What are you?” Nott chimed in. “A girl, or a boy, or…or just a bird?”

A few moments of silence, as the scritch-scratching of the pen dominated the conversation. Then the words:

Four. Kiri. I am a girl.

“Aw,” Nott murmured, and Jester nodded excitedly.

“Kiri, you are four years old? That’s so wonderful!”

A happy trill answered that, Kiri seemingly brightening at the sound of her own name. She looked considerably more settled now, and had even let the nest of blankets fall apart around her. Her feathers rose and fell under the waves coming off the space heater, and her eyes glittered almost as vibrantly as Nott’s.

“What were you doing in the dumpster?” Molly asked, leaning forward. “And why were you in that alley, in the first place?”

“Do you live around here?” Jester added.

Kiri shook her head. She picked up the pen again.

Family going west. Escaping east mountains. Father said valley-folk fighting.

Caleb nodded slowly. “There were reports of skirmishes along the borders,” he muttered. “Our dear empire is not a very friendly neighbor.”

“Have you been travelling far?” Beau tried, and Kiri just shrugged.

“Where…where is your family now?” Jester asked tentatively.

Kiri lifted the pen as if she were about to write something, then paused and lowered her head. She made sad sort of hum.

“Oh, no,” Jester said. “Oh, no, no, no…are…are your momma and dad okay?”

Kiri helplessly shrugged again. Caleb felt his stomach sink.

“You don’t know where they are?” Jester asked. “How did you get separated?”

After a few moments, Kiri flipped the notebook around:

Came to the city by accident. Lights too bright, we got lost. People outside started to chase us, so we ran to not be taken. Ran for a long time. I fell off the wall into a box, top got stuck, family could not get me out. Couldn’t risk sisters or selves. So kept going.

“No,” Nott breathed, eyes going wide.

“Oh, no,” Jester murmured, “oh, Kiri…”

Stuck there for a while. Not their fault. Don’t want them to die for my carelessness.

In the silence that followed, Kiri closed the book and handed it back to Jester. She accepted it with a trembling hand, then turned towards the others.

“We have to get her back to her family,” she said softly. “Guys…we have to find her parents.”

Nott nodded emphatically, though Caleb’s expression did not change and Molly only looked weary.

“Do you know where they were heading?” the tiefling asked. “Do you know where to go?”

Kiri gave a trill that suggested she did not.

“How many sisters do you have?” Jester tried. “Are they older, or—”

Then there was a noise at the front door, a muffled swear and the sound of a key being fumbled into the lock. After a moment, Fjord’s voice rang out through the wood.

“Are y’all good? I’m off work now, I took the subway over since Molly stole my car. Can I come in?”

“Oh, yes!’ Jester answered. “Yes, definitely!” She turned back to Kiri and said, calmly, “hang on one second! Someone else is coming, his name is Fjord and he’s also a friend. Don’t mind his teeny tusks, he’s growing them back in.”

Then the door opened and Fjord appeared, wrapped tightly in a thick winter jacket and covered in a fine dusting of snow. His pink knitted scarf had been frozen solid, and he looked grateful for the apartment’s heavy warmth.

“So, what was it that y’all found?” he asked as he shrugged his shoes off. “You sounded real frantic in the—”

He looked up, and paused. He stared at the enormous bird sitting on the living room couch.

“Oh,” he said. “Uh…hello, there?”

“Don’t mind his teeny tusks,” Kiri said.

In the bewildered silence that followed, Caleb sighed and shook his head. “I think I should make us some tea. Jester and Beau, if you do not mind…?”

“Nah, uh, go for it.”

Jester nodded distractedly, caught between delight and a sudden, sheepish guilt.

Caleb stood wearily. “Fjord?” He turned to the half-orc, and gestured at the couch. “This is Kiri. Kiri, meet Fjord. I will be back with some warm drinks.”

Molly got up to follow him. “I’ll help you, dear. After all, tea’s my middle name! More or less.”

•

By the time they returned with seven steaming mugs of oolong tea, Fjord had been filled in on the situation and Kiri, being more-or-less four years old, was beginning to look exhausted. Her eyes would occasionally flutter closed, and she had to ruffle her feathers and shake her head to open them back up.  

“One thing’s for sure, she should stay here tonight.” Beau said as Molly passed her the last cup. “It’s fucking cold out, and it’s probably too late to go around and ask the neighbors if they know anything.”

“You should try putting word out online,” Molly suggested. “See if anyone’s seen a family of…what was it, again?”

“Kenku,” Caleb supplied, plopping down into the nearest armchair. “Bird people. But I doubt the internet would be helpful in this case. I do not want to ask strangers about a child, and I do not think her family would be on social media searching for her. Kenku societies are not well-known, or…technologically advanced, according to what I remember. Is, er, is that true?” he added with a searching glance at Kiri.

She blinked back at him. She pecked at the mug between her feathery hands.

“I’m inclined to believe that,” Molly sighed.

“We’ll look after you!” Jester said confidently. “Don’t worry!”

“I’d be down,” Beau shrugged. “Birdseed isn’t so expensive, right? Er…do you eat birdseed?”

“Do you eat birdseed?”

“I’ll take that as a maybe.”

“She can’t stay forever though, right?” Fjord asked slowly, glancing between Jester and Beau. “I mean…yeah, sure, it’s fine for now, but…you two can’t take care of her forever. Plus there’s gonna be a whole roommate-apartment-rearrange in a few weeks.”

Jester bit her lip. “I know, I know…this is just a for now solution.”

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out by then,” Beau shrugged. “Don’t worry so much.”

Fjord did not seem entirely convinced, but he nodded, and went back to his tea.

“Maybe if Caleb makes a bunch of more money from tutoring, she could come stay with us!” Nott suggested. “I don’t have a job, so I could stay home and watch her!”

“Er…as exciting as that sounds,” Caleb said weakly, “I am not sure that is the best plan. Our house is not exactly the most conducive to raising a child. A…bird, child. And also I do not think either of us are qualified.”

“I would have to opt out of long-term bird-kid care too,” Molly nodded. “But hey, like I said, we’ll figure it out! I’ll…put something up on Craigslist just in case. I’m already looking for a roommate there, as is.”

“I am not giving Kiri up to a Craigslist responder!” Jester snapped.

“That website is pretty sketchy,” Beau agreed. “I mean, who even is Craig?”

“He’s a gnome,” Nott supplied. “They say he’s trustworthy.”

“I think we definitely should avoid that plan,” Fjord sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Let’s…just take the Mollymauk Approach, for now. We ignore the big problem, and focus on what we can solve.”

“It’s a tried and tested method,” Molly grinned. “I do it all the time.”

“Right,” Fjord nodded. “For now, Kiri stays here. For now.”

“Great!” Jester grinned. “Oh, I am so excited for you to be a part of our family!”

“Our family?”

“Yeah, sure,” Beau said. “What the hell.”

Caleb glanced around at the group assembled, and nodded. “If that is the case, then, I think perhaps Nott and I should head home. I have work tomorrow morning, and the snow will only be making the roads worse and worse.”

“Shit, you’re right,” Molly said immediately. “Here, let me drive you back. Or, uh, Fjord, you can do it if you want…?”

The half-orc shook his head, instead turned Jester and Beau. “Actually, uh, if it’s alright, could I stay the night? I can help make sure Kiri’s alright. I, uh, I feel a bit bad for coming so late.”

“I don’t really think we need help,” Beau muttered, “but feel free, yeah.”

Jester had an eyebrow raised, but she didn’t argue. “I’m definitely not going to say no to your company, silly.”

Fjord cracked a smile. “Great,” he said, and started patting down his pockets. “In that case, where are…”

Molly held up a hand, a ring of keys jingled in his grasp. “Don’t worry, dear. I’ve got them.”

Fjord sighed. “You know, I’m not even surprised.”

Nott, Caleb, and Molly all stood, giving one last glance to the ever-sleepier Kiri.

“It was nice to meet you,” Caleb said softly. “We will see you at some point, I am sure.”

“Hey, you could come to movie night!” Nott said excitedly. “You’d love it, I bet!” She glanced hopefully at the rest of the group. “Wouldn’t that be cool, guys?”

Jester nodded immediately. “That would be awesome! And Nott’s right, Kiri you’d have so much fun!”

“So much fun!”

“Exactly!” Nott beamed. “Please, Caleb?”

He gave her an amused smile. “Er…sure,” he said. “Ja, that sounds fine.”

“Well then,” Molly said, “in that case, I suppose I will see you tomorrow, small bird.”

Aforementioned avian gave him a tired nod with half-closed eyes.

“Alright, alright, it’s bedtime for Kiri now,” Nott said decisively. “Tomorrow we’ll talk more! Welcome to the gang, Kiri! We’re going to be the best of friends.”

“The best of friends,” she agreed sleepily. “Welcome to the gang.”

Caleb nodded to the rest. “See all of you tomorrow, then. I will…buy birdseed, I suppose.”

“Get the kind with peanuts, that’s the good shit,” Beau said.

There was a moment where they all processed the implications of that statement. Then Beau’s expression hardened, and they all immediately moved on.

“Good night, dears.”

“Gute nacht.”

“See you!”

And with that, they collected their coats and scarves, slipped on their boots, and made their way out of the apartment and into the night.

•

“Mollymauk, that was a red light.”

“What? Oh, I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”

Nott’s shrill voice rang out from the back. “You weren’t what?”

The station wagon, a dark blue monstrosity that Fjord had acquired at some point in the distant past, rattled on ominously as Molly swerved through the streets. Its windshield wipers frantically cleared snow from the front of the vehicle, and its tires ground hard against the slowly-forming ice. Caleb was in the front passenger’s seat, safely buckled in and looking only mildly terrified. Nott, by herself at the back, being flung around the faded leather seats, had already begun to text Jester her last will and testament.

Molly seemed perfectly at ease.

“Don’t worry so much, I’m an excellent driver,” he grinned, and tilted the wheel so that the car suddenly jerked left. “I’ve been driving for…for…well, for as long as I can remember.”

“That is a strange way to phrase it,” Caleb remarked. “Have you been driving since you were an infant, then?”

Molly snorted. “Nobody remembers when they were a baby, that’s just science. Try again, smart one.”

Caleb managed to crack a smile at that, though it immediately faded when they barreled through a crosswalk without stopping to check for pedestrians. He settled for sighing, and tightening his grip on the door handle. Maybe he should prep a Mage Armor, just in—

“How long do you think that little bird is going to last with us?” Molly asked. “A few days, maybe?”

Nott frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded. “Kiri is going to stay as long as she needs to. Until we figure out what to do with her.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Molly sighed, “I know that’s the plan, but do you really expect it to happen like that? I mean, I love Jester and I suppose Beau is alright, but they certainly don’t know how to raise a child. None of us do. What…what are you even supposed to feed her? Does she need to go to school? What kind of clothes do you put on a bird?”

“Jester can knit,” Nott countered. “Not…not super-well, but I’m sure she could do it. And school is for losers.”

“I went to school,” Caleb said absent-mindedly.

“Oh, sorry—”

“No, no, it is alright. I was quite a loser.”

Molly laughed, and pulled the car up against the curb outside Caleb’s apartment. The tires made a suspiciously agonizing groan as they scraped against the concrete, but otherwise didn’t seem to take any damage.

“You don’t have to take that question seriously,” he shrugged. “I was just thinking out loud. Now,” he added with a grin, “get out of my car.”

“This is Fjord’s car,” Nott said, sticking her tongue out. “Also, you shouldn’t be allowed to drive.”

“Do not be so rude,” Caleb chastised, though his tone suggested that he might be inclined to agree. “Mollymauk was kind enough to take us home, and that is already quite good.”

“Anything for you, Mister Caleb,” Molly chuckled. “Though next time, I wouldn’t mind if you decided to keep a certain little green menace at home.”

Nott glared at him through the rear-view mirror, unbuckled her seatbelt, and was out of the car in a flash. Caleb followed quickly, but just as he was about to open the door, he turned and glanced back at Molly with a faint smile.

“I do mean it, Mister Mollymauk. Thank you.”

Molly fought to keep a neutral expression. “Of course,” he nodded. See you tomorrow for movies?”

“And Thursday for some coffee,” Caleb added softly. “Er…gute Nacht.”

And with that, he nudged the door shut, and vanished into the night with Nott at his side.

Molly put the car back into drive. He flipped the windshield wipers back on, and headed home with the snow twirling down onto the streets around him.

•

Jester flopped onto the mattress and hummed softly to herself as she waited for Fjord to finish getting ready for the night. He had spent the last few hours standing awkwardly off to the side, watching Jester and Beau convince Kiri to take a bath; watching them figure out that cereal and day-old fruit were acceptable foods for four-year-old kenkus; watching them butcher a t-shirt’s sleeves to fit a pair of wings; then finally watching them summarize Tusk Love without the nasty bits to try and lull her to sleep.

Now it was late, and Beau was passed out on the couch, Kiri securely tucked into her bed.

Fjord glanced at his reflection in Jester’s mirror and ran a hand through his hair.

“You don’t have to try and be handsome tonight, Oskar,” Jester supplied helpfully. “I’m way too tired to have sex after all of that.”

He immediately spluttered, spun around blushing furiously. “I-I wasn’t—Jes, that’s not why I asked to stay the night!”

Jester sat up, crossed her hands over her stomach. “Oh, well, in that case, what’s up?”

Fjord sighed and rested his elbows in his knees, chin in his palms. “I, uh, actually, I just wanted to…talk.”

“Talk?” She cocked her head to one side. “What about?”

Fjord sighed again, rubbed his temples. “Ugh, it’s…I don’t, I mean…I’m really not sure how to say this…right.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Say what, Fjord?”

He hesitated, which only made her expression even more concerned. “Fjord?” she prompted gently. “What is it? You know you can tell me anything, right?”

He nodded slowly. “Yeah, I know.” Then he took a deep breath and asked:

“Jester? Do you really want to move in together?”

She blinked. She leaned forward, a puzzled smile across her face. “Um…of course?” she said. “What kind of question is that, silly? What…do you think that I don’t?”

He swiftly backpedaled. “No, no! I…I know you do, I knew you did, it’s just…I dunno, I feel like maybe I’m the only one…taking it seriously? I mean, I know you’re busy, gods, I feel like a jerk even bringing it up, but…I’ve sort of been doing all the paperwork, and getting the furniture together, and fixin’ up the rooms by myself? And I kind of don’t…like…I’m afraid you’re not doing anything because you don’t want to actually live together? Oh, gods, that sounded so bad, that’s not what I mean, you’ve got a ton on your plate, I mean—”

“Fjord,” she said gently. “It’s okay. Just finish the thought.”

He exhaled slowly, and nodded. “It’s just…there’s that, and also…a few things have happened lately that make me a little worried about the future. I’ve, uh, I’ve learned a bit more about my magic, I think, and I’m not entirely sure what to do about it. And…I’ve also thought a bit about what you told me, about the Traveler and how he’s given you powers, and I’m not really sure what that means either. And then there’s…there’s other things, too.”

“Other things?”

“…yeah. Like, findin’ Kiri, and what we’re gonna do with her. I mean, I know I said it before, but you really do understand that we can’t keep her around forever, right? We’re both crazy busy, and, and not ready for that kind of responsibility.”

Jester leaned back against the headboard. She stared at the mattress. “Yeah…yeah, I know,” she murmured. “But it’s so sad what happened to her, Fjord! I just want to keep helping her, forever. And, and isn’t it a little exciting to be able to help someone and to take care of someone who needs you?” She looked up hopefully. “It makes me feel really good, like I’m a good person that can make a difference! And that makes me kind of super-happy.”

“Jester?”

“Yes?”

“…do you want kids?”

There was a very long pause.

“…maybe?”

Fjord threw his hands up into the air. “That’s what I mean,” he sighed. “There’s…there’s so much stuff that we really haven’t talked about. And so many things that I still don’t know. And this…this moving in thing, I’m really happy we’re doing it, and I, I’m thrilled that you’re willing to take this step with me, but it’s a huge step. What if…what if we’re not ready? What if some…what if something comes along to ruin it for us?”

“Are you…worried that the Traveler isn’t going to like us moving in?”

He shrugged helplessly. “I dunno. And I dunno if the Traveler is the only one who’s got a stake in this.”

Jester was quiet for a moment. Then she gestured to the empty space on the bed next to her, and gave Fjord a meaningful look.

He came over, sat down. She gently guided him down until his cheek was lying against her thigh.

She put a hand in his hair, and sighed.

“I love you, Fjord.”

“I love you too, Jes.”

She nodded, and started stroking his hair gently. “You know…” she murmured, “you know…sometimes, things happen. Sometimes you make a bad choice. I made a bad choice once, and had to leave my home, remember? But then I met you. And then I met Beau, and Yasha, and Molly, and Caleb and Nott. And I think, even though it hurt when it happened, and even though I’m still sad that I can’t go back and visit my Momma, I think it was worth it.

“I don’t want you to get hurt, Fjord. And I don’t want you to be sad, but I think that maybe…maybe even if it’s not the best choice, we should still try to do this thing together. Because…because in the end, no matter what happens, I think it will be worth it.”

Fjord felt her lean down, and kiss the top of his head. A hard knot, stuck deep in his chest for the last few days, began to unwind.

He smiled faintly. “I think it’ll be worth it too, Jes.”

“I’ll prove to you that I mean it,” she said softly. “I’m sorry you had to be worried that I wasn’t serious about this.”

He quickly shook his head. “No, no, I…I was just gettin’ into my own head, there, I didn’t—”

She shushed him gently. “I’ll prove it,” she insisted. “I haven’t done as much for the apartment—”

“—I mean—”

“—it’s true. I…I didn’t realize, but you’re really it’s true, Fjord. I should be helping you. What’s something that you haven’t finished yet that I can do?”

He considered this for a moment. “I…I guess we still need to paint the bedroom?”

She grinned widely at that. “Oh, painting? Oh, I can do that! What color?”

A faint smile crept across Fjord’s face. “You’re the expert, Jes. What color do you want?”

She brought her hands to her face and squealed. “Oh my gosh, any color?”

“Er…hang on, will I regret this decision?”

Jester laughed. “Do you trust me, Oskar?”

He chuckled as well. “Of course I do, Guinevere.”

“You’re going to love it, I promise you, oh I know exactly what to do!”

Fjord reached up a hand, and she took it. He tilted his head to meet her gaze.

“I’d love whatever you painted, Jes. I’m sure it’ll be perfect.”

She leaned down. “I’m happy you think that.”

After she pulled back, they lay there in the warm silence for a few soft moments. Then Fjord glanced at the clock and swore.

“Gods, we’ve got classes tomorrow, don’t we?”

“Actually, I’ve got a final exam.”

“You what?”

Jester grinned.  “Don’t worry, don’t worry. I’ve got this. But I think maybe we should go to bed.”

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”

He got up, waited for Jester to pull the blankets over herself and get comfortable before he slipped underneath as well.

He leaned in for one last kiss. And, giggling, she obliged.

•

Today 12:03AM

Mollymauk Tealeaf sent a photo Mollymauk Tealeaf sent a photo Mollymauk Tealeaf sent a photo

Molly Tealeaf: let it be known Molly Tealeaf: that on this day, the 14th of horisal Molly Tealeaf: YOU texted ME first, asking ME to get coffee with YOU Molly Tealeaf: PROVED by these screenshots Molly Tealeaf: look at that initiative! youre blowing me away, dear Molly Tealeaf: admittedly you did it through Nott Molly Tealeaf: and technically I guess it happened yesterday now Molly Tealeaf: but it still happened!! Molly Tealeaf: and it’s the thought that counts Molly Tealeaf: gods im only just realizing now how creepy this is Molly Tealeaf: I hope you don’t mind oh jeez Molly Tealeaf: but hey, at least you’ll never read this Molly Tealeaf: ive gotten so used to using this chat as a weird sort of diary Molly Tealeaf: plus this was such a rare moment, I couldn’t resist! Molly Tealeaf: anyways, thank you for listening so well as always Molly Tealeaf: and feel free to ask me to steal fjord’s car whenever you need Molly Tealeaf: good night, dear, and sleep tight Molly Tealeaf: don’t let the goblins bite!

• 

It was Wednesday morning, and Beau, Nott, and Kiri stood at the mouth of Woolbridge Street, one of the biggest shopping districts in the city. Strings of colorful fabric and blinking lights hung across the sky, and dozens and dozens of people were out and about this morning, likely getting a head-start on holiday shopping. These stores weren’t known for being as fancy as the Tri-Spires’ various boutiques, or as renowned as the Pentamarket’s, but they were definitely cheaper, way more entertaining, and most of the owners here were willing to adjust their clothing for the…less conventional body-types that lurked on the outskirts of society. It was here that Nott had once gotten a pair of gloves made to mimic human hands, for instance, with the perks of no questions asked.

“Sooo,” Beau said, trying not to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of choices, “where…uh…where do you think we should start?”

From somewhere around her left knee, Nott spoke up. “I think I remember one place with a blue door that was for kids…maybe?” Then she paused. “Actually, it might’ve just been for gnomes and halflings. I don’t know, the whole time I was here I was mostly just sort of panicking.”

“Just sort of panicking,” came the echo from Beau’s right knee. “The whole time,” Kiri added emphatically.

Beau sighed, and rubbed her face. “Okay, okay, we can just try ‘em all. One is bound to have clothes that’ll work.”

“It probably won’t be too hard,” Nott agreed, trying to be optimistic. “Jester gave us plenty of money, we just have to find stuff that Kiri likes!”

“That Kiri likes!”

Beau nodded. She squeezed Nott’s oddly-textured grip with one hand, and Kiri’s thin, claw-like grasp with the other. “Alright, gang,” she said. “Let’s…fuckin’ do some shopping.”

•

Caleb glanced at Frumpkin, who was staring back at him expectantly from atop the refrigerator.

“Do you have any advice for me?” he asked.

The cat meowed, which was not unexpected.

He set his mop aside and took a seat on one of the kitchen chairs. “My fortunes are turning, Frumpkin,” he sighed. “Nott and I have more money than we know what to do with. I have so much paper, I could make a thousand little cranes and not feel guilty. We even tried that new kind of food that has no meat in it! Which Nott absolutely hated, though in retrospect I suppose I should have thought of that in advance.”

Then Caleb put his forehead against the table. “I also have friends now, Frumpkin. Friends that I care deeply about. I would do anything to see them happy. And…and there is one of them who, who keeps trying to talk to me, and be nice to me, and spend time with me. And just the other day, I reciprocated. And it felt good. And then it felt so, so wrong.”

Caleb peeked one eye up at his cat. “Now…now I don’t want to lose these people,” he said quietly. “Since meeting them, since meeting Nott, really, I have not thought about my old goals. I cannot. But…but that is wrong. Am I not betraying my parents? Am I not betraying everything I used to love, in favor of those I love now? What…what am I supposed to do?”

Frumpkin meowed again.

Caleb scoffed. “I am sure they would want me to be happy too,” he muttered darkly. “But I also wanted them to be happy. And they were, until I ruined it. Now, with this…this new family, I do not think I deserve to be happy.”

Frumpkin blinked those large golden eyes, and Caleb hesitated.

“But—”

Frumpkin meowed again. Caleb looked down, and considered this for a moment. 

“I…I suppose you are right,” he murmured quietly. “I suppose they do.”

•

TUSK LOVE 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO Today 4:17PM

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ* sent a photo

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: ISNT SHE SO ADORABLE (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: LOOK AT THAT LITTLE DRESS, AND THAT LITTLE GREEN CAPE? (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: OH ITS PRECIOUS Drunkmonk: oh yeah I think we did pretty good NottSoBrave: we did AMAZING Lavender Thunder: oh yes very cute Seaman: nice job gals NottSoBrave: gals Seaman: is there something wrong with my word choice nott? NottSoBrave: nott at all Seaman: oh great Seaman: and also Jes, how’d your exam go? (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: oh it was totally good! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: im a math master thanks to Caleb (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: Nott tell Caleb that he’s the best NottSoBrave: I will let him know

•

Mollymauk, illuminated in the darkness by his computer screen, glanced up from the living room sofa as Fjord walked in with a frown.

“Molly?” the half-orc said. “Why’re you still in your pajamas?”

Molly tugged his earbuds out and raised an eyebrow. “They’re comfortable, dear. And perfect for lounging.”

“Yeah, but shouldn’t you be getting ready?”

“Getty ready? For what?”

Fjord took a seat on the armrest and gestured to the windows. A technicolor sunset splashed across the sky, leaving trails of bright pink, fading yellow, and the faintest hints of purple hanging over the city.

“We’re heading over to Caleb’s in an hour,” he said. “Aren’t you usually on makeup at this point?”

Molly swore, immediately pushed his laptop onto the couch cushion beside him. “Gods, I completely lost track of time!” he groaned, and headed for his bedroom with a curious Fjord at his heels. “I just got so absorbed by these videos! They’re ridiculously addicting.”

“Videos?” Fjord echoed. “What sort of videos?”

Mollymauk sat down at his bureau and began amassing a series of colorful bottles and tiny brushes.

“They were mostly makeup tutorials,” he said. “A few on fashion too, actually.”

“Tutorials?” Now Fjord had a huge grin creeping across his face. “What, the great Mollymauk Tealeaf needs advice?”

Molly scoffed, and opened up a little jar of…of something. “You wound me,” he said indignantly, “I do not need advice. I was watching those videos and critiquing them. Most of those people couldn’t apply eyeliner to save their lives. And most of the information is, is completely useless! I mean, I suppose if you’re a human or an elf it’s alright, but there’s nothing for the rest of us! Those people wouldn’t last a day at the Moondrop. One look at Bosun, or me, or, hah! One look at Kylre, and they would’ve dropped dead.”

“Statistically speaking, I suppose so,” Fjord muttered, and Molly shot him a glare.

“I’m just saying,” the tiefling sighed, “I feel awful for the colorful little teenagers looking for advice online, and not being able to find a lick of it.”

Fjord leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms. “So why don’t you make one?” he asked. “You love talking, and being showy, and you know plenty about makeup and stuff.”

Molly laughed. “Sure, dear, but I don’t know a thing about, about recording, and uploading videos or whatever. It took me long enough to work out how to use that laptop, gods, and I never want to ask Beau for help again.”

“So ask Jester,” Fjord said. “She knows plenty, I’m sure she’d help.”

Molly hesitated, lowered his…brush, or something, Fjord wasn’t sure. “Do you really think she’d help me?” he asked.

“Yeah, Mol, of course! Jester loves this kind of thing. She has her hands full with, with classes and the big move and a bird-kid, right now, but she’d definitely get you started.”

Molly considered this for a moment. He glanced into the mirror, and stared at his reflection. “I…well, I’d need…hmm.”

Then he picked his brush up again. and leaned forwards.

“I’ll think about it,” he said slowly. “But you know, Fjord Tough, I think you might have just earned yourself some producer credits.”

Fjord blinked. “Uh…is that a good thing?” he asked.

Molly grinned. “It’s great. And if you decide to guest star when I need a half-orc model, I’ll be sure to give you, hmmm, 12% of the profits.”

Fjord stood there in silence for a few beats, before sighing and throwing his arms up into the air. “Sure, I guess?” he tried. “Uh, anyways, I’m gonna go look over my notes for a bit. I’ll just…er…see you later, then?”

Molly waved a hand lazily behind him as Fjord left. “Call me when we’re leaving,” he said. “I need to finish this, and get a few things together.”

•

TUSK LOVE 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO Today 6:49PM

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: whooooooooos excited for moooovies??!!!!! Lavender Thunder: im pretty excited NottSoBrave: IM SO EXCITED NottSoBrave: is kiri coming?? Seaman: Beau is trying to convince her to get into the car right now Seaman: it sounds like she’s almost there (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: SHES IN!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: WE’RE COMIN

•

“Okay!” Jester declared, plopping down onto Caleb’s tattered sofa with Kiri in her lap. “Because we have a child present, watching Tusk Love again is completely out of the question.”

“Oh, thank god,” Beau breathed, and set a twelve-pack of soda cans onto the coffee table. “I swear, if I have to see Guinevere gush over Oskar one more time, I’m going to literally die. Yasha isn’t even here to fuckin’ distract me from their godawful dialogue.”

As Jester slapped a hand to her chest and gaped in horror and astonishment, Molly shook his head and reached for a soda. “I miss her too, dear, but that sort of thing is uncalled for, don’t you think?”

“It’s a modern masterpiece,” Nott agreed. She was perched on the back of the armchair, enjoying this moment of being tall.

“It’s alright,” Fjord shrugged, and collapsed onto the couch next to Jester. “There are definitely worse movies.”

“Oh yeah?” Beau asked. “Name one.”

“Feathered Leather.”

“…okay, yeah, alright.”

“Anyways,” Jester said, waving her hand to call their attention, “I brought a bunch of different movies to try out! I found them in the kids section at the library, and I figured we could choose between them.”

“Oh, Jester,” Beau groaned, “we have to watch a kid’s movie?”

“We have to watch a kid’s movie?” Kiri echoed.

Molly grinned. “See, the bird has the right idea. And besides, I’m sure she could handle a bit of mature content.”

Said bird nodded. “She could handle a bit.”  

“No way,” Jester said firmly. “I’m not risking the innocence of this precious angel. At least, not yet. And besides, some of these movies seem really interesting! There’s one about raccoons, or one about a crazy break-in heist, and one about some kids that go to a jungle, I think?”

Nott glanced over her shoulder, and pointed to a DVD case with a faint honeycomb pattern on it. “What about this one?” she asked. “I like the way it looks.”

“What’s the old saying?” Molly quipped, “don’t judge a movie by its cover?”

Nott stuck her tongue out, and Jester laughed. “I think it’s okay to judge just this once! Caleb, it’s your house, want to do the honors?”

“Ja, of course.”

As the television screen began to fizzle and the DVD player began to whirr, Caleb returned to his spot on the couch and the others dove into the pizzas and snacks. Beau had already opened a can of beer, was clinking it against Fjord’s as Jester made a face between them.

Then he felt a finger poke him in the shoulder. He turned to see Molly holding out a paper plates with a slice of pepperoni pizza. He wore a contented grin, and a raised eyebrow as he gestured for Caleb to take it. “You’ve got to eat too, right?” he said. “Here you are, dear.”

Caleb smiled back faintly, and reached out to take it. Then he felt his heartbeat skyrocket as his hand brushed against Molly’s, their skin making contact. He immediately pulled away, yanked back just quickly enough to scatter crumbs into both of their laps. His escalating panic got worse.

“Scheiss, sorry, sorry,” he yelped. “Your pants—”

Molly reached for a napkin and laughed. “Don’t worry, don’t worry, gods know I’ve had worse on them before.”

“Oh, ah…indeed?”

“Indeed, Mister Caleb,” he snorted, and started clearing his lap. “Believe me.”

“I am sorry, though,” he repeated in a strained sort of tone. “I meant it.”

Molly looked up. In the low light, Caleb’s couldn’t see the redness of his cheeks, and those pupil-less eyes hid the way his gaze flickered back and forth in nervousness.

“I mean it too,” Molly whispered. “There really is no worry, I’m not upset. Now let’s watch this children’s movie, eh?”

“Stop talking so much!” Beau hissed from Caleb’s left. “This is actually really good so far.”

Nott had a worried expression across her face. “Should these bears be swearing so much?” she asked. “Is that okay for Kiri to watch?”

“I…uh…I think it should be fine,” Jester said distractedly. “And it’s really it’s only mild swears so far.”

“He’s a total asshole,” Kiri piped up in a voice that sounded like an old-timey mobster’s, “but he’s really good at his work.”

Molly and Caleb exchanged glances. Both of them chuckled softly, and after another quick moment, another short breath where their eyes met, and continued to meet, they looked away.

“Guys, I’m calling it right now,” Beau muttered. “If there’s a sequel to this movie, we’re watching it next time.”

“What was this called again?” Fjord asked. “Honey, something?”

“Something like that,” Jester nodded. “I don’t remember, I’m watching—oooh, look at that! Is that a panda?”

“That’s the dumbest looking thing I’ve ever seen,” Nott said. “It’s not even scary.”

“It’s not even scary,” Kiri agreed.

Fjord grinned at Caleb and Molly. “I guess I’ll never find out,” he said. “We’ve lost them all to a kid’s movie about bears.”

“Gods above, the panda just stabbed someone,” Molly breathed, completely ignoring him. “Holy shit, was this really in the children’s section?”

“You know, I am not so sure anymore,” Jester said, and reached for more popcorn.

He nodded slowly. “I think this might be my new favorite film.”

Caleb gave Fjord a small smile. “Molly as well, now. But, I suppose…if you cannot beat them, join them?”

Fjord snorted. “And we’ve all been friends long enough to know that there’s no beatin’ them, yeah?”

Caleb’s grin widened. “Ja, definitely,” he said. “But you know, I would not have it any other way.”

And with that, they turned back towards the movie, joined the rest in cheering as the bears—and strangely, one honey badger—barreled through a city plaza and started terrorizing a crowd. And the TV screen, flickering on in the restful darkness, washed over them all with its soft and soothing light.  

[royvdhelart]

So...as I've been sick for the last week, I kind of needed something to cheer me up a bit and something to get the Art-passion flowing again. So, I decided to finally redo Emil's reference sheet, as I never liked the old one, after designing him a new outfit <3

This was a bunch of work but boy, I can not recall having this much fun with a drawing and I'm actually hella proud of it for once :D I hope you like it as well!

--- Just to be clear btw: This Art is NOT for free use. ---

Callname: Emil/Baltazar Full-Name: Baltazar Emil A'zam Duman Jaren Qazir Languages: Common, Dwarfish (future: draconic)

Age: 26, born on the first day of June Sex/Gender: Male Height: 1,95m/6'4 Race: Human Class: (Lore) Bard (level 9) (future: Draconic sorcerer)

Background: Entertainer/Noble Sexuality: Bi-Romantic

Favorite Instrument: Violin. Alignment/Personality: Neutral Good, optimistic, Drama Queen, charismatic, polite, group-mom, party-guy, curious, creative. Flaws: Drama Queen, has a big mouth and turns into an awkward/clumsy dork when he has a crush on someone. More about his family: https://sta.sh/014wc8gu8y2p Background: Baltazar was born on the first day of June in the city Setus. He was the 7th and youngest son of a wealthy merchant family, having 4 brothers ( (35) Amin, (33)Kareem, (30)Jarah, (27)Gabriel, and ( and 2 sisters (Farah (31) and Iris (35) above him.  Baltazar had always been the "runt of the litter". Tall but lanky, Emil wasn't strong, and always out searching for trouble. This often caused him to clash with his parents, who really wished Emil would become more serious instead of going on about silly adventures and hanging around in inn's every night. Actually just fearing for his well-being.

As a proper noblemen's son Baltazar was learned etiquette from a young age, getting schooled by a wise old teacher (Nazim), who had years of experience teaching his older brothers and sisters. Emil wasn't the best student however and caused quite the frustration to his teacher. He skipped classes, pulled tricks on his teacher and rarely did the work he was expected to or find some kind of way to do his tasks with the least effort possible. Emil was much too busy learning plays out of his head, creating new songs or just dreaming about what it would be like to be actually free, to travel the lands, slay monsters, be a hero, to do such boring and repetitive tasks. It didn't matter anyway, he was the youngest, he would one day be married of to a rich woman/man and that would be it. He often worried about this future, a future, which in his opinion, could only become boring. The moments he spent on stage, telling people silly stories when he played his violin, were the moments he actually felt alive, at those moments he could feel a kind of power flowing through him, which could vaguely be described as a warmth but different. To him, it seemed that all that they wanted to do is take that from him, make him "more serious" as he would never honor his family's name as a simple entertainer. One day Emil had pushed his parents too far, he missed his teacher's lessons again and had a big fight with his father. All Emil's frustration and fear for the future came out at that point. Which ended with Emil, angerly saying that he was going to leave the city and that he would prove them that he would become worth something, he would become a great entertainer, a Hero even, his name would become known! With that, he packed his stuff and left the next morning. Quite quickly Emil found out that traveling was definitely not as easy or fun as he expected and regretted his decision quite quickly as he started to run out of gold, the city Setus was mostly surrounded by desert and small villages, where there was no way for him to make any profit. After traveling for days, he decided that he really wasn't ready to cross an entire dessert after having a nasty run-in with Goblins. He finally reached a cross point between three larger cities. He decided to travel between the cities, to try out work as an entertainer to earn some gold. For a few years, he played music at inns, took on small roles in plays and did some odd jobs to earn some extra gold. In these years he discovered the kind of power within himself again, a power which he studied and could control more and more each day as he got mentored by another bard called "Rafael". Who saw potential in him. Eventually, he learned how to control magic with his voice, movements, and music. Even though he enjoyed entertaining, with his new found powers and being able to do whatever he wanted, he realized he became somewhat stuck there, unable to grow, he was running out of ideas for songs or tales. But what was he supposed to do? He couldn't go back home and wasn't confident enough of his abilities yet to go on actual adventures alone, as he and Rafael split up after a year, his powers seemed mostly passive, supporting at most. Contemplating his options, he almost stumbled over a black panther which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. He looked back at the table which the large black cat was laying against, sitting around it he saw what could only be described as a perfect example of a knight in shining armor drinking a large pint of... milk? and a younger somewhat odd hooded figure, bright red with a large bird emblem depicted on his back in gold. Emil was immediately intrigued by the curious figures, decided to buy them a round and started talking to them. The knight was apparently the Paladin called Adil Fahd, somewhat of a folk hero, who he actually recognized by name as he had heard it before. The hooded young man was called Yashan, a Phoenix sorcerer from far away, this apparently meant he knew a lot about setting things and himself... on fire, he was apparently on a holy mission to find a religious artifact called the Sun-Stone. He spends the rest of the evening talking with the adventurers and eventually convinced them to let them join their group. A few months later, they met their newest members to the party "Kakaah" a odd but smart Kenku Rogue and a sassy Fighter called Ustrom and with the party complete they would face many adventures, from fighting as gladiators in the area of a savage dwarf Island, to Dyeing Ogers hair to get out of trouble, surviving many of Adil's bad ideas, dangerous sea-trips, a trip to the Underdark, meeting the Evil beholder called Kazejux, retrieving priceless artifacts,  fighting a Demon called Kalahai who is wanting to take over the world... and many more and many more more to come. Extra/Random Facts about Emil: - Emil is a very charismatic and likes to flirt but is absolutely terrified of sex because of a mix of bad/silly experience and anxiety. He gets nervous about the subject and panics as soon as things become too hot and heavy. - Emil has a huge weakness for smart and dorky, guys/girls <3 - He learned the tips and tricks about being a Bard from a Bard called Rafael, with whom he has a somewhat competitive-love/hate friend-relationship as their friendship got a little complicated at the end of their showbusiness-partnership. Rafael is a stereotypical bard, very charismatic, party-animal and somewhat of a nymphomaniac. - Emil used to own a tiger when he was younger, who he shared with his brother Gabriel, which is supposed to be depicted on his bracers. Gabriel, after being reunited with Emil again 3 years after Emil left home, decided to also engrave his name into the bracers, in a way, so he'd be with him on his adventures. -Emil grew up with two mothers and a father, his biological mother is called Anjah, she is smart, smoll and scary, his second mother is called Dolunay, Cool, collected and wise, and his father's name is Azam who is intimidating but too sweet for his own good. His parents are in a Poly-romantic relationship and don't appreciate the "He is rich so he has more than one wife"-talk/ habit, the relationship is shared between all of them and they all love each other equally.

- Aside from the strings, his Violin is made out of Wood, Gold, and Ivory. It's called "Yarro" and is named after the Yarrow Plant. - He was thought to shoot his crossbow by his older brother Amin, who is good at handling most weapons known to that region, and an avid collector. Currently, Baltazar owns a magic Heavy Crossbow which is able to cast the spell "Tenser's transformation". - Emil is familiar with wearing drag or being scarcely clothed on stage as he used to be a part of a show in an "Entertainers-bar" for about a year. His drag is now one of his costumes next to his dessert robes... this job wasn't one of his favorites... but it was where Rafael discovered him, which would change his life forever. (He is dangerous with a pair of heels.) - Emil recently acquired a sentient cape, called Thanatos, a cured copper dragon with a ton of attitude. He allows Baltazar to Fly, be resistant to fire and look very extra. - His feather ear-ring is supposed to resemble a phoenix feather, however, he has no clue if it's real, as he bought it on a market from a somewhat sketchy guy. - Emil lost his finger for a while after using a magic artifact to save his ass... (Future: luckily he was able to get it back!) - Emil has a birthmark on his left hip. - (When compared to the real world) Emil would have a combination of Arabic/Indian/maybe a bit of Egyptic heritage. - Emil Knows gods exist but isn't necessarily a follower of any. More Baltazar: - https://romyvdhel-art.deviantart.com/art/OC-Spectrum-Meme-DnD-Characters-724820026 - https://romyvdhel-art.deviantart.com/art/DND-Reference-Baltazar-Emil-Qazir-707607613 - https://romyvdhel-art.deviantart.com/art/DnD-Sketchdump-VIII-717548901

[damagedspinach]

Crown of Madness: Chapter One (A D&D Story)

Chapter One: The Crow’s Nest

Near the very tip of the Kingdom of San, just below the town of Feck and stationed directly to the right of the Sanorian Desert, was a small oasis town called Borre. For being an oasis, Borre wasn’t exactly prosperous, only a few squat buildings littered here and there, and was mainly used by travelers as refuge from the harsher terrain bordering it. On a typical night, however, the liveliest place to be would’ve been The Crow’s Nest tavern—though that wasn’t to say it was particularly crowded. There was nothing entirely remarkable about the tavern or its surroundings, yet something remarkable would soon be occurring there all the same.

One slow and quiet evening, just as the sunset was painting a fire in the south, a reserved figure in a sand-colored cloak unceremoniously entered the tavern, only stopping to tap their boots at the entrance before taking a seat at the bar.

“An ale please,” said the figure, pushing two copper pieces towards the barkeep. He took them and, before he could ask what kind, they replied, “It doesn’t matter. Anything will do.”

The barkeep nodded and went to fetch the figure their drink. As they were doing so, the figure drew back their hood to reveal a dark-skinned woman almost completely obscured by a mess of tan wrapping coiled all the way up to her forehead. Letting her hair down, she scanned around the tavern cautiously. There were a few people seated around tables listening to an elven man play his lute atmospherically on the stage, some lizardfolk and a goliath man muttering to themselves close by, but nothing too out of the ordinary. Satisfied, the woman grabbed the ale that was handed to her and took a long swig. All she had to do was stay at the tavern tonight and she’d be on her way. As long as there wasn’t any hiccups, she’d be fine, just fine. She was following the sun down the land, hoping to get as far as she could from this barren country…

While the woman was drinking and trailing deeper into her thoughts, she failed to notice a tiny crooked talon reaching her cloak and stealing away six gold pieces. The young kenku skittered off to his next victim, using the darkened lighting and low tabletops to his advantage. He’d been hiding in the tavern all day, stealing bits of coin undetected from everyone who’d come in. After rummaging through some of the humans’ belongings and thieving just the right amount from the lizardfolk, the kenku decided to pickpocket the goliath for a second time, just to make sure he hadn’t missed anything of value. From the safety underneath the table, the boy began to softly rifle through the gigantic man’s pockets. After a moment of finding nothing and believing to have taken everything, eventually his little claws plucked out a glittering ring, illuminated ever so slightly by the candlelight. Just as he thought he’d gotten away scot-free, the kenku turned around—only to have his wing grappled by the bulging hand of the man he’d been feeling up. He cried out in song.

“Give it back,” growled the goliath in a deep tone, “or I’ll wring your neck.”

The kenku’s marble-like eyes widened in fear. Again, he let out a melodious call for help. At that moment, the elven man performing glanced in that direction and, upon seeing the bird-like creature in trouble, stood up and made his way over to the scene. All the while, his fingers never ceased their intricate movement on his lute.

“What seems to be the issue, my friends?” asked the elven bard in a thick northern accent.

“This bird stole my ring,” spat the goliath. “I’m simply making certain he returns it.”

With a violent yank, the enormous man pulled the kenku into the air upside down and began shaking him. Frightened, the kenku tightened his grip on the ring, but was unable to stop to horde of coins from falling out of his purse and scattering on the ground. Seeing this, the rest of the tavern—including the two lizardfolk and the bandaged woman—checked their pockets and baggage for anything missing. Upon realizing they’d been stolen from, the entire bar, save the woman, stood up and began to swarm towards the helpless bird-child. Before they could overtake him, however, the crowd instantly cooled as they felt the music soothe their heated emotions. It wasn’t the tune that changed, but how they heard it. As swiftly as the room shifted, the mood fixed back to one of pacifism. Even the woman, despite not joining the mob, felt a pleasant, relaxing wave corrupt her state of being, instead of the instantaneous fear that’d occurred upon the recognition of thievery, bringing an exceptionally rare smile to her worn lips. Once he had achieved what he’d wanted, the elven man quit his melody and slung the lute over his shoulder. He looked up in front of him. The goliath was still scowling and the kenku was still petrified, both seemingly undrugged by the song.

“Well, I’m sure we can work something out,” the bard replied as tranquilly as possible as to not escalate the situation further. “I’d be willing to pay you double what was stolen from you if you’d kindly right this poor creature.”

“I want my ring!” roared the goliath. “Give me my ring, bird, or I’ll break your spine!”

“That is uncalled for.” The elf looked up at the dangling kenku and gave a pleading smile. “Please return this good man’s ring, would you?”

The young boy didn’t need to be asked twice. He let go of the ring, which the elf promptly caught and returned to the goliath. The next second, the kenku dropped onto the wood. He quickly scampered back to his feet and ran timidly behind the elf, cawing as he coward.

“No harm, no foul,” said the elf to the black bird gently. He then raised his voice as he turned to the rest of the tavern. “Please, everyone, come orderly and retrieve only that which was taken from you.”

At this, the woman stood up and hastily pocketed her missing gold along with the rest of the customers in the room, including the barkeep. And while everyone was distracted, the bard quietly escorted the kenku outside of the tavern to the back alley. He bent down to the bird boy’s eye level and gave him a stern glare.

“What is your name?” the elven man asked.

“Fuck!” chirped the kenku happily. He was grateful for his rescuer and immediately took out a silver piece to give to him.

The bard shook his head. “Thank you, but I must respectfully decline. I do not need the money as much as you seem to. You must be in grave circumstances to attempt to steal from such intimidating people.” He gave a moment pause for thought. “Still, and I say this as a friend and a person who understands, I feel it is in your best interest not to return to that establishment. If you are in need of funds,”—he reached inside a pocket in his cloak and produced ten gold—“I pray this will suffice. For now, at least.”

The bird boy replied in a perfect replication of the man’s voice. “Thank you.” He took the gold and stowed it away in his purse.

“Where is your home, little one?” asked the elf. “Perhaps I can accompany you there to ensure no harm comes your way.”

Fuck shook his head, looking up at the man sadly. Without hesitation, the bard instantly understood and put a hand on the young boy’s shoulder. “I see. So you do not have a home. Just like me and my brother.” He thought carefully for a moment. “Well, I suppose there’s always room for more of Rhevoltaz’s creature’s in my company. Would you like to join me in my travels for a while? At least until we can situate you in a proper home.”

Eagerly, the little kenku nodded, giving as much of a smile as his thin beak would allow.

“Fantastic!” How well can you carry a tune? If you are to join my gallivant, you will also have to join my band. I am a traveling bard, after all.”

Inhaling deeply, Fuck let out a shriller, yet much more refined than earlier, musical note. When it was done, the elf nodded his head slowly, as if to say, “That will do.”

“Welcome Fuck, my friend,” said the man. “I am Iliris Maldragin, and it is a pleasure to have you in my company. And this here is…” Iliris reached into his cloak, seeming to be looking for something. After a few seconds, when nothing was retrieved, his lips thinned in confusion and worry. “Where…where is Checkers?”

Back inside The Crow’s Nest, the cloaked woman returned to her seat to find a small red rodent standing on the barstool and drinking from her ale. The weasel looked up at her unabashed as its tiny pink tongue gluttonously licked up the foam. For a moment, the woman couldn’t muster any response whatsoever. The sight in front of her was so bizarre and out of left field it was difficult to form any sort of action other than the perplexed look she was giving. Then, after a bit of silence, she reached her hand out slowly towards the animal. Immediately, the weasel hissed and jumped from the bar, toppling the ale onto the woman as it dropped to the ground and scampered around legs and table legs to escape. Not entirely sure why (perhaps it was from the irritation of being doused in alcohol), the woman dashed after the rodent, tailing it as it lurched out the door just as someone was entering.

“Ah, there you are, Checkers,” said Iliris as the red weasel bounded around the corner and leapt straight into his cloak for hiding. Before he could ask his furry friend what was the matter, the pursuing woman appeared, stopping dead in her tracks as all three living beings turned to face her. Checkers chittered as he popped his head out of Iliris’s well-worn collar. The elf looked at her quizzically. “Why, who might this radiant woman be?”

Still under the influence of his charm, the woman replied in a quiet tone, “…Enddlin. Who are you?”

“Iliris Maldragin.” The bard reached for her hand to politely kiss it. Even under his spell, however, she pulled away. Enddlin didn’t seem to care to be touched. Noticing this, Iliris retracted his greeting and immediately bowed. “Apologies. I do not wish to offend.”

Enddlin gave the curtest shake of the head, as if to say, “No worries,” before shifting are attention to Fuck. “What are you doing with the thief?” she questioned, narrowing her eyes.

“Join my gallivant,” Fuck recited, inching behind Iliris once more.

“Yes, I was just inviting poor Fuck here to join my travels,” Iliris responded. “He has no home, you see. I did not want him to be torn apart in that tavern simply over a bit off harmless pickpocketing.”

“I wouldn’t call it harmless…” Enddlin muttered, then switched her attention back to Iliris. She looked him over curiously for a moment. “Are you a traveler?”

“Why, yes. I am currently in the midst of relocation. Why do you ask, Endalin?’

“Enddlin. And I ask only because I’m wondering if you’re in need of any more companions.”

“Hmm.” Iliris scratched his chin as he mulled over the prospect. “I do not see any immediate issues with a fourth traveler in my band. In fact, the more the merrier, as the expression goes. Of course, I’d have to check with my new friend here if that will be alright.” He turned back to look down at Fuck. “Is this agreeable to you, little one?”

Fuck gave Enddlin a long apprehensive stare. He seemed almost frightened by her and her mysterious aura. After a minute or two, though, Fuck realized that Iliris was doing him a massive favor by taking him in and, if this woman could be trusted, the more protection the better. Slowly, the bird boy grabbed hold of Iliris’s robes and nodded his beak yes into them.

Iliris clapped his hands together and smiled warmly. “Wonderful. Fantastic. Excellent. Do you by chance happen to know how to play any instruments?”

“No,” Enddlin responded.

“Very well, I can teach you. Do you have a place to stay for the night?”

And just like that, a human, an elf, and a kenku suddenly became a party, unaware of just what mysteries, conspiracies, and adventures would lie ahead of them—and not knowing that one of them would go missing upon arrival at their next destination.

Author: @besttardywrites

Story: @besttardywrites, @homeforavagabond, @kurashira13, dops32

[startledserpentwriting]

Story Summary/Reference: Primevals

Primevals is my second-newest story, and was originally an urban fantasy. Currently, it is a blend of urban fantasy and fantasy epic. I am posting this revised version of the original post because I have come up with much more for the story since the previous post, and also because the original was somewhat lacking. Mild to major spoilers throughout, but these will be marked.

Premise: The story of Primevals begins when a woman named Jen wakes up in a forest clearing on the outskirts of a city, with only a very hazy and patchy memory of who she was up until that point. She quickly discovers that she can control plant life, and is utterly bewildered by this ability. She eventually learns that her abilities are due to the Goddess of Plant Life from the Age of Magic being trapped within her, and the story focuses on her attempts to keep the Goddess at bay.

Characters:

Jen: Jen is a 23-year-old woman. She is the main character of most of Primevals, and the story begins when she wakes up with only a very hazy and patchy memory of her life up until that point. In addition, for reasons unknown to her, she has extremely powerful control over plant life, albeit with very little actual control over her abilities. She eventually discovers that this is due to the Goddess of Plant Life being trapped inside of her, with her being able to channel a minuscule fraction of the Goddess’s power. As the story progresses, Jen meets up with a friend of hers from before she lost her memory. This friend is named Bridgitte, and fills Jen in on much of her forgotten life. As it turns out, the two had been best friends from elementary school all the way until late college, until Jen’s drug habit, among other bad habits and bad decisions, forced them apart.

Fen: Fen is a Godmade (a blanket term for any supernatural creature directly created by the gods), and is Jen’s pet and companion for most of the story. His subtype of Godmade are known as Green Hounds. Fen usually takes the form of a Samoyed dog with vines entwined with its fur, but is capable of drastically changing his form on a whim. He is non-sentient, but is much more intelligent than the average dog. Like all Godmade, Green Hounds possesses a number of supernatural abilities. For them, these manifest as precise control over plant life, the previously-mentioned shapeshifting, moderate empathic and telepathic abilities, agelessness, and immense resistance to most forms of harm.

(Spoilers)

The Green Hounds were created by Siirem as war beasts and, later, companions. They are among the most powerful of the Godmade, and were responsible for the majority of the Army of Millions’ casualties and the Army’s ultimate destruction (though they did complete their mission).

(End Spoilers)

The Goddess of Plant Life/Siirem: The Goddess of Plant Life is an immensely powerful spirit who seems to have immense control and power over plant life, though whether she truly embodies the concept of plants and plant life is unknown. Several million years before present day, Siirem started the Great War by slaughtering several of her fellow gods and goddesses and absorbing their power. In response, the remaining gods and goddesses, mortals, and Godmade united against her, forming the Army of Millions. After a long, bloody, and horrific war, she was finally defeated in the awful Assault on Siirem’s Forest. Before she fell, however, she enacted a failsafe of sorts, which assured that she would rise again at some point in the far future. The story begins when she manifests in a human named Jen. She did not anticipate her new vessel having a will of its own, however, and is infuriated at this human keeping her imprisoned. The story focuses on her attempts to escape Jen’s head or kill Jen in a certain way, so that she may rise once more and take her revenge on the world. Were she to rise again, there is no mortal force that would be able to stop her. 

Bridgitte: Bridgitte was Jen’s best friend up until about two years before the events of the story, when the latter’s bad habits forced them apart. She welcomes Jen into her home when she discovers her predicament, and helps her in gaining back her memories.

The Green Knight: The Green Knight is one of several immortal beings known as Siirem’s Favored. The Favored are mortals who have curried favor with the Goddess of Plant Life and been rewarded with eternal life and great power. They are sentient and possess control of plant life, and are ageless. They are free to go about their lives, but are expected to heed the Goddess’s call should she ever need them.

(SPOILERS)

The Favored that receives the most focus within Primevals is known as The Wanderer. In mortal life, he was a member of the Pre-Shattering reptilian species known as the Gevasrat. He sought to become one of the Favored several years before the Goddess of Plant Life declared war on the other gods and goddesses. He was terminally ill and nothing he had attempted was working, so he communed with the Goddess and performed several tasks for her. She rewarded him by making him one of her Favored, thus curing him and making him immortal. However, when he was called to serve her in the Great War, he got cold feet and refused her. He became an informant for the Army of Millions. When the Shattering came, he was destroyed along with the rest, but due to some precautions, he was able to re-coalesce only a century later.

Following the war, the Green Knight befriended one of the surviving Green Hounds after removing the blue-forged arrow that was draining her power and slowly killing her.

(END SPOILERS)

The Beast God/The God of Beasts: The Beast God is the Siirem’s counterpart in animal life. He is fairly personable as far as gods in this setting go, interacting freely with those he favors. However, it is still very unwise to raise his ire. As with the Goddess of Plant Life, it is unknown whether he is simply an extremely powerful entity, or if he actually embodies the concept of animal life. He usually appears as a shifting chimera of different animals.

He managed to re-coalesce shortly after his “death” in the Shattering. He assists Jen throughout the story.

The Divine Hammer: The Hammer was a powerful Chimera warrior and a member of the Divine Lance. He was killed in the Assault on Siirem’s Forest.

Embrys: Embrys wa the leader of the Divine Lance, and was the individual who finally succeeded in killing Siirem in the Assault on the Forest. He was killed by Green Hounds immediately after Siirem’s death.

The Peacock: This creature is an enigma seemingly even to the gods. It only appears rarely, sometimes heralding significant events and sometimes for no discernible reason. Its form seems to shift often, but the entity most often appears as a large, bright purple peacock with pupil-less eyes. When it takes this form, parts of it seems to flicker in and out of reality at random. Its plumage seems to change every time one looks at it and even as one watches, and looking at it for too long will give one a headache. This creature apparently possesses formidable power, but displays no clear affiliation. It is known to appear in dreams and visions much as the gods do, but with a key difference: effects or injuries sustained in these dreams or visions will persist one the person awakes.

(MAJOR MIDDLE, END, AND POSSIBLE SEQUEL STORY SPOILERS FOR ENTIRE NEXT PARAGRAPH. DO NOT READ THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU DO NOT WANT THE END OF THE BOOK/FIRST BOOK SPOILED)

The Peacock is an amalgamation of the Goddess of Darkness, the God of Light, and the Goddess of Stone, The God of Sight, and the Goddess of Fire. When it was learned that killing Siirem would result in the Shattering, these five immortals banded together to create the ultimate failsafe spell---one that would both be able to weather the Shattering and, eventually, be able to bring back everyone and everything that died as a result of the Shattering. However, the spell went somewhat awry, resulting in the five fusing together into the vessel/trigger for the failsafe. The process broke their minds, and the Peacock wanders the Earth, drawn to things its shattered mind sees as vaguely familiar and only somewhat aware of its ultimate goal and purpose.

(END SPOILERS)

World Information:

The Great War: The Great War is the name given to the conflict between the Siirem and her allies and Godmade and the Army of Millions. It was started when Siirem killed and absorbed the power of several other gods. It lasted for decades, but finally ended when Siirem was killed by the Divine Lance in the Assault on Siirem’s Forest. However, the energy required to kill her also started the Shattering.

The Shattering: The Shattering was a catastrophic event that happened millions of years in the past. It was the cost of the power that had to be unleashed to bring down Siirem. It destroyed all magic, all magical creatures, many non-magical creatures, every sentient species, and most of the gods. Some particularly powerful or well-prepared beings were able to weather the cataclysm, and some immortals were able to re-coalesce at some point after it. However, both of these sets of individuals were very much in the minority, and the Shattering brought an end to the Age of Magic.

Earth Pre-Shattering: The Earth was a very different world millions of years in the past. Many sentient species existed, and magic was commonplace. This was known as the Age of Myth or the Age of Magic by its few survivors after the Shattering.

Earth Post-Shattering: Post-Shattering, Earth is identical to modern-day Earth.

The Army of Millions: The Army of Millions was the army created by the united forces of the gods, the Godmade, and the mortals in opposition of Siirem after she killed several other gods and goddesses and absorbed their power.

The Kovasi: This species was inspired by the Kig-Yar/Jackal species of the Halo series and the Kenku of Dungeons and Dragons. The Kovasi were a semi-avian species that existed before the Shattering. They possessed the characteristics of both reptiles and birds. They were bipedal and had two arms, and a third large, dexterous tentacle-arm protruding from their upper-middle back. They also had two stingers on the ends of two flexible tendrils growing near the base of the aforementioned tentacle-arm. These stingers were capable of injecting a paralytic venom, but kovasi stings were usually not fatal. The few exceptions usually occurred either when the kovasi in question was increasing its lethality intentionally, or if the person was allergic to the venom or one of the substances in it. The only significant difference between Kovasi males and females, aside from the obvious, was that males generally had longer and more vibrant, colorful plumage, which was used to attract mates. The Kovasi laid eggs, which hatched after about two months. Kovasi had six eyes, and possessed excellent vision. Many members of the species performed a marriage ceremony similar to humans, usually referred to as a bonding ceremony or lifebond ceremony.

A Kovasi named Evrenn and his bondmate were the best friends of the Green Knight when he was mortal. Like all other sentient mortal species from the Age of Magic, the Kovasi went extinct during the Shattering.

The Gevasrat: The Gevasrat were a reptilian species that lived on Pre-Shattering Earth. They were large but somewhat lanky warm-blooded reptiles. The Green Knight was one of these before he become one of SIirem’s favored. They were among the the Army of Millions during the war against the Plant Goddess. Like all other mortal sentient species from the Age of Magic, they went extinct during the Shattering.

The Chimera: The Chimera were a type of mortal Godmade created by the God of Beasts. As their name suggests, they usually resembled an amalgamation of various animal parts. They were part of the Army of Millions, and were wiped out during the Shattering.

The Godmade: The Godmade were creatures created directly by the gods. There were two broad types: mortal and immortal. Mortal Godmade were flesh-and-blood living beings who had been created by the gods. Immortal Godmade were much more difficult to create than mortal Godmade, and were usually much fewer in number.

The Divine Lance: The Divine Lance was a powerful, elite unit of the Army of Millions. They spearheaded the Assault on Siirem’s Forest. They were led by an individual named Embrys.

Blue-Forged Metal: Blue-forged metal is one of the very few substances that can harm immortal Godmade and gods. The details of its creation have been lost since the Shattering, though some tools, weapons, and structures incorporating it survived. Blue-forged metal is not a guarantee of a killing blow on a god or immortal Godmade---in fact, it is less effective against them in most respects than regular metals are against mortals---but it can wound and kill them, which no other material observed has been able to do. If one lands a glancing or nonlethal blow on an immortal with a blue-forged metal, it will adhere to or stick in them, and begin sapping their power. However, this is a very slow process, and does not usually subdue immortals quickly. A blow that would kill a mortal quickly or instantly will also kill a god or immortal Godmade.

[renaer-is-allegedly-hot]

fear is blind: a wdh fic

1360 words, trigger warning: panic attack description

(note: This is written in Celandine’s point of view and takes place in session two, during the gazer fight and then immediately after it. I wanted to give Cel more of a connection with Asyna & Renaer and also put Cel’s backstory to good use. Also, I am not a psychologist or an expert on panic attacks, Cel’s are based on my own experiences with them.)

Thwack! The arrows launched themselves into the gazer’s side, and Celandine Larchburn couldn’t help but shoot a grin at Theodora. “Nice shot!” she yelled, as she and Theo each reloaded their shortbows. “If we both keep this up-” Celandine was cut off as the gazer roared in rage and shot a wave of magic at both of the halfling archers, its body vibrating. Okay, so this thing wasn’t going down with a fight. Then again, neither was the group that Celandine was a part of. 

Celandine never left a job unfinished, and this time she had comrades. Two rogues, a druid, a somewhat disheveled but competent human, and a tiefling who… well, Celandine didn’t really know what he did, but sometimes his enemies died when he insulted them. With a yelp of surprise, she crashed into the tiefling, Adam, as she dodged the gazer’s magic. Theodora wasn’t so lucky; the gazer’s beam hit Theo in the forehead, but Celandine didn’t see what had happened to her because a different flash of movement distracted her. Bing Bong, the group’s kenku guide, had turned tail and ran, and Celandine knew they needed to get him back. She turned around just in time to see Asyna swing her staff at his legs and miss, and Celandine whipped out another arrow. But this time, Celandine’s arrow whizzed by Bing Bong, and she didn’t even have time to curse before the gazer reared its ugly head towards her. 

For a moment, Celandine’s world stopped spinning as she stared at the ugly beast. Two hazel eyes met five yellow ones, both sets filled with hate. Celandine felt as if the concrete had frozen her in place as the gazer’s largest eye bubbled and blistered with magic. Suddenly, the gazer’s form was changing right before Celandine’s eyes. Four of its eyes burned away, and the gazer’s body expanded and transformed into the floating head of someone Celandine had hoped to never see again. Soft brown hair curled around the shoulders of the thing that used to be the gazer, and its skin had changed from pale green to a pinkish tan. Worst of all were the gazer’s eyes- where there had been one large yellow gazer eye, there were now two brown halfling ones, round and dark and just as filled with loathing as they’d been before. Where the gazer once floated now stood a halfling woman in her mid-forties, with gray streaks in her curls and a manic light in her eyes. 

Celandine could feel panic rising in her chest already, but she sucked in a shaky breath and tried to remember how her kneecaps worked. “…Portia?”

Portia’s smile was just as cruel and unnaturally wide as Celandine remembered. For any other person, Celandine would have loved to smack the contempt she was seeing off the person’s face, but Portia was different. She purred in distorted halfling language, Ah, look who decided to show up. My tiny little Celandine. You didn’t think I’d forgotten about you, did you?

Celandine shuddered. “No, you’re not real- this- you told me, you just-”

Oh, you stupid child. Can’t you ever just shut up? Portia’s voice was rising, intensifying by the second. Don’t you dare believe that the gods and I have forgotten you. So you’ve finally found your little band of heroes, hm? No matter. You will meet what’s coming for you soon enough. All of you will. 

Celandine wanted to ask what in the Forgotten Realms Portia meant by that, but suddenly Portia’s face was shifting again and morphing into something completely different. This creature had glowing emerald eyes and was more than ten times Celandine’s size, with dark blue fur and six long legs. It sported muscles that rippled like the ocean in its back and on its shoulders were two strange tendrils. Teeth long and sharp and bared in hatred snarled at her, revealing a tongue dripping with blood. It was then that Celandine really lost it as all the memories flooded back. The panic, the terror, the iron scent of death, the body parts of her comrades scattered in different bushes. The concrete under Celandine’s boots dipped and she lost her balance as grass stained with red took the concrete’s place. Celandine stumbled back and fell on her back, and as she sat up, her hand rolled over something large and round. Someone’s head under a tree, their dark curly hair matted with blood. Celandine had had this nightmare enough times that she knew exactly who that head belonged to without needing to see his face again. But no matter how many times Celandine relived that day, it never got any easier. 

She could feel her limbs going numb and knew that in a moment she wouldn’t be able to move at all, because her hands and feet going numb was always the first sign of another one of her panic attacks. With the last of her strength, she turned herself away from the severed head and she felt her brain click off. Sharp numbness filled Celandine’s arms and legs and crept into her shoulders and up her torso. No more concentration, no more movement, just racing breathing and blind terror. Celandine’s fingers were locked into her braid, her eyes screwed themselves shut, and she didn’t even realize that she was crying through her shaking breaths until the tears started dripping down her neck. 

In, out. In, out. Celandine tried to focus on her breathing like she’d always done, seeing as she couldn’t focus on anything else. In, out. In, out. She could hear sounds of a fight around her, and she curled further in on herself. In, out. In, out. Celandine could hear people talking in the distance, and she felt something brush up against her. She shuddered, expecting the displacer beast to sink its teeth into the back of her neck. Instead, she heard a voice filled with concern call her name. It took Celandine a second to remember that the displacer beast incident was years ago, and that the voice belonged to Asyna. 

Celandine cracked her eyes open the tiniest bit to see what was going on. She was back in the sewers, and Asyna was on her right side. Renaer was yanking his shortsword out of the now-dead gazer’s body while Aerana studied its corpse. Theodora was sitting in the corner looking a little dazed but otherwise healthy, and Adam talked with her while he plucked at his strange instrument. Portia was gone, the displacer beast was gone, and the only blood on the ground was the gazer’s thick green pus. 

“Do you want me to touch you, or…” Asyna scooted a little closer to Celandine, looking a little worried. Celandine couldn’t speak, but she nodded and Asyna wrapped an arm around Celandine, rubbing her back. Asyna’s breaths were longer and more even, and Celandine found herself leaning into Asyna’s neck as she matched the slower rhythm with her own breathing. They stayed like that for a few moments as movement crept back into Celandine’s limbs and Asyna curled the halfling into her body. 

She heard pebbles scattering to her left side, and someone else sat next to her. “You okay?” Renaer’s voice. Celandine shut her eyes again and realized that she was still crying, so she hastily wiped the last few tears away. “I’ll be fine. Thanks for killing the gazer.” 

Asyna and Renaer were helping her stand and regain her balance when Adam and Aerana ran in, having found something that needed investigating. Celandine raised her hand to volunteer for the job- she needed to get something done to distract herself. As she approached the new path ahead, she took one last look at the dead monster that had caused her grief. Celandine sliced what was left of the beast in half with her shortsword, cutting out its largest yellow eye, and went on her way without looking back. She couldn’t afford to dwell on the past, even if Portia really was back to haunt her like she’d feared. She had a job to finish, and she’d get it done even if it was the last thing she’d do.