Imruphel said:
Yes, but that doesn't mean I want to wait three months again!
PS: Thanks for posting your stuff; I'm really enjoying it.
Well, luckily, I managed to find an archive of the thread I was typing up for the story hour on my laptop. Glad to hear that people are still putting up with me after such infrequent updates.
Chapter 45
Serrila and Terenon wearily made their way through Silverymoon's streets toward the great palace. Neither felt much desire for conversation. Terenon looked at his lover, and his eyes bore compassion and warmth, but the aasimar was unable to return his gaze. Serrila had taken the events of the previous night extremely hard, and had drew into herself. She had not spoken a word since the morning had come, and Terenon could only guess at what dark thoughts rolled through her mind.
Upon arrival at their destination, the two mages were quickly ushered into the palace and lead through the grand halls to a small reception chamber. A few minutes later, the beautiful Lady Alustriel entered the room. Serrila and Terenon rose to honor her, the wizard sketching a perfunctory bow. The lady's smile quickly faltered as she saw the expressions on her guests countenances.
"I assume this visit is not a social call," she said, gracefully taking a seat across from the mages.
Terenon shook his head gravely, then told the tale of Lisa's demise. Alustriel's grief was obvious as the morbid story reached its conclusion. "I will not take the dragon's warning lightly," Terenon said after his tale was through. ""I cannot leave Serrila alone, unprotected. I am asking you to extend protection to Serrila, until the vile wyrm is no more."
Or until we are no more, he added silently.
Alustriel nodded and turned to the aasimar. "Serrila must stay here, as a ward of the state. She will be very well taken care of, and I will do all in my power to ensure her safety." Her expression softened, and she says, softly, "I am sorry for your loss."
Serrila suppressed a sniffle, her eyes fixed on the floor in front of her. "Thank you, m'lady," she murmured, the first thing she had said all day.
Terenon sighed in relief. He knew he could trust the Lady's word, and perhaps the time spent with Alustriel would help raise his lover's spirits. "Yes, thank you Lady Alustriel." The wizard turned and embraced Serrila, hugging her close to him. "Don't worry my love. I will take care of everything." He kisses her on the cheek, and the aasimar sniffled again. Then with a nod to Alustriel, he took his leave.
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Grundar was waiting for Terenon when the mage returned to the inn. "The others have left already?" the mage asked, noting the absence of the other adventurers.
"Yeah, and they took a half-elven woman with them," Grundar said lightly.
Terenon raised an eyebrow but declined to comment. "Very well. I will need a day or two to scribe some new spells into my spellbook. Then we shall construct a special prison to bind the ice devil, Felespar. We will force him to release Lisa's soul and provide with information on the dragon and his minions."
Grundar nodded and followed the mage as he moved to leave. "I sure hope you know what you're doing. The others won't be there to back us up. If the devil breaks free, we're in big trouble."
Terenon looked over his shoulder at the elf. "Then we must make sure he does not break free. Come along, I know just the place to lay our snare."
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Galiana shivered against the biting cold, pulling her cloak closer around her. The half-elf's armored boots constantly sunk into the snow, and she struggled to keep up with the rest of the party. The others seemed to have magical boots of some sort that allowed them to walk along the top of the powdery slush with ease. Rhys would occasionally look back to check her progress, but Gani always met his gaze with a reassuring grin. The doughty warrior was not one to complain, especially when Rumar and the others so readily accepted her into their fold. She was determined not to let them down.
A low growl sounded behind her, and Galiana had to suppress a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold. Rumar had explained to her about Taigiel, but that did nothing to alleviate the uneasiness she felt having the hulking half-dragon in their midst. For his part, Taigiel seemed neither put off nor amused by her obvious discomfort, merely accepting it. He had dealt with fear and revulsion long enough to become inured to their barbs. The ranger was just glad to be on the trail again. Acessiwal was not so far away now, and with his sire's death would come his freedom.
Up ahead, something moving broke up the monotony of the bleak white backdrop. Two dozen enormous beasts lumbered across the snowy plain in a great herd. Their hulking, brown forms could not conceal their large white tusks. They resembled the elephant that Rhys sometimes summoned, but these creatures were covered in shaggy fur.
The party's attention was drawn from these great beasts to a smaller figure, warily trudging towards them. This figure looked like a human woman, though her dark red skin and flaming bright hair marked her as something else. Her footfalls melted the snow as she walked.
Jelnai stared at the woman moving toward them for a moment, but quickly drew his spear. He turned to the group, “I don’t know what’s going on here, but with our luck lately, we’d best be ready to fight.”
Rumar nodded and drew his sword, opening his mouth to shout out to the approaching woman, only to pause suddenly, his beginning words falling off. Turning his head, he looked at the others uncertainly. "Er...what in the world is someone like that doing up here? I can't imagine she's working for the dragon; a being of fire would hardly be his desired partner. Perhaps it is an underling of one of the dragon's other allies? Demonic in nature?"
Jelani shrugged. “I think that the dragon takes allies of all sorts. They’re smart, and he’s not made of ice after all. I think she might be a creature of the Plane of Fire, a genasi. There’s one way to find out if she’s hostile.” Taking a step forward, he called out carefully, “Excuse me, do you have a minute to speak with us?”
The woman had since drawn her bow as she moved closer, but the comment seemed to bring her up short. She stopped for a moemnt as she tried to think of an appropriate response. "Maybe," she called out. "But first you have to tell me why you travel with a Dragon-Blood."
"I can speak for myself," called Taigiel. The half-dragon moved past the others to look at the strange woman, glowering down at her. "I am Taigiel, son of Acessiwal the White. We travel north to Coldheart to kill my father. If you are an ally of the wyrm, then you are in our way." He rested his hands on the hilts of his swords.
The red-skinned woman was obviously perplexed. She grimaced and lowered her bow slightly before speaking slowly and choosing her words carefully. "Creature, I am Aspar Tenerect, and I am sworn to slay the dragon Acessiwal and all its kin. For your own sake, tell me now why you hunt your father, or I shall be honorbound to attack you and your companions."
Rhys stepped forward then, coming in between the half-dragon and the genasi. "Lady Aspar Tenerect, I am Rhys Thurn, a priest of Torm," he said, bowing slightly. "Taigiel has proven himself a worthy companion and I am convinced of the devoutness of his path. Should you also be of similar purpose, you are welcome to join us on our quest to slay Acessiwal. You've spoken openly and travel with purpose and alone, in such an alien environment. That speaks well of you're character and word. I ask that you do join us and let all of our actions speak of our truth."
Jelani spoke up again as he moved beside Rhys. “I assure you, each of us is dedicated to removing Acessiwal’s threat. And since I’m feeling fair, I have to warn you that if you attack Taigiel, we will have to kill you. It’s nothing personal, but even if you’re dedicated to removing the dragon as well, he has proved himself to be a capable ally. Right now he’s more valuable in this fight than you are.”
Rumar laid a gauntleted hand on Jelani's shoulder, a subtle warning. "I'd prefer to think that we'd merely try to subdue the woman, Jelani; simply because she does not immediately trust the child of someone she apparently hates is no reason to kill her."
Rhys nodded and turned to the mystic theurge as well. "Jelani, though we would most assuredly defend Taigiel. We have the responsibilty to treat Lady Aspar with the same respect and wisdom we extended Taigiel."
“And if he had attacked one of you right off, I would have killed him as well," Jelani replied simply. "If you would prefer that I just allow people to attack you without acting, let me know and I will.”
"Correct; I wouldn't want people just attacking me, but neither Taigiel or Lady Aspar did. Therefore, they are owed the courtesy and wisdom of conversation and a friendly greeting, especially in such a harsh evironment as this."
Jelani stared at Rhys, “I didn’t say that she did, but she made her position clear and I was just making ours equally so. I really don’t care if it seemed rude, now she is aware of just where we…or should I say I stand."
"I just think it'd be needless to kill her, especially when she's simply misguided," Rumar said, gesturing at Aspar. "Everyone deserves a chance to learn from their mistakes; death makes that rather hard to accomplish. While I can understand you being stalwart in your defense of Taigiel and applaud that, I also think you should temper that courage with a degree of compassion."
Aspar's face took on a wry expression as she watched the strangers bicker amongst each other, blatantly ignoring her even while they casually talked about her death.
Taigiel looked over to Galiana, who was watching the entire encounter from a distance with some manner of confusion. "Is it always like this?" the half-elf whispered.
"You have no idea," Taigiel replied. The half-dragon sighed and pressed a clawed hand to his temples, massaging the knot that was forming there. Yet again, the adventurers whose aid he had enlisted had begun to argue amongst themselves. He wondered if he might not have had less stress had he continued on his own, but there was not much he could do now.
"Genasi, I have no love for my kindred. My blood is a curse I cannot overcome. I was forced to flee my hometown of Latona at the age of ten. I kept to the wilderness, ashamed of my heritage, and waging a private war against orcs, ogres, and other evil creatures of the lands. Three months ago, wracked with despair and loneliness, I came across an abandoned shrine to Tempus. There, I heard a voice. It could only have belonged to the god himself. The voice pronounced that only with the death of my sire could I be free. Acessiwal must die. That is all there is to it. If you share the same goal with me, then I do not care what your motivations are. Together we stand a better chance of ending the dragon's reign. Join with us."
Aspar looked at Taigiel for a few moments, then lowered her bow. "Alright, Dragon-Blood. I agree, Acessiwal must die. If you and your friends are on the same quest, then I will join you. Against one such as Acessiwal, I would be a fool not to appreciate the help. Know this though, should you betray me I will know that you are of the same ilk as your father, and I will have to kill you."
With that, she slung her weapon and joined the group, who had apparently finished their argument. As she approached, she put her fingers to her lips and gave a shrill whistle and shouted, "Smoke!" Immediately from behind a snow drift loped a feral-looking wolf with black and gray fur. It bounded up to Aspar, who bent to pat it on the side of the head and rub its ears. It nestled in to her, seeming to take advantage of her warmth on the cold tundra. "This is my companion, Smoke," she explained to the others.
The adventurers formally introduced themselves to Aspar in turn. "We should make camp soon," said Rhys, noting the lateness of the hour. He then turned to the genasi. "I am glad that we were able to convince you to join us, Aspar."
She smiled at the aasimar cleric. "You are a brave man, Rhys Thurn. You choose diplomacy before action. I admire that, for that is not one of my strengths."
Rhys returned her smile. "Might I ask why you seek Acessiwal's death?"
"We can discuss that later as well as compare what we all know about him." Aspar cast a look at Taigiel. "Let us find a camp soon. I believe it will be cold tonight."