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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LordVyreth" data-source="post: 1467242" data-attributes="member: 9626">Bugs and BackstoryAs Quercus looked at her, speechless, Shedell continued her story.  “Yes, we share the same father, though a different mother, making me your half-sister.”“But, how?” Quercus spluttered.  “When was this?  Do you know who our father is, then?”She sighed, sadly.  “I’m afraid not.  My father married an elven woman over a century ago, but there was an…incident when I was still very young.  There was a fire at our home, and it killed my mother.  I thought my father died as well at the time, but he merely disappeared, apparently because he thought I died as well.  It was so long ago that I can’t even remember their names, or even what they look like except for the vaguest of details.  I tried to remember more clearly, and even used magic to help, but I think part of me is blotting out the incident, refusing to grant me any more details out of fear of the horror I experienced that day.”Quercus looked at her solemnly.  “I’m sorry you have suffered so.  But what happened to you after that?”“Well, the early years after that are still very sketchy, probably for the same reason I can’t remember much about my parents.  Eventually, I grew up, and started training myself with martial weaponry.  I also performed occasional odd jobs for the people of Delaspie and Methosilang.  Eventually, I joined a group of adventures, and even got to travel to the capital city itself.  Once there, I spent a few months trying to determine what I want to do with my life, and I became fascinated with None, the goddess of strength and labor.  I believed that if I gave her my worship, I would be given the power to discover what killed my mother, and avenge her death.  I also eventually learned of the story of your birth, Quercus, and realized that the celestial’s story and my own matched up.  I waited for you to grow up, like I said before, and busied myself helping Methosilang fight its enemies.”“Where is your adventuring party now, Shedell?  Would you like to travel with us for a while?”  Quercus asked.Shedell’s eyes widened with worry upon hearing this.  “No, for my time right now is short.  In my journeys, I have made an enemy, one who won’t rest until I am destroyed.  She calls herself the Lady of Blood, and she is one of the Malefactor drow, who refused to ally with the surface dwellers a thousand years ago, and traveled even deeper into the earth, planning their revenge.  Even worse, she appears to be the spawn of a demon, much like we are the children of a celestial.  We have fought many times, and often I was captured by her, only to narrowly escape.  I believe she has some sort of magical means of tracking me, which penetrates even into the cities of Methosilang.  Because of this, I have to be on the move constantly, and when I can sense she is getting close, I have to flee to protect my comrades.  I just got a chance to meet you, Quercus.  I won’t risk letting you die because of me.”Though disappointed to hear this, Quercus was happy to talk with his sister after finally meeting her.  They spent the rest of the night bringing each other up to date on their lives, and when the morning came, he introduced her to the rest of the party.  All of them were surprised as well, and thanked her for saving Quercus’ life back at the bridge.  However, soon after meeting them, a worried look crossed Shedell’s face.  “I can’t stay much longer.  I sense the Lady of Blood will come soon, so I must flee and prepare to defend myself from her.  Don’t worry, Quercus, I’ll live long enough to see you again.  But if you do see this woman, do not fight her!  She is beyond all of your ability to defeat at this point.”  With that, she flew off, deep into the city to gather her supplies and depart.Meanwhile, the rest of the party decided it was time to look for work, which will lead them the rest of the way to Delaspie.  They eventually met discovered two hirelings, Jack, and Eric, who were looking for some help.  They are the only survivors of a posse of heroes from Delaspie, who were trying to catch a thief who managed to sneak into the country, and steal some precious valuables.  They were sent behind to guard the pack animals while the trained heroes pursued him.  After a few moments, they heard an explosion, and when they went in to investigate, the thief was unconscious, and all of their employers were dead.  Desperate to complete the mission they started, they bound the thief, took the bodies back to the animals, and since they were almost to Necropolis at this point, they decided to go there, leave the bodies there for a burial on safe, consecrated grounds, and seek out adventurers to finish the task they started.  However, their plan won’t be ready until tomorrow, so the adventurers agreed to meet with them again the next day, and set of for some quick work inside the city.  They found some when they found the cleric proprietors who run Necropolis.  There were rumors of a monster hiding deep within the Necropolis.  There have been sounds of motion, strange clicking and buzzing noises, and coffins being knocked over.  It all started when the clerics buried the warhorse of a paladin.  They believe the trouble is related to this creature, and want some capable adventurers to investigate.  Eager for a challenge, the heroes agreed.Hours later, the group was deep within the bowels of the city.  As they journeyed, they discussed what could be waiting for them.“What if it’s some kind of undead?”  Tsine asked, nervously.Quercus shrugged.  “Doubtful.  The entire city of Necropolis is consecrated, and much of it is hollowed.  The horse itself would never rise as undead here, and any undead that stowed away with the creature would have been detected and turned away long before it was buried.  Hey, Tal,” he and others looked at Tal, who actually negotiated this deal, “did they say what the horse died from?”“Yeah, actually, they did.  The paladin and his company were attacking by these weird wasp thingies, but with legs like a spider.  He claimed there was something unnatural, or perhaps even evil, about them.”The party pondered this, until they reached the crypt of the warhorse.  All of them looked at each other nervously for a moment, silently daring each other to go and open it.  Finally, Quercus sighed, and walked up, though he ordered the others to cover him.  When he got close to the crypt, he noticed it was partially ajar already, as if something has been entering and leaving it.  He never got the chance to open it all the way, however, for when he got a little closer, a pair of giant wasp creatures flew out!  The smaller of the two was fired at by Tsine and Raz, and it panicked, and flew off into a side corridor.  The larger one, however, literally stank of evil to Quercus’ trained senses, and it gave a strange, chirpy laugh as it flew at him.  It stung him with its needle-like stinger, and Quercus felt a wave of evil wash over him.  At the same time, his insides were becoming numb.  He took a swing at the creature, hitting solidly, and Tal and Raz used magic and arrows to continue hammering the creature.  Meanwhile, Flix dashed around the corner to try and catch up to the beast, and Tsine and Rudyard watched for the second one warily.  Their sharp eyes soon caught a movement above them, and Rudyard dove out of the way as a coffin was almost pushed on top of him!  Above him, she saw the second, smaller bug, and uttering a curse, he fired on the thing while Tsine hurled an arrow of acid at it.  Flix saw it as well, and scampered up the crypt wall reach the creature.  However, the bug reacted first, and both stabbed and bit into the unfortunate little halfling.  It yelped it pain, but responded with a stab of his own, while Tsine and Rudyard finished the creature off from the other side.  Meanwhile, Quercus and Raz continued to attack the first monster, while Tal began a song extorting the bravery of the group and encouraging to fight at their best, then began to attack the creature with his rapier.  Soon this monster also fell, and after tending their wounds, they investigated the tomb.  It appeared that the horse’s chest was burst open, and Rudyard speculated, “I bet this creature lays its eggs inside the bodies of other beings.  The eggs must have gone undetected by the clerics, and hatched shortly after the creature was entombed.”  After seeing the look of panic on Quercus and Flix’s eyes, he continued.  “Don’t worry.  I don’t think either of you would make a large enough host body for the eggs.”Flix sighed with relief.  “Good,” he began, “I was worried for a moment the…ugh!” he suddenly said as he froze in place, the creature’s poison finally taking effect on him.  The others prepared to return to the city, but Rudyard stopped them, and pointed out something else about the horse.  “Look at the size of that thing!  It’s at least twice as large as a normal horse.  We should ask the priests about the cleric who rode it.”The others agreed, and carried their friend back to the city itself, where the clerics were happy to restore the paralyzed halfling to normal.  Once he was taken care of, Tal asked, “Do any of you know about this paladin that we just helped?”“Of course,” the cleric they were speaking to replied.  “We never got his name, but we know he’s still staying in town.  Would you like to meet him?”The party agreed, and got his current residence.  When they met his paladin, they were shocked at his appearance, for not only was he a half-orc, but he was the largest half-orc they’ve ever seen!  Even more strangely, he appeared to have strange, ruby-red scales, and a slightly reptilian expression.  Seeing what he was, Tsine and Rudyard immediately grew silent, letting Tal take the lead.  “Good sir, we were the band of adventurers that helped your horse rest peaceful.”The man looked glad.  “Ah, that is welcome news!  I heard of the trouble at the church, but I was too heavily wounded to investigate myself, and I didn’t want to enter it alone.”Tal continued, “Um, sir, if it isn’t too personal, could you explain a bit about yourself?  We are all a bit surprised at your strange appearance.”The paladin laughed.  “Yes, I can understand that.  I didn’t always look like this, however.  On a mission long ago, my company and I discovered an ancient ruins, filled with bones of long-dead beasts.  However, I slipped off of a precarious perch, and ended up falling on some of the bones.  The fall and sharp edges of the bones killed me, and when I was revived, I came back…strangely.  I looked like this ever since.”The party thanked him for his time, except for Tsine and Rudyard, and returned to their inn to rest for their journey tomorrow.  Tal lied in bed for a while before drifting off to sleep, however.  There was something about that man, something familiar, and right about him.  He felt something within his own blood as well, and remembered how he felt when he first could manifest his magic without the aid of bardic music.  He then made a decision about his future; he would become like that paladin, and embrace the path of the dragon.OOC Notes:  The purpose of this adventure was initially just a short filler plot set up before a few later players arrived.  However, by the time the prep work was done for the game, they did show up, and thus we had a full house for the actual battle.  The whole thing with the ruby-scaled paladin did come up quite a bit more often, however.  I originally thought ruby was one of the five standard gem dragons, and only learned it was the color of the gem dragon god later.  But improving details like that is part of the fun of being a DM, I guess!</blockquote>

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