Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1401526" data-attributes="member: 15043">Some Closure at Last….The next day, the party mounted up and began to ride towards the Balarac Mountains, where Xanadu had said that the ‘younglings’ were being held captive. On a whim, Elenya decided to fly ahead to scout for the party. Shaun expressed some worry at this; clearly he did not like the idea of her going off alone, but she assured him that she could take care of herself, and after thinking back to her crazy lightning bolting back in the temple, he reluctantly agreed. The party stopped so that Elenya could dismount. Before their eyes she transformed to her true raven form (something Shaun thought was quite beautiful), and took off into the sky. The party mounted up again and kept riding, Siabrey holding the reins of Eleyna’s horse.Come midmorning, Kelir spotted a black shape winging back toward them in the distance. The speck soon resolved into Elenya, who transformed to hybrid in midair and dropped onto the back of Siabrey’s horse, nearly causing it to buck.“Rogar! Rogar’s ahead!”“What?” a collective gasp wen through the party. The were-raven nodded and gestured with one feathered hand. “A few hours ahead, maybe less.”“How many riders does he have with him.” Tess hissed. At least, a chance for revenge. Elenya’s excited voiced caused them all to tighten their reins with anticipation. “Only two.”Siabrey glanced around at her friends and saw her decision mirrored in their eyes. “Let’s ride!”“I will scout ahead to confirm the distance.” Kelir offered. Siabrey nodded to him, and the siabrie took to the sky.“You’d better stay with us, hon.” Shaun said to Elenya. “Rest up, you may need it.” Elenya nodded and the party stopped long enough to transform back to full human and get back on her horse.A short while later Kelir returned, confirming that it was indeed Rogar, accompainied by only two of his black riders. When asked how far he replied. “Elenya was correct, only a few hours ahead. You can easily overtake them, they are not riding hard.”“Not riding hard?” Siabrey looked at Tess and Shaun in puzzlement. “I wonder why?”“Where are they?” Tess’ eyes shone with a scary mix of anger and joy as she ignored Siabrey’s question.“They are riding more at an angle than you. If you keep this course, you will intersect their path at about midday.” Kelir hovered, telling them.“Let’s go then!” Tess kicked her horse hard, spurring it into a fast gallop that the others quickly copied.The next several hours was spent riding hard, Kelir playing lookout, speeding back and forth faster than the eye could blink to recount how close they were getting.Almost before they knew it, Kelir came zooming back. “They are just over that ridge!” he yelled about the pounding of hooves. “You are riding parallel to them now!”As one, the party veered to their right. “Now’s the time for your crazy fireball skills!” Shaun called laughing to Lucius, whose eyes glinted in agreement.“Remember, we want Rogar alive so we can question him!” Siabrey called out as they galloped over the ridge and spotted their nemesis at long last.Rogar glanced up at the sound of the war whistles floating on the breeze over towards him, and felt his heart go dead in his throat as he spotted seven fierce-eyed warriors galloping towards him at full speed. Before he could even spur his horse from a lope to a gallop, the green-eyed, red-haired boy whom he had neglected to kill what felt like years ago, raised a finger in his direction and muttered an arcane word that he couldn’t hear. A small glistening ball flew out towards them, expanding as it came.The fireball landed with a loud “Whump!” that instantly killed the three horses and burned their riders severely. They had barely gotten to their feet however, when Siabrey’s arrow and Tess’s songstrike snuffed the life from the blackguard on Rogar’s right, while the one on his left fell surprised as Lucius’ and Shaun’s arrows made a pincushion out of him. In complete shock, Rogar turned to run.He hadn’t gotten more than 10 paces when he heard the pounding of hooves and turned to see a fire-eyed fighter sweep down on him with his blade. The sharp edge was turned away however, and as she galloped past she whacked him hard with the flat edge. The blow was not enough to drop Rogar however, but he was clearly stunned as he swayed on his feet. He didn’t even see the hilt of Lucius’ sword before it crashed into his skull, finishing the job that Siabrey had started as Rogar fell unconscious.Dismounting quickly, they stripped Rogar down and cavity-searched him for traps. Being a known assassin, they took nothing to chance. In his pack and on his person, they found a few charms, some magic items, a magic composite longbow (and some deadly looking poison arrows)…and letters.Lucius grabbed the packet of parchment and began to scan through them, his face falling as he did so.“What do they say Lucius?” Siabrey asked quickly. He snorted in a mix of disgust and rage and handed them to her to read outloud.Some were battle orders, written to people Siabrey did not recognize. A handful of them appeared to be bribes to nobles in Irulas…among them the Baron of Tor. Siabrey nearly crushed that letter as she remember the arrogant Baron and his ‘peacocks’. All of the letters were signed by the Countess herself, and offered a great sum for their ‘tretchery’, which ranged from providing no troops at all, to providing many men, and then switching sides at a decisive moment in the battle.The Paladins left suddenly, taking Grumki and Elenya with them.“We will not hear or see anything.” Pellaron called over his shoulder, and Tess suddenly realized that they left so that they wouldn’t have to stop the coming ‘interrogation’. She was glad that they had taken Grumki and Elenya with them; Grumki had no personal quarrel with Rogar, and neither had Elenya. As they left, Shaun, Tess, Siabrey, and Lucius eyed each other.“I guess it’s just down to us.” Lucius breathed softly, shaking slightly at the thought of what they were about to do. Even Shaun looked slightly distraught, while Siabrey just looked sad.Tess however, eyes hard as flint, as steel, crouched in front of Rogar. “Let’s get to it.” she said, and reaching back, slapped Rogar across the face. Several hard slaps and kicks later, Rogar opened his eyes blearily. What he awoke to was far from pleasant however. He was stripped naked and tied so tightly that he could barely feel his hands and feet. Furthermore, a fire-eyed warrior held a rune-marked katana to his throat, while a blond bard crouched in front of him, an exquisite dagger uncomfortable close to his nether region. A dark-eyed rogue stood nearby, twirling a sharp-looking dagger in his hands expertly, while the red-eyed boy he was trying to corrupt stood next to him, a strange-looking bastard sword clasped tightly in his hands. There was no mercy on any of their faces, although the fighter’s red eyes held something that looked a bit like sorrow.The bard reached out and rapped Rogar’s shoulder sharply. “Hey you, pay attention. We have some questions that we want to ask you.”Rogar ceased gazing around at his interrogators and turned not-quite-sane eyes on Tess. In a strange high voice he crooned to her. “Ohhh, it’s the pretty bard with the dead brother. Did you like my gift, my dear? Roses are so beautiful aren’t they?”Tess’s eyes grew bright with rage and she poked at the area exclusive to men with her dagger. A cheerful “Zap!” rang through the air as electricity spiked from the dagger to cascade around Rogar’s privates. He gave a sharp intake of breath but other than that gave no sound.Siabrey took over the interrogation, fearful of what Tess might do if Rogar goaded her more.“Why were you riding west?” she asked roughly, her sword point a half-inch away from his pulse.He giggled insanely and rolled his eyes. “What is west?” he wondered aloud, eyes not focusing.Shaun stepped forward at that point, and knelt next to Rogar’s tied up, splayed hands.“You know, when I was younger, I used to do this bar-trick where I’d stick the point of my dagger between the fingers of a friend, faster and faster.” As Shaun talked he began to demonstrate on Rogar’s slightly burned hand. “It’s been a long time though, and I’m out of practice.” He emphasized by nicking one of Rogar’s fingers slightly. “Oops. See?”Rogar ignored the bard and stared over Shaun’s shoulder at Lucius. Suddenly he cried out and began to yell wildly.“Prince Alexander is in the city! Brother of Princess Zoe in Irulas, and they are fighting, fighting, siblings fighting! The City of lights! Wonder! Wow!” he giggled, staring directly at Siabrey.  “The same Zoe that wants your boy...”  Siabrey’s brow furrowed in anger as Rogar leaned close and hissed with a sly smile, “and she will capture him... no bit of bed generaling will stop it!”He babbled on insanely for a few more minutes. Suddenly, he stopped in mid-sentence and stared at Siabrey as if seeing her for the first time.  It was then his eyes revealed their true depths of perversion...  a calculating insanity, one that hoped to goad the party into dispatching him before anything damning was uttered from his lips.“It’s the fire-eyed demon. The one we must kill to reunite the boy with his mother!” he ogled her, his face contorting into a twisted, frightening smile.. Siabrey grimaced angrily, as this comment was too much for her, and with a swift slash of her katana, sliced both his cheeks open. Rogar didn’t seem to notice the blood tricking down his face, but stared at her unblinking for a moment. His eyes cleared momentarily, and spat at her. “You should have been dead. Would have been, if my fool soldiers hadn’t captured that little whore instead!”  His face then changed again, from the violent contortions of anger, to an almost casual, frightening smile... a lazy grin.Shaun twitched sharply and brought down his blade square in the middle of Rogar’s hand. The assassin gave a small cry of pain, and suddenly seemed to go delusional.“Ilia! Ilia my wife, my incredible wife! She is leading a force into the valley!” he yelped.“A force of what?” Siabrey’s voice was tinged with surprise.“Mongrels! Beasts! Human-haters, all of them! They will strip the city, burn it, kill all who live there. The invasion force of quarter million will conquer all!”  His rants suddenly stopped, as if he had planned to let the information out.  On seeing their looks of terror and confusion, the lazy smile returned to his lips.“250…thousand…” Siabrey heard Lucius gasp, and she echoed his worry. Such a force was far more than they had reckoned for, and she doubted even the Imperial Army could withstand that many.“Tell us more.” Siabrey hissed at Rogar, moving her katana closer to his throat. He merely laughed. "I am dead anyway, why should I tell you anything!?”  He is toying with us! Tess snarled, If he toys with me, I shall toy with him!  By using his son!Tess pressed her dagger between his legs again and hissed at him. “Because if you tell us, your son may be spared a long and painful death in favor of the quick hanging of a traitor!”Rogar stared at her uncomprehending for a moment. “You don’t have Shivalas, no one can capture my son! He is like me. Invincible! Invincible!”  Rogar’s face had changed again... from calm and cool to angry.  It was clear Tess had hit a nerve.“Wrong.” Tess continued in that quiet hissing voice. “We captured him on the day we killed the false governor. He awaits trail right now in Irulas. He will die.”“Tess, no, don’t tell him anything.” Siabrey hissed at Tess, but the bard ignored her, entirely focused on extracting her own terror and fear from Rogar.  “We will also capture your wife, and kill her too.” Tess waved the dagger almost lovingly around Rogar’s genitals. Siabrey and Shaun shuddered as their friend spoke, her voice amazingly calm, but deadly quiet, “So please, tell us what you know... I should not want to spoil your pretty wife’s face, or lop off her arms...” Tess trailed off, her voice frightening.Rogar blinked, and seemed to get control of himself again. He stared at Tess and his lips curled in a mockery of a smile. “You should see all the new things that my wife has been busy learning. Awesome, new powers.”  He gave a slight chuckle,  “Like the power to be able to steal a soul on its way to the underworld.” He stared at Tess, insane laughter in his eyes. “Souls that come from the newly dead…soul’s like….Quinn.”  His eyes were full of delight at her sudden, recoiling reaction.Tess started back, her eyes wide with terror and sudden fear, before they narrowed swiftly and she gave an outraged cry. With a wild sweep, Fa’rallan sliced through his member. Shaun and Lucius visibly winced, but Rogar didn’t move, didn’t so much as even notice that his most prized possession was gone.“She has the power to capture those souls…and destroy them.” He finished, jeering at Tess’ suddenly tear-filled eyes. “So say goodbye to your precious brother, Tesseron the Harper, for you will never see him again, in life or in death!”  Rogar laughed, in the same motion proffing his neck forward, daring her to strike.Tess bared her teeth in a while snarled and leapt for Rogar’s throat, her dagger raised to end his life.“No!” Siabrey reached out and caught Tess’ arm firmly. She fought to get free from Siabrey dropped her sword and used both hands to subdue her friend. “No Tess!” she stared her friend firmly in the eye. “We still need him. He may know more that he is not telling us.” Tess glared at her, naked fear painted on her face.“But Quinn…” she gasped.  He wants to hurt Quinnie, despite the hurt he’s already caused!  He wanted to hurt Elenya!  Igbar is dead because of him!  He should PAY!Siabrey shook her head. “He’s lying. No one has the power to steal souls in flight back to their maker.” She glanced at Rogar angrily. “But even if they did, how would they know which soul was Quin’s?” she eased her grip on Tess’ arms slightly. “Also Tess, remember that the temple was going to raise Quinn. They must have done so by now. I’m sure your brother’s ok.”“Dead, dead, soon you’ll all be dead, souls caught and ripped to shreds.” Rogar sang gleefully behind her, a pool of blood forming on the desert sands between his legs and just as quickly being absorbed by the dry wastes.. Tess glared at him over Siabrey’s shoulder, but then drew a shuddering breath, her will for vengeance breaking only slightly.“Ok. But keep him away from me. Else I am not responsible for my actions.” Tess sheathed Fa’rallan angrily and stomped a little ways off where she continued to watch the proceedings with arms crossed.You should have ended his miserable life there, Tesseron! part of her mind snarled.  He even proffed his throat towards you... he WANTED to die!Yes, another part said, He wanted to die... which is exactly WHY you should not kill him... force him to live, even if its for a little while longer...Tess, what has happened to you? a distant and growing part of her mind questioned.  Remember who you are!  Don’t let him destroy you as he has tried to destroy others!  If your rage transforms you, he wins!Tess visibly shuddered, and as the party continued to keep busy with Rogar, a few tears came down her face, even as Rogar continued verbally haranguing her.Siabrey drew a deep breath and retrieved her fallen sword, taking up her position in front of Rogar’s. Shaun looked up at her from Rogar’s ruined hand with a somewhat sad expression.Siabrey’s voice was wavering slightly as she lifted the point of her katana to Rogar’s throat. “Now tell me, what exactly is in this army that is marching in Irulas.”Rogar ignored her, continuing to yell taunts to Tess until Siabrey slashed him across the forehead. Blinking blood from his now completely insane eyes, so calculated on causing terror that they screamed with horror, Rogar hissed and whined and sang about “Ice-demons and fire-demons and spiders and beasts, oh my!” and refused to say anything solid. His complete lack of information, coupled with jeers at each of them in turn further enraged Shaun and Lucius.Finally, Rogar, starting to feel dizzy from loss of blood, began to chant about “the return of the blue-eyed boy and the rein of evil magic that would cover all.”  He stared seemingly right at Lucius and Siabrey, “His red eyed whore will lead him to his doom!” Glancing over at Lucius, Siabrey was shocked to see his eyes glowing with anger.  “I think that’s all the information we’re going to get from him.” He said thickly, and nodded to Siabrey. With a single stroke, Siabrey twisted her sword across Rogar’s mouth, and his tongue flopped out to stain the sand red. Sighing unhappily, she turned to clean her blade.“What shall we do with him.” She asked, her voice shaking.  He is such an evil person... but I don’t want to do this... not in cold blood!What did you think would happen, Siabrey?  That you all would convert him to sing around the campfire?No... but I didn’t expect such... sadness...“Let Tess have the honor of kill him?” Shaun asked. Tess had come over to stand by them after Siabrey had cut out Rogar’s tongue, and was reaching eagerly for her dagger.“No.” The hardness in Lucius’ voice surprised them all. It was the voice of a man, thick with disgust and the knowledge that the pain of what they had all just witnessed would be with them for a very long time. “I know the fitting end for a traitor such as he, and as Count I shall pass judgement. Tess, get me that rope we found in his pack.”Tess’ eyes widened momentarily, then she nodded and hurried to comply with his orders.  Tess... he kept you from crossing that dark line... her mind acknowledged how close she came to being fully consumed by hatred.  You are Tesseron... not a piece of fear to be manipulated.Typing the ropes securely to their four horses, Lucius untied Rogar, who made no attempt to run, but instead swooned from all the lost blood.  Lucius then gagged him. He tied the other ends of the four ropes one to each limb.“Rogar Gaeldi Mithras, as Count of Holstean, ordained by Tarantor on High Himself, and judge an adjucator of your trial on charges of treason,” Lucius intoned, his voice devoid of emotion, “I do hereby sentence you to the penalty befitting a treacherous person.  You shall be drawn and quartered forthwith.  Have you any last words?”   Rogar’s weakened frame made an attempt to spit at Lucius, but only sputtered blood.“On my command, Tess.” He said to the bard, who stood by two of the horses, ready to send them into a gallop with a slap. Lucius went to stand by his two horses. The four comrades stared quietly down at the man they had once considered friend. “See you in hell, Rogar.” Siabrey said quietly.  Part of her cried that she had to find it neccessary to do this to someone.  She was a warrior with many dead in her wake, true, but they had all fallen in battle, not as a neutered, naked man.  Then again, none of them had harmed her so deeply either.  Her eyes went wide as Rogar’s lips curled into one final smirk.“I’ll hold the door open for you, Red Eyes,” his eyes, sweet and unnervingly angelic, screeched by at her.“Yah!” Lucius yelled suddenly, slapping his two horses on the withers. Tess did the same to hers, and an instant later the desert was filled with the sickening sound of bones breaking and limps being torn from a body as Rogar was drawn and quartered.After the horses had been stopped and the ropes untied, the bard, fighter, rogue, and young man stared down at Rogar’s corpse. The sand was stained red for several feet around, and Siabrey had a strange vision of this particular dune always being painted red with the blood of deceit and vengeance.“And so it ends,” Siabrey sighed and stared down at the dismembered and hardly recognizable corpse of Rogar. It had needed to be done, but the act still left a bitter taste in her mouth. Despite all that he had done, she still felt somewhat sorry for him. She remembered an honorable comrade in their search for Lucius, a joking friend whom she had teased, and a valiant warrior in their fight against Ananias. I wonder how much of what he’s done was because of his choices, or because of the evil that flows in his veins. For she had just remembered that Rogar was half-brother to the Countess, and thus carried the same demon-corrupted blood... the same blood that was also in her beloved Lucius...Tess started down at the body for a few more seconds, then turned and began to gather up the items they had gleaned from him. Over in the distance, she could see Pellaron and the others just beginning to come back. Wanting to spare them the distress of seeing Rogar’s mangled body, she whistled to her comrades to hurry up so they could get away from this tainted place.Together, the four friends rode out to meet Pellaron and the others, who merely asked what they had learned, and not what had transpired. Tess told them anyway about what Rogar had said about her brother’s soul, and Siabrey related the information about the approaching army and about the Princess and her brother both being in Irulas.“We have to warn them!” Elenya cried.“I know.” Lucius said, thinking hard. “But how? We’re more than a week’s ride from the nearest city, and we promised Xanadu that we’d come to the mountains to help him.”Siabrey glanced around at her fellow party members. Suddenly, her eyes met her fathers and there was her answer ,clear as day, although the prospect was frightening.“Kelir can go.”  She said softly. The party stepped back and looked at her in shock as she faced her father. The siabrie’s eyes widened in surprise. “Me?” he asked softly. Siabrey nodded her head and began digging through her pack searching for paper and stylus. “You’re the fastest, you can cover four times the distance in the air that we could on horseback. You don’t need to go to Irulas, just to the nearest town.” She finally found her writing utensils and thrust them at Lucius. “Here, write a letter to Zoe, tell her of what we’ve learned.” Lucius’ own eyes widened but he obeyed, scribbling furiously. Siabrey went on hurridly, afraid that if she stopped she might urge her father not to go. “All you need to do is take this letter and the letters we took from Rogar and pay a messenger, the fastest that they’ve got, to take it to Irulas. Here.” She dug through her pouch, pulled a few platinum from it, and enclosed hem in the sibrie’s longer-fingered hand. He looked at the unfamiliar currency with worry, but she smiled at him. “Don’t worry, just hand them all the coins. More money means faster messenger.”“I’m done.” Lucius said, finishing the letter with a big flourished signature and rolling it up with the others. Siabrey took them from him gratefully and handed them to Kelir.“Be safe father, and when you have delivered this message….” She took a deep breath. “go back to your home on the desert.” Kelir looked at her sharply and shook his head. “No child, I will come back and find you.” Siabrey shook her head, small tears beginning to glisten in her eyes. “You cannot father. Don’t you remember what you told me? You are only safe within the boundaries of the desert. We are going to the mountains, there is no desert there.” Kelir hesitated still, not wanting to yield to the wisdom of his daughter’s words.“You will…come visit me?” he asked softly, his heart beginning to throb angrily. Not a week past he was content with his life, unknowing that he had a daughter. But now, he felt as though he might break at the thought of leaving her to face unknown perils alone. But she’s not alone, is she. She has Lucius, and the others. And they have proven to be a formidable team.“I will come visit, father. I promise.” Siabrey’s fists clenched and relaxed twice, then she threw herself into her father’s arms again.“Wing safe, daughter.” He told her, using the traditional goodbye of a siabrie without meaning to. She merely smiled through her tears and whispered the phrase back to him.“Wing safe, father.”As Kelir turned to go, Siabrey suddenly gave a small cry.“Wait!” she dug through her pack again and pulled out another sheet of parchment and a quill. Quickly, she scribbled an address on its surface and then thrust the paper and quill into Kelir’s hands.“Write to mother for me. Tell her…tell her everything that’s happened, and tell her about yourself.” Siabrey stood on her toes and kissed Kelir on the cheek unexpectedly. Kelir nodded, gazed one last time into his daughter’s red red eyes, and then turned and flew as swiftly as he could into the sky. The paper in his hands crinkled and his heart thrummed wildly at the thought of writing to Stodiana. The spot where Siabrey’s lips had brushed his cheek burned brighter than the sun as he disappeared from his daughter and her compatriot’s view. Siabrey drew a deep breath at his leaving, and felt two strong hands drop gently onto her shoulders from behind. “That was a brave thing to do, beloved.” Lucius voice, calm and sweet, washed through her. She turned with a sob and buried her face in his chest. Lucius smoothed her hair gently and kissed the top of her head while whispering soothing words to her. A few minutes later, Siabrey felt another gently touch on her shoulder as the scent of roses washed over her. Turning, she faced Tess, the beautiful bard who had grown to be as close as a sister.“You will see your father again.” Tess said gently.Siabrey swallowed. “As you will see your brother again.”Tess regarded her quietly, then held out a hand. “Thank you for trying to be there for me when I needed it, Siabrey.” Thank you for being there, in my darkest hour... for holding me back, when I neared the abyss of blind rage.  For forcing me to remember how to be myself, and not getting swallowed by my fury.The fighter took the proffered hand gently. “We are friends Tess; what are friends for.”The bard smiled. “Shall we go help Xanadu and his babies?” Siabrey grinned. “Totally.”Once again, the party mounted up and rode off, this time however, they were short one party member, one siabrie, and one of their number had been transformed into a were-raven. However, their hearts were full with their recent victory against evil, the finding of the sword that had saved their young friend, and the fact that they had finally conquered one of their most dangerous enemies and left his body to rot in the desert sands.</blockquote>

Verification