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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1578142" data-attributes="member: 15043">Celestia on High... and the End of a Quest“Um... are you sure its okay for mortals like us,” Shaun glanced around the party nervously as they took position inside a teleportation chamber, “to set foot in Celestia?”  I’ve never been pious... will that come back to hurt me?  I mean, when I was young, I did some stuff that could be counted as... bad...“On the lower levels, yes, its perfectly fine,” Tess smiled.  “As long as you have me or Pell along with to explain away your presence.”“Um... explain away my presence?” Shaun gulped.  “You make it sound like there are archons up there hidden in bushes that shoot you with death arrows if they can sense you’ve done one bad thing!”  The image of Anias, some ten years before, telling at a glance a soldier in Luke’s camp was evil and viciously ‘offing’ him only a few seconds later hung in Shaun’s mind.“No!” Pell scoffed, now in full solar glory.  “Unlike those from the darker side, we don’t go around assassinating people for setting foot in our plane.  If they didn’t like your presence, they would merely... teleport you out.”“Pell, your face is twisted funny.  Whole truth,” Elenya’s brow furrowed.  Her hand snaked around into the clasp of Shaun’s, and held his tightly.  She knew of his thieving past, and didn’t want things he did over 10 years ago to come back and hurt him.  Not now, not when we have to stop something so destructive...“Well, they may banish you to a demi-plane, and not let you out until they were convinced you’d done proper repentance.  But,” Pell added quickly, “that is only for major offenders!  Say, if a lich went up to Celestia!”“A lich is Celestia is about as likely as Siabrey turning down a chance to spar,” Luke commented dryly.“In all seriousness,” Tess repeated, “there is nothing to worry about!  Just let me and Pell do the talking!”“Alright,” Shaun growled, his face still looking worried, the swirls of the mists of teleportation blowing about him now.  In the flashing mists and gloom, he instinctively grabbed hold of Elenya’s hand tighter.The swirling mists of the teleport suddenly lit up, shining bright as a sun burning through a morning fog.  As their swirling slowed, and finally stopped, the light continued to burn and blaze brighter.  When the mists flowed away, the party found themselves in a place of utter, complete beauty.The sky overhead was a brilliant, powerful blue, and to their left, a deep, royal blue ocean, its waves perfectly aligned, lapped gently against an elegant white beach.  To the party’s right, a large forest of exquisite trees ran upwards towards a distant mountain, whose top was crowned with a snowcap worthy of a painting, a brilliant, blinding light thundering down from its summit.The very air seemed crisp, clean, and sweetly scented.  As the party looked at themselves, their very beings seemed to glow slightly in the cool, pleasant breeze coming from the sea.  Around the party there were many unusual creatures... shimmering balls of light that floated in the air.  Men with the heads of hounds... that seemed strangely unearthly splendid.  Creatures winged, soaring in the air above.And all staring at the party.  Within seconds a small flash eminated from in front of the party, and from its depths came a great creature, fully as tall as Pellaron.  Its own greenish-jade skin rippled with holy fire, its eyes blazed white.  As its massive feathery wings settled it upon the ground, in its right hand materialized a massive greatsword, a line of great rubies running down the length of the blade.“Ease, Alphinor,” Pellaron’s own voice ran out.  “It is Pellaron.  I have merely brought allies of our cause here, on an urgent mission to protect innocents.”The creature paused momentarily, then blinked.  A smile suddenly spread across its face, brilliant and blinding.“Pellaron!” it’s voice, a deep resonating bass rumbled.   “I am sorry, I was too focused on the interlopers to recognize you!”  The blade shifted from its upraised position to pointing towards the ground.  “What brings you here so soon... and who are... these?” the creature’s free hand gestured to everyone else.  “I am Alphinor, a colleague of our friend Pellaron,” the solar gracefully bowed.Tess introduced everyone, with a deep bow, before explaining to the archon solar their quest. “We are looking for a mother prismatic dragon, who left her baby alone on our world.  We wish to return the wyrmling to her, before she gets worried.”“Ah... a prismatic dragon on your world?” the solar cocked a golden eyebrow.  “Hmm... I know the dragon Karinina was upon your world no more than a few weeks ago... by your time,” Alphinor smiled.  Time in Celestia, compared to the other planes, seemed to hold still.“You...you know of her?” Siabrey stuttered slightly.“Not well... it is hard to miss the form of a great thousand foot dragon flying out over the ocean, however... especially one that emits a radiance that to us nearby, is of brilliance that rivals the heights of the Celestial Mountain,” the solar smiled again.  “She leaves regularly.  Should you wish to find her, Bahamut’s palace would be where she would be.”“Where is that?” Tess asked slowly.“I thought you said you knew Celestia!” Shaun rejoined.“I’ve never been on this beach before!” the bard replied.“Well, if you are truly in a hurry,” the solar smiled, extending his hands and closing his eyes.And suddenly, the party found themselves only yards from a massive structure, seeming to stretch high into the heavens, its walls seemingly made of ivory and silver, its tops crowned with gold and platinum.  In front of them was a massive archway, easily two or three hundred feet tall... tall enough that an immense dragon would not have to duck when entering the palace.Siabrey let out a slight gulp.  “So... Bahamut’s palace?” she said uneasily.  “Gigantic place.”“I bet you could fit two or three Iskeldruns in here,” Lucius said quietly.  “Utmost respect,” Tess reminded them, her own voice soft in awe.  She’d only seen Bahamut’s palace from a distance, never up close like this.  “Utmost...”“Who are you, striding into the house of the great platinum dragon!” a thunderous rumble exploded into the minds of everyone in the party.  To their front, an immense gold dragon, easily larger than Xanadu, leapt into their path, letting loose with an ear-splitting roar.“Oh great dragons!” Shaun sputtered, immediately on his hands and knees, “We come in search of the dragon known as Karinina!  We have found her child!  We wish to return it to her!”  He then added softly, with a whimper, “Please don’t hurt us?”“We come, knowing of the great wisdom of Bahamut and his draconic servants, to seek out Karinina.  Where she may be found, so that mother and child can be reunited,” Tess said expertly and diplomatically, despite her own knees quaking.The great beast before them gave a snarling growl, and advanced slowly.  Finally, it hung only a few feet from the party, its breath surrounding them with the powerful smells of saffron and incense.  They would feel a wave of magic wash over them, a feeling of warmth spreading from their faces, around their heads, to the base of their skulls.“You... tell the truth,” the beast rumbled, his voice far different.  “And I see that you have, in the past, fought to preserve dragonkind on your own world.  A noble cause,” the great wyrm bowed ever so slightly.  “Stay here,” the beast rumbled, “I shall find Karinina for you.”As the great dragon moved away from them, the ground seeming to shudder under his gait, the party finally started breathing again.“I... um...” Siabrey stuttered again.  She was still at a loss for words.  She merely looked at Tess, eyes wide.  The bard’s eyes, also wide, stared back.As the party looked about, the air to their front seemed to shimmer.  But not just the air to their immediate front, but to their sides, and what seemed an immense distance upward, high enough that they could not crane their necks to see that far up.  A light seemed to grow from the depths of the disturbed air, brighter and brighter, till the party was forced to shut its eyes from its brilliance.  Even with their eyes closed, the light burned through their eyelids, forcing them all to turn away.“Who is this, that disturbs me?” a great voice, much louder than even the gold dragon’s, thundered forth.  As the party turned around, they found their sight once again assaulted by light... not as blinding, but even more brilliant.A beast that could only form in the nightmares of many stood before them.  Her head was down by their level, and was immense... larger than many keeps at nearly one hundred feet in length.  Her eye directly to the party’s front was taller than Pellaron.  From her skin and frills came a brilliant array of purples, yellows and blues, all the colors of the rainbow, flashing before their eyes.“Great Karinina,” Siabrey bowed, putting her forehead on the marbled floor of the palace entrance, “we come to you with news of your child, and intend to return to you the baby you left on our world, Auzerin.”  The Empress trembled, as the breath of the massive beast, cool yet smelling of fireflowers, washed over everyone.”Why do you do this?  I have finished my part,” the beast intoned... by the her voice confused.  ”I have left your world its gift.  I cannot return.”“What?” Tess, raised her own head from its prostrate position.  “You... don’t want your baby back?””I am a Great Mother.  I do not care for the children I leave.”“You... don’t care for your children?  How?” Siabrey asked, confused now as well.”I leave them to watch the other dragons.  I do not have time to care for them all.  They are on their own.” the great dragon said matter of factly, raising her head up from its place close to the party.  ”I have other work I must accomplish than be a mere nanny.”“A...mere...nanny?” every motherly sense in Siabrey began to stir, roiling and boiling against her veneer of respect and calm.  Being a mother is more than being a mere ‘nanny!’”I must leave children on other worlds... not just yours.” the great prismatic wyrm said rather coldly.  ”It takes much time to find the proper site to leave them, and then to lay the egg itself.  There are too many worlds, and there is not enough time to raise each baby.  It is as simple as that.”“But... Ari was just a few weeks old!  We couldn’t fend for himself!  If a red dragon would have arrived, he likely would not have known the danger he was in!” Siabrey snapped, her motherly outrage breaking through.  “He had no food, no water, no one to care for him!  He needs someone to look after him!  He needs his mother!”“So you merely... lay the babies on a world, and then leave them?  Who takes care of them?” Shaun asked, confused now as well.  “Surely someone needs to take care of them!””Fate takes care of them,” she coldly intones, ”Not us.”  The great dragon’s head suddenly shot back down to party level, and they watched as the massive pupils in her great eyes narrowed into mere vertical slits.  ”If you care for him so much, raise him until he can fulfill his duties of watching the other dragons!”“Us?  Raise a dragon?  How... we are not dragons!  We do not understand what he eats, when he sleeps?” Siabrey complained again.”Learn then,” Karinina rose to her full height, and the great beast began to turn.  ”You obviously care for him... you will learn in time.  And by the time you all die, he shall be grown enough that he’ll be able to take care of himself!”“We CAN’T take care of a dragon!” Siabrey called back angrily.  I have no clue what he naturally eats.... or what actually makes him full!  How can I teach a dragon!?  Even after ten years of watching and learning from my father, I can barely hover with my own wings!  How do I teach him how to fly!?”You doubt yourself,” Karinina’s voice rumbled, as the air around her massive form seemed to shimmer and shift.  A strong breeze suddenly came from the ocean, rushing towards her as she disappeared into a small pinprick of light, that winked away as she teleported away.“Good gods,” Siabrey snarled, even though it was two hours later and the party stood in her summer home’s private teleporting chamber, “I can’t believe a mother could be so callous, so cold!”“I find it hard to believe too,” Tess sighed.  “Though I think Ari might be excited to find out that we’re his parents now... evidently.”“We have to raise a frickin’ dragon?!  How the hell do we do that?” Shaun complained.“Talk to Xanadu,” Tess sighed.  “Maybe he and Alisandra can help... I mean, by the time we grow old and die in 40 or 50 years... Ari will  still be a child in draconic years!”Tess saw Siabrey’s face sour at the comment, and thought it best not to pursue that thought further.  Alone among the party (save Pellaron, of course), Siabrey would live past this... her half fey blood guaranteeing her another 200 years or more in the world of the living... at least.  Even if Luke lived till age 100, when he died, she would be just entering middle age... and facing well over a century without her love.  The thought terrified the Empress, and any mention of lifespan caused her to jump back to it.“I’ll... I’ll be able to watch him for longer than that,” Siabrey said quietly, “though yes... Xanadu and Alisandra are our best bet.”  She gave a sigh, “though I think, if possible, we should split up time with him... he spends some time with Tess and Pell, some with us at the palace, some with Xanadu and Alisandra, and some with Shaun and Elenya.”“Yeah... after all, if he’s supposed to watch this world, he should be raised in various places so when he has to watch things, he’ll know them well,” Shaun said, before wincing at his poor wording.  “Did I make sense?”“Yes,” Elenya rubbed her husband’s head.  “Plenty of sense.”“Well... who gets the job of telling Ari we are all his parents now?” Lucius asked.  “I say Siabrey... considering he likes you the best.”When the party arrived in the foyer, they found Amarine and Eleyanaun gone, a dwarven form Alisandra playing with Ari, Shawn, Rose, Raven, Val and Vintressa.  The dragon glanced up at the tired party, and answered what she assumed their question was going to be.“Nope, no dragon’s showed up here.  Amarine and Eleyanaun are upstairs, Xanny is putting them to bed.”  She gave a big smile, “Your children have been good as gold.”“Alisandra?  Can you come here for a second?” Tess said nervously as Siabrey moved to replace her in playing with the children.  When the dragon drew near, Tess told her quietly of what happened, and gave her the party’s quiet request for aid.“Of course!” Alisandra gave another smile, “we can help you!”“Will Xanny be fine with that?” Elenya asked nervously.“He will be if I say so,” Alisandra smiled sweetly, a bit of iron in her voice.At the dragon’s assurances, Tess nodded to Siabrey, who was at the time carrying Ari and Rose on her back.  The fighter gently set the two down, and turned to face Ari.“Ari, hon?  I have something to tell you,” Siabrey said quietly, running a hand along the little boy’s head.“Did you find my mommy?” he asked excitedly, nearly jumping up and down.“I get to be your mommy, Ari,” Siabrey smiled sweetly.  “So do all of these other people... they get to be your mommies and daddies!” she hugged him close.  I can’t tell you your mother abandoned you... not yet!To her happiness, the little boy yelped for joy and have her a massive hug.  Almost as one, the remaining children gave a shout for joy.  For the moment, thoughts of how they were going to raise him fell away.  Concerns about how to teach him vanished, as Siabrey and the others basked in the warmth of pure joy and unadulterated love that radiated from this little boy... pink, red, and green speckles of color falling from his hair.= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = That was the end of the last session of the last campaign... a session that other than knowing the party was going to find the baby prismatic dragon, I improvised on the spot.Sadly, this is probably the last extended campaign from this large group, as one week after this session, we all graduated from college.  There might be occasional one shots that will involve these players together (reunion maybe?) however.However, the adventures in this world will continue this fall.  Siabrey’s player is going to the same graduate school as me, and thus we shall jump into this same world, some twenty years later.  (Location, parties involved to be determined... save I know for sure that Siabrey’s player and the guy that played Anias for one session will be playing) Additionally, I will be visited Siabrey’s player this summer, and running a short one shot for her and some of her hometown friends.  That too will get posted when its finished.  Perhaps other short adventures from this world will occur this summer as well (depends on if I can get my friend here in town to play... and if me and my good friend from high school can hook up for a game).  In the meantime, I have a lot of free time this summer, and I’m working on at least one short story based on this campaign world, which will also find its way posted when its completed.I hope the people reading this had as much reading it as I did running this campaign and posting its results.  If you have any ideas, or questions about how things ran, my homebrew world, or advice (this was only my first campaign... I still have a great deal to learn!), please feel free to post them!  Thank you, and have a great day!</blockquote>

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