Blarkon Dragonslayer
First Post
My oh my...sounds like folks are having quite an interlude.
Tales of the Legacy - Concluded
Delemental
First Post
Blarkon Dragonslayer said:
Yeah, we decided to take about two months in-game to split up and pursue a few minor issues, and then get back together to discuss what we'd learned and plan our next move. We all got at least one plot hook out of our downtime activities, and then we had to decide what to pursue first.
This latest update is only about half of the downtime activity, but posting it all at once would have been too much for one post. I'll throw down the other half next week sometime.
Delemental
First Post
Apologies on the lack of the promised update. I went on vacation, and did not have the time to write or post anything. I will get something posted within the next day or two.
Delemental
First Post
Tolly walked through the packed streets of Miracle, being bumped and jostled by the crowds. But they were extremely courteous and gentle bumps, so it hardly registered with him.
He glanced off to his right, in the direction that most of the people were heading. The towers of the House of Harmony gleamed in the sunlight, and the peal of bells ringing in the spires could be heard all through the city. Everyone was heading to the temple, of course; given who was currently in residence there, this was no surprise.
The crowds finally thinned, and Tolly was able to break out and quicken his pace. He felt a little strange walking around in public without armor or weapons, even in this city. When he’d arrived he’d found that the city’s normal policy of allowing only peace-bound weapons had been changed, most likely due to recent events. Now no implements of violence were permitted in Miracle, including armor. Fortunately, Tolly had anticipated this, and made preparations. His equipment now lay well hidden outside the city, watched over by a bronze dragon that looked like a mangy stray cat.
At last he came to a familiar townhouse in the less savory part of the city. He strode up to the door and entered without knocking, and immediately headed upstairs to a room on the end. An old dwarf, his legs bent with age, sat at the bottom of the stairs and watched him pass by, but said nothing.
“Come in,” called a female voice when Tolly knocked on the door. He walked in and saw two women sitting on the couch, playing a game. One was a young human child of perhaps ten years, and the other a middle-aged woman who looked like an axani, though Tolly knew better.
The two women stood up as he entered. The young girl ran up and hugged his legs.
“Master Nightsleaving!” the woman said. “We weren’t expecting you!”
“Hello, Elianora,” Tolly said to the woman. He ruffled the girl’s hair. “Hello, Iria, how have you been?”
“Good,” she replied brightly. “Elianora’s taught me so many things! Watch what I can do!” She pointed at a vase on the table, and it began to rise into the air.
“Iria, stop!” Tolly barked. The vase fell and shattered.
Tolly took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Iria, I didn’t mean to be that curt with you. But now is not a good time to show off your… education.” He turned to Elianora. “You will need to pack your things and leave the city.”
“Why?” Elianora asked. “No one has bothered us here. We’re able to train in complete privacy.”
“Paccë is here,” Tolly said.
“I know,” Elianora said. “We’ve heard. I have to admit, even for one such as myself, it’s a bit exciting. To have a divine being so close…”
“Is exactly the problem,” Tolly finished. “If Paccë doesn’t already know you’re in her city, she will soon. Have any of your people told you what has happened?”
“No,” Elianora admitted. “I haven’t heard from anyone in some time, actually.”
“The bad man made all the gods fall,” Iria said. “I saw it in a dream.”
Elianora looked almost apologetic. “She’s been having nightmares recently. It could be a reaction to her growing abilities.”
“Or it could be the truth.” Tolly glanced around the room. “I will explain later. We need to leave.”
“But Paccë is a goddess of peace,” Elianora protested. “No one may commit violence in Miracle.”
“She may be a goddess of peace, but she is still a goddess, and one that has little reason to love psions right now,” Tolly explained. “While Paccë herself might not act against you, her followers might. Are you aware that there are sects devoted to Paccë that espouse a philosophy of ‘peace through strength’, and have no qualms about taking up arms against those who would disturb the peace? Those sects do not operate openly in Miracle, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist here. A devoted follower of Paccë, basking in the exaltation of the presence of their goddess, may very well decide that it is worth the price of permanent banishment from Miracle in order to eliminate two of Paccë’s enemies and usurpers of harmony.”
Elianora swallowed nervously, and Iria hugged Tolly tighter.
“It’s not only the followers of Paccë I worry about. Anyone can come to Miracle, and despite the recent changes to the laws a weapon could be smuggled in. And even if that were not possible, there are ways to abduct two people without harming them and get them outside of the city. Beyond that, the psions devoted to Silko might very well decide to strike as well, if for no other reason than to get hold of one of Aran’s own people and an impressionable young girl they could mold to their philosophies. And right now, I don’t entirely trust the ability of the gods to be able to prevent a psionic assault.”
Elianora looked at Tolly calmly. “Things must be very bad right now.”
“That they are.”
Elianora stood up and took Iria by the wrist. “Iria, dear, we’re going to have to get our things packed. We’ll have to leave some things behind, but those aren’t important. Right now we need to listen to Master Nightsleaving and do what he says.”
Iria nodded. “Tolly will protect us from the bad man.”
I hope I can, dearest child, he thought to himself. I hope I can.
“Of course you can, Uncle Tolly,” Iria said.
* * *
Kyle sat quietly in the drawing room, studying Arrie as she read a book by the fire. After watching her for a while, Kyle finally spoke. “Arrie, what’s up with you, anyway?”
She glanced up from her book; she’d been expecting the question. “What do you mean, Kyle?”
“You’re… different. Ever since Silko’s rebirth and the Nightmare Realm, you’ve been… well, not twitchy. You seem calmer, more composed than I’m used to. What changed?”
“What, I’m not allowed to undergo a transformation, too? You and Tolly did.”
“I’m not saying it’s bad, I’m just curious where it came from.”
Arrie put down her book. She’d been somewhat surprised that he hadn’t asked weeks ago – Kyle wasn’t normally one to miss any change in his friends. But lately his regard for the welfare of others had waned considerably, and so if he was now beginning to emerge from that state of mind, she wanted to encourage it. “It happened while I was trapped inside that ooze nightmare. I was… purified, I guess. I realized that the creature was eating away at me, and my mind kind of started looking for all the things that were really important to hang on to. As all the other stuff went away, I was able to see down to the core of my being.”
“Like what stuff?”
“Some of my fears and obsessions. In the end I realized that just because I can’t have the same relationship with the divine that others can have, it doesn’t mean I can’t admire and share some of the principles they espouse. It makes the idea of not having an afterlife a little easier to bear, knowing that I can still have faith.”
Kyle nodded. “Interesting.”
“I’ve come to understand a truth about myself. I used to regret the fact that I was nothing more than a warrior, that fighting was all I knew. But I’ve come to accept that it is through strength that I interact with the world, and it is through strength that I can change the world. I’ve also come to accept that protecting others is important to me, as is protecting the freedom of others. It’s changed a lot of things for me. My powers haven’t changed, but how I use them has, a reflection of my new understanding of myself. I’ve come to realize that the powers that developed for me did so because they were a reflection of my core values. I now develop those powers based on the purity of my belief, rather than the intensity of my emotions.”
Kyle thought about this for a while. “It’s nice to hear someone who had ideals they believe in,” he said at last. “I remember what they were like.”
“So now is when I should ask what’s up with you,” Arrie said with a grin. “Autumn told me that things haven’t been great with you lately.”
Kyle sighed. “I guess I’m just having trouble believing that the things that were important to me really are. They don’t seem to have done me much good lately. I wonder if I was wrong to believe the way I did.”
Arrie paused to gather her thoughts before replying. “Kyle, you know I’ve never really espoused one particular set of morals over another, so I’m not one to tell you what is the ‘right’ path to follow. But I do believe that how we live our lives isn’t a choice we make; it’s a function of who we are, deep inside. You’re a good person, Kyle, and I really don’t think you’re capable of being anything but a good person.” She left unspoken her true fear – that if Kyle, frustrated by the constraints his nature placed upon him, began to deliberately violate those beliefs, he would end up in an even worse crisis of self-doubt than he was currently mired in.
“I’ll have to take you at your word,” Kyle sighed, “but it’s not how I feel.”
Arrie stood up. “I think I know something that will make you feel better,” she said, holding out a hand. “Come riding with me.”
“I’m not much for riding, thanks.”
“Then you won’t get to see what I brought back for you.”
“What is it?”
“A surprise. Hence, the reason you need to ride with me.”
They walked down to the stables and picked out two horses. A brief wave of melancholy crossed Arrie’s face as she saddled her mount – her own horse, Ghost, had been killed during the attack by the nightmare goristros. But soon they were on the road, heading south out of the city. Within an hour’s ride, they were stopping at a large farmstead.
“This is Pella and Bryant’s place,” Kyle said as he dismounted. He’d bought the land for his younger siblings when he’d first brought them to Tlaxan from Targeth.
“The surprise is inside,” Arrie said. “Think of it as a reminder that it’s not just the bad guys who get what they want.”
His curiosity piqued, Kyle walked up to the front door and pushed it open. Both his brother and sister were sitting in the main room, along with their spouses and children. The youngest child, Anjele, was sitting on the lap of a grizzled old man with graying black hair, giggling as he tickled her with thick, callused hands.
“Uncle Kyle!” Anjele shouted when she looked up at him. “Grampa Rufus came to stay with us!”
“D-Dad?” Kyle stammered, suddenly feeling light-headed and having to lean on his staff.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Rufus said with a coarse chuckle. “Yer mama always told me you weren’t cut out for farmin’.”
Kyle looked back to where Arrie had been standing, but all he saw was an empty doorway, and the sound of hoof beats riding away.
As Rufus stood and crossed the room to embrace the son he’d had to leave behind almost sixteen years ago, a part of the dull ache that Kyle had carried in his heart for so many weeks seemed to detach and float away like autumn leaves in the wind.
* * *
“Scion-Watchers,” Kyle said with disgust, looking at the symbol Osborn had drawn.
Osborn had come into Vargas rapidly, his dog Rupert nearly exhausted from miles of running. He’d relayed the news about Dagger Rock, and the symbol that was scorched into the ground, as soon as everyone had gathered.
“Who are the Scion-Watchers?” Tolly asked.
Kyle started to look at Tolly with disbelief, but caught himself. Tolly had been serving in M’Dos as Inquisitor Primus when they’d encountered the Scion-Watchers. “They’re a cult,” he explained. “An old Eritan sect whose mission has become corrupted over the centuries. They were supposed to watch over my bloodline, to make sure that Erito’s curse on the Godscion family remained in force. But now they believe that they are supposed to eradicate the Goodsons to prevent magic from returning to them. They tried to abduct me so they could enact a ritual to destroy my soul, and they kidnapped Pella and killed Bryant. I have no idea how many of my cousins they’ve killed – for all I know they’ve killed my other siblings, Angar and Varda.”
“Why would they destroy Dagger Rock?” Tolly asked.
“It wasn’t destroyed,” Osborn said, “it was missing. Like it had been picked up and moved away.”
“Maybe they learned that I’ve been there,” Kyle said. “They might be using it as bait to get to me. I didn’t exactly leave them with a good impression last time.”
“What did you do, Kyle?” Tolly asked.
“I told them they had to disband and repent, and that the Arcanamach, their leader, had to offer me a personal apology on his knees and then become a swineherd, or else I would kill them all in horrible ways.”
Autumn stared at Kyle. “You told me that you just sent them a stern warning.”
“That was pretty stern,” Arrie said.
“We should go find out what happened,” Kyle said.
“I feel the same way,” Osborn chimed in, “but we may have bigger problems, too.” He relayed to the Legacy his news about the renegade Ladtan priests, and about the treasure map he’d found.
“I had Lanara check into the myth,” Osborn said. “Turns out that the really significant thing about that location is that there’s a druid trapped there under the effects of an imprisonment spell. Seems that just after the Cataclysm, he was going around trying to heal the damage to the land. But a coalition of clerics worshipping Erito and the Four hunted him down, and after a long battle they were able to imprison him.”
“If he’s from the Cataclysm era,” Autumn said, “he might have information about psions.”
“And if he’s capable of healing the damage to the earth from the Cataclysm,” Osborn added, “then maybe he could help the Taurics restore their land.”
“But there must be a reason that those priests acted against him,” Tolly said. “For clerics of five such disparate faiths to act in unison, they must have perceived a dire threat. Perhaps I can gather some information from my church. I may not be in the Inquisition any longer, but there are those in the church who still support me.”
“I’m more interested in the current activities of clerics,” Kyle said. “These Ladtan priests need to be dealt with soon.”
“If they even are Ladtans,” Osborn said. “Maybe they’re Silko’s people hoping to cause people to fear Ladta and abandon her, thus weakening her influence.”
“Osborn, how did you come by so much information?” Autumn asked.
The hin sighed. “Well, it’s probably time I told you all. You’ve heard of the Shadow General, right?”
“You’ve been working with the Shadow General?” Autumn asked.
“No,” he replied. “I am the Shadow General.”
Everyone stopped and stared at Osborn.
“I’ve been building up a network of contacts and resources for years,” Osborn said. “Originally I wanted to try and establish some sort of continent-wide smuggling ring, but with a little more benevolent aim than most criminal guilds. But when the war started, I used my connections to provide aid to civilians. The reason I was going to Dagger Rock is that Grog is my second-in-command.”
Osborn looked around, and saw everyone smiling. “What?”
“Nothing,” Arrie said. “Just… good job.”
“Well done,” Kyle said, slapping the hin on the back.
“We should write to Lanara,” Autumn said. “She’ll be excited to hear about this.”
“Oh, she’s known for months,” Osborn said.
The aasimar sighed. “Is there anything she doesn’t know about before the rest of us?”
“There was Kupa,” Kyle pointed out.
“I think we’re getting off track here,” Arrie said.
Autumn looked around. “Well, I thought that this would be a more formal meeting, but since we’ve already started… what else have people learned?”
“I was visited by Tok in a dream,” Arrie said.
“Was Tok the one who was with us in the Dream Realm?” Osborn asked.
“No, that was Tek. But Tok told me about one of Aran’s contemporaries back in the pre-Cataclysm days, who chose to go into hibernation rather than becoming an elan like Aran and Kristyan have. He encased himself in a crystal cocoon to sleep. Tok tells me that the cocoon was discovered by some giants in the mountains north of the Peca Provinces, and taken to their castle. If awakened, this man could be a source of good information, and an ally for our side.”
“I’ve heard rumors that the church has lost contact with a monastery in the mountains of the Dwarven Confederates,” Tolly said. “It’s only relevant because the monastery holds an Ardaran relic. Given recent events, the church is understandably nervous about the well-being of its relics.”
“I’ve been informed that there is an assassin’s guild operating in the city,” Autumn said. “They were located in the area where the Nightmare Realm arrived. They escaped the area, and there have been some unusual killings.”
“I thought we made it clear that assassins weren’t welcome in Vargas last time,” Kyle said.
“Yeah, well, they have a problem listening.”
Arrie coughed to get everyone’s attention. “Maybe we all ought to think about this and sleep on it before we decide what to do first. The simplest solution may be to start with the problems here and work our way out.”
“Sounds good,” Autumn said. “I have other things to deal with anyway. Count Helaku sent a messenger telling me about some Sargian dragoon that he found and is sending to us to lend a hand to the Legacy. I’ll need to meet them tomorrow, and arrange to visit with my other vassals to see how they are faring.”
“Dinner tomorrow, then?” Tolly suggested. “Excellent. See you all then.”
The page came running up to Kyle as he sat in the courtyard, watching Arrie and Tolly sparring. “Milord,” the page said, bowing. “There is a visitor in the hall, bearing a letter from Count Helaku. The Lady retired to her chambers to rest. Shall we rouse her?”
“No,” Kyle said, getting to his feet. “She needs her rest. I think I can handle this.”
Arrie and Tolly, overhearing the situation, put their weapons down.
“We’d better go with him,” Arrie said.
They all arrived in Autumn’s audience chamber. Kyle sat down in the heavy seat next to Autumn’s throne, and regarded the new arrival. She was a human female, standing in a stiff military posture, taking in the room with her dark, greenish-brown eyes. She had dusky skin and brown-black hair, pulled back in an efficient knot at the back of her head. She was moderately attractive, but clearly not in the habit of making an effort to enhance her looks. She wore well-used Sargian-style armor, and held in one hand the shaft of an impressively lethal looking longspear. A page came up to the throne and handed Kyle a parchment.
Duchess, the parchment read, Not much to report here – cattle ranching is down, cattle rustling is way up. With the way things are right now, it’s what I’d expect. Found this young woman just before the cease-fire. She’s part of an elite Sargian Dragoon scout unit, but her comrades were wiped out in battle. Thought the Legacy could use another fighting arm. Helaku.
Kyle studied the Sargian woman for another moment. He glanced up at Tolly, who nodded. He’d anticipated this meeting, and made use of a few divinatory scrolls to help detect any deceptions. “So, what’s your name?”
“I am Dragoon-Captain Yuri Elle sen Tora Cromanus Fanchon, of the Republican Army of Sargia,” she replied formally.
“Um, okay, at ease,” Kyle said. Yuri fell into a more relaxed posture. He took a moment to remember what he could of Sargian culture, which was precious little. He knew that they placed a lot of pride in names and titles, which explained the long litany. The appellation ‘sen Tora’ indicated some sort of affiliation with the god Tor, and he knew that the name ‘Cromanus’ was that of the Sargian family that controlled the military, and so was probably bestowed upon her due to excellent military service.
“So, I’m Kyle Goodson, the Duke-Consort. This is Tolly Nightsleaving of the church of Ardara, and Ariadne Verahannen, who is an Imperial Princess of Tlaxan, though we try not to mention it that often. The Duchess, Autumn, is currently occupied, and we haven’t seen much of Osborn today, so you’ll have to meet them later.”
“I am honored to make your acquaintance,” Yuri said, bowing. “Tales of your deeds have reached even as far as Sargia. The songs have been sung in many taverns.”
“Songs?” Tolly said, then he shook his head. “Lanara.”
“So, Yuri, Count Helaku thinks you can help us,” Kyle said. “What is it you can do?”
“I am a Republican Dragoon, part of our nation’s advance scout forces. I am skilled in combat and reconnaissance. As your Count put it, I am ‘good at poking holes in things’.”
“Well, we could always use another hole-poker,” Kyle said. There was the distinct snort of a suppressed laugh from somewhere in the room.
“It’s not my inclination,” Yuri said, “but there were certainly those in the Sargian army with that propensity.”
Tolly leaned over to Kyle. “That wasn’t the best choice of words, Kyle.”
Arrie also leaned over. “I like her!”
“The Count speaks highly of you,” Kyle said, ignoring his friends.
“Let me put it this way,” Yuri said. “After I recovered, I sparred with the Count so he could determine my skill in combat. After ten minutes, we declared a draw.”
They all nodded appreciatively. Helaku’s warriors were highly skilled, and none more so than their Count.
“So, why have you chosen not to report back to your commanders in the Sargian army?” Tolly asked.
“My unit is trained to operate largely independently – one consequence of this training is that I feel less inclined than other soldiers to ‘report back for orders’ any time there’s a change in the situation. We’re currently under a cease-fire with the Taurics; if I report back now, I will simply be reassigned to another unit, and likely withdrawn back to Sargia. If hostilities do recommence, I will be serving with people who I don’t know.” She smiled. “I would rather remain in the field and choose who I fight with myself.”
“Okay, great!” Kyle said. “Why don’t we find you some quarters and you can relax and change. We’ll have you meet the others later and then we can talk about working with you.”
“One question first,” Arrie said. “What do you know about psionics?”
“I’m part of an elite unit,” Yuri explained. “I received a briefing.”
“And what’s your opinion of them?”
She shrugged. “As I understand it, some are on our side, some are on their side. I also understand they die when stabbed, just like anything else. If they aren’t attacking me, I have no problem with them. We Sargians are a bit too pragmatic to be superstitious.”
“Good,” Arrie said, relieved.
Yuri was led off by a servant to find some quarters. After a while, she came out, looking far more casual. She was greeted by Kyle, Arrie, and Tolly, who showed her around the manor and grounds, and talked with her about the Legacy and how they operated.
“You know,” Kyle said, “I think that Autumn’s been ‘indisposed’ long enough. I’ll go get her up.” He turned down a hall toward their chambers. Tolly, Yuri, and Arrie continued to talk in the hallway, until they heard a loud shout from Kyle.
“What now?” Tolly said, even as he was running toward their room with the other two right behind him. He came into the room and found Kyle sitting on the edge of the bed, shaking Autumn’s shoulders. She was flushed and sweating, and thrashing around slightly.
“I can’t wake her,” Kyle said. “She’s feverish, and looks like she’s dreaming.” He pointed out the movement of her eyes behind her eyelids.
Tolly immediately invoked a heal spell on her. The moment he did, Autumn’s thrashing intensified, and she began to moan in clear distress.
“That was unexpected,” Tolly said.
Kyle was peering about the room. “No unusual magic,” he said. “Arrie, can you detect any poison?”
“Give me a moment.” She fished out a small bracelet, the one her father had given her years ago as a girl to mimic a Talent when it was discovered that she didn’t develop her own. At the time, of course, no one would have known that this was because she had psionic potential. She strapped the bracelet on and used its power. “No poison. What about psionics?”
Kyle produced his staff and peered through the crystal sphere. “Lingering traces of a psionic power,” he said. “It’s already manifested and ended, but the effects are lingering.” He turned to the two servants standing in the back of the room. “One of you will go quickly and quietly to Osborn Greenbottle’s residence in town, and tell him to come here quickly. The other will go to the court apothecary and bring him here. You will both exercise discretion.”
As the two pale-faced women left the room, Tolly looked at Kyle. “Why did you ask for an apothecary? I have a great deal of healing magic at my disposal.”
“Because I think you were too quick with the healing magic,” Kyle said, as he tried to hold down Autumn’s limbs to keep her from striking him. Arrie ran around to the other side of the bed to help pin her wings down.
Tolly’s face flushed. “I was only trying to help her recover.”
Once Autumn was restrained, Kyle pulled a small vial out of a pocket. He opened the vial with his teeth, and after sniffing at the viscous pink liquid inside, poured the contents of the vial down Autumn’s throat. Within a few moments, the thrashing slowed, and Autumn relaxed.
“What in Ardara’s name is going on?” Tolly asked.
“I think the magic you used neutralized the poison in her,” Kyle said, “which is why Arrie didn’t detect it.”
“That’s usually a good thing,” Tolly said.
“But in this case I think the poison was keeping her unconscious, to keep her from reacting violently to the nightmares.”
“Nightmares?” Arrie asked
“I think that the psionic power that was used on Autumn trapped her mind in an unending nightmare,” Kyle said. “The poison kept her sedated so that she wouldn’t draw attention to her condition. Eventually, though, the nightmares will lead to insanity, possibly death.”
“It’s those assassins,” Arrie said. “The ones Autumn mentioned yesterday.”
“That would be my suspicion,” Kyle said. “She said she’d received intelligence about them. I’ll look through her office for that information. You three stay with her and make sure she’s okay.”
There were several minutes of frenzied activity. One of the servants returned with the physician, and while he and Tolly tended to Autumn, Arrie pulled the servant aside to talk with her. Aleria, Autumn’s personal handmaiden, soon arrived, and after being briefed, set about helping any way she could. Kyle eventually returned with a sheet of folded paper.
“This looks like it was written by those thieves from the Black Hand Guild,” Kyle said. “It reads, ‘Duchess, as part of our agreement and in good faith for your continued tolerance of our operations in Vargas, some information has come to our attention which bears your notice. An assassin’s guild has recently made an attempt to set up operations in Vargas. We are uncertain if this is a new guild, or remnants of the Night Blades or Poisoned Edge guilds that were eliminated by you and your companions a year ago. We were unable to gather much information, for shortly after their arrival was when a portion of our city was overrun by those strange nightmarish creatures. The headquarters of the new guild was within that region of the city. However, we have reason to believe they have escaped that region and continue to operate out of the slums, and that they may be plotting against you and your friends. I suggest taking necessary precautions. We will be in touch if we learn more – assassinations are not conducive to our own work in Vargas.’”
“It would have been nice if Autumn had mentioned the ‘plotting against you’ part yesterday,” Arrie said bitterly.
“We need to find out where these assassins are,” Tolly said.
Kyle turned to Aleria. “Go find the Duchesses’ spymaster,” he said. “Tell him about this assassin’s guild, and have his people find out what they can.” Aleria bowed and left the room quickly, nearly running into the servant who’d been sent to get Osborn.
“Sir?” the servant said to Kyle timidly. “Master Greenbottle, he… isn’t waking up.”
Everyone exchanged looks. “Let’s go,” Kyle said. But before leaving, he leaned over and whispered into the physician’s ear, who nodded and handed the wizard another vial of pink liquid.
“Why do you have that stuff, anyway?” Arrie asked Kyle on the way out.
“Research,” was his only answer.
They arrived swiftly at the Osborn’s home, only a few blocks from the ducal manor. Inside they found Osborn laying in bed, in a similar state as Autumn. After a few quick spells and tests, Kyle shook his head.
“It’s the same thing,” he said. “There are traces of a sedative poison in his blood, and the signs of the same psionic power. He was knocked out, and then sent into this nightmare state. But what’s worse, it seems that the poison they used to knock out Osborn is also enhancing the power’s effects. The drug is helping to separate their minds from their bodies, in a way.”
“What can we do?” Arrie asked.
“Until we find the ones responsible, just keep them sedated and comfortable.” Kyle opened up the pink vial and poured it into Osborn’s mouth. “We should have him moved up to the manor and keep him in the same room as Autumn so they can both be watched.”
By the time they got Osborn out of his house and discreetly into the manor, the spymaster had returned with a brief report. Kyle met with him privately in Autumn’s office while the others moved Osborn into her room. “So far we’ve only been able to narrow it down to this portion of the slums,” he said, pointing to a city map. “It will probably take us a few days to locate their base of operations.”
“We don’t have a few days,” Arrie said. She walked into the room, already dressed in her armor. “What say we head down there now and see what we can find?”
“While I agree with the urgency,” Tolly said, coming in behind her, “I suggest we take a few minutes for some divine guidance. I can ask Ardara to bestow a sign on me to help find the assassins.”
“Divinations of that kind have been notoriously unreliable lately,” Kyle said, “not to mention the risk of a random mishap.”
“I will not stand idly by when I have the power to help because I’m concerned about the risks,” Tolly said sternly. “I will return when the ritual is complete.” He turned and walked out of the room.
Minutes later, he returned to the office. Yuri was there, armed for battle, as were Kyle and Arrie. “Well?” the wizard asked.
“I was told, Look where the beggars beg from beggars,” he replied.
Kyle snapped his fingers, and pointed to a map. “Here,” he said.
“How do you know? Arrie asked.
“This is a part of the slums that a lot of addicts hang out,” Kyle explained. “I went through there a few times when we were cleaning up the city last year. The addicts are so desperate that they try to beg money off the other beggars and poor living down there.”
“Then let’s go,” Tolly said, picking up his maul.
“Do we want to try for a little subtlety here?” Kyle asked.
“We’re past the time for that,” Arrie growled.
Minutes later, the Legacy arrived in the slums, in the part of town that Kyle had pointed out on the map. People scattered when they saw four heavily armed people coming down the road, suddenly remembering urgent business elsewhere.
“We’re here,” Kyle said. “Now what?”
“Now I suggest we grab a random person and start asking questions,” Arrie said. “Let Tolly use some of that Inquisitor training he has.”
“Indeed,” Tolly said. “Let’s look for a suitable candidate.”
They spread out a little, looking over the few people who hadn’t fled at their approach. Arrie stopped to stare down a bleary-eyed elf, wondering if he was coherent enough to talk, when she felt a tingling in the back of her neck. It was an odd combination of a physical prickling and an instinctual warning. She reached back, and felt the dart stinking out of her neck just as her vision began to blur.
“Crap!” she shouted, just before she collapsed.
The others rushed over. Yuri spotted a figure in the shadows who darted away quickly. She and Tolly were about to give chase, until a shout from Kyle reminded them that they would be leaving an unconscious Arrie in the middle of the street in the worst part of the slums.
“I’ll get her back to the manor,” Kyle said. He cast a spell, and metallic wings grew from his back. “Looks like we’ll have to start the search over when we get back.”
“No, we won’t,” Tolly said. He bent down and picked up the tiny dart, holding it up for everyone to see.
“We have them now.”
He glanced off to his right, in the direction that most of the people were heading. The towers of the House of Harmony gleamed in the sunlight, and the peal of bells ringing in the spires could be heard all through the city. Everyone was heading to the temple, of course; given who was currently in residence there, this was no surprise.
The crowds finally thinned, and Tolly was able to break out and quicken his pace. He felt a little strange walking around in public without armor or weapons, even in this city. When he’d arrived he’d found that the city’s normal policy of allowing only peace-bound weapons had been changed, most likely due to recent events. Now no implements of violence were permitted in Miracle, including armor. Fortunately, Tolly had anticipated this, and made preparations. His equipment now lay well hidden outside the city, watched over by a bronze dragon that looked like a mangy stray cat.
At last he came to a familiar townhouse in the less savory part of the city. He strode up to the door and entered without knocking, and immediately headed upstairs to a room on the end. An old dwarf, his legs bent with age, sat at the bottom of the stairs and watched him pass by, but said nothing.
“Come in,” called a female voice when Tolly knocked on the door. He walked in and saw two women sitting on the couch, playing a game. One was a young human child of perhaps ten years, and the other a middle-aged woman who looked like an axani, though Tolly knew better.
The two women stood up as he entered. The young girl ran up and hugged his legs.
“Master Nightsleaving!” the woman said. “We weren’t expecting you!”
“Hello, Elianora,” Tolly said to the woman. He ruffled the girl’s hair. “Hello, Iria, how have you been?”
“Good,” she replied brightly. “Elianora’s taught me so many things! Watch what I can do!” She pointed at a vase on the table, and it began to rise into the air.
“Iria, stop!” Tolly barked. The vase fell and shattered.
Tolly took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Iria, I didn’t mean to be that curt with you. But now is not a good time to show off your… education.” He turned to Elianora. “You will need to pack your things and leave the city.”
“Why?” Elianora asked. “No one has bothered us here. We’re able to train in complete privacy.”
“Paccë is here,” Tolly said.
“I know,” Elianora said. “We’ve heard. I have to admit, even for one such as myself, it’s a bit exciting. To have a divine being so close…”
“Is exactly the problem,” Tolly finished. “If Paccë doesn’t already know you’re in her city, she will soon. Have any of your people told you what has happened?”
“No,” Elianora admitted. “I haven’t heard from anyone in some time, actually.”
“The bad man made all the gods fall,” Iria said. “I saw it in a dream.”
Elianora looked almost apologetic. “She’s been having nightmares recently. It could be a reaction to her growing abilities.”
“Or it could be the truth.” Tolly glanced around the room. “I will explain later. We need to leave.”
“But Paccë is a goddess of peace,” Elianora protested. “No one may commit violence in Miracle.”
“She may be a goddess of peace, but she is still a goddess, and one that has little reason to love psions right now,” Tolly explained. “While Paccë herself might not act against you, her followers might. Are you aware that there are sects devoted to Paccë that espouse a philosophy of ‘peace through strength’, and have no qualms about taking up arms against those who would disturb the peace? Those sects do not operate openly in Miracle, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist here. A devoted follower of Paccë, basking in the exaltation of the presence of their goddess, may very well decide that it is worth the price of permanent banishment from Miracle in order to eliminate two of Paccë’s enemies and usurpers of harmony.”
Elianora swallowed nervously, and Iria hugged Tolly tighter.
“It’s not only the followers of Paccë I worry about. Anyone can come to Miracle, and despite the recent changes to the laws a weapon could be smuggled in. And even if that were not possible, there are ways to abduct two people without harming them and get them outside of the city. Beyond that, the psions devoted to Silko might very well decide to strike as well, if for no other reason than to get hold of one of Aran’s own people and an impressionable young girl they could mold to their philosophies. And right now, I don’t entirely trust the ability of the gods to be able to prevent a psionic assault.”
Elianora looked at Tolly calmly. “Things must be very bad right now.”
“That they are.”
Elianora stood up and took Iria by the wrist. “Iria, dear, we’re going to have to get our things packed. We’ll have to leave some things behind, but those aren’t important. Right now we need to listen to Master Nightsleaving and do what he says.”
Iria nodded. “Tolly will protect us from the bad man.”
I hope I can, dearest child, he thought to himself. I hope I can.
“Of course you can, Uncle Tolly,” Iria said.
* * *
Kyle sat quietly in the drawing room, studying Arrie as she read a book by the fire. After watching her for a while, Kyle finally spoke. “Arrie, what’s up with you, anyway?”
She glanced up from her book; she’d been expecting the question. “What do you mean, Kyle?”
“You’re… different. Ever since Silko’s rebirth and the Nightmare Realm, you’ve been… well, not twitchy. You seem calmer, more composed than I’m used to. What changed?”
“What, I’m not allowed to undergo a transformation, too? You and Tolly did.”
“I’m not saying it’s bad, I’m just curious where it came from.”
Arrie put down her book. She’d been somewhat surprised that he hadn’t asked weeks ago – Kyle wasn’t normally one to miss any change in his friends. But lately his regard for the welfare of others had waned considerably, and so if he was now beginning to emerge from that state of mind, she wanted to encourage it. “It happened while I was trapped inside that ooze nightmare. I was… purified, I guess. I realized that the creature was eating away at me, and my mind kind of started looking for all the things that were really important to hang on to. As all the other stuff went away, I was able to see down to the core of my being.”
“Like what stuff?”
“Some of my fears and obsessions. In the end I realized that just because I can’t have the same relationship with the divine that others can have, it doesn’t mean I can’t admire and share some of the principles they espouse. It makes the idea of not having an afterlife a little easier to bear, knowing that I can still have faith.”
Kyle nodded. “Interesting.”
“I’ve come to understand a truth about myself. I used to regret the fact that I was nothing more than a warrior, that fighting was all I knew. But I’ve come to accept that it is through strength that I interact with the world, and it is through strength that I can change the world. I’ve also come to accept that protecting others is important to me, as is protecting the freedom of others. It’s changed a lot of things for me. My powers haven’t changed, but how I use them has, a reflection of my new understanding of myself. I’ve come to realize that the powers that developed for me did so because they were a reflection of my core values. I now develop those powers based on the purity of my belief, rather than the intensity of my emotions.”
Kyle thought about this for a while. “It’s nice to hear someone who had ideals they believe in,” he said at last. “I remember what they were like.”
“So now is when I should ask what’s up with you,” Arrie said with a grin. “Autumn told me that things haven’t been great with you lately.”
Kyle sighed. “I guess I’m just having trouble believing that the things that were important to me really are. They don’t seem to have done me much good lately. I wonder if I was wrong to believe the way I did.”
Arrie paused to gather her thoughts before replying. “Kyle, you know I’ve never really espoused one particular set of morals over another, so I’m not one to tell you what is the ‘right’ path to follow. But I do believe that how we live our lives isn’t a choice we make; it’s a function of who we are, deep inside. You’re a good person, Kyle, and I really don’t think you’re capable of being anything but a good person.” She left unspoken her true fear – that if Kyle, frustrated by the constraints his nature placed upon him, began to deliberately violate those beliefs, he would end up in an even worse crisis of self-doubt than he was currently mired in.
“I’ll have to take you at your word,” Kyle sighed, “but it’s not how I feel.”
Arrie stood up. “I think I know something that will make you feel better,” she said, holding out a hand. “Come riding with me.”
“I’m not much for riding, thanks.”
“Then you won’t get to see what I brought back for you.”
“What is it?”
“A surprise. Hence, the reason you need to ride with me.”
They walked down to the stables and picked out two horses. A brief wave of melancholy crossed Arrie’s face as she saddled her mount – her own horse, Ghost, had been killed during the attack by the nightmare goristros. But soon they were on the road, heading south out of the city. Within an hour’s ride, they were stopping at a large farmstead.
“This is Pella and Bryant’s place,” Kyle said as he dismounted. He’d bought the land for his younger siblings when he’d first brought them to Tlaxan from Targeth.
“The surprise is inside,” Arrie said. “Think of it as a reminder that it’s not just the bad guys who get what they want.”
His curiosity piqued, Kyle walked up to the front door and pushed it open. Both his brother and sister were sitting in the main room, along with their spouses and children. The youngest child, Anjele, was sitting on the lap of a grizzled old man with graying black hair, giggling as he tickled her with thick, callused hands.
“Uncle Kyle!” Anjele shouted when she looked up at him. “Grampa Rufus came to stay with us!”
“D-Dad?” Kyle stammered, suddenly feeling light-headed and having to lean on his staff.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Rufus said with a coarse chuckle. “Yer mama always told me you weren’t cut out for farmin’.”
Kyle looked back to where Arrie had been standing, but all he saw was an empty doorway, and the sound of hoof beats riding away.
As Rufus stood and crossed the room to embrace the son he’d had to leave behind almost sixteen years ago, a part of the dull ache that Kyle had carried in his heart for so many weeks seemed to detach and float away like autumn leaves in the wind.
* * *
“Scion-Watchers,” Kyle said with disgust, looking at the symbol Osborn had drawn.
Osborn had come into Vargas rapidly, his dog Rupert nearly exhausted from miles of running. He’d relayed the news about Dagger Rock, and the symbol that was scorched into the ground, as soon as everyone had gathered.
“Who are the Scion-Watchers?” Tolly asked.
Kyle started to look at Tolly with disbelief, but caught himself. Tolly had been serving in M’Dos as Inquisitor Primus when they’d encountered the Scion-Watchers. “They’re a cult,” he explained. “An old Eritan sect whose mission has become corrupted over the centuries. They were supposed to watch over my bloodline, to make sure that Erito’s curse on the Godscion family remained in force. But now they believe that they are supposed to eradicate the Goodsons to prevent magic from returning to them. They tried to abduct me so they could enact a ritual to destroy my soul, and they kidnapped Pella and killed Bryant. I have no idea how many of my cousins they’ve killed – for all I know they’ve killed my other siblings, Angar and Varda.”
“Why would they destroy Dagger Rock?” Tolly asked.
“It wasn’t destroyed,” Osborn said, “it was missing. Like it had been picked up and moved away.”
“Maybe they learned that I’ve been there,” Kyle said. “They might be using it as bait to get to me. I didn’t exactly leave them with a good impression last time.”
“What did you do, Kyle?” Tolly asked.
“I told them they had to disband and repent, and that the Arcanamach, their leader, had to offer me a personal apology on his knees and then become a swineherd, or else I would kill them all in horrible ways.”
Autumn stared at Kyle. “You told me that you just sent them a stern warning.”
“That was pretty stern,” Arrie said.
“We should go find out what happened,” Kyle said.
“I feel the same way,” Osborn chimed in, “but we may have bigger problems, too.” He relayed to the Legacy his news about the renegade Ladtan priests, and about the treasure map he’d found.
“I had Lanara check into the myth,” Osborn said. “Turns out that the really significant thing about that location is that there’s a druid trapped there under the effects of an imprisonment spell. Seems that just after the Cataclysm, he was going around trying to heal the damage to the land. But a coalition of clerics worshipping Erito and the Four hunted him down, and after a long battle they were able to imprison him.”
“If he’s from the Cataclysm era,” Autumn said, “he might have information about psions.”
“And if he’s capable of healing the damage to the earth from the Cataclysm,” Osborn added, “then maybe he could help the Taurics restore their land.”
“But there must be a reason that those priests acted against him,” Tolly said. “For clerics of five such disparate faiths to act in unison, they must have perceived a dire threat. Perhaps I can gather some information from my church. I may not be in the Inquisition any longer, but there are those in the church who still support me.”
“I’m more interested in the current activities of clerics,” Kyle said. “These Ladtan priests need to be dealt with soon.”
“If they even are Ladtans,” Osborn said. “Maybe they’re Silko’s people hoping to cause people to fear Ladta and abandon her, thus weakening her influence.”
“Osborn, how did you come by so much information?” Autumn asked.
The hin sighed. “Well, it’s probably time I told you all. You’ve heard of the Shadow General, right?”
“You’ve been working with the Shadow General?” Autumn asked.
“No,” he replied. “I am the Shadow General.”
Everyone stopped and stared at Osborn.
“I’ve been building up a network of contacts and resources for years,” Osborn said. “Originally I wanted to try and establish some sort of continent-wide smuggling ring, but with a little more benevolent aim than most criminal guilds. But when the war started, I used my connections to provide aid to civilians. The reason I was going to Dagger Rock is that Grog is my second-in-command.”
Osborn looked around, and saw everyone smiling. “What?”
“Nothing,” Arrie said. “Just… good job.”
“Well done,” Kyle said, slapping the hin on the back.
“We should write to Lanara,” Autumn said. “She’ll be excited to hear about this.”
“Oh, she’s known for months,” Osborn said.
The aasimar sighed. “Is there anything she doesn’t know about before the rest of us?”
“There was Kupa,” Kyle pointed out.
“I think we’re getting off track here,” Arrie said.
Autumn looked around. “Well, I thought that this would be a more formal meeting, but since we’ve already started… what else have people learned?”
“I was visited by Tok in a dream,” Arrie said.
“Was Tok the one who was with us in the Dream Realm?” Osborn asked.
“No, that was Tek. But Tok told me about one of Aran’s contemporaries back in the pre-Cataclysm days, who chose to go into hibernation rather than becoming an elan like Aran and Kristyan have. He encased himself in a crystal cocoon to sleep. Tok tells me that the cocoon was discovered by some giants in the mountains north of the Peca Provinces, and taken to their castle. If awakened, this man could be a source of good information, and an ally for our side.”
“I’ve heard rumors that the church has lost contact with a monastery in the mountains of the Dwarven Confederates,” Tolly said. “It’s only relevant because the monastery holds an Ardaran relic. Given recent events, the church is understandably nervous about the well-being of its relics.”
“I’ve been informed that there is an assassin’s guild operating in the city,” Autumn said. “They were located in the area where the Nightmare Realm arrived. They escaped the area, and there have been some unusual killings.”
“I thought we made it clear that assassins weren’t welcome in Vargas last time,” Kyle said.
“Yeah, well, they have a problem listening.”
Arrie coughed to get everyone’s attention. “Maybe we all ought to think about this and sleep on it before we decide what to do first. The simplest solution may be to start with the problems here and work our way out.”
“Sounds good,” Autumn said. “I have other things to deal with anyway. Count Helaku sent a messenger telling me about some Sargian dragoon that he found and is sending to us to lend a hand to the Legacy. I’ll need to meet them tomorrow, and arrange to visit with my other vassals to see how they are faring.”
“Dinner tomorrow, then?” Tolly suggested. “Excellent. See you all then.”
* * *
The page came running up to Kyle as he sat in the courtyard, watching Arrie and Tolly sparring. “Milord,” the page said, bowing. “There is a visitor in the hall, bearing a letter from Count Helaku. The Lady retired to her chambers to rest. Shall we rouse her?”
“No,” Kyle said, getting to his feet. “She needs her rest. I think I can handle this.”
Arrie and Tolly, overhearing the situation, put their weapons down.
“We’d better go with him,” Arrie said.
They all arrived in Autumn’s audience chamber. Kyle sat down in the heavy seat next to Autumn’s throne, and regarded the new arrival. She was a human female, standing in a stiff military posture, taking in the room with her dark, greenish-brown eyes. She had dusky skin and brown-black hair, pulled back in an efficient knot at the back of her head. She was moderately attractive, but clearly not in the habit of making an effort to enhance her looks. She wore well-used Sargian-style armor, and held in one hand the shaft of an impressively lethal looking longspear. A page came up to the throne and handed Kyle a parchment.
Duchess, the parchment read, Not much to report here – cattle ranching is down, cattle rustling is way up. With the way things are right now, it’s what I’d expect. Found this young woman just before the cease-fire. She’s part of an elite Sargian Dragoon scout unit, but her comrades were wiped out in battle. Thought the Legacy could use another fighting arm. Helaku.
Kyle studied the Sargian woman for another moment. He glanced up at Tolly, who nodded. He’d anticipated this meeting, and made use of a few divinatory scrolls to help detect any deceptions. “So, what’s your name?”
“I am Dragoon-Captain Yuri Elle sen Tora Cromanus Fanchon, of the Republican Army of Sargia,” she replied formally.
“Um, okay, at ease,” Kyle said. Yuri fell into a more relaxed posture. He took a moment to remember what he could of Sargian culture, which was precious little. He knew that they placed a lot of pride in names and titles, which explained the long litany. The appellation ‘sen Tora’ indicated some sort of affiliation with the god Tor, and he knew that the name ‘Cromanus’ was that of the Sargian family that controlled the military, and so was probably bestowed upon her due to excellent military service.
“So, I’m Kyle Goodson, the Duke-Consort. This is Tolly Nightsleaving of the church of Ardara, and Ariadne Verahannen, who is an Imperial Princess of Tlaxan, though we try not to mention it that often. The Duchess, Autumn, is currently occupied, and we haven’t seen much of Osborn today, so you’ll have to meet them later.”
“I am honored to make your acquaintance,” Yuri said, bowing. “Tales of your deeds have reached even as far as Sargia. The songs have been sung in many taverns.”
“Songs?” Tolly said, then he shook his head. “Lanara.”
“So, Yuri, Count Helaku thinks you can help us,” Kyle said. “What is it you can do?”
“I am a Republican Dragoon, part of our nation’s advance scout forces. I am skilled in combat and reconnaissance. As your Count put it, I am ‘good at poking holes in things’.”
“Well, we could always use another hole-poker,” Kyle said. There was the distinct snort of a suppressed laugh from somewhere in the room.
“It’s not my inclination,” Yuri said, “but there were certainly those in the Sargian army with that propensity.”
Tolly leaned over to Kyle. “That wasn’t the best choice of words, Kyle.”
Arrie also leaned over. “I like her!”
“The Count speaks highly of you,” Kyle said, ignoring his friends.
“Let me put it this way,” Yuri said. “After I recovered, I sparred with the Count so he could determine my skill in combat. After ten minutes, we declared a draw.”
They all nodded appreciatively. Helaku’s warriors were highly skilled, and none more so than their Count.
“So, why have you chosen not to report back to your commanders in the Sargian army?” Tolly asked.
“My unit is trained to operate largely independently – one consequence of this training is that I feel less inclined than other soldiers to ‘report back for orders’ any time there’s a change in the situation. We’re currently under a cease-fire with the Taurics; if I report back now, I will simply be reassigned to another unit, and likely withdrawn back to Sargia. If hostilities do recommence, I will be serving with people who I don’t know.” She smiled. “I would rather remain in the field and choose who I fight with myself.”
“Okay, great!” Kyle said. “Why don’t we find you some quarters and you can relax and change. We’ll have you meet the others later and then we can talk about working with you.”
“One question first,” Arrie said. “What do you know about psionics?”
“I’m part of an elite unit,” Yuri explained. “I received a briefing.”
“And what’s your opinion of them?”
She shrugged. “As I understand it, some are on our side, some are on their side. I also understand they die when stabbed, just like anything else. If they aren’t attacking me, I have no problem with them. We Sargians are a bit too pragmatic to be superstitious.”
“Good,” Arrie said, relieved.
Yuri was led off by a servant to find some quarters. After a while, she came out, looking far more casual. She was greeted by Kyle, Arrie, and Tolly, who showed her around the manor and grounds, and talked with her about the Legacy and how they operated.
“You know,” Kyle said, “I think that Autumn’s been ‘indisposed’ long enough. I’ll go get her up.” He turned down a hall toward their chambers. Tolly, Yuri, and Arrie continued to talk in the hallway, until they heard a loud shout from Kyle.
“What now?” Tolly said, even as he was running toward their room with the other two right behind him. He came into the room and found Kyle sitting on the edge of the bed, shaking Autumn’s shoulders. She was flushed and sweating, and thrashing around slightly.
“I can’t wake her,” Kyle said. “She’s feverish, and looks like she’s dreaming.” He pointed out the movement of her eyes behind her eyelids.
Tolly immediately invoked a heal spell on her. The moment he did, Autumn’s thrashing intensified, and she began to moan in clear distress.
“That was unexpected,” Tolly said.
Kyle was peering about the room. “No unusual magic,” he said. “Arrie, can you detect any poison?”
“Give me a moment.” She fished out a small bracelet, the one her father had given her years ago as a girl to mimic a Talent when it was discovered that she didn’t develop her own. At the time, of course, no one would have known that this was because she had psionic potential. She strapped the bracelet on and used its power. “No poison. What about psionics?”
Kyle produced his staff and peered through the crystal sphere. “Lingering traces of a psionic power,” he said. “It’s already manifested and ended, but the effects are lingering.” He turned to the two servants standing in the back of the room. “One of you will go quickly and quietly to Osborn Greenbottle’s residence in town, and tell him to come here quickly. The other will go to the court apothecary and bring him here. You will both exercise discretion.”
As the two pale-faced women left the room, Tolly looked at Kyle. “Why did you ask for an apothecary? I have a great deal of healing magic at my disposal.”
“Because I think you were too quick with the healing magic,” Kyle said, as he tried to hold down Autumn’s limbs to keep her from striking him. Arrie ran around to the other side of the bed to help pin her wings down.
Tolly’s face flushed. “I was only trying to help her recover.”
Once Autumn was restrained, Kyle pulled a small vial out of a pocket. He opened the vial with his teeth, and after sniffing at the viscous pink liquid inside, poured the contents of the vial down Autumn’s throat. Within a few moments, the thrashing slowed, and Autumn relaxed.
“What in Ardara’s name is going on?” Tolly asked.
“I think the magic you used neutralized the poison in her,” Kyle said, “which is why Arrie didn’t detect it.”
“That’s usually a good thing,” Tolly said.
“But in this case I think the poison was keeping her unconscious, to keep her from reacting violently to the nightmares.”
“Nightmares?” Arrie asked
“I think that the psionic power that was used on Autumn trapped her mind in an unending nightmare,” Kyle said. “The poison kept her sedated so that she wouldn’t draw attention to her condition. Eventually, though, the nightmares will lead to insanity, possibly death.”
“It’s those assassins,” Arrie said. “The ones Autumn mentioned yesterday.”
“That would be my suspicion,” Kyle said. “She said she’d received intelligence about them. I’ll look through her office for that information. You three stay with her and make sure she’s okay.”
There were several minutes of frenzied activity. One of the servants returned with the physician, and while he and Tolly tended to Autumn, Arrie pulled the servant aside to talk with her. Aleria, Autumn’s personal handmaiden, soon arrived, and after being briefed, set about helping any way she could. Kyle eventually returned with a sheet of folded paper.
“This looks like it was written by those thieves from the Black Hand Guild,” Kyle said. “It reads, ‘Duchess, as part of our agreement and in good faith for your continued tolerance of our operations in Vargas, some information has come to our attention which bears your notice. An assassin’s guild has recently made an attempt to set up operations in Vargas. We are uncertain if this is a new guild, or remnants of the Night Blades or Poisoned Edge guilds that were eliminated by you and your companions a year ago. We were unable to gather much information, for shortly after their arrival was when a portion of our city was overrun by those strange nightmarish creatures. The headquarters of the new guild was within that region of the city. However, we have reason to believe they have escaped that region and continue to operate out of the slums, and that they may be plotting against you and your friends. I suggest taking necessary precautions. We will be in touch if we learn more – assassinations are not conducive to our own work in Vargas.’”
“It would have been nice if Autumn had mentioned the ‘plotting against you’ part yesterday,” Arrie said bitterly.
“We need to find out where these assassins are,” Tolly said.
Kyle turned to Aleria. “Go find the Duchesses’ spymaster,” he said. “Tell him about this assassin’s guild, and have his people find out what they can.” Aleria bowed and left the room quickly, nearly running into the servant who’d been sent to get Osborn.
“Sir?” the servant said to Kyle timidly. “Master Greenbottle, he… isn’t waking up.”
Everyone exchanged looks. “Let’s go,” Kyle said. But before leaving, he leaned over and whispered into the physician’s ear, who nodded and handed the wizard another vial of pink liquid.
“Why do you have that stuff, anyway?” Arrie asked Kyle on the way out.
“Research,” was his only answer.
They arrived swiftly at the Osborn’s home, only a few blocks from the ducal manor. Inside they found Osborn laying in bed, in a similar state as Autumn. After a few quick spells and tests, Kyle shook his head.
“It’s the same thing,” he said. “There are traces of a sedative poison in his blood, and the signs of the same psionic power. He was knocked out, and then sent into this nightmare state. But what’s worse, it seems that the poison they used to knock out Osborn is also enhancing the power’s effects. The drug is helping to separate their minds from their bodies, in a way.”
“What can we do?” Arrie asked.
“Until we find the ones responsible, just keep them sedated and comfortable.” Kyle opened up the pink vial and poured it into Osborn’s mouth. “We should have him moved up to the manor and keep him in the same room as Autumn so they can both be watched.”
By the time they got Osborn out of his house and discreetly into the manor, the spymaster had returned with a brief report. Kyle met with him privately in Autumn’s office while the others moved Osborn into her room. “So far we’ve only been able to narrow it down to this portion of the slums,” he said, pointing to a city map. “It will probably take us a few days to locate their base of operations.”
“We don’t have a few days,” Arrie said. She walked into the room, already dressed in her armor. “What say we head down there now and see what we can find?”
“While I agree with the urgency,” Tolly said, coming in behind her, “I suggest we take a few minutes for some divine guidance. I can ask Ardara to bestow a sign on me to help find the assassins.”
“Divinations of that kind have been notoriously unreliable lately,” Kyle said, “not to mention the risk of a random mishap.”
“I will not stand idly by when I have the power to help because I’m concerned about the risks,” Tolly said sternly. “I will return when the ritual is complete.” He turned and walked out of the room.
Minutes later, he returned to the office. Yuri was there, armed for battle, as were Kyle and Arrie. “Well?” the wizard asked.
“I was told, Look where the beggars beg from beggars,” he replied.
Kyle snapped his fingers, and pointed to a map. “Here,” he said.
“How do you know? Arrie asked.
“This is a part of the slums that a lot of addicts hang out,” Kyle explained. “I went through there a few times when we were cleaning up the city last year. The addicts are so desperate that they try to beg money off the other beggars and poor living down there.”
“Then let’s go,” Tolly said, picking up his maul.
“Do we want to try for a little subtlety here?” Kyle asked.
“We’re past the time for that,” Arrie growled.
Minutes later, the Legacy arrived in the slums, in the part of town that Kyle had pointed out on the map. People scattered when they saw four heavily armed people coming down the road, suddenly remembering urgent business elsewhere.
“We’re here,” Kyle said. “Now what?”
“Now I suggest we grab a random person and start asking questions,” Arrie said. “Let Tolly use some of that Inquisitor training he has.”
“Indeed,” Tolly said. “Let’s look for a suitable candidate.”
They spread out a little, looking over the few people who hadn’t fled at their approach. Arrie stopped to stare down a bleary-eyed elf, wondering if he was coherent enough to talk, when she felt a tingling in the back of her neck. It was an odd combination of a physical prickling and an instinctual warning. She reached back, and felt the dart stinking out of her neck just as her vision began to blur.
“Crap!” she shouted, just before she collapsed.
The others rushed over. Yuri spotted a figure in the shadows who darted away quickly. She and Tolly were about to give chase, until a shout from Kyle reminded them that they would be leaving an unconscious Arrie in the middle of the street in the worst part of the slums.
“I’ll get her back to the manor,” Kyle said. He cast a spell, and metallic wings grew from his back. “Looks like we’ll have to start the search over when we get back.”
“No, we won’t,” Tolly said. He bent down and picked up the tiny dart, holding it up for everyone to see.
“We have them now.”
Delemental
First Post
The old two-story tenement that served as the hideout for the assassin’s guild had seen better days. Years of neglect, a common feature among the buildings of the slums, had weakened the wooden planks and beams that supported the place, which had been built as a dancehall in whatever bygone decade it was first conceived. Those who walked through the place often heard the creaks and groans of old lumber, or the persistent gnawing of rats.
So, in retrospect, it was small wonder that when the Legacy appeared in the middle of the central room, Tolly already under the effects of iron body and righteous might, that the Ardaran’s massive frame quickly fell through the floor and into the basement below.
Kyle, Yuri, and Kupa, who could see the top of Tolly’s enlarged head poking up in the middle of the hole he’d created, quickly assessed the situation. The main level was sparsely furnished in old, tasteless furniture. A human male, clearly wearing the garb of a monk, stood near a ratty couch. Up above them, a walkway encircled the outside of the room, and a female spellcaster stood looking down at them from the railing. What made the pair unusual, however, was some familiar features; the monk had several facial tattoos which were identical to those worn by Osborn, and the sorceresses’ eyes were Autumn’s brilliant blue.
Yuri, not sure what to make of this, decided to play it safe. She ran by the monk, and swept at his feet with the haft of her longspear, hoping to knock him off his feet. But the monk easily avoided the sweep, and Yuri dashed past, tearing a large hole in the upholstery of the couch. The Sargian leapt into the air, easily clearing the distance from the floor to the balcony.
At the same time, the sorceress on the balcony launched a fireball at the party, singing several of them. Kyle summoned up a defenestrating sphere in response, and launched it at her, hoping to knock her off the balcony, but she managed to keep her feet amidst the buffeting winds. Kupa breathed a cloud of gas at the sorceress, hoping to slow her, but the vapors seemed ineffective. Then Tolly appeared on the balcony next to her, and managed to land a solid blow with his maul before once again falling through the collapsing floor into the basement again.
The monk, seeing that everyone’s attention was on his ally, ran up and began pummeling Kyle from behind, as he prepared to move the sphere back on top of the sorceress. But this left the monk similarly open to an attack from high above, as Yuri leapt down, screaming, and impaled the monk’s shoulder. As she pulled her spear free and prepared to strike again, she glanced up at the sorceress on the balcony, who was glaring with an unnatural gaze at her enemies. Both Yuri and Kupa were suddenly paralyzed with terror, and stood helpless.
Kyle, still being menaced by the monk now that Yuri had been incapacitated, managed to get off a quick displacement to protect himself, and then refocused on his defenestrating sphere. The air globe slammed into the sorceress and flung her into the ceiling, and then back to the floor in the center of the room. When she hit the floor, her body suddenly lost all cohesion, transforming into a black, shiny ooze that began to slink away. Rising up from the ooze came the translucent, spectral form of Autumn. Kyle whooped in triumph as his wife turned and began floating toward the monk, intent on doing battle. Tolly, less optimistic, invoked true seeing to make sure there was no deception, but could see nothing amiss with either Autumn’s spirit-like form or the ooze. Reassured that they weren’t currently being deceived, he cast another spell to suppress the grip of fear that was overwhelming Kupa and Yuri.
Everyone’s attention was drawn to the monk. Kyle swiped at him with a vampiric touch that missed, but Autumn’s incorporeal fists landed solidly enough. But it was Yuri’s quick jab as she ran around behind the monk that proved the telling blow, and the monk collapsed into a pile of black ooze, releasing a ghostly version of Osborn.
The party gathered together. “What do we do with these two?” Tolly asked, pointing at Autumn and Osborn, floating nearby.
“I’m not sure,” Kyle said. “I was hoping they’d return to their bodies once those two were dead. Maybe we should…”
“Hey,” Yuri said quietly, “I think maybe you ought to turn around. Now.”
They turned to behold a terror. The two smaller oozes had flowed together and combined into an ebon creature much larger than the sum of its parts. Constantly melting and reforming, the creature shifted maddeningly from shape to shape, drawing each one from some horrifying nightmare. Spines and clawed tentacles jutted out from every angle, and dozens of eyeballs peered out at them from within the black mass. Atop the ooze, a human skull floated, cackling and screeching insanely.
Kupa blinked at the sight of the monstrosity. “You meet such interesting creatures,” he said, and then spit a line of acid at the ooze. The caustic fluids were absorbed harmlessly by the ebony mass, and a polar ray from Kyle bounced off it with no effect. Similarly, an implosion from Tolly was easily warded off. Osborn and Autumn floated in and began slashing at the ooze, tearing away chunks that dissolved in thin air even as its pseudopods passed through the two of them without effect. Yuri, however, was not so fortunate; as she charged in with her spear, a tentacle lashed out and struck her fully across the chest. The dragoon screamed as her form began to melt and dissolve, and her longspear slid out of boneless fingers.
Tolly, who had dropped his iron body spell so that he would stop crashing through the floor, ran over to Yuri. Although he had never seen an abomination like this, he’d heard of other creatures of Chaos that could affect beings in similar ways. He hoped that this creature’s ability was similar enough for him to treat it in the same manner. Casting as he ran, he hit the Sargian with heal. She immediately reformed to her true shape, though she was obviously still unnerved by the experience.
Osborn and Autumn continued their assault on the ooze nightmare, continuing to rip away black globs. The creature tried to gesture at Kyle, but Autumn knocked the tentacle aside, causing the ray of negative energy it had emitted to strike the far wall.
As the Legacy began to close in, the skull atop the nightmare shifted forward until it was eye level. The jaw began to move, and they all heard a familiar voice coming from it;
“Help me!” Arrie’s voice cried out, “I’m trapped inside here!”
The unnerving effect of this pronouncement was somewhat lessened, however, when a door on the far end of the room burst open, and Arrie came through, brandishing a huge adamantine warmace that was shifting into the shape of a greatspear even as she charged in. Arrie’s spear joined Yuri’s in piercing the black mass several times, causing it to recoil in pain. Kyle singed the ooze slightly with a burning hands spell; the creature had displayed a great deal of resistance to elemental magic, and he didn’t want to hit it with a more potent spell only to discover that it was rejuvenated by fire. The ooze again shrugged off most of the damage, but at least it didn’t look any healthier.
Surrounded by enemies, the ooze emitted a foul cloud of poisonous gas before leaping across the room to escape its attackers. Only Kyle was overcome by the fumes, and he staggered out of the cloud, gasping. Yuri, Arrie, Tolly, and Autumn moved across the room to attack again, the sentinel’s ghostly hands shining with divine power as she struck. Kyle surrounded them all in an aura of flames that burned the ooze each time it struck
The nightmare creature was leaping about the room, trying to escape, but found its attacks were just as mobile as it was. Yuri and Arrie quickly fell into a brutally effective routine; Yuri would leap to the attack and impale the ooze with her spear, and as soon as she landed Arrie used her new magical cloak to switch places with the dragoon, putting Arrie in easy reach of her own weapons. The ooze did manage to get in a solid blow on Kupa, whose form began to shift and melt as Yuri’s had done, but a timely spell from Tolly ended the dragon’s torment quickly.
Finally, it had endured enough. It unleashed another blast of power into the party, a wave of psychic power that distorted perception and twisted the mind. Yuri was left reeling for a moment, disoriented by the ooze’s power; it used the opening to slip past her and through a crack in the door behind her.
Tolly quickly moved up and began battering the door down. Osborn, meanwhile, who had been hanging back waiting for the opportunity to strike, simply floated through the wall and caught up with the fleeing ooze.
The door flew apart in a shower of dust and shards of wood. Tolly and Arrie stood in the doorway, ready to charge down the hallway. Behind them, Kyle was tending to Yuri, ending her confused state of mind. The hallway ahead of them was empty, except for a trail of ichor than abruptly ended in the middle of the hallway. Osborn was nowhere to be seen, and a quick look around told them that Autumn was also not there.
“All right,” Arrie said, “where’s my sister?”
“Back in her body, I think,” Kyle said. “I think Osborn killed the thing.”
“Kyle, you’re the fastest, go and check,” Tolly said. “Yuri, follow behind him.” They both nodded and took off, Kyle spreading his metallic wings and flying down the hallway and outside, Yuri right on his heels.
Tolly then turned to Arrie. “We should search the rest of this place, and make sure no more are hiding somewhere. Kupa, head to the top of the building and watch for anyone running out.”
“Gotcha,” Kupa said, running down the hallway leading toward the outside door.
“Shall we?” Arrie said, sweeping her arm toward the other doors in the building. “I’d like to get back to the manor to make sure Autumn’s okay.”
“After you,” Tolly said.
They spent the next few minutes kicking in doors and searching for trapdoors or hidden alcoves. They found several bodies, former victims of the ooze, and from the clothing and equipment found on the corpses it was obvious that these had once been the other assassins in the guild. They did find the remnants of some sort of laboratory, and gathered several samples for Kyle to analyze.
After a long period of silence, Tolly looked over at Arrie. "Ariadne, I believe I need to thank you."
Arrie looked over at Tolly, curiosity on her face, but she said nothing.
"I do, because I do not believe anyone else could have drawn me back to the reality of what we needed to do back at Silko’s cave. Of all of us, I would never have expected you to remind me that in order to do the Goddess' will, we have to trust that She can take care of herself, and we need merely to follow Her tenets, and She will take care of us."
Tolly paused, and gathered himself before continuing. "Silko, and what he represents, terrifies me. I have been taking that out on you, as the only nearby psion, and letting it draw me astray from my duty and calling, which is to protect and serve Law and the Earth in Her guise as Mother. You drew me back from the edge - without you, I would have undoubtedly thrown myself away against the storm, and sacrificed Kupa in the process, as I am sure he would have stayed with me. I have always cared for your sister, and in no small amount for you. I, who was raised by the Church, had no family other than my Brothers and Sisters of the faith.”
“Tolly…” Arrie began, but he held up a gauntleted hand.
“Will you do me the honor of being my sister by blood oath? I can think of no one I could trust to watch my back more, and perhaps, this way, I can persuade the Mother to help me find a way for us to give you an afterlife. You deserve one as much as I."
Arrie smiled, a soft, serene look on her face. "I'm honored by your concern Tolly, as I'm honored by your companionship. I have always believed that while you are not comfortable with my choices, you respect me enough to respect the decisions I make. I will likely continue to do things that defy sense and logic. It is as much a part of my nature as order is part of yours. I have been searching all this time, searching for who I am supposed to be and what legacy I will leave behind when all we know is dust. I have found reassurance and death no longer holds the terror for me that it once did." A far-off look filled her eyes.
"It will be good to rest, to become quiet after so long filling up my world with noise and motion. I love that you and Kyle are willing to look for options but I can accept the consequences of the choice I made."
Tolly studied Arrie, taking in her words. “I do not know where you found reassurance, my dear - as a priest of Ardara, one of course is always looking for converts, but I suspect that this is not a case of faith in the divine. But it is good that you have faith in something. I hope that it stems from faith in yourself."
Tolly extended his hand, open. Arrie gave him her hand and stepped closer, wrapping her other arm around his shoulders in a hug. In a soft voice she said, "The Legacy is the family of my heart, the family that I got to choose. It would honor me if, in your heart, you knew me as your sister."
"I will - no, I do - and we, Kyle and I, will continue to try to find an option. If all else fails, then perhaps we can recreate the Consort, and make things better for you and Iria. All I want to do anymore is see the world through this, and make certain I leave it in better condition for our children - no matter the cost to me."
Arrie laughed, a sly look in her eye, as she separated from the Ardaran. "I’ll leave the building of deities to you and Kyle. I fear that I'm not terribly qualified. I have learned and learned well that a psion’s power is power within and a psion's faith likewise comes from within. If you build another Consort of clay and stardust, please do make sure that he understands that."
“Agreed,” Tolly chuckled. "On a lighter note, I have not made myself aware of what you can do as much as I should. Kyle has mentioned that you’ve had something of a shift in your outlook and your powers. What can you do with your...abilities?"
Arrie gave Tolly a little finger-waggle. "Now that would be telling, Tolly. Don’t you want it to be a surprise?” Her expression morphed slightly, reminiscent of her old familiar smile. “But I know the answer to that already. Things have changed for me, but not much. Suffice it to say, I know what is important to me now and have put the rest aside. My powers are more stable but the intent guiding them is still the same. I've a new trick or two, but like most psionic powers they are fairly limited in their applicability to group tactics."
She patted him on the shoulder. "Worry less, brother. Or at least if I can’t allay your fears, learn to bluff better. I have put wild emotion behind me and taken up the mantle of one tasked from within by great ideals.”
“I will do my best,” Tolly said. “But now, I see that there is no one left in this place who is deserving of our wrath. Shall we return home?”
“Of course,” Arrie said. “Our sister should be waking up soon.”
* * *
By the time they got back to the manor, Kyle had already administered a counter-agent to the sedatives they’d given Autumn and Osborn, and the two of them were awake, though still groggy and disoriented. Both of their faces were still wet and sticky with dog saliva.
“What do you remember?” Arrie asked Autumn after giving her sister a hug.
“It’s… fuzzy,” she said, slurring her words slightly. “Like a dream. I felt like I was trapped in a nightmare where my friends were my enemies, and I was working to bring about the defeat of the Legacy and destroy the gods. Then I think you came along and freed me from the body I was trapped in… after that I can’t remember much until I woke up here.”
Osborn confirmed that his experience was much the same as Autumn’s. “But we weren’t just trying to destroy you,” he said. “We wanted to convert the Legacy, subvert them to our side.”
“So, one thing I’m wondering,” Tolly said, “is how it is that Arrie isn’t laying here beside you.”
“You know how you can train yourself to do something? I’ve trained myself to go into a trance that allows my body to resist the effects of toxins, or to enter a sort of stasis. When I felt the dart hit me, I entered the trance to fight off the poison. Once I awoke, I made my way back to where I knew you we’d been before, and followed the sounds of things breaking.”
“Did we lose much time?” Osborn asked.
“Just the morning and part of the afternoon,” Tolly said. “All in all, not bad. The biggest mistake they made was trying to take out Arrie.”
Osborn and Autumn looked to Arrie for an explanation, but she only shrugged.
“Once they threw that poisoned dart at her, we had an object that belonged to one of them,” Tolly explained. “I was able to use discern location to pinpoint their hideout, and Kyle teleported us inside.”
“Look at you with your crazy magic!” Arrie beamed.
“No, deific magic,” Tolly corrected. “Not crazy. That’s your area.”
So, in retrospect, it was small wonder that when the Legacy appeared in the middle of the central room, Tolly already under the effects of iron body and righteous might, that the Ardaran’s massive frame quickly fell through the floor and into the basement below.
Kyle, Yuri, and Kupa, who could see the top of Tolly’s enlarged head poking up in the middle of the hole he’d created, quickly assessed the situation. The main level was sparsely furnished in old, tasteless furniture. A human male, clearly wearing the garb of a monk, stood near a ratty couch. Up above them, a walkway encircled the outside of the room, and a female spellcaster stood looking down at them from the railing. What made the pair unusual, however, was some familiar features; the monk had several facial tattoos which were identical to those worn by Osborn, and the sorceresses’ eyes were Autumn’s brilliant blue.
Yuri, not sure what to make of this, decided to play it safe. She ran by the monk, and swept at his feet with the haft of her longspear, hoping to knock him off his feet. But the monk easily avoided the sweep, and Yuri dashed past, tearing a large hole in the upholstery of the couch. The Sargian leapt into the air, easily clearing the distance from the floor to the balcony.
At the same time, the sorceress on the balcony launched a fireball at the party, singing several of them. Kyle summoned up a defenestrating sphere in response, and launched it at her, hoping to knock her off the balcony, but she managed to keep her feet amidst the buffeting winds. Kupa breathed a cloud of gas at the sorceress, hoping to slow her, but the vapors seemed ineffective. Then Tolly appeared on the balcony next to her, and managed to land a solid blow with his maul before once again falling through the collapsing floor into the basement again.
The monk, seeing that everyone’s attention was on his ally, ran up and began pummeling Kyle from behind, as he prepared to move the sphere back on top of the sorceress. But this left the monk similarly open to an attack from high above, as Yuri leapt down, screaming, and impaled the monk’s shoulder. As she pulled her spear free and prepared to strike again, she glanced up at the sorceress on the balcony, who was glaring with an unnatural gaze at her enemies. Both Yuri and Kupa were suddenly paralyzed with terror, and stood helpless.
Kyle, still being menaced by the monk now that Yuri had been incapacitated, managed to get off a quick displacement to protect himself, and then refocused on his defenestrating sphere. The air globe slammed into the sorceress and flung her into the ceiling, and then back to the floor in the center of the room. When she hit the floor, her body suddenly lost all cohesion, transforming into a black, shiny ooze that began to slink away. Rising up from the ooze came the translucent, spectral form of Autumn. Kyle whooped in triumph as his wife turned and began floating toward the monk, intent on doing battle. Tolly, less optimistic, invoked true seeing to make sure there was no deception, but could see nothing amiss with either Autumn’s spirit-like form or the ooze. Reassured that they weren’t currently being deceived, he cast another spell to suppress the grip of fear that was overwhelming Kupa and Yuri.
Everyone’s attention was drawn to the monk. Kyle swiped at him with a vampiric touch that missed, but Autumn’s incorporeal fists landed solidly enough. But it was Yuri’s quick jab as she ran around behind the monk that proved the telling blow, and the monk collapsed into a pile of black ooze, releasing a ghostly version of Osborn.
The party gathered together. “What do we do with these two?” Tolly asked, pointing at Autumn and Osborn, floating nearby.
“I’m not sure,” Kyle said. “I was hoping they’d return to their bodies once those two were dead. Maybe we should…”
“Hey,” Yuri said quietly, “I think maybe you ought to turn around. Now.”
They turned to behold a terror. The two smaller oozes had flowed together and combined into an ebon creature much larger than the sum of its parts. Constantly melting and reforming, the creature shifted maddeningly from shape to shape, drawing each one from some horrifying nightmare. Spines and clawed tentacles jutted out from every angle, and dozens of eyeballs peered out at them from within the black mass. Atop the ooze, a human skull floated, cackling and screeching insanely.
Kupa blinked at the sight of the monstrosity. “You meet such interesting creatures,” he said, and then spit a line of acid at the ooze. The caustic fluids were absorbed harmlessly by the ebony mass, and a polar ray from Kyle bounced off it with no effect. Similarly, an implosion from Tolly was easily warded off. Osborn and Autumn floated in and began slashing at the ooze, tearing away chunks that dissolved in thin air even as its pseudopods passed through the two of them without effect. Yuri, however, was not so fortunate; as she charged in with her spear, a tentacle lashed out and struck her fully across the chest. The dragoon screamed as her form began to melt and dissolve, and her longspear slid out of boneless fingers.
Tolly, who had dropped his iron body spell so that he would stop crashing through the floor, ran over to Yuri. Although he had never seen an abomination like this, he’d heard of other creatures of Chaos that could affect beings in similar ways. He hoped that this creature’s ability was similar enough for him to treat it in the same manner. Casting as he ran, he hit the Sargian with heal. She immediately reformed to her true shape, though she was obviously still unnerved by the experience.
Osborn and Autumn continued their assault on the ooze nightmare, continuing to rip away black globs. The creature tried to gesture at Kyle, but Autumn knocked the tentacle aside, causing the ray of negative energy it had emitted to strike the far wall.
As the Legacy began to close in, the skull atop the nightmare shifted forward until it was eye level. The jaw began to move, and they all heard a familiar voice coming from it;
“Help me!” Arrie’s voice cried out, “I’m trapped inside here!”
The unnerving effect of this pronouncement was somewhat lessened, however, when a door on the far end of the room burst open, and Arrie came through, brandishing a huge adamantine warmace that was shifting into the shape of a greatspear even as she charged in. Arrie’s spear joined Yuri’s in piercing the black mass several times, causing it to recoil in pain. Kyle singed the ooze slightly with a burning hands spell; the creature had displayed a great deal of resistance to elemental magic, and he didn’t want to hit it with a more potent spell only to discover that it was rejuvenated by fire. The ooze again shrugged off most of the damage, but at least it didn’t look any healthier.
Surrounded by enemies, the ooze emitted a foul cloud of poisonous gas before leaping across the room to escape its attackers. Only Kyle was overcome by the fumes, and he staggered out of the cloud, gasping. Yuri, Arrie, Tolly, and Autumn moved across the room to attack again, the sentinel’s ghostly hands shining with divine power as she struck. Kyle surrounded them all in an aura of flames that burned the ooze each time it struck
The nightmare creature was leaping about the room, trying to escape, but found its attacks were just as mobile as it was. Yuri and Arrie quickly fell into a brutally effective routine; Yuri would leap to the attack and impale the ooze with her spear, and as soon as she landed Arrie used her new magical cloak to switch places with the dragoon, putting Arrie in easy reach of her own weapons. The ooze did manage to get in a solid blow on Kupa, whose form began to shift and melt as Yuri’s had done, but a timely spell from Tolly ended the dragon’s torment quickly.
Finally, it had endured enough. It unleashed another blast of power into the party, a wave of psychic power that distorted perception and twisted the mind. Yuri was left reeling for a moment, disoriented by the ooze’s power; it used the opening to slip past her and through a crack in the door behind her.
Tolly quickly moved up and began battering the door down. Osborn, meanwhile, who had been hanging back waiting for the opportunity to strike, simply floated through the wall and caught up with the fleeing ooze.
The door flew apart in a shower of dust and shards of wood. Tolly and Arrie stood in the doorway, ready to charge down the hallway. Behind them, Kyle was tending to Yuri, ending her confused state of mind. The hallway ahead of them was empty, except for a trail of ichor than abruptly ended in the middle of the hallway. Osborn was nowhere to be seen, and a quick look around told them that Autumn was also not there.
“All right,” Arrie said, “where’s my sister?”
“Back in her body, I think,” Kyle said. “I think Osborn killed the thing.”
“Kyle, you’re the fastest, go and check,” Tolly said. “Yuri, follow behind him.” They both nodded and took off, Kyle spreading his metallic wings and flying down the hallway and outside, Yuri right on his heels.
Tolly then turned to Arrie. “We should search the rest of this place, and make sure no more are hiding somewhere. Kupa, head to the top of the building and watch for anyone running out.”
“Gotcha,” Kupa said, running down the hallway leading toward the outside door.
“Shall we?” Arrie said, sweeping her arm toward the other doors in the building. “I’d like to get back to the manor to make sure Autumn’s okay.”
“After you,” Tolly said.
They spent the next few minutes kicking in doors and searching for trapdoors or hidden alcoves. They found several bodies, former victims of the ooze, and from the clothing and equipment found on the corpses it was obvious that these had once been the other assassins in the guild. They did find the remnants of some sort of laboratory, and gathered several samples for Kyle to analyze.
After a long period of silence, Tolly looked over at Arrie. "Ariadne, I believe I need to thank you."
Arrie looked over at Tolly, curiosity on her face, but she said nothing.
"I do, because I do not believe anyone else could have drawn me back to the reality of what we needed to do back at Silko’s cave. Of all of us, I would never have expected you to remind me that in order to do the Goddess' will, we have to trust that She can take care of herself, and we need merely to follow Her tenets, and She will take care of us."
Tolly paused, and gathered himself before continuing. "Silko, and what he represents, terrifies me. I have been taking that out on you, as the only nearby psion, and letting it draw me astray from my duty and calling, which is to protect and serve Law and the Earth in Her guise as Mother. You drew me back from the edge - without you, I would have undoubtedly thrown myself away against the storm, and sacrificed Kupa in the process, as I am sure he would have stayed with me. I have always cared for your sister, and in no small amount for you. I, who was raised by the Church, had no family other than my Brothers and Sisters of the faith.”
“Tolly…” Arrie began, but he held up a gauntleted hand.
“Will you do me the honor of being my sister by blood oath? I can think of no one I could trust to watch my back more, and perhaps, this way, I can persuade the Mother to help me find a way for us to give you an afterlife. You deserve one as much as I."
Arrie smiled, a soft, serene look on her face. "I'm honored by your concern Tolly, as I'm honored by your companionship. I have always believed that while you are not comfortable with my choices, you respect me enough to respect the decisions I make. I will likely continue to do things that defy sense and logic. It is as much a part of my nature as order is part of yours. I have been searching all this time, searching for who I am supposed to be and what legacy I will leave behind when all we know is dust. I have found reassurance and death no longer holds the terror for me that it once did." A far-off look filled her eyes.
"It will be good to rest, to become quiet after so long filling up my world with noise and motion. I love that you and Kyle are willing to look for options but I can accept the consequences of the choice I made."
Tolly studied Arrie, taking in her words. “I do not know where you found reassurance, my dear - as a priest of Ardara, one of course is always looking for converts, but I suspect that this is not a case of faith in the divine. But it is good that you have faith in something. I hope that it stems from faith in yourself."
Tolly extended his hand, open. Arrie gave him her hand and stepped closer, wrapping her other arm around his shoulders in a hug. In a soft voice she said, "The Legacy is the family of my heart, the family that I got to choose. It would honor me if, in your heart, you knew me as your sister."
"I will - no, I do - and we, Kyle and I, will continue to try to find an option. If all else fails, then perhaps we can recreate the Consort, and make things better for you and Iria. All I want to do anymore is see the world through this, and make certain I leave it in better condition for our children - no matter the cost to me."
Arrie laughed, a sly look in her eye, as she separated from the Ardaran. "I’ll leave the building of deities to you and Kyle. I fear that I'm not terribly qualified. I have learned and learned well that a psion’s power is power within and a psion's faith likewise comes from within. If you build another Consort of clay and stardust, please do make sure that he understands that."
“Agreed,” Tolly chuckled. "On a lighter note, I have not made myself aware of what you can do as much as I should. Kyle has mentioned that you’ve had something of a shift in your outlook and your powers. What can you do with your...abilities?"
Arrie gave Tolly a little finger-waggle. "Now that would be telling, Tolly. Don’t you want it to be a surprise?” Her expression morphed slightly, reminiscent of her old familiar smile. “But I know the answer to that already. Things have changed for me, but not much. Suffice it to say, I know what is important to me now and have put the rest aside. My powers are more stable but the intent guiding them is still the same. I've a new trick or two, but like most psionic powers they are fairly limited in their applicability to group tactics."
She patted him on the shoulder. "Worry less, brother. Or at least if I can’t allay your fears, learn to bluff better. I have put wild emotion behind me and taken up the mantle of one tasked from within by great ideals.”
“I will do my best,” Tolly said. “But now, I see that there is no one left in this place who is deserving of our wrath. Shall we return home?”
“Of course,” Arrie said. “Our sister should be waking up soon.”
* * *
By the time they got back to the manor, Kyle had already administered a counter-agent to the sedatives they’d given Autumn and Osborn, and the two of them were awake, though still groggy and disoriented. Both of their faces were still wet and sticky with dog saliva.
“What do you remember?” Arrie asked Autumn after giving her sister a hug.
“It’s… fuzzy,” she said, slurring her words slightly. “Like a dream. I felt like I was trapped in a nightmare where my friends were my enemies, and I was working to bring about the defeat of the Legacy and destroy the gods. Then I think you came along and freed me from the body I was trapped in… after that I can’t remember much until I woke up here.”
Osborn confirmed that his experience was much the same as Autumn’s. “But we weren’t just trying to destroy you,” he said. “We wanted to convert the Legacy, subvert them to our side.”
“So, one thing I’m wondering,” Tolly said, “is how it is that Arrie isn’t laying here beside you.”
“You know how you can train yourself to do something? I’ve trained myself to go into a trance that allows my body to resist the effects of toxins, or to enter a sort of stasis. When I felt the dart hit me, I entered the trance to fight off the poison. Once I awoke, I made my way back to where I knew you we’d been before, and followed the sounds of things breaking.”
“Did we lose much time?” Osborn asked.
“Just the morning and part of the afternoon,” Tolly said. “All in all, not bad. The biggest mistake they made was trying to take out Arrie.”
Osborn and Autumn looked to Arrie for an explanation, but she only shrugged.
“Once they threw that poisoned dart at her, we had an object that belonged to one of them,” Tolly explained. “I was able to use discern location to pinpoint their hideout, and Kyle teleported us inside.”
“Look at you with your crazy magic!” Arrie beamed.
“No, deific magic,” Tolly corrected. “Not crazy. That’s your area.”
Delemental
First Post
Troubled Times
The Legacy appeared on the rise overlooking Dagger Rock, accompanied by a splash of lightning from the gathering storm clouds overhead, sending a terrified pair of beavers scampering toward the river. It would have been an impressive arrival for any sentient witnesses, except that everyone’s clothing and belongings had shifted one person over in the circle. Kyle’s eyes bulged and he nearly passed out as he found himself squeezed into Osborn’s hin-sized clothing, while Osborn toppled over in Autumn’s plate armor. As Autumn helped the hin up, Yuri was already shedding Tolly’s armor.
“This cr*p is way too heavy,” she complained, as she tossed the breastplate to the ground.
Kyle looked over at the Sargian, having cut himself out of Osborn’s pants. “I see our new recruit has become remarkably comfortable in our presence,” he said, as he magically mended the ripped pants.
“I served in a mixed regiment,” Yuri said by way of explanation. “They’ve seen mine, I’ve seen theirs, after a while it just doesn’t make a difference.”
“So, that would be one of those magical surges we’ve been hearing about, Kyle?” Arrie asked, handing Yuri’s armor and weapons to her.
“Yes,” Kyle said. “A mild one, fortunately. We only ended up exchanging clothing, as opposed to, say, limbs. Or heads.”
“I see. Perhaps we ought reconsider using teleportation as our primary method of travel, then.”
“We can discuss it later,” Tolly said. “Right now we have other business.”
They all turned, and looked down on the symbol etched in the ground a short distance away.
“That’s the Scion-Watchers, all right,” Kyle said with a grimace.
“The symbol wasn’t burned into the ground,” Osborn observed. “It’s like the ground just died there.”
“There’s a hint of necromancy in the ground, but nothing active,” Kyle informed him. “That probably accounts for the earth being dead.”
“Then I have even more cause to oppose this cult,” Tolly said.
“It really is like the whole town got scooped up,” Autumn said. “Even the foundations of the buildings are gone. If I hadn’t been here before, I’d swear that there was never a town here at all.” She glanced over at the dagger-shaped plinth of stone in the middle of the river, as if to confirm she was really standing in the right place.
“Well, we have three days before my people show up here with information about those false Ladtan priests,” Osborn said. “Let’s see what we can find out before then.”
A low rumble of thunder rolled across the river valley, washing over the party and leaving them with a strange sense of foreboding.
“So, what do you make of this mark, Osborn?” Tolly asked.
“Search me,” the hin replied. “That’s why I brought you along. I’ve never seen the symbol before. It’s not Tauric, which was my first thought when I heard that Grog was missing.”
“It is not familiar to me, either,” the Ardaran admitted. “Autumn?”
The aasimar walked over and joined the other two. “I’ve never seen it either. You’re the one with the head for this kind of thing, Tolly. That’s why you’re the Inquisitor and I’m not.” She smiled, and kissed his cheek before returning to her survey of the surrounding area.
Tolly sighed. “I still say we should have recruited a wizard to replace Lanara. They are more studied in this sort of symbol recognition.”
“There were no wizards available, remember?” Osborn said. “Most of them are too afraid to use magic after what happened anyway. Besides, Yuri’s worked out fine so far.”
Tolly looked around, and spotted the Sargian Dragoon on a wide patrol of the area. “She is more than capable,” he admitted, “though I would rather have not had to recruit her in the first place.”
“I miss Lanara too,” Osborn said. “But there was nothing we could have done to save her. She was assassinated by the Taurics while she was working undercover behind enemy lines. She knew the risks.” The hin looked around. “Speaking of missing people, your wife has got that look in her eye. You two haven’t spent much time together recently – go hang out with her for a while.”
“Agreed,” Tolly said, throwing a smile toward Autumn.
Having checked the area thoroughly and found nothing, the Legacy moved to a nearby hillside to make camp, even though it was still only mid-morning, since the clouds overhead threatened rain at any moment. Tolly and Autumn had moved off away from the camp and were sitting together, looking down at the strange symbol on the ground.
“You know,” Autumn said, “now that I look at it more, it kind of reminds me of a symbol that Kavan once showed me. Something to do with the history of the Eritan church, or one of the Heresies. Or one of their many secret societies.”
“How is she, anyway?” Tolly asked. “Madrone, I mean.”
“Still on her secret mission for Erito, I think,” Autumn replied. “I haven’t heard from her in a while.”
“Do we know any other priests of Erito?” Tolly asked. “Maybe they would recognize it.”
“Arrie spends more time in Noxolt than I have,” Autumn said, “she’s off tending to the horses. I’ll ask if she knows one.”
“Pretty unlikely, since Arrie does not typically associate with priests of any god.” He thought for a moment. “Perhaps I can send a message to Madrone.” He produced a pen and parchment from his pack, and after writing a quick note and copying the symbol on the ground, he placed it inside his silver raven and sent it off.
“You know,” Arrie said, watching the bird fly off as she walked toward them, “you don’t have to send love letters. You’re right next to each other.”
Autumn grinned. “That doesn’t mean I don’t still like getting love letters.”
The moment the bird was out of sight, they each had the sudden feeling like someone was standing behind them. They turned in unison and were greeted by the sight of a tall, thin, albino humanoid that looked vaguely elvish, except for his bone-white hair and the black pits that were his eyes. The figure seethed in rage, and blood red motes of power danced within the depths of his inky black eyes.
“Ardara’s Mercy,” Tolly whispered, “it’s a leShay!”
“Outside the Library?” Arrie gasped. “How?”
They had all, of course, first met the leShay in Erito’s Library, when they had all learned the truth of the Cataclysm and what was to come. Some of Erito’s most powerful servants, the enigmatic leShay were normally confined to operating in dimensions other than Aelfenn.
Osborn, Rupert, and Kupa came running up quickly from the camp, having seen the leShay appear. Moments later Yuri arrived as well from her patrol, but Arrie intercepted her in the way in as she began to draw her longspear.
“Don’t,” she said. “Keep your weapon sheathed.”
“Who or what is that?” Yuri asked, maintaining a defensive posture.
“It’s a leShay,” she explained. “Very powerful. You see how he looks angry enough to level a mountain range? He could probably do it.”
“I see,” Yuri said, who moved out of her fighting posture, though she didn’t relax one bit. “How do you know him?”
Arrie bit her lip, compelled by her vow to Erito into silence. “It’s one of those things that we told you we wouldn’t be able to explain,” she said.
The leShay finally spoke. “Are any of you responsible for this?”
“Responsible for what?” Autumn asked. The leShay simply pointed at the symbol.
“No,” the sentinel said flatly. “We’re not. We’re here to investigate it.”
The red motes faded from the leShay’s eyes, though they did not vanish entirely. “I see.”
“Can you explain what this is?” Autumn asked.
The leShay thought for a moment. “Not in a way that your mortal minds can comprehend,” he said.
“Is there anything we can do about it?” Yuri asked. She figured that anything that would make someone that powerful that angry was probably worth fixing.
“Perhaps. I will explain.” The leShay turned to regard the symbol. “I was called here because of a disturbance in the threads of Fate. We leShay alone among all of Erito’s allies possess the knowledge and power to correct such anomalies. Someone from this time and place had gone back to the far reaches of the past, and thus altered the present. Erito is displeased, therefore, we are displeased.”
“Who did this?” Arrie asked.
“This even I cannot say,” the leShay answered. “Whoever is responsible acted from the thread of Fate that should have been, and not from the one we now occupy. That person no longer exists within this thread – clearly, they were willing to sacrifice their own existence to accomplish this abomination.”
“If it does not conflict with Ardara’s will, then we are at your service,” Tolly said.
“Ardara has no say in this matter,” the leShay replied curtly. “It is outside of her purview. Her opinion on the matter is irrelevant.”
Tolly bristled slightly, but kept silent.
“If we don’t know who is responsible, what can we do?” Osborn asked.
“You can be sent back through the thread of Fate, to the point at which it was altered,” the leShay replied. “Prevent the alteration, and Fate shall be restored.”
“Not to sound ungrateful for the opportunity,” Yuri said, “but part of me wonders why it wouldn’t be more efficient for you to just go back and take care of this.”
“Because sending back five mortals requires significantly less power than sending back one leShay,” he replied. “One does not raise an army to overthrow a kingdom when a blade in the back will do. Beyond that, the time in question predates the Sundering, and in that time the eladrin still bore open hostility toward my people. My arrival would attract attention, and likely interference.”
“Sundering?” Yuri asked.
“I think that’s what they call the Cataclysm,” Arrie whispered to her.
“How are we to know what event we must prevent?” Tolly asked.
After concentrating a moment, the leShay answered. “The key moment is the assassination of Justin Godscion.”
“Never heard of him,” Yuri said.
“He was a Serenity of Erito, and was a guiding force in the war against the psions. His loss was a severe blow in the war against Silko’s rogue psions, and likely contributed to the success of Silko’s annihilation of The Consort. His untimely demise would likely have had other, unforeseen consequences as the threads of fate were rewoven to this point in time.”
“The who? The Consort? Silko the Paragon? What?” Yuri looked perplexed. The others, who of course knew the truth of Erito’s Consort and his destruction by Silko from their visit to Erito’s Library, looked at the Sargian helplessly.
“Got it,” she said, “something else you can’t explain.”
The leShay looked exasperated. “The limit of your knowledge of the Sundering will interfere with your performance,” he said. He reached out and touched Yuri on the forehead, and for a moment her eyes turned as black as his. A second later, she staggered back, shaking her head.
“Oh,” was all she managed to say. “Oh. Oh!”
“Justin Godscion’s assassination should not have been,” the leShay pronounced, ignoring the reeling dragoon. “Stop the assassins, and all shall be set right. As a secondary objective, if you find the one responsible for this abomination, then you must either slay them, or if such is not possible, attempt to place this on their person.” He produced a silver amulet out of thin air. “This will cause me to know who is responsible, regardless of how the threads of fate are woven, and administer suitable chastisement.”
Autumn accepted the amulet from the leShay, but felt Osborn tapping her on the waist. “Let me hold that,” he said. “I’ve got a better chance on sneaking it on someone’s neck.” Nodding, Autumn passed him the amulet.
“When must we leave?” Arrie asked.
“At this point time is essentially immaterial. You may take what time you need to prepare yourselves. However, for those who are preparing magic, know that summonings will be ineffective, as they will attempt to draw their target from this point in the thread rather than where you will be, and your mortal magic lacks the potency to accomplish that task. You will arrive shortly after the conclusion of a small surprise attack on the Serenity and his defenders, one no doubt designed to strip him of allies for when the true assassination is attempted.”
With no further questions for the moment, the leShay suddenly vanished, leaving the Legacy to prepare themselves. Kupa told Tolly that he would be staying behind.
“We dragons don’t react well to this sort of thing,” he explained. “Our connection to the world and its workings keeps us anchored here. Trying to relocate myself to another part of this thread would be… uncomfortable.”
The next morning, the leShay returned to find the party ready and waiting. He looked around at each of them. “Do you understand that if you succeed, there is no guarantee that you will return as you are now to the correct thread of Fate. In that thread, some of you may not exist, or may not know each other. Some that you know to be dead may be alive, and some that are alive will be dead. Friends may become strangers, and lovers become enemies.”
“We understand,” Tolly said, “and accept the consequences of our actions.”
There was a flash of darkness, and suddenly the Legacy was shooting backward through a tunnel whose walls seemed to be composed of the twisting and unraveling threads of Fate.
“I thank you for your assistance, strangers,” Justin Godscion said, as he healed the last of his wounds. “Your arrival was most timely. Were you sent by the church?”
The Legacy looked around at the carnage surrounding Serenity Godscion. Dozens of bodies were scattered about; several wore the garb of Eritan clergy, but most of them were enemy warriors, still clutching bloodied weapons. They’d appeared a few yards away, and had intercepted the last of the ambushers as they charged in, easily cutting them down.
“We were not sent… by the church,” Tolly said to Justin.
Justin prodded one of his assailants with his boot, a savage-looking orc. “Strange creatures,” he muttered. “I’ve never seen their kind before.”
The Legacy exchanged looks. The orcish race was not created by Grabâkh until after the Cataclysm, and so of course he wouldn’t recognize them. Arrie examined a couple of the orcs; their armor and weapons were similar to what she had seen in their own time, but then again, the orcs had had little reason to change their implements of war over the centuries, so there was no clear way to tell what time period they might have been from.
“They are called orcs,” Tolly explained, “and it would have been best if you had never seen them at all.” Tolly looked around. They were in a hilly land, and were standing in a small vale amidst the hills. Nearby, a small cliff face loomed over them. “Do you have a destination?” Tolly asked. “We shall accompany you there.”
Autumn immediately moved up to stand next to Justin.
“Thank you again,” Justin said. “What are your names?”
They were about to answer when Tolly spoke up again. “You can call me Nightsleaving. This is Duchess, Slip, Psi, and Dragoon.”
Autumn leaned over to her sister. “Why is he making up names for us?”
“You tell me. You married him.” She looked at Tolly. “Sometimes I think you’re too clever for your own good, Tolly.”
“Not clever enough, this time,” said a raspy voice above them.
A figure in plate armor, clutching a quarterstaff, stood atop the nearby cliff. The same symbol that was burned into the ground at Dagger Rock was embroidered on his tabard. The face showing through the visor was that of a young human.
“Another friend of yours?” Justin asked.
“Hardly,” spat Arrie. “He’s the man trying to kill you.”
“That is no man,” Tolly said, peering at the figure on the hill with true seeing. He could see that the young face shown to them was nothing but an illusion cloaking a skeletal face with glowing red eyes. “He is a lich.”
“I’m afraid that the position of Serenity will soon be vacant,” said the lich. “I apologize to you, Justin Godscion, and wish this was not necessary. But for the sake of the safety of the world, I’m afraid you must cease to exist.”
“Many have tried,” Justin called up to him. “None have succeeded.”
“They did not have the resources of history that I have at my disposal.”
“The only thing that will be disposed of is you,” Tolly shouted.
The lich calmly tapped his staff on the ground, and suddenly the Legacy was surrounded by dozens of the same swirling black distortions that they had traveled through. Dozens of frightful creatures appeared all around them. Many of them were human… mostly. They actually appeared to be a stitched-together amalgamation of several different humanoid creatures, with limbs of varying sizes attached to a patchwork torso. There were also several packs of trolls, who looked like they had steel plates embedded in their green flesh. Steel caps covered their skulls, and steel claws were embedded in their hands. Blood oozed from the edges of the plates and dripped down the length of the claws. The crazed look in their eyes spoke of unspeakable torments. Another cluster of their assailants were ogres, clutching their massive, flaming battleaxes and ready for battle. Above them, on the cliff, the lich had been joined by five women in mithral chain armor, obviously some sort of practitioners of magic, and off to either side, where the cliff dropped and became more of a steep incline, there were units of cavalry – dark-skinned humans that looked somewhat like primitive Zhintai, mounted atop fierce, two-legged lizards much like the raptors they had seen in the Khag Steppes.
“Thorough, aren’t they?” Osborn said.
The Legacy quickly prepared for battle. Tolly’s body turned to living iron, and Justin evoked a prayer to enhance their skill in battle. Arrie was briefly surrounded by a thin layer of ectoplasm, and exuded the scent of fresh earth. Justin, the Serenity of Erito, looked back at her gravely, and then nodded. “Vigor is a wise choice of powers, young ardent,” he said. “I pray it serves you well.” Arrie grinned – it was refreshing to be able to use her powers openly.
The lich’s voice echoed across the suddenly active battlefield, obviously magically amplified. “Now, all of you play nice, and I’ll be back soon.” And with a chuckle, the lich withdrew past the far side of the cliff.
“He didn’t do his homework,” Arrie snorted, as the enemy closed in on all sides, “we don’t play nice.”
The Legacy appeared on the rise overlooking Dagger Rock, accompanied by a splash of lightning from the gathering storm clouds overhead, sending a terrified pair of beavers scampering toward the river. It would have been an impressive arrival for any sentient witnesses, except that everyone’s clothing and belongings had shifted one person over in the circle. Kyle’s eyes bulged and he nearly passed out as he found himself squeezed into Osborn’s hin-sized clothing, while Osborn toppled over in Autumn’s plate armor. As Autumn helped the hin up, Yuri was already shedding Tolly’s armor.
“This cr*p is way too heavy,” she complained, as she tossed the breastplate to the ground.
Kyle looked over at the Sargian, having cut himself out of Osborn’s pants. “I see our new recruit has become remarkably comfortable in our presence,” he said, as he magically mended the ripped pants.
“I served in a mixed regiment,” Yuri said by way of explanation. “They’ve seen mine, I’ve seen theirs, after a while it just doesn’t make a difference.”
“So, that would be one of those magical surges we’ve been hearing about, Kyle?” Arrie asked, handing Yuri’s armor and weapons to her.
“Yes,” Kyle said. “A mild one, fortunately. We only ended up exchanging clothing, as opposed to, say, limbs. Or heads.”
“I see. Perhaps we ought reconsider using teleportation as our primary method of travel, then.”
“We can discuss it later,” Tolly said. “Right now we have other business.”
They all turned, and looked down on the symbol etched in the ground a short distance away.
“That’s the Scion-Watchers, all right,” Kyle said with a grimace.
“The symbol wasn’t burned into the ground,” Osborn observed. “It’s like the ground just died there.”
“There’s a hint of necromancy in the ground, but nothing active,” Kyle informed him. “That probably accounts for the earth being dead.”
“Then I have even more cause to oppose this cult,” Tolly said.
“It really is like the whole town got scooped up,” Autumn said. “Even the foundations of the buildings are gone. If I hadn’t been here before, I’d swear that there was never a town here at all.” She glanced over at the dagger-shaped plinth of stone in the middle of the river, as if to confirm she was really standing in the right place.
“Well, we have three days before my people show up here with information about those false Ladtan priests,” Osborn said. “Let’s see what we can find out before then.”
A low rumble of thunder rolled across the river valley, washing over the party and leaving them with a strange sense of foreboding.
“So, what do you make of this mark, Osborn?” Tolly asked.
“Search me,” the hin replied. “That’s why I brought you along. I’ve never seen the symbol before. It’s not Tauric, which was my first thought when I heard that Grog was missing.”
“It is not familiar to me, either,” the Ardaran admitted. “Autumn?”
The aasimar walked over and joined the other two. “I’ve never seen it either. You’re the one with the head for this kind of thing, Tolly. That’s why you’re the Inquisitor and I’m not.” She smiled, and kissed his cheek before returning to her survey of the surrounding area.
Tolly sighed. “I still say we should have recruited a wizard to replace Lanara. They are more studied in this sort of symbol recognition.”
“There were no wizards available, remember?” Osborn said. “Most of them are too afraid to use magic after what happened anyway. Besides, Yuri’s worked out fine so far.”
Tolly looked around, and spotted the Sargian Dragoon on a wide patrol of the area. “She is more than capable,” he admitted, “though I would rather have not had to recruit her in the first place.”
“I miss Lanara too,” Osborn said. “But there was nothing we could have done to save her. She was assassinated by the Taurics while she was working undercover behind enemy lines. She knew the risks.” The hin looked around. “Speaking of missing people, your wife has got that look in her eye. You two haven’t spent much time together recently – go hang out with her for a while.”
“Agreed,” Tolly said, throwing a smile toward Autumn.
Having checked the area thoroughly and found nothing, the Legacy moved to a nearby hillside to make camp, even though it was still only mid-morning, since the clouds overhead threatened rain at any moment. Tolly and Autumn had moved off away from the camp and were sitting together, looking down at the strange symbol on the ground.
“You know,” Autumn said, “now that I look at it more, it kind of reminds me of a symbol that Kavan once showed me. Something to do with the history of the Eritan church, or one of the Heresies. Or one of their many secret societies.”
“How is she, anyway?” Tolly asked. “Madrone, I mean.”
“Still on her secret mission for Erito, I think,” Autumn replied. “I haven’t heard from her in a while.”
“Do we know any other priests of Erito?” Tolly asked. “Maybe they would recognize it.”
“Arrie spends more time in Noxolt than I have,” Autumn said, “she’s off tending to the horses. I’ll ask if she knows one.”
“Pretty unlikely, since Arrie does not typically associate with priests of any god.” He thought for a moment. “Perhaps I can send a message to Madrone.” He produced a pen and parchment from his pack, and after writing a quick note and copying the symbol on the ground, he placed it inside his silver raven and sent it off.
“You know,” Arrie said, watching the bird fly off as she walked toward them, “you don’t have to send love letters. You’re right next to each other.”
Autumn grinned. “That doesn’t mean I don’t still like getting love letters.”
The moment the bird was out of sight, they each had the sudden feeling like someone was standing behind them. They turned in unison and were greeted by the sight of a tall, thin, albino humanoid that looked vaguely elvish, except for his bone-white hair and the black pits that were his eyes. The figure seethed in rage, and blood red motes of power danced within the depths of his inky black eyes.
“Ardara’s Mercy,” Tolly whispered, “it’s a leShay!”
“Outside the Library?” Arrie gasped. “How?”
They had all, of course, first met the leShay in Erito’s Library, when they had all learned the truth of the Cataclysm and what was to come. Some of Erito’s most powerful servants, the enigmatic leShay were normally confined to operating in dimensions other than Aelfenn.
Osborn, Rupert, and Kupa came running up quickly from the camp, having seen the leShay appear. Moments later Yuri arrived as well from her patrol, but Arrie intercepted her in the way in as she began to draw her longspear.
“Don’t,” she said. “Keep your weapon sheathed.”
“Who or what is that?” Yuri asked, maintaining a defensive posture.
“It’s a leShay,” she explained. “Very powerful. You see how he looks angry enough to level a mountain range? He could probably do it.”
“I see,” Yuri said, who moved out of her fighting posture, though she didn’t relax one bit. “How do you know him?”
Arrie bit her lip, compelled by her vow to Erito into silence. “It’s one of those things that we told you we wouldn’t be able to explain,” she said.
The leShay finally spoke. “Are any of you responsible for this?”
“Responsible for what?” Autumn asked. The leShay simply pointed at the symbol.
“No,” the sentinel said flatly. “We’re not. We’re here to investigate it.”
The red motes faded from the leShay’s eyes, though they did not vanish entirely. “I see.”
“Can you explain what this is?” Autumn asked.
The leShay thought for a moment. “Not in a way that your mortal minds can comprehend,” he said.
“Is there anything we can do about it?” Yuri asked. She figured that anything that would make someone that powerful that angry was probably worth fixing.
“Perhaps. I will explain.” The leShay turned to regard the symbol. “I was called here because of a disturbance in the threads of Fate. We leShay alone among all of Erito’s allies possess the knowledge and power to correct such anomalies. Someone from this time and place had gone back to the far reaches of the past, and thus altered the present. Erito is displeased, therefore, we are displeased.”
“Who did this?” Arrie asked.
“This even I cannot say,” the leShay answered. “Whoever is responsible acted from the thread of Fate that should have been, and not from the one we now occupy. That person no longer exists within this thread – clearly, they were willing to sacrifice their own existence to accomplish this abomination.”
“If it does not conflict with Ardara’s will, then we are at your service,” Tolly said.
“Ardara has no say in this matter,” the leShay replied curtly. “It is outside of her purview. Her opinion on the matter is irrelevant.”
Tolly bristled slightly, but kept silent.
“If we don’t know who is responsible, what can we do?” Osborn asked.
“You can be sent back through the thread of Fate, to the point at which it was altered,” the leShay replied. “Prevent the alteration, and Fate shall be restored.”
“Not to sound ungrateful for the opportunity,” Yuri said, “but part of me wonders why it wouldn’t be more efficient for you to just go back and take care of this.”
“Because sending back five mortals requires significantly less power than sending back one leShay,” he replied. “One does not raise an army to overthrow a kingdom when a blade in the back will do. Beyond that, the time in question predates the Sundering, and in that time the eladrin still bore open hostility toward my people. My arrival would attract attention, and likely interference.”
“Sundering?” Yuri asked.
“I think that’s what they call the Cataclysm,” Arrie whispered to her.
“How are we to know what event we must prevent?” Tolly asked.
After concentrating a moment, the leShay answered. “The key moment is the assassination of Justin Godscion.”
“Never heard of him,” Yuri said.
“He was a Serenity of Erito, and was a guiding force in the war against the psions. His loss was a severe blow in the war against Silko’s rogue psions, and likely contributed to the success of Silko’s annihilation of The Consort. His untimely demise would likely have had other, unforeseen consequences as the threads of fate were rewoven to this point in time.”
“The who? The Consort? Silko the Paragon? What?” Yuri looked perplexed. The others, who of course knew the truth of Erito’s Consort and his destruction by Silko from their visit to Erito’s Library, looked at the Sargian helplessly.
“Got it,” she said, “something else you can’t explain.”
The leShay looked exasperated. “The limit of your knowledge of the Sundering will interfere with your performance,” he said. He reached out and touched Yuri on the forehead, and for a moment her eyes turned as black as his. A second later, she staggered back, shaking her head.
“Oh,” was all she managed to say. “Oh. Oh!”
“Justin Godscion’s assassination should not have been,” the leShay pronounced, ignoring the reeling dragoon. “Stop the assassins, and all shall be set right. As a secondary objective, if you find the one responsible for this abomination, then you must either slay them, or if such is not possible, attempt to place this on their person.” He produced a silver amulet out of thin air. “This will cause me to know who is responsible, regardless of how the threads of fate are woven, and administer suitable chastisement.”
Autumn accepted the amulet from the leShay, but felt Osborn tapping her on the waist. “Let me hold that,” he said. “I’ve got a better chance on sneaking it on someone’s neck.” Nodding, Autumn passed him the amulet.
“When must we leave?” Arrie asked.
“At this point time is essentially immaterial. You may take what time you need to prepare yourselves. However, for those who are preparing magic, know that summonings will be ineffective, as they will attempt to draw their target from this point in the thread rather than where you will be, and your mortal magic lacks the potency to accomplish that task. You will arrive shortly after the conclusion of a small surprise attack on the Serenity and his defenders, one no doubt designed to strip him of allies for when the true assassination is attempted.”
With no further questions for the moment, the leShay suddenly vanished, leaving the Legacy to prepare themselves. Kupa told Tolly that he would be staying behind.
“We dragons don’t react well to this sort of thing,” he explained. “Our connection to the world and its workings keeps us anchored here. Trying to relocate myself to another part of this thread would be… uncomfortable.”
The next morning, the leShay returned to find the party ready and waiting. He looked around at each of them. “Do you understand that if you succeed, there is no guarantee that you will return as you are now to the correct thread of Fate. In that thread, some of you may not exist, or may not know each other. Some that you know to be dead may be alive, and some that are alive will be dead. Friends may become strangers, and lovers become enemies.”
“We understand,” Tolly said, “and accept the consequences of our actions.”
There was a flash of darkness, and suddenly the Legacy was shooting backward through a tunnel whose walls seemed to be composed of the twisting and unraveling threads of Fate.
* * *
“I thank you for your assistance, strangers,” Justin Godscion said, as he healed the last of his wounds. “Your arrival was most timely. Were you sent by the church?”
The Legacy looked around at the carnage surrounding Serenity Godscion. Dozens of bodies were scattered about; several wore the garb of Eritan clergy, but most of them were enemy warriors, still clutching bloodied weapons. They’d appeared a few yards away, and had intercepted the last of the ambushers as they charged in, easily cutting them down.
“We were not sent… by the church,” Tolly said to Justin.
Justin prodded one of his assailants with his boot, a savage-looking orc. “Strange creatures,” he muttered. “I’ve never seen their kind before.”
The Legacy exchanged looks. The orcish race was not created by Grabâkh until after the Cataclysm, and so of course he wouldn’t recognize them. Arrie examined a couple of the orcs; their armor and weapons were similar to what she had seen in their own time, but then again, the orcs had had little reason to change their implements of war over the centuries, so there was no clear way to tell what time period they might have been from.
“They are called orcs,” Tolly explained, “and it would have been best if you had never seen them at all.” Tolly looked around. They were in a hilly land, and were standing in a small vale amidst the hills. Nearby, a small cliff face loomed over them. “Do you have a destination?” Tolly asked. “We shall accompany you there.”
Autumn immediately moved up to stand next to Justin.
“Thank you again,” Justin said. “What are your names?”
They were about to answer when Tolly spoke up again. “You can call me Nightsleaving. This is Duchess, Slip, Psi, and Dragoon.”
Autumn leaned over to her sister. “Why is he making up names for us?”
“You tell me. You married him.” She looked at Tolly. “Sometimes I think you’re too clever for your own good, Tolly.”
“Not clever enough, this time,” said a raspy voice above them.
A figure in plate armor, clutching a quarterstaff, stood atop the nearby cliff. The same symbol that was burned into the ground at Dagger Rock was embroidered on his tabard. The face showing through the visor was that of a young human.
“Another friend of yours?” Justin asked.
“Hardly,” spat Arrie. “He’s the man trying to kill you.”
“That is no man,” Tolly said, peering at the figure on the hill with true seeing. He could see that the young face shown to them was nothing but an illusion cloaking a skeletal face with glowing red eyes. “He is a lich.”
“I’m afraid that the position of Serenity will soon be vacant,” said the lich. “I apologize to you, Justin Godscion, and wish this was not necessary. But for the sake of the safety of the world, I’m afraid you must cease to exist.”
“Many have tried,” Justin called up to him. “None have succeeded.”
“They did not have the resources of history that I have at my disposal.”
“The only thing that will be disposed of is you,” Tolly shouted.
The lich calmly tapped his staff on the ground, and suddenly the Legacy was surrounded by dozens of the same swirling black distortions that they had traveled through. Dozens of frightful creatures appeared all around them. Many of them were human… mostly. They actually appeared to be a stitched-together amalgamation of several different humanoid creatures, with limbs of varying sizes attached to a patchwork torso. There were also several packs of trolls, who looked like they had steel plates embedded in their green flesh. Steel caps covered their skulls, and steel claws were embedded in their hands. Blood oozed from the edges of the plates and dripped down the length of the claws. The crazed look in their eyes spoke of unspeakable torments. Another cluster of their assailants were ogres, clutching their massive, flaming battleaxes and ready for battle. Above them, on the cliff, the lich had been joined by five women in mithral chain armor, obviously some sort of practitioners of magic, and off to either side, where the cliff dropped and became more of a steep incline, there were units of cavalry – dark-skinned humans that looked somewhat like primitive Zhintai, mounted atop fierce, two-legged lizards much like the raptors they had seen in the Khag Steppes.
“Thorough, aren’t they?” Osborn said.
The Legacy quickly prepared for battle. Tolly’s body turned to living iron, and Justin evoked a prayer to enhance their skill in battle. Arrie was briefly surrounded by a thin layer of ectoplasm, and exuded the scent of fresh earth. Justin, the Serenity of Erito, looked back at her gravely, and then nodded. “Vigor is a wise choice of powers, young ardent,” he said. “I pray it serves you well.” Arrie grinned – it was refreshing to be able to use her powers openly.
The lich’s voice echoed across the suddenly active battlefield, obviously magically amplified. “Now, all of you play nice, and I’ll be back soon.” And with a chuckle, the lich withdrew past the far side of the cliff.
“He didn’t do his homework,” Arrie snorted, as the enemy closed in on all sides, “we don’t play nice.”
Richard II
First Post
Darn, I'm at the end. I really haven't gotten much, if anything, done at work this week.
And Lanara died. *Sniffle*
I <3 Lanara.
And Lanara died. *Sniffle*
I <3 Lanara.
Aholibamah
First Post
Hi there, I just read some of your first page and I quite like your setting. I think that starting everyone at school is a neat idea, I tried it myself. However you have a nice way of doing it that makes it down to earth and yet fanciful. Very cool way to build a party.
The players clearly are enjoying exploring your setting in order to buy stuff, get information and build character depth. I'll read more for sure.
The players clearly are enjoying exploring your setting in order to buy stuff, get information and build character depth. I'll read more for sure.
Delemental
First Post
Richard II said:
Well then, you'd best hope we can fix things here in the past, so that we return to a present where Lanara is alive and well, even if she is off on sabbatical right now.
