“He didn’t do his homework,” Arrie snorted, as the enemy closed in on all sides, “we don’t play nice.”
As if to emphasize the point, Tolly shouted an invocation and pointed, and a violent tremor slammed into the cliff face before them, sending it cascading down in a torrent of earth onto the squad of trolls just beneath it. Bits of stone and dirt rolled down and covered Tolly’s boots up to his ankles. Unfortunately, the warlocks that were perched at the cliff’s edge were unaffected by the earthquake, as they were suspended in midair by magical power as the ground vanished beneath them. The buried trolls started digging their way out.
“Stay with Justin,” Yuri barked, “I’ll try to draw some of them off.” She leapt into the air, landing on a nearby rise in the midst of a unit of the strange, stitched together soldiers, and began laying into one with her greatspear. The wounds she caused, though grievous, seemed only to enrage the being, and it lashed out with tremendous strength at the Sargian, denting her armor with the force of his blow.
Sheets of lightning arced through the ranks of the trolls and ogres, badly singeing them, though the scorch marks on the trolls were rapidly shrinking. Justin grinned triumphantly at the success of his spell, but then cried out in pain as blasts of eldritch energy struck him, unholy beams emitted by the five warlocks above them. He might have succumbed then and there, except for Autumn, who quickly jumped in between the Serenity and the warlocks, taking the brunt of two of the blasts herself.
“Thank you,” Justin said weakly.
“Of course,” she replied, glad to see he had survived. “I’ll take care of them,” Autumn shouted to Arrie, who was laying into one of the trolls.
“Careful!” Arrie shouted as Autumn spread her wings and shot into the sky, dodging the warlocks’ blasts. Arrie had reason to be a little worried; the last time Autumn had faced a warlock, it hadn’t gone well for her. And given Autumn’s vow to Bail, not to mention having no idea how time travel would affect resurrections…
As their enemy closed in around them, Tolly unleashed another spell at the warlocks and trolls, this time filling the area in which they stood with radiant fire. The warlocks, though dazed by the sudden radiance, seemed unaffected by the flames, but the light gave Autumn the cover she needed to gain altitude until she was higher than the cliff. He felt the touch of divine magic as Justin invoked healing, filling them with a lingering power that would ease their wounds as time passed. He spared a moment for a look around, and saw that Arrie had felled one of the trolls, damaging it so badly that it would take several minutes for it to regenerate back to fighting strength. Osborn was now using the troll’s body as a platform to unleash his flurries of daggers at the ogres and trolls pressing in all around. But Arrie was also being badly battered by their monstrous foes; her fighting style, which relied on allowing the enemy to get close enough to strike so that she could retaliate, was an unforgiving method of combat, especially when so badly outnumbered. Off to their right flank, he saw that a unit of ogres had joined with the flesh golem-like soldiers that were attacking Yuri, and the ogres were attacking with an unusual amount of coordination and cooperation, the results of which could be clearly seen in the many crimson stains on Yuri’s armor. She would have to withdraw soon or be overwhelmed.
He heard the echo of a war cry, and looked up just in time to see Autumn swoop down into the midst of the warlocks, cleanly decapitating one of the women in a single blow, and then radiating a burst of divine power than drove the other four to their knees in sudden pain.
“Cease your attacks on the Serenity, or you will all be annihilated!” she screamed with absolute authority.
That’s why I married her, Tolly thought admiringly. He stepped back closer to Justin, and just to make sure his wife’s efforts weren’t in vain, invoked a
fortunate fate on the Serenity. He finished his spell just in time, as he saw that the warlocks above them had regrouped, and while two shot fiery bolts at Autumn, covering her in flames, the other two were aiming down at the Legacy. Thinking they meant to blast Justin again, Tolly moved into their line of fire. The flaming blasts did shoot down toward the party, but lanced into the unconscious troll that Osborn was perched upon. The troll exploded, sending bits of shrapnel everywhere. Shards of hot, jagged armor plates cut through flesh and fabric of both enemy and ally alike, filling the air with the stench of scorched flesh.
Enemies poured into the sudden vacuum left by the explosion. Both Osborn and Arrie were rent by the claws of trolls, and the assault on Yuri had grown so severe that she was finally forced to leap away long enough to use the healing magic bound into her armor, though it was not nearly enough to stop all of her bleeding. There was barely room for the others to breathe, let alone drop their defenses long enough to cast a healing spell or drink a potion. Arrie used her magical cloak to switch places with Tolly, allowing her to bring her adamantine weapon to bear against the half-golems, while Tolly was able to face the trolls, whose claws could do little to penetrate his iron skin. But they could all see that the two units of cavalry had descended the hill on both flanks, and were wheeling around to the rear, no doubt getting ready to charge straight down the middle at them.
Suddenly, Arrie and Tolly felt a firm hand grab onto their shoulders, and Osborn saw a ghostly, disembodied hand touch him*. The hin barely had time to grab onto Rupert’s collar before they all vanished. They reappeared an instant later at the top of the cliff, just to the right of where Autumn was still battling the warlocks, and well away from the mob below.
“A moment’s breath,” Justin panted, still woozy from the
dimension door spell he’d just cast, “Brought to you by the grace of the Goddess.” A second later Yuri, who had seen them vanish, used her own magical cloak’s powers to appear close by.
“And much welcomed,” Tolly said, quickly healing Arrie, who was on her last legs. Osborn turned his attention to the warlocks, quickly killing the closest one with a flurry of daggers, as Autumn smashed another one of them into carrion.
“Dear Erito,” Justin said, looking down the hillside on the side of the cliff opposite the battle. In the distance, several catapults had been set up, pointed toward the sea of enemies below them. A few of the catapults were loaded with flaming ammunition; clearly meant as some form of insurance, in the event that they gained the upper hand in the battle.
“How could any creature go to such lengths to destroy me?” Justin wondered aloud. “What sin could I have performed in his eyes?”
“I don’t think it’s you he’s after,” Osborn said, invoking a healing prayer of his own. “He wants something else.”
Their analysis was interrupted as one of the remaining warlocks gestured, and rubbery black tentacles edged with frigid cold erupted from the ground below them. Arrie and Osborn slipped out easily, thanks to the devices they wore, and a quick spell from Justin allowed him to walk out unscathed a moment later. Only Tolly was trapped in the binding tentacles.
The mass of creatures below them slowly began to turn to make their way up the steep sides of the cliff. Some of the ogres dropped their greataxes in favor of composite bows, and fired upon Autumn, but the aasimar was easily able to avoid the arrows as she wheeled about in the air. Yuri leapt in to help her dispatch the warlocks, and when Autumn saw she was close by, the sentinel invoked another power of her order, creating a brief dichotomy of positive and negative energy that deepened the wounds of the enemy she struck even as it eased the injuries she and the Sargian had sustained.
Justin cast another spell, and down below, the earth in the midst of a pack of ogres and trolls erupted as the ground suddenly and violently froze, sending chunks of ice and stone flying everywhere. Several of the half-golem soldiers went down, as did a couple of the trolls, though obviously not permanently. The ground where the spell hit was left a broken, ruined mass, forcing one of the cavalry units to slow down and navigate the treacherous footing more carefully. Their advance up the hill was further slowed when Tolly unleashed a second
earthquake, sending several ogres and half-golems plummeting into fissures in the ground.
As the hordes of enemies surged up the cliff and began to press in, the Legacy fell back into a more defensive position. Autumn was the only one who remained outside, as she worked to eliminate the remaining warlocks in a pitched aerial battle. As the sentinel wheeled around, she saw one of the two warlocks pulling a sinister-looking energy out of her chest, and then hurling it at Autumn. She cried out as the twisting, curling bolt of eldritch power struck her, seeming to burn her to her very soul. Most of the trolls had come to the edge of the cliff near where Autumn and the warlocks were flying, and would lash out with their long arms whenever the aasimar flew close. Autumn could have easily avoided the trolls by flying further away, but it would mean giving the warlocks the opening they needed to retreat and regroup.
As Arrie stood ready for the impending charge of the ogres and half-golems, she glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the siege engines, and saw four more figures approaching rapidly. The one in the rear was instantly recognizable as the lich who had engineered this elaborate ambush in the first place, but the other three appeared human. All four were in full plate armor, and all wore tabards with the same symbol, marking them as part of the same cult or cause. One of the three was mounted on a warhorse, and wielded a wicked-looking falchion. The second was armed with a greatsword, and the third with a longsword and shield. All three bore other markings besides the symbols on their tabards, symbols which Arrie recognized from long ago, when her sister first joined the Order of Sentinels. These three were Incarnates**, a warrior sect whose training was similar to the sentinels, but who espoused a different philosophy altogether. They fought to maintain an ethical and moral balance in the world. With a grimace, Arrie prepared herself for the challenge they would present.
Tolly, not willing to wait for the threat to come closer, attempted to implode the mounted incarnate, but he shrugged it off. In response, the lich waved a hand and encased Tolly in a tomb of stone.
“A fitting place for you, Ardaran,” the lich taunted. The incarnate with the shield shouted commands, and the other surged forward suddenly to join the attack. The incarnate with the greatsword was met by a howling Yuri, who dropped on him from above and thrust her spear through his midsection. He twisted away just in time to avoid being disemboweled, and was about to counterstrike when Yuri vanished, replaced by Arrie. Yuri appeared some distance back, and began laying into the ogres and half-golems that were closing in.
Justin, seeing the enemy getting closer, took advantage of the battlefield and dove into the writhing mass of icy tentacles that one of the warlocks had conjured earlier. His
freedom of movement spell kept him safe from being grabbed, and the ring on his finger protected him from the numbing cold. The tentacles discouraged pursuit, giving him a chance to use his spells for something besides self-defense. He healed Yuri through a
spectral hand he’d conjured earlier, and then blasted one of the two cavalry units with a spell that sapped their vitality, slowing them considerably. He then targeted one of the badly wounded ogres that was fighting Yuri, and with a shouted prayer pulled all the moisture out of its body, which coalesced into a water elemental that immediately slammed two appendages into the ogre standing next to it.
For a moment, it seemed as though the Legacy was holding their own, but then the remaining cavalry charged in, as did the three incarnates. Razor-sharp lances speared the water elemental, dispersing it into a large puddle, while other lances pierced Osborn and Rupert, and another struck Yuri. Tolly teleported out of the stone sarcophagus and arrived close to Arrie, who was now fending off both the incarnate on horseback and the one with the greatsword. He healed the badly-wounded warrior, and then they stood back to back to face the incarnates, preventing them from advancing into the main combat. The incarnate’s greatsword swung and connected with Tolly’s iron torso with a resounding blow that almost knocked the cleric off his feet, and a moment later the incarnate with the shield slashed at Arrie, opening up a deep gash across her chest.
Autumn, whose efforts to eliminate the warlocks had been frustrated by their frequent use of healing scrolls, was finally able to land a mortal blow on one of the two women, sending her body tumbling down the cliff to the ground below. Her efforts to reach the last warlock were frustrated by the rending steel claws of the modified trolls, and so with a fierce battle cry she laid into them with her greataxe. On the other side of the battlefield, Justin cast a
howling chain spell at the lich, knocking him to his feet and denting his breastplate, but the lich dispelled the chain and stood up after only a few moments. The undead mastermind responded with a
flame strike against Justin, though the Serenity avoided the worst of it by diving in among the cold tentacles surrounding him.
The air was thick with the smell of blood, sweat, and viscera as the battle raged on. Yuri and Osborn faced off against the ogres and the raptor cavalry, while Autumn battled trolls. Arrie and Tolly had their hands full fending off three incarnates, while Justin continued his spell-battle with the lich. But the Serenity saw a pack of reinforcements heading toward Yuri and Osborn, and diverted his attention long enough to blast the troll in the middle of the group with an
orb of acid, causing the shrapnel-filled creature to explode in the midst of its allies. But the brief moment of distraction was all the lich needed, and Justin was hit with a
reaving dispel, which stripped most of his defensive spells away. Fortunately, the Serenity was able to retain his
freedom of movement spell, or else he might have been dragged down and crushed by the tentacles.
Arrie and Tolly were focusing their attention on the incarnate with the greatsword, hoping to eliminate one foe at a time. But the holy warrior hung on stubbornly, aided by the divine power that all three incarnates were channeling, which not only made their attacks more lethal, but often healed the wounds that the Legacy inflicted. The Ardaran and his sister-in-law were briefly cheered when they felt a familiar burst of holy power which signaled that Autumn had landed a devastating blow and taken out a troll and the last warlock. Arrie dove in front of a backhand swing from the horseman’s falchion, giving Tolly the seconds he needed to cast a
mass cure spell of his own. But then one of the incarnates slammed his shield into Arrie, striking her in the head. Her vision wavered, and she saw double for a moment. Her head cleared just in time to see the greatsword slash down through Tolly, splitting him nearly in half. With a look of surprise on his iron face, Tolly fell to the earth like a toppled statue.
With a grim smile of satisfaction on his face, the incarnate pulled his weapon free from Tolly’s body, ready to turn his attention to the other warrior. But an ear-splitting shriek cut through the air, and suddenly the end of a longspear blossomed through the man’s chest, driving down at an angle into the ground and pinning him in place. Yuri drove the point deep into the earth, and then released her grip, skewering the incarnate to the ground. She backed off a step as Arrie moved in and put a few more holes in him with Anyweapon, which had been formed into a longspear as well, and then Arrie tossed Yuri the weapon and drew her old spiked chain.
Osborn, who had withdrawn a few paces to heal himself and Rupert with a wand, surveyed the battle. Tolly was down, and Arrie was on her last legs. He could see Autumn flying in fast to help, but neither she nor Yuri were at full strength either. Justin was trying to do what he could, but was hard pressed fending off the magical attacks of the lich. He’d been forced to abandon his refuge of tentacles in order to reach Arrie and Autumn with a healing spell, and was concentrating his magical power on eliminating the incarnates rather than targeting their leader. Osborn was beginning to wonder if any of them would survive this ambush. As he put his wand away, his hand brushed against a hard disc in one of his pockets. With a start, Osborn knew what he needed to do. He jumped onto Rupert’s back and urged him into a run. “Come on, boy,” he shouted, as he took off toward the lich.
Some of the ogres had broken through and had joined with the incarnates, battling against Yuri, Arrie, and Autumn. The first two continued to strike at the impaled incarnate, who stubbornly refused to die thanks to the healing that he was receiving from his own allies. He finally raised his greatsword, and with a powerful blow sheared through Yuri’s adamantine longspear, freeing himself to act. Pummeled from several sides, Arrie finally succumbed to the massive amount of blood she had lost, dropping to the ground like a grain sack, though a split-second spell by Justin kept her away from death’s door. Yuri and Autumn, surrounded, used up the last of their readily available healing, and prepared to pave the way for the Serenity’s hopeful escape with their lives.
Then they all heard a strange, strangled cry coming from behind the battle lines. They looked over and saw Osborn clinging tenaciously to the lich’s back, clutching a silver amulet. As the lich clawed desperately at the hin, trying to paralyze his assailant, Osborn managed to get the amulet around his neck and lock the clasp in place.
The lich vanished instantly, dropping Osborn to the ground and knocking the wind out of him. Seconds later, the other combatants started to vanish, whatever blasphemous power that was holding them in the past now severed. Too exhausted to celebrate, the Legacy simply collapsed where they stood, pressing shaking hands to bleeding wounds in a pathetic effort to staunch them. Autumn crawled over to her husband’s body, which had already resumed its fleshy form, and wept openly. Justin walked quietly over to where Arrie lay, and used more healing magic to revive her. He and Osborn moved about, quickly administering to the party’s wounds, not saying a word until they were finished.
Arrie walked over to where Yuri sat, holding the broken pieces of her longspear. “You hold on to Anyweapon for a while,” she said quietly, “until we can get that replaced.” Yuri simply nodded.
“Thank you all for saving me,” Justin said to them, “and praise to Erito for sending such valiant defenders to my aid, though I can’t honestly say that the life you have saved is worth more than the one lost here today.” Autumn, still draped across Tolly’s body, said nothing in reply.
Justin turned to Osborn. “How were you able to defeat the lich?”
He flashed a weary smile. “With the grace of Ladta.”
“Know that for your actions today, whatever resources the church of Erito has will be made available to you. Your companion will be restored to you, if that is your wish and his.”
“That will not be necessary, Serenity,” said a familiar voice. The leShay that had sent the Legacy into the past, or one that looked like his twin, walked up to the group. Justin turned and bowed deeply; the leShay acknowledged him with a bow if his own head.
“You honor us with your presence, Ancient One,” Justin said. “Was it your doing to send these noble warriors to my aid?”
“We are,” the leShay replied. “And I have been given leave by Our Lady to grant boons to them for their service. I believe life would be considered a boon.” The leShay’s black eyes flashed with power for a moment, and suddenly Tolly sat up, whole and unblemished. Autumn cried out with joy and embraced him, nearly knocking him over as he tried to stand. There was another flash of power, and Yuri’s greatspear appeared in her hand, good as new.
“Your other boons will be granted you when you return from whence you came,” the leShay said. “The threads of fate have been rewoven to their proper course.”
Yuri turned to Justin. “So, what now?”
“I suppose I must return to Trageon,” Justin said. “And report this incident to my Council. An investigation…”
“Serenity,” the leShay said quietly, “you will not recall these events once you leave here.”
Justin looked at the leShay for a moment, then nodded. “I understand.” He turned to face the Legacy again. “Again, I thank you for saving me. May Erito watch over you in your journeys.”
“Before we leave,” Tolly said, “I do have one question for you. It is a bit unusual.”
“I will answer, if I can,” Justin said.
“What is the name of Erito’s Consort?”
Justin looked surprised. “That is a rather unusual question, his name is well-known to all. But for your sake, his name is
There was a flash of darkness.
* * *
“Well, I can’t see any sign of this Scion-Watchers symbol,” Kyle said to Osborn as they stood overlooking the town of Dagger Rock. “And the town’s here. I’m not saying I don’t believe you, Osborn, but I guess… maybe Grog and the townsfolk were able to figure things out on their own had put everything right before we even got here.”
The rest of the Legacy looked around, and then at each other. They could all remember what had happened, but the memory was strange, as though it were the memory of a tale they had been told as children, rather than something they themselves had experienced only a few minutes ago. Autumn and Tolly exchanged awkward glances.
“Still,” Kyle was continuing, “we should probably look around. If the Scion-Watchers are about, it could be trouble.”
“I…” Osborn looked around blankly, “I don’t think the Scion-Watchers will be a problem any time soon.”
Kyle looked at his friends curiously. “Is something wrong? You all look like you’ve never seen me before.”
“We’re…fine.” Autumn said. “I guess we were just ready for something big to happen when we got here.”
“Well, I say it’s a welcome change of pace,” Kyle grinned. “Come on, let’s see if Grog still serves that good ale.” He began to walk down the hill, and then suddenly stopped short. “Autumn, what is that?” He pointed to the weapon on his wife’s belt. She looked down, and in place of her greataxe was a gleaming, ornate falchion.
“It’s… Faithful Avenger,” Autumn said reverently, drawing the cold iron blade. “It was the weapon of the first Crusader.”
“How in the world did you…” Kyle looked around, and noticed other changes. The Ladtan coin relic that Osborn wore around his neck now glowed with increased magical power, as did Yuri’s greatspear. He noted a tattoo on Arrie he hadn’t seen before, and in the middle of Tolly’s right hand, a large diamond was embedded in the palm.
“What in Erito’s name have you all been up to?” he asked.
“Well…”
-----------------------------------
* This was an impromptu ruling during the game, but our DM did allow Justin (me) to use the
spectral hand to administer the 'touch' necessary to bring Osborn along in the
dimension door. Arrie and Tolly were adjacent at the time, but Osborn was 10 feet away. It may have been a bit cheesy, but it was honestly probably a good thing here - if left behind Osborn would probably have been surrounded and killed.
** There are nine different types of Crusader, one associated with each alignment and espousing a different cause. The NG Sentinels are devoted to eliminating the taint of evil from Aelfenn, especially extraplanar evil. The TN Incarnates are devoted to maintaining a balance in the world. Clearly, the Arcanamach (the lich who was the head of the Scion-Watchers, and masterminded this whole thing) had convinced them that the possibility of the Godscion line wielding arcane magic represented a serious threat to the balance. We've also run into the NE Corrupters in the past (when the Archprelate of Ardara was assassinated).
For the record, when the campaign began we used different rules for these warriors - they were all different types of holy warriors based on the paladin (indeed, the paladin was the LG version). But our DM vastly prefers the rules from Book of 9 Swords to this, as it gives them more of the "feel" he was looking for from the class. And so, the nine types of holy warriors are all variations on the Crusader from Bo9S.
