4-2019 Roleplay LIVE GAME - Rescue of Delilah and Takeover of Castle Rend
Delilah finds she has arrived on land. The airship has come down after three and a half days. Her madness has subsided… mostly. But she has been touched by Mephistopheles.
During this time, Cyrus comes in and smiles at her. “How is my little mouse doing?”
Delilah, still tied up, paralyzed and numb, rolls her eyes at him. (Survival check: 20 total) She starts to feel the effects of the vocal paralysis start to fade. Cyrus approaches with two cultists. He takes her and lifts her up. “We are going to take you to a very special place. I hope you find your accommodations most…. Inviting.” He hisses.
She glares and mumbles a very faint, “S..screw you…”
He smiles. “Still got fight in you as ever. Let us give you some more of your medicine… and hopefully you will see the true light of where you are going. You will see the true power of what you will have the opportunity to face.”
(Survival check: 5)
He takes her by the hair and draws her jaw open and dumps the vial of poison down her throat. The airship, she can feel, is descending. Her ankles are bound, her hands are bound behind her, and a rope—not her rope—is tied around her. Once landed, the cultists depart. Two cultists come in with a stretcher and lay her on it. They carry her along. (Perception check: 6)
She has no sense of direction. She stares up at the sky, seeing trees. Lots… and lots… and lots of trees. Tall pine trees. “At least it smells nice…” She thinks. She can hear the sounds of the nature around her. Cyrus is on her left, and two cultists are on her right.
(Survival check with disadvantage: 7)
They travel for some time and the cultists begin to speak in some language she’s not familiar with. At least… it sounds slightly familiar. She thinks she has heard Mutiger and Rodrick speak it to one another on occasion. She hears movement among the tops of the trees—like full grown men moving up above. They shout back and forth different phrases, in some kind of password entry into their realm. Delilah strains to listen, hoping to catch any words she might understand in common.
The going is slow, and takes about three and a half hours before she arrives at a very old keep. It is swarming with these same cultists. (Perception check: 5) Many men mill about, the keep crumbling and falling apart. Obviously this area was cleared out and this keep was built there at some point. But it is old. It looks like it has been there for hundreds of years, and it’s dilapidated, vines creeping up it. It has two watch towers, and one has fallen into ruin.
They take Delilah around into the bailey of this keep, taking her down through the doors, and carry her down some stairs. Finally she is released from her stretcher. (Perception check: 17) She sees Gerald passing by, very pale in the face, trying to get from one place to the next. Now that she’s untied, a couple of female cultists come in bearing white linens. They remove her clothes and put these linens on. It appears to be a white jumpsuit, loose fitting and comfortable. Delilah glances around, looking desperately for her things.
They tie her hands again behind her back, then tie her ankles up and they tie her up again, laying her down on the bed in the prison. A guard stands watch both inside and outside the prison. She glares at them. “Man, they’ve learned their lesson…”
Mutiger, Armella, Hikaru and Rodrick, along with Thorin and Luther are sailing on the Skyshadow now. It had arrived at Republic Central a few days prior, and they were able to explain what happened and what you did. Luther had approached the others, a concerned look on his face. “What’s going on? All of a sudden the airship just up and left?”
“Miss Ruby has been… absconded.” Hikaru mumbles.
“R…really? When? How!?”
“Thorin would know better…”
Luther leaves their presence to find Thorin to get answers. Hikaru heads to the helm of the ship, channeling the energy in his body to point in the direction of the crystals and Delilah. Mutiger heads over to Rodrick.
“Rodrick…. Can you set my horns on fire?”
Rodrick looks up at him. “Let me think on how to do it for a minute. But I’m sure we can figure something out.”
Hikaru withdraws a mini shrine he carries with him and places a coin inside, a thumb print on the outside in green blood from the murder of the mindflayer.
Armella is busily praying and supplicating Tarj as the others busy around the ship. She mentions to him the mindflayer she slayed, and that they are going to rescue their friend, praying for help to make it easier. She gets a distinct feeling and impression that she has done right in the eyes of Tarj… that she has done well… but there is still so much more that she needs to do. That everyone needs to do… The impression continues and she feels she needs to—for the time being—follow these people and see what they will do.
They have a two day journey to the Helots. But Rodrick looks contemplative. Mutiger leans over, “Rodrick… How fast can you get this going?”
“We could overclock the engines... As long as it’s a general straight shot, we should be okay.” (Wisdom/Survival Check: 19)
He goes to look at the gauges for the pressure and fuel—all the stuff that goes to making the ship run in the engine room—there is a control panel with several levers on it. He takes two and pushes them all the way forward, and then takes another two and very carefully, move them slowly forward. He can start to hear the engine thrum with power.
Once he has pushed those two levers forward, he reaches down and unlatches a compartment where a button resides. He has pushed the engines to their max right now, but this will push it beyond those levels. Rodrick grabs one of the talking tubes and says, “Eeeeeverybody might wanna grab onto something!”
Then he punches the button.
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRFFFFFFFFFFFFMM!!!
(Dex saving throws for the group on the ship: Armella = 15, Hikaru = 12, Rodrick = 20, Mutiger = 16)
Hikaru and Armella tumble across the deck at the sudden propulsion. Mutiger easily stands against the force, unfazed in the slightest, his hair and tail flying back behind him in the rush of wind.
The airship rockets through the sky. A giant black cloud billows out behind it as it makes its way forward.
“Rod, ya gotta warn me better before you do that!”
“I SAID grab onto something!”
“You gave me like a second before you pushed the button!”
The overclocking helps chop off 12 hours of their travel time, and they arrive at the Korosvye Helots.
Now with two options, the group decides between flying in with guns blazing, or take a more stealthy approach and land the airship.
Hikaru is breathing heavily, his rage coursing through him with the desire to murder. Mutiger turns to the others. “Firelord and I can draw everyone’s attention… and you two sneak in.” He gestures to Armella and Hikaru.
Hikaru glares. “Just me…”
Armella looks over at him. “Well Rodrick could go with you?”
“He’s not stealthy enough… maybe Rhys, but…”
“He’s like, three feet tall! That’s stealthy.”
“That doesn’t mean anything, it’s—it’s not stealthy enough.”
Rodrick chimes in with a grin. “There’s nothing stealthy about THIS.” He lifts his flame thrower, toggling the switch.
Hikaru smirks. “If you were Rhys, maybe. I don’t like him, but he’d be more useful in this situation.”
“That’s true…”
“…But I’m gonna go now.” Hikaru makes to leap off the airship. Armella glares, “No!” and grabs ahold of the back of his coat.
Rodrick shakes his head. “I do have to help Mutiger with one thing before we get going. Mutiger, to set yourself on fire—that pail over there—just dump it on yourself and… spark.”
Mutiger grabs the pail, dumps it on himself, and it splatters everywhere. “Let’s go.”
Armella follows behind the others, who seem to be eager to jump right in. “Okay, so are we going into this in this blatently ridiculous manner?”
Hikaru mumbles, “Well I was going to be stealthy… I was gonna go in and… and… and get Ruby, and rescue her, and murder everyone in my path.”
Armella shakes her head.
Mutiger muses. “What I was thinking… What we do is we fly over top. Firelord and I jump down into the middle of it all. The two of you… go land the airship and sneak in.”
“Hey… going off of that… with the new engines, especially with them overclocked, they smoke like the dickens.” Rodrick smiles. “It looks like the airship is on fire and going down. If we bail off, they aren’t gonna think TWICE about it. ‘Oh they’re just jumping to get away from a crashing airship.’ So you guys go land…”
Armella waves her hand. “Well aren’t they going to come after us? They’ll see the airship exploding, and want to come loot it?”
Hikaru’s eyes gleam. “…And then I’ll get Ruby… and then I’ll murder the crap out of everyone.”
Rodrick shakes her head. “Nah, cause the first thing they’re gonna see is a smoking airship, and the next thing they’re going to see is a giant mech drop into the middle of their camp and they’re going to go… ‘Uh oh… we gotta deal with that first.’ Bwahaha…”
Mutiger smiles. “Mechs falling down out of the sky… I’m good with this plan.”
As they discuss their options, they fly over the area that Hikaru is sensing where the crystal is. But they see nothing but forest… Nothing.
Hikaru senses the crystal is in the north west, and ignoring the trees, points the ship forward. Firelord has Mutiger sitting on his shoulder and is standing on the edge of the airship; as soon as Hikaru says the crystal is straight down, Firelord is jumping. Hikaru is on edge, ready to jump too.
Armella sees his eagerness. “I thought you were going to be sneaky!”
“Maybe I can ride on their thing, and sneak in through the smoke!”
She glares at him and he waves her off. “No I’ll be sneaky, I’ll be sneaky…”
Armella eyes him. “Jumping down with a mech is NOT sneaky!”
“…it is when the mech is the one getting all of the attention…” He mumbles.
The airship is going, and they are standing poised, ready to jump off. Suddenly, they hear:
BAHBUMPPPPPHHH! BAHBUMPPPPPHHH! BAHBUMPPPPPHHH!
The airship begins to rock from the attack. One of the engines is hit.
Firelord grabs EVERYBODY and jumps, because now that an engine is hit… they’re going to blow.
The airship howls with noise as it falls, crashing out of the sky.
(Group Dexterity Saving throws: Firelord = Automatic, Hikaru = Nat 20 (28), Mutiger = 19, Armella = X, Luther = 9)
In the middle of the jump, Luther loses his grip on Firelord and begins to fall. Mutiger reaches out to grab him (Rolls a 10) and just barely misses his grasping hand.
(Nat 20 Acrobatics) Red bolts of lightning lance off of Hikaru as he hurtles to the ground. He leaps out and grabs the sleeve of Luther’s jacket, pulling him behind him onto his back.
When they land, they all scatter and tumble, landing on their feet. Hikaru hits the ground with a shockwave of lighting.
After a few moments, Rodrick climbs out of Firelord, walks over behind a tree and shifts into Rhys. As he walks back over, he looks at Luther and points at Firelord.
Luther goes wide eyed and a smile grows on his face. “Really?”
“You’re need to be able to fight.” Rhys smiles back.
Luther looks nervously elated and walks over to climb in the mech.
Armella glances over at Rhys. “Are you really going to put him in that?”
Hikaru continues staring through the trees toward the crystals.
Luther eagerly climbs over to the mech and hops in, squeezing down inside it as it is a tight fit. The canopy closes. “Ooop!” He ducks down. Leaning toward one of the comm tubes, he says, “How do I pilot this thing?”
Rhys looks up at him. “It’s quite simple. The controls on the left control the left side. The controls on the right, control the right. The hand grips you squeeze, they control the fingers.”
Luther plays around with it for a little bit, the fingers and arms moving at his touch. He tries to take a step. (Rolls a 12) The mech takes a tentative step forward and starts to wobble a little bit.
“Try to take wider steps to keep your balance.”
“A-alright! Um…” He slows down his pace on the foot pedals, and Firelord takes a step. And another… and another.
“When you get the hang of that, reach behind you with your left hand, and you’ll hit something. That’s Infernus. His sword.”
Luther reaches up behind him, grasping the weapon in Firelord’s hand.
“The button on the right hand inside is your fuel purge.”
He presses the button. Fwhoooooosh. The sword lights up with a gout of flame.
“That is how you ignite Infernus.”
“I can see that!” Luther responds, wide eyed.
“The button on the console--that is Fuel Vent. That is only in case of emergencies, because you will need to refuel.”
“Alright!” He smiles.
Those who are magical can sense a lot of magic in the area. Rhys throws a tentative shadow dart to see if magic is broken. Whooosh. The shadow dart goes flying into the air and off into the distacnce, without breaking anything.
Rhys looks at Hikaru and grins. It mimics Nerezza’s smile. “Magic’s not broken here.”
Lightning courses up and down. Hikaru returns a Balgor-like smile.
Armella glances between the two of them. “That’s not good! You act like it’s a good thing!”
“Why wouldn’t it be a good thing?” Hikaru looks over at her, lightning buzzing around him.
Mutiger looks over at Rhys. “Can I get a spark now?”
Rhys taps Hikaru and points at Mutiger. “You have sparks.”
Hikaru smiles and aims a bolt at the tiefling. BZZZZZT. He becomes engulfed in flames and pulls out his sword.
This falling grossly out of control for her, Armella starts to stalk off through the woods angrily. “I’m going THAT way.” She glances toward where the airship crashed in the trees beyond, grumbling. “That had… all of our stuff.”
Hikaru grumbles. “Why does that matter?”
Rhys hears them and looks at Armella. “And what were you missing?”
“Nothing that wasn’t important…”
“Do you need another mace?” He grabs shadow and starts forming one in his hand.
“N-no! I have—I have it, right here! I have this, my shield. I’m GOOD. Keep it!”
He grins and the shadow mace disappears. She shakes her head ignoring him.
Meanwhile, Delilah hears shouts and barks of activity. She hears a loud BAHBUMPPPPPHHH sound as the artillery is fired, and a huge explosion outside rocks the room. (Con Save to talk/move: 18) The alchemic vocal inhibiter begins to wear off. Her limbs begin tingling. She begins to hear screams, shouts and orders right and left, both in Infernal and common tongue. She senses all the chaos.
She turns and looks at the cultist in the room, and starts laughing. (Intimidate roll: 11, perception, 7) He’s not phased, but Delilah continues to laugh regardless.
At that moment, her cell doors open and four strong cultists come barreling in. They grab her by the arms and the legs, and carry her out. She wriggles frantically against them, one holding her by the wrists and another by the ankles. Another is at her waist and one is at her shoulders. Still unable to talk well, she continues laughing, facing the ground. “A…are you guys s--scared? What’s w--wrong?” She smiles. “Where’s the big m--man himself? He turn chicken shit?” She hisses.
A cultist comes up, lifts up her head and dumps more of the acidic potion down her throat. She chokes frantically. “D…delicious.” She growls. As her voice goes numb, she mouths curses she’s heard from Trident, screaming at them silently.
Hikaru’s anger looks colder than it usually is. He knows the sound of those guns. At least he knows that they are from Wuxia. There is a Wuxian ship here for some reason… His teeth elongate and he gets claws. His eyes turn blood red. He charges forward as fast as he can.
Mutiger follows, pulling out the sending stone from his pocket. He speaks the command word and sees if he can hear anything. He hears commotion… beats of Infernal and Common. “Just saw an airship flying overhead, blasted out of the sky!”
He speaks into it. “I am coming for you. Better clear out or you. Will. All. Die.” He puts it back into his pocket. (Intimidate roll = 14)
The other sending stone is buried in her gear in the keep, and it grumbles and roars with his message.
They make their way through the woods as fast as they can. They crest a small hill, and come upon an area that has been cleared out. There are torches set every 40 feet in a large area. Mutiger is leading the charge, on fire.
As they break through the thick foliage of the trees, you smell a heavy metallic odor of incense and blood. A tribal-like chanting thrums across the ground, making the very air tremble. Ahead of you is a terrible sight. A large crowd of cultists have gathered, perhaps 100 in all. They are chanting wickedly, surrounding a large summoning circle… dark and rich with blood in the center. In the center stands an imposing, stark, obsidian totem—the Totem of Hateshigenai.
Around it hover 14 floating magenta crystals trapped in thin metal sconces. An evil, pulsating presence emits from the totem, licking across the ground like hot shadows. Inside the circle lies a pile of bodies, drained of their blood.
At that very moment, you see a muscular orcish cultist atop an elevated altar. He raises a dagger high above a struggling captive, gagged and being held at the wrists and ankles by four others. Her wild eyes frantic, they turn desperately across the crowd and suddenly meet with yours. It is Delilah.
The dagger slams down into her chest and the crowd roars. The blade slices upward, ripping a deep gash all the way to her neck. Her eyes grow blank. Blood splashes out and tumbles freely down the stone precipice into the summoning circle below.
Mutiger screams with rage and charges at the cultists, blinded by his anger and rage. The fire roars behind him and his sword is drawn.
(Wisdom saving throw with disadvantage) Hikaru roars at the sky. “BaaaaalGOOOOOOOOOR!” His body erupts with red lightning as more lashes down from the clouds above, his kitsune rage rippling through his body as he transforms.
His eyes turn red and his animalistic toothy smile widens. (For the next 3 rounds any attack causes enemies to become frightened.) A frightful presence emanates from his form.
(Everyone rolls Initiative).
The cultists near the back turn in surprise.
The totem crackles with a dark energy, blood sloshing across the ground in a churning mass. The crystals glow even brighter in the roar of the noise as it resonates with the slaughter. The summoning circle churns more viciously with the last of the blood, and a bright blinding red flash fills the courtyard. When their eyes adjust, a shimmering portal, not unlike the portal in Dolor, has materialized in place of the totem. Unlike the one they know though, this one twists and groans. It crackles uncontrollably with an instability that is palpable.
An intense wind picks up, being sucked toward the hellish dimensional door. Wind carrying faint, ghostly screams as if from far, far away. Souls… trapped on the material plane since the unraveling of the weave, flickering images of glaciers and icy wastes blast from the opening like a yawning chasm, devouring the energy as it comes pouring in.
Armella’s overwhelming feelings invoke the name of Tarj, murder in her eyes. Her face is blank. Emotionless. A distinct impression enters her mind. To start… Purging.
(She can command evil creatures to turn and flee in terror from her due to her concordance)
She charges forward, her morning star in hand. (27 to hit, 31 damage total) A holy light shines down upon her from the sky above. Her weapon glows with a wrathful blue light. The first cultist she hits is smashed crown to crotch, pummeled into the ground. The second cultist she hits from the side, and she can hear him break beneath her might.
(Action surge for two more attacks) The 3rd cultist dodges out of the way, and her morning star smashes into a rock where he was. It shatters under the impact of her blow, a spike flying off. She hefts her weapon up and smashes it into a 4th cultist, crushing his shoulder into him. He falls immediately dead.
Luther is crying inside Firelord, uncontrollably. Infernus is ablaze. Firelord takes one swing across three cultists, halving them.
Rhys is standing there in shock for a minute, having just watched Delilah get killed. He drops to his knee, and is fighting all the shadow taking over him to become the shadow demon. But instead, he looks up, his eyes gold, tears streaming down his face, and he takes his glaive. He reaches behind him and cuts the fabric of reality, and a Skardün comes through.
As the huge shadow dragon comes through, it lets out the most terrifying, ominous bellow. All light around it seems to be drawn towards it, creating a dark aura around the beast. It comes barreling toward the cultists with a shriek, cutting them down.
As Skardün leaves him, Rhys amplifies his voice. It resonates across the field, saying, “You have made a vast mistake. You stole a dear friend from Nerezza, the God of Shadow. You WILL. Feel the anguish and regret of your decision.”
Hikaru literally charges through everyone to the man that killed Delilah, determined to attack him. Passing by eight cultists, they each pull out clockwork repeating rifles to attack the giant beast. They pepper Hikaru one after another, (86 damage) but it doesn’t deter him. Landing on the other side of the portal, something else catches his attention.
Up atop the wall of the derelict castle, a tall imposing figure surveys the area with displeasure. An icy chill runs up his spine. All of his fur stands on end as the cold, cruel eyes of his uncle meet his. For the briefest of moments, he sees a flicker of surprise, then a sneer. His snarling voice comes over the pitched fighting, “HIKARU! TEME!....BUKKOROSU ZO!” With an aggressive gesture, he dismisses himself as his samurai bodyguards leap down to assail Hikaru.
He witch bolts straight at the cultist standing over Delilah. Time seems to slow down as he focuses on the orc in front of him. Lightning rockets out of his body toward the cultist in powerful arcs, striking him right in the chest. (29 lightning damage). He leaps over the altar, his mouth open and he grabs his enemy right in his jaws. Hikaru bites down (22 damage) on the orc’s skull, mangling it and crushing it. Hikaru throws the lifeless corpse to the side and it crumples in the dirt.
Mutiger strides forward, attacking the first cultist in his way. (18 attack, 15 damage). His flaming sword slices through his neck and cauterizes the wound. Mutiger moves to the pole beside them and attempts to cut the nearest one in half, rage billowing out of him. (14 attack). His weapon recklessly slams against the metal, bouncing backward.
An intense, oppressive weight had filled his entire being as he locked eyes on the obsidian totem of Hateshigenai, and now on the portal to the 8th level of Hell itself.
The blood below the doorway whips around, growing, folding, and coalescing into a vaguely humanoid form. A devilish elemental beast at least 10 feet tall stands before him. It has a very familiar face. His terrifying voice echoes through Mutiger’s mind. “You have come…. My son. I knew you would.”
(Wisdom save: 10) The fearsome aspect of Mephistopheles liquefies and engulfs you. An unbearable power floods into your consciousness, a torturous fire engulfing your mind and your sanity. Evil laughter echoes in a cacophony of noise, and your eyes open. Red.
Another voice enters his mind. “Be strong! I am with you! Together we will face this mess.” (Wisdom save with advantage: 13) The comforting voice from before shrinks slightly, as if there is a battle of wills going on within him. He grasps his head as the agony of madness threatens to overtake him.
The remaining cultists soil their robes at the terrifying wrath of the group, flanked by a gigantic shadow dragon beast. At that very moment, a dark shadow seems to pass over the stars in the sky, materializing in a ferocious energy as it rockets to the heroes. Coalescing in a bedraggled fashion beside his son, Nerezza’s voice cries out, “What in the nine hells?? Keep this monster distracted, we need to finish this before the portal collapses!”
Rhys gives him a look. “Good to see you too, father…”
With that he takes a leaping shadow step into the portal of Hell itself.
Several cultists still surround Armella. (21 attack, 7, 8, 15 damage). She smashes into them without abandon, sending them literally flying up into the air before crumpling back to the ground.
Firelord continues forward, and you can hear the emotion-filled, broken voice of Luther. He bellows and screams and rages, completely in his own place, blood drunk. Infernus does another arc attack against six more cultists, knocking their corpses to the side with ease.
The last cultist they can see backs away, turns tail and runs. Rhys looks at the dragon, sicing it on the fleeing cultist. “Don’t let him get away.”
The dragon roars, scooping the cultist up into its mouth, and swallows it whole.
He then looks at the blood golem of the aspect of Mephistopheles that has surrounded Mutiger, and who is fighting a mental battle.
Reaching into his mind, Rhys feels three consciousnesses. Mutiger, Mephistopheles, and somebody else…
He zeroes in on the one that feels definitely evil, (23 wisdom to break into the mind) and a manifestation of himself walks into a consciousness filled with blood, horror and fire… and immense cold. The fire is not warm at all. He pushes aside the blood curtains and comes upon a scene that looks like a very tall, 14 ft arch devil choking out the consciousness of Mutiger. There is another consciousness Rhys has felt before, and it is trying to pry the arch devil’s arms from the aspect of Mutiger. The form it takes is that of a gold-scaled dragonborn, wearing plate armor.
(25 roll to bluff) Rhys walks in, seeing this, and instantly wraps himself in shadows, putting on his guise of Nerezza. (14 intimidate) He looks at the figure of Mephistopheles. "You may want to worry about your physical body rather than messing with him, because I’m coming for you, you bastard.”
Mephistopheles, still holding the aspect of Mutiger, looks at him and smiles. “Try me! Little worm…”
“You know not who I am, do you?”
“I know well enough who you are…. And you do not frighten me! I’m shaking in my boots…”
“You will... When I rip your soul from your pitiful corpse.”
“Good luck…”
(Nat 20 save for opponent) Rhys tries to draw away Mephistopheles’ shadow, but it stays firmly where it is. Instead, he shadow steps into the grapple, grabs just Mutiger’s presence, and shadow steps out of the mental fray. Still in this consciousness stream with the others, he turns to Mutiger.
He holds up his hand. “We’re stronger together. Let’s kick his ass.”
Mutiger nods.
Hikaru snarls and growls at anyone who dares come near him. Bleeding, he curls around Delilah’s body, nuzzling at it with his nose, fox-like whines rumbling in his throat.
Mutiger breaks out of the mental consciousness and he throws his arms apart. The blood golem removes its grasp from him and re-coalesces nearby.
A voice in his head tells him, “Put the ring in the sword.”
So Mutiger places the ring in the sword and it glows with power. He swings it heartily at the beast. (Nat 20 attack, 32, 12 damage). As his blade slices through the blood golem, it grows bigger to twice its size.
Meanwhile… Delilah hears a howling, groaning, crackling sound that fills the entirety of her being. She sees a figure walking crossways to the path of this tractor-beam like portal. It is a tall woman with fox ears and a tail.
She recognizes this person… the first queen of Dolor. She approaches Delilah carefully, touching her shoulder. She says, “Fear not.”
Delilah looks around at the other spirits surrounding them. She sees an old man. He looks like the same fellow she saw in Trenfield with Armella and Rolland… the Alkahest. Her eyes widen… He… He died? She then sees a young woman—the woman from the dwarven kingdoms—another Alkahest. Why are they here…?!
Then she turns and sees Alastair… and also sees Drake. Her eyes widen. She sees a woman and a girl, a child she is sure she knows from the description alone. Nerezza’s first child. She even sees some of her own family in the crowd.
Delilah feels her soul being pulled against its will toward this portal. She starts walking with the crowd. The light ahead of her is a reddish hue… Crackling. Howling. Groaning. This… this isn’t the afterlife I’ve been told of… This is… this is all a lie. This is… I… She looks at her loved ones around her.
(Wisdom saving throw: 7) Continuing toward the portal against her will, she only stops when the same woman from before, the foxkin woman, puts her arm around Delilah’s shoulder. “You don’t need to go there…”
“But… but you’re going toward it?”
“No, I’m not…” She turns to walk away with Delilah in tow.
“But they’re going toward it, they—“ She gestures, pained, seeing her loved ones leaving.
That is not the light that you want to go to…”
“What is this place?”
“The afterlife.”
“This doesn’t look like it…”
“Welcome to it. Welcome to the truth.”
Delilah starts to cry, walking with the ancient queen.
The portal cracks loudly like a roll of thunder, rippling shockwaves across the ground. It definitely won’t stay much longer. Nerezza suddenly returns, leaping from its depths in a maelstrom of black needles aimed right at his enemy.
At that, several shadow needles are sticking out of the blood golem, which is now huge in size. Nerezza coalesces a bunch of shadows around him and grows in size as well. He wraps his arms around the blood golem and begins to head back into hell.
Another figure steps through the breaking portal. Though the presence is enough to paralyze even the staunchest of heroes. He exudes deadly charisma; a red-skinned humanoid standing more than 14 feet tall, with trim clothes and a fine beard. In his hand is a jeweled scepter. He remains nearby the gateway, surveying the area with perhaps a mild irritation.
He looks around at the material plane, then at each one of them, and finally at Nerezza and the aspect. His lips curl in a cold smile. “Nice to see you again… Mephistopheles. Bring him. We have work to do.”
“Asmodeus…” Nerezza nods.
Mutiger lunges forward to strike against the blood golem one last time in rage and anger. (11, 11 damage). He catches him before Nerezza can step back into hell, the sword piercing through the blood of his enemy.
Nerezza doesn’t seem fazed by this at all, but passing by where Delilah’s body is being kept warm by Hikaru, he looks at her corpse as he passes through the portal. “What are you doing… you have work to do.”
Delilah suddenly sees Nerezza… As she’s walking with Byakomyun. Her eyes widen. So do his. In this in between place, he gazes in at the souls being sucked toward hell. He sees her. He sees Byako. His eyes turn and he sees his wife and Sylvi. He just smiles sadly... Knowing he will see them again… eventually.
He then passes the rest of the way through, and disappears with Mephistopheles.
A third figure has just stepped through. But unlike any of the other terrifying manifestations, this one is merely a young-looking girl, with soft teal hair down to her knees and a simple black dress, matching in quality to that of Asmodeus.
Rhys loses all composure and runs, yelling, “MOTHER!”
The girl seems to have heralded a change in the dimensional door. It calms for a moment, a chill breeze following after her. The churning souls seem to end their flooding through the gate. She surveys the group calmly, yet with intense interest. Her eyes land on Rhys and Hikaru.
Hikaru turns his head and stands, but will not move from around the body. There is something inside of him that seems to know… there’s something about this new person that’s familiar.
She holds out her arms to Rhys. He gives her a giant, almost tackling hug, scooping her up in his arms, embracing her close as he slides to his knees.
At that very same moment, a very large creature materializes from the forest. It is a bear-like creature with huge antlers and a long, whip-like tail. It blinks and fazes, and blinks and fazes. It approaches Aria and Rhys, looking over them.
Rhys, not really understanding what it is, materializes shadow darts flitting between his fingers. Hikaru doesn’t feel threatened and doesn’t raise his hackles. Aria rests her hand on Rhys’ chest and says, “Calm your weapons. This is a friend.”
Not even questioning, he nods. “Okay…”
With that, she pats him on the chest. “Stay calm, son. Everything will be alright.”
“Okay.”
She turns toward Hikaru. The tears begin to flow from her eyes. She says, “I know you…”
He cocks his head. He seems confused, but he feels at peace. Which says something, because he hasn’t felt at peace… since his dad died.
She approaches him slowly, her hands outstretched. She takes his large, fox-like head in her arms. He smells her, deeply breathing in her scent. He senses… a lot of deep power in this individual. He also senses that she is not exactly what she purports to be. That there is longevity in her… but also a spark of familiarity. Like Rodrick, but… older.
Rhys sits nearby all the while, watching his mother-figure. He silently chastises himself for losing the ring she gave him.
Hikaru morphs back into his humanoid form and the girl then hugs him, and starts to sob deeply. He hesitates, unsure of what to do, and slowly wraps his arms around her.
The moment he touches her, she turns into a blade—a greatsword. As quickly as the manifestation of the blade comes, it returns back to the girl, sobbing in his arms. “W-what are you?”
“I am… I am… I am your progenitor.”
“…My what?”
“You have his soul in you. You have his blood.”
Hikaru’s katana pulses at his side. He recognizes it, but has no idea what it means.
With that, she stands back and holds her hands toward him. A storm clouds begins to coalesce over the whole entire area. The trees whip in the wind. Lightning strikes into her hands, and into Hikaru. For a brief moment, he feels an overwhelming energy that wants to rip him apart, and yet, he feels more powerful than he has ever felt in his entire life.
Rhys’ eyes get huge. He has heard the stories of the sword sprite and Saar, but, Nerezza and his mom both purposefully left names out. He’s left speechless.
Hikaru no longer feels the weight of his long rifle on his back, but he senses that something—or someone—is standing nearby. He turns and sees a tall figure. He’s muscular, wearing nothing but a vest, biker gloves, baggy pants, combat boots and a slicked back hairdo. He has his arms folded, and is turned away.
“Yeah, so you made me. Now what?”
“Who are you?”
“I don’t care.” He turns and starts walking away.
Hikaru looks back at the woman who is on her knees, breathing heavily. “What’d you do?”
“My head hurts… where’s my rifle?!”
She points a shaking hand at the figure walking away.
He turns, “You get back here!”
“NO!”
Rhys yells at him, “Go grab him!”
Hikaru charges at the rifle sprite. The person starts running.
“Pistol him in the leg if you have to!” Rhys’ voice calls after them.
Hikaru slows to a half-hearted run, and then stops. He glares, and then turns back.
Mutiger walks slowly over to Delilah’s corpse. He approaches her body, dead and lifeless. Kneeling down, he closes her half-open eyes. Lifting one of her hands up to his face, he presses it to his lips.
When he breaks away, he goes down into the depths of the keep, looking for her belongings. Looking for her ring. He follows an inspiration in his mind, turning left here, right there… until he comes to a room that contains her things. He takes all her belongings and puts them over his shoulder, walking back outside with them.
The rifle sprite notices that Hikaru has stopped running and stops, looks at him. “What? You done?”
“Give me a minute. She’s dead.”
He stops with a huff, turning away with his hands on his hips.
Hikaru reaches into his bag, kneeling next to Delilah. He pulls a green scarf out of his bag and puts it on her body.
Aria stands up and she comes and hugs Hikaru again. She then walks up to Rhys and gives him a big hug. “I’m going to go now.”
Rhys looks at her. “Where?”
“With Nerezza.”
“Is… he coming back, or?”
“I’m going to go with him.”
“…Okay.”
“But trust me. Everything is going to be alright.” She places her hand over Rhys’ heart.
“Okay.”
With that, a small pulse of lightning buzzes against him comfortingly. She then turns to leave, walking into the portal that is flowing slowly at this point. As she gets closer to it, it starts to get more and more chaotic.
She goes into the portal and it begins to collapse. With that… WHMMMMP. It closes behind her.
The bear watches over the group, eyeing the scene carefully.
Rhys finally walks up to Delilah. As he does, he manifests a shadow dagger and cuts a piece of his own shadow off. He begins stretching it into a big cloth and drapes it over her.
Hikaru, struggling with the desire to just leave or not, looks back over at the rifle sprite. He walks over to him again. “So what’s your name?”
“If you’re CURIOUS….” he kind of calls out, “The name is Ryuu.”
“Nice.” Hikaru stares. Then he throws down his gun. “WHO IN TARJNATION ARE YOU?!” He starts stalking toward Ryuu super aggressively.
“I’M YOUR DAMN RIFLE!”
“THEN WHAT ARE YOU NOT DOIN’ ON MY BACK?!”
“I don’t WANNA be on your back!”
“THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING OVER THERE?”
“NOT BEING ON YOUR BACK.”
“You can stand NEXT to me and not be on my back, can’tcha?!”
Rhys mumbles under his breath, “Maybe he’s allergic to fox fur…”
Hikaru bristles. “NOBODY ASKED YOU!”
The rifle sprite finally turns around with a huff. “What do you want?”
“What are you? BESIDES my rifle?”
“I’m exactly what I purport to be. Your… FRIGGIN rifle!”
“Alright then, come on. Let’s go.”
“No.”
“Yes!”
“NOPE.”
“YES. Are you my rifle or not?!”
“MAKE ME.”
“You’re cruisin’ for a brusin’, son.”
“Hikaru, if I might…” Rhys chimes in again. “The better relationship you have with your weapon sprite, the more effective he, or she, will be.”
Ryuu mocks Rhys from a distance. “ThE MoRe EffEctIvE He oR ShE WiLL bE…. Nyeh nyeh…”
“You need to make him your friend.” Rhys finishes, politely ignoring the rifle sprite.
Hikaru glares. “How do you make THAT your friend?! Also… HE’S A RIFLE. MY RIFLE. HE SHOULD BE NEXT TO ME!” He makes no attempt at tactfulness.
“Not anymore…” Rhys shrugs. “That is a weapon sprite. It is not a rifle. That is Ryuu. He has his own personality now. I’m Rhys, by the way.” He turns with a nod to Ryuu.
The rifle sprite gives him a sour face. “Cheers.”
“There’s others of me, but you’ll meet them later.”
“Oh, great. I’m just dripping with excitement.”
“I’m Hikaru.” The foxkin sighs. “I’m sure you know that, though.”
“Yeah I know you.”
“Well I’m gonna go! If you wanna stay here, you can. But I’m leavin’. Let’s… Let’s get her and go.” He mumbles to Armella, walking back over to Delilah’s body.
Armella bends down to get her friend, gently wrapping her up in the shadowy cloth. Delilah’s limbs hang limply in the paladin’s arms, and she tucks them up in the fabric.
Hikaru turns away, glaring at the forest. Wondering if there are still cultists hiding there, and totally willing to go on a blood murder rage spree… Needing to get rid of some emotions.
The bear looks down, between each of the people present. It gives a smell, deep, strong. It takes a few steps with heavy footfalls. It leans down and looks Armella straight in the eye.
“W-what is that?” Hikaru looks concerned. “I don’t know why it’s lookin’ at you. It’s—it…”
Armella stares back at it, responding to Hikaru. “Your gun turned into a person.”
“You have a GIANT BEAR. IN YOUR FACE.”
Rhys adds, “With antlers…”
“I’m aware of this. Thank you.” Armella grumbles. The bear exhales, blasting hot, moist air in her face.
Mutiger returns, watching the exchange. The bear doesn’t seem to be hostile, but it doesn’t seem to be friendly either. It’s just being curious.
Mutiger puts a hand on Armella’s shoulder. “We should probably bury her.”
The bear takes a few steps back, flinches, and fazes out.
Armella stares at where it disappeared, talking almost to herself, “And this is why I don’t like magic… Why? What?”
Hikaru turns to the rifle sprite. “Ryuu, have you seen that before?”
“What?”
“Have you seen that bear before?”
“No. First time.”
“Me too.”
“You do realize he was just born minutes ago?” Rhys smiles.
“You know what, I asked him a question! Not you.” Hikaru snaps back grumpily.
Armella struggles with what she’s feeling and thinking at the moment. She nods to Mutiger. “In my bag, there is a… stick. Thing. It’s pretty. Pull it out. It’s—it’s…”
He reaches in, rummages around and pulls it out. She looks sad—everyone else has given Delilah something, and this is something pretty. It’s her only pretty thing.
“Are you talking about… this? Mutiger holds it up. The spirit in his mind recognizes the magic in the object, but remains silent. Death is a part of life, after all.
“Put it… put it under the shawl… blanket.” She mumbles emotionally.
He gently slides it and tucks it in the sheet. Armella holds Delilah’s body close.
* * *
At that same moment…. Byakomyun’s spirit walks over with Delilah’s to where her body is in the material world. “You’re not done yet. You have things to do.”
Delilah’s eyes widen. “But…” She takes one last long look at all her family and friends. “…Okay.” Alistair goes up to her and puts his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. “You’ll be fine.” He smiles. She gives him a really big hug, never having felt that she got over his death. Then Byako helps lay Delilah’s spirit back down into her body.
* * *
Armella suddenly feels a sharp intake of breath from the figure in her arms. She gasps out a small, surprised noise.
Hikaru glances over at her. “What?”
Mutiger points to the shadow veil as Armella cries out again.
“What do you mean, ‘AAH?” What’s wrong?”
She sounds frantic. “The—the dead are supposed to stay dead!!”
“What do you mean they’re supposed to stay dead?”
“They’re supposed to stay dead!”
“Armella, you’re not talking sense!”
“R-Ruby? Ruby? Are you dead..?”
Armella looks down at Delilah, and the life and the color has returned to her face. She is not conscious, and now has a scar that runs all the way up from her chest to her right ear. The paladin shakily calls out, “Rhys? Rhyyyys? I—I don’t think she’s dead.”
Hikaru looks down at her face and mumbles, “Hey there, Delilah.”
Rhys looks at her. “She was…”
“She’s not… she—argh—look!” She holds her out to him. “Why is there an UNDEAD Ruby?”
“Well, yeah… you used the rod of resurrection on her.”
“What!? What the heck?” Armella’s eyes go wide. “Are you giving me magical things!? Although I’m—I’m… fine with…. With this…”
Hikaru glares. “Wait a second, you knew about this? And you didn’t tell us?!”
Rhys shrugs. “I was waiting… for the opportune moment to tell her what it was?”
“I was mourning over her DEATH. I could have killed uncle!!” Hikaru fumes.
“…You have a new weapon sprite.” Rhys quickly turns and walks away.
“I COULD HAVE KILLED UNCLEEEEE!” He yells after him in anger.
Armella, shaking away the strange feelings, uses the shadow cloth to wrap Delilah up in a papoose to carry her on her back. Mutiger reaches into Delilah’s pack and places Delilah’s buffalo ring in her hand. She almost reflexively closes her fingers around it.
Hikaru glares over at Ryuu again. “Get over here!”
“NO!”
“Get over here!”
Ryuu yells back. “You get over here!”
“No, YOU get over here!”
“Get your FACE over here!”
Armella looks over at Rhys. “Do they remind you of anyone? Just a little bit?”
“That’s usually pretty common with weapon sprites and their owners…” He shrugs.
The cultists have been largely decimated. They can hear the telltale signs of Firelord stomping around somewhere in the forest. They smell the scent of burning trees. Luther is not in a happy state. Rhys starts shadow stepping from tree to tree. Mutiger runs after him.
Hikaru stops chasing Ryuu, panting as he leans over. “If… If I ask you nicely… Will you… Come with me?”
“OH yeah. Ask nicely. Let’s see what THAT looks like.”
“UUUUGH….” Hikaru sighs exasperatedly, too tired to give a crap anymore. “W…What….”
Armella looks between them, then comments to Ryuu, “Ask him to bow to you?”
“Shush you!”
“You guys are made for each other.”
“Why are you telling him things…”
“He’s practically your twin, minus the ears. You both turn into things, too.”
He sighs. She shrugs, “It’s true. This is why you should be nice to people.”
“I’m nice to you, aren’t I?”
She laughs at that. He stares, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Absolutely nothing.”
“RHYS!” Hikaru calls out, looking around, not realizing he’d left.
Armella rolls her eyes. “Just ask him nicely.”
“Ugh….” He pants. About thirty seconds later after shadow stepping back, Rhys returns, out of breath and frustrated. “What!?”
Hikaru looks up at him imploringly. “How do I talk to a person?”
“I’m going… to dump you… in the shadow realm... And leave you there.”
“This is why I don’t like you. Rodrick would have told me!”
Ryuu huffs. “Come on. Just. BEG.”
Hikaru has his hand fidgeting on his revolver, inclined to just shoot people at this point. After a long few seconds…
“NOPE. Not gonna do it.” He turns and starts walking away.
Rhys lifts his hands up. “You just talk to him like you would a matron when you’re ordering tea. Polite. Courteous.”
“I TRIED TO BE POLITE.” Hikaru yells, flustered and lying.
“Did you say please?” Rhys gives him a look.
Ryuu calls out from a distance. “POLITE? Was THAT polite? WOW. I can’t wait to see how you are when you’re NOT polite!”
“You’re GONNA see in a second!” He shouts back. He’s barely holding his anger back, rolling up his sleeve.
“All the while you won’t swallow your pride, your uncle is getting away…” Rhys pressures Hikaru.
Hikaru turns and glares at the elf venomously.
He then grits his teeth and gets down on the ground. Bowing as low as possible to the earth, he growls out, “I need you to come with me. Please.”
“Felt that from the heart, man.” Ryuu smiles. He walks up to him. “You can stand up now.”
Hikaru exhales, standing. He wipes the dirt off his face. “Yeah… Let’s get going.”
Ryuu skitters with electricity as he morphs back into Hikaru’s rifle. There is a magazine in the rifle, which he pulls out to take a look at. Surprised that it has one, he sees the ammo inside is glowing with blue energy. He clicks it back into place.
He feels a voice inside his head. “You gonna be nice now?”
“Yeah, I guess.” He thinks in his head.
Out in the forest, Mutiger finally finds Luther. Rhys returns to help, out of breath. They see Firelord stomping around, cutting back cultists. They hear a fearsome screaming coming from inside the mech.
“LUTHER!” Mutiger calls out. “LUUUUUTHER!” He runs out right in front of him, climbing up the mech and staring down into the canopy. “LUTHER!” He stares down into the man’s face, Luther not comprehending anything past his rage and anguish.
Instead of trying to yell at him and communicate with him, Rhys completely and totally projects into his mind the last ten minutes of what happened with Delilah. Luther is shocked out of his blood rage with a gasp. “S-She’s alive?”
“Yes, my friend.” He hears Rhys’ voice in his head. Luther pulls his hands out of the big receivers and cradles his face for a moment, swimming in all the emotions. He then hurriedly climbs out of Firelord. He doesn’t say anything and is very silent… just continues on his way, moving along and following the others back to the keep.