Last writeup we had escaped from a Black Dragon with the timely intervention of aproustian's teleportation wizard Vivi, although Sy had "died" due to insulting a dragon at close range and Fei had very much died when she summoned a mountainside to collide with her and the dragon, which bought us the time to escape. The party then met two new characters, Trick and Wretch, who had been summoned by the gods after us to try again to kill the beholders. We had been very effective in that regard so far, obviously.
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| Sadun, drawn by Hatstand |
"We do carry drinks, but the rabbit has the flask right now," the massive figure of Wretch the goliath explained. He looked steadily at Cassian a moment, then smirked and handed the half-orc a wineskin. "We do have more than one of course."
"So what's your story?" Cassian inquired, after quaffing a mouthful of wine.
"We have been here for four months," Wretch explained in his low, solemn voice. "We appeared here together from our original world. The gods said something about a reward for killing beholders, and it seems that has made us champions according to the people in the town we passed through. Where are you from stranger?"
"Like you, we were summoned by the gods to destroy the beholder threat to this world. Well, most of us were. Actually, two of us have been? Sadun is the only one other than me left of this group of champions. She's the silver-grey dragonborn, definitely the reason of the group. The gnome, Arnick, he's good at drawing things. I think he came here with that teleporting dragonborn, Vivi. Vivi is a wizard." Cassian paused a moment to think. "And Whistle, the air genasi, is a native here. I'm still not sure I trust her, she eats souls." The half-orc glanced back at the bubble, but no shouts of protest emerged. "I've been here longer than any of them. I first came with another group a year or two ago. They were... good people." A tear rolled down the side of Cassian's cheek.
"I am sorry for your loss," Wretch said.
"I joined this group a few weeks ago. Well, I guess it's been six months. We had a strange time travel thing happen to us. That's another story though. And since then I have seen five more good people die in this struggle, and two others have given up the quest and gone to do other things. It has been difficult." Cassian paused again, then looked up at the goliath. "So what are you, exactly?" the half-orc indicated the tattoos and the potion vials the goliath has strapped across his chest in a bandolier.
"I am a Blood Hunter," Wretch explained. "I use these potions and the runes tattooed on me to draw out the full strength of my blood in various ways. That one," the goliath indicated the human, Trick, who was drinking out of another wineskin nearby, "is an alchemist. He's good at making these potions. He killed his last party before he came here."
"They deserved it!" Trick called back. "They were up to no good!"
Cassian looked over at Trick, shocked. "Weren't they your friends?"
"Nah," Trick said, "we were mostly together as a matter of convenience. But I learned they were just planning to replace the evil we were fighting so I mixed alchemist's fire in their mead. Always fun when the stomach's of your foes explode like that."
"Ah ha," Cassian said slowly. "I think, on that note, that I'm going to turn in."
"Safe rest," Wretch said in parting, before turning back to his fire.
Cassian returned to his bedroll in the bubble. As he sat down, he looked at Sy's golden hammer through his magical glasses, and saw that Sy's soul still rested in the hammer. He picked it up.
"Godsdamn this place is cramped! What is going on out there!?" Sy's voice rang in his head. She continued to rant for another twenty seconds before Cassian dropped the hammer and went to sleep.
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| Picture of Leomund's Tiny Hut, a.k.a. Whistles bubble or protective dome. Image found here: https://dmsbookofchallenges.wordpress.com/2019/09/18/the-long-rest-conundrum-and-leomunds-tiny-hut/ |
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Sadun woke to the sound of Whistle rousing the group. She had not slept well, grief, anger and despair haunting her dreams at the loss of still more friends. As the others stirred and began preparing for another day on this beholder cursed world, Sadun grabbed Briarblade and stalked out of the dome.
"Where are you going?" Vivi asked, as the silver dragonborn walked past the wizard.
"I'm going to practice. And maybe work some things out," Sadun said, her voice heavy with emotions.
"Good luck friend," Vivi said as Sadun walked away from the camp.
A stand of trees stood a little apart from the surrounding forest at the far end of the clearing. Sadun walked up to one of them and carefully broke a twig from it. Her recent experience in the vengeful forest overrode her desire to break something in that moment, but when no branches twisted towards her in retaliation she hefted her sword and let her emotions flow.
*Thwack* Briarblade flew in a powerful overhand arc and bit deeply into an overhead branch. She had failed. Again. Her friends had died because of that. She brought the sword back to a ready stance, and swung it against a tree trunk.
*Thwack* Elle died because Sadun had not been strong enough to save her from the void. If only it had been Sadun being dragged in with the diamond...
*Thwack* the blade began moving in a pattern as Sadun's muscles remembered the teachings of her instructors back home. Wherever that was now.
*Thwack* As the bark chipped away, Sadun thought about Balzar. He had been a reliable if unsteady comrade, and she had failed him too. If she had been better able to keep the group in check, he and Fei may not have had the argument that led to his death.
*Thwack* Sorzen, the kobold wizard. If they had not forced their way into his tower, perhaps he would still be around. Perhaps he would not have given in to despair.
*Thwack* Despair. Sadun couldn't give in to despair either. No matter how tempting. Her cheeks were streaked with tears, and her muscles ached from the rigorous routine, but she pressed on.
*Thwack* Fei and Sy, fallen to a dragon. How had it come to that? They were going to save the forest from the ooze! And they had not even begun their attempt.
*Thwack* It felt like all they had was failure. What good had they done this world? Were the gods wrong? Was she wrong? Was there no great destiny, no great glory here?
*Thwack, thwack!* Sadun let loose a growl of anger at herself. This was no time to give up! They had not made any progress on any of their quests, but so long as she had breath to spend she would not stop trying!
*Thwack!* She owed it to Elle. To Balazar. To Talna, who had left them when the cleric had lost hope. She owed it to Fei, who had died trying to save her world. She owed it to Sy, confusing as the elf was. She owed it to Whistle, and Poppy, to do what she could to make this a better world.
*Thwack* If only she had more power. The dragon had been so strong! So terrifyingly large. It had ripped the massive redwood trees from the ground with hardly a thought.
*Thwack* If only the group were more cohesive. But it was not in Sadun's nature to enforce behavior on other people.
*Whack* The sword slowed as Sadun calmed down. Yes, if she trained harder, tried to be a better role model, if she could simply figure out the right inspiration for the disparate group around her, there was still a chance to make things right.
*Thud* Sadun dropped to her knees, letting Briarblade fall beside her, her anger spent. Her tears spattered the ground in front of her as her grief flowed through her. Her friends. Her comrades. Lost time, lost chances.
After several long minutes, the dragonborn found her sobs easing. As the grief faded once more into the background, a hard lump in her chest, she felt too a new resolve growing around it. This would not be for nothing. They would finish their task, as the gods had demanded. They would silence the beholder threat in this world once and for all.
Sadun balled her fist, and stood. The grief was still there. It would take time to process it. It felt heavier now, as it did with each loss. But maybe if she could avenge her friends it would fade away.
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"Hey new guys," Whistle began, "when was the last time you were in a city here?"
Wretch turned from his current entertainment. He and Trick had been watching bemusedly as the gnome attempted to break a sturdy branch off a nearby tree. "Oh well done!"
Trick said, through gales of laughter, as the branch finally broke off under the force of Arnick's third attempt. Wretch cursed silently at having missed the denouement in the short play of Gnome vs. Tree, but put it out of his mind. The blue dragon person sat by the fire, brewing some sort of tea while flipping through a book, and the rabbit was gathering its belongings. He had not seen the silver dragon person when he and Trick had rejoined the group as they left Whistle's dome.
"Last city?" Wretch thought a moment. "I don't know that we've come upon any cities in our time here. Just a lot of small towns. We've been making our way from town to town, doing small missions for the people there. There was a small town in what looked like the ruins of a city, but definitely nothing of a size for that."
"Hmm," Whistle looked thoughtful. "You didn't perhaps run into a traveling performance group called the Gold Hour Troupe, did you?"
"I'm afraid not," Wretch said. "Though we didn't stay in the towns very long. Most of the missions we did involved hunting some vicious beast or another a little ways out of town. Keeping the trade routes safe and all that."
"Oh," Whistle said, disappointed. "I'd hoped to get word of them."
"Friends of yours? You look the type," the goliath replied, eyeing the genasi's bardic equipment and flair.
"My family," Whistle said. "We have been gone six months as best we know, and I was supposed to talk to them only a week after I left. I don't want them to worry."
Behind him, Wretch heard Trick talking to Arnick. "Oh yes," the alchemist was saying, "this will take away all your problems. First one is free too." He sighed inwardly.
"Well, thanks anyway," Whistle said, as Poppy the rabbit approached them.
"I'm leaving," Poppy stated. "It is too dangerous around you people."
"Well, considering what happened yesterday, I can't blame you for it," Whistle acknowledged. "I think Sadun pointed you in the direction of the City of Rebellion last night, but please take some money with you, it will help on your way." The genasi handed Poppy a sack of coins.
"There's no city that way," Wretch said. "But there was a Town of Rebellion I think. The one in the ruins. I thought they were pretty old ruins though."
"Well, at least that way is away from all of this," Poppy said.
"Poppy, could you do me a favor?" Whistle asked. The rabbit cocked his head toward her. "If you see the Golden Hour Troupe, could you give them this necklace and tell them I'm alright?"
"Certainly. You were certainly one of the nice ones here," Poppy said, taking the proffered necklace.. "In exchange, if you happen to see another rabbit folk, give them this charm for me, would you?"
"I will," Whistle promised.
"And with that, I'm on my way," Poppy declared, walking down the road.
"Goodbye Poppy!" Whistle called. "Good luck!"
"Hard to keep good help," Wretch observed, watching the rabbit go as well. "Could you use some new hands?"
"You're not going to be more trouble than you're worth, are you?" Whistle asked warily.
"Certainly not. We're very useful to have around," Wretch said.
"I can see COLORS!" Arnick shouted from behind Wretch. Turning, the goliath saw the gnome lying on his back in the middle of the flowers of the clearing. "I'm going to draw EVERYTHING!"
"That's a known side effect!" Trick shouted, chuckling at the gnomes antics.
"Well," Wretch allowed, "We're at least equal amounts trouble and worth. Edging towards worth."
Whistle sighed. "Fine, come along then."
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Cassian knelt at the shrine he had built for Elle. It felt so long ago. He had finished building small cairns for Sy and Fei as well, though he was uncertain if the one for Sy was appropriate. The elf still cursed at him from inside her hammer when he touched it, so he had left it lying by the campfire and retreated here for a moment of solitude.
"I'm sorry Elle, we'll finish this yet. Hopefully next time I visit I can tell you about our glorious victory."
After a long moment of silence, the half-orc turned and called to the small blue dragon tossing a gold coin between its claws nearby. "Aeros! Come here!"
Aeros perked up at the sound of his name, seized the coin in his jaws and trotted over to Cassian.
"I wanted you to meet your Mama Elle. She was an amazing person. I'm sure she would have loved you, if only she'd lived to see you hatch." Cassian's voice broke briefly, and a tear streaked his cheek. Aeros mewled an encouraging note and rubbed his scaly cheek against the half-orc's arm.
"Yes, she certainly would have loved you," Cassian said, sounding better again. "And I'm proud of you, learning your name like that. Come on, let's go see what the plan is with the others."
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Vivi sat by the campfire, sipping a mug of the Earl of Grey's tea. When they were back on the right plane of existence they would have to visit the Earl again and get more. It was certainly some of the best tea they had ever had, and they had sampled quite a lot in their travels.
They looked over the smoldering flames, ignoring the bustle around them, although they did hear Sadun's shouts as she battered a tree somewhere across the clearing.
A cat looked back at them. That was unusual, wasn't it? It had a faint glow around it. A wizard's familiar perhaps.
"Whistle? Cass?" Vivi called out. "What's this cat doing over here? It looks like someone's familiar."
Whistle walked up behind Vivi. "Oh, that's Mischief, Sy's cat!" Whistle said. "So Sy's soul is really in that hammer, even though she died?"
"What do you mean her soul is in the hammer?" Vivi inquired.
"Well, I'm not sure I'm the best to explain it, but basically the hammer is enchanted somehow," Whistle explained. "Sy's soul was linked to it when she picked it up. Sy started talking about being the first 'good' lich after that. It was unnerving."
"What are you talking about?" Cassian asked.
"We're talking Cass," Whistle said dismissively. "Do you know any clerics around here Vivi? We could possibly get Sy out of the hammer with some divine intervention."
"Suit yourself," Cassian muttered. He stooped and tied a rope around the hammer so he would not have to touch it to pick it up. Mischief the cat stared at the half-orc, and somehow seemed to shrug its shoulders without moving. "Cats," Cass said, lifting the hammer by the rope. "Could I get everyone's attention over here?"
Wretch, Trick and Sadun came over, Sadun wiping swiftly drying tears from her face and panting from exertion, while Trick attempted to stifle laughter over Arnick's antics in the field. "No Arnick?" Cass asked. Trick pointed to the gnome with a chuckle. Arnick dangling upside down from a tree branch, his legs wrapped around it as he sketched furiously some image that only he could see. "Fine, but I'm only explaining this once," Cass began.
"The hammer is magical. Our friend Sy's soul was linked to it when she first picked it up, and she's put her entire soul into it now. I have these glasses," Cass drew the glasses from his pack, "that let me see magical energies, so I was able to see the soul transference in action when Sy somehow killed a lich's soul back in the forest. The other forest. Most of you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, Sy is definitely in there. She keeps shouting at me when I pick the hammer up. Apparently you have to touch the hammer to hear her though."
With the explanation out of the way, Cassian fell silent. Wretch began gesturing, and pricked his finger, then smeared the blood over one of his tattoos. "Definitely a soul in there," the goliath confirmed.
"Can I try talking to Sy?" Whistle asked. Cassian shrugged and held the hammer out. Whistle reached out a hand and pressed it to the hammer's flat surface as Arnick stumbled over to the group. "Sy, are you in there? Do you want to come back to life?" Whistle asked aloud, and waited. "Cass, I don't hear anything," the bard said, slightly disappointed.
"Here, let me see," Cass said, and reached for the hammer at the same time Arnick did. They both touched it at the same time, and jerked back as a spark of electricity flashed where their hands touched metal. "Yow! One person at a time Arnick!" Cassian shouted. Arnick, pupils wide and unflustered by the shock, pulled the hammer from Cassian's grip. Then he turned and looked at Mischief, and roared as only a gnome high on the alchemical mixtures of Trick could roar.
"I think he thinks that's a lion," Trick said, chuckling again. "I'll definitely have to give him more, this is priceless."
Arnick grinned and began waving the hammer around his head, jumping up and down and whooping as he did so, then brought it to his mouth and bit it. Spitting out the taste of metal, the gnome shook the hammer and began yelling "Sy are you in there?! SY! SY ARE YOU IN THERE?!"
"Mischief, is Sy still in there?" Cassian asked, looking down at the grey furred familiar. Mischief stared at him. "Why am I asking the cat?" Cassian admonished himself.
Vivi lost their patience. "Arnick, put down the hammer please!" they shouted, as Arnick began smacking a tree with it. At the dragonborn's shout, Arnick dropped the hammer and ran straight up the tree trunk into the branches. Vivi walked over and picked up the hammer by the rope, then gingerly pressed a clawed hand to its surface.
"DON'T LET THE GNOME TOUCH ME AGAIN!" Sy's voice flared in Vivi's mind. "PLEASE!" She sounded desperate.
"Too much shaking for you?"" Vivi asked sardonically. "Ok, I'll keep you out of the gnomes hands." They looked up into the tree where Arnick sat holding two leaves over his eyes. "Well, I'll do what I can anyway. Would you like to come back to life if we could arrange it?"
"Yes please," Sy's voice echoed as though in a large chamber. "It's dark in here."
Arnick slid out of the tree and reached for the hammer. Vivi held it higher, out of the gnome's reach.
"Alright, if we get the chance we will," Vivi said firmly, as Arnick finally wore himself out and keeled over unconscious. Vivi nodded in satisfaction and tied the hammer to their belt. Mischief immediately walked over and sat by their legs.
"Now that all this very serious business is out of the way," Wretch said, "can we discuss the beholders? My companion and I would like to join you if you still seek to destroy them. More weapons will make the job easier."
"Yes, that is still our goal," Sadun said firmly. "And we welcome your aid."
"Oh, speaking of beholders," Cassian said, pulling a dark crystal from his pouch, "I found this on the body of one of the beholder cultists. Can anyone tell me what it does?"
Wretches tattoo flared as he looked the crystal over. "Yes, if you channel magic through this is will explode with triple the force of what you put into it."
"Oh, okay," Cassian said, cautiously wrapping the crystal and packing it into the most padded corner of his pack. "I'll keep that in mind."
"So where should we go from here?" Whistle asked.
"Well, we know how to get to the western beholder from here," Sadun pointed out. "We followed the kobolds last time, and it wasn't so long ago for us. Although we can't be sure it will still be a viable way to reach the beholder, as they've had six months to deal with our last intrusion."
"The western beholder?" Wretch asked. "I thought that was a month's journey from here."
"There was a shortcut," Whistle explained. "We convinced a group of kobolds working for the beholder to lead us there. Maybe inadvertently on their part."
"Before we had that encounter with the dragon we were going to go look in on the northern beholder," Cassian pointed out. "The supposedly friendly one."
"I doubt it's actually so friendly," Sadun said. "But that was when we were in the redwood forest. We were transported there by your dragonling's magic, so we do not know how to get back. Even if we do have unfinished business there."
"Then let us head for the western beholder," Wretch said in what could almost be an excited tone. "I am looking forward to facing down one of these beasts. Before now we had few leads on where they might be."
"Gwir!" Arnick shouted. "Gwir!" The gnome held up his journal.
"Oh, he's come around again," Trick said happily.
"He made a map last time," Cassian reminded the group. "So that will definitely help us find the place.
"Then let us not waste any more time," Sadun said. "We should be on our way."
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The party traveled in silence for awhile, Sadun and Wretch leading the way. Cassian followed behind, holding Arnick on one shoulder as the gnome recovered from the cocktail of drugs he had taken, and Aeros sitting on the other, cooing happily about its gold coin. Trick walked beside the half-orc, glancing occasionally up at Arnick and making mental notes about the effects of the drug. Whistle and Vivi brought up the rear, walking in amiable silence. Well, Whistle walked. Vivi floated on a magical disc they had conjured. "Why would I walk anywhere?" the wizard had asked scornfully when questioned about the disc.
Soon, the group approached an abandoned town. The crumpled remains of a tower lay a mile beyond it. A crude wooden structure rose from the tower in the distance.
"Ah, the tower," Cassian said. "This is where the beholder killed all those kobolds and destroyed their magic tower."
Wretch turned to him. "Tell me, have you actually succeeded at anything in your time here?"
"Yes," Cassian said defensively. "We've killed several subclasses of beholders! And beholder cultists! And bugbears! And griffons... and beholder subclasses. I even jumped off a one hundred foot cliff and wrecked one of those beholder subclasses!"
"Ah, that's a lie," Wretch observed. "You would have broken your legs from that height."
"The kobolds who led us to the shortcut lived here before," Sadun said, cutting through the chatter. "Maybe they have returned, and we can get word on some of our missing companions."
The group approached the town quickly, Sadun leading the way. "It's definitely inhabited," Whistle remarked. "I saw several shapes moving to shut the shutters on those buildings."
"Are the kobolds here green?" Vivi asked.
"No, they are sort of orange colored," Cassian said.
"Kobolds! I have questions for you!" Sadun shouted from the square in the middle of the town.
A green face poked out of one of the windows nearby. "No kobolds here!" it squeaked. "Only lizards!"
"They seem to have painted themselves green," Cassian remarked. "You can see the orange showing beneath the green in places."
The shutters slammed shut again.
"Time for an old trick then," Sadun muttered. She dug into her pouch. "I have a gold coin for anyone who can explain what's going on here!"
There was a hush from the buildings, but then one green painted face appeared. "No kobolds, only lizards, see? Kobolds not green, lizards are green. Just lizards. Gold now?" Sadun held out the coin but did not approach closer. The "lizard" scampered down from its window, snatched the coin, and disappeared back into one of the buildings.
"Don't give away all our gold," Cassian whispered urgently to Sadun.
"Is this how you deal with kobolds?" Wretch asked. "I prefer a more direct approach."
"I don't want to hurt them," Sadun said. "They're generally pretty innocent here, just trying to survive in this place." She pulled out a handful of coins. "Six gold coins if anyone can tell me why you are hiding and if any 'lizard' has seen our friends Rock or Tella recently!"
Eager green faces peered out of windows around the square, and cautiously the 'lizards' approached.
"We hide from scary people," one of them explained, snatching a coin from Sadun's hand.
"Yes yes, scary people. We do know those names too," another piped up. "They tell kobolds not to be kobolds anymore."
"Why is that?" Sadun asked, offering another handful of coins to the gathered group of 'lizards'. "Do you not work with the beholder?"
"No no, kobolds work for big eye. But no kobolds here, lizards are free."
Sadun nodded in thought, and the 'lizards' grabbed the coins from her hand and scampered back to their houses.
"Hey, there's a face in the tower," Arnick pointed out. "I'm going to check it out."
"Wait Arnick," Whistle said, "I have a faster way." The bard grabbed the gnome and flicked her hands, a doorway opening in front of her. She pulled Arnick through and the doorway shut.
"I want to go too!" Trick said.
"Well there's no way I'm walking there," Vivi grumbled. They grabbed Trick by the collar and similarly opened a dimensional doorway and stepped through.
"I'd like to stay here," Wretch said, "you can check out the tower if you like. I have more questions for these... lizards."
"Sure Wretch," Cassian replied. "But we might get more out of the one in that ramshackle wooden tower there, it's probably in charge."
Wretch waved the half-orc off, and Cassian set out walking to the tower with Sadun.
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The strangers in town turned and looked up at the tower. With a yelp the green painted kobold ducked under the window sill, and stroked the warm glowing stone in its hand for reassurance. They were doing what they needed to, right? Why did strangers have to show up again? It always meant trouble. The wooden wings strapped to the kobold's back rattled slightly as the kobold shook with frustration and fear. It wasn't fair. At least rat person had been nice enough to give them the wings. The wings made the kobold feel bigger, more imposing. As befitting the keeper of the Master's stone.
"Hey, how are you doing? Why are you hiding?" came a cheerful voice from behind the kobold.
With a screech of panic, the kobold turned, opening its mouth and channeling the power of the stone to spew a gout of fire at the sudden appearance of the strangers in its room. The smallest stranger, about kobold sized, had already leapt up as the kobold turned, and hung from the rafters in the shoddily constructed tower. The other three yelled in surprise and patted out the flames on their clothing.
"What was that for?" the cheerful one demanded.
"Hey! That's Sorzen's philosopher's stone!" the small one shouted, diving from the rafters toward the master's stone the kobold clutch tightly in one claw.
"No! This is the Master's stone!" the kobold shrieked, dodging away from the thief.
"This is more trouble than it's worth," the blue scaly stranger said, and promptly disappeared, causing the kobold's mouth to drop open in awe.
"How did you get that stone?" the short one demanded, breaking the kobold's reverie.
"We have had this since the master left us!" the kobold shouted. "It is our treasure!"
"Look," said the silent stranger. "It sounds like my friend Arnick thinks that he needs that stone. Why don't you just hand it over?"
"No!" the kobold shouted, channeling the energy of the stone again into another breath of fire.
"Well, this is going swimmingly," the silent one said sarcastically as he dodged the flames again.
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"You're really fond of those little bastards aren't you?" Cassian said as he and Sadun walked towards the ramshackle wooden tower rising out of the fallen stones of Sorzen's old home.
"You are fond of Aeros, yes?" Sadun asked. "And Sy seemed somewhat fond of the cat. They feel like that to me. I do not wish harm to come to them. I feel like the beholder took advantage of their weakness to force them to help it, and I would not add to their troubles any more than we already have."
"You still don't have to give away all our gold," the half-orc muttered.
"It was 15 coins," Sadun protested, "hardly a fraction of the party funds Talna left with me."
A burst of flame flickered from the high window of the wooden tower. "That... looks like we may need to hoof it," Cassian observed. The pair began running toward the tower, arriving just in time to see Vivi appear in front of the front door, patting flames out of their robes.
"Are they even trying to be diplomatic?" Sadun asked, coming to a halt.
"Well, we teleported in behind the little thing," Vivi said. "I'm not sure diplomacy was really the name of the game there. It had some sort of stone in its hand that Arnick seemed interested in, but all the fire was more than I signed up for."
"Hang on Arnick!" Cassian shouted. "I'll come help!" With that the half-orc shouldered the tower's door open and ran inside.
"Do you mind if I ask you some questions Sadun?" Vivi asked, ignoring the clomping sounds of Cassian running up stairs. "It's been awhile since I last saw you, and we haven't exactly had a chance to catch up yet."
"Don't you think I should go help my friends?" Sadun asked, looking up at the window warily. Another burst of flame erupted from the opening, and she started for the door, but Vivi stopped her.
"I'm sure they'll be alright. How much worse could they mess things up?" the wizard asked. "Don't you trust them to handle themselves? Come on, walk with me." Vivi summoned their floating disc. "Well, you walk. I don't like getting dirt on my robes, so I'll take this."
With a sigh, Sadun turned and walked with Vivi into the nearby woods, trying her best to ignore the sounds of shouting from the tower. "I suppose they can handle themselves without me. It's just the last time I left people alone they angered a massive dragon and died."
"I can see how that would weigh on your mind," Vivi said. "How did that happen?"
"We were underground looking for a way to fight an intelligent ooze," Sadun explained, "when we learned that there were beholder spawn nearby. We went to fight them. While I stood with Poppy, the rabbit who left earlier, the others fought the beholders. The next thing I know Whistle is shouting about a dragon and we were all running back to this underground ratfolk city. I guess the dragon caught up with them at some point as we made out way out of the cavern."
"That all sounds rather complicated," Vivi said.
"It was a mess. Before the dragon caught up with us, we managed to free the ratfolk king, who could help us fight the ooze, but then some strange prisoner broke out and murdered the king and our friend Squideon as well. Poor Squideon. He was the last ratfolk alive down there, the others had all been petrified or killed by the beholders. If we ever find our way back there I'd like to free those ratfolk who are still petrified. I made this map..."
"It sounds like you were trying to do something good," Vivi interrupted before Sadun could pull the map out of her pouch. "But I also hear a hint of regret in your voice."
"I should have been able to protect them!" Sadun said fiercely. "That's the least I owe my comrades!"
"There are always circumstances beyond your control," Vivi pointed out. "Including your comrades actions. How do you think they angered the dragon?"
"I think it was related to the ratfolk king's murder," Sadun said. "He was intent on summoning the dragon before that criminal killed him. And Whistle took Arnick and me out of the cave before the dragon showed up. I thought Cass, Fei and Sy were behind us. I'm not sure how Cass escaped when the other two didn't, I wasn't there."
"So what do you regret? It doesn't sound like there's anything you could have done better. Dragons tend to throw things out of control."
"I know, I know," Sadun sighed deeply. "I suppose I thought we were about to accomplish something worthwhile. Defeating that ooze would have saved the forest! And probably the city nearby, if those oozed are able to consume the forest unchecked. And it frustrates me that my friends died, and we have nothing to show for it. If only I were better prepared. Stronger."
"I've learned in my research that sometimes, setbacks like this are worthwhile in themselves," Vivi said. "Not the friends dying part!" they added quickly, seeing the glint in Sadun's eye. "But what have you learned from this? What can you do to change moving forward? It's not always about power my friend. Sometimes we have to learn to be calm in the right moments, and to think things through, and at other times go for the goal with everything you have. And you can never know the right times if you don't fail a few times first."
Sadun looked ready to argue, but then deflated a bit, a breath of icy mist escaping her nostrils. "I know. It is just so tempting to believe that I can protect everyone. Especially this group, we always seem on the verge of fracturing and going out own way. But you're right. Next time, it will go better. I won't lose any more friends to this world."
"That's the spirit," Vivi said.
"What have you been up to in the last six months? I know it was longer for you than for me, what with the time portal shenanigans."
"Oh," Vivi thought a moment. "I was doing my standard routine, researching teleportation. Someday I'm going to reach the stars. That teleportation circle I used to save all of you from the dragon is new actually. I learned it from the City of Rebellion and from searching through that wizard tower. The kobold wasn't living in the tower at the time. That was the first few weeks after leaving you after that encounter with the leviathan. I spent a lot of time looking for somewhere I could set up a semi-permanent but isolated home. I found a nice, sunny place for it, set up another circle to be an anchor if I need it."
"You're going to stay here too then? Will you help us defeat the beholders?"
"Sadun I will do what I can to help you. I would prefer if you'd just let me teleport you out of this world, of course. But I know when you're set on something, you're set on it. Remember the gnoll fortress back on Faerun?"
Sadun thought a moment, and then laughed. "Yes I suppose you're right. But if I hadn't rammed that tower with my head the gnoll magician may have killed several of our soldiers. I had to do something! Ah, I think I also understand better about knowing the right time for things..."
Footsteps sounded behind them, and Arnick ran up, out of breath. "Sadun! Vivi! We have to go!"
"This urgently?" Sadun asked. "What happened?"
"Nothing nothing," Arnick panted. "Just the kobolds may hate us now. And we're letting them keep Sorzen's stone. We just thought we should leave while we can."
"These are the people you're worried about?" Vivi asked under their breath.
Sadun sighed again. "Alright Arnick, let's go. We can make camp when we get closer to the shortcut to the beholder."
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And with that the party set forth towards the beholder's lair. For the second time. Would this attempt go any better than the last? TO BE CONTINUED
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