The Vale of the Mage
Dramatis Personae:Oryn Talus, the mysterious and ancient "Halfling" who has employed the group
Aurora Isilime, the Valley Elf Bard; "The Silver Tongued Siren;" who has more instruments than she can carry, and sings to things she shouldn't
Pharin Braz'Dracon, the Half Brass Dragon, Half Drow Wizard; "The Dark Conjurer;" summoner of demon bunnies, and Andolin's twin
Skye Vindhalle, the Air Genasi Druid and saver of demon bunnies
Dervish, the Kasathe Fighter and Dragon blood Sorcerer
Nanu, the NightmOrc Fighter who is late, slayer of innocent bystanders
Pimbin, the Halfling Shadow Monk of Nerull and Starlock of Y'Chuk
Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Rogue, summoner of elephants
Willow Liadon, the Eladrin Rogue, summoner of elephants
Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin of Pelor
Lothar, the Sovani Smith and semi-Cleric of Moradin, High Priest of Lolth, Cleric of Istus, forced Cleric of Asmodeus; Kas Reincarnated
Aeryn and Aerys Shayl, the Human Ranger twins
Aerathema, the Wood Elf Druid
Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue
Andolin Braz'Dracon, the Half Brass Dragon, Half Drow Fighter/Ranger, and Pharin's twin
Narg, there's really no way to describe Narg, Narg is just Narg
Haasenpfeffer, the giant positive energy bunny that Pharin regularly tries to summon
Comrades we have lost:
Jayce, the Human Barbarian- killed by Josiah
Jarrid, the Human Barbarian- killed by Pharin, Pimbin, Andolin, and Dervish during Kester Championship
NOTE: Things will be mostly from Aurora's perspective. Anything in italics is from a third person, since the bard can't be everywhere at once.
***** The Vale of the Mage
Pharin was engulfed in golden light to the point that only his silhouette was visible. Instead of summoning Jayce or Haas to come help us, the daft drow managed to open up a rift into the Positive Energy Plane. I hoped that would help tip the scales in this battle to our favor; if that didn't, I don't think anything would have. Nanu and Willow began hacking their way towards Ralliakkan, and I was curious if Willow's wand would summon more elephants in this fight; though I really wanted to see what would happen if one was set loose among all these vamps. As the pair made their way towards the insane rogue, I saw her unleash an entire necklace of fireballs on the crowd, scorching tons of vampires.
Narg and I stayed on the steps of the Citadel with Pharin, who was pretty much pinned in the positive light. While I stayed to give myself a better vantage point of the battlefield, so I didn't turn myself into a flying target, Narg actually stayed to protect that damned drow. As I began singing spells at my party to boost their combative abilities, Narg pulled a Talisman of Ultimate Good out and destroyed a group of vampires. This gave us a nice clear area to stand united in, with a path toward Oryn that could be cleared easily enough. Everyone except Pharin and Narg converged on that spot.
We were completely surrounded quickly, it didn't take long for the fallen undead to be replaced; there didn't seem to be an end to the vampires.Dervish began chucking flasks of radiant alchemical fire into the crowd to begin clearing our path to Oryn. Once the fighter ran out of those, I began using my harps to send out huge firestorms that destroyed every vampire they touched. With fire at out disposal we began making progress toward Oryn, though it was slow going.
Pharin was locked in a battle of will with the rift, wrestling for control of it. If the drow could succeed in taking control of the rift, he could unleash positive energy and cleanse the entire Vale. His battle was as slow going as the rest of the party's, and he finally managed to take control right before the party reached Oryn. As soon as the group reached their employer, Narg grabbed the drow and hurtled them through dimensions, placing them right next to the rest of their party.
As soon as we reached Oryn, who was still locked in battle with Lan, I drew one of my Horns of Valhalla and summoned a swarm of berserkers... which Josiah killed instantly- dick. Dervish ran straight for Josiah, and Willow drew her Wand of Wonder. This time Willow's wand had something more interesting planned for her; all at once the rogue grew to the size of a giant, a rhinoceros appeared just above Josiah, landing on his head, and an elephant followed the rhino. Our adversary was squished by two huge creatures, and I'm pretty sure the elephant killed the rhino upon impact; if Josiah had been mortal, I'm sure he would have been nothing more than a splatter of blood and guts on the ground. Though he did seem pinned for the moment under several tons of beast.
Nanu saw the opportunity for cover, and leapt over the pile of animals to hide behind the elephant; the rest of us followed suit, and soon we were all congregated around the elephant. As the Generals of Kas' cult drew closer, Aerys hit one of them in the eye with a radiant arrow, blowing half of his head off; Narg grabbed him to finish him off. Since Pharin hadn't been able to summon Haas for some reason, that damned drow decided to summon sixteen celestial bunnies, which burst from the rift as exploding fluffballs of radiant doom. I hate bunnies. The drow tasked one of his bunnies with searching out Jayce, still thinking the barbarian would be a great help against his brother.
As Lothar banished one of the Generals to Lolth, the elephant rocketed into the air, and the concussion that followed launched everything about 100 feet into the air. Josiah had survived Willow's wand. Oryn immediately impaled Josiah on Cinder's Longsword, and the vampire burst into flames. Willow attempted another elephant drop, but this time nothing so spectacular happened; she just dropped a pile of ash somewhere in the Ethereal Plane. Aerys sliced off one of Josiah's hands with an arrow, but the pain wasn't enough to make a vampire fall to his knees in agony. I hate vampires. Oryn used a spell that stops time, and Josiah was suddenly engulfed in veil fire; the vampire went flying, and eventually became nothing but a dot soaring through the horizon. I hope that killed him. At that moment, the General Lothar had banished returned to the battlefield, completely insane. The Spider Queen had mapped webs of madness into his mind. Ralliakkan drew an iron flask and trapped the insane vamp inside.
Pharin began a ritual using the rift that he thought would kill all of them vampires, and save the Vale. Oryn and Lan dropped a time stopping spell on the drow to speed up his work. Suddenly my magic stopped working properly, I think it was because of whatever Pharin was doing, but even if it wasn't I'm still laying the blame on that daft drow. Whatever Pharin was doing could end up with cataclysmic consequences, so we began running toward the Citadel, hoping distance would allow me to magic us out of there, or at the very least to get shelter inside the ancient fortress. Pharin was trying to set off a positive energy explosion so big that it would expunge all evil from the Vale; though an explosion that large would indeed have the kind of consequences the bard was imagining.
When we neared the Citadel, there was a portal blocking our entrance. Since my magic wasn't working, Dervish used the item Narg gave him that takes us to Dervish's version of paradise; though my paradise is much nicer, and less bright. Exhausted, I dropped into reverie to recuperate my strength before returning to survey the damage Pharin caused.
Oryn appeared next to Pharin and took over the ritual the drow had been casting, sending Pharin to the safety of Ekbir. Shortly after the drow vacated the valley, Josiah returned and attacked Oryn again. The pair spent another minute or so locked in battle, exchanging blows that would have been fatal if they were dealt to mortals; all the while Oryn kept his concentration on the positive explosion that was rapidly approaching. Josiah launched Oryn into one of the many huge, ancient trees that reside in the Vale, and upon impact, Oryn unleashed the cataclysmic explosion of positive doom. The Vale of the Mage was destroyed, it was nothing but a barren landscape of crystalline glass.
While in reverie, Luna suddenly began screaming and showing me horrible images of people being slaughtered in some of the most brutal ways imaginable. It felt as though thousands of elves were screaming out in pain, and then suddenly silenced. Since Luna is attuned to the entire elven race, she felt the pain of all of their deaths, and it overwhelmed her to the point that she and I were both locked in terror and agony. If I could have fled the overwhelming images of blood and gore, I would have, but Luna held me captive in my mind.
What Aurora didn't know is that her sword was screaming out loud. Everyone in paradise with the bard heard the gut wrenching wails of horror coming from the sword. The bard herself was silent, but her face was contorted with agony, her perfect mouth open in a silent scream.
Pharin and Andolin appeared in Dervish's paradise and were greeted to the cries of pain from the Moonblade. The drow decided not to stay and listen to the horror erupting from the blade, so they returned to Ekbir with Dervish, Pimbin, and Aerys. That group found itself sitting in the mess hall of House Braz'Dracon, and they fell upon food with a ravenous need.
The rest of the party was greeted to the sight of what the Vale had become; the bard was still locked in reverie, and her sword still screaming. Since nothing they did could rouse the elf from her reverie, they tied Aurora to Nanu's back, and began exploring the crystalline wasteland.
There was a huge stalagmite-looking bubble sticking out of the ground, and from a distance, there seemed to be something stuck inside it. When they reached it they discovered it was completely clear and there wasn't anything inside; even though it felt like there was. The NightmOrc had acquired an item that casts a disintegration spell, and since there were no mages present, she unleashed the magic... As soon as the ray touched the stalagmite, it fragmented off into smaller beams, sending the energy back at the nightmorc and the rest of the party. It hit the bard with such force that she was jolted from her nightmare; though the sword was still screaming.
I was ripped from my reverie and greeted by a crystalline wasteland. The others told me this was what Pharin had done to the Vale. My home was decimated because of that damned drow... he needs to die. The things Luna had shown me suddenly made sense; thousands of elves really had been crying out in pain, and were forever silenced because of Pharin. Filled with sorrow, I realized I might be the last Child of the Vale.
The bubble in front of us had to be important, I could feel it. It was the only thing that wasn't completely flat. There was a strange, faint rumbling coming from below, I began to dismiss it as the Chaos that is my home, but realized with a pang of sadness that the Vale couldn't be the cause this time. It was probably just side effect of what Pharin did to my home.
When Pharin and his posse finally decided to join us, it took everything I had not to attack the drow. I was too exhausted to hold my own against him at the moment, and couldn't even get aid from Luna; though she may not have helped me anyways, since he's still an elf. We spent time studying the stalagmite, and eventually figured out that it was an antenna; Narg had created it and was using it to send an SOS. He must have been trapped in the catacombs below the Vale!
Pharin used a plane shift spell that took us nine miles below the surface, into the catacombs, and we found the others. We were also greeted to three hundred more valley elves! I wasn't the last one after all! My eldest sister, Sarya, was still alive, but I didn't see any of my other eight siblings, or any of our elders. They were somberly surrounding the Exalted One, who was succumbing to corruption similar to that I had faced in the Forgotten City; I didn't know how the others had purged it from me, but I had to find out, my people needed our leader now more than ever.
***** Ralliakkan's Fortress
Knowing we needed to get out of the catacombs, Narg convinced Ralliakkan to transport us all to her personal fortress. When we got there, I gave Narg money on behalf of the Exalted One, hoping to get something that could cure our leader; for once, something good came out, a wish ring with all three wishes on it. Slipping it on the Mage's finger, I entered his mind to attempt to convince him to wish the corruption away. No matter what I tried, the Exalted One refused to believe that I wasn't a demon trying to trick him; he banished me from his mind. Apparently my powers of persuasion don't work as all when such evil is involved.
After my failure of convincing the Mage to wish the evil away, Pharin decided to enter his mind; I couldn't stop him. Though even that manipulative bastard wasn't able to make the Mage do what he wanted; our leader is stronger than that drow, which would normally have pleased me immensely, but right now we needed him to cooperate.
While this was going on, I began bandaging my people up; they had been trapped in the catacombs for days, and were emaciated. I sent Skye a note asking for help, I knew my druid friend would assist me in this matter; though Ralliakkan had a security measure in place that prevented the note from going through.
Ralliakkan heard someone banging on her door, and found the Sultan of Kester outside. He had somehow followed us from the Vale. The rogue refused to allow a problem as large as him to invade her home, so she sent us to Pharin's home in Ekbir.
***** Ekbir
As soon as we reached Ekbir, my message to Skye went through, and minutes later she sent me a large bag stuffed with Goodberries. I began handing them out to my people, watching as they slowly began looking more alive.
Pharin continued trying to sway the Exalted One's opinion; he may be daft, but that drow is certainly tenacious. Nanu offered to give up a wish she held on the Mage's behalf; the nightmorc hoped that using her wish on him would cleanse him. Of course that wasn't what Pharin wanted to do, so he locked us out of a circle that contained only the Mage and himself.
Frustrated about being unable to manipulate the Mage into doing what he wanted, Pharin killed the Mage and claimed the wish ring for himself. He killed the leader of the Vale in front of the last of the valley elves. The drow asked Pimbin for an item that would reincarnate the Mage, hoping to turn him into a drow; instead he became a dragonborn. Pharin then wished the Mage cleansed in the same manner that he had been- by Jayce.
I saw the spirit of my love- yes, I'll admit, my feelings for Jayce are still lingering, no matter how hard I try to squelch them out- appear in the circle with dickbag and the Exalted One. Jayce began removing the corruption from my leader, and it was clearly painful. I drew Luna and stepped up to the barrier of the circle, waiting for that damned drow to exit; he needed to die.
Pharin grew impatient about how long it was taking Jayce to cleanse the Mage, and expended another wish to speed up the process. It worked, but it seems that Jayce's soul may have been burned up in the process.
As soon as the corruption was gone, Pharin and the Mage vanished; after a few seconds Luna began showing me exactly what was happening. Dickbag had taken our leader to Lolth, and sacrificed him to her. He then asked the Spider Queen to resurrect him again, and claim the Vale and all its people as hers. Lolth is a capricious goddess, and instead of doing as Pharin requested, she left our leader dead.
For his presumptuousness, Lolth suspended Pharin in a web hanging in the Demonweb Pits, and left him there for about three years. Since Andolin is half of Pharin, he also found himself hanging in webbing, even though he hadn't even been present during Pharin's antics. Eventually Lolth had a conversation with the daft wizard, and sent him back to his workshop. For everyone in the room, Pharin had been gone for about five minutes, none of the party knew he had experienced three years; he was madder than ever before after spending so much time in the Abyss.
When jackass returned from his little jaunt in the Demonweb Pits, without my leader, we were all ready for blood. Pharin attempted to convince us that Lolth would gladly welcome us into her parish, which was probably true. One of the Seladrine was ready to welcome the Children of the Vale with open arms, but this speech was given on the heels of his unneeded slaughter of our Mage, so we couldn't be swayed.
Pharin was informed that the Sultan of Kester was outside of his house, he decided if he couldn't sway the elves, he would just kill them. He didn't have the patience to deal with a "slave rebellion" with the Sultan on his heels.
He launched fireballs onto my people and killed them all. Before I could react, Lothar appeared and suspended Pharin in webbing, telling him that Lolth was not pleased with his actions. It was nice to know that even though Lolth considers surface elves to be "lesser," she still didn't approve of genocide; maybe she is a goddess I could follow. Unfortunately because Lothar has multiple deities at his disposal, it was Asmodeus that revived my people, not Lolth. She may be evil, but she's still better than him. All of them now had red eyes, they were quasi-tieflings. At least Lolth would have left them as they were. I was now the only true Child of the Vale left; I had to find a way to save my people. The icy hatred bubbled up inside of me, and I clung to it, ready to use it to strike when the moment was right.
All 299 of them vanished in a puff of smoke, I don't know where they went, but Luna assumed their first stop was the Vale.
As we began to fly toward the gate the Sultan was at, we heard a blast, and the Sultan's voice rang out throughout the entire Braz'Dracon compound: "Honey, I'm home."
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| Map by Anna B. Meyer |
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