To all of you who decided to embark on this wild ride, welcome!! I can't really put into words how excited I am about this, seeing as how they're all trying to crash out at once.
Things to Remember
This is not a story I have chosen to tell lightly. The Last Continent, as it has come to be called, is a haven of light in a world of darkness, but it is also the fate of light to cast shadows wherever its gaze may fall.
Below the reach of a mortal gaze, in realms unknowable and through trials unimaginable, try to imagine a place of pure, adulterous chaos. It is a broken fragment of reality, the sliver of glass under the feet of the material world of Existence. There it is, in your mind's eye... Tempest, and I have never seen its equal, nor do I ever wish to.
Now... it's beginning. Look. Listen. Learn the fate of this world and those within it.
Even for the plane of Tempest, the shadows writhe with unusual vigor. Splashes of light erupt from the limitless space sequestered to an eternity below Existence. The seven silhouettes, clad in the spectrum of light hostile to the eyes, convene around a scorched altar.
Above this profane gathering hovers an overwhelming presence, poised to act at any moment. The silhouettes attempt to show no fear. Few succeed.
The tall, proud shadow addresses its peers. "Our time has come." The words sink into their collective minds and ease the tension, but only slightly. "We are set to sweep across the land and reap the soul of the world itself. With our god empowered by the magic of our realm, none will oppose us."
A few agree enthusiastically. The blazing shadow replies, "Finally. We have suffered the existence of those abominations far too long."
The hungry shadow squirms. "Will he leave any for us?"
Their question is met with a cold smile from the proud shadow. "We shall all have our fill. The Rift shall be widened so that all may enjoy the bounty to be found on the other side."
They look up and stare at the presence covering them, and the overpowering darkness reaches inside them and takes hold, whispering its secrets to their empty souls. "This... is... our... time."
Finally, they begin to ascend.
So, you see that the cost paid that fateful day may very well have been worth it. You will come to learn exactly what was paid, and to what effect, but the time for that has not yet come. Fate amasses many debtors, and we shall follow a few on their journey.
This is their story.
Of all the hunts you've conducted over the years, none of them have ended up quite like this.
None of them involved watching the whole world get engulfed in light and noise that made the foundations of the continent tremble with fear.
None of them involved running from your life from what you imagined to be the end of the world.
None of them involved riding out an unprecedented show of force and living to talk about it.
The grass underneath your prone body is itchy and uncomfortable, while the heat of the sun contrasts with the cool air at this altitude. You can hear birds and insects chirruping in the distance, and once you open your eyes, you can clearly see the expanse of sky up above, its majesty obscured by a gray veneer of clouds.
Everything seems... fine.
Still, you won't be fooled by appearances. The hunt goes on.
Magrun opens his eyes, looking up at the sky for a moment as his brain tried desperately to process what happened -- and what he was seeing now -- almost relishing in the uncomfortable itch from the grass against his skin.... and the much softer, and even more familiar, warm fur under his left hand, as if these two simple sensations could give his mind something to anchor on... Demon's piss and sour mead, I'm alive... and so is Rimeclaw, I'm thinking...
He sits up, both to ensure that he can and that the warm fur is, indeed, connected to a living, breathing lynx... rewarding the cat with a scratch behind the ear for having also survived... whatever in the name of the divines it is that happened..
He stands, slowly, testing for injuries that he, thankfully doesn't find, then begins to stretch and survey the area. This doesn't match what I remember.... And not just because of the warm sun, gentle breeze and the sounds of birds instead of screams...
"Oh, bloody hells, this had best not be the afterlife..." , he says aloud, if only to break the peaceful calm.
Dante shot upright his mind a blur his heart pounding unable to breath. His pulse slows and the tension in his chest lessens as he sees Saoirse next to him seemingly unharmed. He thinks back on his last memory. The war, the battle and the demonic horde coming for them and then all went white.
”Where the hell are we...what happened.“ He mutters as he looks around his gaze falls to the black scar wrapped around his arm and frowns. So even after all this I’m still cursed with you.. ”Mi cielo are you alright?“ He asks as he gently lays a hand on her and casts two simple spells to help her.
Saoirse found herself in a darkness that fully enveloped her. It was from that darkness a familiar voice spoke, and like a child she followed. At last the darkness gave way to a soft light filtered through heavy eyelids. She uncurled her tight fists and was met with grass. It was when she heard ”mi cielo” she became excited and groped the air searching for Dante.
From behind two kohl lined lids, green eyes emerged. With a groggy voice she croaked, “Dante?”
She bobbed her head like an owl assessing their surroundings, trying to make the world come into focus. A smirk appeared on her face, “even as a blur you are handsome”
She took a deep breath and felt as though she had been beaten. ”Mo ghrá , could you please tell me what happened? Why am I on the ground?”
As you pick yourselves up off the ground and take stock of your surroundings, it's clear that you're still on the Ventoran Plateau - it's just that little details, like the shape of the trees you passed a few paces back or the pattern of birdsong to your left, are... sort of off.
You notice that one of your party is missing: the altruan, Wydell, is nowhere to be seen, though the rest of you are very much intact after the blast knocked you out.
The plateau stretches for miles in every direction, giving you decent line of sight to the horizon. Miraculously, the world seems... whole.
Magrun starts when he hears voices other than his own, then relaxes as he realizes that the voices are familiar to him. He starts toward then, then pauses and slows his approach, suddenly wary, as he realizes that he's not moved -- but that everything around him has changed, instead. Careful... those two may have changed as much as everything else, he thinks, tensing as he readies himself to react... until he begins to make out what's being said, however, he shakes his head, No, they're certainly still themselves... so, then, definitely not the afterlife... He stops short, then coughs, ensuring that the two lovebirds realize that they're not alone. At Saorise's question, he barks out a single laugh, "Aye, if you've got an inkling of what's happened here, I'd also love to be hearing it," he says dryly.
Magrun waves his hand, " Near as I can tell, we're still where we were, but it's just as if someone's undone all the damage caused by the demons and the end of the world..." He shrugs, then adds, "Though, I'm more to a mind to think they're hiding it, as it's just too much to wash away. Maybe to take away our will to fight back?"
Wydell groggily stretches as the cool air begins to overcome the comforting darkness of sleep. As the sunlight invades his eyes he bolts upright, catalyzed by the memory of all-consuming bright. He scrabbles around in the grass for a moment as he takes stock of his current disposition, staying low amongst the blades as best he can.
"Count your blessings that you're whole and hale after all that business, hmm?" he mutters quietly to himself.
Not immediately sensing his most recent travelling companions or any obvious dangers, he dusts himself off and plucks a spring of green onion from the grass to chew on. With that settled, he begins to examine his surroundings in further detail and search for any signs of life.
Your surroundings are typical for the Ventoran Plateau - chilly, with short, scrubby brush and gnarled trees sparsely arranged across the landscape. You can see hazy mountaintops tearing away from the expanse of green several miles away, helping you get your bearings a bit better; any hunter worth their pay would recognize it as Galshan.
You're all alive with your belongings intact at the moment.
What do you do?
”Don’t be Magrun don’t be Magrun...“ Dante mutters when he hears the hunter behind them. ”Oh it is you...I was hoping we were in heaven but if your here it must be the other place.“ He says with an over exaggerated sigh and smile starting Magrun and his game.
”Have you seen any of our other allies, looking out at this flat expense of greenery we should see something or someone..“ Dante asks Magrun as he looks around himself.
Magrun shakes his head, "No, so far, other than the cat and your wife, I've not seen anything intelligent, ally or enemy... And with how strangely pristine everything is, I'm doubting there's tracks I can follow."
The plateau is in fine shape, all things considered, and the aftereffects of the blast - including your disorientation - have mostly worn off.
What do you do?
Magrun looks past Dante, then says, "But I guess we could head toward that... Seems someone's already trying to wreck the new world only a few minutes after its been... whatevered... which means we may have found the enemy... "
He shrugs, "Of course, might just be Wydell trying to signal us.. but I'm not that lucky... I mean I found you right away."
Upon hearing that the only forms of intelligence found were herself and a cat, a loud howl of laughter followed by a graceless snort came tumbling out of her mouth. Saoirse turned to her husband almost forgetting the strange situation at hand, “sorry my love, but he got you good this time!” She spoke between chuckles.
She gave him a quick kiss and a grin. She looked over at the cheeky fellow and flashed him a smile and waved. He too was a blur coming into view.
“Good to see you are safe too.”
She listened to Magrun about the world they are in. She relaxed her eyes and traced her surroundings until her eyes landed on the smoke in the distance. That was all she needed to convince herself to summon Cuelebre. “Dante, could you help me up, I need to summon her.”
She gently placed her palm on the side of Dante’s face, running her thumb across his brow to smooth his hair back into place.
Saoirse closed her eyes and tilted her face forward. She took a deep, steady breath. A fine thread of light resembling a spider web caught in moonlight wove itself from between her brow. The fine thread extended out into the sky as it pierced through a veil of time and space. With this a connection was made and she spoke her words into existence. Within seconds a figure appeared before them in a whirl of dust. As the dust settled, Cuelebre’s form came into focus.
As the summoner begins her ritual, Magrun steps away, calling gently in his native Galshan, "Rimeclaw, come.". I've seen her do it dozens of times, but there's just something... unsettling... about that.... and glowing sigils on the forehead don't help.... With the cat at his heel, Margrun begins walking a perimeter, looking for any sign of the enemy he'd been so desperately fighting..minutes?..hours?... lifetimes?...ago.
He pauses for a moment as he sees a figure in the distance, hand starting back to his bow instinctively before recognition dawns. He calls back over his shoulder, "Not to interrupt, but I think I've found Wydell... yonder."
He says, "If you need more time to call your, uh, friend... I can see about getting close enough to get his attention... If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not shout out our location to anything that might be around to hear it."
”Hmmm if it is Wydell...how close could you get an arrow with out hitting the little guy?“ Dante asks as he pulls a small bead from one of his many pockets and with a whispered word drops it to the ground, upon hitting the ground it bursts into a campfire. ”Take a bit of cloth wrap it around the arrowhead and voila instant signal flare. And if it’s not him...“ An odd look comes into his eyes as he pulls the bandages away revealing the marks that cover his right arm. ”...we’ll deal with that too.“
Magrun looks, trying to estimate, then nods, "Might be able to fire just past him .. I'll use a flight arrow for the range.".
He draws a flight arrow from his quiver, snapping the arrowhead off, Just in case I miss... Well, hit, I guess.., before wrapping the end in cloth, taking aim, and then lowering the cloth into the fire to ignite it. He takes a deep breath as he brings the bow back up, holding it, then fires a shot, arcing it over the halfling's head.
Magrun's aim is true, and the arrow flies safely over Wydell's head without risk of hitting him. The signal arrow buries itself in the ash-flecked dirt just ahead of the altruan warpriest, who is still about 200 feet away from the still-smoldering wreckage.
Startled, Wydell drops prone and crawls forward to extinguish and examine the arrow. Seeing the head broken off, he looks back to where the arrow came from. Staying low, he first makes an exagerrated motion of putting a finger up in front of his mouth, then puts the hand up facing toward himself and fans it back and forth towards himself a few times, motioning to come quietly. He then leans close against one of the trees to try to set himself up to find where the distubrance came from.
It's clear to see that the entire party is in (more or less) functional order, so even with the burned-out husks of buildings in your near future, you won't have to worry about being shorthanded.
Magrun watches, then nods at the signal, offering a wave in response. He says over his shoulder, "Looks like he's moving up to investigate, and wants our support... and would rather we get into position quietly."
He offers, "Rimeclaw and I can go on ahead, to give your wife time to finish calling her... friend.., but make sure that the halfling's still in one piece."
Saoirse smiles and waves a hand in the air, “oh Magrun! She doesn’t bite....often.”
She lets out a wicked chuckle all in good fun hoping to ease him a bit.
Cuelebre stepped forth from the veil between worlds, “no need to wait, I am here already friend.”
Saoirse smiles and welcomed the eidolon with a tight embrace as she had always regarded her as an old friend. Cuelebre smiles warmly and pats Dante on the shoulder.
”How have you two been holding up?” Her deep otherworldly voice was as soothing as it was strong.
Saoirse looked over and nodded in the direction of the smoke.
“Dante and I may need some help investigating this situation. Wydell seems to have found something....”
Magrun shrugs, "Just not used to otherworldly things that aren't trying to kill us all yet... I'll get over it... I mean, I learned to put up with Dante."
He smirks, then says, "I'll scout ahead. Watch for my signal."
He turns on his heel, whispering to his furry companion before ducking into the trees and heading to meet up with the halfling.
”You mean other than the strange light and now everything seems off? Know anything about what happened on your side of the world?“ Dante asks as he takes his hands and rakes them through his spiky hair.
”At least I cuddle with my beautiful wife at night instead of an oversized house cat.“ He mutters as Magrun takes the lead. He follows his shortbow out and an arrow nocked just in case.
Once the others catch up, Wydell greets them with a mock-salute. "Glad to see you're all in one piece after that little light show. Anything that needs patched up? I seem to have meself together as well. We're doing a sight better than that town over there, he says as he motions around the tree that he's sitting against. "Burned out by the looks of it, but I heard something lurkig about when I stuck me head up. Didn't catch sight of it though, so best be prepared for anything."
Magrun nods, "We seem to be the same as before the... Whatever... Add much as the world seems to have improved, doesn't seem to have spread to Dante's personality."
He smiles, then his expression sobers and he grunts in agreement, "Saw the smoke, was going to check it out before I noticed you. Can't help but think that some of the dark things might have crossed over into this... clean... version of the world. Guess Rimeclaw and I should Scott ahead?"
Wydell smiles at Dante's expense. "Ahhh, but some problems are beyond the reach of even the gods, and we just have to learn to live with them."
He hefts up his slingstaff and loads a cold iron bullet as he glances back at the village. "By all means, go ahead. We'll back you up."
”Nothin to improve is all.“ Dante says with a smirk. If something does show up....should I use it? He thinks as he clenches his right fist, the marks along his arm seem to darken just slightly responding to his thoughts.
Wydell grins and pats Dante on the knee. "That's the spirit.
Magrun nods, then whispers a quick command to Rimeclaw in his native tongue, "Follow, hide.". With that, he ducks into the brush and begins to approach carefully, looking for monsters.. Be they demons or humans...
The group is reunited at last, and you approach the burning village with a renewed sense of purpose now that it seems you can continue your original mission.
The buildings are freshly-scorched, and one of the nearby huts' roofs falls in on itself with a noisy clatter, breaking the relative silence of the lonely plateau. The stench of smoke is much stronger here, with something else on the wind - seared flesh and hair, an acrid smell you can never truly forget, not after you've spent the last decade skirmishing with the Riftspawn on countless fronts.
What strikes you is the embers themselves. They glow an eerily iridescent shade of blue, clashing sharply with the tan-and-gray backdrop of your dour surroundings. The flames of the Rift may be strange and treacherous, but you've never seen or heard tell of them behaving like this.
Wydell will cast it regardless and scan with it as Magrun and Rimeclaw advance.
Blue embers? What does that?, Magrun thinks as he approaches... then both the hunter and his companion begin to growl as the smell of Riftspawn reaches them. I knew this "perfect" world was too good to be true.... He turns and raises his arm, flashing the signal for "contact" back to the companions, before beginning to look around.
”I’m afraid even I don’t know exactly what happened“ Cuélebre says with a sigh. She pulls her longbow out nocking an arrow as she follows towards the burnt buildings. Her serpentine eyes scan the buildings watching for any movement.
”This should help“ Saoirse whispers towards Magrun, he is able to hear her words as if she was right next to him. ”Do you see anything up there?“
Magrun shakes his head in response, then shakes it again at his own reaction, You'd think by now you'd remember that she can hear you, not see you.. He says, softly, "Smells of Riftspawn, but I haven't found where they're hiding yet... and these blue embers are... well... new. Maybe a reaction between their nature and whatever happened to the world? Anyhow, I'll keep looking around."
Your attempt to discern the presence and nature of magic within the ruined village picks up the fading signature of strong evocation magic - it was likely cast within the last few hours, possibly around the same time that the explosion occurred.
"On your toes, ladies and gents. I'm detecting lingering Evocation magic from around the same time as the light show earlier. Probably what caused this devastation, and it might be masking more. Or whatever caused it might still be lurking about"
Magrun whispers back, "Magic restored nature, but damaged settlements? That's... worrisome. Going in closer, and I'll look for magic when I do. "
With that the hunter whispers a command for Rimeclaw to stay close and hidden, then creeps forward, moving from cover to cover to get a better look.
Casts Detect Magic