Shen’s knives and Uruuna’s arrows impale the demon’s body, but Joy and Selgaer miss. Imedren curses it with pain and Eldren blasts it again. The multi-legged monster tries to attack Imedren again but misses once more. The combination of sorcerous blasts and explosive outburst chars it to a crisp!
Joy looks about at the ruin that was once a quartet of potent demons.
"We did it!", she whoops!
"Let's go get Katandramus!"
I'll scout ahead! Sel says, darting off with incredible speed.
"Thank you for the aid, Imidren, but I feel it's better you hang onto that syringe for now." Shen hands the healing syringe back to the time mage and retirees his knives from the centipede's body.
"Let's push on, there's more demons to kill!" The elderly man says with almost a gleeful tone.
Imedren breathed a sigh of relief as the last demon fell, his defenses managing to hold it at bay long enough for him to finish it.
At Shen's offer of the healing syringe back to him, Imedren shook his head, pointing towards the three different syringe holders he had strapped to his armor.
"Keep it. It's not always about keeping yourself up. Sometimes it might be you who keeps another alive. I've still got plenty."
"I'll watch your back goat-man. Catechumen-stress has got to be at the top, but it can be dangerous to rush through a wizard's tower. Especially when they're expecting someone..."
Tabog leaps after Selgaer, changing into his Lynx form and tailing the faun by a yard or two.
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As the rest of you take a few moments to catch your breath, Selgaer and Tabog rush ahead, moving swiftly but quietly up the stairs. At the top of the tower, an observatory features a large telescope surrounded by well-stocked bookshelves. The telescope is aimed at the swirling mass of colors in the skies above Crossings.
The charred corpse of the wizard Caribdus is splayed out in a glowing pentagram on the floor, the source of the red glow that suffuses Wizard's Peak. Standing before the pentagram is none other than Katandramus himself. Since the last time you saw him, corruption has twisted Katandramus into a monster. Sores cover his hairless body, whose mottled skin weeps at any touch. His eyes are rings of fire that burn inside sunken sockets, and his teeth have become blackened nubs. He clutches a gleaming black orb of obsidian--the Eye of the Demon Lord.
The vile wizard spots Sel lurking on the stairs, and his mouth twists up into a rictus grin. "Ah, there you are," he croaks. "Come forth and meet your dooms!"
Katandramus moves with supernatural speed, casting a trio of spells before you can react. The first creates a force field around him. The second causes the Eye to flash red as a cube of fire crackles into existence near the wizard. The third creates an enormous puff of smoke, which clears to reveal a monstrous snake with gleaming red eyes and razor-sharp fangs! The snake hisses and shakes the rattle on its tail menacingly!
Sel pulls back, You ready for this, TaBog? Stick near me, and I'll amplify everything. Time to make the world a little more consistent in all this chaos.
Sel quickly pulls out a scroll he bought on the market and reads through it. A grey light envelops him and spreads out five yards. The world becomes more consistent around him.
Then Sel grabs one last potion and downs it.
Katandramus was just a man, corrupted, powerful, but still just a man. There was little to fear compared to even the monsters they just faced. Shen was unafraid as he climbed the stairs, taking cover in the stairwell.
Ascending the stairs, Dramm quickly reached out with his magic to invigorate Uruuna and Shen for the battle ahead. He vents the excess magic and climbs.
Dramm had no fear if the corrupted Katandramus. Humans die. Often violently. The sorcerer would ensure the vile cultist met his end here.
Dramm wastes no time in unleashing a wave of crackling destructive energy to wash over his foes. His own flesh cracks from the backlash.
"Finally, we can put this to rest. We have debts to collect, Katandramus."
Before moving on, Joy draws upon more power, largely restoring her arcane abilities!
*****************
Joy is revolted by Katandramus's corruption but he does not frighten the young witch!
"We're going to stop you, Katandramus! Your end is very near!"
With that, Joy begins a magical assault of her own, drawing upon seeds blown in by a fortuitous breeze!
The very faintest tittering of tiny fairies somewhere in the distance might be heard by the very aware.
Having the time, Imedren took a moment to increase his offensive capabilities as he kept up with the others.
Really, the question is what else can he do? I can't afford to hold back.
This was it, this was the man Imedren had been fighting to get to. A man who was threatening their city and one he was sure he would not get another chance to kill again.
Katandramus did not frighten him today.
Anger welled up in him as he noticed Caribdus's lifeless body in the center of the pentagram. The standoffish wizard had not been a friend, but he had been a mentor and sometimes ally of him.
Even enhanced in time as Imedren was, the cultist moved with a burst of truly unnatural speed. The fire worried him somewhat, he wasn't sure whether this would have any effect or not, but he had to try.
Eldren had no clue what this timeline held for him. Everything that was happening now was much too chaotic for him to try and focus on right now. As his younger self halted momentarily to increase their offensive power, Eldren decided it would be wise to do the same for their defensive capabilities.
Then he was moving again.
The ebb and flow of chaos was minute enough that Eldren was able to hold onto the welling energies and keep them from being unleashed within their own ranks.
Laying before him was the final barrier between Tabog, and his evening nap. Not only his nap, but revenge for his son, peace for his community, and another fantastic story to add to his epic! Nothing was going to stop him after he'd already put so much work into this endeavor!
Ducking behind the snake, while it and Cacophony-Dramm-Stress focused on Selgear, Tabog was bent on striking down this thorn in Crossing's side!
Tabog hoped his shot rang true... He was a master marksman and humans were his preferred prey after all... Even if they were charred husks of their former selves! Trusting his handy work, without seeing where his arrow landed, Tabog made to distance himself from the giant snake as quickly as he could.
Joy on her broom flies part of the way up the stairs, so she can catch all three foes with her magic!
Tabog ducks into hiding before firing an arrow at Katandramus! The arrow plinks harmlessly off the field of force surrounding him.
Shen rushes up the stairs, then Sel pulls out a scroll and invokes it power just moments before the giant snake sinks its fangs into his body!
Undeterred, the faun drinks another potion, increasing his agility. Uruuna rushes to the top of the stairs as fast as her shorter legs will carry her. Dramm, Imedren and Eldren make it halfway up the stairs. The exorcist tries to weaken the monstrous snake and Katandramus. He succeeds with the monster, but the cultist resist the spell. The watcher and his future self launch a fireball and explosive missiles at both foes. Katandramus seems immune to the fire, the flames billowing about him harmlessly. The missile does cause him to rock back slightly, shattering his force field. The snake is badly damaged by the other spells. Joy flies over the others on her broom and invokes the wrath of nature. Katandramus avoids being grabbed, but the lashing vines finish off the fragile snake, causing it to vanish in a puff of smoke!
The burning cube resolves itself into a great, mobile ball of fire. A hunched bipedal form is faintly visible through the roiling flames, its white-hot eyes glowing with the intense heat in its hate-filled heart.
"Genie, I bind you! Burn these cretins!" Katandramus commands, and the fire genie turns its ire towards you.
Katandramus raises another force field before launching a fireball from each hand into your midst, both detonating in massive explosions!
He follows up with a forbidden spell to try to rip Imedren's flesh off of his bones, but the watcher's magical defenses keep him safe form the magic.
Imedren attempted to dodge Katandramus's fiery assault. He was only partially successful but his flame ward spell managed to soak up some of it as well. He cursed his lack of foresight into this as he should have expected the cultist to be resilient to flames.
Then before he could move, Katandramus was on him, attempting to tear through Imedren's defenses, they held for the moment but there was no telling when the mad cultist would succeed.
Seeing Katandramus forcibly warped back Imedren glanced back at Eldren.
"Again! Force him back again!"
Imedren saw that his plan to halt Katandramus was not likely not be enough. So instead he worried about his friends surviving another onslaught like that one.
"Here, use these! There's no telling how many more times he can do that."
The burning sensation of the fireballs caused Eldren's headache to become very problematic for the mage. The amount of possibilities in these next few moments were mind boggling, and it took him a moment to realize it was actually his younger counterparts words that he was hearing.
He nodded... then without much else to guide him but luck, he attacked.
He saw Katandramus being moved to any number of different locations by the chaos attack and sometimes not at all. Somehow against all odds the waves of chaos lined up and he just fired his own blast at the right time. The attack itself was not wholly direct, but it was enough and forced the cultist back even further.
Eldren smiled, turning to give assistance to their allies where possible, only then did he see an increasingly clear image in his mind as many possibilities became fewer.
Somthing changed. Eldren moved he knew he had to put Katandramus down. As his younger self was busily handing out protection against fire magics, Eldren moved to the top of the stairs.
"Your schemes to destroy the world end here, fool!"
Sel was eager to move past the giant snake and take on Katandramus himself, but Imedren has some powerful magic going on back there. Besides which - this was their foe, their nemesis. He was the man who had haunted Imedren and TaBog and Joy and Dramm. He was their enemy to kill. Sel would make sure nothing else got in their way.
With his spear, he struck back at the snake.
Joy cries out as she is scorched by Katandramus's fireballs!
Then, she recalls the healing syringe that she has been strapping on by rote for some time now - and injects it!
Joy stubbornly keeps moving up and concentrates, though able to draw on lesser power than before. Still, seeds erupt into vines from seemingly nothing to bind the corrupt madman and his enslaved genie!
Shen presses himself against staircase and is just barely fast enough to avoid the brunt of the blasts. In a similar fashion to Joy, the old man quickly injects himself with the syringe Imedren gave him. The healing magics were sluggish, but better than nothing
Mr.Reed rushed up the remaining stairs, taking his knives to the fiery being before him. It was foolish perhaps to strike a being of flame, but the revenant wasn't going to let an overgrown candle get between him and the cult leader.
Deftly avoiding the main impact of the fire, the singed Ferren begins tracking the wicked wizard, watching his prey with deadly intent.
The waves of fire wash over Dramm in a violent burst. He manages to flatten to the wall for the first explosion, but the second washes over his flesh painfully.
A pained grunt escapes Dramm and he surveys the others. Imedren and his counterpart weather the fireballs well, but Joy suffers the blasts. Dramm incants words of power that release a flood of healing magic into his body. His bond to Joy heals her as well.
Only one left. Katandramus won't stop at one person. Someone is going to die here. Dramm knew the possibility was becoming more and more real with each spell.
"Spread out!" Dramm calls to the others. He fears his own magic as much as Katandramus' now.
Uruuna fires two arrows into the flame genie's burning body, but only one wounds it.
While Tabog takes careful aim on Katandramus, Uruuna hits the flame genie with an arrow. Selgaer moves forward and manages to barely land a spear strike, his spell of order maximizing the damage dealt!
Imedren and Eldren both blast katandramus with chaotic energy, wounding him and warping him across the room to the far side of the tower.
The flame genie tries to reach out and grab Sel, but the nimble faun dances away from the attack.
Sel drives his spear into the genie again, further injuring it. Shen rushes up and slices it with his blades, and once more Sel's spell maximizes the damage dealt so that the genie dissolves into smoke and vanishes!
While Dramm heals himself and Joy through the bond, the witch flies forward and conjures vines beneath Katandramus. This time, the cultist is caught and immobilized!
As Imedren hands out fire wards, Eldren creates a singularity outside the tower! Katandramus howls with fury and somehow manages to avoid being pulled into its center, a surge of strength keeping him safe!
"I am...not beaten...yet!" Katandramus shrieks, robes flapping in from the pull of the singularity. He conjures yet another force field before again trying to rip Imedren's flesh off of his body--
--once more to no avail!
Sel looks for someone else to fight, but seeing all but Katandramus destroyed he pauses. Imedren almost had him pushed back into the singularity, so Sel focuses on a defensive tactic. Poising himself to move faster than he has ever moved before, he keeps an eye on Katandramus and watches for the next spell.
Feeling much better after Dramm's healing magic flows back through their bond, Joy heeds his words, and moves - right before vanishing while launching witch fire at Katandramus!
Unable to close the distance without risking flying into the void, Mr.Reed instead pulls a flask of holy water from his pack and throws it at the corrupt sorcerer.
"It's time to pay for your deeds, demon summoner!" The old man yells as he takes his mark.
Katandramus moved again, still fast this time, but he seemed to be losing speed under the onslaught of attacks everyone was giving. He put yet another shield up around himself and charged after Imedren yet again, another strand of his protection magic and a good bit of luck helped him to avoid what the cultist had planned for him.
It was strange in that moment that Imedren realized he had used nearly all of his remaining offensive magic, save fore his weakest fire magic which was useless against Katandramus. Even the building power of chaos had just been entirely drained. He was in this moment, the closest he'd been to how he'd started.
He didn't know what was going to happen but he did know the fate of the world likely rested on this battle, this man turned wholly monster had to be removed from it. There were possibilities of course, Imedren could utilize his other magic and build up his retinue of chaos, have Eldren fire it, but there was no guarantee they would be able to finish him off before he got another chance to retaliate... it could be worse next time.
Instead he grabbed for Katandramus.
The waves of chaos pulled against him, but somehow sheer determination or perhaps fate guided him as he dragged the cultist along with him towards the Epicenter.
Katandramus must not have been expecting such a reckless, physical move. Imedren did not find it easy but the monstrous man's body seemed to have shriveled and lost most of any strength it might have once had.
Drive and determination pushed him, the enhanced power of his own most destructive of spells pulled at him but he half hurled the cultist into the cultist into the singularity.
Despite everything, the waves of chaos finally turned back towards Imedren's favor and he managed to stand his ground at the very edge of pure annihilation.
Imedren's third eye saw what was coming and gave him enough of a warning that his luck held out, and though he was blown back by the outburst of the Singularity, he was still standing once the dust had cleared.
Katandramus was clearly near the end. Dramm carved a glyph in the air and gave his magic a sorcerous flood of power. Magic begins to unravel Katandramus' flesh.
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Uruuna fires a pair of arrows that strike Katandramus’s force field and shatter it. Tabog takes his shot then, driving an arrow deep into the cultist’s stomach. Shen hurls a flask of holy water that scours Katandramus’s flesh, then Dramm hits him with a powerful destructive spell that leaves him bloodied and gasping for breath.
Imedren suddenly rushes forward, into the pull of the singularity. He grabs Katandramus, ripping the man free from Joy’s vines, and bodily drags him to the edge of the tower. ”What are you doing?” the cultist cries, bewildered. He raises the Eye of the Demon Lord as he prepares to unleash devastation on the sorcerer, but Imedren leaps out the window with Katandramus still in his grasp! Both men hurtle towards the center of the singularity, moments before it detonates! Katandramus’s screams abruptly end as the chaotic magic consumes him utterly, body and soul, leaving not a trace of the vile demonologist behind.
Chaotic energies explode outward from the singularity, sending Imedren hurtling back into Wizard’s Peak. The Eye of the Demon Lord clatters across the floor and rolls to a stop against the sorcerer. Outside, the pillars of energy from the faerie spires falter and fade away. The swirling mass of colors in the sky vanish, retreating back into the Void. You have interrupted the incantation. The city is safe!
Uruuna hurries to her husband’s side and throws her arms around him. ”That was stupid and reckless and... Bloody brilliant!” She showers him with kisses, relieved that he survived.
Sel smiles, relief awash over his face that they finally stopped the greatest evil, stopped the end of the world. There's just one more evil to deal with.
He walks over to the edge of the hole Imedren ripped open and looked out. Down below, he could see the vampire. He looked back at his companions. They did it. They saved the day. This is their victory. And no vampire is going to ruin it.
Sel jumped.
The faun dove from the tower, arms out like a bird as he leaped into open air, spear in one hand.
The wind whipped through Sel's hair as he dove towards the vampire. He clasped his spear in both hands and aimed it at the vampire as he cut through the sky.
The faun landed hard on the vampire, his spear driving into her as he rolled into the ground. His body immediately starts to heal from the regeneration spell Dramm gave him.
Without a moment's pause he was back on his feet, rushing towards the vampire and stabbing her again.
Whooping as Katandramus meets his doom, Joy sees Sel leap out the window.
She turns on her broom and flies after him!
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"Wait Joy!..."
Tabog shouts, jumping after the young witch and her broom. He nearly misses grabbing hold of the broom's tail end and swings for a moment, by one hand before pulling himself up to a sitting position. Scanning the ground in front of the tower, Tabog searches for the faun's remains. Disappointment abounds.
"Joy, new plan! Let's trade the smelly goat-man for a hot-uh.. pretty vampire, Hm? I'm sure she's nice once the world stops almost ending!"
Bow slung and arrow notched, he readies himself.
Shen watched in shock as the faun sailed over the edge, into the darkness below. He ran to the side of the tower, looking for a crumpled corpse, but is rather surprised to see him fighting the undead below. Unable to make it down several flights of stairs quikcly, Shen takes one of his flasks and carefully throws it to the combat below. The holy water flies for the vampire, boiling in anticipation.
"Move, move, MOVE!" Dramm shoves his way forward to the window to look down at the faun below.
"Bastard could have waited for us. Insane faun!"
Only his disintegration spell could reach the courtyard. Dramm doesn't wait to find out if the vampire survived Selgaer's mad dive.
The magic twists free in Dramm's panic in a large explosion!
Selgaer's impulsive leaps catches everybody off-guard, Lucretia especially. The phasing faun actually doesn't cause much damage to the vampire, who is resilient to physical attacks, but she still instinctively dissolves into a cloud of mist and flows several yards away.
Tabog leaps on the broom with Joy as both begin to fly down to assist Selgaer. From on high, Uruuna fires two arrows that fall short of Lucretia. Shen's holy water strikes her, causing her to shriek as it burns her impure flesh. Dramm unleashes a powerful destructive spell, badly damaging the vampire, and Imedren and Eldren begin hurling flame bolts, one of which burns the vulnerable vamp!
Besieged by the sudden assault and knowing she can't flee fast enough, Lucretia does her best to fight back, launching three missiles of seething darkness at Selgaer. Only one of them hits, shoving the faun a few yards away. It's not far enough for the nimble acrobat, who quickly closes the distance to attack again.
Lucretia dodges the faun's spear thrust, but from the top of Wizard's Peak, Imedren and Eldren launch more fire bolts. Another one strikes Lucretia, and it's enough to push the badly damaged woman over the edge. With a piercing shriek, the flames consume Lucretia utterly, leaving her little more than a smoking pile of ash on the ground!
With their mistress dead, the hooded dwarfs who survived the battle with the cultists turn to flee. Dramm and Imedren's sorcerous power batters the group a bit, but in the grand scheme of things, it is a minor inconvenience.
It seems that now, truly, the battle for Crossings has been won...
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A mix of expressions vie for Dramm's face. He settles on on beleaguered satisfaction.
"Selgaer can spot an opportunity. We cant be certain the vampire could be trusted with the Eye. She was as much a monster as Katandramus. That was probably the best chance we had of swiftly ending her. Let's get downstairs. I have to patch up that f!%@ing idiot, then we can get to the church."
Joy - with Tabog - flies down to Sel.
"Sel! Are you okay!?"
Shen looked down at the body of the slain wizard, saying a small prayer. He hadn't known Caribdus, but it was terrible to see what had been done to him. If left to his own devices, the old man picks up the Eye of the Demon Lord and takes it wit him down the stairs.
Sel came flying down out of the sky and slammed into the vampire, prepared to completely eradicate the vile immortal before she could murder anyone else or do whatever vile things she had planned to do with the eye.
She caused him to bleed, but he shrugged it off as he prepared to strike back. But before he could, his friends were already there trying to help. Arrows rained down around them along with a literal rain of holy water - and while Sel couldn't tell what it was from the feel of it, he recognized how it burned away evil. Just like that demon they fought back in Verge. This was his confirmation. While he knew it, in the back of him mind he always doubted whether he was doing the right thing - but holy water doesn't lie.
Just then, as he was about to end her with a spear thrust, she completely disintegrated in front of him. Spinning his spear around him to rest on his back, he looked up to see Dramm at the top of the tower standing at the edge of the hole Imedren had made when he took care of Katamdramus once and for all. Then his focus shifted to a teenage girl on a flying broom with a cat-man on it.
He smiled.
It was a smile of releif. A smile of genuine happiness that they instantly came to help him. It's over, Joy! he called up to her in response. It's finally over! The city is safe!
As she comes closer, his voice quiets to a normal volume, We did it. We did it, Joy. We actually did it, he says as he pulls both Joy and TaBog into a hug.
Joy feels incredibly happy despite the grim surroundings.
"We did it together! We'll keep Crossings safe, no matter what!"
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Imedren was tired, there was but the call of the battle being over was a relief in many ways. Lucretia was gone now. His Vision saw no illusions or deception. She had been murderous and evil, uncaring for the people of today but she had been driven to protect the Eye. Sunionious Roo had been evil for so long until he realized his mistake and tried to undo them. Lucretia, he realized, had sent her minions to try and stop Katandramus when he first unleashed the plague within the city with the Enigma Stone and tried to use the Eye. An immortal protector of something and now she was gone.
Imedren saw past the immediate victory and now was worried for the future. There were many possibilities, too many to count. They would have to protect it from now on... but he supposed he could let them enjoy their victory for now.
"Yes, this battle is over for now."
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As Sel grabbed for Tabog he moved to dodge the battle worn hands, but Joy's jovial expression caused him to hesitate and allow the embrace. He was genuinely excited about all that had transpired today, he was almost laughing from the emotion.
"I'll give that landing a 9.8 for style, alright? You're getting bumped up to the full 10, though, because it gave me the something to put into the last verse of my epic! Ha ha!"
And he truly did. You can still here bards singing Tabog the Great's most famous works across the land, and most commonly his epic: Tales of the Demon Lord. If you listen carefully, you can hear the end of it, even now...
"When hope was all but lost that day,
The heroes fought and made them pay.
With magic, fire, and cunning blows,
The Demon Lord gained many woes.
But even now we feel reprieve,
I know one thing you won't believe.
That goats come falling from the sky,
and vampires: the dead, still managed to die.
The city rejoiced, they all got saved,
new building built and roads were paved.
The Demon Lord knows, his will contends
None other than Tabog... "
It had been a tumultuous time in the Northern Reach. For more than a year, the heroes of Crossings had contended with dangers both local and abroad, from local troubles to a full-scale demonic incursion. But at each turn, they proved victorious, gathering more power and prestige and becoming among the most preeminent personages of the Northern Reach. They had saved the city and her people several times over, and for that, they were recognized and rewarded with the highest of accolades.
Joy managed to reincarnate both Mayor Edgerton and Master Dreen, giving their allies on the council a second chance at life and to do good works for the city. Katandramus and his sect of the Brotherhood of Shadow had been destroyed for good, paving way for a time of well-deserved peace in the city.
However, the shadow of the Demon Lord looms large over Urth, and it would only be a matter of time before the heroes were called again to even greater adventures. But that is a tale for another time. For now, we have reached the end of these series of Tales of the Demon Lord!
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The babe cried. A soft cry in the middle of the night as it awoke Rena from her sleep. The warrior woman and commander of Crossings contingent of the Army of the New God got up from her bed to gather the child and take her to the rocking chair to suckle. The babe was small, with goat-like legs that were gifted to her from her father.
Rena looked over to the sleeping figure in the bed. Her lover still slept soundly; she smiled at the figure as she rocked the babe back to sleep.
It had been several months since they had survived the night of slaughter - the night Katandramus had tried to end the world. The stress of the night caused her to go into labor - perhaps a little earlier than expected - but with access to healing magic and friends who can wield it, she was able to bear the pain and recover quickly. Even Father Gregory was there to help bless the birth.
The figure in the bed moved again, this time stirring awake. "Is everything ok?" asked a quiet feminie voice.
"Yes," Rena whispered, "Go back to sleep."
Rena smiled. She was happy. Happier than she'd been in a long time. This felt right. A child in her arms and someone to help raise her. Not just any someone, but someone who truly understood her. Someone who had been through the trials of combat and risked death for others. Someone who was willing to sacrifice it all and fight for the world, to fight to make everything better. Someone who completely sacrificed their own self image - just for her. Was she worth it? She didn't know. But the woman sleeping in the bed thought she was. Perhaps that's all that mattered.
But whatever Sel's reasoning, the faun had given up everything to be with Rena and to be a mother to the little girl they would raise together.
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Joy tends to her garden.
The beans that she found by chance continue to produce incredible harvests of huge produce. Joy works with her many contacts to ensure that Crossings builds granaries to stockpile extra food once the hungry have been taken care of, and to send shipments to stricken areas of the anarchic Empire.
Before she knows it, Joy has attracted would-be apprentices and finds that she is able to guide them in the ways of the potent fey-derived magic.
The matter of her unchanging form is one she leaves aside, for another day...
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Shen took the Eye with him, back to his temple, where he found one of the Father's reapers waiting for him. The shrouded one took Reed by one skeletal hand and pulled the old man into the Underworld. There, he was escorted to the Hall of the Father.
Thanatos saw his servant before him, presenting the Eye of the Demon Lord. With a gesture, he crushed the eye in his bony grasp and suffused the once-mortal with it's power, creating a new Reaper. "Go now and do your duty." Father Death spoke and wove him away.
Shen felt the memories of the past flow into him, every thought and memory Father Death had stolen from him returned. It had been a test, he realized, one that so many had failed. Now he had the power to free his student's souls and put an end to the demon that had taken them. The Father willed it so...
Many years later, as Dramm was entering the twilight of his life, he was visited by an old friend. Mr.Reed smiled as he said, "I know now, Dramm. I know where the path ends."