The battle finishes in what seems a flash. The babau demons are quickly dispatched by your characters, and they can only burst out laughing, tired, and shocked but relieved at having triumphed and survived this suicide mission, and now with powers you can use for taking the crusade forward turning a defeat into a new opportunity.
In the following minutes, you discover a couple of things. One, the glowing that covered you is starting to fade away, as well as the power it brought you. Second, there are six wardstone shards embedded in the walls. They only retain a minuscule fraction of the original, but they are powerful nevertheless, if only you discover how to harness it.
Uriel pulls a cloth from his belt to clean the disgusting fiendish ichor from Radiance's blade, and notices something odd. While the heavenly glw is fading, he is somehow not tired. All that fighting and I feel like I could fight another hundred cultists. This is...incredible. Sheathing Radiance, he opens and closes his hands a couple of times, and looks around at the others. "Truly, we have been blessed this day. Praise be to Ragathiel!" he says, before hastily adding "And Iomedae."
Alexa's hair gradually stops waving like flames and settles back into its ponytail, though both it and her bangs still glow like embers. Her anger abates for a moment as the realization sinks in.
...we're not dead. And the demons have been driven back.
Alexa Dorne flames disappear as well, but nervously she tries to conjure them back with just force of will.
And they reappear. She smiles fiercely.
And then she tries to turn them off. And they obey her mental command.
"Well, THAT'S a relief. I won't need to worry about glowing like a torch when I'm trying to sneak around." Alexa grins and claps her hands together.
"So, how's everyone doing?"
As the golden flames around her and dawn-like glow slowly fade, Darya smiles as she sees her companions all relatively unharmed. "That was....incredible...well done! Everyone! We showed them that the darkness need fear the light, not the other way around!"
"I feel...better than I expected to after all this honestly." the paladin answers Alexa with a grin.
"So, we won?" Kelly asks uncertainly, still clutching her blades, "Is the city safe now?"
Aberus looks around, still fairly shocked, as the glow fades from himself and the others. "We should not have survived this. It seems that Iomedae, Ragathiel, and Sarenrae--perhaps even others--have taken a personal interest in events here. And in us."
Uriel turns his hands over, looking at them closely. ”I feel...fine. Maybe better than I ever have. Certainly far better than expected to at the end of fighting through the Keep.”
Turning to Kelly, he says ”We won. But I would not say that the city is safe yet.”
As the battle ends, Arloric drops the song and instead lets out a victorious holler, clanging his sword against his shield and laughing.
"WE DID IT! YOU HEAR THAT, VORLESH?! YOU FAILED! MENDEV SURVIVES AND SARKORIS "
He lowers his sword and shield and attempts to catch his breath, as the haze of adrenaline and divine energy begins to fade.
"Praise the Land on which we stand, and endures despite the demons. Praise Iomedae, who guarded and guided us through the Gray Garrison. Praise Sarenrae and her servant Aberus, whose healing light kept us going when things seemed blackest. Praise Ragathiel, whose children Uriel and Darya led the charge...This is a victory for the gods and the light! I'd heard tales of great heroes Mendevian and Sarkorian alike, but never in my wildest DREAMS imagined I'd be IN one!"
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Turning to Kelly, he says ”We won. But I would not say that the city is safe yet.”
"Then we should get out there and get to work!" she says, cleaning and sheathing her blades, "As we're all feeling fresh and ready to go, apparently."
"She's right." Darya says, smiling down at Kelly. "All the better to inspire the troops."
Alexa gasps in realization.
"I-I need to find Miles!" She starts running out the door.
Darya turns to the rest of her companions for but a moment before rushing after Alexa. "'Lexa, hang on, we're coming with you. The more eyes looking for him the better, we're all in this together." she says sincerely, resting her hand on Alexa's shoulder.
Alexa takes a breath. "It's not just him--I still don't know where the rest of my family is..."
...or even if they're alive...
Aberus nods. "Alexa makes a good point, even if inadvertently. We may have stopped them here, but the rest of the city does not know that. We need to spread the word." He looks concerned as he continues. "And deal with any demon stragglers who do not get the message."
"You have the right of it. We need to at least get back to Irabeth and Anevia. She's the closest thing Kenabres has to leadership right now, near as I can reckon, so they best can figure out our next move. Might want to take these fragments back to Aravashnial too, see if he can figure out what Vorlesh was doing. And then we should see if we can find anyone else. Uncle Crocris...I hope he's okay too."
"Agreed. We should also make sure the authorities dispatch a team to reoccupy and finish cleansing the Garrison."
You are welcomed into the survivor's camp with disbelief but with cheering and praise. In just a matter of our, the tales of your actions (mostly apocryphal and really exaggerated) have spread all around, but everyone is clear there are new champions in the crusade, and even if the wardstone barrier has been destroyed, there is still hope for the crusade!
Arloric sounds his horn as they approach and smiles as they're greeted by the remaining survivors. He wastes no time telling the story of their victory, and smirking a bit as they grow when others share it among themselves. That smirk quickly fades as he goes to accompany Alexa.
"Ready to help you search whenever, Dorne. Land and Gods willing, we'll find both your kin and mine."
"I'll come too! If it's OK with you, I mean."
"Before we go anywhere, we should find Irabeth." Uriel says, holding up the sword they found in the citadel.
You quickly see Irabeth closing up to congratulate you, and she stops, agast when she sees the sword hilt.
Arloric breaks into a big grin when he sees Irabeth's reaction.
Alexa barely takes notice of the gratitude the survivors are heaping upon the party. Her eyes scan the crowd for familiar faces--or, at least, for Miles' face.
"Ready to help you search whenever, Dorne. Land and Gods willing, we'll find both your kin and mine."
"I'll come too! If it's OK with you, I mean."
The emberkin gives Arloric and Kelly a grateful look and starts to make her way through the crowd.
Someone else can fill Irabeth in on what happened. We've got family to look for.
Uriel smiles and waves Irabeth over. As she reaches them, he holds out the sword. "We found this in the Garrison. Thought you'd want it back."
Irabeth slowly extends a hand and grabs the sword, her face a mask of remembrance.
"This was my fathers sword..."
She waves the sword expertly.
"I sold it, to buy something I wanted. That I needed."
She turns the hilt back to Uriel.
"My father would be very proud to have you use his sword."
Arloric chuckles.
"While that's very generous, we already have more than enough swords. I'm sure your father'd be equally proud that you take it up once more. Sometimes a sacrifice doesn't mean giving something up. Sometimes it's a gift for the future. The flower becoming the fruit, if you will."
He begins following after Alexa.
Uriel nods to Arloric. "I'm honored, but I've not the skill to wield two blades, and I've wielded Radiance throughout this crisis and come to feel a bond with the blade." he pushes the hilt back to her. "Take up your father's sword."
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Irabeth smiles.
"I would feel dishonest if I take the sword back, as I exchanged it for something I still value, even more than my father's sword. So I, and I am sure my father also, would be extremely proud if any of you use it to fight Abyss."
She seems to look Darya's eyes and winks at her.
Aberus listens to the exchange with Irabeth and says, "I am grateful we all have the opportunity to debate its future. This day could have gone differently. That being said, we may have a much larger problem ahead of us.
"When we neutralized the Wardstone fragment, it did not merely 'diffuse' as was theorized. It seemed to release the positive energies stored in all the Wardstones along the border, all at once. I am not all together certain how it is we know this; we just know it."
He looks slightly uncomfortable as he continues. "We took the full brunt of this burst of energy. We felt it surge through us, healing us and restoring our abilities and powers, but not in a controlled manner. It should have consumed us, and I have no explanation for how we survived beyond divine intervention. I...know that is an extraordinary claim.
"But if we are right, if what we learned in that moment is true, then Avistan has lost its protective barrier against the demons while also destroying those that were near it. We have been...given a unique opportunity to turn this fight against them, but we have also been forced to take it."
Irabeth nods, while a big group of crusaders joins to hear your exchange.
"And I thank the gods for keeping you safe. Yes, the barrier is gone, and the only reason we are not fighting a horde of demons is that when the barrier disappeared it exploded and destroyed a whole lot of them ready to jump on us. But they will return, and I am not sure what we will do when they do."
With a smile Darya steps forward, bowing slightly before looking at Irabeth with a grin. "I would be honored for the opportunity to do the blade justice, and carry on it's part in the fight against the pit."
Irabeth handles over the sword to Darya, with a sweet smile.
"I am sure you will make my father proud."
Aberus smiles as Darya accepts the sword back from Irabeth. Then he turns back to her and says, "So our visions were true. I suppose there is good news here. If they all died at once, then....none of their masters really know what happened here, and there are no survivors to tell them. It will take time for them to work it out. And they may hesitate to act, thinking we have some desperate weapon at our disposal."
He suddenly looks very weary. "We have to act while we have the advantage. But...I am exhausted. As, I am sure, is everyone else here."
"I'm not sure about that, Aberus. Wasn't Vorlesh watching us? Sure she's relayed news of their failure back to whatever foul things she serves."
"But does she know the extent of what happened? I am not sure anyone does. You are right, though, that we can't count on it."
"I'll do my best!" Darya says beaming. After a moment her expression becomes serious, turning to see if there was any progress on Alexa finding any sign of her family.
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It is difficult to believe that less than a week has passed since this began.
Kenabres was a small town on the cliff above the West Sellen River when the First Crusade, and over the course of a century it grew to a fortified city of some 12,000. The city around you is now almost unrecognizable, a still-smoking ruin with deep rifts in the earth like wounds on the city itself. One hundred years of progress undone in half a day.
But in spite of the devastation, the city endures. The destruction of the wardstone fragment, and the golden flash the enveloped you in the garrison, did not go unnoticed. Every wardstone along the border of the Worldwound erupted with this same light as their power surged through to the fragment you touched. And every demon within a mile of the barrier--thousands upon thousands--was destroyed.
Word spread quickly. The golden glow of the wardstones lingered for hours, acting as a beacon. Residents of the city that had fled into the surrounding countryside slowly returned. They joined the growing camps, now refugees in their own home, that were protected by the remnants of the Eagle Watch and those crusaders still alive and holding to their oaths.
Then the wardstones, themselves, went inert; their power drained away, leaving only lifeless stone behind.
Over the next couple of days, as you help rebuild the Eagle Watch and organize the remaining crusaders, rumor and speculation is slowly replaced with reliable reports and news. The most sobering is that the Wardstones have, indeed, gone silent. All of their power surged in that flash, and then slowly faded away like embers. But the surviving demonic forces that had made their attack here, at Nerosyan, and beyond, all fled quickly. Speculation is that they don’t know that the great defensive barrier has failed.
Battle-hardened and experienced spell casters, knights, paladins, and even foot soldiers are now difficult to find. Most stepped up in the early hours of the attack on Armasse to defend those around them, and most of them died in the process. They saved thousands of lives at the cost of their own. But this has left a power vacuum of immense proportions. The Eagle Watch is spread thin. The few remaining casters capable of rapid transportation and long distance communication are now precious assets. The growing humanitarian crisis is kept in check only with long hours spent casting curative and purification spells to fend off disease, all on a scale that magic has rarely, if ever, been employed.
Your contributions to these efforts, and of course your role in stopping the city’s fall, are now common knowledge. Eclipsing even those pivotal actions, however, is the sacred energy that is now coursing through you. For the first two days, others tell you that they can feel it, too. They don’t know how they know, but they just know. You are recognized everywhere you go, and heads turn. No one, save for the crusaders of the Eagle Watch and the surviving priests of the the crusader gods, quite know how to deal with this. Some simply gawk. Others bow down in supplication as you pass. And a few simply glare in silence.
On the 25th of Arodus, Irabeth finds you in the Defender’s Heart, where you’ve been spending most of your time assisting the nascent reconstruction. “There is, um, someone here to see you,” she says, accenting the word someone slightly as though she wasn’t sure it was the right one. “Mr. Horgus Gwerm. I told him we, and you, are too busy for trivial visitations, but he insisted. He says it’s important,” she adds, accenting important in a manner that suggests she doesn’t believe such a thing is even possible.
You agree to see him, in part just out of curiosity, but also because the acerbic man had warmed to some of you given your shared time in the caverns below the city. He did, after all, make good on his promises, and offered you safe lodging.
You come down to the common area, and he beams when he sees you. “My friends!” he calls out, in a voice loud enough for others to learn that he considers you his friends, “Please, I must speak with you, for I have some news that is for your ears, only.”
He guides you to a corner table and you sit down. After the usual exchange of pleasantries, he says to you, “I have two pieces of news. One has not yet become common knowledge, but will soon. The other, I am afraid, would probably never make it to your ears on its own.
“The first, and most pleasant, is that her majesty, Queen Galfrey is coming to Kenabres. The rumors of your exploits have traveled far, and while she is here, she intends to speak to you personally. I am told she will be here in a few days.
“The second, I must confess, is something of a warning. Rumors spread quickly, but ill rumors never seem to reach the ears of those who they most concern, or of those in their inner circle”, he says with a sweeping gesture that suggests the people around you.
“There are those who are jealous of your success, and of your...gifts. I am no stranger to jealousy, having enjoyed the position which I have built and earned, and the resources I have at my disposal because of it, even now with the city as it is. With that jealousy often comes speculation, and with that speculation…comes dangerous speculation.”
He pauses, though you sense it’s for dramatic effect, not because he doesn’t know what he wants to say next “It is common knowledge that your blessings coincide with the loss of the Wardstone barrier. Some small-minded people actually blame you for it, and believe that you took power for yourselves, and for your own glory, at the expense of the protection of the world itself. These individuals are not dissuaded by facts. It is known to all who care to listen that you were ordered to take this drastic action, and that it was the only way to save this city and others, and no one could have known its full consequences. These individuals see these as lies or manipulations.
“As I said, I am accustomed to the dangers of social status. I sense that you are not. So, a warning: Even the most small-minded man can be dangerous. I think we have all learned that lesson many times over in the past two weeks. So, please, be careful. And watch your backs. Those that call you ‘friend’ might not always earn the title.”
He takes his leave after that, offering you his services should you need assistance in the coming days. You discuss the odd visit afterwards, but it seems on the level, if also layered with Horgus’s usual “charms”.
The news of Queen Galfrey’s visit breaks the following day. The city is sent into a flurry of activity, doubling down on efforts to fortify the city. Scouts and messengers arrive ahead of her army, and you expect her and the soldiers she is commanding to reach Kenabres on Fireday the 29th. The purpose of her visit seems to be to help refortify the city, bring some relief to soldiers here, and organize a strategy for the coming months while the demons in the ‘Wound regroup.
Queen Galfrey, herself, is larger than life and the stories around her are the things of legend. Her father, Mendev’s last prince, died in Sarkoris under mysterious circumstances, before the Worldwound had opened up. She was thrust into her role as queen, and then only a few years later, into the position of defending her country from the unprecedented invasion from the Abyss. She’s called the Crusader Queen because she was trained as a paladin (though one of Aroden, not Iomedae), and she recognized the threat that the Worldwound presented to all of Golarion. Queen Galfrey fought on the battlefield personally, and distinguished herself as a competent and shrewd commander, as well as a shrewd ruler.
Of course, it has not escaped notice that she was crowned in 4601, and is now well over 130 years old. Yet for all appearances she is a human woman not quite in her middle years. Some say she has been granted immortality by Iomedae herself. Some believe she has even met The Inheritor personally. Others believe the church of Iomedae has paid for magical treatments to extend her life. Whatever the story, it’s nearly universally agreed that Queen Galfrey is the face of the Crusades, and without her the Worldwound would have already encompassed most of the world.
2:00pm
You receive word that the Queen would like to speak with you personally, in a place of your choosing. The Defender's Heart seems as a good a choice as any, so the arrangements are made. A private room is set aside for you, and she enters flanked by her personal guards. She stops and takes you all in, as if taking your measure, then says to her guards. "Leave us, please." They bow, and then exit quietly, shutting the door behind them.
She looks tired. War weary. But she still projects that air of nobility. "Please sit and be comfortable," she says. "I have come to hear the story of the crusaders who saved this city, and how the events in the Garrison unfolded. And to meet you personally."
Telerin will spend the week prior to the Queen's arrival doing what she can to fortify magical defenses and try to rebuild the Riftwardens and learn from their libraries.
You learn two things over the course of those days. The first is that the two of you may very well be (in terms of game mechanics) the highest-level wizards left in the city. The second is that Aravashniel is growing increasingly frustrated by his condition. He often asks you to be his eyes as you work your way through documents so he can help you and the others itemize and prioritize the recovery work. He was hopeful that, when you got to the surface a week ago, there would be someone to return his eyesight but there is not a single priest alive that can master the spell. At first he took this in stride--a few months in the lifespan of an elf is nothing--but the urgency of the tasks at hand, the state of the city, and his status as the last riftwarden in Kenabres, add a sense of urgency that elves normally do not feel.
Between helping with the restoration of the city wherever needed, and aiding Alexa in finding her brother and the rest of her family if possible, Darya finds herself falling into a leadership role among the younger, less experienced defenders of Kenebres, working with those who were clearly new to the blade on sharpening their defenses, guiding others on how to work as a team.
She even falls into the habit of running an early morning sword practice, with the number of participants increasing daily, quite a departure from her usual habit of sleeping in after late nights.
Queen Galfrey, turns out to be every bit as dazzling and impressive as expected, radiating a quiet, powerful sense of authority and leadership that Darya could only dream of commanding one day.
"It's an honor your Highness." the paladin says with a slight bow. Looking to the others, she waits a moment to see if anyone else wanted to begin with their take, before launching into the taking of the garrison and the fateful final battle, the destruction of the Wardstones, and the strange divine power that enabled their success in the face of insane odds.
Kelly devotes her time to helping Alexa, though when word gets out of her cooking, she soon finds herself deeply involved in the logistics of feeding the growing refugee community.
She bows low at the queen’s arrival, and listens quietly until specifically addressed.
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The citizens of Kenabres, while respectful of the crusaders themselves, tended to scoff at this. You could not turn around without bumping into some unheard-of religious order, some of which had an inflated sense of self-importance. More distressing were those that seemed to be crusaders in name only, whose public behavior ranged from vigilantism at best to street thugs with a uniform. Of all of those groups, a few had risen in stature, however, and were quite famous locally: the Everbright Crusaders, The Eagle Watch, The Order of the Flaming Lance, and the Order of the Sunrise Sword. The first three are martial organizations, while the fourth specializes in exorcising demonic possession.
What you have learned over the week: These four orders have risen to the task of reorganizing the remaining crusaders and rebuilding Kenabres's defenses, and all have suffered heavy losses. Irabeth Tirabade is currently leading the Eagle Watch, having assumed the position after her commander was killed.
Your very presence has an electrifying effect on morale, and your morning sparring practices ended up attracting a number of crusaders. In the days before the Queen's visit, they have started turning into an informal training school (in terms of game mechanics, those sticking with it would be learning feats or earning a PC class level) with two very competent trainers assuming leadership roles. Its the sort of thing that could turn into a formal training school bearing your name.