Final Chapter (10-18-2014)

    After the party delivered Brennil safely to Equilor, their ship was refitted and turned back on it’s way, for they’d been banned from setting foot upon elven lands as result of Xia’s departure mid-voyage. She, along with Geralt, had decided to leave.  Afterwards, the group spent months traversing Endore, combating Atreides’ minions where they found them.  At some point, they met Freya, a human woman raised in the Wilds who possessed the unusual power to assume the shape of a powerful tiger. Sadly, in the end, this wasn’t enough, and when they finally reached Atreides, they watched in horror as she finished her arcane ritual, breaching the veil and bringing her fiendish minions across the planes.
    Even from this, the party escaped, and they became leaders of what few resistance remained. They grew stronger in time, fighting Atreides’ army where ever they could. Meulin had met back up with the group, bringing her companions, Nepeta and an awakened, intelligent polar bear. Airy had left them long ago, but at some point returned to reveal herself as fey goddess to Baltazar, whom she still held feelings for. Baltazar, having undergone the vile transformation into a lich, made a deal with Airy that should she secure his phylactery in her world, he would stay with her when he would eventually “die”.
    Eventually, the party was approached by Smudge, who had again appeared from nowhere, and told our heroes that he had a way to deal with Atreides. He could send their minds back in time to before Atreides breached the veil, where they would rescue Liviana, who’d freed herself from Atreides’ domination. Liviana would have way to banish Atreides, thus preventing her from ever accomplishing her goal of breaching the veil, but she would be required to be rendered unconscious for that. The party agreed to this plan, for they were running out of time before their resistance would be crushed. So, Smudge cast his ritualistic spell, and after the searing pain, party found themselves shipwrecked on a small island between the main continent and the elven lands. Soon after, Smudge came in with a small row boat, informing party that he’d located Atreides’s hideout, and they found out that they only had 4 days before Liviana would be executed.
    The party, as is usual for unorganized adventurers with nothing that would even remotely resemble leadership, developed into arguing about how to proceed. They could rush in there and launch full assault on the keep by themselves, or seek aid of Tir-Gollor for the attack. Arguing went on for a while, with the party splitting two ways, before eventually everyone agreed to at least seek the aid of Tir-Gollor, confident that they would not be a threat should the mage hunters decide to turn upon them. After the decision was reached, Baltazar took them to Windriddle Palace through pathways of the shadow plane, reaching the palace within mere hours. There, they were met with elderly receptionist, who queried their business, and after quick conversation it was revealed that the Tir-Gollor saw Atreides’ cult as merely a band of thugs. A little bit of conversation, mostly handled by Baltazar and supported by Freya, along with hearty dose of intimidation, receptionist was convinced to fetch his knight-commander. Commander soon arrived to inquire party’s purpose, and they explained all they knew of Atreides and her cult, backed by allowing commander to read Baltazar’s mind. This was enough to convince the commander to gather his force of his elite, and launch an assault upon Atreides' castle, while the party would soon follow after.
    Half an hour later, as party was teleported in by Smudge, they came across Tir-Gollor fighting their way through castle docks, against a dragon priestess and a horde of undead, along with a Nightmare. These forces were quickly dispatched by party, after which they pushed inside while mage hunters set up a perimeter to keep off any reinforcements. Resistance inside the keep itself was light at first, only beset on by pair of lizardmen and a couple cultists, though they eventually came across a barbarian woman, who seemed to hold some power and status within the cult. Her threat was quickly ended however, as Baltazar used his arts to take over her mind, using her as his minion to deal with any additional forces. Meanwhile, Dovan, who had been serving as the vanguard, setting off one glyph of warding already, while blasting through sets of doors after another, ran into a balor, who was guarding the entrance to dungeons. Battle soon raged inside the castle, as everyone rushed to assault the balor. Dominated barbarian managed to set off another trap on the floor, nearly incinerating half the party and multiple cultists. Freya was badly cut as she rushed to assault Aeterna, who entered the hall from behind, while Dovan, Meulin and Bhelan focused their might on the demonic balor. Spells flew back and forth, fire filled the hallways and blade clashed against blade, but eventually balor did fall. It’s death however, caused another massive explosion of fire, searing party even further.
    While Elli did all she could to fix up the party, Baltazar went on ahead to find Liviana, setting off necromantic trap after another. Liviana herself, was surprised they were there to rescue her, though seemed to realize what was going on as Smudge was mentioned. After being freed, she went to explain that she indeed knew way to banish Atreides, but such action would require her life, a sacrifice she was willing to make. She also knew Atreides was below in her temple, so this is where party hurried next. Few cultists below were quickly dispatched, and party moved on Atreides, who immediately began casting a spell to summon an elemental monolith. This attempt was thwarted by Dovan, who rushed in and smashed his hammer at her face, interrupting her concentration. Then rest of the party moved in, and their final struggle with Atreides began.
    The battle itself seemed to go back and forth, as party tried to swarm Atreides, mauling her with axe, hammer, sword, claw and arrow. She in turn, would attempt to cast a spell, often counter spelled by Baltazar, and afterwards teleport to other end of the room, with party rushing over to her again. Spells seemed to have little effect, Baltazar for one could never even breach her defenses, leaving most of the fighting to his companions. Somewhere among the desperate battle that often seemed like strange version of tag, Yokeron’s head was cut off by Atreides’ scythe, but otherwise no casualties were incurred. Eventually, after hours of fighting, Atreides finally fell to the floor, unconscious. This was time Liviana had been waiting for, as she stepped, giving her life to fuel an ancient, divine ritual that sent Atreides' spirit into the Far Planes, hopefully to never return.
    The party succeeded in their mission, the war, as they knew it, would never come to pass.
    Endore was safe from the threat posed by the entity known as Sophronia Atreides.  The world at large would never know the sacrifice that was paid that day, nor would they even know that they were in danger.  Thus is the life of a hero.  The Tir-Gollor did not let the party forget what they had done; they gave them riches and rewards, and put them under their protection, even as the party went their separate ways.
    The Six strengthened their holds on the Seals of the Veil, preventing any more from slipping through.
    The Tir-Gollor cleaned up, reorganizing themselves from the Mage-Watchers, to the Guardians of Endore, going so far as to consume or eliminate their splinter groups.  They cleaned up the remainder of the cult and any denizens of the Abyss that remained.
    Liviana Kennet, who sacrificed herself to save the land, was given saint-hood, and eventually, a small group treated her as a deity.
    Smudge, his work done, decided Endore didn’t need him anymore.  He offered Elli the chance to join him in his travels and see new worlds, and then, went into a strange blue box and disappeared from this world.
    Elli took Smudge up on his offer, and spent her years traveling the planes... seeing new worlds, new creatures... things that she only dreamt of.  Every so often, Smudge would bring her home to visit her friends, only to be whisked away once again.  It is unknown whether she is still traveling or has since passed.
    Airy, bored out of her mind in fairy world, watching from one of her portals the endeavors of the party who beyond her expectations stayed the path. She continued to await the arrival of her beloved "Batty" to keep his promise upon his initial destruction in the realm of Endore. Her daughters, Freya and Sylvia, move onwards and rekindle what was left of their childhood home. All traces of the bandits were eviscerated and Sylvia was cured of her madness, though still had a fondness for blood pudding on holidays. Freya became Princess of the Wilds and made an unlikely alliance with the orcs.
    After everything was over, Meulin actually thanked everyone in the party for allowing her to help them as she finally saw them as her friends. She gave everyone of them a marked map so they could visit her village if they wanted to and offered Bhelan the oppurtunity to come with her. She then rode off to a unknown place, being the place where she got information of the traitors to actually live in. After facing them and telling them who she actually was, they tried to put up a fight, but was easily outmatched by Muelin and her companions, but instead of killing them for vengeance, she captured them and went back to her village. She hesitated at first, as her family was still seen as traitors of this place due to the incident in the past and it would also be the first time in years that she had returned to her old home. She brought the still tied and chained up captives, and explained to the elder that the sins of the Mavros family were finally cleansed. Meulin began to cry as the village was once more what it used to be, the home of her family. Muelin was offered the role of village chief later on, but she declined the offer, saying that someone else is more fit for the position.  The elder kept insisting, and Muelin finally relented.  One week before the ceremony, Muelin's older brother returned, bringing their lost sister with him, having found her in the Wilds.  The family reunited.  Muelin told the elder that her older brother, Karkat, would make a far better chief than she, the elder gave in, knowing there was no convincing her otherwise. Muelin eventually left the village, striking out with Bhelan to explore the world and have adventures as well as visiting Dovan every now and then.
    Meulin died of old age, buried next to her parents, her brother and her sister and the once shunned grave of traitors, and a monument to the village's heroine was built in her honor.
    After everything was said and done, with Meulin offering Bhelan a chance to go with her, he stated that he still had one more thing to take care of and would catch up with her later. Bhelan returned to his hometown and visited the grave of Sergeant Falwick. He said only two words, "It's done.", left the coat Falwick had given him as a graduation present on the grave stone and then left to join Meulin. For the next few years he continued adventuring with Meulin and making the occasional trip to visit Dovan, until he eventually decided to settle down and start a family. He returned to his hometown and married at the age of 27, decided that the best thing for him to do was to join the local guard and proceeded to move on with his life. He and his wife had 2 boys, only one of which showed any signs of possessing any arcane ability. Both of them followed in their father's footsteps and joined the military where they both graduated at the top of their class and led promising military careers. Bhelan continued his life enjoying all the normal things one would expect, he watched as his children started their lives eventually leading to marriage and grandchildren. Bhelan grew old and eventually died peacefully in his sleep, he was 86. He is currently buried next to his wife and Sergeant Falwick.
    After Atreides’ defeat, Baltazar returned to his old life and old companions before he’d been captured, which had eventually led him to this situation. He continued his task of researching the Veil, using the lifespan gained from undeath to his advantage, though for first few decades, he occasionally visited his former companions, and eventually was present at each of their funerals, if for nothing else, for respect for those who stood with him against Atreides.
    Knowing his bargain with Airy, Baltazar did his best to maintain his current body as long as possible, for there was much for him to learn of the world still, though he often visited Airy in her her realm, staying for what ranged from months to decades at a time with his “beloved”, as he came to call Airy, whether out of genuine affection or to stay on her favor was never certain. He caused widespread panic the first time his spells tore opening to pathways of shadow plane and demonic elven lich marched into feylands for first time. Eventually fey came to accept visits of the polite undead lover of their queen and goddess though.
    As of what goes for him now, none knows. Perhaps he finally succumbed to hunt of more zealous mortals, and now resides with his beloved Airy in her realm, or perhaps he still wanders the world in different guise, and perhaps he shall continue to wander for another millennia.
    After they defeated Atreides and got rewarded, Dovan returned finally home to his wife and kid.
    The Tir-Golor sent a messenger with him to explain to the Dwarven Leaders what happened, Dovan, being a hero, was cast as a Paragon of his people.
    But despite this accomplishment, Dovan stayed the same dwarf as ever. Sure, he got a little bit richer and famous, but everything he wanted was to be together with his family. He opened up a smithy, happily crafting weapon and armor for everybody who needed or wanted.
    Most of the money was actually donated to the kingdom itself, making sure that trade routes to other kingdoms were established.
    In the end, he died of old age. Peacefully, he was given to the stone from which all dwarves come from.

Chapter 6 (10-04-2014)

    The first few days of their voyage had gone uneventfully… mostly. Three days since they’d left that nameless port city,  the only major event aboard the ship had been Dovan’s continuing sea sickness, and resulting, a neverending string of complaints and curses that followed. A small, dubious act happened as well, for when Baltazar split off wealth he’d acquired by selling off their loot he’d been carrying, Geralt, who had previously been loudest about acquiring as much wealth from it as possible, threw his share overboard into the sea. This was followed by quick attempt from Yokeron to catch it, almost ending in him going overboard as well, with no results in reclaiming the abandoned gold. Other than that, only distractions had been pair of young, beautiful women among the passengers. Lilliana, who seemed to take immediate liking to Airy (who was still angry, and had permanently relocated herself to Yokeron, from her usual place on Baltazar’s shoulder) and Angelique, a human woman who spent most of her time flirting with the majority of the party. The only ones spared from her attempts were Yokeron, Airy and Baltazar, who’d spent large amounts of time talking with Brennil, much to the dismay of Xianaya.
    The first actual surprise came some time later, as a full moon settled over the night sea.  Some had gone to their cabins for rest and others were spending time on deck, when blood-chilling howling was heard. Of the party, Baltazar was first, and eventually only one, to go investigate this sound coming from Bhelan’s cabin, and using magic to see, was able to get out of the way just as a lycanthropic Bhelan burst through his door and into the hallway. The bite he’d taken so long ago at the werewolf camp had apparently infected him, and now our heroes were in same boat with a bloodthirsty, mindless monster. Bhelan chased Baltazar to the main deck, where Dovan, Yokeron(who’d been sleeping in crow’s nest with airy), Airy, Lilliana and Baltazar engaged Bhelan in an attempt to bring him down, but to not kill their companion. Xianaya stayed in the cabin she shared with her mother to protect her, while Geralt, apparently brought deaf by wind, never even noticed the fight happening a mere 10 feet from him
    After a brief clash, which included acid arrows, dark energies, sonic lances, bonefiddle sawing at Bhelan’s skeleton and an old fashioned dwarven beat down and aid from captain of the ship, who surprisingly turned out to be a weretiger, the werewolf was finally rendered unconscious, turning back to his human form. While Dovan was busy tying him to the mast for security, Lilliana took immediate interest, regarding “Oh my, such a handsome man inside such a vicious beast”.  After the situation was cleared, Baltazar went inside to check on Brennil and Xianaya, while the rest stayed there to ponder on Bhelan. Our heroes were not granted pause however, as Angelique was seen, a strangely focused expression on her face, standing at bow of the ship. Just mere moments after, the ship itself was rocked to the side heavily, as a pair of dragon turtles attacked it from both sides, crashing through the hull and causing the ship to take in water. Most of the party were tossed around the deck on this assault, not being prepared for a sudden crash. Soon after, while everyone was picking themselves up, and Bhelan teleported out of his bindings to dress and get his gear from cabin, one of turtles breathed a cloud of steaming hot mist over ship, quickly knocking both Xianaya and Yokeron unconscious, badly scalded, while Lilliana was outright killed by this lethal blast. While Geralt, Baltazar and Dovan, who’d been left mostly unscathed by the blast, were picking themselves up and engaging the turtles, Airy rushed to distract Angelique and Bhelan was busy retrieving his gear. Surprisingly, as Airy got closer, Angelique merely turned to look at her, asking with hint of magic on her voice for Airy to take care of the others on the deck, which resulted in Airy rushing about to heal as many of wounded as she could. The Captain soon leapt into the ocean to battle one of turtles, while Geralt was busy filling air over water with another of his stinking clouds, and Yokeron used his spells to blast both turtles and Angelique, who by then, frustrated of Airy’s approach, corrected that she’d wished fairy would kill them, not heal them. Soon after, as Dovan charged the woman, she dropped her disguise, revealing herself to be a gorgeous, yet vile, succubus.
    During this exchange, the turtle the captain had attacked had dragged him below the surface, so Geralt resorted to teleporting the captain back aboard the ship. Due to mere confidence, or mind numbing rage, the captain proceeded to leap down into the water immediately afterwards, to attack the turtle again. Baltazar, not willing to lose the only person who would likely know how to sail their ship, leaped overboard after the captain, disappearing below waves. At the same time, Brennil had exited her cabin, and polymorphed the other dragon turtle into a simple, small turtle, immediately ending the threat from its side quickly. As water around other turtle turned red from blood, and neither captain nor Baltazar were seen, the rest of the group focused their attention to the succubus. Her response, as Dovan was the only one bearing down upon her, was to suggest that he’d jump overboard for a swim, aided by her magic. Dovan, compelled by her magical beauty, dropped his shield and axe, and dove overboard with just enough time for Xianaya to grant him ability to breathe water. As their combined assault started to wear the succubus down, she took flight, flying over to back of the ship, apparently preparing to escape, when she used her seductive magic once again. This time, on Brennil, for the request that she’d make sure the party wouldn’t get off the ship. Mere moments later, succubus-Angelique was hurled down into waves by gust of wind summoned by Xianaya, mere moments before Brennil captured everyone aboard into a powerful forcecage. Luckily, the turtle that both Baltazar and captain had assaulted (by now, Geralt’s water elemental had returned with captain’s severed arm) heard the splash, and thought Angelique tastier snack than Baltazar, who still hadn’t surfaced. Turtle swam straight for the succubus, swallowing her whole. And as her seductive magic disappeared, Brennil dismissed her forcecage even as Bhelan brought Dovan up from waves and Baltazar materialized from night’s shadows on deck.
    With the immediate danger now gone, it became obvious to everyone that the ship was in a bad way. Half sunk, most of the crew gone, and seemingly no hope left. Not wanting to waste time salvaging what could be recovered later, Geralt offered to teleport the group away to safety. Xianaya and Baltazar, however, felt they could save the ship, and were urging the increasingly impatient Geralt not to rush things. As the ship continued to sink, Baltazar pulled out an old, familiar book, and quickly scrawled something within. Shortly thereafter, the boat was returned to how it was before the attack, unscathed, and ready to sail. This was quickly identified as a wish, and a heated argument broke out between Xianaya and Baltazar. Each stood their ground, Xianaya claiming the book and its power would only bring harm to the group, and Baltazar claiming he understood the risk and could shoulder the burden. In the end, Baltazar relented to Xianaya’s urgings to get rid of the book, handing it to Brennil, who cast it into the ocean. Geralt, never one to miss a beat, sent a wave of fire elementals to ensure the book’s destruction.
    With the drama settled, Xianaya used her druidic power to reincarnate Captain Hobbes, now a half orc devoid of his strength as a weretiger, and the ship’s quartermaster, who remained a human. An attempt was made to reincarnate the fallen bard, Lilliana, whose soul refused, wishing to keep her form as it was, even if it meant the risk of never coming back. With the ship returned to some level of normalcy, it was able to continue its voyage to Equilor, of the Elven Empire.