Lydia was the first to wake the next morning. After carefully detaching Zyphre from her gown, she stepped quietly out of the tent. The only difference in the sea of carnage was that the blood on the ground had dried.

Lydia stepped over to the goblin she had been fighting. Her dagger was lying next to it, not a drop of blood on it. She must have dropped it before she could use it. Then how did she kill this goblin?

She sighed. This made no sense. None of it. And Lupin was so scared of her now that he didn't want to sleep in the same tent with her. As if on cue, Lupin, who was leaning against the cliff face, woke up, yelping as he spotted her.

"Lupin," she called to him. "I don't know what happened, but I assure you that I won't hurt you. I don't know how this happened, and I want to. Please, tell me."

Lupin looked away and entered the tent without a word. Lydia lowered her eyes to the ground. So this was the way it was going to be. She leaned down and picked up the dagger, holding it gently in her fingers. She felt lost. With a sigh, she replaced the dagger in her belt and entered the tent.

Lupin jumped and quickly averted his gaze to his belongings, busying himself with stuffing them all back into his bag. "We're leaving as soon as you're ready."

Lydia gave a nod he did not see and moved to her bedroll, where a small black ball was curled by the pillow.

"Zyphre," she said. "Zyphre, wake up."

Two ears perked up from the curled up ball and Zyphre slowly unfurled into a distinguishable bat shape. He yawned and stretched his wings.

"It's so early," he moaned.

"If you didn't stay up all night, you wouldn't be so tired," said Lydia, rolling up the bedroll as the bat moved off it. "You're welcome to sleep on the way. Lupin, how far are we from Waterdeep?"

Lupin jumped at being addressed, but answered shortly. "There are two villages between us and Waterdeep."

"That's fine," said Zyphre sleepily, flying up to Lydia's shoulder and curling up on it like a cat. Lydia gave a small, amused smile. She moved her hand up to his ear and rubbed it between her thumb and index finger. She felt Zyphre relax completely. "Don't stop doing that."

"I have to, I need both hands to pack up," said Lydia, gathering her belongings back into her bag. Lupin left the tent. Lydia looked after him a bit sadly.

The two of them entered the tavern in the large town of Feras a good while later. Zyphre was awake and flying a few feet above them. He had given up on sleeping when the two of them had gotten too loud.

"I'm only asking that you tell me what happened!" shouted Lydia.

"And I'm telling you that I can't do that!" replied Lupin.

People began to look up from their drinks to stare at them. Zyphre shifted uncomfortably in embarrassment as he landed on Lydia's shoulder.

"Lydia, people are staring," he hissed. "Perhaps you should tone it down."

"I will tone it down after I get a straight answer," Lydia snapped, not looking at him.

The bartender walked up to the two of them. "I'm sorry, but if you're going to be disruptive I'm going to have to ask you two to leave."

"I'm sorry, sir," said Lupin. "We'll stop. This conversation was over anyway." He shot a glare at Lydia.

Lydia made an annoyed noise and moved to an empty table on one side of the bar. Lupin moved to the other side. The bartender went up the stairs to the inn part of the tavern.

The bar was large, and packed with people. Most of the people went back to their drinks and conversations. The bard in one corner of the bar started to play.

It cannot be seen but there's blood on the green

Only God knows I'm innocent

Take me, take me home

One man was still watching the two curiously. He sat in the far corner alone, with a cloak around him. He looked different, not human. His nails were black, and his pupils were slitted. His skin had an almost scaly look to it. Zyphre was the only one who noticed his stare.

The peace in the bar was disrupted again by a noise upstairs. A man shouted, "What do you think you're doing?" and the next second he smacked into the wall level with the top of the stairs where everyone in the bar could see him. A massive sword, made of bone, was sticking out of the bartender's chest, pinning him to the wall. Lydia saw the light fade from his eyes. A woman upstairs gave a bloodcurdling scream.

All over the bar people were standing to get a better look. Lydia didn't need to stand; her table was barely five feet from the corpse. The bard stopped playing. The woman upstairs screamed again, followed by the sound of sobbing. Then a tall man with his face covered by a hooded black robe walked slowly down the stairs, his heavy footsteps echoing in the silent bar. He reached up and pulled the massive sword out of the bartender's chest with one hand and sheathed it on his back without even wiping the blood off.

The bar went eerily still and silent. Eyes followed the man as he crossed the bar and sat down heavily at an empty table. Ale. He spoke, but it echoed in everyone's heads. The man was using telepathy. He spoke in Orc. Lydia felt Zyphre tense on her shoulder. He was nervous. Lydia made to move her hand up to comfort him. It was then that she realized that she was magically frozen, unable to move a muscle. This was a problem.

Her eyes darting around, she couldn't see any of the bar's patrons moving. They were all under the same spell she was. The only two creatures moving in the entire building were the strange orc, who had somehow acquired his ale, and Zyphre.

The latter had left Lydia's shoulder and flown over to the orc. He landed on his table in front of him.

"Hi," he said brightly in Orc. "I'm Zyphre. Would you mind telling me what you've done to all these guys?"

The orc slowly put down his tankard and raised his gaze to the bat. "Rat," he said. "It is not your concern. Leave me."

"Well, you see, there are two problems," said Zyphre. "The first is that you've cast this spell on two of my friends, and the second is that I'm a bat, not a rat. Rats don't have wings, so they can't fly. That makes us superi – urk!"

Zyphre choked as the orc's thick hand wrapped around his neck. Lydia felt the terror wrap its icy fingers around her heart. Don't hurt him! She couldn't speak either. The orc brought Zyphre up to his eye level.

"Rat," he hissed. "You will leave me in peace, or you will die. Got that? Now, be gone!"

He hurled Zyphre at the wall. Zyphre, unable to open his wings fast enough to avoid impact, smacked into the wall hard and fell. He groaned and tried to push himself up before his wings gave out and he fell back to the floor. Lydia tried to go to him, call to him, but her muscles were still frozen.

The orc finished his ale and stood. He looked around at the frozen bar. "None of you saw me here today. And to ensure your silence, I will silence you all." He snapped his fingers and the bar counter burst into flames.

The orc pulled his hood down farther over his face and departed through the only door. As he exited it, a wall of debris fell from the ceiling to block the only exit, trapping anyone who might break free of the enchantment. The fire crept up the wall.

Across the room, there was a flurry of movement. The odd looking man who had been eyeing Lydia and Lupin was thrashing as he fought the spell. As he thrashed, his scaly-looking skin broke out in bright green scales; a tail sprouted; hands became claws; his snout elongated, as did his fangs; his eyes turned a sickly yellow-green color; horns sprouted from his head. He threw back his head and roared.

Zyphre took unsteadily to the air. He flew over and hovered in the man's face. "Hi," he said. "You're a dragonkin, aren't you? I've never seen one before."

The dragonkin snarled and swung his claws at Zyphre. Lydia tried to scream, but no sound came out – but her hand moved. The dragonkin's black claws swung across Zyphre's gut. It went right through him. Small tendrils of dark grey smoke followed the path of the claws.

"That's not very nice," said Zyphre, unfazed.

The dragonkin growled and snapped his jaws around Zyphre. Again, it just went right through him.

"I'm starting to get the feeling that you're actually trying to hurt me!" said Zyphre as claws moved through his torso again. He turned and flew away, the dragonkin chasing after him.

Lydia found that she now had semi-control of her right arm. It was slow, as if there were something trying to hold her arm in place, but she managed to bring her hand down to her dagger. She wrapped her hand tightly around the hilt and drew it. Then, with as much force as she could muster, she drove it into her thigh, right up to the hilt. She screamed.

She wrenched the dagger from her leg, blood pouring from the wound, and stood unsteadily. She could move. Pain broke the spell. "Zyphre…!"

Zyphre and the dragonkin had reached the stairs. Thinking quickly, Lydia cast dancing lights, forming them to make a second Zyphre. If she was lucky, maybe the dragonkin would go for it instead.

The dragonkin did notice the glowing bat fly in front of his face. Zyphre disappeared up the stairs while it was distracted. Unfortunately, dragonkin can detect magic. He turned his yellow gaze to Lydia and lunged at her.

Lydia's back hit the ground, her face inches from inch-long, razor-sharp teeth, foul breath ghosting over her face. She couldn't scream. She couldn't think. It was all a blank. She was going to die.

And then, the dragonkin was off of her. Lupin was above her, grappling with the beast. There was a great slash across his forearm, bleeding freely. It looked like he had hit himself with his axe to free himself.

Lydia pulled herself out from under the two as they grappled. She had almost made it to the stairs when with a great crack, the ceiling broke. Lydia leaped backwards unsteadily as burning beams fell across the stairs, completely blocking her path. Over the crackling of the fire, she heard a high cry that she recognized as Zyphre's. It was a cry of pain.

"Zyphre!" Lydia screamed over the fire, hugging herself. There was no response.

A woman leaped over the flaming debris then. She landed catlike on the table Lydia had originally been sitting at, observing the fight between Lupin and the dragonkin with a calculating look in her eyes.

"Tame Animal!" she shouted.

The dragonkin stopped. He froze. Then, his eyes slowly changed back to green. His scales faded, and his tail shrank. A man stood in front of them, swaying slightly. The woman nodded and pulled a blade from one of the nearby patrons, throwing it at the wall. It broke a small hole in the wall. Through that small hole came a great stream of arcane fire.

"Shit," said the woman. "We can't break down a wall, this fucking fire is magical. We have to get out another way." She looked around at the dragonkin, Lupin, and Lydia as she spoke.

"I have to get my familiar!" shouted Lydia.

"Where is he?" asked Lupin.

"I don't know!" Lydia wailed. "He's somewhere upstairs, but the stairs are blocked."

Lupin leaped up and grabbed the rafter. He pulled himself up and punched a hole in the floor above, tearing away at the hole until it was large enough for him to fit through. He climbed through and then reappeared at the hole, extending his arm down. Lydia jumped and grabbed his hand. Lupin pulled her through.

"Come on!" he shouted at the dragonkin and the woman, extending his hand again.

As Lupin pulled the other two up to the second floor, Lydia ran around the floor, screaming Zyphre's name. The ceiling had broken in many places, the debris making burning piles in the rooms and hallways. Finally, outside a room close to the stairs, Lydia saw the tip of a black wing. It was lying limply, buried under an enormous pile of flaming wood.

"Zyphre!" she screamed, running to the pile. She shifted the burning wood, ignoring the flames licking at her hands, until she slowly uncovered the body.

Zyphre was unconscious, and badly burned. His eyes were closed, lying limply on the ground. His left wing was sickening to look at. To say it was broken would be an understatement. A particularly heavy piece of debris had landed right on it, and from the look of the bloody, burned, and mangled wing, the bones had been crushed into powder. His breathing was very shallow.

"Zyphre, no!" Lydia cried. She tore off part of the skirt of the elegant gown, wrapping it around him gently. He moaned softly. Lydia held him close to her chest like a newborn, protecting him from further harm.

She ran back to the others, who were gathered around a window that appeared to have already been broken before, as no flames were shooting through it. Lupin turned as she approached.

"Did you find hi – oh my Gods," said Lupin as he saw the mass of seared flesh and crushed wing wrapped in the torn skirt.

"Is this our way out?" asked Lydia, holding Zyphre a little closer to her chest in response.

"Looks like," said the woman. "I'll go first, shall I?"

She covered her face and leaped through the window. She landed gracefully and waved up to them. The dragonkin went next, landing heavily below. Lupin jumped through next, landing even heavier than the dragonkin.

"Alright, Zyphre," said Lydia softly, holding him securely but gingerly. She closed her eyes tightly and jumped through the window.

She landed badly on her slashed leg, falling to one knee. There was a horrible noise behind her. A horrible cracking and smashing. She stood and turned around. The tavern was collapsing in on itself. Within seconds, it was only a burning pile of wood. Lydia closed her eyes. She didn't want to think of all the people who had been trapped in there.

She looked down at the bat cradled in her arms. She said his name softly. Zyphre didn't respond. Lydia blinked back tears as she tried to wake him up.

The song the bard was singing is a real song. It's called Battlefield, by Blind Guardian. The guy playing the woman who shows up played it over his phone as soon as Chris said there was a bard. Had to include it.

And Lupin smashing his way through the ceiling did happen. A series of natural 20s going Jump, Grapple, Strength, Climb. It was CRAZY. Chris: "...As a DM, it is my job to anticipate every little thing that can happen. I was never expecting that."