Quest 7: Homecoming

"Koris is a strange one. He fights when he should run. He defends when he should attack. And he out-thinks foes that should be able to run circles around him, negating their advantages in favor of his own. Aye...that's the stuff legends are made of. Too bad he's such an idiot, huh?"

We emerged into Aman'lu in the town center, not ten feet from the tavern I knew - or what was left of it. Scorched wooden beams showed in the gaping hole in the second floor, a chunk taken out of it by some sort of blast. All around me, buildings bore the same signs of damage, and minuscule fires burned in patches. Blue and green, they were clearly magical in origin, and should have been put out by the village's defenses. Specifically, the Elen'lu Isles and the Prism there should have been activated. The fact that they weren't didn't bode well for the situation. The voice snapping out my name jolted me back to reality.

"KORIS!" It was Finala. My mind froze. I was overcome with emotion, and only had time to turn to her before I was blasted off my feet, slammed into the tavern's wall with enough force to concuss me. My vision swam into focus to see Finala, advancing on me with a murderous glare in her eyes, the channeled energies of her staff searing my retinas with their light. She was closing in for the killing blow, and all I could do was wonder who would tell my sister what had happened. And then, everything went white, and I must have passed out from the attack.

In the days to follow, of course, I learned precisely why she was so mad: The town's damage had been done by Valdis and his Archmage. They had come here seeking another Aegis, a relic that had been held in our vaults, but the Elder had already sent it away. In their rage, they had devastated the town. My town. My home.

I awoke later, itself a surprise, only compounded when I opened my eyes to see Taar tending to my wounds. Lethe's voice rang out nearby, provoking an angry retort from Finala. I had no idea what the two of them were arguing about, but it wouldn't do to get in the middle of it. Elsewhere, I heard Sartan and Vix boasting about their skills, with Deru chiming in from time to time to call them idiots - or to offer her own boasts. My mind still swimming, I managed to open my mouth, trying to thank Taar for patching my wounds. What came out instead was "You are so beautiful."

She froze, staring at me in surprise. I had about two seconds to try and correct myself, or apologize, or do something. Instead, all I managed was, "You're kind and sweet and you care so much. I don't deserve somebody so perfect in my life." Obviously, that was the concussion talking. My first crush had nearly killed me, and all I had to say to the Dryad that saved my life was sentimental crap about feelings? Concussion, obviously. It didn't matter that it all was true, because that clearly wasn't the time for it. I tried to say something more, but the fog closed back in, and I passed out again.

I don't know how long I spent unconscious, but when I returned, very little had changed. Finala and Lethe argued, Sartan and Vix boasted, but the Dryads were nowhere to be seen. Feeling a little better, I found my way to the door, and slammed it open, silencing the conversation with my sudden entrance. I capitalized on the silence, moving to my pack, and taking Drevin's shield, hammer, and medallion. I still had a job to do. Finala, at the very least, understood the situation, and had the decency to sit down. Lethe understood, as perhaps few others could, the loss of a friend so dear. Maybe I'm a touch charming for my kind, but we don't make many close friends, as a general rule. Sartan and Vix understood, being soldiers, but Deru and Taar had no idea what was going on. Each of them stepped forwards, to ask me what the hell I was doing, but Lethe and Finala intercepted them, quietly pulling them aside to explain. At the time, I hardly noticed.

The house where Drevin and I grew up was still standing, for the most part. The roof was singed, and the door was cracked, but the walls still stood. I knocked on the door, mind racing, trying desperately to think of what to say. What COULD I say? What words could possibly convey what had happened? How Drevin had given his life for me? How I had stood with the Morden, the evil scourge spreading across the land, the very same foe that had nearly destroyed Aman'lu? But when the door opened, there was no need for words. My sister crashed into my legs, even as Drevin's sister and mother grabbed me from the other side. I had to stop my instinctive combat urge to shove them away, however. This was no attack, but a homecoming. We stood there, a family, for what seemed like an age, before they invited me inside.

Drevin had sent his sister a letter, just before we left. His visions of his own death had been strong, much more so than many of his people. He knew how and why he would die - and he told his sister that I would return. That I was to keep his medallion, that it would keep me from harm. That by carrying it, I would honor his spirit, and allow him to still watch over me, no matter where I went. I don't recall exactly what was said, by any of us, but I do know that I returned his shield and hammer to his family. I spent the night there, comforting my sister...or rather, my sisters. After the ordeals we had gone through together, Drevin and I were brothers. Family. Blood may have divided us, but we were family nonetheless. In the morning, Taar came to see if I was alright, and of course, the family made a big fuss over her. They joked and laughed and asked me when I planned on marrying her, and fortunately, they didn't pick up on Taar's blush. With chlorophyll running in her veins, after all, it was just a green tint to her green skin. Hard to notice. As for me, well, half-giants don't blush. That's a well-documented fact.

Though our goal was clear - recovering the Aegis that Valdis sought, which had been sent to Snowbrook Haven - there was something that had to be done, first. I asked my friends to stay behind in Aman'lu while I went out to activate the Elen'lu Prism, to put out the magical fires of the city. Luckily for me, they refused, and insisted on accompanying me. Along the way, we ran into Arinth the Mad - yes, THAT Arinth, the mad sorcerer of ancient legend. It seems he had escaped his prison, and took us for his enemies. Were it not for my friends, the mad old elf would almost certainly have killed me. But as it happened, we killed him, and Lethe claimed a good harvest of magical gear from the mage's corpse. Beyond this foe, however, we found that the Taclak had overrun the Elen'lu Isles, and taken the crystals from the focusing array, leaving the Prism without power. Luckily, I knew the area, having grown up playing on the floating islands drifting through the air in their complex dance. I knew the patterns they would take, and the timing on the passages.

With the Taclak bested, we slotted the crystals back into place, and the Prism burst into glorious life, a radiant cascade of emerald light settling over the area. Fires were doused, wounds soothed, and the Taclak were driven once more back into their lairs, terrified of the coruscating power arising to defend the land. The teleporter just outside the Isles was activated as well, and we took this back to the Primary Teleporter in the center of Amanlu's mercantile district. Thankfully, the stone Deru had given me was more than willing to establish and maintain its connection to this - and, to my delight, the stone in the heart of Eirulan was also a Primary! I could return to either town from any teleporter stone in the world, so long as I kept my stone intact.

Upon our return, two faces stood out from the crowd: Finala and Amren, each armed and outfitted for an expedition into the wilds. As I made my way through the crowd - many of whom were happier to see me now than they ever had been before - the two of them explained their predicament. Finala wanted to ensure that I was truly set against the Morden, as though Drevin's death hadn't set me on that path enough, whereas Amren was guided by visions of his own. Not visions of his death, but of a mystical treasure he was to recover for his people. Reminded of my adventures in Eirulan, I welcomed him along - but asked him to wait while I consulted Elder Celeb'hel on some matters.

The old man was thrilled to receive the Lost Sapphire - remember that, from way back in the Elven Shrine, with the plague-healing water? I told you I'd return it to its rightful people. The Elder even hugged me, which was a touch strange, but then again, it was an artifact of his people. Who was I to argue? Lightened of a substantial burden, both emotional and physical - all those trophies I took really weighed me down, so I left them with my family - I took one last look at my home before gathering my band of intrepid adventurers and setting out, off into the Vai'lutra Forest and onward towards Snowbrook Haven.

Of course, that was our mistake: Fixing a destination in mind. As it turned out, the Vai'lutra Forest was overtaken by a band of feral elves known as the Vai'Kesh. They had corrupted their forest, using some sort of powerful artifact, and blocked off most of the paths. We hacked and carved a bloody swath through the forest, cutting down the plagued and blood-maddened creatures that had once been peaceful herbivores, until we found ourselves in the heart of the Vai'Kesh Sanctuary. Bad move, obviously. They declared us invaders, and attacked. Luckily, a bunch of desiccated, diseased, half-dead, half-lich elves weren't all that much trouble for us. And since I grew up fighting REAL elves, with their fast blade work and elegant movements, these rotting messes were no match for my capabilities.

We killed our way free of the Sanctuary, stumbling upon the Vai'Kesh Prophet himself! And if you're anything like me, you'll be surprised to learn that they even had a Prophet. He rambled about the end of the world, prophecies of unspeakable horrors and the end of the 'impure' elves, and the might of their impressive murderous beast. I saw no reason to stop his ranting, because it gave me a great chance to run up and hack him to pieces. Sure, his body kept fighting without its head, but it wasn't much of a fight. The REAL fight came in the cave we went to next, in the form of a fifty-foot-tall plant monster. Right. "Murderous Beast". Obviously, the fact that I was surprised meant that I hadn't paid much attention to his rant.

Deru and Taar were understandably upset about having to kill a plant, but given that it drank blood and wanted to add ours to its diet, the rest of us had few enough qualms. The beast went down eventually, torched and sliced and frozen and pierced several hundred times over. We found out the hard way that Lethe's Drown spell, usually filling a foe's lungs with water, instead nourished the creature, as will watering a plant - and Finala's command of Death magic only strengthened it. Eventually, however, we managed to shred the damned thing, and we found the source of its unnatural powers to be the Aegis of Death, the very artifact Celeb'hel had sent off to Snowbrook Haven to be protected! The Vai'Kesh must have waylaid the soldiers carrying the tablet, and taken it for themselves, leading to the leafy abomination that had tried to mulch us. Confused but victorious, we emerged into...well, not daylight, but close enough.

We could have turned around, then and there. I'm just saying. We could have.