Cearbhail:

So, now we get to meet one of my more... interesting characters. If you ever read her bio... you'll know exactly why she's interesting. We'll cover some of that today, but not all of it.

Anyway, enjoy =^.^=

[Raven Moonlight]

"Our proximity circle just went off." Ishia, a Shou Sorcerer girl around the age of 14, ran up to me screaming at the top of her lungs.

I found myself sighing as I picked myself off my meditation mat. We've been having this back and forth war for a full year. I was getting tired.

"Are you rested?" I asked the young girl as I picked up three combat staffs. They were fully charged from bathing in the moonlight last night. Moon Elf magic might be a limited form of magic, but it works wonders on enchanted items. Every night, I meditate to recharge our magical items, using my moon elf magic to use the energy from the moon to fill our crystals with the magical energy required to keep this battle going for as long as it was needed.

The young Shou girl nodded. "Yes, Mistress. We're ready."

The Eastern Damaran Mage Circle Tower. The last known mage tower in Damara to still be functional. The other seven towers went dark five years ago when the Templars protecting our tower turned on us. It happened here too.

I was just a student when it happened. I was studying magick, trying to understand my bond with the Great Elder, and how I was gifted with magic beyond just moon magick. I am a Warlock, chosen by the Great Elder to be his weapon in the coming war. I don't really remember much of what my life was before I was chosen. I had small glimpses of me crawling on a stony floor, covered in blood, reaching for a statue of Odin… barely clinging to life… and then I heard a voice in my head. I get my life back, and magick beyond what I could imagine… and I become a weapon for the All-Father. I wanted revenge… against whom… I can't really remember. I chose to become a weapon. And I was branded with these old sigils on my left arm. I came to the circle to have them examined, also to train with my new magical abilities.

I was able to be promoted from one of the lower students, those who have restricted rights to ancient texts, to full student, a member of the inner circle. I basically became good enough at magick that I could join the tower as one of the researchers, teachers. I was in the inner circle for 4 months when our Templars marched into our rooms… started executing us. Many of my friends, teachers, were murdered in their sleep. I managed to survive because the Great Elder snapped me out of my meditation. He told me that I was about to be attacked. I had to defend myself. I was too late in defending most of the other masters, and while most of them died in their sleep, many more were awake when they were stabbed through their backs. Some of the very few remainders fought back, and while the Templars are decked out in magical protection, we managed to fight them off, drive them out of our tower.

We tried to call for the other towers, but we couldn't reach any of them. We feared the worst. Only one other tower, the South-West Tower was still standing, and their Templars did the same thing. A girl by the name Liishen had defended the tower, helped the Shou living there. A few days later, the tower went silent. We assume either the mages managed to escape, or were murdered. There's really no alternative.

Ever since, for four years, we've been on our own. Small skirmishes with Damaran forces from time to time, but nothing too much for us to handle, until a year ago… when a full Paladin army marched onto our tower. We barely managed to drive them away, and they set up a defensive outpost nearby. Every day they march on our tower. We set up as many defenses as possible since we survived the Templar attack. We wanted to evacuate, but every time someone goes out to scout… they don't come back. I put a tracking spell, watched their scouting mission, and… they would be attacked by whatever was surrounding us. To the west, the dragon living in the mountain. To the south, so many icy trolls. To the east, the Damaran/Shou Border wall. No getting over that.

And now that an army of Paladins, much stronger than Templars, and trained in Faith, have us surrounded, out-magicked, and outnumbered, we have nowhere to go. Every battle, more and more of us get wounded… some die. As of right now, I am one of the three strongest mages still alive. And one of our mages is a healer. She doesn't fight… she just heals. I'm the only Warlock. The only other people here… are children. Children that I must protect. The only other strong mage, a Wizard by the name Koumin, is lying in our healer's chambers, getting fixed after getting shot with several arrows the previous day.

It's no wonder why Ishia would come to me. We're expecting today to be our last day. We can't keep holding this tower. Luckily for me… I found a way out. I've been spending every day in the library, searching for any magical spells that would help us out. I found a really old text that has some ancient spells, one of which is a Teleportation spell. It will take some time to set up the Teleportation spell, and even then, I have to spend an hour in concentration, and need to know exactly where I'm going. I will be pretty exhausted once I pull this spell off, and while some of my children are Shou, some are Damaran, Gnome, and Tiefling. Anywhere we go, we might end up at enemy lines.

And if we're going to be attacked at any second… I can't take the time to pick out a teleportation spot on a map of endless possibilities, set up a circle, prepare the spell, and then put myself and the other children at risk for a spell I've never attempted. I at least have to wait until Koumin is back up on his feet. He can protect the circle while I set up the circle.

I walked down the spiral staircase that continuously flows around the tower from floor to floor, Ishia keeping pace with me. "Mistress… are you going to go out there and fight?"

I felt my hands gripping my staffs tightly. "If I have to." I turned to look at her. "Were you monitoring the perimeter spell?"

Ishia shook her head. "No, it was Nuka. He was the one that caught the perimeter breach."

Nuka, our Calishite wizard. He was one of the older children still remaining. Of course he'd be the one monitoring our perimeter spells. I better go have a chat with him.

"I'm guessing he's in the meditation chamber then?" I didn't even bother stopping to see if Ishia was going to answer me. If he was monitoring the spell, that's exactly where he'd be. He'd be meditating, keeping his mind connected to whatever's going on. I better hurry before whatever's coming for us catches us with our defenses down. "Ishia, get Thia, Sora, and Natali. I want the four of you guarding the door. Don't answer for anyone, but… if you get the chance, and if you really need to… get prepared for a fight." I turned around, shoving the charged combat staffs into her hands. "See if you can get Oleg down there too. We'll need a somewhat trained healer on site. Understand?"

Ishia nodded, trying to salute me as she ran past me. "Yes, ma'am!"

I grabbed my forehead, trying my best to halt my growing headache. Again? Why can't they just leave us alone? We haven't done anything to deserve this! Most of the people living here are children! And they're still slaughtering us like we're vermin… or monsters. I can't take this anymore. Once Koumin is up on his feet… we're out of here. I don't care where we end up, anywhere is better than here.

I hurried over to the meditation chamber where we had our defensive circles set up. The meditation chamber had each circle defending the tower also set up inside the room. If we focused on the circles, we could link to the outside defenses and pick up what was going on outside our tower. We could also activate selective defenses from the room. Nuka was adept at handling the circles, so he was often chosen for the task. Most of us can only handle four hours in the meditation chamber, but I can stay in there all day if I really need to. I prefer to handle enchanting our weapons and defensive items. Someone has to keep this place up and running.

As I found myself at the meditation chamber, I noticed some of the children gathered by the entrance. They must have heard about the approaching threat and were probably hoping to hear what we'd be facing today.

"Raven!" Takiyo pulled on my skirt. "Are we going to be okay?"

I smiled as I looked down at the young Shouen sorcerer. I bent down, placing my hand on his cheek. "As long as I am here… we'll be fine. Now, I need to see what Nuka found. I'll be back." I stood up and walked to meditation chamber's door. I tapped lightly on the door, letting Nuka know I was here. It can be jarring to have someone just enter the circles while you're focusing solely on the outside world. "Nuka, I'm here. I'm coming in."

"I'm prepared." Nuka replied.

I opened the door, slowly entering the chamber. Our defensive circle was glowing. Yup… someone entered our zone. "Trolls? Goblins? Snow rabbits?"

"A human… an elf… a cat-folk… a kitsune, a gnome, and a dire wolf." Nuka replied, keeping his eyes closed.

That's a… weird collection. Maybe an adventuring party? Those Dwarven ruins are pretty valued. If it wasn't infested with trolls, we would have relocated there. "Are they coming towards the tower?"

Nuka nodded. "They seem to be rushing this way. Their weapons are not out, however."

"Do they look dangerous?" I wanted to know what I could be facing. So far… it seems like they could be a distraction… or a party of adventurers running into a war zone. Either way, I'll probably have to do something about them. I hope they have food. Our stores are running low, and we can only eat so many potatoes before we get sick of them.

"Define dangerous." Nuka replied. "Their auric signatures indicate that three of them are magic users. The cat-folk, the elf, and the kitsune. The human and the gnome are… fighters, it would seem."

So, magic users, huh? That's different. And that brought a smile to my face. Adventurers. The Illuskans and Damarans hated magick users; there is no way they'd send magick users to draw us out… unless… that's exactly what they'd do. Hmm… I need to approach this carefully.

I nodded to Nuka. "Keep monitoring for Paladins. Let me know if they get close. Send a runner to find me if you need to."

"Okay, Raven. Will do." Nuka replied.

I rushed down the rest of the tower as quickly as I could. Everyone was already gathering by the meditation chamber, making my jog down the stairs easier. I didn't run into any interference on the way down. By the time I reached the bottom stairs, I could see Ishia and the other three mages gathered by the tower entrance.

I walked past the frightened kids, grabbing one of the combat staffs from Thia as I walked past. I gave Thia a good hair ruffling as I walked past her. "Get behind me, stand behind the door, and wait for any signs of violence. I'll go handle this."

"Mistriss!" Sora, our eldest Dragonborn student, reached out, grabbing my hand. "If… if you don't return."

"I'll return." I promised, giving Sora a nod. "But, if I don't… let Koumin know I found a text that has a teleportation circle inside it. The text is on my bed. I translated the ancient elven so… he should be able to work out the spell if I can't. Tell him to take you all to Shou… or wherever he feels you'll be safer. He's not fully recovered… so it will likely cost him his life to cast the spell. Be aware of that."

Sora nodded. "I will… ma'am. Good luck."

I won't need it.

I pushed through the doorway, looking through the blinding snow. A blizzard had fallen upon us today, making the approach to our tower almost impossible. With our defensive runes set up, this party could have been blown apart before reaching us. But… they're probably just lost and looking for directions. Or… they're here to loot us. I want to find out before I melt their faces. The one leading the group forward was the gnome riding on top of the dire wolf. She… she looked like a child. Strange.

I nodded to the adventurers approaching. "Stop where you are! This tower has defenses set up all around it. One wrong move and you'll end up without your legs! State your business!"

The human walked past the gnome. She looked Damaran. "I'm here to ask for your help. Also… I'm here to help you evacuate, if you need it."

"Evacuate?" I almost laughed at the thought. "We've been caged in here for so long; we never thought we'd get to leave. Besides… there's nowhere we can run to. There's an army to the west and north… trolls to the south, and a massive wall that's defended by two hostile armies to the east." I found my head spinning. Adventurers… here? And they want to help us? Why?

"Ma'am…" Ishia poked her head out of the door. "Should I blast them?" She aimed her staff as the human.

The human girl braced herself. "I'm not here to fight! I just want to talk!"

The elf pulled out his staff. "I should have thought this wouldn't be easy."

I grabbed Ishia's staff tip, and pushed it down. "No, stand down. And you lot… get inside. It's freezing outside, and we're being sieged. It's not safe out here." I stepped away from the door, letting the snow drenched adventurers walk past me into the tower. I sure hope I wasn't making a mistake letting them in.

…

[Kara]

I've never been in one of these mage towers before. The tower stood seven levels high. My old friend Liz used to visit one of these towers in her free time. She was actually a member of the south-western tower, studying her sorcery there. Because of her position as the daughter of a diplomat, she had the freedom to come and go as she wanted. Most mages could come and go as they needed, unless their magic was wild and uncontrollable. Megumin would have been one who would have lived in a tower her whole live. Her Explosion magic would have been too dangerous to let her be around normal people.

I don't what I expected coming here, but I was expecting a small army. I didn't see an army. I saw children. Well, there were some people around my age. The moon elf that met us at the entrance looked like a teenager, but… with how they age, she could easily be 90. Standing around her were a Dragonborn teenager with bronze scales and dark purple feathers that fell down to her shoulders, a Shou teenage girl long a long undercut and light brown hair, an Air Genasi girl with short light blue hair, and a Water Genasi girl with wavy black hair. Children… all of them were either my age or younger. This was wrong.

"You're… defending your doorway with children?" I asked, looking at the moon elf, who didn't look any older than I looked.

The moon elf shrugged. "Well, you don't look like full adults either." She pointed Erwin. "How old are you? Just curious?"

Erwin shrugged. "I'm 39. You?"

The elf shook her head. "35. I was going to prove a point, but you're older than me so… you win." The elf stuck out her hand for me to take. "I'm Raven Moonlight. You are?"

"Kara Kulenov." I replied.

Raven immediately pulled her hand away. "That's Damaran… we're kind of at war with Damara right now. I need to know right now… why are you really here?"

I sighed. "Okay… story time. Again." I gestured for Raven to join me for a sit down. "Guys… this will take a minute. Just… go do something."

"You stay right where you are." Raven pointed her finger at my teammates. "Sora… watch them."

The Dragonborn girl nodded. "Yes, Mistress."

I left my teammates at the door as I walked into the tower with Raven. We found a small table and took a seat. Once we were seated, Raven gestured to me. "Okay… we're sitting. So, who are you, what do you want with us, and why should I care? I have an army on my doorstep, and I'm not referring to you. And if there wasn't a blizzard outside, I'm sure they'd be knocking on our doors… again. So, make this fast because I have other concerns than you being here."

I nodded. "I am the daughter of Arch Paladin Ignor Mei Kulenov."

"Wow, what an unfortunate name his parents gave him, but continue." Raven arched her eyebrows. "I think I heard about him. Didn't he die in an ambush to Illuskan forces?"

"Damaran and Illuskan actually." I replied. "That's kind of what I need to talk to you about. Illuska used their Arch Paladin to overthrow our government, kill our tsar, and take control of our country, our military… everything."

Raven nodded. "And that's probably when our Templars started killing us. Five years ago?"

I nodded. "Yes. I'm guessing these events are linked. Our new tsar started declaring magick illegal, and against the teachings of the one true god. All magick users were now labeled as abominations and executed. I managed to escape with my friends, and we formed the Ostingrav Underground, led by Huoshan Liishen, to fight the new tsar, and help hide and evacuate those born with magick… or anyone the government would consider their enemy. We helped a lot of people. We were eventually crushed, Liishen was killed. And I fled with what remained of my friends to Kulegrav. We trained, rebuilt our strength… and then I learned my dad was alive. Arch Paladin of Damara Ignor Mei Kulenov… was alive. I led my friends in a fight… we secured a prison fort, freed my dad… and we're hoping to form a formidable army so that we can take out the imposter tsar, and restore Damara back to its original… I hate to say glory, but I can't think of anything that would fit."

Raven nodded. "And you're here… to save us?"

I nodded in return. "Yes. And also to see if you'll join our cause, our army in the making. We're trying to take Damara back. Even if you don't want to join us, we're still going to help you evacuate. If we head to the Elder Gleam Forest, we'll be safe inside it. Our kitsune friend has offered safe passage to any wishing to evacuate."

Raven shook her head. "No… we can't just leave. There's a dragon nearby, and even if he isn't roused from his next by us racing into the blizzard, there are trolls… so many trolls on the way down to Elder Gleam Forest. And if we are lucky enough to escape the dragon… the trolls… we won't make it that far with the Paladin Brigade just outside our doors. I don't know why they didn't attack you; you must be very lucky to make it this far."

…

[Erwin]

So, this was a Dragonborn. The Dragonborn girl was slightly taller than me. Her scales were sharp, pointy. Her eyes were serpentine. She looked very intimidating.

"You know… I'm actually Dragonborn myself." I replied, pointing to myself. "But I'm like 1/64th dragon."

The Dragonborn smiled. "I/2th. From Northern Shou. Both of my parents are Dragonborn. My father was a Bronze DB, my mom a Silver DB. I think you can guess which genes I adapted. My name is Sora, by the way."

"I'm 1/4th." The Shou girl said. "I'm Ishia." She stuck out her hand for a handshake. "Silver Dragon lineage. You?"

"Golden Dragon." I replied. Wow… I normally don't introduce myself based on my dragon lineage. It must be a normal thing in Shou. "My name is Erwin."

"Golden Dragon?" Sora crossed her arms. A small scowl formed on her lips. "That's Southern Shou."

Ishia started to hide behind Sora. "A Southern Shou Dragonborn… here?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm not from Southern Shou. I'm from Farvaan, the kingdom of elves. My ancestors actually fought in the war between mortals and dragons, helping the slave elves escape from their bondage."

"But not all of them." Sora replied. "Southern Shou still uses slaves. It's their big thing down there. It's why North Shou was founded, to break away from that horrible tradition. Our land holds all races as equals, regardless of dragon heritage. It's still a big thing there, obviously, but it's more like a clan thing. Oh, you're silver… me too kind of thing. And obviously our leaders are dragons, or each clan is headed up by their respective dragon overlords. Silvers are pretty big down there. But golden dragons?" Sora shook her head. "We don't have golden dragons in North Shou. No clans up there. We heard they all died out in the dragon war."

"No, they just live in Farvaan, or nearby anyway." I replied. "Most of my ancestors live in the woods of Farvaan."

Sora smirked. "That's different. Almost all the metallic dragons live in Northern Shou. It's just weird hearing of a golden Dragonborn. Can you breathe fire?"

I shook my head. "My blood's too diluted for that. Can you?" I looked at Ishia.

She shrugged. "A little. My breath can get pretty cold, and I can cool a drink or a hot piece of food pretty quickly, but… I can't weaponize it."

That's interesting. I looked away from the Dragonborns to the multi-colored fairy-looking people. "So… what are you?"

The blue girl with large blackened out eyes and wet-down hair pointed to herself. "I'm Genasi. So is she." She pointed to the lighter blue Genasi. "We're the offspring of humans and genies. I'm Water Genasi. My father was a marid. My mother was a moon elf. My name is Thia Liadon." What the heck was a marid? A genie… I understand. A marid… no.

The other Genasi jumped in front of her friend, taking my hand in a vigorous handshake. "I'm an Air Genasi! My father was a djinn. My mom was a Half-Elf. Half Damaran/half moon elf, as is the standard here. My name is Natali Chernin."

Both of these girls looked like they were barely into their teens. Must be the elf in them, slowing their aging down. "Well, it's nice to meet you. All of you."

…

[Kurohana]

Everyone here smells to high heavens. When was the last time anyone here showered? It must have been ages, because they smell rank. Their clothes, their musk… all of it. Why isn't Erwin or anyone else reacting to it? Damn this sensitive nose.

The Dragonborn girl, Sora, looked at me and my scrunched up noses. "You get used to it. We don't exactly have a spring of water to wash our clothes in. The closest thing we have is Thia's ability to summon water."

Thia glanced away. "It's gets weird when people ask me for a shower."

Ishia grabbed onto Thia's arm. "Shower tonight?"

Thia smirked. "Sure… why not."

Ishia pulled herself away. "You're damp again." Ishia gestured to her wet shirt.

"It's been a weird day." Thia remarked. "I'll go towel off before I leave a puddle on our floor again." She nodded to everyone before quickly jogging up the stairs.

I noticed the Dragonborn girl eyeing me. "So… you're like a catborn?"

Cat…born? That's new. I shook my head. "I'm Rakastan. Humans call us Cat-Folk."

The Dragonborn girl nodded. "Rakastan. Got it. So… can you breathe furballs or something?"

Okay… this conversation turned racist immediately. "No… I can't breathe furballs, and most of us don't lick ourselves."

"You licked yourself this morning." Erwin replied.

"That…" I pointed to Erwin. "was an emergency. The gnome showers and tubs were too small for me. Even their human lodgings were not suited for my fur." I turned my attention back to the Dragonborn girl. "What about you? Can you breathe fire or something?"

The Dragonborn girl shook her head. "No, that'd be crazy. Brass Dragonborns breathe fire. I breathe lightning." Lightning crackled on the Dragonborn's teeth. "I'm pretty good at it actually. My name used to be Sparky before I chose my adult name. I'm Sora now." She said with a proud shrug of her shoulders.

Ishia smiled at me. "So, can you do magick?"

I nodded. "I'm an Arcane Trickster. I can do some stuff. I can use Mage Hand, and make it invisible. I can also use Minor Illusion, Acid Splash. Witch Bolt. You know… some basic spells."

"I'm a Druid." Erwin replied.

"Oh… I remember a teacher that was a Druid." Sora said.

"Yeah? What happened to them?"

"She's dead. Murdered by Templars." Sora replied.

…

[Kara]

So, the people in this tower can't just leave then. "What if we leave in small groups?"

Raven shook her head. "Easy pickings for the army. There are 14 of us still here, and now there are 5 more with you here. 19 of us. Even in small groups of four, it would take almost 5 trips. I guess it wouldn't be the worst idea. I didn't want to risk it before… but if you think we can make it… we'll try it. We'll head for Elder Gleam Forest."

"Ma'am…" A young Tiefling boy ran up to us. "Nuka says a massive force has just crossed the furthest perimeter. The one we have set outside of the Paladin's camp."

I looked over to Raven. All the color in her face flushed. "Um… okay. Thank you, Blade. Gather everyone up to the meditation chamber. I need to have a chat with our new friend."

The Tiefling bowed to Raven before turning around and running back upstairs. I started to stand up, Raven following behind me.

"I'm guessing that we're about to be attacked?" I asked Raven.

She nodded. "Yes. I need to let my children know." She rushed past me back over to the doorway we entered in.

I followed behind her, making my way back to the rest of my teammates.

"Okay, everyone. We need to get ready. The Paladin army is on its way over." Raven said as she walked up to the group.

…

[Erwin]

The Paladins were on their way?

I looked for a window, finding a barred one right beside the door. With a quick glance, I found out that I could barely see anything outside the frost buildup and the raging blizzard outside. "How do you know?"

Raven pointed up at the ceiling. "We have detection circles surrounding the tower. It's how we've held on for so long. We've been ready ever since they've arrived. Now, they've breached the furthest circle, so… with the blizzard, we maybe have an hour before they arrive. I was wondering when they'd show up today. They must be fed up with us kicking their butts." She smiled, looking down at Natali and Ishia. "And we'll kick their butts again."

"Ma'am…" A young Tiefling with light red skin screamed. He was running down the stairs. "Nuka says that their numbers are in the hundreds. More than we've ever faced!"

Raven sighed. "That's not good. And if we try to evacuate… they'll just snipe us with magick. The blizzard is too thick. We can't survive that. It would take us an hour just to make it to the Dwarven city… and that's if we didn't have 10 year-olds running around." Raven grabbed her head in frustration. "We're going to have to do it." She looked over to Kara. "I have a plan."

"Okay?" Kara asked. "What is it?"

"I have a spell I've been decoding. A teleportation spell. I have to set up the circle, and it takes me a full hour of concentration… but if I have time to focus my mind, I should be able to set up a portal to one location. Distance isn't really a factor in this… but I do need specific information to set it up. I memorized astral ley lines, coordinates… all of it. Just give me a map, show me where your base is… and I'll set up a portal to there."

Kara nodded. "Okay. I'll go mark our location on a map. Show me the way?"

Raven turned to me. "I'll need the rest of you to help out here. Whatever you can do to slow down the Paladins… or destroy them… do it. I urge you to avoid direct combat. They're too strong, especially in high numbers."

Kara looked to me. "Have any ideas?"

I found a smile forming on my lips. "So… there's a dragon roosting nearby?"

Cearbhail:

So, character bio.

Name: Raven Moonlight. Race: Moon Elf/Godling. Gender: Cis Female. Sexuality: Homosexual. Age: 35. Birthday: 5e 107, 5/12. Class/Background: Warlock/Acolyte. Religion: Norse Pantheon. Gods of worship: Odin, the Elder One. Alignment: Neutral Good. Skin: Pale Gray. Hair: shoulder length, black. Eyes: One blue (right), one gray (left). Height: 5'7''. Weight: 90.

And yes, if you're wondering if Erwin... on our second campaign night... wanted to do a repeat of what he did in the first campaign... he did it. Or... he tried anyway. You'll see.