End Game
"So it has come to this." Dran said darkly as he and Sindel descended the stairs towards the waiting group of dumbfounded warriors. Sindel gripped the cleric's arm in sudden nervosity, she felt edgy seeing her crew again...especially when they all glared at her like were doing then. "You all realize that if you destroy me, Darkmoon is not necessarily going to be yours." Dran went on, eyeing the party dismally, becoming aware of the clash that would surely follow.
"But we'll have rid the Waterdeep of a massive nuisance!" Elyxya called defiantly at the approaching clerics, startling her teammates in their silent disbelief. At her side, Meeks was preparing the blade of her weapon, but even she didn't notice how she slowly backed away from her oncoming enemies. Dran and Sindel reached the bottom of the stairs, "I still don't understand why it is that you cannot see the mistake you are making." The high-priest said annoyedly, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the crew before him, "If you kill me and take down my temple, you will be letting the bad guys' win; and wouldn't that be defeating the purpose of your mission? Would you be proud to know that you've all been a party to the greatest, unjust mass-murder the Waterdeep has ever seen? Sure you'd all be Khelben Blackstaff's favorites, but only because of your ignorance!" He fumed.
The group stared for a moment and processed the information; then, Meeks, having processed nothing at all, spoke up, "You're just playing mind games with us!" She cried. The group stirred behind her. Beside Dran, Sindel's features hardened, "Meeks! Will you quit being your thick-skulled self and open up your mind for moment! Dran speaks the truth, and I'm not just saying that because I've been brainwashed for the past few days; Khelben is not what you all think he is. I've known that from the beginning, it was his station as archmage that justified his decision to send us all out after Darkmoon. We've been Khelben's pawns since the beginning! This is all a set-up!!!" She finished dramatically, in one last attempt at making her ex-team see the light.
The members of the raiding party were absolutely lost in this whole affair; since the beginning of the mission, too many doubts had sunk in and now a huge decision had to be taken. Too huge. Too final. There was a symbolic staring fight between Dran, Sindel and the group. Pryzma, from the back, looked down at her side where Will's inert body lay, "Will's dead." The drowess declared, somewhat disturbed by the thought; she looked up at Dran and Sindel and shook her head, "Why did you kill Will?" She asked simply. Dran opened his mouth to respond but Sindel's sharp tongue lashed first, "Because he deserved it. He was an impediment; he would have driven you all into the depths of ignorance with his cursed faith in Khelben." She answered the sorceress, looking disdainfully down at the cleric's body. It was clear to the group that she had killed will.
"He was still one of our friends!" San-Raal snapped back at the high-priestess, "You had no right." He added, narrowing his eyes. This was going nowhere, everyone in the room then decided, the opinions on what to do next were too varied. Dran and Sindel watched the group intently, reading their expressions and trying to figure what would be the final outcome of the meeting. They were saddened and rather angry to find that the group would not understand their fault no matter how much breath was wasted on explanation, and in that case, there was only one thing to do...
"Goodbye then!" Dran said with a sneer and launched a fireball at the party. The spell was unexpected and the group was caught off-guard; they bolted to the sides and suffered only minor singes. Dran had crossed the line and now the time to fight had come. Meeks and Elyxya got up from the ground and drew their weapons, charging on Dran and Sindel. Sindel raised her hand and a set of light blue crystal irrupted from her fingertips, spreading out into a sheet; the crystals made contact with the two fighters and they found themselves unable to move. It was a paralysis spell. Gawking off to the side, San-Raal and Pryzma became nervous and frightened; they had fought monsters and clerics before, and that meant they could fight Dran and Sindel too! San-Raal jumped to his feet and executed a few quick motions with his hands; he shouted a single word and a lightning bolt sizzled towards Dran and his high-priestess. Sindel jumped to the side with haste but Dran did not budge, the spell hit him but caused no damage.
San-Raal swore loudly and came to the conclusion that magic did not affect Dran; he tried to figure why but decided to worry about it later as Dran drew a longsword from beneath his overcoat and stalked towards him. "Foolish wizard! You're almost as bad as the other one!" Dran spat and advanced on the little drow who drew a meager dagger from the sleeve of his thick robes. San-Raal felt a pang of hatred at the cleric for having mentioned Masoj and used the adrenaline it summoned for him; with a cry, he flicked his wrist and flung the dagger at Dran. Dran smoothly side-stepped and smiled wide. San-Raal gulped.
"Oh no you don't!" Nightshade mumbled to herself as she saw San-Raal's predicament; she bolted towards Dran and swung for his side. Dran whipped away from San-Raal and deflected Nightshade's thrust. Figuring the wizard was powerless over him and that he could wait, Dran engaged in sword play with the raven-haired thief. Nightshade soon wished she hadn't been so quick to play the hero; Dran was not all that quick, but he was unusually strong, his blows causing Nightshade's grip to falter and quake. Nightshade cut low, desperately wanting to get a hit in, but Dran caught her blade with his and raised the two swords high, making it harder for the thief to keep her strength at its largest intensity. Roughly, Dran pushed Nightshade away and then charged her; the two fought once more.
Near the staircase, Pryzma was facing off with Sindel, "Is this what you really want, Pryzma? Do you really want to kill one of your friends?" Sindel asked the drowess, in an attempt to discourage her ex-teammate from engaging into combat with her. Pryzma laughed in her face, a shrill, cold laugh, "It would only be fair pay for what you did to mine!" She cried and pushed Sindel against the wall behind her. The high-priestess clenched her teeth and unsheathed the sword at her hip, "Have it your way!" She hissed and jumped at Pryzma. Pryzma cast a translocation spell on herself and appeared about thirty feet away from Sindel; she summoned magical power and launched a fireball of her own, figuring that, since Sindel had dived to the side when San-Raal had cast a lightning bolt a few moments ago, she didn't have the same magical resistance as Dran. The searing ball of flames shot forth and engulfed Sindel in flames, sending the priestess back against the wall. Pryzma was not ready to celebrate yet, and for good reason; a few seconds later, Sindel rolled out of the inferno, most of her hair singed and her robes tattered. "You bitch!" Sindel screeched, flames still licking the hem of her dark blue robes. She shot her hands forward and a column of fire shot down from the ceiling, injuring Pryzma as much as she had been injured. Pryzma tucked out of the column as the thing disappeared and faced Sindel with clenched fists, "Now it's on!" She called and the two ran at each-other, one with partially-flaming robes and the other with greatly-shortened hair.
The hall was a pandemonium. San-Raal forced himself to ignore the commotion and focus on the spell he wished to summon. He stood before the two immobile warriors that had been the first to suffer the full effects of a spell, "I can still work my magic -- even if it isn't on the enemy!" He mumbled to himself as he busied himself at flipping through his spellbook. He found the page, licked his lips anxiously and summoned the spell, waving his hands around the still forms of Meeks and Elyxya. Within moments, Sindel's paralysis spell was broken and the two fighters regained freedom of movement, "Oh my god!" Elyxya gasped as she looked around the room. Dran and Nightshade were busily deflecting each-other's sword blows, Pryzma and Sindel (if that was indeed them...for they looked somewhat different after the consecutive fire spells) were on the ground trying to throttle one-another, and Masoj still lay unconscious on the red-carpeted floor by the staircase.
"Thank you, San-Raal." Elyxya said to the smiling drow then kissed his lips soundly, "How long have we been out? Are you okay?" She asked hastily, Meeks was eager to jump into battle at her side. San-Raal frowned deeply, "I'm fine. You haven't been out for very long; I discovered something very displeasing: Dran is immune to magic." He declared with a grunt. Meeks did not hear. Elyxya's jaw dropped and then she searched out Dran and Nightshade, "Then we'll have to gang up on him!" She said bravely. Meeks was already gone.
"Help!" Nightshade cried between gasps of air, fearing that she would soon be unable to hold Dran any longer; luckily, she had suffered no wounds...or inflicted any. Meeks' husky voice was heard yelling barbarically and the blade of a polearm sliced at Dran's side from behind, help was here! Elyxya was running in to join the battle, her hope rose as she watched Nightshade and Meeks fight against a now over-matched Dran.
San-Raal had run over to the unconscious Masoj's side and now knelt by his companion. Masoj had to be wakened! Help was needed! Feeling a little odd doing so, San-Raal slapped Masoj across the face twice. The other wizard did not wake. San-Raal began to grumble and he roughly shook Masoj, then he began to yell in his ear; still nothing happened. "Come on!" San-Raal yelled restlessly, impatiently and slapped his friend some more. With a few more slaps, Masoj finally came to; he frowned up at San-Raal, "Slap me one more time and I'll kill you." Masoj warned. San-Raal found himself smiling at the threat but kept nothing from Masoj, "Sure you can, if I don't get killed out here first!" He said cynically, waving his arm out to show the scene going on in the large hall. Masoj pulled himself to a sitting position and looked around at the room, his eyebrows shot up and his jaw dropped, "Oh no." He whimpered meekly. San-Raal stood up and pulled Masoj with him, "We have to help. And don't even think of using magic on Dran, he's immune." He said simply.
From the left side of the room, Sindel and Pryzma ripped and tore at each-other, their swords having been thrown away and labeled as pointless. Pryzma straddled Sindel and drew her fist back for a punch; Sindel wriggled away from the target and Pryzma smashed her hand on the floor, howling in pain. Loud cries sounded from the center of the hall and Sindel found the time to look and see what was going on, she was horrified at what she saw. Dran was pulling away, intensely injured, from Elyxya, Meeks and Nightshade; he amazingly found the strength to fight off some of the attacks that kept coming but Sindel came to the conclusion that he would not last much longer. "Dran!" She yelled at the top of her lungs and with a burst of fury-based strength, she tore out of Pryzma's grasp and got to her feet. Pryzma got up to continue her fight, but Sindel had already taken flight to the center of the room where the larger battle was happening.
When Sindel got to Dran, the cleric collapsed to the ground in a bloodied heap. Sindel threw herself to the ground and wrapped her arms around Dran protectively, unable to find words to say what she needed to say. Dran leaned on Sindel and spoke, not to her, but to the crew, "Do...not cele...brate yet, fools." Dran gasped, throwing his sword at his three assailants and grinning devilishly. Something in the man's emerald eyes gleamed and warned the team to back away, they got the idea that something bad was going to happen. "Because something wicked this way comes." Dran cursed, his normally booming voice weakened; turned for a moment to look up at Sindel, he seemed thoughtful. The high-priestess smiled a melancholy smile down at him and Dran seemed even more thoughtful than before, "I do have a secret weapon, my dear." He said softly and suddenly pulled away from her grasp.
Masoj and San-Raal, who approached the center of the room wearing wan smiles, stopped in their tracks and stared at what they thought was the death of Dran Draggore. The high-priest shape-shifted into the form of a great red dragon and rose to his feet, than spat fire at the group of warriors gathered around. The two mages screamed their hearts out and ran to the sides as the searing flame engulfed a good third of the room. A dragon! This was completely uncalled-for!
Sindel stood unmoving in the center of the room. She mumbled to herself as she watched the great dragon sweep the room with its gaze, waiting to see what condition its victims were in. A whole set of thoughts assailed her brain then and a whole bunch of puzzle-pieces began to click into shape. Sindel just couldn't believe her eyes.
The members of the party had taken cover in the far-most corners of the hall. Meeks and Elyxya stared at each-other and wondered what to do next. Nightshade and Pryzma trembled together in a corner. San-Raal and Masoj, on the other hand, rejoiced at this unexpected turn of events. Their magic would work on the dragon! They simply knew it for a fact, and this made the two mages ecstatic. To their demise though, they realized that they would not have the time to cast the more powerful spells, the ones that would have been the more obvious choices. They prepared their spells and, figuring that they could hold off the dragon until the fighters came in, started off to face the wyrm.
They had to act quick. The team watched the two suicidal-looking drow advance on the dragon and utter a few words. Successive bolts of lighting showered the red dragon and caused it to thrash in pain. The two wizards did not stop the magic. As was expected, the other party members ran to the attack, staying perilously close to the dragon even as it thrashed. Even more caution was needed when it began to spit fire at the party. Meeks and Elyxya hacked at the wyrm's flanks and deftly avoided being smashed to the ground; Meeks suffered a few lacerations from being too close to the claws but continued to swing her blade methodically.
Sindel continued to watch, helpless like she had never been, until the dragon fell to the ground and her ex-team scattered about. She screamed and ran to the fallen dragon, pushing down those in her way. Tired and weary from their fight, the party did nothing to stop her. Sindel knelt once more before Dran and decided to get answers to her questions, "Dran? You were never human, were you?" She asked softly, resting her hands on the wyrm's scaly neck. Barely breathing, Dran spoke, "No. I didn't mean to keep it from you; no one knows...not even Khelben." He answered in the same cavernous voice as he had in his human form, "Didn't want to frighten anyone." He added. Sindel tightened her lips and swallowed thickly. A whole bunch of questions got their answer at that moment; the temple's insignia, the lovely statuettes, the fact that Dran was always hesitant to talk about his past, and especially...the high-priest's emerald eyes. She scolded herself for not having noticed earlier, it had been so obvious! A new thought came into her mind then: that of the Prophecy Dran had read to her a few days ago. It had spoken of a serpent-priest and Sindel had not understood...things have finally become clear. With that out of the way, she realized that if the Prophecy had spoken true, then she had been a fool to wave it away when Dran had shown it to her. She pondered the Prophecy as she felt the last of Dran's life slowly slip away in his laborious breathing,"When the priest of serpents strays and finds the daughter of vice and virtue, an empire will be built. Foes to friends, bliss. Friends to foes, chaos. When all seems lost, the Child Who is Not will come and take the blessed city's throne". This was all to much for her!!! She would surely go mad!
"Khelben will reward you all greatly for your deeds, your...ignorant deeds." Dran breathed, his voice raspy now. Sindel's hands trembled as she felt Dran take his last breath; a tear rolled down her cheek and she frowned, "This can't be!" She whispered to herself, "The Prophecy writes of an empire...Dran!" She choked and leaned her cheek against the wyrm's scaly flesh.
"I feel like we've done something wrong." Meeks whimpered suddenly, hugging her halberd to her chest. Sindel's head whipped up and the priestess shot the fighter a wicked glance, "Now you notice!" She spat vindictively and Meeks lowered her gaze. Sindel glared at everyone in turn, letting them all know what they had done and how stupid they were to have done it. "Go back to Khelben and claim your god forsaken money!" Sindel cried suddenly, "But don't forget to kill me first! Oh, and you might as well crush the temple while you're at it!" She added sarcastically, tears flowing steadily down her cheeks. She held out her arms and gritted her teeth, "Go ahead!" She taunted them, "Cowards. You're all a bunch of cowards! Cowards for not having taken the initiative to stop and think about what you were doing! Cowards for having followed Will's biased train of thought! Cowards for not killing me now!" She went on passionately.
The team shifted uncomfortably. When the team looked into Sindel's eyes, they saw what they should have seen a very long time ago: their mistake.