Cearbhail:

It's been a while, but you know... things get in the way of my writing. Writing for other people, planning D&D sessions. Trying to please everyone except myself. Gods, I hate it some days. Anyway, we're finally onto the second chapter. I didn't really go out of my way to express any displeasures with this part of the campaign because honestly, I was still pretty new to DMing so... yeah. I just kind of let them do what they want as long as they were creative about their approaches, and honestly, rolled high enough for it to work. So...

Oh... and enjoy. =^^=

[Kurohana Raksha'na]

Why did the elf place this short sword in my hands? I'm a Rakastan. I mean… sure, I'm not averse to the idea of slashing throats, but I'd rather use my claws to do it. Not to mention: I'm a Mystic Breed of Rakastan. For me, using magick is second nature, kind of like the elves. Placing this sword in my hands tells me one thing: I guess this is for real. I mean… I just left home not even a week ago. I thought I would go out, explore the world, find out who killed my entire clan… but I never really thought I'd be pushed into this scenario within days of me leaving my foster clan.

I looked up at the elf looking me in the eye. "Are you ready?" He closed his hand over top of mine, making me grip the sword. "You do realize that… we have no choice. It's us… or them."

My heart stopped for a second. This was it… yeah. Just like I thought. No going back now. I guess I just have to go along with this. I can always leave afterwards. If I ever want to find out who attacked my clan, I have to be able to investigate. And I guess that starts here. I should have known that this wouldn't be as simple as going to a nearby village, play some poker, and then get rich and use the money to pay investigators to find out what I needed to know in order to avenge my family. I would have to get my claws dirty. Kayrukna told me this quest of mine would be perilous, and that I would find myself in situations where I would need to fight for my life. I knew the risks, and I trained with the clan in the ways of the Turami Assassin, being trained by some of the clan's hunters in how to survive. I spent years with them, raiding ancient ruins, pyramids, and other things that helped me learn how to survive during this quest of mine. They understood why I needed to do this. They wanted revenge for what happened just as much as I did. And even so… that was training. I never had to stab something that wasn't a scorpion, or a stray coyote. Or shooting down vultures with magick missiles. This were people, living people. Not a simulation or hunting.

My eyes were still glued on the short sword. This was it. No going back. I keep repeating it in my mind, but… I'm not a violent person. I'm a studious one. I wanted answers to what happened to my clan. I wanted answers to who planned it, why those people followed, and ultimately… why my clan? I mean… after the incident, I thought it was just a band of bandits or something, but nothing was looted. Just bodies mutilated and burned. The whole village broken down, and words written in blood on our tents, calling us magick whores. I wanted to find out what the bigger picture was, and if in the process, I end up meeting the individual responsible for all this… great. Maybe I'll kill them. If not just to keep this from happening again, and again. I need to protect whatever remains of my tribe: The Mystic Breed Rakastans.

I looked back up at the elf holding my hand over the blade. He had this… look in his eyes. He knew what he was asking of me. He also knew… we had no choice. I guess that's it then. No choice. I sighed as I took the sword from him, looking over towards the exit. The old man with long brown matted hair looked at me, nodding as he gestured to the door. "We don't have time for this. The longer we wait, the longer the enemy has to prepare for us."

The elf gripped my hands tighter, nodding his head to me. "Do you know how to use this?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

That was all he needed to hear. He started for the door, grabbing a sword from one of the knocked-out guards. "We're ready." I quickly followed behind him out of my cell and over to the door.

The old man looked at the two of us, almost giving us one last chance to change our minds. He finally nodded and shoulder-slammed the door, almost bursting the door off its hinges. A guard was on the other side of the door, and he didn't survive the door exploding open. The old man had his own sword aimed down right at the guard's chest, impaling him as he slammed the guard into a wall, the door and sword smashing him on impact with the wall.

The elf jumped into the hallway, charging his first enemy, his hand glowing as he summoned his magick. He shot a small blast of fire as one of the guards, and he managed to dive out of the way as the spark of fire flew over his head. I decided to actually do something, and I wasn't really all that happy with it. One of the guards was pulling back an arrow in his bow and aiming it right at the elf guy. I stuck out my hand, using one of my first spells I learned: Mage Hand. And… I kind of know how to make it invisible thanks to some rogue training of mine.

I summoned my Mage Hand, bringing it to existence right in time to catch the arrow right as it was being fired. It saved the elf as he stuck out his hand, shooting a blast of lightning at the closest guard. The guard took the hit directly, being thrown off his feet as he dropped to the ground, convulsing from the shocks given to him. I bared my fangs as I took off in a dash, running up the walls and across the ceiling as I ran over top the downed swordsman and made my way over to the archer. He just barely had his bow loaded when I jumped from the ceiling and fell down right on top of him, plunging my sword into his throat. With a quick twist of the sword, I felt and heard his neck snap.

I sat there on top of him for a few seconds… or minutes. I'm not sure how long. I just killed a man. Sure, he was going to kill us, but… I still killed him. Did this make me as bad as the people that razed my village? I mean… it's self-defense but… at the same time, I'm here because of my actions. I decided to jump into the bar fight. I mean, that one guy, whoever he was, was very vocal in his story about killing a whole family, starting with the father, working the daughter to death, and then having the son pay off the rest of the debt, only to having him shot to death by his troops. It was enough that when the elf guy stood up from his chair to punch the annoying guy in the face, I ditched my earnings to go jump onto the soldier pulling out a sword to kill him.

It was my action of jumping in to kill that soldier, or defend that elf guy, that put me in the position I'm in now. I'm killing a man… because I tried to defend some guy I didn't even know. And now… my paws are forever stained. I'm a murderer now. There's no going back. This was the path I have chosen. I was trained in the ways of the rogue trickster, but I favored the methods of the assassin. And now I have my first death. I only hope it's one of the last I have to render, or that I never think of this as my first response to a threat.

I sat there for a few more seconds, just letting my mind catch up to my body. My claws were shaking as I contemplated pulling my sword up. I knew it was going to be just as hard to pull it out as it was for me to put it in. Um… that phrasing. It's… well… SHUT UP.

I sighed as I quickly pulled my sword out of the guy's throat. Blood shot up like a fountain, and didn't expect the sudden shower on my face. My fur… my precious black fur! I hope there's a river I can wash in, because I'm NOT licking this off! I don't know where this guy's been, and I don't want to find out the hard way.

The elf walked over to the convulsing guard and quickly ran his sword through the guard's chest. After the guard died, he walked over to me, nodding his understanding as he turned his attention to the door. He placed his ear to the door; I'm guessing he's trying to hear all the screaming and dying going on the other side of the door. I didn't need to place my ear on any surface when I could hear the vivid screams of people dying.

The old man sighed as he walked over to us. As he stopped by the doorway, he placed a hand on it. "Here's the problem." He looked at the door. "If we open this door… we don't know what we're getting into. We don't know how many men are out there, or how strong they are. I can hear the screams of dying men out there, but we don't know if they're training… or if they're facing an even bigger threat. We might be charging out to our deaths. Are you willing to risk that chance just to leave? We can probably hold this position until we find out what's going on out there. Or… maybe we would just be wasting precious time we could use to escape."

I looked over to the elf. He seemed to be pondering what we were going to do. "I say we take our chances. The three of us have done well so far…"

"So far?" The old man almost laughed, shaking his head. "You managed to knock out two guards, both of which were distracted by your dick. You struggled to land your first hit on that guard right there. You were lucky the Rakastan had your back, or you'd currently have an arrow sticking out of it. And she…" He looked at me. "She's not a warrior. Not in her heart anyway."

He's right. I'm not a warrior, but… I have to become one. I sighed, looking down at the sword in my hands. "We don't have much of a choice. Either we stay here… and die. Or we go out there and take the risk."

The old man looked me in the eye. "I just wanted to make sure. Once we go out there, we're set on our path. We're escaping this prison. And I've been here for years. It's a military fort. We'll be fighting through Illuska's greatest soldiers. Well, maybe not their greatest, but the most of what they have."

That's… I don't know much about Illuska. I'm not entirely sure what their military looks like. Looking down at the guards we just killed, I'm guessing they're not very elite.

The old man walked up to the door, placing his hand on the handle. "Are we ready?"

The elf shrugged, looking at me. "Whenever you are."

I nodded. "Yeah."

The old man looked at the two of us. "Well then. Our adventure begins."

He pushed the door open and he rushed out, leading the way as I followed out with the elf right behind me. The outside was utter chaos. There were possibly hundreds of people fighting each other. There seemed to be two groups, but I only suggest this because of coordinated armors and colored clothes. The guards we had in the prison… I didn't see any others like them out in the battlefield, but I did see the bright blue colors that their shirts were comprised of. Not to mention the same Coat of Arms on their armor plates as were branded on the guard leathers. The other army had mostly dark leather with reds and yellows. A yellow circle with what looked like a hammer brazened in red decorated their helmets, which had horns sticking out of them.

The old man looked out at the battlefield. "This… this can't be." He looked at me. "Do not engage the red army. They're… allies."

I looked to the elf. Did he know what was going on out here? "Damarans?" He squeaked out as he looked across the battlefield. "Here?"

…

[Kara Kulenov]

There were so many of them. Why? I should have done more research before committing to this attack on Fort Sun Blood.

Three Illuskan soldiers were charging right at me. Oh well, I can't focus on what I did wrong; I can only focus on how I can make it right. "Brother. I need a lift."

My brother, Ivor, decked in the iron plating of a Damaran Templar, wielding a greatsword, glanced back at me. "Right." He lowered down to a knee, placing his greatsword on his back. "So, you got a plan?"

"Fly over the soldiers running right at us, land on one's face, stab him in the eye, kick the other two while jumping down. While they're distracted, you will kill them with your sword." I jumped onto the flat of my brother's greatsword. "Ready when you are."

"You're lucky we've practiced this. Up you go!" He screamed as he pushed himself up, swinging his blade over his shoulders, throwing me into the air. I soared over the battlefield, spotting more and more Illuskan Templars as I got closer to the fort's center. As I soared up in the air, I caught the site of something strange: a cat-folk. As I looked over to her, I could see a raggedy old man wearing prison rags, and an elf dressed similarly. I felt my heart come to a stop. The old man… he looked really familiar. And… I'm here to free my dad. This is a prison fort so… if that old man is my dad…

If that's dad, then I found him.

I found a smile forming on my lips as gravity started pulling me back down. I glanced down at the surprised soldiers raising their blades to welcome me. I was already too happy to care. Besides, I'm just a distraction. Right as I started falling down on top of them, I saw the flash of a greatsword, fast and powerful enough to slash through the exposed necks of the soldiers lining up to meet me. Sure, it didn't kill them all in one stroke, but it did draw their swords back down to defend themselves. And now… death from above.

I snapped my feet out, kicking at two soldiers as I landed on top of them. I directed my dagger with both of my hands onto the soldier in the middle, thrusting my knife straight through his helm into his brain. I managed to knock all three to the ground. Ivor was right behind me, slashing his greatsword through the downed soldiers. Right behind us were some of the stronger members of our army.

I pushed myself up, grabbing Ivor by his arm. "Ivor! I think I saw dad! He's right over there!" I pointed to where I remember seeing him.

Ivor's smile started to grow. "What, really?" He hefted up his greatsword. "Let's go say hi."

The only thing between us and him were about maybe 20 soldiers. "Everyone! Give us some support! Attack right there!" I pointed over to the blob of soldiers between me and dad. Our sorcerers all nodded as they warmed up their spells.

…

[Erwin Dristole]

Well, I've been all around the countryside in the past three years I've been adventuring, and even though I've seen the warzone between Southern Shou and Illuska, a small border skirmish between the two forces that never escalates past a hundred soldiers in attrition battles over battle trenches, I've never seen a battle this intense before. And since I've seen plenty of Illuskan soldiers, I know which people are my enemy. The guys all dressed in blues and silvers are Illuskans. That would mean that the people dressed in the reds are…

"Damarans?" I glanced at the old man. "Here?" What were they doing this far south? And in military regalia? Damara and Illuska aren't at war. They're allies.

The old man smirked as he glanced at me. "Well, it might take a second but you'll notice I have brown eyes and I used to have dark brown hair. I'm Damaran." I guess I could see the brown underneath most of that gray. The old man shrugged. "I thought that was obvious. And these… I know these faces."

"Dad!" I heard someone scream. A girl was running up to us, waving at the old man.

I knew instantly that several warriors were getting ready to ambush her. "She's about to be attacked." I screamed, bringing up my new sword.

"No." The old man roared, throwing himself into the battle.

I charged for the first soldier, shooting him with a flame. He burst into flames, and while he was distracted, I charged for a second one. The Cat-folk was already pouncing on top of someone, stabbing them with her sword. The old man was picking up a soldier and throwing him into another soldier.

The girl, who I suspected wasn't a warrior, drew her dagger and flipped herself onto a soldier's neck. With a twist of her legs, she snapped his neck. She fell with him to the ground, rolling off his corpse and back onto her legs, stopping right in front of the old man.

She smiled as she rushed the old man, wrapping her arms around him. "Dad! Please, tell me that it's you."

The old man smirked. "It's been a few years, but I haven't forgotten you, Kara."

She squeezed him harder. "Yup… it's me, Kara."

Damaran soldiers were beginning to form up around us, forming a perimeter. The old man looked down at his daughter. "So, tell me. What is going on? Why are you with Kulegrav soldiers?"

She released him from her hug, stepping back. "Well… a lot's happened. I'll tell you when we have a chance. Right now, we need to escape."

As I looked around, I noticed more and more Illuskans were starting to come out of the barracks. The group of Damarans were slowly beginning to thin out. I watched as three or four were jumped. I don't really understand what's going on, but I don't like Damara any more than I like Illuska. As it seems, we have a common enemy right now. And I'd be stupid to dismiss that. But still, there are too many for us all to face and expect to walk away freely.

I sighed as I closed my eyes. I let the fire within me call out. I hope I still remember what my great-great-grand uncle taught me. I took in a deep breath and screamed out as loudly as I could in Dragonic. My voice was carried on the wind. I know my family lived somewhere in the neighboring mountains to the west of Farvaan, to the north of Turami, and I think west of our current location. I think I can see the mountains my ancestors lived on. I just hoped one of my family members heard me.

The old man looked over to me. "Are you a Shouen elf?"

I shook my head. "No, but I do speak to dragons."

And in the air, I could hear the reply. It was a whisper in the air. But still, someone from the family was on their way. And they knew I needed help.

"And we're about to have some backup." I said as I looked up to the sky. I could already see the incoming dragon. It was definitely a gold dragon, just like my ancestral family. This one looked pretty young though. He was only half the size of my great-great-grand uncle.

"You can summon dragons?" Kara screamed as she watched the incoming dragon.

The dragon came to a soaring stop up in the sky, and he looked down at me. "You called for some backup, nephew?" His voice rung in the back of my mind, even as he growled at to me. His growls shook the ground; dirt kicked off the ground with every flap of his wings.

"That's…" The Cat-folk stood there wide-mouthed at the massive dragon. He was a pretty big dragon, easily the size of a young adult, just big enough for one person to ride. He had golden scales, dark yellow wings, and spines flowing off his back and neck. He glared down at me with red glowing eyes, fire smoldering in his mouth.

I nodded to the dragon, roaring up to him in Dragonic, "Welcome, honored forebear. I call upon your aid. My friends and I are in a fight with some Illuskans and we need your assistance."

The dragon looked at the battlefield, and then looked at me. "To whom am I delivering a welcome?"

"The Illuskans dressed in blue are our enemy! They deserve no quarter, for they have none to spare to the weak and helpless. The troops in red are allies, from the Great North." I roared up to the sky.

The dragon roared as he charged into the battle, spitting fire down upon the Illuskans. The Illuskans, who were shocked by the sudden appearance of a dragon, were quick to turn tail and run as soon as molten magma rained down on top of them. It was the turn this battle needed.

I looked over to the old man. "Well, I just did that." Yeah, and I'm lucky the universe allowed me to pull that off. So damn lucky. "So… are we done?" Gods, I hope so. I want nothing but to return to my search for my answers as to why my mother had to die. Someone in Illuska had to know about the virus that ravaged Farvaan and the person or organization that knew how to cure it.

The old man shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not. We still have one more thing to worry about." He pointed to the round tower near the back of the fort, near our prison. "The owner of the fort is in that building. If he learns we escaped, he'll just send people after us. We need to take him out."

Well, if that's what it takes for me to have a normal life, I guess I don't have much of a choice. I sighed as I started heading for the tower. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's end this."

The old man looked to his daughter, grabbing her arm. "Kara, you and Ivor keep up the fight. If things get too hot, just forget about me and leave."

She looked like she was about to protest, but she held her tongue and nodded. "Ok, father."

The old man looked over at me and then to the Cat-folk. "Ok, you two. You don't have to join me."

I had a bad feeling that if I didn't go with him… he wouldn't be coming back. I looked over to the Cat-folk, nodding to her. "My name is Erwin Dristole."

She looked over at me, blinking her feline blues at me. "I'm… Kurohana Raksha'na." She stuck out her hand for a handshake. "Um… nice to meet you."

I took her hand in mine. "Nice to meet you, Kurohana." I looked to the old man. "And your name?"

"Ignor Mei." He replied.

I scoffed at the thought. "I'd rather not. So, what's your name?"

"Ignor Mei." He replied. "My name is Ignor Mei Kulenov." He stuck out his hand. When I reached for it, he reached past my hand, grasping my arm and squeezed it.

Kara crossed her arms, looking at me and Kurohana. "And I'm Kara. And that over there…" She pointed to the other, much prettier girl, "is my brother, Ivor." Her… brother? Um…

Ivor, who I swore is a girl, was screaming in a feral roar as she or he, charged through Illuskans, cleaving their heads off as the dragon roared overhead, melting a wave of Illuskans like it was nothing. Man, we were lucky everything was going so well. If it continues going this well, we should have no problems walking out of here.

I looked over at Kara, pointing to her 'brother'. "Is that really a boy?"

She glared at me, her cheeks burning red. "Yeah, I'm sure."

Ignor Mei smacked me on the back of my head. When I looked up at him, he wasn't seething. He was actually smiling, almost on the brink of laughing. "I could hardly tell the two apart when they were born." He could hardly tell them apart? Were they twins or something?

Kurohana's nose was twitching. "They do seem very similar, but they smell so different. Kara's definitely a girl, and Ivor is… well…" Her nose twitched. "really smelly. But he smells like perfume."

Kara'a face reddened even further. "Please don't ask why." She mumbled as she turned away from us. "Ok, I'm done here. Good luck, Dad. Come back safe." She glared at me and then at Kurohana. "Good luck." She mumbled forcefully as she drew her daggers and turned her attention back to the fight.

Ignor Mei looked back at me, smiling thickly. "I'm going to like you two. Now, no more stalling. Let's go kill a Paladin."

A Paladin? We're killing a Paladin?

My loins were quickly filling up with crap. "Um… you said a Paladin? Like a military leader?"

He nodded. "And not just a Paladin, but an Arch Paladin, one of five generals of this whole province." His face tensed up. "I don't expect this will be easy."

Oh, crap… we're going to die.

Cearbhail:

Yeah... the whole summoning a dragon thing. I really shouldn't have let him do it, but I was like (well, i'll only do it if he rolls a 20). You can see what happened. And then when it showed up, (I'll only let it help them if he rolls about an 18. Another 20). Gods, these people. It doesn't become a trend though. This was before I drew a map of the region, and afterwards, all the woods and mountains were set. So, I told myself were dragons roost, where other things live. And so... most of Illuska is mapped (kind of). Still need to work on rivers and lakes and whatnots. But for the most part, everything is set. Next chapter, we see the end of the introduction session I planned for my party. (by the way, most of the time i'm playing as Kara, Ignor, Ivor, Raven, Megumin, Suu Sha, and Kuzu, as well as any other NPCs, but these named ones have their own character sheets drawn up on my laptop and are tagged as my personal NPCs, which is why they sometimes are not involved, if not only because I hate having to play so many at once).