Cearbhail:

So, we're continuing on.

Oh... and enjoy. =^^=

[Kurohana]

An Arch Paladin? What is an Arch Paladin? Did I even hear that right? I don't know much about Illuska or… wherever we were. I just wanted to come up here and find out who killed my family and why. I'll just help these people out and then go back to my hunt.

Ignor Mei nodded his head towards the building near the back of the fort. "The Arch Paladin is inside that fort. If we go in there, we should be able to find and kill him."

Erwin sighed as he started taking the lead. "Ok, but… why do we have to kill him?"

"If we just let him live, you'll continue being wanted men. The commander here is not well-known for status updates, and since he's a warden of this prison fort, he's pretty much left alone. In fact, from what I've noticed, he's pretty much severed ties with the actual Illuskan army. I can't understand why though. So, think of this as me confirming a suspicion I have." Ignor Mei stated as he charged up to Erwin, catching up to him.

I was jogging behind the two of them. I had no idea what to say to contribute to this conversation, and to be honest… I'm pretty quiet. I've only ever known my family… and outsiders were never very welcome among my family. I will probably have to change that someday. It's not a bad thing to have friends, but where to get some? I'm sure that these two will probably do whatever needs to be done and then… they'll go their separate ways. And I'll go mine. Why bother trying to get to know either of them if we're not even going to ever see each other past this point?

I looked ahead, seeing a small wave of enemies forming up in front of the fort entrance. I brought my weapon up, ready for another fight. Ignor glanced at us, nodding. "Let me take this."

He pushed ahead, bringing up his sword. It started to glow with some bright light, and as he slashed, he screamed, "Improved Divine Smite!" His sword cleaved through the five soldiers like it was nothing, and as he did so, the bright light vanished from his sword. He was breathing heavily, wiping at his brow as he looked up at the sky. "Gods, it's been too long." His left arm started shaking, though it was barely a twitch. I could smell the stench of death on him. Not a good sign.

I looked at Erwin. I hoped he noticed it too. He didn't seem to notice it though. He was too busy heading towards the door. He slammed his foot on the door, busting it open. He walked into the room, and I followed right behind him. He had his sword aimed out and at the ready, but there weren't any troops waiting for us. There was just a little girl. I really little girl.

…

[Erwin Dristole]

I expected there to be a squad of knights. I expected to be stabbed the second I kicked the door down. I did not expect a small gnome girl to be standing there, holding a broom three times her size. She was dressed in classical servant robes, her feet shackled like any slave I've seen. She was just a little girl! Probably close to eight years old. And she was here! In the middle of a war! There was a dragon just outside the room melting Illuskan Templars. I couldn't just leave her here! I had to do something, anything.

I found myself taking a knee and extending a hand to the girl. "I'm here to free you. You want to be free, right?"

She looked up at me with her big amber eyes. She looked at my hand and slowly started walking towards me. I had no idea how we got here, but now that I was here, I knew that I had to protect this little girl. There was something about her, something I needed to protect.

The little girl took my hand, and looked up at me. She looked slightly worried about what would happen next. She was too young to be in a place like this. Whoever brought her here would pay for this. She's a gnome, and I haven't seen a single one since I've been here. Everyone I've seen so far are Calishitian and Illuskan humans, so it's not like she's someone's kid. I should make sure though, before I do something horribly stupid.

"Are you someone's kid? Do you have a parent here?"

The tiny girl shook her head. "No, she's dead. The man upstairs found her dead. He took me with him."

The man upstairs? Was it the Arch Paladin? Did he do this? This made me angry. He needed to die.

I turned around to look at Ignor Mei. When I turned to face him, he could see the anger in my eyes. He knew what I needed to do. And I think he understood what I understood. This fucker had to die. No one orphans a child.

I looked back down at the girl, nodding to her. "Don't worry, I'll set you free."

She started to look worried, exclaiming, "But! What will happen to me?"

Good question. I guess I have no choice. This was happening even if I didn't participate. Either way, she was going to be orphaned again. I should take responsibility here. "You'll come with me. That is… if you're ok with it?"

She started at me for a few seconds before giving me a hesitant nod. "Umm… sure."

Not the most enthusiastic response, but I'll take it. I guess I have a kid now. "Ok, just stay here for now. Once we're done with the man upstairs, we'll get ourselves some backpacks and head on out."

She nodded, this time a little less hesitant. "Ok, but… where are we going?"

Where are we going? I'm not even sure of that. I've been wandering for the past three years, going from town to town, just doing whatever I could to solve the mystery of why my village had a sudden virus attack, one that left us with hundreds dead. Farvaan elves don't get sick, not with destructive colds anyway. We live in nature, we interact with it. Our immune systems are highly developed, and so… when some of us started getting sick and dying from some unknown pathogen… it was unnatural. And within a week or two of the virus claiming a few of us, 20 or more in the infirmary ready to die, some representative from Illuska showed up at our borders, exclaiming that they had a cure for our pathogen. The scouts brought word of the representative, and our leaders went to the border to meet with him. For the knowledge of the cure, how to make it, the representative wanted full rights to our forest's natural resources: our rich soil, crystal mines, lush thick trees and herbs with restorative qualities. They wanted it for their war effort against Southern Shou.

The elven leaders though, they rejected the offer. No amount of elven lives was more important respecting nature. We can always make more elves, but we can't make a second world. We live in harmony with nature, and that means respecting that sometimes we have to make decisions that might hurt ourselves instead of the world we live on. The Council was more than ready to accept the rolling death count which threatened to rise within the coming months. The representative told us that it would only get worse, but hopefully we'd be able to pull through as they had a year or so ago. He left us with a map of where to find him if we ever needed to get in touch with him.

I never got to see the map, it was burned the minute the rep left. And we went on, watching more and more elves getting sick. It got to the point that eventually my mother caught the illness. It was a hard month of watching her grow ill. She did not go peacefully, it was not a quick or painless death. And when she died, I needed answers. I needed to know why this happened, why Illuska demanded such a hefty price for lives, and why we couldn't find a natural cure when we were surrounded with the strongest healing herbs and magicks in any nation.

That's why I've been wandering for the past three years. I've been looking for my answers. And all I've learned so far is that I hate Illuskan nobility; I hate the system of commerce that makes a small portion of the population overwhelmingly wealthy, while people live in literal piles of hay shit. I've learned a lot the past few years, and nothing about this was good. The sad thing is, this wasn't my first trip to a prison for this kind of behavior. And this wasn't my first time escaping either. This was my first time taking part in a battle this size though.

And now, looking down at the little girl holding my hand… what was I planning on doing with her? I surely can't take her with me on my quest. It would be highly irresponsible of me to bring a little girl with me on a mission of this size. Then again, it's not like I'm looking for trouble, I'm looking for answers. I swear there's a difference even though this nation seems highly corrupt and uncaring about the people within her borders.

I couldn't just leave her on her own though. She needs someone to watch over her. She's just a little girl!

I found my head spinning with moral quandaries as I tried to reason this out. Do I dare take this girl with me? Do I try to find a more reasonable adult to watch her? It's not like we're surrounded with adults just as capable as myself to watch over this little girl while I go galivanting across the countryside, fighting trolls, ogres, uncover hidden conspiracies that will lead to the literal destruction of our world, and other more fun exciting adventures that any tiny girl would get bored being forced to sit through in a six to nine hour campaign over a small board of wood with some marker drawings on it and sheets of paper that she can't even really read yet. And it's not like rolling dice is all that exciting for children either.

I found myself shaking the thought away as I looked down at the girl. Such an important decision that's mentally racking my head, and not something that I had already explained away because I wanted my daughter to play this game with me. I'm kidding of course, this is real life, not some board game! With real consequences!

"I don't know where we're going, but I swear I'll keep you safe." There, that's the best I can hope for, I guess.

She seemed to accept that, nodding her head. "Ok. I'm Lil-Gem." She pointed over to a caged dire wolf sitting in the corner of the room. "That's Snowflake. She's my friend."

Ok, so… she has a dire wolf companion. Do I really need to worry about her at all? She has a dire wolf as her companion. That's… impressive. I should definitely put that on the back burner of my questions to ask her after I get done saving all of our lives.

I looked around the room, and it was clear I was in some sort of armory. There were chests all throughout the room, racks filled with weapons: spears, swords, and bows. There were armor sets just set aside alongside a wall. This couldn't be all of it however. I wonder if this was the crisis room, where soldiers can grab something fast and head out into a battle. And since so many of them were out being killed by a dragon, I'm guessing this room is actually empty. And on the right side of the room was a staircase that headed up.

I looked back at the old Damaran. "So… I'm guessing the man we're looking for is up there?" I pointed to the staircase.

Ignor Mei nodded. "He should be. And if he's smart, he's prepared himself for battle. There is no way he'd be ignorant to the screams of war just outside his window, which is also open."

So, a battle-ready Arch Paladin was waiting for us just up the stairs. I don't know how strong Ignor Mei is, but I'm not strong enough to even pose a threat to an Arch Paladin. Kurohana seems like she might actually be weaker than me, and that's not good either.

What we needed was a way to get to him secretly. That's when a candle lit over my head. I looked down at Lil-Gem. She lives here; she even cleans it, as evident by the broom in her hands. She would know every nook and cranny. If there was a secret entrance, she would know it. And that would give us a critical edge against our enemy. A surprise assassination. Always works.

I smiled as I looked down at our possible savior. "So, Lil-Gem. Can you help us?" Her eyes perked up as she looked up at me. "We want to sneak up on the guy upstairs. Is there a secret way to reach his room without him knowing?"

She stood there for a second, as if she wasn't sure what I was asking. After a second or two of contemplation, she nodded. "Yeah. It's over here!"

She tugged at my arm, pulling me over to the sword rack. She pushed on a loose nail, and it snapped backwards. There was a light torch in the corner of the room that suddenly blew out. An illusion of a wall blinked away, revealing a secret spiral staircase.

Lil-Gem looked back at me. "If you're going to fight the bad man upstairs, I want to come." She ran away from me, reaching into a chest underneath the sword rack. She pulled out this crossbow that was almost as big as her. "This is my toy. I made it myself."

Aww, how cute. She made a toy crossbow. I wonder if it shoots rocks or something. But, even so, I shouldn't bring a child into a fight. I shouldn't make her see me kill the Arch Paladin upstairs. Or let her see me be killed by him.

Kurohana, this whole time, was just looking at the exchange happening between me and Lil-Gem. I wonder what was going on in her mind during this whole exchange. She seemed more interested in the fight going on outside. I glanced out the door to see the dragon on the ground, biting through an Illuskan soldier's shoulder plate, lifting him up, and thrashing him around before tossing him into three other Illuskans. Well, the fight out there should be ending rather quickly.

Wait… that brought up an idea. What if I asked the dragon to destroy the tower, and kill the Arch Paladin for me? Surely, it was a better idea than a novice adventurer like myself charging my way to the top of the tower and killing him myself. There is no way I'm prepared for an adversary this strong.

I looked over to Kurohana and then to Ignor Mei. "So, are we really going to do this?"

Ignor Mei placed his hand on my shoulder, nodding. "I understand if you think you're not ready for something this powerful. If you want, I can just go up myself. The three of you can wait down here."

Kurohana almost growled/sighed as she pushed past both of us. "We're wasting time."

There was no way I was going to let her go up there alone, so I followed right behind her. Ignor Mei and Lil-Gem followed behind me as the four of us headed up the spiral staircase.

…

[Kurohana]

I could hear the soft sounds of muttering up ahead. I could smell the cooked tart covered in strawberry paste. It made my mouth water, and I've been able to smell it ever since we opened up that secret entrance. I wanted to eat that tart, but I won't get the chance if the Aching Paladin eats it first. And I'm a trained rogue, I'm stealthy. I should be the first one to attack him. Maybe I can get him by surprise and save everyone else the effort.

"Dear diary, today has been an exciting day. Mumble, mumble…" I heard the mumbling of someone just on the other side of the staircase. He wasn't too far away now. I found myself lowering down as I went into my stealth mode. Just a little further ahead, I could even detect a slight breeze in my fur. It was still pretty dark though. You'd think there would be more light filling up this stairwell, but I guess not. I kept climbing the stairs, everyone else behind me.

"Whoa…" Erwin whispered from behind me. "Your blue markings glow in the dark."

"Only when I'm working magick or near magickal constructs like traps and stuff." I whispered back at him. "Now, shush. He's right up ahead." I'm guessing the magickal structure setting off my glowing sigils are the illusion doorways between the secret staircase. Once we exit the staircase, my sigils should return to their normal pastel blue hue.

After another round of swirling stairs, I could see a small hollowed-out image blocker. And what I mean by that is that there was an obvious doorway leading out to the room, but there was a translucent wall, made from the illusion spell, still making it appear as if the wall existed on the other side. I knew that a light source kept the doorway hidden, but blowing out the torch sitting nearby would reveal the doorway. I'm guessing the Arch Paladin knew about the entrance, but with the light of the torch making it invisible to prying eyes, he wouldn't know I'm standing right on the other side. I should be able to watch him, see if he's making any mistakes, and then go charge him.

Ok, Kurohana, it's just like all those times you snuck up on Master Ranik during your training years. All you have to do is go up, catch this baddy by surprise, and tickle him to death. Ok, not tickle, but you get the gist.

The target was standing in front of a mirror, looking at his own reflection. He was checking his face for any blemishes. I watched him as he stood there, checking himself out. He leaned closer to his mirror, sighing as he started pushing on a pimple on his face. "Jeez, if I knew black magic would do this to my face, I would have reconsidered becoming a Death Knight."

A Death Knight? I'm not sure what that is, but I'm sure we'll all be just fine. He's busy checking out his pale face in the mirror. And he's facing away from us. There's no way this can be bad for us.

I looked back at Erwin, nodding to him. Once we shared a slight nod, I charged into the room. I had a slight bit of adrenaline flowing through me as I jumped onto the roof, using my feline grace and claws to sprint across the ceiling. Erwin and Ignor charged through the portal, both of them drawing their swords. The tiny girl was crawling out with her crossbow.

As soon as I ran into the room, I knew there was something wrong. The Death Knight was looking in his mirror, right up at me. And then he looked at Erwin and Ignor. He didn't look threatened though. He just sighed, standing up from his mirror, and turned to face us.

"General Ignor Kulenov."

"Ignor Mei!" The old general reminded him.

The Death Knight chuckled. "As if I could allow myself to." He turned to face the old man, spreading his arms out. "I offered you the chance to help me in my quest. I offered to lead you back to Damara with my army. I offered you the world, General Kulenov. And now, it would seem you have your own army. If you had just escaped, I would have let you leave untouched, unchallenged. So, tell me, General Kulenov. Why did you come up here?"

During this time, I was still running across the roof, and I managed to get behind the Death Knight. I let myself fall to the ground, landing behind him while he was still talking to Ignor Mei.

Ignor Mei pushed his way past Erwin, who looked confused at this new development. "Do you really think I would support your decision, Spencer? You turned your back on Odin, you embraced that hag of a goddess. Do you think I would continue to support your cause if you embraced this darkness?"

I could see Erwin's eyes deflating. What was even going on right now? Were we killing this guy or not?

"You were a good man, Spencer." Ignor Mei screamed. "You saved me and my men when the Illuskan Paladins showed up. You helped me rebuild my army to retake Damara. And then… you changed. Did you think I wouldn't try to stop you?"

Spencer, the Death Knight with pale and slightly pealing skin, growled as he walked up to Ignor Mei. "You don't know what I had to go through! I was an Illuskan Paladin, myself. Do you know what it was like defying my god to protect you? I had to get my powers back somehow. I had to defy my entire nation to protect you! And this is the thanks I get? You kill all my faithful compatriots."

Ignor Mei scoffed. "They worship Hel, I'm sure they're not even trying to win the fight."

Spencer's face brightened as he stepped up to Ignor. "You are lucky I favor our old friendship, General, otherwise, I would take more offense at you disrespecting my soldiers as well as my honored mistress." He turned around, looking at me. He looked me over a couple times, looking back at Ignor Mei. "I give you one chance to leave. Take it, or…" He shrugs. He looks at Lil-Gem. "The girl stays here. She's important to me."

Erwin stepped in front of Lil-Gem, growling, "As if I'd let her stay with a Death Knight."

Spencer took in a deep breath. "Well then… I guess…"

He never got to finish his sentence. Ignor Mei ran a sword through his chest. I jumped back at seeing a sword manifest through the Death Knight's other side. It wasn't like he was wearing armor or anything. He was dressed in a nightgown, almost as if he was getting ready for bed.

Spencer looked down at the sword in his chest, and then looked up at Ignor Mei. "You thought this through, right? You know that I'm technically dead, right?"

Ignor Mei grit his teeth. "And so is my old friend. You're just a shell of his honor. He would never honor Hel. He would never suggest Ragnarok. He would never betray his One True God, even if He doesn't exist."

Spencer started laughing, pushing his way through Ignor's sword. "The One True God… not exist?" He laughed more as he reached for Spencer's arm. "And you think I've dishonored him by turning to Hel? You have no idea what's even going on, do you? It is true though… I suppose I have." He slapped Ignor's hand away from his sword, hard enough that Ignor was thrown across the room. The Death Knight clutched at the sword in his stomach, and began pulling it out, all while screaming bloody murder.

"Kill it!" Erwin screamed as he blasted a bolt of fire at the Death Knight. The Death Knight watched as the bolt of fire slammed into him, doing nothing as it exploded across his face.

"I'm immune to all magick." The Death Knight replied.

"Shit." Erwin replied, charging in and slashing with his sword.

I brought my own sword up, slashing at his backside. And together, the two of us started slashing at him, cutting him deeply.

The Death Knight sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "I just wanted to go to bed. And yet… here I am, standing in my nightgown, not even wearing pants." He sighed again. "Oh well." He raised his hands, a dark energy collecting in them. "I should remind you who my goddess is, and what powers she gives to me."

Ignor replied by standing up and slamming his fist in Spencer's face. Erwin and I both took our turns slashing our weapons down on Spencer, which honestly, every time I hear his name, I tend to forget he's this powerful death god thingy. It's totally cutting the dramatic moment away from the fact that he's a Death Knight.

Erwin and I continued to slash at him, and every time he tried to bring up an attack of some sort, Ignor would interrupt him by bringing a slash down on top of him, screaming, "Divine Smite!"

All the while, the Death Knight continued to stand there, absorbing almost every blow. I'm not sure he even wanted to fight. After three rounds of combat, the Death Knight was barely able to stand up.

"Spencer." Ignor said as he looked down at the Death Knight. "After all these years, I cannot believe you would just stand there and let this happen."

The Death Knight pushed himself up, standing straight as he glared at Ignor. "I've been preparing my ultimate spell. And now…" His body started turning darker, the light in the room started to vanish as he seemed to pull all the light in. "I'm finally ready to destroy everyone!" His voice started to change, growing deeper. My fur started to rise as I tasted malevolence in the air. He was getting ready to do something. I couldn't just stand here and wait for him to do it.

I slashed with my weapon, and Erwin as well. Together, we managed to do enough that the Death Knight's aura of malevolence vanished.

"Crap… my concentration broke." The Death Knight sighed. "Oh well, my back up plan is nearly here."

"Back up plan?" Erwin asked.

"Um…" Lil-Gem called from the stairs. "I hear moaning, lots of it."

"No… no, no, no!" Ignor screamed as he walked over to the stairs. "Zombies! He summoned zombies."

"Draugr, actually." The Death Knight almost laughed. "Presents from Hel. Hope you enjoy them. Once you're all dead, I'll be sure to recruit you for the final battle of Ragnarok. I'm sure Hel will love you all to join her army."

Ignor screamed, throwing himself at the Death Knight, slashing deep into Spencer's throat. "If you like her so much… go to Hel, you bastard!" And with that, his sword started glowing again. He gave a swift slash and managed to sever Spencer's head from his shoulders.

Erwin looked down at the severed head, saying, "He's not going to come back, is he?"

Ignor shook his head. "Not from that, he's not." He looked to the staircase. "We have another issue. Those draugr. They're insanely strong, and there are probably hundreds of them. We'll be lucky to get out of this alive."

That's when I heard it, a small voice in the distance, amplified by a magical incantation. "From the burning depths of my heart, from the fire that rages inside my soul, I call upon my unbridled fury to rise from the ashes of my hopes and dreams, manifested into the desires and creeds upon which I stand! I call upon that magick that dwells within me, manifested in the only form that matters! EXPLOSION!"

I felt a horrible sense of foreboding as the light around us started to turn red.

Erwin looked up, almost cursing as he said, "Oh… shi…"

Then I felt everything around me explode.

Cearbhail:

So, this ended the very first session we had. This was how I introduced the new players to the world of Dungeons and Dragons. By making them fight a Death Knight. And I know the Death Knight just kind of stood there and did nothing, but it's only because... I rolled extremely low, while they were hitting 18's and above for most of it. So, what was originally going to happen was that I was going to wreck them, introduce the fact that... there are impossible enemies and that they would have to be creative if they wanted to beat them. Both characters were magick users, and I wanted someone who was resistant to all forms of magick. Death Knights, according to the 5th edition are just that. And ex-paladins, so... story telling.

And I had Ignor Mei, who was supposed to die in the fight, saving their lives. He was going to sacrifice himself to kill stall the Death Knight so that they could escape. He's still alive, however, and now his name is no longer an introduction to an unnecessary character. And you'll see why next chapter. You see, I was outwitted by my own creations, a strong paladin mentor, and my inability to roll high enough numbers to cast the one fucking spell I wanted to use to crush them. I tried for four turns to use the spell, and it failed each time. I did manage to raise the dead though so... that gave way for the draugr to march up the stairs to kill them. A nice way to introduce them to Megumin... the Shou Dragonborn sorcerer who just rained hell down on top of them. So... there's that at least.