I do not own Dungeons and Dragons or any of the characters.

Arming

"I'm so glad we have your Shadow this time!" Mia said as they sprinted past the Shadow, heading for the tunnel.

"Would have made the fight last time much easier," Jasper agreed. "We're almost-"

One of the Wrath Sinspawn exploded down on the skull. The skull, big as a mountain, shattered and crumbled. Jasper swore harshly, turning his sprint into a charge, Mia at his side. That Wrath Sinspawn was in the way. They had to kill it. Behind them, Jasper's Shadow was rapidly shifting from one form to the next, all of them bearing claws and fangs and making hit and run strikes on the other Wrath Sinspawn and the Pride Sinspawn. Both were trying and failing to hit the Shadow, which could strike and turn intangible at the same time, but Jasper ignored that. He and Mia had their own problem.

The Wrath Sinspawn roared, throwing two right punches at Mia, who dove aside from them, allowing them to shatter the ground. Jasper slashed at the Wrath Sinspawn, but it dodged to the side, avoiding it, then flipped over Mia. It grabbed her from behind, only for Jasper to slam into its chest, expanding rapidly as a Guardian Naga with green scales. He coiled around the Wrath Sinspawn, forcing it to release Mia. He lunged, sinking his fangs into the Wrath Sinspawn, only for it to bellow angrily, a fist slamming into Jasper's head and breaking the fangs off, knocking him loose before all four arms shoved him up and off, the hurled him. Jasper transformed back into his previous Tabaxi form as he flew, flipping and landing on his hands and feet, drawing his rapier again as Mia shot forward, Jasper just behind her. The Wrath Sinspawn turned to greet Mia, only for Jasper to speed up, reaching the Wrath Sinspawn first and slashing it across the back. It roared, spinning after him, only for Mia to step off of its back, slashing it with both gauntlet blades before streaking away. It roared in rage again, but as both began to close in again, it smashed all four fists to the ground, which all but erupted around it. The debris slammed into Jasper and Mia, hurling them. Mia crashed into the remains of the skull and fell out of sight, but Jasper slammed into the Pride Sinspawn.

It snarled, raising its claws, only for Jasper's Shadow, now as a Manticore, to slam into it, forcing it away from Jasper, who groaned as he stood, readying his sword. He turned to look around, seeing all three Sinspawn closing in on him. He narrowed his eyes, forcing himself to prepare to die, his body, skin and clothes alike, as his clothes were a part of him, beginning to darken as lines began to sink into it, giving him a bark-like appearance as he cast the one thing he'd ever been given as a gift, instead of stolen for himself. It was a stronger version of the Barkskin spell, one which granted his flesh qualities on-level with Ironwood, granting him a much more solid defense. He'd been granted the ability to use the spell by an elf he'd once saved, the elf using another spell to teach him Ironwoodskin. However, against the Pride Sinspawn, it was next to useless.

The three Sinspawn roared and charged, and Jasper snarled in defiance, moving to meet the Pride Sinspawn as his Shadow swelled into a Grey Render again, moving to meet the two Wrath Sinspawn. The Pride Sinspawn lashed out, but Jasper rolled under his strike, standing inside the range of his claws and lashed out with his left dagger. The Pride Sinspawn stepped backward, evading the blade, and slashed up at Jasper, only for him to spin around it, stabbing at the Pride Sinspawn rapidly as it backed away and he pursued it. It lashed out and he ducked aside, then again as it slashed downward at him. He tried to close the gap with a long lunge and a stab, but the pride Sinspawn evaded the blade and lashed out at him from the side. Jasper leapt away, the Pride Sinspawn's claws splitting his side open deeply but failing to split him in half. As the Pride Sinspawn shrieked victoriously and lunged to finish Jasper, Jasper's Shadow suddenly shot over from the side, shifting from Grey Render into Naga into Grey Render again, closing the distance from where it was to the Pride Sinspawn in seconds and slamming a massive fist into the Pride Sinspawn, launching it. As it began to land, Jasper spun, transforming into a Naga yet again and racing across the ground. The Wrath Sinspawn both moved to stop him, only for his Shadow to become a triceratops, slamming into both of them and hurling them away before returning to Jasper's shadow just as he transformed from a Naga into a mouse, squishing himself between two of the fragments of the skull, burrowing deeper and deeper until he'd reached a gap big enough for a person, dropping through it and returning to his Tabaxi form in time to land on his feet. Mia was a short distance away, leaning against the wall with a hand to her side, sweat pouring down her face.

"You made it," Mia smiled in relief.

"You okay?" Jasper asked, limping over to her, one hand holding his gashes.

"My ribs are broken," Mia said, holding out bandages. "Here."

He thanked her, quickly bandaging his side before both looked up at the debris blocking the tunnel. They could hear roars and snarling, but it sounded like the Sinspawn were fighting something. Without a word, both decided to get away while they were distracted, so they turned, jogging deeper into the tunnel. Finally, after another couple of hours of traveling, they stopped as they reached the ruin they were heading for. The Hanging City of Dolblunde. It was a series of rock platforms suspended by chains over a truly massive river of lava. They headed down into it, heading toward where they'd left their weapons. Normally, Jasper would just fly them there, as most of the bridges had some form of trap to stop people from crossing them without knowing how, but this time they'd have to go the hard way. However, as they approached the first bridge, they stopped, staring at the group of people already present at the bridge. Edgin and Holga were present, along with a sorcerer, or maybe warlock, and a Tiefling. However, the problem was the one explaining the method for crossing the bridge.

"It's quite simple," the paladin assured them, before diving into the extremely complicated process. "Starting from the center, use odd numbered blocks only, moving forward with each step, except for every fifth step, which must be a lateral move. Left or right, it matters not, so long as the leader and the laggard remain equidistant, after which, proceed. Again, odd-numbered blocks only. However, at the midpoint, we must switch to even numbed blocks. Same pattern, except now a lateral move after the fourth step, until we reach the three-" He was cut off by the sound of stone breaking apart and collapsing, the bridge falling away. As he turned around, he found the warlock standing with his foot on one of the blocks of the bridge.

"I...I may have...put my foot on the bridge," the warlock admitted awkwardly. "Didn't realize that's where it technically started." He lifted his foot, the block it was on rising a few inches as the pressure was released. "So...sorry. It's not very structurally sound."

"Can't you just magic us across?" Holga asked the warlock in exasperation.

"It's too far for telekinesis," the warlock said.

Holga sighed. "I've got some rope in my-"

"Hold," the paladin said. "First, we must deal with the new arrivals."

"The who?" Edgin asked, looking around, only to see both Jasper and Mia, who had adopted their normal forms. "Jasper?"

"Edgin," Jasper nodded. "Never would have expected to find you here."

"Never expected to be here," Edgin agreed. "What are you doing here? And what happened to the two of you?"

"Sinspawn," Jasper grumbled. "Wrath and Pride, specifically, but we started with everything but Sloth."

"You must be powerful fighters to have survived," the paladin said. "I didn't expect a Changeling to be as skilled as that, given that almost all prefer spy craft."

"And almost all Thayans are murderous undead slaves of Szass Tam," Jasper countered. "We're both different than the stereotypes of our species, Xenk Yendar."

"Hold on," Edgin said. "You're a Changeling?"

"We both are," Jasper said. "Not important right now."

"Actually, I believe it is," Xenk said. "You see, I was recently searching for a trio of Changelings, but two of them disappeared."

"That'd be because Jasper and Mia got locked up at Revel's End," Edgin explained.

"Indeed," Xenk nodded. "And while I was searching for the third Changeling, he suddenly vanished as I was getting close."

"We killed him," Mia said. "He was making us look bad, and he also betrayed us and got me captured by Hobgoblins who planned to rape me to death. So we repayed him for his betrayal."

Xenk nodded, drawing his sword. "That leaves only the two of you, then. I'm placing you under arrest for the crimes of theft, murder, arson, rape, burglary, assassination, conspiracy to commit murder, treason-"

"As fun as it would be to listen to you continue to recount my past adventures, I'd like to ask a question," Jasper said.

"And what would that be?" Xenk asked.

"Aren't Paladins supposed to value honor?" Jasper asked.

"Indeed," Xenk nodded.

"Where's the honor in fighting a pair of wounded opponents who are below your skill even at full health?" Mia asked.

Xenk considered. "A valid point."

He walked forward, Jasper and Mia both tensing, only to set his hand on Mia's shoulder. A bright, white-gold light shone from under it, and when he removed his hand, she blinked in surprise, gingerly feeling her ribs. He repeated the action to Jasper, and as he removed his hand, Jasper pulled the bandages off of his side, revealing the gashes had been shrunk down to only small cuts, small enough that they didn't need bandages, though they had still left scars already.

"My thanks," Jasper nodded, then struck with a dagger.

Xenk deflected the blade with his vambrace, then jumped backward as he drew his sword, deflecting Jasper's rapier even before his sword was out of its sheath fully. Jasper struck several more times with slashes and thrusts, but Xenk deflected and dodged them all before knocking the sword away and slashing back at Jasper. Jasper deflected Xenk's blade just as Mia passed him, gauntlet blades extended, and struck quickly, twirling and ducking and flipping. Xenk was forced to retreat a few steps under her assault before stopping himself and detaching a dagger from the hilt of his sword. As soon as he did, Mia broke off her assault and retreated, only narrowly avoiding a thrust of the dagger. However, as Jasper moved to reengage Xenk, Edgin stepped between them, both combatants stopping themselves.

"Hold on!" Edgin snapped. "Jasper, we need Xenk's help to get the Helmet of Disjunction, and Xenk, we could use the extra help taking down Forge."

"They are heinous criminals," Xenk accused.

"And so are we!" Edgin snapped back. "But you agreed to help us because we're working toward a goal that will benefit others! So let us get them to help us!"

"Forge as in Forge Fitzwilliam?" Jasper asked. "The new lord of Neverwinter? What a coincidence. We were planning to kill him and take over. And relax, Xenk. We'll be good rulers."

"You will not rule Neverwinter," Xenk intoned.

"Jasper, Mia, you two can be anything you want, right?" Edgin asked. "Well, have you ever been the good guys?"

Jasper considered as Mia shook her head. "Once."

"You have?" Holga asked.

"When?" Xenk asked.

"Before I met Mia and our former associate," Jasper said. "I had disguised myself as an elf while I learned to be a Druid, and disguised myself as a human while I learned to fight with my daggers, javelin, and rapier. Eventually, I was found out and driven from both the human village where I was learning to fight and from the elven camp where I was training as a Druid. It was true that I was only learning both for selfish reasons, but I do view nature as all Druids do. It came naturally to me because I'm a Changeling. As I can be anything or anyone, understanding that nature simply is was easy for me. Anyway. The elves didn't trust me not to do something evil, whether it be to steal from them, murder them, or something else, but the humans blamed the elves for sending me as a spy. They attacked them in the forest, slaughtered many of them, and I intervened. It was the first time I was able to use Wild Shape, and it was the best I ever fought with my weapons, even now. The humans attacked me, the elves attacked me at first, though they soon realized I was trying to defend them and began to aid me, and in the end, the elves and I were forced to retreat. I cursed myself for not being able to transform into a dragon, or a Molydeus. Something that could wipe out the humans, who could protect the elves properly. We fled for hours, fighting when we had to, even as the number of elves dwindled. Finally, the humans broke off. One of the elves, a young Druid, used a spell to grant me a reward, an upgraded form of Barkskin, one only a Druid could use, and only if given to them in exchange for another Druid's life. However, when the rest of the elves found me with one of theirs who had escaped the humans, albeit wounded, dead, they thought I'd murdered him, so they attacked me. I killed them all to protect myself, and I learned a valuable lesson. People like me can't be heroes. People will always choose to hate and blame Changelings for their problems when there's one around. We can't be heroes. We can't be good guys. So instead, I'll be whatever seems fun. Whatever leads to a comfortable life."

"What if you could be a hero?" Edgin asked. "What if you helped save an entire city from a powerful Thayan Red Wizard?"

Jasper frowned. "No one would accept us. You'd all be heroes and we'd be the Thayan's spies."

"We won't let that happen," the warlock assured them. "We'll make sure they know you're our ally."

Jasper considered, looking to Mia. She shrugged.

"It would be a nice change of pace to be the good guy for once," Mia considered. "I'm game if you are."

Jasper sighed, nodding. "Alright. I'm willing to cooperate. If that's alright with you, Yendar."

Xenk considered for a few moments before nodding. "Very well. I will allow it. However, should you try to take power after, or commit any crimes that are unnecessary to bring down Forge, I will be forced to bring you to justice."

"Fine," Jasper nodded. "Don't worry. If I'm going to play the part of the hero, I'll play it well. Now, about crossing this chasm so you can get your helmet and Mia and I can get our weapons."

"Weapons?" Edgin frowned.

"Yeah," Jasper nodded. "A few swords, Mia's entire weapon collection, a couple hammers and axes we were going to use to buy sellswords. They'll be useful when we inevitably fight Neverwinter's forces."

"Agreed," Holga nodded. "They sound useful."

"How will we get across?" the warlock asked.

"Who are you?" Jasper asked.

"Simon Aumar," the warlock said. "I'm a Sorcerer, though not a good one."

"I see," Jasper nodded. "I had you pegged for a warlock. Anyway, we need a way to fly."

"Well, I'm a Wild Shape," the Tiefling spoke up. "I could fly us all over, but probably not all at once."

"I could help," Jasper said. "I'm also a Wild Shape. But it looks like we have a better option." He gestured to Holga, who was looking through her belongings, the tip of a staff poking out.

"Where did you get that?" Simon asked.

"Marlamin's walking stick?" Holga asked. "I swiped it from a wizard over in the Greypeaks."

Simon took it, staring at it excitedly. "It's not a walking stick." He twisted the bent, knotted staff, straightening it before the end glowed and runes lit up along its length. "It's a Hither-Thither Staff."

"A what?" Holga asked.

"Should have a range of around five hundred yards," Simon muttered to himself, looking across the chasm. "Watch." He held the staff upright but tilted toward the cliff face beside them. "Hither." A shot of blue energy shot from the top of the staff, hitting the wall and forming a swirling blue disk. He swung the staff around toward a rock formation on the far side of the chasm. "Thither." A second shot flashed across the distance, forming a second portal, both transforming from swirling blue disks into a window, the one next to them showing what looked like the other side of the chasm. Simon let out a laugh. "It works!" He stepped through, waving before leaning back through the portal. "See?" he stepped back, calling to them from the other side. "Didn't even need the bridge! I did good!"

"Good save," the Tiefling admitted.

"We didn't catch your name," Mia said as she and the Tiefling passed through the portal next.

"Doric," the Tiefling said.

"Mia," Mia introduced herself, shaking Doric's hand.

"I understand what it's like to be hated for what you are," Doric said. "Sorry you had to feel it."

"I appreciate that," Mia smiled.

Once they'd all crossed through and Simon had closed the portals, they walked for a while, finally reaching an area where several statues of gnomes lined a courtyard-like area, most holding bowls of ash and dirt, though many of the bowls had fallen after centuries. Beside one of them was a false boulder, under which Mia and Jasper had hidden their weapons. Mia lifted up a bow and quiver first, slinging the quiver across her back before testing the bow, nodding to herself as the bowstring shimmered silver in her hands, the white-silver wood of the bow flexing seemingly effortlessly before she let the tension out and slung the bow across her back as well. Next, she picked up a pair of daggers. Both of them were made from the bones of dragons, one from a fang and the other from one of its vertebrae's spines. The one made from the fang had a double-edged, leaf-shaped blade connected to a mythril-adamantite alloy hilt. The hilt had a ring pommel so that she could attach the dagger to a rope to make it a mid-range weapon, had a length of metal running up along the dagger where a fuller would be so that the hilt could be attached to the blade, then a guard that was pointed on the ends and curved slightly toward the blade. The dagger that was forged from the dragon's spine, however, was curved. Both edges were sharpened, but she used it exclusively as a single-edged dagger. It was carved to include its own hilt, though with no guard, and had red cloth wrapped around its grip. Its blade was a curved, leaf-shaped blade, and was also about nine inches.

After the daggers, she picked up a broad-bladed rapier with a pure white blade and black hilt. The cross guard was carved into a featureless, unidentifiable face on either side, and the arms of the guard were tipped in pointed onyx crystals, as was the pommel. A thin, round knuckle guard extended down in front of the grip, which was wrapped in black cloth, soft as silk but granting an iron grip. It felt almost like an elephant's skin. The rapier, however, she handed to Jasper, who thanked her, accepting its sheath, and replacing his Ironwood Rapier at his left side with it. Its blade was broader than his normal rapier, and it was his family's sword, but he'd left it behind when they stashed the weapons because they had suspected their associate was going to betray them, so they'd stashed the weapons that meant anything to them, like Mia's bow and Jasper's rapier. He'd then made himself the Ironwood rapier the next day to go with the dagger's he'd stolen so long ago.

The next weapon from the stash was Mia's swords. One was an Ironwood sword with a hilt twisted to form a grip, then thinning into a long, single-edged, curved blade, at the tip of which the edge curved backward sharply to the back. It was the first Ironwood sword Jasper had ever made, and had given to her as a gift, which was why it was one of her most precious belongings. Her other sword, however, was a mythril-adamantite longsword with a double-edged blade, a hilt forming a "Y" with the blade between the arms, and a black grip above a pointed pommel. At the base of the blade on either side, between the arms of the guard, was a pentagonal section with the same featureless face as on Jasper's rapier, and when she lifted the sword, the eyes of the face shimmered, as did the blade for a moment.

"Enchanted?" Simon asked.

"It's a charm to keep the blade from ever dulling," Mia explained. "Jasper's rapier has it, too."

"And it's served me beautifully ever since I got it," Jasper nodded. "But not as well as this one."

He knelt, reaching into the hole where the weapons had been kept, and pulled out another Ironwood weapon. This one, was cut roughly, as though carved by a child. Its blade was poorly shaped, ending up straight for the first half, then having a spot that stuck out like a tiny point on either side, and then the blade curved backward just slightly, not enough to matter, but enough to be noticeable, and the handle was simply a rounded off, smaller section wrapped haphazardly in a length of green cloth. There was no guard to speak of, save for a pair of notches in the edges of the sword, and then a ring carved just below that to separate the wielder's hand from the edges of the blade. There was a similar carved ring notch between the handle and the poorly carved pommel, as well.

"Did a child make that?" Edgin snorted.

"Yes," Jasper said. "Mine."

"You...what?" Edgin's eyes widened.

"That Druid child, the one who gave his life to give me my enhanced Barkskin spell," Jasper said, staring at the sword both fondly and in disgust. "He was my son. His wound was infected with Purple Worm poison. All of the elven Clerics were dead, so there was no way to treat the poison, so instead, he made his death useful. My son committed suicide because he thought having a stronger Barkskin spell would make me happy. He told me that as long as I used the spell, he'd be with me. He'd be able to protect me for once. And now he's gone."

"I'm sorry," Edgin said. "That's...I'm so sorry."

"It's alright," Jasper said, picking up the sheath his son had also made for the wooden sword. He slung it across his back with his javelin, then tossed his Ironwood Rapier to Edgin. "You know how to use a sword?"

"Well, I'm not the best-" Edgin began.

"He's a danger to himself," Holga cut across him.

"Really?" Edgin asked her flatly, Holga shrugging.

Jasper chuckled as Mia lifted the next weapon from the hole. This time, it was an Ironwood Dagger, which she tossed to Doric. Doric stared at it in surprise. It had a smooth, beautiful, leaf-shaped blade with the grain of the wood accenting the curves of the blade perfectly, the grip was wrapped in forest-green cloth, its guard reached out and curved downward just slightly, away from the grip, with a pair of curves on the top of the guard, giving the guard the appearance of a recurve bow's silhouette.

"It's beautiful," Doric breathed, then blinked. "Uh, but...I don't know how to use this."

"Stick 'em with the pointy end," Holga shrugged.

"Eloquent," Simon commented.

"We'll teach both of you to use those properly when we have time," Jasper said. "For now, there's one last thing we'll need here."

"What's that?" Xenk asked.

"This," Jasper said, pulling a beautiful, silver sword from the hole. Everyone but Mia gasped, Xenk unsheathing his own sword.

The longsword had an elegant, gently-curved blade, a pair of silver wings as its guard, the wings facing upward toward the hilt, rather than the blade, and a blue gemstone set into the guard, visible from both sides.

"A Holy Avenger?" Edgin gaped. "Where'd you get that!?"

"He stole it from a Paladin," Xenk accused.

"Yes, I did," Jasper nodded. "Right after he drove this sword through my son's stomach and I returned the favor by removing his head. I had intended to sell it, since I hate looking at it and can't wield it, but I feel like you could put it to better use than selling it, Yendar."

Xenk stared at him for a long few moments before accepting the blade, sheathing his own. He strapped its sheath to his side, next to his own sword, and gently returned the blade to its sheath.

"You're not going to attune to it?" Jasper asked.

"Not yet," Xenk said. "It would not accept me, yet. Is there anything else in there?"

Jasper leaned over to look. "A couple warhammers, a spear, a battleaxe. Oh, Mia, don't forget these."

He knelt, pulling out a knife belt with half a dozen silvery throwing knives. Mia smiled happily and nodded, hanging the belt across her torso and gave Jasper a quick kiss.

"Alright, nothing else super useful," Jasper said, dragging the false stone back into place.

"Really?" Edgin asked. "You think six throwing knives is useful?"

Jasper snorted. "Six. They're all enchanted with Duplication, so as soon as I pull one out of the belt, another takes its place."

"I've never heard of that spell," Simon frowned.

"Neither had we, until we found these on a bodyguard of one of the people we got hired to assassinate," Jasper said. "Anyway, you're all here for the Helmet of Disjunction, right? Where are we off to?"

"I shall show you," Xenk said, then promptly stepped up to the bowl the statue beside Jasper was holding.

"You've got to be kidding me," Jasper said.

Xenk smirked, then blue on the dirt, the dirt blowing away, revealing an illusion. Left behind was a Gnomish puzzle box, but within seconds, Xenk had opened it, black sand falling out of the sides of the now-open bowl before Xenk lifted out the silver and gold helmet, turning to Edgin.

"This I give you now, trusting that you will protect it with your very life," Xenk said to Edgin.

"I will," Edgin said seriously, accepting the helmet, only to then pass it off to Simon dismissively. "Hold this."

Just as Simon was pushing the helmet into his bag of holding, Xenk sniffed, tensing.

"There is evil here," Xenk said.

"Thayans," Jasper growled.

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