I do not own Dungeons and Dragons or any of the characters.
Investigating
"What do you mean you're leaving?" Edgin asked.
"We're sorry," Mia apologized. "We love traveling with you guys, but we want some time away from the world."
"We want to spend a while with just us four," Adrianna explained. "Without having to fight anyone, or the threat of death looming over us."
"We want a while of living together in peace, instead of stealing a few hours in between battles," Aranea said.
"We'll always be your friends, and we'll keep an ear to the ground, so that if you need us, we'll be there for you, but we want some time for us," Jasper finished. "We want to build a life together. At least for a little while."
Edgin sighed, nodding. "I...I can understand that. Alright."
"Good luck," Doric smiled, offering Jasper his Ironwood dagger. "I hope you guys find the perfect life."
"Keep the dagger," Jasper smiled. "Keep practicing magic. You can use Wild Shape easily, so the magic will come."
Doric nodded, smiling.
Everyone finished saying their goodbyes before Jasper and his harem left Baldur's Gate, beginning their search for the perfect home.
Jasper groaned as his pale hips bucked up into Adrianna, his seed flooding her at the same time as she broke, bucking and rolling her hips above him, her spasming tunnel milking him for every drop. As they both broke, Aranea and Mia did as well, Mia currently in a form Aranea had specifically requested. Both Mia and Jasper were in their true form, as they had been for the last week, but at Aranea's request, Mia had made a slight alteration, adding a cock exactly identical to Jasper's to her own. As Aranea's orgasm set off Mia's, Mia moaned loudly, her new appendage flooding Aranea with semen, though without sperm, like Jasper's.
After a few more moments, all four had settled, and Mia's new addition shrunk out of existence, leaving her as she was again as Aranea cuddled into her chest, Adrianna likewise cuddling into Jasper.
"This week has been perfect," Adrianna smiled.
Mia laughed tiredly. "Any week that you don't have to get dressed is great."
"I could get used to this," Aranea smiled.
"Agreed," Jasper smiled, then took a moment to kiss all three of his lovers.
By unspoken consent, all four cuddled together, Jasper and Mia on the outsides, and quickly drifted off to sleep. However, after a few hours, Shadow rose from below Jasper, forming into a humanoid silhouette before pressing his palm to Jasper's forehead. A pale, purple light shone from the contact for a moment before Shadow sank back into Jasper's shadow as Jasper's brow creased as his dreams turned dark. Darkness and fear plagued Jasper's dreams, a faceless voice screaming and sobbing, crying out for help. Finally, several minutes later, Jasper sat bolt upright, drenched in a cold sweat and gasping for breath, the voice still echoing in his head, screaming his name.
"What's wrong?" Mia asked, all three of his lovers alert and ready for trouble.
"We have to go back," Jasper breathed.
"Back?" Adrianna asked. "Are the others in trouble?"
Jasper shook his head, swallowing hard. "Not to Baldur's Gate. To the Underdark. To where we met Shadow."
Mia paled, turning from pale off-white to the pure white of freshly fallen snow. "What? Why?"
Jasper swallowed hard. "When we went to the Upperdark before, When we could sense that place, Shadow was asking me to go back. I could sense it. There's something there he wants to find. Needs to find. I think it might be a person. I think someone there needs our help."
"Someone there?" Aranea asked. "How could they even be alive?"
Jasper shook his head, staring at his shadow. "I think Shadow can sense them, and I think while I was sleeping, he showed me what he senses."
Everyone stared at Jasper's shadow for a few moments, then nodded together.
"Alright," Mia nodded. "We'll start getting ready tonight and leave tomorrow."
Jasper nodded, and they all quickly gathered their weapons and got a supply if food and water gathered and stored in Shadow for the trip. Then, they all returned to bed. Their rest wasn't quite peaceful, but it wasn't plagued by nightmares or visions, this time. Finally, as the sun rose, they gathered their weapons and left the cabin, heading for the nearest entrance to the Underdark.
"I can't believe we're back here," Mia whispered, staring across the dark cavern at a tunnel that was impossibly darker than the cavern, despite the cavern being dark even to Jasper and Mia's Tabaxi forms' Darkvision.
"Look at the bright side," Jasper said. "We're not being chased by Sinspawn this time. "We can sneak in."
Mia considered, then nodded. "True. Alright. But we need to be careful."
"And silent," Aranea added. "I'll leave a trail to follow so we can get out."
The others nodded, and they quickly and silently crossed the cavern to the tunnel. Aranea quickly spun a web around the tunnel entrance, then began to leave a trail of thread as they made their way into the tunnel. Exactly as Jasper remembered, nearly all light faded within moments. They slowed their pace considerably, being careful not to make a sound.
"Shit!" Adrianna hissed near-silently as she stumbled over a loose stone. "I can barely see anything!"
Jasper turned, silently casting Darkvision on her, and after a moment, once the spell had taken effect, she nodded. They continued, able to move a little faster, now, but even so, it wasn't quick. Finally, they stopped as they reached the end of the tunnel. As Jasper remembered, it was a nightmare. Shadowy monsters of all kinds roamed the caverns and passageways, humanoid beings that belonged in the dark places of the world were scattered about, some hunting, others fighting each other, some feeding their pet monsters with the meat of their kills, others gorging themselves on the kills themselves.
The labyrinth of tunnels they were in wound and wove in every direction from the cavern before them, each tunnel with its own guardians and dangers. Giant spiders scrambled from one tunnel, snatching a displacer beast who hadn't been paying enough intention, instantly paralyzing it and dragging it back into the tunnel. A Balhannoth hanging above one tunnel snatched up a Shade as it passed below, fleeing from a swarm of Gravehounds. A cloaker swooped down from a tunnel in the ceiling and captured a Ghirrash, quickly wrestling it into submission. A drow dragging a fresh kill of some kind was suddenly snapped up by a Nightcrawler, the bigger, black, more deadly cousin of a Purple Worm, as it burst out of the wall, swallowing both the drow and his prize.
Jasper swallowed hard as he remembered exactly why this place scared him so badly. Literally everything that wasn't them would group up to try to kill them. Mia gripped his arm suddenly, and he followed her gaze, spotting a Nightwalker stalking past, uninterested in any of the creatures that moved out of its way. Once it had passed a good distance from them, Shadow formed before Jasper as a wolf, leading them quickly but silently through the cavern, avoiding anything and everything. It stopped at a cavern, sniffing, then silently walked into it. Jasper and the others followed, all of them keeping their weapons ready, Jasper holding his rapier at the moment. For a long while, they passed unnoticed. Time ticking by into several hours. Finally, however, their luck ran out. As they were passing by a cluster of tunnels, Shadow suddenly stopped, snarling in warning before transforming into an Ephemeral Hangman. A split-second later, the tunnels around them came alive, swarming with giant spiders.
In an instant, it was chaos. The spiders were everywhere, leaping at them, spraying webbing, scuttling across the ground, lunging at them. There were many types, but the vast majority were Tomb Spiders, whose venom would reverse the effects of Negative Energy and Positive Energy, making healing spells cause damage. Jasper had always hated Tomb Spiders. Even before he feared spiders, he hated them. But even with his fear of spiders growing worse, he was able to focus now, flipping, spinning, and carving his way through the spiders, slaughtering anything in reach of his blade. As he did, Mia and Aranea fought equally skillfully, Aranea also using her webs to prevent the spiders around them from using their own to bind anyone while binding spiders herself, allowing for fast, easy kills. And all the while, Shadow was using his Ephemeral Hangman form to capture and crush spiders, endlessly moving from one to the next, never taking more than an instant to kill them. While the four of them rapidly shredded the spiders swarming out of the tunnels at them, Adrianna used her staff to bludgeon any spiders around her to death long enough for Mia and Aranea to clear a spot and begin protecting her. Then, finally, she focused.
A few moments later, she raised her staff high. In a near-blinding flash of reddish-orange light, a barrage of fireballs sped into each tunnel, erupting in the distance and collapsing the tunnels. The last surviving spiders swarmed them, only to die to a barrage of Flame Arrows from Jasper before they all looked around carefully. Several spiders were burning around them, the flames cold and dim, and shrieks, snarls, roars, and shouting was beginning to echo from the way they'd come.
"We need to go!" Mia said urgently.
"Agreed!" Jasper nodded. "Shadow, let's go!"
Shadow transformed into a wolf again instantly, taking off at a sprint, Jasper having to carry Adrianna as he sprinted in his Tabaxi form to keep up, Mia doing the same with Aranea. Ahead of them, a Gravehound charged toward them, only for Jasper to dodge past it, Adrianna slamming a strike into its head and killing it as they passed. A Ghoul staggered out of another tunnel up ahead, but Aranea slashed its head off as they passed. A Nightcrawler exploded from the side of the tunnel beside them, but they slipped past just ahead of its bite, and its attention was stolen a moment later by a Lightning Bolt striking its side. It roared, taking off to attack the poor fool who had accidentally blasted it, giving Jasper and the others ample time to escape from the impending battle. But still Shadow raced onward. They wound and wove their way through tunnels and caverns, passed a subterranean pond that shimmered a beautiful blue, which was a clear warning sign to stay away, given their location, and raced past ruins. They passed through an underground forest of dead, twisted trees and rotting grass. They were assaulted by spiders, Ghouls, Glowing Moths, Cloakers, Greelox, Displacer Beasts, Dark Beasts, an Ephemeral Hangman, a Balhannoth. On and on the race continued, and more and more they found themselves facing nightmarish horrors. A Shadow slime, another Balhannoth, a Hangman Tree, a pack of Shadow Mastiffs, a swarm of Shadow Snakes, undead, Shadowborn, Drow, Shades. And then, they charged headlong and without warning into a swarm of Sorrowsworn, thankfully only the emotion variants.
Dozens of Wretched shrieked and launched themselves at them, a handful of Lonely fired their harpoon-like arms at them, a pair of Angry charged at them through the swarm of Wretched, a Hungry all but flung itself at them, its gaping maw of a mouth stretched wide, and a dozen Lost sprinted through the cavern, their five, spied arms stretched wide. In a flash of movement, Shadow had transformed into a triceratops, charging straight through and slaughtering a fair amount of the Sorrowsworn, but otherwise ignored them. So, Jasper and the others likewise chose to continue to run, rather than to fight. At least, until three more Nightcrawlers burst up before them.
"Shit!" Jasper swore as Shadow stopped, snarling.
"Time to fight!" Mia shouted.
"Get down!" a voice shouted.
Without so much as a moment of hesitation, both dropped, along with their passengers, and a split-second later, a flood of spells flashed over them, raining down on the Nightcrawlers. Within moments, the great, black worms were dead, and Jasper and Mia stood, looking over at a group of Shadowborn, the majority of which seemed to be wizards and sorcerers. The one in the lead smirked.
"You've got guts running around this place like that," the man grinned, his bushy, brown beard somewhat obscuring his grin. "The Mistress has decided that we should help you, so we'll handle the Sorrowsworn. You beat feet."
Neither required a repetition of the instruction. Soon, they were racing after Shadow once again, the sounds of battle rapidly fading behind them. Again, time began to drag by as they raced through the darkness. More nightmarish creatures found them, only to rapidly die. After a while longer, Shadow finally slowed to a stop, snarling, and Jasper narrowed his eyes, setting Adrianna on her feet, Mia also setting Aranea down.
"Sinspawn," Jasper growled, gripping his rapier tightly as he stared at the monstrosities before them.
Envy Sinspawn swarmed across the ground of the cavern before them, their black bodies nearly invisible in the darkness, even to their Darkvision. Many Gluttony Sinspawn lumbered through the ranks of Envy Sinspawn, wet, gurgling groans echoing from their massive mouths. And last but certainly not least, a single Wrath Sinspawn stood in the center of the swarm, motionless as a statue but with its head turned directly toward them.
"Sinspawn?" Aranea asked.
"Like that thing we fought in the Thieves Guild hideout?" Adrianna asked, trembling.
"Yeah," Jasper nodded.
"We have to fight," Mia said gravely.
"Unfortunately, you're right," Jasper growled. "No Prides, though. We might be able to survive."
They all nodded, readying themselves. Mia and Jasper both drew a dagger in their free hand, holding them in reverse grip. Then, as one, they charged. The Sinspawn moved to charge as well instantly, and Adrianna stopped short, casting Fire Storm. Before them, flames began to roar around the Sinspawn, who shrieked and flailed, rapidly being burned to ash. However, it didn't come close to killing them all. Nearly a dozen of the Envy Sinspawn managed to escape the flames, continuing their charge, only for Jasper, Mia, and Aranea to slaughter them. Two of the Gluttony Sinspawn followed the Envy Sinspawn out of the flames as the rest burned to death, and promptly thundered across the cavern, roaring as they lunged at Jasper and Mia. Both dodged around the massive monstrosity, their blades rapidly carving into them. The Sinspawn spun, swiping at them with their wicked claws, grabbing for them, struggling to catch them, only for they and Aranea to continually evade their grasp. Jasper's rapier lashed out across his foe's torso, across the mouth, and it roared, then staggered forward as Aranea's spear tore across its back. Mia flipped over her opponent, slashing it down the back, and as it turned, Aranea slashed one of its legs, dropping it to that knee. Mia struck out instantly with her Mythril-Adamantite sword, severing its other leg and sending it crashing to the ground. Then, as Aranea plunged her spear down into it from behind, finishing it, Mia lunged for Jasper's enemy just as Jasper spun around it. Jasper jumped, stepping off of its side and slashing through it deeply as Mia split the other side from below, both of them piercing its obese body to the heart. As it crashed to the ground, they turned to the Fire Storm as it finally faded and revealed the Wrath Sinspawn, standing tall and covered in burns, but seemingly completely unfazed by the injuries.
"Last one," Aranea noted. "We can do this."
"We don't have a choice," Mia intoned darkly.
"Or very long to do it," Adrianna added, the others finally noticing the sounds of a horde of monsters approaching from deep in the darkness around them.
"Then let's hurry," Jasper growled as Shadow formed before them as a Grey Render.
As if on cue, the Wrath Sinspawn roared, launching itself at them. They all scattered, Jasper firing off a short barrage of Flame Arrows as Adrianna launched a Lightning Bolt, the spells slamming into the Wrath Sinspawn and doing nothing worthwhile to it. Jasper sheathed his dagger and charged as the Wrath Sinspawn began to try to fight Shadow, only for its punches to pass harmlessly through him as Shadow's teeth and claws tore at its body. The Wrath Sinspawn sensed Jasper closing in and spun, swiping at him, and Jasper dove aside just as there was a serious of sounds like a person blowing a spitball through a straw. Spines flew from the Wrath Sinspawn's arm, one of them grazing Jasper's side. Jasper hissed in pain and the Wrath Sinspawn lunged at him, only for Shadow to pounce, biting into it and slamming it to the ground. The Sinspawn roared, striking at Shadow's head, forcing it to turn intangible and freeing itself, only for Jasper's blade to tear up the front of its torso.
It roared, swinging a murderous punch at him, but before it could connect, Aranea's webs latched onto Jasper, yanking him out of the way. The Wrath Sinspawn's fist obliterated the ground, but a moment later, Mia had severed it at the elbow. The Sinspawn roared, punching at her from the other side, and Mia dove aside, barely evading the strike. Then, just as Shadow again latched onto it and slammed it back down, the oncoming horde arrived. The first to emerge from the darkness was a swarm of Greelox, with Tomb Spiders shortly behind them. From the path Jasper and the others had come from, Sorrowsworn arrived, followed by the horde of monsters they'd been fleeing. Somewhere in the distance to Jasper's left came the rhythmic thumping of a Nightwalker's stride.
"We're out of time!" Adrianna warned, casting another Fire Storm to delay the approach of the Greelox and Tomb Spiders, then began to rapidly launch Fireballs and Chain Lightning blasts at the Sinspawn and their accompanying horde.
Jasper swore, holding out his hand and focusing carefully, his rapier stabbed into the ground as he held his Ironwood Sword's grip. A moment later, Lightning flashed down from the darkness above , exploding into the Wrath Sinspawn just as it managed to free itself from Shadow. The spell blasted it into the ground, but before anyone else could react, someone new appeared.
She had long, straight, snow-white hair that fell to just above her waist, her pointed ears stuck out to the sides, and her expression was focused yet calm. Her armor was pure white with gold on the shoulders and hips and in intricate designs highlighting the chestplate arms and legs with the elbows, knees, and the fingers of her armored gloves all plated in gold. In her right hand was a sword with a beautiful golden hilt consisting of a textured, white grip, a golden ring pommel with a pure white crystal set into its center, and a pair of four-sided arms on the guard that belled outward near the end and then tapered back off, forming a diamond-shaped section of gold at the ends of the guard, then a shimmering, pure white, double-edged blade. The sword was not overlarge, and it rather suited her modest height, the girl being about the same height as Aranea, but the grip was long enough for both hands, despite her welding it with only one as she decapitated the Wrath Sinspawn before it even knew she was present.
"You're finally here!" she greeted them, Shadow shrinking into a small dog the size of a puppy and yipping excitedly at her. "We need to go!"
"Are you the one Shadow brought us here to rescue?" Jasper asked.
The Shadowborn elf shook her head impatoently. "My sister. I'll explain later! We have to-" She was cut off as a Lost Sorrowsworn leapt at Mia, only for Jasper to yank her out of the way, severing it's neck with his rapier.
"Too late," Jasper growled. "First we have to survive."
"So it would seem," the elf nodded. "My name is Sara."
"Jasper," Jasper introduced himself.
"Mia," Mia nodded.
"Aranea."
"Adrianna," Adrianna said shortly. "What's the plan?"
"Survive," Jasper and Sara both said, both smirking.
Then, as the horde of monsters descended, they all launched themselves into the chaos.
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