Alcaeus comes to, his vision blurry and head ringing. He sits up and lifts his arm, shielding his eyes from the sun. It takes him a second of wondering why the sun is inside the sewers for his vision to clear and realize he is sitting in the middle of the streets of Melusarej. Before he can even question his presence there, he begins to hear screams around him. He sees the entire city is in discord, citizens are fleeing in panic.
In the distance, Alcaeus notices a fire that appears almost fake, oddly distorted in a way he can’t quite describe. Xander, Drakthar, and Kayde are all still unconscious next to him. He tries to get their attention, shaking them all awake.
“Wha… what is going on?” Xander asks, seeing the destruction occurring before him.
“Is that blob of fire chasing those people?” Kayde asks, confused once he gets a better look at what is going on.
“Yeah, there are a bunch of em everywhere,” Alcaeus explains, also wild-eyed from the disaster all around them.
A house right next to them breaks apart when another house falls on top of it.
“Is that a house within a house?” Kayde comments as he watches the destruction.
“Who cares? I don’t know what is going on but I do know that we need to get out of here and fast,” Xander tries to suggest in as calm a tone as possible, taking charge during the disorder.
“Hold on, we need to go to the bounty office. There’s the gold to collect from the bounty on the Wolves’ leader,” Alcaeus mentions, even now thinking of his coin purse before anything else.
“You don’t even have proof, there is no way they will pay you,” Xander replies, clearly annoyed that this ridiculous suggestion is even something being considered right now.
“I am going with or without you guys. I do a job I get paid for it,” Alcaeus insists, putting gold before his own safety.
Xander, despite not wanting to waste time, decides that it is better if they stay together, “Dammit fine, but right after that we need to go to the port and get out of here, the entire city is collapsing”.
They start to run towards the bounty office dodging the distorted fire creatures that are swarming around the citizens. The bounty office comes into view and they spot warriors trying to fend off the distortions attacking them.
They watch as the creatures overwhelm the men, causing them to collapse to their knees and let out blood-curdling screams.
“I don’t think anyone there is going to be able to give you gold,” Xander tells Alcaeus, intimidated by the display before him.
“Yeah… I’d agree with that,” Alcaeus concurs, finally finding some sense as he watches the display put on by these distortions.
“I have something I need to grab from my inn,” Drakthar remembers amidst the pandemonium.
Xander, knowing this is just going to waste more of their time, sighs, “Please tell me it is on the way to the port”.
“It is,” Drakthar reassures him as they begin to sprint.
They make it to Drakthar’s inn and he goes around back, finding his horse and cart of hay.
“Wow, Drakthar! I didn’t know you had a horse,” Kayde notes, eyeing the magnificent steed.
The horse is anything but calm as it keeps shying away from its master and trying to run, terrified by everything around it.
“Cover its eyes, we can’t let it slow us down!” Xander orders, not wanting this horse to slow them down. Alcaeus gets on the horse and holds both of his hands over its eyes. Drakthar leads the horse forward through the city by the reins, with Xander and Kayde running alongside them.
They push their way through the crowd, making it to a boat sitting in the port. Lines of people are in front of it just trying to secure safe passage out of the city.
They try to walk directly onto the boat, but a guard stops them, “Sorry, we are loading the women and children first, and you won’t be able to take that horse or cart with you”.
“Sir, you do not understand. We are on a holy mission and need to get this precious cargo to the desert capital lest Gwyn rain hell upon us all,” Kayde explains to the guard, changing his tone to make him seem more important.
The guard seems unimpressed by Kayde’s words, “Men of the cloth such as yourselves should be quite wealthy. I guess if you show me some gold I will believe you”.
Xander, Drakthar, and Kayde all look over at Alcaeus in unison, understanding they need to bribe the guard. Alcaeus rolls his eyes before pulling out his pouch of riches.
He pours a few gemstones he lifted off some of the Wolves in the sewers into his hand, “Is this enough for you to believe us? It really is important. Wouldn’t want to piss off the gods am I right?”
“Add one more gemstone like those, and I will let you on the boat,” the guard counters, not even slightly convinced a man that looks like Alcaeus does could be a priest following Gwyn.
Alcaeus sighs, “Fine”, as he begrudgingly pulls out another gemstone and hands it to the guard. Looking quite pleased with himself, the guard gets out of their way, and they lead the horse onto the boat.
Once onboard, they find an unoccupied area on the deck and sit down. Frightened refugees, terrified by what has happened to their city are all around them. Five minutes later, while people are still clamoring to be let aboard, the ship sets sail up the canal.
“What happened down there? I thought we were down in the sewers, how did we end up in the street?” Alcaeus now has time to ask.
“No clue man, the last thing I can remember was the guy wearing glasses pulling that lever,” Kayde recalls as best he can.
Drakthar speaks up, giving his two cents, “I think whatever that man did triggered the city’s collapse”.
“Yeah, I’d agree with that it’s too much of a coincidence for me to say otherwise... but why would he want this to happen and what was up with the Cult of Choas priest trying to kill him?” Xander starts to think out loud.
“Calm down my dudes, we can’t solve every mystery,” Kayde tries to get Xander to think about something else, knowing he will spend all his energy on trying to figure it out otherwise.
After three hours of sailing, they hear yelling from the port side of the ship. They look off into the distance and see what is causing the screams, three ships, flying the Sacrosanct Empire’s emblem, heading towards them. Suddenly cannonballs erupt from the Sacrosanct vessel, flying through the air before connecting with the ship, the newly created holes in the hull causing it to slowly take on water.
The captain steers it to the right towards the desert in hopes that the ship will make it to shore before it sinks. His efforts are not in vain as the ship barely makes it to land. As everyone frantically rushes off the ship, Xander notices that curiously, the Sacrosanct Empire’s ships sail off, ignoring the now landlocked vessel.
Onshore, the same Lieutenant that first put them into a team at the bounty office is trying to get everyone organized and calm.
“Anyone who can fight, come to me, everyone else, form a group over there,” he repeats over and over until everyone is off the ship.
Kayde goes directly to the gathered refugees and blends in with them. Drakthar, Alcaeus, and Xander approach the Lieutenant.
“My name is Drakthar Borro’vaga, I will be your most able fighter,” Drakthar confidently introduces himself, offering his services.
“Yes, yes, go over there with the others,” the Lieutenant responds, pointing him to the group of fighters.
“Hey, you’re the guy from the bounty office. I killed the Wolves leader, where’s my gold?” Alcaeus boldly asks the Lieutenant, completely blind to the situation.
The Lieutenant becomes incredulous, “Are you mad? I’m in no position to pay you. Didn’t you just witness the same thing I did in the city? Gangs are the least of our problems now”.
Xander joins the refugees after listening to the conversation as he does not want to be associated with Alcaeus let alone be within a hundred feet of him.
“Doesn’t matter, I killed the guy so I deserve my money,” Alcaeus insists, not having the sense to let this go.
The Lieutenant shoves him, “Get out of my face! I don’t have time to deal with you”. Alcaeus contemplates shoving him back but eyes the leagues of soldiers angrily glaring at him. He flees to join Xander and Kayde.
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“Why did he have to come to us?” Xander mumbles as he tries to disappear due to embarrassment.
Once everyone is in their groups, they head inland towards the desert capital. For half a day they walk through the scorching heat of the desolate sands, Xander ignoring Alcaeus the entire way.
When they finally reach the desert capital, the Lieutenant gives Drakthar and the other fighters two hundred gold each as a reward for their efforts in guiding those less able.
“We should probably find an inn to stay at,” Kayde notes as he meets back up with the others.
They walk through the city, now filled with refugees like them; but unlike most of the refugees, they have gold and can purchase rooms at an inn. They all gather in Xander’s room after settling into their own.
“I think we should all get to know each other better if we are going to be working together moving forward,” Xander begins, now that they have privacy.
“I have no problem sharing what I’ve been through,” Drakthar speaks up first.
He begins to proudly recount, “I was born a member of a desert tribe. My father was a mighty warrior, but one day, when I was still a child, he and my mother left for the marshlands, never to return, I grew up in my tribe training as a warrior in the art of one versus one combat known as Borro’vaga”.
Intrigued, the rest continue to listen to Drakthar’s story, “One day, I set out on my own to fight a sand dragon that was rumored to be roaming around the desert. I found the beast outside its cave. I came upon it suddenly, so I didn’t have a plan when the fight began. I soon noticed I was unable to penetrate its hide. So I gouged out its eyes and jumped down its throat, killing it from within, having no other option. I spent two years crafting armor out of its hide and creating this battle-axe from its claws. From there I returned to my tribe a hero and was given the title Drakthar Borro’vaga”.
“Back up, you defeated a sand dragon all by yourself?” Alcaeus asks in disbelief.
“Yes, it’s how I got all of these scars,” Drakthar removes his shirt showing the others the damage he took from the dragon’s stomach acid while he was inside it, scars covering his abdomen.
Drakthar keeps going, “Years later, the Iron Legion approached my tribe because of the rumors of my achievements. I challenged a member to a Borro’vaga if I won I would get his armor, and if he won, I would join the Legion. The man wore what the Legion called power armor. The armor was tough, but in time I learned its weak spots and was able to come out victorious. As I was about to land the killing blow the Legion’s leader, known as Orrin, walked up to me and knocked me out with one punch. He told me that the man I beat was the weakest in the Legion and that there were many men stronger than I. If I joined him, he said I might grow even stronger than him. So I joined and fought with the Legion for many years, challenging Orrin to Borro’vaga at every turn, but every time he refused me. I still want to fight Orrin, in defeating him I will take another step towards my goal of becoming the strongest warrior to have ever lived”.
“But things changed while I was in the Iron Legion. We used to fight against bandits or other militias, but more and more frequently we would be sent on a mission that had us attack harmless villagers. I have no interest in slaughtering the weak so I told Orrin that I would no longer take part in those missions. He told me I did not have the right to question the jobs he decided to take on and if I wished to remain with the Legion I would carry them out without question. It was then I decided to leave. I made my way to Melusarej where I met all of you,” Drakthar explains what brought him to Melusarej.
“Hey, if it paid I wouldn’t have left,” Alcaeus comments, only thinking about the gold as usual.
“I didn’t want to be a puppet. And we all knew those requests were coming in from the Sacrosanct. I was only in the Legion to fight Orrin, not to help some far off Empire,” Drakthar explains passionately.
“Well, that was a lot… why don’t I go next?” Kayde suggests after hearing Drakthar’s tale.
“I, like Drakthar, was born in a desert tribe. I left the tribe when I was young and began to trade all around the desert. I ended up in Melusaerj after a bad trade, lost most of my gold which is why I went to the bounty office,” Kayde states, giving a much more brief explanation of his past than Drakthar.
“That’s it?” Alcaeus asks expecting something longer.
“I could tell you some of my more colorful trade stories, but in the end, they are all about the same. Sorry, my life just hasn’t been as interesting as Drakthar’s,” Kayde deflects.
“So you boys were only trying your hand at bounty hunting. I’ve made a living off it my entire life,” Alcaeus begins to brag.
“I used to live in this very city, doing jobs others wouldn’t, and on the side, I would steal from those I was helping. Not a lot, only enough so they didn’t notice. My renown grew along with my wallet until one day one a rich guy I stole from called me out. Everyone came after me and I was kicked out of here. That rich bastard has it so well, the least he could do was share some of it. Anyway, if they found me here now they’d probably kill all of you along with me. I fled to Melusarej to start over where none of these uptight desert confederation guys could touch me,” Alcaeus explains, complaining about the consequences of his previous actions.
“So you have always been an asshole,” Xander points out, not at all surprised.
“Trust me, boy, the people paying for those jobs didn’t need any of the stuff I stole. It was harmless,” Alcaeus retorts, not willing to have his character defamed further.
“Alright, now I will tell you guys all about what happened to me and how I can do the things I do,” Xander begins.
“As you might have guessed, I used to be a priest from the Sacrosanct Empire, but I never believed in any of the Purity’s teachings at all. I was only there to climb up their ranks and dismantle them from the inside,” Xander describes, the anger still lingering in his eyes.
“So why do you hate them so much?” Kayde asks innocently, already aware of more than one reason many people hate that bigoted religion.
“I was getting to that. It goes back to when I was a baby. I grew up living with a retired military commander in the Sacrosanct, but he wasn’t my father. I learned later that he found me in the mountains during a routine military patrol. The Sacrosanct Empire troops came across a mountain village, and they killed everyone in it. The commander, by the name of Waltz, didn’t order any of this, but his troops didn’t listen to him, they had orders from someone else, the church. The commander found me in that village and took me in, he couldn’t see a kid die that young,” Xander pauses, clearly this is not an easy story for him to tell.
“Anyway, when I was thirteen, the commander told me all of this on his deathbed. I was abandoned and had nowhere to go, so I joined the military upon the suggestion of the former commander’s close personal friend, the current commander. I just tried to blend in with the others in the military, but I was way younger. I was subject to a lot of ridicule despite being a better soldier than most of them. Throughout all that time my hatred of the Purity was growing, it was when I was sixteen that I got an opportunity. The Purity came to the military and tested all of the soldiers’ aptitude for this new device. I passed with flying colors and joined them. They implanted the technology inside me that lets me switch any two objects that I can see, technology developed by the Scientist we saw just yesterday. For three years I played nice and followed orders so that I could get to the top of the church, but they kept passing me up, bringing others into their inner circle. One day everything changed, I was out training and a boulder I thought I had moved was still in its old spot. I realized that I had turned back time. That night they sent two of my fellow priests to try and kill me because I had stolen that ability, but I have no idea how I got it. I fled to the mountains and trained that ability there before heading to Melusarej to see if there was any way I could get back to the Sacrosanct,” Xander finishes his story.
“So you are trying to tell me you can turn back time?” Alcaeus asks, still not believing Xander’s story in the slightest.
“Yeah,” Xander insists.
“Then why did you let all of those guys die in the sewer?” Alcaeus inquires, thinking that would have been something obvious to prevent from happening.
“I can’t do it all the time. It only works like every two or three hours after I last used it. In that exact instance, I had already used it,” Xander gives some insight into how his powers work.
“Sounds fishy,” Alcaeus still doesn’t believe him.
“Remember when we ran through that passageway and the torches popped out at the end? The reason I knew we had to rush through there was because I had already experienced it and all of us caught on fire,” Xander tries to convince him.
“Alright, maybe you can turn back time,” Alcaeus finally admits, realizing that explanation makes sense.
Their conversation is interrupted by the sounds of commotion, bells ringing out everywhere around the city. They run outside to see what is going on, spotting hoards of people running inside the nearest buildings trying to get out of the streets.
“Maybe we could go to the bounty office and ask if they need help with whatever is going on. Could help us get some extra gold,” Alcaeus suggests, gold always on his mind.
“Yeah, I actually like that idea,” Xander agrees with him for once.
They run over to the bounty office near the center of the city. A man confronts them just outside, “What are you idiots doing, didn't you hear the signal?”
“We came here to help, and what signal?” Alcaeus explains, clearly not knowing what signal he is talking about.
“There is nothing you can do here. If you actually want to be of help go to the citadel. And the signal means to hide indoors, we are under attack,” the man informs them.
“Thanks, we didn’t know, we’ll get out of your way now,” Alcaeus and the others start to walk away.
“Hold on, don’t I know you from somewhere?” The man starts to remember Alcaeus.
“Must be mistaken, I just got into the city today,” Alcaeus insists as they leave, knowing exactly where this man remembers him from.
“Kid, give me that cloak you have on. I'm going to need the hood to cover my face so that doesn’t happen again,” Alcaeus demands, holding out his hand towards Xander.
“But I don’t have anything under this,” Xander notes, not wanting to walk around shirtless.
“Just trade shirts you guys, we can’t have people trying to turn Alcaeus in while we are here,” Kayde facilitates the conversation.
They trade shirts and Xander’s cloak is too long on Alcaeus and almost looks like a skirt before he tucks it into his pants. Xander, on the other hand, isn’t as lucky; Alcaeus’s shirt on top of being too baggy also doesn’t reach all the way down his torso so his midriff is exposed.
They make their way to a grand looking building with stained glass windows and a bell positioned above it that could only be the cathedral. Inside they find a bunch of men gathered together.
“You here to fight?” One man, who seems a little more official than the others, asks them.
“Yes,” Drakthar responds, looking forward to any sort of battle he can get himself into.
“Okay, I’m going to need you guys to head out to the outer wall right now. I’m going to put Jorge with you, he is going to show you which part of the wall you are going to defend,” the man tells them. A man in his late forties with a short grey beard walks out from the group towards them.
“The name’s Jorge, ya lads better follow me,” he slurs, clearly partially if not fully drunk.
They get to their part of the wall and see that their enemy isn’t the Sacrosanct Empire, but the creatures that resemble distorted fire they encountered in Melusarej.
“What the hell are those things?” Jorge asks, this being his first time seeing them.
“We aren’t sure, but we saw them back in Melusarej. Some people were fighting them so I think we will be able to fend them off,” Kayde mentions, trying to remember back to the haze that was their escape from the city.
“I believe ya lad. Let’s see if these things can handle my kind of fire,” Jorge starts to swirl his hands around in front of him summoning a fireball, which he throws at a pack of distortions. They disappear one after the other around where Jorge’s fireball landed.
“Well, looks like they can’t,” Jorge declares with a loud laugh, glad to see they disappeared as a result of his attack. The others stand in awe this drunken man’s ability to harness powers of the sun bestowed upon him by Gwyn himself, the god of the desert.