I ended up sleeping the day away, and woke up around 8 at night. “Hey buddy.” I spoke softly to Inkler. “I’m going to be heading out, but you can’t come with us this time. You’re just too noticeable in a city setting. That’s why I’m going to be counting on you to have our backs on the way home. Think you can handle that?” Inkler started purring in reply, and rubbed his head against my chest. I gave him the last plate of the cookoff contests the chefs in the desert had, much to his delight.
“For a ferocious battle companion, you sure do dote on him.” The priestess noted.
“He’s the best ally I could ever ask for. We have the same fighting style, and he seems to know my plan of attack most days. When I need to be the one sneaking up on the enemy, he provides a distraction. Add in the magic resistances his variant gives him, and he is devastating.”
“I see. How did you manage to make him a variant? Those transmutation circles are rather hard to come by.”
“We all need some secrets.” I said with a wink, getting a chuckle out of her.
“Ah, but I would be a poor priestess indeed if I didn’t try and figure yours out.”
“My lady, it is time.” Someone said, sticking their head in the door.
“Until another time.” She said, standing up. “Listen up. You know our target tonight. Angus is the leader. His orders, are my orders.”
“Thanks.” I whispered to her. “Our priority is stealth. Quick, unseen kills. If the alarm is raised, we are all in trouble. I’ll lead us in with my disguise cloak, though it will likely be seen through immediately. Who are the silencers?” Two drow raised their hands. “Good. You two will enter right behind me. As soon as whoever is in charge starts talking, silence him. You.” I said, arbitrarily picking one of them. “You will cast your spell first. If it doesn’t work, I want that second spell hitting within a second. I’ll make sure whoever it is dies. After that, it’s the dirty work of finding and slaying priests. Khaliss and I will remain in the main chapel. Once all the priests are dead, we will smash the altar, raid the vault, and leave fiery presents behind. Understood?”
“Yes sir.” Everyone hissed.
“Excellent. Let’s begin.” Turning, I led us out of the barn and towards the street.
“We have agents distracting the guards in this district.” The priestess whispered. “Stealth won’t be necessary for now, but we must be swift.” Nodding, I broke into a light jog. Sadly, I was making the most noise. Damn elves and their damned quick feet. As we neared the church grounds, two whistles flew by my ears and both of the gate guards died.
“Easier for our ally to remain undetected.” The priestess whispered. Four drow picked up the bodies, while two replaced the guards and activated quite detailed illusions.
“Impressive.” I whispered, heading towards the front door. I waited for all the drow to arrive, finding my two silencers. I pushed open the ornate double doors and strode in like I owned the place.
“Who comes to the temple of Light?” An older man in rather ornate robes asked. Roughly fiftyish, he had a grey goatee and short cropped hair. His robes were red and yellow, with an emblazoned sun stitched onto them, as dawn broke over a plain. He tried speaking in my silence, only to have his eyes widen in panick.
“[Binding shadow chains].” I hissed, securing his arms and legs. “[Dancing shadow steps].” Suddenly I was in his face, with the dagger of Lolth buried in his chest.
“Urh.” Was all he managed as the power of my strike forced the air from his lungs.
“Your god declared a crusade against us. Now your soul will go to his enemy. May Lolth give you all the rewards you earned.” I hissed in his ear, watching as the light in his eyes died. Once they did, a quick twist of the wrist and a tug freed the heart from his chest.
“Quickly, silently.” The priestess ordered, and the drow split off into teams of two to finish their dark deeds. While they were working, I looked at the popup I had gotten.
Cleric Slain!
In this war between gods, you have dealt a mighty blow! Aaron Lightbrand, Pontiff of Pelor, has not only died at your hands, but has been sacrificed to Lolth! Return his heart to a priestess or temple of Lolth to complete this quest.
Darkest Deeds on the Darkest Night event started!
You have started a war. Unsuspecting Pelor has no idea, and without a Pontiff cannot give orders to his followers. There is no going back from this, the die has been cast. Should you be discovered, the realm shall rise up against you. This event is timed, variable based upon too many factors to list. Good luck.
I opted to hold on to the heart until the opportune time. While the drow were out, I was studying the chapel with [Mystic vision]. Lines of angelic rune script flowed acros everything, centered on the altar that was radiating power. Odd. “What’s this?” I asked myself, wandering over to an area seemingly devoid of magic. I held off on tapping on the wall, lest I wake an errant priest.
“Khaliss. Can you mark this area with something? Once the altar is destroyed, we need to inspect it.”
“Of course.” He replied, walking over and mentally selecting the wall section I indicated. I started walking back to the priestess, only to stop midway as I heard a scuffle. Soon enough, two drow brought in a bound and blindfolded priest who was struggling in vain to free himself.
“What’s the meaning of this?” I hissed as the priest was forced on the altar.
“We are breaking the sanctity in the most efficient manner possible.” The priestess said, before driving a sacrificial dagger into the chest of the preist. As his blindfold fell off, I saw his game tag flash. Goliath. With a gong that reverberated through my chest, I felt the sanctity of the church break.
“Shit, he was an adventurer. We’re now on a time limit, one hour.” I said, stepping to the altar and shoving his body off. “Move.” I said, and started smashing blows as hard as I could with my hammer. It took more than I wanted, but in the end the altar was still only stone. As it split down the middle, I saw two topaz gems glistening in the wreckage.
Eyes of Justice
Divine object
Upon her ascencion to goddesshood, Justice removed her eyes lest they tempt her with what she wanted to see. As she would never require a temple in her honor, she gifted them to Pelor so that he might use them to sanctify his main church.
100% chance to drop upon death
I quickly pocketed the eyes, and helped the drow clear the rubble away to reveal a staircase leading down. “Alright. The priestess and I will head down to the vault and strip it of everything valuable. The rest of you are to scatter around, covering as much of the building as possible. Break open the half keg of oil I will give you, and spread it liberally around. After that, leave this trap behind in the middle of the spill.”
“What’s the trap do?”
“In a half hour, the inferno potion will drop and split open, igniting everything around it. Time starts now.” I said, pulling out items and distributing them.
“You trust me in the vault with you?”
“It’s more a reassurance for you. This way you can see what all is contained in there and know we aren’t cheating you.”
“Lead on then.” She said with a smirk. I nodded, and headed down into the darkness with a torch that Khaliss handed to me. The stairs wrapped around a central pillar, and went down maybe five stories worth of steps before levelling off into a rough hewn cave.
“Idiots. Trusting to one line of defense for their artifacts.” The priestess hissed, and I couldn’t help but agree. “Gah, what is this?” She cried, releasing the handle of a sword she had tried to pick up. Odd, her hand was smoking a little.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Durandal
Legendary two handed sword
Durandal. Only the riteous may wield this blade, whose edge may cleave through anything.
Damage: 1600-2000
Durability: Indestructible
Every tenth strike with this blade will ignore armor
Honed to perfection: Cannot be sharpened by any skills
Critical cleave: Once per day, may unleash a cleaving blow that ignores all armor and is a guaranteed critical hit.
*Can only be wielded by Lawful Good characters*
“Next time I suggest identifying a sword before you try and claim it. That one can only be wielded by a lawful good person.”
“Bah, pity we will have to leave it behind then.”
“Oh, don’t be too sure about that.” I said. Using stone manipulation, I encased the entire thing in stone. Picking it up, I turned to the priestess. “See? I’m only grabbing stone. And putting it in my pack.”
“Lolth will.”
“We can divide the spoils later, we are on a time crunch here.” I said, rapidly moving through the vault and placing things into my inventory. Ten vials of dragon blood. A tiara. A topaz the size of both of my fists. A bow of black wood that gave me the heebie jeebies. A set of armor that looked like it was straight out of feudal Japan, complete with red demonic mask. All of it went into my inventory. Plus the five chests of assorted gemstones, several books that were encased in lead, and a few scrolls that were bound with magic. The entire trip down and back up took only five minutes, but I was still feeling the pressure.
“Alright, everyone got everything set?”
“Angus.” Khaliss said, pointing to the wall.
“Right.” I said, heading over.
“What’s so special about a bit of wall that wasn’t even protected with magic?” One of the drow sneered as I started carving into the wall around it. Eventually I ripped off the panel that had hidden an alcove to reveal a twig encased within a clear tube.
“It was the only place not protected. As in they used such strong concealing magics that they hid the protective spells.” I spoke to the flabbergasted drow as I placed it in my inventory. “That’s it, let’s go.”
“The priest you slew. You should loot him.” The priestess said, and I nodded to her. Not even looking, I simply hit the ‘Loot all” button and headed out. “Time to go. The further we are when things go boom the better.”
“The rest of you, stealth on our way back to the embassy.” The priestess said as she trotted up and grabbed my arm. “You’ll escort a poor, defenseless lady home tonight, won’t you good sir?” She asked with a giggle.
“Why I would be delighted to. Perhaps we could go on a moonlit ride.” We kept the charade up the entire way back to the embassy, and once we were out of sight of the street the priestess dropped my arm.
“Spiders are prepped and ready M’lady.” The stablehand said with a bow. We blew by him, saddling up and making our way to the city gate. Once again, we passed by the guards unmolested. We had to follow the road for five minutes before we could pass a hill that was out of sight of the city, and then immediately turned and started a cross country journey. Fifteen minutes later, and everyone got a server wide popup.
Server event in progress!
Darkest Deeds on Darkest Night!
The temple of Pelor in Ascencion burns merrily on the longest night of the year! Save what you can of the church, and hope that you may find clues as to the identities of the culprits. Or toss away your morals and join them! Tonight is rife with opportunities. This is a timed event, and a half hour warning will be sent when it nears the end.
“At least they didn’t give anything away with that. Let’s push the spiders a bit, but nothing too hard.” I suggested.
“No. They are traveling at their optimum speed. Let us set the pace, we know our transport.” The priestess ordered.
“My apologies. I yield to your expertise.” I said, before turning to the party chat.
JonnyBGood: I take it you guys are responsible for the server event?
Angus_MacG: You know it. Are the traps prepped?
Rock’mSock’m: Yes mother.
Illyora: Traps are set and marked on your map. Shrik has the city on alert, we will increase it when you get close.
Angus_MacG: I knew I could trust you guys.
Illyora: Of course. Just make sure we get some of that sweet, sweet loot.
Angus_MacG: Any of you guys end up as lawful good?
JonnyBGood: Nope. Chaotic neutral.
Illyora: Lawful evil.
Rock’mSock’m: Chaotic neutral as well. Why?
Angus_MacG: Well, there was a legendary sword in there that requires a lawful good wielder. Pity.
Illyora: Oh, I can’t wait to see what you bring us. Have I mentioned that I’m the kind of girl that loves jewelry?
Angus_MacG: We’ve still got a long way to go tonight. Gotta jet, I’ll update as I can.
I came out of the party chat to see one of the drow arguing with the priestess.
“And I’m telling you, this wood is cursed. We can’t cross it.”
“This will cut nearly a half hour of travel off our course.” While they kept arguing, I looked around with [Mystic vision]. Odd, is that a forest elemental? One of the trees was glowing in my sight.
“Excuse me.” I said to the tree, ignoring the odd looks from everyone. “Would you permit us to travel through the forest?”
“No.” That I got a reply at all probably did more to shock everyone than the answer.
“Why?”
“Not allowed. All you creatures just use the land. None of you respect the elementals that live there.”
“Why you.” One of the drow started before the priestess raised her hand to stop him. I nodded my thanks for letting me handle this.
“We would offer tribute if that’s what you require.”
“Fuck off human.”
Oh really? I thought to myself as I dropped my cloak and activated my death aura. “Insolent elemental, I am no human. Though one as ignorant as you could be forgiven for not seeing through my disguise, I’ll not tolerate you anymore. Allow me to introduce myself in a way that your pathetic mind can understand, and realize that we are going to move through this forest and should anything attack or hinder us in our travels, I will raze this place to the ground and salt the earth behind me. I am Angus_MacG. Slayer of Solomon and Lillith, the one who freed Endrian. I slew a legendary undead dragon with nothing but my skills and my trusty companion Inkler. Pass my words and warning to all in this forest, and hide our passing after we leave. Should any attempt to track us, you may do with them as you please.” He had frozen at my aura, but my words left the creature shaking.
“As you wish.” He said with a bow, and I finally relaxed my aura.
“Let’s go.” I ordered, and everyone continued on.
“My, my. So authoritative. I didn’t realize that you had that in you my dear Angus. And what was that, hmmmm, magnificent aura? So terrifying, even I was shaking from it.”
“Not important right now. Let’s focus on returning in one piece, shall we?”
“Very well. But you owe me the cost of some new pants.” She said with a smile, before dropping back into line.
I had to fight very hard with myself about taking her up on the blatant offers. It wasn’t really anything against the drow, it was more her personality. My friends and I always joked that the one rule was to never put your dick in crazy, and priestesses of Lolth that get turned on by a death aura and sacrifice enemy priests on the altars of their own gods rank beyond batshit on the crazy meter.
Half an hour after the initial server warning, and we got a popup I had been dreading.
Server event update!
Darkest Deeds on Darkest Night!
One of the priests of Pelor who was sacrificed this night has returned. The adventurer Goliath confirms the culprits after spending an hour in the tender mercies of Lolth, goddess of the Drow. Though the drow sacrificed him, within their party was a shadow drakeling! Swiftly adventurers, journey to determine the source of the attack, and find the culprits. Do they travel to Menzoberrazan, capital of the drow? Or are they making towards the Unnamed shadow drakeling city? Grand rewards will no doubt be offered for verifiable information.
“Shit. Well, that’s that. No more easy trip.” I muttered.
“How?” One of the drow asked.
“Simple. Adventurers come back to life when you kill them. Sacrificing him to Lolth bought us an hour before he could respawn in this world. And now he has broadcast to everyone who was in on the deed.”
JonnyBGood: Hey Marty, been watching some of the boards. How far out are you guys?
Angus_MacG: We managed to find a half hour shortcut, so figure about another hour and a half. What’s the bad news?
JonnyBGood: Shit.
JonnyBGood: There’s some groups that will be cutting it awfully close to you. The ones in the lead are Breaking Dawn.
Angus_MacG: How?
JonnyBGood: Not sure. Goliath probably logged off for a second and warned his guild somehow.
Angus_MacG: Cheating bastard.
JonnyBGood: Anything we can do?
Angus_MacG: Sit tight for now and keep monitoring. I’ll warn everyone and will keep you updated.
Angus_MacG: Make sure Shrik upgrades to high alert. We’re gonna be coming in hot I believe.
JonnyBGood: Roger that.
“Well, our lives just got a lot more complicated. It seems that Goliath managed to get the word out to his guild somehow, and they are probably close enough that they can intercept us on our way.”
“What guild?” Khaliss asked.
“Breaking Dawn. Anyway, priestess? Can you have your men keep watch? I think they have keener eyesight than Khaliss or I do.”
“Of course Angus.” She said, and we continued our ride into the night.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Pursuers spotted.” One of the drow reported fifteen minutes later. We had just finished cutting through the cursed woods, and were coming up on some rocky terrain.
“Angus.” Khaliss spoke. “Breaking Dawn. They were the ones who killed my Alnoss, weren’t they?”
“Huh? Yeah. Not helping right now Khaliss. We need a way to keep them off our tails, and nobody thought to bring bows.”
“Bows won’t turn them away. They will simply throw their lives away to slow us down.” Khaliss pointed out.
“I know!” I hissed at him. “I’m wracking my brain, but I just can’t come up with any ideas. They’re too close for us to create a stone chasm. Rock slides are out since we don’t know what mounts they have.”
“It’s simple. Someone needs to stay back and fight them. The rest will move on.”
“That’s suicide.” One of the drow pointed out.
“And my path to vengeance.” I turned to look at Khaliss when he said that, and my heart dropped.
“You had a feeling all along, didn’t you?”
“We don’t live long past our mates.” He said. “This trip gives me a chance for my own payback. I know you can’t stop, because of what you carry.”
“I. There’s gotta be another way.”
“There isn’t.”
“Bastard. You’ve been planning. Making sure I was off at the desert. Training Shrik to be your replacement. That’s why you insisted he be in the raid, isn’t it?”
“You always made those crazy leaps of logic.” He said with a sad smile. “I leave the future of our race to you. Take us to new heights. Alnoss and I will be watching from beyond the veil.”
“Though I can’t stay, you’ll not go into this fight alone. Inkler.” I said, turning to the cat. “This will be your chance to avenge Alnoss as well. Will you fight alongside Khaliss in my stead?” He answered with a roar. “Thanks bud. Make sure he stays up as long as possible, ya? I’ll even give you free access to my mana pool while we are still in range.”
“Stay strong Angus. I know it’s too late to hope for you to pick up the spear, but keep the rest of my lessons close.” He said before he leapt from the saddle.
“I will, my friend.” I said, before turning and riding away. It was suddenly a lot harder to see where I was going, but I felt the priestess settle in behind me on the spider and take the reins.