Born into a wealthy merchant family, the unnamed gnome, second son to Non, head of the Cents family, the young gnome worked hard to find his place and to earn his name before his coming of age. His older brother, Nas, had used the family name to start promoting a new currency, based on how rare it was, and had pulled his younger brother into the scheme, getting him to do the heavy lifting while he ran the numbers.

It wasn’t until a few days before his coming of age that the young gnome came across a name that suited him, Abs. It was a blunt description of him, but, as far as the rest of his family went, he was quite strong. His older sister Lu took after their mother Lumineh, who was a bright person to be around and Nas always had the beginning of ideas, even as their father stated to make little sense in his older age.

One day, Nas decided that Abs was an issue to his business. Without picking up on it, Abs’ older brother had become more and more paranoid about trusting anyone, even his own kin. During one cents run to a client of Nas, they were stopped and seized by the city guard, thrown in jail for their black market connections. While Nas was able to get bail paid for him and was out within hours, all the usual methods of getting someone out failed to work for getting Abs out.

As the paranoia sunk in, Nas came to the conclusion that Abs had made a deal with the city guard, probably putting his brother into the firing line. Without waiting to confirm anything, Nas packed up his office and left for a different, further away part of the city.

When Abs was finally let out of jail, he returned to his brother’s office to find it empty of everything except a note pinned to the wall.

“You’re working with them, I know it. Don’t try to contact me or the family, you’ve been disowned.”

Retrieving a small stash he’d put aside for a rainy day, Abs set out to get back into business, looking to support himself and, eventually, to find his brother and sort him out.

~☆~

The morning chill bit into everyone as they woke all around the city, something drawing everyone with the same impulse. Ignoring their breath as it frosted the air around their heads, they looked towards the city center, towards the sky high pillar now reaching towards the sky.

Pinching herself painfully, Zagthaan nodded to herself as she prepared for her day, suspecting that bringing anything of non-combat use would not be ideal.

Ragnar, Abs and Clack all stepped out of their storage units, gaze turning as one towards the monolith.

Clack, still wearing only his loincloth, scooped up his great axe and waited while the other two pulled on their armour.

Under a bridge in the lower district, Stigr looked out, saw the monolith and proceeded to lay down again. After less than 30 seconds, the troll stood again, pulling on his armour before picking up his drums and trudging towards the nearest subway entrance.

These scenes were repeated across the city as many, many others were drawn towards the monolith in Space Square at the heart of the metropolis.

Passing the few closed coffee shops she knew of on the way to the subway, Zagthaan grumbled, eventually giving up on the idea of fresh coffee. As she collapsed on the old, worn seat, she began her mediations, preparing herself as best she could.

As they all drew closer and closer, the monolith filled more and more of their thoughts, drawing them ever closer towards it.

Stepping out of the subway and into the biting morning air, the group came together at they entered Space Square proper, passing small groups standing outside it, all loudly speculating on what the sudden appearance of this monolith could mean.

The pillar of obsidian towered over them all. Before their attention was taken up completely by the pillar, they scanned around, spotting some familiar faces as they came to a stop next to a familiar dwarf, Dur Durham, who gave them a brief nod.

The question of how he is still alive crosses Zagthaan's mind for a moment before all her attention was absorbed by the monolith.

Time passes for an unmeasured time without anyone moving more than shifting posture or blinking. Without warning, the area around them changed between blinks.

While the monolith and everyone else hasn't changed, everything else has. The ground changed to obsidian while the sky changed to endless grey. Thirteen shapes hovered in the sky around everyone, ringing them all. The shapes were all taller than they were wide, some rectangular, others round, with one being a sphere and another a pyramid. Even without a visible light source in the sky, the area was bright enough to see everything.

The voices from their dreams whispered into their minds. “You have come, as we bade you, you have come. We have a task for all of you. But first, you must prove you are worthy. To accomplish the task ahead of you, you must defeat many, many foes. Thus, we will have you fight many creatures, consecutively, from your past.”

Shapes start rising up from the ground in various shapes. People start breaking off into combat groups, some are left floundering as the voices say, “Begin.” The creatures seem to be quasi real, made from shadows solidifying into a grey semblance of reality.

A giant three-headed rat appears near the group as Dur joins them. “Been looking for you,” he stated as he approached, drawing and throwing a spear at the giant rat, impacting its side.

The group started shifting, Ragnar and Zagthaan moving closer as Stigr backed up a few steps, moving behind Ragnar as he started beating a battle rhythm on his drums.

"I ain't your meat shield!" Ragnar growled.

"You can be right now," Stigr replied as he started yodeling along to his drum beat as Abs vanished from sight.

The rat spat acid, the larger amount splashing over Dur while a smaller amount was deflected by Ragnar's shield. Its spiked tail lashed out past Ragnar, catching Stigr across the arm

Raising her shield, Zagthaan stumbled on an incantation, unable to draw on her power for the moment. Grunting to herself, she banged loudly on her shield, hoping to draw the rat's attention as she started to flank away from Ragnar and Dur.

Still twenty feet back, Dur throws another spear, this one missing and clattering past Zagthaan.

Ragnar roared at the rat as he charged in towards it. As he did, the rat bit at him, receiving a mouthful of spiked shield, but ruining his aim with his hammer.

Stigr's song reached a crescendo, his song shaking the air as he let out a scream, dazing the rat for a moment.

"Torag protects me," Zagthaan intoned as she stepped towards the rat. As her light grey aura started seeping out of her, the rat bit her leg, throwing off her hammer strike before her shield of faith set in.

Closing the gap, Dur drew a third spear, stabbing at the rat but missed, the shifting creature deflecting the weapon. Dodging the spear cause the creature to move into the path of Ragnar's hammer, his subsequent shield bash being dodged too.

Nearby, a massive humanoid creature struck at the white robed eladrin. She braced for it only to have Clack intersect, his great axe slicing through the creatures arm, making it flop to the ground.

The rat creature screamed in pain as Abs appeared, his rapier sinking into the chest from the other side. Ragnar and Zagthaan clutch at their ears as the rat creature dissolved and reformed ten feet up in the air, a familiar fleshy orb, but one exaggerated in size. When they had fought a similar creature before it was barely a foot wide while this one was almost fifteen foot across.

Before the orb finishes forming, Stigr screams again, causing wounds to open, dazing the creature at the same time.

A patch of pale grey energy coalesced over Zagthaan's leg wound as she stepped next to Ragnar, making sure her shield was between herself and the creature, mentally debating dropping her shield and hammer for her bow.

A spear whizzed past the creature and as Zagthaan glanced over towards Dur, Ragnar leapt, warhammer slamming into the orbs flesh.

"Get down here," Abs demanded as he jumped, his two foot high frame not even reaching Zagthaan's shoulder height from his standing jump.

The drum beat changed, becoming a fast rolling beat as Stigr ran and lept, managing to sink his long teeth into the orb before he dropped back to the ground.

Zagthaan and Ragnar jumped together, trying to swipe at the creature, missing as it bobbed out of the way before being impaled by another of Dur's spears.

Turning its glowing eye on Zagthaan, the creature stared for a moment. Feeling a spell wash over her, Zagthann glared back, flipping it off. The creature's expression changed to frustration as it bobbed down to bite Stigr.

As it started to go up again, everyone took swipes, Zagthaan being the only one to time her swing right, while Dur, gripping his last spear, ran up, leaping towards the creature.

Spinning in the air, the orb bit Dur, throwing off his aim as well, making him drop to the ground with a fresh wound.

The orb turned it's full attention on the warpriest, the only person to have frustrated it in the last few moments. It bobbed down again, its glowing eye boring into her mind as its mouth gaped in front of her. Raising her shield, it wouldn't have intercepted the bite if her aura hadn't been there. Grinning, she shrugged off the bite and the spell as she pushed the creature away from her.

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Letting out another ear piercing scream, Stigr yelled up at the creature as Zagthaan braced herself to jump up. The scream caught her off guard and she tripped forward, stumbling and falling forward, landing on the inside of her shield.

With a grunt, Dur leapt, his stocky frame getting just enough height to pierce the side of the creature. As Zagthaan rolled over, the creature fell from the sky, landing on her shield and exploding. Ragnar grunted as the explosion hit him, the creature reforming again, this time stretching into a centipede, almost fifty foot in length.

A swarm of smaller centipedes swarmed out, covering everyone in seconds with hundreds of small biting insects.

Squashing a few bugs underfoot, Ragnar repositioned, his warhammer glancing off the creatures side before slamming his shield spikes into the creature.

It responded by biting at Ragnar, who blocked with his shield, and slapping Zagthaan with its tail, which slammed into her side, making her cry out, startled and pained.

Working in tandem with Dur on the other side of the centipede, Abs lashed out, his rapier piercing its side, wounding it.

Calmly drawing a pistol from a bandolier, Skeevy fired into the head of a creature before tucking it back away, drawing a dagger, spinning and throwing it into the same creature. Reaching up to the belt of another nearby combatant, he removed a dagger with a swift motion, vanishing from sight as he swaggered back into the fray.

Grabbing for their missing dagger, the combatants eyes went wide as the creature attacking them closed the gap, skewering them.

Another scream rippled the air above Zagthaan as Stigr released another spell, the scream breaking some of the chitin on the creatures side.

Rolling over to get her feet and hands under her, Zagthaan stood. In the moment between when her shield was on the ground and her standing fully, the centipede attacked, bending around behind Ragnar and sinking its fangs into her torso, venom coursing through her as it retreated.

Panic erupted in Zagthaan's mind, taking on a will of its own as fire erupted from her, burning away at the insects covering her and closing over some of her lesser wounds. As the fire died, she lashed a small chain in the direction of the centipedes head. A hellish, barbed chain erupted from the ground, striking at the centipede and vanishing, seeming to have no effect.

As they fought, all five of them could feel the venom from the smaller centipedes affecting them, slowing their actions, some more than others. The swarm that had burned from Zagthaan's outburst was replaced with more clawing and biting bugs.

Roaring at the centipede, Dur let his rage build as his final spear lashed out at the massive centipede. Hearing his battle roar, the bug turned and as Dur struck, the creature bit his spear, snapping it into pieces.

Taking the opening made by Dur, Ragnar struck, his hammer glancing off again while his shield spikes pierced its armour, a sense of deja vu washing over him.

The creatures head turned back to Ragnar, who blocked the bite with his shield as its tail lashed out, slamming into Abs and knocking him over.

Rolling with the blow, Abs lashed out, striking true with his rapier as he ducked under a bite from the bug before he clambered to his feet.

Rushing past the shaky Zagthaan, Stigr collided with the tail section, sinking his claws and teeth in and ripping, the inside of the creature being pulled along with the tail section out of the rest of the chitinous armour.

The swarm washed away from the combatants, entering the shell of the centipede as its form shifted yet again, the draconian form emerging as three separate heads sprouted, forming a hydra, a creature from legend.

Pale grey aura surging, Zagthaan's shaky hands traced a quick rune in the air before she took a few shaky steps towards Ragnar, pushing the rune against his shoulder. "Grumsh favour your strikes," she muttered as her pale aura spilled over the dragonkin viking.

Battle madness in his eyes, Dur charged the hydra empty handed, fists pummeling the creature as Ragnar, infused with bardic and divine magic, stepped up as well, his warhammer connecting solidly with the base of one of the hydra's heads, shaking the entire creature with the force of the blow.

Abs, seeing an opening towards the rear, ducked under its tail, stabbing the underside before rolling back out.

The creature swelled, its heads tracking the entire group as the three mouths opened in unison. Lightning crackled over Abs while frost formed on Stigr, both suffering from the damage while the third head breathed fire over Dur, Ragnar and Zagthaan.

Head foggy with battle rage, Dur took the brunt of the fire as Ragnar deflected some from himself, his armour and flesh burning a little. Zagthaan thanked whichever deities were looking over her, her tiefling heritage resisting the fire as she too, stepped forward to fight next to Ragnar.

Moving around the creature to help trap it, aiding his allies, Stigr bolstered his resistance as the poison coursed through him, making his movements more and more sluggish.

Working together, the battle rhythm from Stigr bolstering them, two fists, two warhammers, a rapier and a shield all pummeled the creature, the final strike coming from Ragnar as he crushed the skull on one of the heads.

As the creature vanished, Stigr collapsed, the drum beat finally stopping as the troll slumped to the ground, the poison bringing him to the brink of death.

Silence.

Dead and unconscious people lay everywhere.

Clack is standing strong, bleeding and bruised, but great axe still in hand, the others in his group drained, but less bloodied due to his presence.

The pillars thrum. “Congratulations. You are worthy.”

Without warning or any feeling of movement, the scene shifted, Dur, Abs, Ragnar, Stigr and Zagthaan finding themselves in a new area, 13 lecturns in a semi circle around them, vague outlines of the plinths behind each lecturn. As they began to talk, they speak a word in turn each, making the group swivel their heads, trying to keep up with whoever was speaking.

“The world is broken. It has been broken and we want to fix it. To fix the world, there are artifacts to gather. Thirteen to be exact. This is our divine goal, this is our quest. Do you accept?”

"Yes," Zagthaan replied eagerly.

"Do we have to?" Ragnar asked.

"The choice is yours. But know this, if the world is not repaired, the world will fall to chaos and all life will be consumed. To aid you in your quest, we will grant you additional power. We can sense within you potential. As we have sensed in most who have passed the trial.”

"What about Skeevy?" Ragnar asked. "Screw that skeevy."

They murmur. “Ah, yes, he has the most potential.” A pause akin to someone clearing their throat and gathering their thoughts happened, though no noise or shifting happened. “To gather the artifacts, you will need more power than you have now. Accept these into you now, as they will aid you in gathering the artifacts.”

Five tiny black snakes appear at the lectures and slither towards the group.

Closing her eyes, Zagthaan concentrates and prays for a moment. While the situation was far from normal for her, it all felt right, felt like she was meant to be there, to do this. Taking a step forward, she reached down, accepting the black snake as the others nodded or voiced their agreement.

Lightning fast, the snake pushed it's way past lips and teeth, slithering into their bodies. Feeling it slid down their chests, the coolness of the snake settled around each heart, which started to beat tremendously fast before stopping completely for a handful of moments.

Zagthaan breathed in heavily, filled with relief as her heart started beating again.

A whisper crossed all their minds. “I will be watching," a voice said, sounding unlike any of the thirteen before them.

Before anyone could query the voice, they were back in Space Square, the darkness of early evening settled across the sky. Looking around, there were still some groups of people staring at the pillar and as they watched, a nearby group snapped out of their trance, slumping in exhaustion.

Dozens of bodies lay on the ground and Zagthaan instinctively knew that trying to find survivors would be a waste of time.

Abs spoke first. “What happened to you Dur?”

“Been trying to find you guys. These are for you.” He pulls some gems out of a small pouch, passing one to each of the others.. “Sorry about what happened, things got a bit hairy, don’t know what happened.”

“You died.”

“Oh, that’s what happened. I remember the fight a bit, but I woke up on the sand.”

“Remember the hole when we were fighting the rat? You fell into it. Do you have a hole in your chest. Is it still there?”

“Eh, don’t worry about that.”

As they spoke, Clack wandered over. “That was an experience," he stated.

“Yeah," Ragnar replied, nodding.

“Did you take the deal?”

“Yeah, we did,” Stigr replied.

Clack nodded. “We’re going to take a few weeks to gather some gear.”

“Did you see that odd gnome?” Stigr asked.

“I don’t worry about those, I can punt them a mile. I don’t like the idea of giving up on what I’m doing, but I don’t like the idea of the warp on my doorstep. I’m going to go get a drink.” Clack nodded and turned away, heading for the nearest subway entrance.

“Dur, got a place to stay?” Abs asked

“Yeah, been around a bit. You guys got a place to stay? Want a drink? I have some dwarven firewine."

“I’ll take you up on that drink,” Stigr replied.

"Me too," Zagthaan added.

“Sounds like we’re bound by fate," Dur acknowledged, leading them to the subway.

After a couple of stops, Dur stood and led the other four out and into the old district, hailing and paying for a coach to take them. Mansions stood along wide roads, small walls bordering gardens and alleys, all of which was once an affluent area, now fallen to disrepair over time.

Windows were broken or boarded up on some places, grass and plants had been left to grow wide in most. Zagthaan swore she saw one which looked like it had had a tower which had collapsed on the building.

The coach rolled to a stop in front of a smaller mansion, but one that looked like it had been crafted from a single piece of stone. The garden wasn't quite as wild as the neighbors and the building had a more lived in feel than most.

Zagthaan couldn't help but admire the dwarven stone working that had gone into the building. While it wasn't her area of expertise, she still enjoyed it.

"Down there's the west wing, you'll find the guest rooms there," Dur stated, pointing down a hallway. "Take whatever room you want. Kitchen is over there, privy there, library here. Game room is where the booze is, follow me."

A shabby, torn billiard table sat to one side of the large room, a place that could take the entire of Zagthaan's studio apartment. A few worn couches on one side ringed a dormant fireplace while a bar lay along another side, worn and dusty stools against it. Zagthaan spotted a pair of leather armchairs facing each other, a beautifully made stone chess table with intricately carved pieces waiting for a game to start on it. As Dur rummaged behind the bar, she picked up and studied the white king and queen.

“So, that dwarven firewine.” Dur finally pulls out a small gourd wrapped in rope, the top sealed with wax. Placing it on the bar, it was swiftly followed by five small wine cups, each made of a single piece of stone and intricately sculpted. Stigr gave a low whistle of appreciation as he eyed the wine vessel. “This is from my family’s personal collection. Hope you guy’s like it. God, I don’t know how old it is.”

“Like, 400?” Stigr asked.

“Yeah, may even be pre shattering.”

“Guys, this is good wine," Stigr claimed before Dur had even removed the wax and cork. Swiftly pouring a small amount into each cup, he passed them around, handing the last to Zagthaan as she joined the others.

Abs raises his cup and toasts, "to survival.”

Everyone except Ragnar sipped lightly from their cups, the fire wine burning and warming them pleasantly, while the dragonkin downed the entire cup, his eyes widening before a burp erupted from him, a small fireball dissipating in the air.

“Well, I don’t know, but I guess we should talk about going out into the world to find these artifacts," Dur said, speaking into the contemplative silence.

“Maybe I can find some knowledge," Stigr volunteered.

“Maybe Zagthaan can give some divine guidance. Maybe we can talk to these snakes?” someone added. They paused for a moment.

“Hello?” Stigr asked the empty room.

☆~☆