Thursa Hamely had not stayed near the family. The oldest and youngest brothers followed in their father’s magical footsteps. Garrison had opened a bookshop selling spells and other magical trinkets, while Tristan had fully embraced the source of the family's power. Elisabeth had gotten the house, leaving Thursa out of luck. He also didn’t fit in with the rest of his siblings, and many had wondered if their mother had covered up an affair. The other siblings enjoyed the indoors and intellectual pursuits. Thursa enjoyed hiking in the mountains and chopping wood. Also, the other siblings were average height and slender, while Thursa was a giant.
His home was a full day’s travel from either Mizzeray or the Hamley estate. Wallace and the others traveled there instantly through a node, but it was late in the evening when they arrived, the sun preparing to dip behind the mountains. They appeared at the base of a mountain trail, an uphill climb ahead of them. The distance to the cave where Thursa lived wasn’t far, but the ascent would take several minutes. The standard way to play this module was to climb the mountain and kill the massive druid. You needed to do so before the venator arrived, and it wasn’t easy. With Vithium’s unique talents and Tristan helping in the fight, Wallace felt they could have pulled it off, but she was glad they didn’t have to.
She had read several strategy guides on the best way to take down the druid, and most suggested sneaking up on him and attacking from the shadows. Spells to disable or stun him worked well, and any method of draining his Strength ability was recommended. The real ace in the hole was Tristan. The level 16 spellsword was usually more powerful than the players who attempted the module. While his magic didn’t work against the venator or his divine enemy, it decimated his brother.
Of all the suggested strategies, nobody advised walking up to Thursa along the trail and saying “Hi,” but that is what the group planned. However, once Wallace looked at her future companion through the cover of trees, she stopped short and found she couldn’t say anything.
They knew from a distance what he was doing, as the sound of chopping wood carried easily through the pine trees, but the paladin wasn’t prepared for what she would see. All the screen captures she had viewed before were when he was already in combat as a bear/human hybrid. Now, in his pure human form, it was like someone had taken Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and combined him with Bjorn from The Hobbit. He stood over six and a half feet tall, bare to the waist, and solid muscle. His arms worked like a machine, placing the next piece of wood on the block, lifting his axe, and chopping it down. She was mesmerized by the way his muscles folded over each other in perfect rhythm. He had light brown wavy hair, a close-cut beard, and a touch of chest hair. His pants looked like Bruce Banner’s after changing back from the Hulk, barely hanging on. Like his brother, he was at level 16.
{Do you need to make a saving throw, sis?} Brodie asked, monitoring her heart rate. {Now I really know why you wanted to do this level. Just remember what you look like in the game. He might not swing that way.}
“Shut up,” she whispered. “Like you weren’t speechless every time we were around Esther.” Still, her brother was right. She pushed down the 14-year-old girl and let the 40-year-old paladin take control.
Thursa took a break to wipe sweat from his brow and drink from an animal skin canteen. A snapping twig brought him to attention, and he sniffed the air. “Tristan!” he bellowed. “Is that you? It is unlike you to come for a visit. Come on out and show yourself.”
His deep, Scandinavian accent sent chills down Wallace’s spine, and she tried to gather her wits. Tristan stepped past her and out into the open.
“So it is you,” Thursa said, tossing the canteen aside and resuming his grip on the axe. “I thought I smelled Dad’s stench invading my home.”
“You are quick to judge, brother,” Tristan said, walking to within thirty feet of his sibling and stopping, his right hand not far from his weapon. “You chose a different path, not an opposite one. Your presence would offend many too.” He looked around at the lifeless camp filled with rocks, fallen trees, and charred remains of fire pits. “I don’t see too many neighbors. Aren’t druids supposed to be surrounded by animals?”
Wallace and Vithium moved out behind the spellsword. The paladin took stock of the campsite, and despite what Tristan said, she thought it looked pretty opposite to what the Hamleys had established for themselves. These weren’t lavish accommodations.
“Did you come to lecture me, little brother, or is there something important you needed to say? I doubt you brought guests so they could hear us trade insults.”
“A monster from hell is coming for us,” the spellsword said bluntly.
Thursa laughed loud and deep. “For us, you say. You mean it is coming for you. My master has no gripe with me. I serve her loyally.”
“I mean, it is coming for you,” Tristan replied. “We are family, whether you like it or not. What happens to one of us affects us all. A venator, a demonic hunter, is coming for you this night. It has already killed Garrison and Elisabeth. It will kill you and me unless we stop it.”
Thursa grew somber at the awful news, dropping the head of the axe to the ground and leaning on the handle for support. “You are serious,” he said slowly. “Why?”
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Tristan sneered, knowing the truth would produce a violent outburst from his brother. Still, he saw no reason to lie. “Father made a deal with Impetus; we are paying the price now.”
Thursa cursed in a demonic tongue. “I made no deal! This does not involve me. I serve my mistress well. Desliva would never kill her followers. I want nothing to do with you and Father’s foolish pacts.”
“Thursa follows a god named Desilva?” Wallace asked in a low voice.
{I’m working on it, sis,} Brodie said. {News to me too. Nobody knows anything about the brother. No one has seen his character sheet.}
Wallace waited for her brother's search results as the two Hamleys argued back and forth about which of them was more foolish for following their chosen masters. {Turns out Desilva is a demon too,} Brodie advised. {She hates the forest, elves, and most woodland creatures except those that taste good.}
Wallace nodded as she saw a dead deer partially obscured behind a rock. Thursa had a fire going behind him.
{Most of her followers use an axe, live in caves or canyons, have some kind of fire resistance, and are generally surly. Should fit perfectly with you. Oh, and this is interesting, some of her followers get access to barbarian rage. That is unique.}
Wallace shuddered at the idea of the massive man before her flying into a rage while wielding an axe, though she might see it happen at the pace he and Tristan were going. “The game really wants these two to fight,” she muttered, understanding how this module usually played out.
{Scripts are powerful things,} Brodie agreed.
“Well, it’s time to break them.” The paladin strode forward. “Boys!” she cried. “Enough already. We are here to kill a common enemy, not each other. Calm down.”
“Who are you?” Thursa asked, rage still filling his voice.
“My name is Sir Wallace Wilhelm; I am a paladin with an enchanted sword that should be able to kill the beast that is after you.”
“And why are you helping us? What is it to you if a demon monster takes out our family? Is Tristan paying you?”
“Not everyone sits idly by while innocent people are murdered,” Wallace said, leveling a gaze at Tristan.
“Not everyone is as innocent as they appear,” Thursa said with a smirk.
“Elisabeth had nothing to do with any of this!” Tristan said.
“True,” the older brother agreed. “And where were you when she died? Watching? Glad that you were the youngest and father’s favorite? Though I suppose your magic is useless against this monster, which is why you need to hire these . . .”
“Would you like to see how useless my magic is?” Tristan bellowed, drawing his sword with a burst of magical lightning.
“Stop it!” Wallace said, running forward to stand between the two men. “Save it for the venator. The sun is setting, and it will be here soon.”
Thursa relaxed a bit and loosened his grip on the axe. “You can kill it?” he asked.
“This sword can,” she replied. “And it looks like I am the only one in the group with the skill to wield it.” She looked at the axe the druid held and shook her head. “Here,” she said, tossing her normal weapon to him. Thursa caught the enchanted axe and twirled it about expertly. “That should work better against the monster we are facing.”
“Does it have weaknesses?” Thursa asked.
“Not really. You need a precise hit to break through its scales, and its Damage Reduction is impressive.” She held up the sword in her hand. Currently, it was a level 10, +5 weapon with a +5 bonus against demonic creatures. A critical hit would require the target to save against the damage or die instantly. This might work if she could get a coordinated hit against the venator.
“You’ve fought it before?” Thursa asked.
Wallace nodded. “We didn’t have this sword yet, but Vithium, the monk over there, disabled the creature a few times, and I could inflict damage. The same should work again.”
“I care little for Impetus, the demon my father served,” Thursa said, “but he is clever. Any hunter he sends out would learn from its mistakes. Do not count on your monk's tactics being successful again.” The big man paused and cocked his head. “This monster, a venator, you said, it fights alone?”
“It did,” Wallace nodded.
Thursa squatted to get closer to the rocks, placing his hand flat on the ground. “Then why do I feel an army approaching.”
Tristan and Vithium had been conversing a few dozen feet away but stopped when the druid said this and listened closely to the rocky landscape around them. With the mountain rising behind them, enemies could only approach from one direction, and Thursa had cleared most of the trees. The path the players had taken was narrow and winding through the few trees left, but most of the slope was comprised of rocky shelves, loose boulders, and short stumps.
Soon, Wallace didn’t need to be a druid attuned to the stone-filled landscape to see the creatures approaching. They were kobolds. Lots and lots of kobolds. They carried swords, clubs, and spears, each fitted with a shield and chainmail.
“Is this related to . . .” Vithium asked.
Tristan nodded. “Kobolds are my master’s minion of choice. Our estate used to be crawling with them, but Elisabeth ended that. Given the right environment, I can summon a handful to my side, but it is rarely worth it. And I can’t summon that many.”
If there was any doubt as to the source of the army, the venator made itself visible, climbing to the top of a large boulder and surveying its foot soldiers as they marched up the slope toward the players.
“This isn’t supposed to be in the module,” Wallace muttered.
{No,} Brodie agreed, {But usually, at this point, Thursa is dead, and you have to fight the venator without him. I guess Gandhi thought the difficulty should be adjusted.}
Wallace felt the difficulty was already adjusted. Usually, it was Tristan, a level 16 spellsword, who fought the venator. He was supposed to have the vorpal weapon charged with Thursa’s life force. Now, a level 10 paladin was supposed to kill the beast. Kobolds weren’t usually a challenging foe, but when this many attacked together, they had the Swarm ability and could take down even the heartiest fighter quickly.
The foursome gathered themselves together on the level section of Thursa’s clearing. The druid twirled his new axe while Tristan held his scimitar and shield. His magic would likely be ineffective against his master’s minions, so he cast combat boons on himself until his arms looked almost as big as his brother’s.
Vithium didn’t have magic or weapons to prepare, but fighting large groups like this was his specialty, and he hadn’t had a good fight yet in this module. Wallace held her new sword up and tightened her grip on her shield. She wasn’t used to the weapon's balance yet but would fight on auto-attack, letting the game roll the dice for her.
A clump of four creatures on the right found a relatively bare path that zig-zagged through a few crags and tree stumps, bringing them to the characters sooner than the rest. Thursa gave a battle cry, leaped into their ranks, and the fight was on.