Chapter 1: Short Supply

Twentieth of Mellowgreen, year 1700 PS. Morning of Soc Meltis.

“Gods awful weather. ‘Tis a terrible day for adventuring”, the diviners would say.

“Nonsense”, the adventurers would say.

That was the everyday reality in Meanderton: the capital city of the Duchy of Unsequera, where rain poured more often than not.

Having recently finished a well-paying quest in the nearby area, the heroes of today’s session booked rooms in a cozy meandertonian inn and stayed there for the night.

Well past noon, the drow bard Kellan was still hard asleep, making his party needlessly wait for him downstairs. Next to him laid the equally sleepy Clandestine: an astral tiefling that Kellan had recently grown to be close friends with.

The two mage apprentices were sleeping so soundly that they hadn’t noticed the earlier blaring of an arcane clock that was supposed to wake them up an hour and a half ago.

When Kellan’s mother walked into his room, she intended to wake him up with a mean slap to the face; Quite the gentle gesture for a drow elf, all things considered. Upon noticing his little alien friend snuggled up to him, however, she had an immediate change of heart.

Veldris instead grabbed her son by the shoulder and gently rocked it back and forth until he eventually woke up.

“Get up,” she whispered in a stern tone of voice. “Or we’re going without you.”

Kellan murmured something to himself, then replied:

“Okaaay, just gimme five more minutes.” he said, before promptly dozing off again.

Downstairs, the other party members were getting ready for their shopping trip.

“So? They comin’ or not?” a large woman with sharp teeth inquired.

“No, Belderyx.” Veldris replied. “I told you waiting for them was a waste of time.”

“Kellan is going to be sorry when he realizes he doesn’t have any potions on him.”

“Hey now, don’t be so harsh on the kid.” Belderyx said. “I wasn’t goin’ to leave without a proper breakfast anyway, so you’d have to wait one way or another!”

Just then, a wood elf brunette who was previously rummaging through her backpack had reared her head, glancing at her friend and suspecting the worst:

“Out of curiosity…” she said. “What did you have for breakfast, Bel?”

Belderyx took a deep breath.

“Bacon and eggs, fried bread, pancakes, a few croissants, a couple cups of coffee…” she started counting.

“And where exactly did you get all that from?” the elf interrupted her.

The stocky dragon woman gave her a puzzled look.

“We had it all packed, didn’t we?” Belderyx said. “I didn’t even spend a silver, if that’s what you mean.”

“You ate EVERYTHING?” the elf gasped.

“Not everything, Emi.” Belderyx replied.

“Just the stuff from that large, bundled sack.” she said, pointing at the remains of what were once the party’s food supplies.

“That thing was a total bitch to get into, by the way.” she chuckled. “Had to tear it open with my claws!”

Emilia froze in fear as Veldris slowly tilted her head in their direction.

“Belderyx…” Veldris said.

“Y-yeah?” The dragon woman responded.

“Did you eat all of our food supplies… for breakfast?” Veldris said.

Belderyx started visibly sweating.

“H-hey now, let’s not point fingers here.” she said nervously.

Just as Veldris was about to go ballistic, another party member broke the tension by enthusiastically dancing down the stairs, subconsciously flaunting her designer handbag.

“I’m baa~aack!” the blonde elf said. “Who’s ready to go shopping?”

“Oh, hi Syndra.” Emilia said. “What took you so long?”

“Her golden mane, probably.” Veldris mumbled to herself. “Takes ages to comb.”

Syndra chuckled.

“But you like my braids, don’t you?” she said. “After all, you were the one who told me they look cute.”

The drow cleric instantly grew flustered. Not eager to waste more time though, she quickly returned to her disciplined self.

“Let’s go, people.” Veldris said. “We were supposed to shop for magical items, but now we also have to buy supplies as well…”

“Wait, what?” Syndra asked. “Didn’t we have an entire week’s worth of them?”

Veldris gave her draconic friend a judgy death glare.

“We sure did…” Belderyx whimpered.

Chapter 2: The Market

Our heroes had found themselves shopping on the busy streets of the meandertonian market, ready to make some good deals and haggle for even better ones.

And their budget? Some dice rolls had to be made in order to calculate how many coins they had left after recovering from the “breakfast incident.”

Now, for the results:

• Syndra – 740 GP
• Belderyx – 720 GP
• Veldris – 650 GP
• Emilia – 640 GP

The shopping spree began with Veldris, who sought to increase her spellcasting efficiency and acquire some backup health potions. She approached a rather nasty-looking mortician who had recently been fired from his job and became a hermit merchant instead.

The pale mortician tried to convince Veldris his Potions of Healing were of superior quality; a must buy.

Veldris attempted to beat his measly Persuasion roll of 5 with her own Intimidation check, possibly scaring the merchant into adjusting his prices.

Unfortunately, Veldris rolled a NATURAL ONE.

Her empty threats left the seller completely unphased and unimpressed. Taking pity on the drow cleric, the seller knocked the price down from 75 GP to 70 GP a piece, making it his final offer. Embarrassed, Veldris took 5 potions with her, leaving the creepy mortician’s stall with 300 GP left.

Resigned, she met up with Syndra, who had just bought a Pearl of Power for exactly 300 GP.

“You blew half of your budget on ONE trinket?” Veldris inquired.

Syndra whispered into her friend’s ear:

“Don’t tell anyone, but this thing can actually sell for three grand!”

“WHAT-” Veldris said dumbfounded, but was quickly shushed by Syndra so as to not draw unnecessary attention.

“I know, right?” she said. “What a lark!”

“Oh, by the way,” she started digging through her handbag. “I also got you this~!”

Syndra handed Veldris a flashy, platinum signet.

“The seller thought it was a broken piece of magic jewelry,” Syndra said. “Just some useless junk to be smelted later.”

“So what is it then?” Veldris asked.

“It’s a Signet of Devotion.” Syndra replied. “I cast Identify on it, and as it turns out, this little thing can beef up your magic!”

“Go on, try it out!” the elven mage cheered excitedly, sliding the ring on her friend’s finger.

Upon attunement, Veldris felt as if her divine magic had been empowered in some strange way. As she tried to cast one of her cantrips, the signet crackled with energy, slightly strengthening the spell’s effect.

“Wow, that’s… That’s exactly what I was looking for.” Veldris smiled – a rarity, coming from her.

“Thank you, Syn-” Veldris tried to express her gratitude, but was interrupted by Belderyx stomping towards her.

“Oh. My. Gods!” The dragon woman butted in. “You will not believe-”

“Wait, is that an engagement ring?” she inquired, a little sidetracked.

“T-That’s not what-” Veldris, flustered, tried to interject.

“So happy for you two, for realsies.” Belderyx blurted out. “Anyway, sorry to ruin your moment, but you just HAVE to check this shit out!”

“Go on, Emi! Help me demonstrate!”

Belderyx asked Emilia to conjure up a boulder, and the druid complied. The overenthusiastic dragon lady then proceeded to obliterate it with a single punch, releasing a shockwave that sent the other party members flying backwards.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Belderyx flaunted her new pair of bracers.

Veldris lifted her sore behind from the ground and reprimanded her teammate:

“You absolute lunatic!”

“What in the hells is that and WHO in their right mind would sell that to YOU, of all people?!” she exclaimed.

“See, I wanted to buy a pair of Gauntlets of Ogre Power, but the seller said my claws are ‘impressive enough as they are’, whatever that means, and instead gave me these to try out!” Belderyx responded.

Emilia got up, wiped the dust off of her newly acquired cloak, and explained:

“These tailor-made bracers are strength enhancers, usually worn by shifters, lizardfolk, dragonborn, tortles, and other clawed folk.”

“They’re just like the gauntlets that Belderyx wanted, but for bare knuckle brawling or claw fighting.” she said.

Syndra carefully traced her finger on the fabric of Emilia’s brand new cloak.

“That’s a nice cloak you’ve got there, Emi.” she said. “What does it do?”

“Or wait, don’t tell me. I’ll guess.” Syndra said.

“Is it a… Cloak of Protection? the elven mage asked with glee.

“Wow, spot on.” Emilia replied. “How’d you know?”

“My babbo used to wear one. Same material, same color, et cetera.” Syndra said.

“Your what-now?” Belderyx asked, not speaking a word of mentaventian elvish.

“Anyway…” Emilia interrupted.

“If you want to get one for yourself, I bought it from that green hag over there.” she pointed at… nothing.

“Over where?” Syndra inquired.

Emilia turned around, only to notice that her cloak’s vendor was nowhere to be found.

“Huh.” she said, flabbergasted. “I could’ve sworn she was there just a moment ago.”

“And how much did you pay?” Veldris interjected.

“Well, I tried to haggle…” Emilia said.

“And?” Veldris asked.

“Let’s just say I won’t haggle anymore.” Emilia answered.

“Alright.” Veldris said. “Everyone got everything they wanted?”

“Nope, still a few things on my list.” Belderyx said.

Veldris sighed.

“Fine, just make it quick.” she murmured.

Once Belderyx had spent the rest of her money down to the last copper piece, she tried to link back with the group, only to find Emilia sitting by her lonesome, playing with her hair out of stress and boredom.

…

“Where… Where is everybody?” Belderyx asked.

“Oh, you’re here!” Emi jumped. “Thank gods, I was going insane here.”

“The city guards came to arrest some doomsayer from the streets, but the madman tried to lose them in the market, hopping between stalls, juking them out, and so on.” the druid explained.

“Veldris tried to grab him, but he blasted her with a spell and ran off!” she kept explaining in an increasingly frantic tone of voice.

“Then more of those hooded freaks came and started attacking the guards!” she continued. “Merchants were screaming, shoppers were panicking, everyone was yelling, and it was so, so loud, and…

Belderyx grabbed her friend by the shoulders.

“Focus, Emi.” she said. “I need you to tell me where they went.”

“Not far, it’s…” she tried to pinpoint the location. “Somewhere down that street, I think.”

“Veldris told me to wait here and keep an eye on our supplies.” Emi said. “But I’m worried about them, not the food!”

Visibly twitching and still nervously fidgeting with whatever she had on hand, Emilia was in a state of total disarray.

Belderyx sighed. She grabbed the bag of bundled supplies one-handed like it was nothing, threw it over her shoulder, then handed Emilia a scimitar.

“Fuck orders.” she exclaimed.

“Veldris might not think much of you, but I do.” Belderyx assured her teammate. “Now grab your blade and let’s mobilize.”

Chapter 3: Averaging Down

Twentieth of Mellowgreen, year 1700 PS. Afternoon of Soc Meltis.

Kellan woke up alone in his bed at the inn. Outside the window, he could see the slowly-setting sun.

“Crap,” he thought to himself. “How long was I asleep?”

He stared at his arcane clock in disbelief. It was already 4 PM.

Suddenly, the door to his room creaked open, revealing the shadow of a small figure. With her hands rather full, the figure opened the door with her long, pink tail instead.

“Morning.” she said, entering Kellan’s room.

It was Clandestine, bringing Kellan breakfast to bed.

“Oh, hi Clan.” he said, letting out a sigh of relief. “Thank you, you really shouldn’t have.”

Clandestine sat next to Kellan, attempting to check his temperature with her psionics.

“Do you feel better?” she asked.

“Yes, much thanks to you.” he replied.

Clandestine started involuntarily wagging her tail.

“By the way,” Kellan started. “You didn’t happen to tell anyone about yesterday, did you?”

“I did not.” Clandestine responded.

“Thanks. No, really, thanks.” Kellan said. “If my mom found out about the poisoning, I’d never hear the end of it.”

Clandestine’s face grew weary.

“I still do not understand.” she asked. “Why did you insist on keeping it a secret?”

“I couldn’t tell her. I just couldn’t.” he said.

“But why?” Clandestine insisted on her question.

“I don’t know, I just…” he continued. “Didn’t want to bother her.”

“She already has so much stuff on her plate,” he murmured. “I guess I wanted her to think that I can take care of myself.”

“And instead you made her think you are lazy.” Clandestine retorted.

“It’s better than being weak, that’s for sure!” Kellan replied. “Besides, haven’t I told you already?”

“Drow men can’t show any weakness.” he said. “If they do, they amount to nothing.”

“That is a lot of pressure.” Clandestine said. “Does your mom believe that?”

“It’s just how it is, Clan.” Kellan sighed. “My mom might have changed her ways a little, but deep down, she is still a drow.”

“And I want to be a son she can be proud of.” he said. “Not a son she has to be ashamed of.”

Clandestine’s tail stopped wagging.

“You are too harsh on yourself.” she said. “You are not what your kin think of you, Kellan.”

“You are more than that.” she continued.

Just then, a blast somewhere in the distance sent shockwaves that made the room shake. Clandestine and Kellan rushed to the window, seeing flames on the orange-tinted horizon. They exchanged looks, quickly assessing the situation with Clandestine’s telepathy.

“You think?” Kellan said.

“Mhm.” Clandestine replied.

“Let’s go then.” he said.

As the two of them rushed out of the inn, they saw a guard crawling from behind a dark alleyway. Once he dragged himself out of the shadows, it became clear that he was missing his lower half. Suddenly, the very thing that took his lower half had taken his upper half as well, dragging him back into the alleyway with a monstrous screech.

Clandestine and Kellan had found themselves running at a much faster pace now.

Finally, they ran into familiar faces. Unfortunately, the circumstances of their meet-up weren’t exactly pleasant.

Right next to the city hall, Veldris, Syndra, Emilia, and Belderyx were fighting off incomprehensible abominations that seemed to contort and twist with complete disregard to laws of reality.

The mage apprentices stood paralyzed in fear, watching as a pack of unholy, otherworldly entities tossed their friends around like ragdolls.

Unmatched in raw strength, highly adaptive, somehow both physical and metaphysical at the same time—Just looking at them was driving Clan and Kellan crazy.

“Demons…” Clandestine shuddered.

“I’ve only heard stories… I never thought-” Kellan’s mind began to wander, until his mother’s voice snapped him back to reality.

“Get out of here, you two!” she yelled out. “Go get us some reinforcements!”

“Emilia!” Veldris exclaimed. “You go with them!”

“But-” the druid tried to retort.

“JUST GO.” Veldris growled, ferociously fist fighting the eldritch monsters.

Emilia sighed, then cast Longstrider on herself and ran towards Clandestine and Kellan.

“Come now, we’ll alert the city’s holy order.” she said.

Suddenly, a portal opened up in front of them.

“No need.” an unfamiliar voice spoke. “Squadrons 5 and 6, commence the counteroffensive in spearhead formation!”

Out of the portal poured an entire army of paladins and clerics, each adorned in personalized suits of armor that brimmed with personality. Having slain many lesser demons before, the soldiers immediately took positions and readied themselves for a counterattack.

“What’s going on?!” Emilia asked.

“Demonic incursion.” the voice spoke once more. “Fret not, we are expertly trained to deal with them.”

“I don’t-” Emilia started freaking out.

“We’ll take it from here.” he said. “Leave, before your friends get hurt.”

Syndra and Belderyx retreated, having to drag Veldris along using force, as she was completely hellbent on sending these demons back where they came from. Once Veldris snapped out of her battle frenzy, she asked the holy order’s captain about the nature of the invasion, all while his men were pushing back the demons.

The captain, keeping his eyes on the battle in the distance, replied calmly:

“They often occur during times of great strife, such as the troubled times of modern day Hessandrelia.”

“It starts with the metaphysical.” he said. “Paranormal activity, hallucinations, mass hysteria, possessions…”

“Then what?” Veldris inquired.

“Then, once enough people have suffered, a demon can take physical form.” the captain replied. “The more havoc he had previously wrought, the stronger his manifestation.”

The captain pointed at the now-helpless pack of uncoordinated abominations, slowly being slaughtered by his well-trained soldiers.

“These are the lowest sort of demons.” he said. “The hounds of the void.”

“They are, at best, demonic attack dogs.”

“So… are we safe?” Emilia asked nervously. “When you get rid of them… will that be it?”

The captain looked at the dark orange sky.

“Not quite.” he sighed. “They herald the arrival of something much more sinister.”

“It appears this time, they have a powerful demon general with them.” he said. “A demon general with allies of his own.”

“Che palle…” Syndra scoffed. “What should we do?!”

“Leave. Now.” the captain repeated his words from earlier. “You’re not from here, so you better get going before things get-”

His words were interrupted by a draconic screech coming from the skies.

Flying faster and faster towards the city, and with incredible speed at that, the creature bombarded the holy order’s men with an arsenal of powerful pyrokinetic spells, then circled back to repeat this loop again and again.

“FALL BACK!” the captain shouted.

Their numbers dwindling, the holy order began retreating.

“They cast spells now?!” Kellan gasped. “Emi, what is that thing?”

Emilia, struck by something between fear and wonder, snapped out of it to answer Kellan’s question.

“T-That’s… That’s a red dragon.” she muttered. “A young one, but… A spellcaster, nonetheless.”

“That’s it. We’re leaving.” Veldris equipped her shield. “NOW.”

The dragon roared once more. Having charged its breath weapon, it spewed its flames in a very distinct firing pattern, mimicking artillery fire with napalm rounds.

“A HELLFIRE DRAGON?” Emilia gasped. “Holy shit… I’m either very lucky, or very dead!”

“You’ll be both if you don’t get your ass moving!” Veldris shouted.

Just then, the clock tower adjacent to the city hall was hit by a particularly explosive fireball.

It tipped over ever so slightly, before finally collapsing onto…

“An orphanage?!” Veldris said with utter disbelief. “SERIOUSLY?”

“Che disastro!” Syndra lamented. “Veldris, we have to-”

“No. Noooo, no no no no no NO.” Veldris interjected. “I know where this is going and this ISN’T going to end well for ANYONE.”

“We are NOT heroes. We are NOT dragon slayers, understand?” she said. “We are scrappy adventurers, BARELY getting by, and we. are. LEAVING.”

“Hey, that’s bullshit!” Belderyx interjected. “You signed up for this, remember?”

“No takesies-backsies!”

“I did NOT sign up to die during a shallow attempt at play-pretend heroics, I can tell you that much.” she growled. “Leave it to the guards, we’re out of here.”

“Che tu sia dannato, Veldris!” Syndra shouted. “These are real civilians we’re talking about!”

“Would it kill you to care for somebody else for once?!” she snapped.

Veldris felt as if a crossbow bolt had pierced her chest just now.

“How dare she?” she thought to herself. “All I care about right now is getting her to safety. I couldn’t possibly live with the guilt of leading her to her death, but somehow I’m the crazy one here?”

“We’re leaving.” Veldris murmured. “End of story.”

Veldris tried to drag Kellan alongside her, but he stood firm. He stood so firm, in fact, that even his mother’s impressive physical strength wasn’t able to make him budge.

“Miss Syndra is right, mom.” he said. “It may not be our job…”

“But it is our obligation.”

Veldris took a deep breath, stared down Syndra, then let out a deep sigh.

“Fucking idealist…” the drow cleric hissed. “I hope you’re aware you’re gonna be the death of us!”

Chapter 4: Hold the Line

The party split into two groups:

• Belderyx, Kellan, and Clandestine set out to escort as many citizens as possible from the town square, including the city’s council members and any and all survivors from the previously mentioned orphanage
• Meanwhile, Veldris, Syndra, and Emilia would attempt to defeat, or at the very least distract the hellfire dragon long enough so that the standing army of the Duchy of Unsequera can make it to the city in time

“I still can’t believe it!” Belderyx said while running with Kellan and Clandestine in her arms. “A dragon? In cahoots with a demon?”

“Is that surprising? Clandestine asked rather innocently. “Don’t they cavort with other bad guys too?”

“First of all, how dare you.” Belderyx replied. “Second of all…”

“GUYS.” Kellan interjected, making Belderyx stop in her tracks, dropping both him and Clandestine.

The three of them watched as a city council member was just thrown out of the window, splatting onto the pavement in gruesome fashion. The culprits? Fellow council members, albeit, adorned in menacing robes.

“Oh, fuck off…” Belderyx said in disbelief. “They were in on this?!”

“These rats…” she muttered. “It’s just like the takeover of Isshin…”

She rapidly turned around with newfound determination.

“Change of plans, effective immediately!” Belderyx said. “We’re going after the orphanage first!”

“But we are already at the council gates…” Clandestine suggested.

“Fuck the council!” Belderyx sneered. “They already chose their side.”

And so, the three of them headed straight for the other part of the town square, carefully avoiding the odd stray fireball every now and then, until finally, they had arrived at their destination.

(Map credit goes to “Mikwewa Maps”)

“Looks like one of ‘em already kicked the bucket.” Belderyx remarked.

“You think some of the caretakers are still alive?” Clandestine asked.

Belderyx peered inside the building through the broken door frame, catching a glimpse of an older lady fighting off her adversary with a broken broom.

“Yep. Alive and kickin’.” she said. “Won’t be for long unless we do somethin’ though.”

Belderyx stepped into the building, blocking Doomsayer no. 3’s path to the broom-wielding grandma.

“Get lost, you nerds!” the dragon woman exclaimed. “Plenty of buildings to choose from, and yet you decided to torch this one?”

“At least be original, gods damn you!” she shouted.

The Doomsayer cackled maniacally before entering his combat stance. Ready to die, he had only one goal in mind: to cause as much chaos and terror as possible, so that his demonic masters get plenty of nourishment.

Belderyx tightened her magic bracers.

“You’re one weird freak.” she said. “Kellan, Clandestine! Look out for the kids!”

“I’ll take these cultists head on.”

Time to roll initiative!

Doomsayer Mutant 6 began making its way towards a scared little girl hiding in one of the bathrooms. Its monstrous snarls could be heard from the other side of the building, echoing across the devastated orphanage halls.

With its limbs twisting and reshaping themselves to better fit the situation, the tall, lanky creature assumed a muscular, four-legged form reminiscent of a wolf, if that wolf had the physique of a large bull. A creature with multiple eyes, several rows of teeth, and a tail as dextrous as an elephant’s trunk – an eldritch predator.

While that was going on, Doomsayer 4 pressed forward towards the bedchamber bathroom.

“S-Stay away!” a young half elf woman yelled out.

“Don’t make me use force!” she said, waving her dagger in a frantic manner.

The doomsayer chanted something in an abstract language, before making an attempt on the woman’s life with his burning club.

A swing and a hit, he bashed her head in with the crude weapon, killing her on the spot. The terrified children who hid behind her had luckily managed to barricade the bathroom door, buying them some more time.

Meanwhile, Kellan rushed Doomsayer 3 to save the two kids hiding in the storage room, but missed both his katana and wakizashi attacks, failing to hit the agile cultist.

Just then, a blood-curdling scream could be heard from the dining hall two rooms away.

The other doomsayer mutant had found and finished its prey.

“Bastards!” Kellan yelled out in frustration, feeling burdened with responsibility, and guilty for not being able to help in time.

Doomsayers 1, 2, and 3 advanced towards both Kellan and the broom-wielding old lady.

With an attack roll of 18 and a NATURAL TWENTY, Doomsayers 1 and 2 brutally bludgeoned the poor old woman with their torch clubs, gleefully cackling as they broke her body and charred what remained.

Kellan’s heart jumped into his throat. He felt like screaming, but… wasn’t able to.

While Kellan stood frozen in fear, Doomsayer 3 managed to get the jump on him, beating his AC with a roll of dirty 21 and dealing 3 points of bludgeoning + 2 points of fire damage respectively.

Clandestine felt compelled to act. And act she did.

“ARMS OF HADAR.” she spoke in a booming, alien voice.

Tendrils of dark energy enveloped the two Doomsayers, squeezing the life out of them once they had both failed their Strength saving throws. Clandestine’s second level spell was enough to obliterate her enemies, dishing out 12 points of necrotic damage to each one.

Clandestine staggered a few steps back, but managed to regain her balance. Blood started running from her nose, followed by a sharp migraine.

“Are you okay?” Belderyx asked from a distance.

“Psionics…” Clandestine groaned. “Do not come cheap.”

After giving Clandestine a tissue to wipe her nose with, Belderyx waltzed in through the front door and immediately stomped her way towards Doomsayer 3. The mad cultist felt fear for the first time in years.

Rightfully so, as Belderyx pinned him against the wall and forced him to eat her 11 points of Poison Spray damage, killing the lunatic instantly.

“You alright, kid?” Belderyx glanced at the still-shaken Kellan.

“Y-Yeah, let’s just…” the bard stammered. “Let’s get this over with.”

Having secured the storage room, Belderyx told the two children hiding there to barricade themselves inside until they came back for them. One of the children, a little tiefling boy, warned the dragon woman that some of these cultists had “turned into monsters.”

Taking the child’s warning into account, Belderyx carefully led Clandestine and Kellan towards the bed chambers, expecting some kind of eldritch abomination.

Instead, they were met with the raving-mad Doomsayer 4, attempting to torch the bathroom where two orphans were currently hiding.

“DON’T YOU DARE!” Belderyx shouted.

The doomsayer playfully obliged, teasing the heroes by slowly hovering his torch club over an opened flask of oil.

“Try me.” he smirked.

Belderyx tried to shoot the madman down with her Eldritch Blast, rolling a 13.

The Doomsayer was unfortunately faster, rolling a 14 on his Dexterity check, barely beating out Belderyx.

Fire engulfed the bathroom door, and the Doomsayer fell to his knees with a blast-shaped hole in his chest, content with having managed to get a last laugh before dying.

“Not like this.” Belderyx thought to herself. “No…”

“Fuck me..” she said “No more deaths today!” 

Belderyx charged headfirst into the door, battering it down with her horns and stumbling directly into the flames.

Beating the Constitution save DC of 15 with her roll of 21, Belderyx took only half the fire damage she originally would have.

Belderyx then grabbed both children at once and, miraculously, managed to carry them out of the burning bathroom, mere moments before it collapsed and the fire started spreading to the rest of the bed chambers.

“We gotta hurry.” she groaned.

“Before-” she tried to say, but something big interrupted her.

With a loud thud, one of the Doomsayer Mutants crashed into Kellan, knocking him prone and dealing 8 points of bludgeoning damage.

Intent on blocking their path so the flames would finish them off, the Mutant stood in the doorway and bellowed, revealing its blood-stained teeth and grotesque, tentacle-like tongue.

“KELLAN!” Clandestine shouted.

“Ow…” the bard yelped.

Enraged, the astral tiefling tried to mentally break the monster, only to find that her psionic powers have no effect on this demonic aberration.

“I got it.” Belderyx pushed Clandestine aside with a serious look on her face. “Stay back, kid.”

Belderyx began readying her Pact of the Dragon warlock feature – the eldritch dragon’s breath.

Upon taking a deep breath, Belderyx’s veins ran chilled. Her scales now resembling shells of icy spikes, the dragon woman braced for release.

She bellowed like the true dragon she once was, then let it all out.

A piercing beam of frost chilled the mutant down to its core, dealing 10 points of cold damage. Furthermore…

Having failed its Constitution saving throw, Doomsayer Mutant 6 was slowed by the additional effect of Belderyx’s breath attack.

The Mutant, breaking off bits and pieces of the ice it was covered in, slowly creeped towards the still-prone Kellan, striking at him with advantage.

Managing to land one demonclaw attack, the Mutant slashed Kellan for 10 damage, leaving the drow boy with 1 measly hit point.

Kellan grunted, coughed up some blood, shivered, then managed to pull himself together. Using half of his movement speed to stand up, he made a last-ditch effort to valiantly try and stop the monster.

His katana sliced through the demonic entity like butter. Its gross remains, however, immediately melded back into a coherent shape – that of a creature who still had 4 hit points left.

“You have to be kidding…” the boy said in disbelief.

With his offhand, he swung at the demon with his wakizashi, but the entity had managed to dodge the bard’s quick attack without breaking a sweat.

Suddenly, Kellan found himself surrounded.

Another Doomsayer Mutant came to finish him off. What’s worse is that this one had the arm of a child dangling from its gaping maw.

Not taking any chances, Belderyx jumped in to try and strangle Doomsayer Mutant 6.

Its Strength saving throw roll of 14 wasn’t enough to beat Belderyx’s Athletics check roll of 16.

Consequently, Belderyx pinned the Mutant down to the ground, then repeatedly stomped on its head until it was reduced to mush. She didn’t stop until she was sure the creature died for good.

With a mighty roar, she attempted to intimidate the other Mutant, but to no avail, as these entities are fearless by nature.

During the standoff between Belderyx and the aberration, Clandestine interjected by landing a sneaky Sorcerous Burst on Doomsayer Mutant 7, hitting it for 6 points of fire damage. Eager to capitalize on her surprise factor, she used her Quicken Spell metamagic to launch a Chaos Bolt with advantage.

Thanks to her roll of dirty 20, Clandestine shot the aberration dead with her acidic Chaos Bolt, ending the combat encounter.

Having successfully rescued four children from the collapsing orphanage, our heroes gained a lot of respect from the city guards, earning themselves wagon rides as a means of escape.

“No, not yet.” Belderyx said. “We can’t leave without the others.”

Having patched his wounds up, Kellan observed the burning cityscape and wondered to himself:

“I hope mom is doing better than I am…”

Chapter 5: The Takeover

Veldris found herself running faster than she ever had to. She ran like the wind, dodging the odd scorching rays coming her way.

“Why did I agree to this…” she thought to herself.

While the drow cleric kept the dragon distracted with a game of cat and mouse, Emilia was busy coming up with a plan to defeat it.

“I got it!” the druid exclaimed.

Syndra perked up her ears, awaiting for her friend’s response.

“Okay, so, it’s a hellfire-spewing young red dragon, right?” Emilia started.

“…Yeah?” Syndra said.

“Yeah, so…” Emilia continued. “We run.”

“WHAT?” Syndra exclaimed.

“We MIGHT escape if we hightail it the moment that thing starts circling back to the city council.” Emilia explained. “It keeps flying around it for some reason.”

The elven mage leaned on a watchtower railing, observing the dragon’s street pursuit from above.

“You’re telling me Veldris is risking her life down there…” she said. “Just so you can say there’s nothing we can do?”

Emilia gave Syndra a puzzled look.

“What did you expect?” Emilia replied. “You told me to come up with a plan, so I did.”

“A plan to defeat it, not an escape route!” Syndra said. “Merda, are you even listening to me?!”

Emilia ignored her friend and started flipping the pages of a big dracology book written in Draconic.

“It’s useless, Syndra.” she said. “We had a good run though.”

Syndra knocked the book out of her friend’s hands.

“So you’re just gonna sit here and wait?!” she exclaimed.

“For Bahamut’s sake… YES.” Emilia sneered 

“What else am I supposed to do?!” she cried out. “This is beyond us, Syndra.”

“You can’t always win, you know…” the druid muttered.

A few minutes of stressful silence flew by, until finally, the dragon began circling back to the city council.

“This is it, right?” Syndra inquired. “Our shot, I mean.”

“Yes.” Emilia replied. “Once we grab Veldris, we can-”

Syndra didn’t wait for her friend to finish. Instead, she jumped down the watchtower after casting a Feather Falling spell on herself.

As she slowly descended to the ground, she thought about something for a moment, then suddenly decided to change the direction she was flying in.

“What the fuck is that darthiir doing?” Veldris thought to herself.

“Wait, no…” she said. “Don’t tell me she’s…”

Syndra hastily used up a scroll with a level 3 Fly spell written on it, then headed straight for city council.

Emilia descended from the watchtower with her own feather fall, only to be met with a very angry and very confused cleric.

“Is this part of your plan?” Veldris inquired, shaking the druid around.

Emilia nonetheless kept her eyes glued on Syndra, who was floating off into the distance.

“No…” she muttered.

A few minutes had passed, and neither Syndra nor the dragon were returning. Veldris and Emilia headed to the city square to investigate.

What they found was Syndra still maintaining concentration on her fly spell, all the while simultaneously pestering the dragon with magic missiles.

The dragon, perched atop the council’s golden dome, spewed hellfire in her general direction, even attempting to swat her down with its claws.

“INSOLENT BRAT.” he bellowed.

The dragon roared something in Draconic, unleashing magic missiles that were even faster and deadlier than the ones Syndra was casting.

No amount of mid-air maneuvering was going to save her at that point.

Once the first missile hit her, it was over. The elven mage had lost her concentration, ending the effects of her fly spell.

Syndra found herself plummeting to the ground, only to get hit with three more missiles on her way down.

Her battered body hit several railings before she finally landed in…

The dragon’s clutches, no less.

“CAUGHT YOU.” the dragon bellowed once more.

“SYNDRA!” Veldris shouted.

“Guiding Bol-” she attempted to cast a spell, but was deafened mid-casting.

“SILENCE!” the dragon exclaimed.

Finding themselves in a 20 ft bubble of silence, Veldris and Emilia were unable to cast any spells. Expecting their desperate attempt to leave its range, the dragon conjured up a circular wall of fire that surrounded the radius of his silence spell, rendering it impossible to leave without high degree burns.

“Concentrating on TWO spells at once?!” Syndra thought to herself. “Porca miseria, this guy is insane…”

The elven mage tried to wiggle her way out of the dragon’s claws. Her resistance was met with a firm squish that possibly broke a few of her ribs.

“DARING, AREN’T WE?” the dragon spoke. “IT WOULD HAVE BEEN WISER TO RUN.”

“ALAS…”

With a quick flick of the wrist, he tossed Syndra onto the crumbling roof of the city council building, sending her tumbling down all the way to the ground floor.

The dragon then snapped its fingers, ending his concentration on the silence bubble from earlier.

Before Veldris or Emilia could react, however, he immediately sent small meteors flying their way, bombarding the two with bludgeoning and fire damage respectively.

Veldris’s shield took a bulk of the damage, allowing her to receive a Jump spell from Emilia and escape the bounds of the dragon’s firewall.

In a twist of fate, she landed her mace on his head with a CRITICAL HIT!

The dragon, barely bruised, yet quite amused by the situation as a whole, grabbed Veldris mid-air while she was on her way down from her jump, mirroring the way he had just caught Syndra.

The dragon lifted Veldris closer to his face, getting a good look at her.

“VALIANT.” he said. “BUT SO VERY PREDICTABLE.”

Veldris spat in his face, almost instinctively.

“Just get it over with already.” she growled. “I’m in no mood to play games.”

The dragon, no longer amused, tore into her with his claws, awaiting another snarky response.

Veldris remained silent. Indifferent, even.

“VERY WELL.” the dragon said.

He then carefully picked up the three heroines and lowered them onto the ground, even tossing them their weapons and backpacks.

Veldris, realizing that Syndra is still breathing, was jolted awake from her apathetic, defeated state.

“You…” she faced the scaled tyrant.

“What do you want from us?!” she shouted.

The dragon pointed towards the thick smoke clouds swirling above the city square.

“I ALREADY GOT WHAT I WANTED.” he said. “THIS CITY IS MINE.”

“KILLING YOU NOW WOULD BE… COUNTERPRODUCTIVE.” the dragon continued.

Emilia raised her eyebrows in both terror and confusion.

“SEE, MY EMPLOYER WOULD RATHER HAVE YOU ALL TRAUMATIZED.” he insinuated.

“I DID MY SHARE OF THE WORK.” he smirked.

“I SHALL NOW ENJOY THE FRUITS OF MY LABOR!” he said, following his words with a primal roar of victory.

“I… I don’t… understand.” Emilia whimpered. “This doesn’t make any sense…”

The usual dragon lore expert had found herself dumbfounded. Why would a red dragon cavort with demons? Why would he deny himself the sadistic pleasure of killing – something his kind can’t go a day without?

But most importantly…

What kind of power does someone need to have in order to make a red dragon subservient to them? A hellfire-infused, spellcasting red dragon, no less.

The very thought shook Emilia to her core.

Veldris could hardly stand on her own anymore, slowly succumbing to her wounds. Out of spell slots for healing spells, the drow cleric leaned on Emilia’s shoulder, staring the dragon down from ground level.

“You’re dealing with forces beyond your comprehension…” she said through her teeth.

“You will live to regret this, tyrant…”

“AND YOU WON’T LIVE TO SEE IT.” he retorted, spewing hellfire as he spoke.

“UNFORTUNATELY, I WILL NOT BE THE ONE TO SLAY YOU. NOT TODAY, AT LEAST.”

“MAKE SURE YOU REMEMBER THE MERCY OF XYLOPYREX, THE CONQUEST TYRANT.” he bellowed.

With a mighty, triumphant roar, Xylopyrex took flight once more, presumably flying back to his lair to relocate his hoard into Meanderton.

Surrounded by death and destruction everywhere, it was safe to say the party did not come out victorious.

But just then, suddenly, a familiar face could be seen running towards our heroes.

It was Belderyx, dragging two entire wagons behind her as if they weighed nothing.

“GET IN!” she shouted. “WE’RE GETTING OUT OF HERE!”

Her adrenaline-fueled rallying call starkly contrasted with the apathetic reactions of the three tired and quite possibly mentally scarred heroines.

Veldris snapped out of her stupor only when she noticed her son waiting for her in one of the wagons.

“Glad you three are safe…” she mumbled before collapsing in front of Belderyx.

“Woah, hey now…” Belderyx said. “Don’t you die on me in a place like this!”

Once our heroes were all patched up with the little healing spells they had left, the remains of the city guard, in their first and possibly last act of defiance against their new, tyrannical overlord, gifted them travel supplies and horses to pull their wagons.

As the party slowly departed from Meanderton, Syndra couldn’t help but think about what to do next.

“We could stay at my place…” she suggested.

“And where was that again?” Belderyx asked.

“My house in Ventasca.” Syndra replied.

Kellan raised his eyebrows.

“Miss Syndra owns a house in the heart of Randwynn?” he said, visibly in awe.

“Si. My babbo bought it for me.” Syndra said. “My family are pretty much arcimaghi in all but name, you know?”

“Arci-what-now?” Belderyx said with a puzzled expression.

“The upper class, so to speak.” Syndra explained. “My parents used to be politicians, but now they’re enjoying early retirement.”

Upon hearing the word, Belderyx tried to conceal her disdain. Needless to say, she looked like she was about to puke.

“Gosh, I always wanted to visit Randwynn…” Kellan interjected. “Finally something nice to look forward to!”

Syndra chuckled.

“I can give you a tour, if you want~.” she suggested.

And with that, the party began their journey towards their new home.

…

…

…

Haven’t had enough, have you?

You think I didn’t properly address the gravity of the situation?

You want more content?

You want some juicy character drama?

Alright, here’s some content for ya:

(Don’t say I never do anything for you!)

Bonus Chapter 6: Epilogue

“…Veldris?” Syndra asked gently.

“Mhm?” Veldris replied.

“What was it like?” Syndra said. “Your life, I mean. Before you joined my party.”

“You hardly ever talk about your time on the surface, and I-”

“Grim.” Veldris answered concisely, interrupting her friend.

“I see…” Syndra sighed.

The elf wizard huddled closer to her brooding teammate.

“That being said, you’ve been seeming kind of… distant, throughout this entire ride.” she said.

“Much more than you usually are.” Syndra quickly added.

“It got me thinking…” she said, “Did I do something wrong?”

Veldris tilted her head ever so slightly in Syndra’s direction.

“No, of course not.” the cleric retorted. “What gave you that idea…”

Syndra pouted in a rather pathetic manner, almost resembling a sad puppy.

“You don’t look at me the way that you used to…” Syndra said. “Let alone talk to me.”

Veldris let out a long sigh.

“Syndra, listen…” she said.

“It’s just… Sometimes, I…” Veldris couldn’t bring herself to finish her sentence, lowering her head in shame.

Syndra waited patiently for an answer, her sad blue eyes reflecting the moonlight like divining orbs.

“Forget it.” Veldris finally spoke. “I’m not worth it.”

“Huh?” Syndra responded, visibly taken aback.

“No, we are NOT leaving it at that!” she said, a little furious. “Tell me what really troubles you. Genuinely.”

Veldris sighed once more.

“I’m well over 200 years old.” she said, “Pushing 300, to be exact.”

“I had forgotten most of these years.” she continued. “In the arena, I spilled entire rivers of blood, desensitizing myself beyond return, losing sight of who I once was.”

“I barely have half of my lifespan behind me, but my mind is already jaded, and my body is riddled with scars.” Veldris said.

“Broken. Unstable. Past my date.” the cleric kept going.

“Used goods, that’s what I am.” she lamented. “But you, you’re still young.”

“You deserve better.” Veldris said. “You’re wasting your time trying to fix me.”

“Trying to get me on board with your stupid, Randwynnian pastiche of adventuring, acting as if your silly adventures can actually change something inside me.”

“Please, darling.”

“You’re wasting your time, and I can’t help but feel responsible.” she said, “It pains me much more than you can imagine.”

“It would be best if you took care of yourself first before you try to take care of m-”

Syndra gently smacked her in the face.

“Merda, get a grip, Veldris!” the elven mage exclaimed. “How can you even THINK of something like that?!”

“Especially after today!” she exclaimed.

“Yes, you’ve been through a lot, but…” she started, “You got a second chance at life, Veldris!”

“Kemrios chose you after all, didn’t he?” Syndra suggested.

“They say opportunity doesn’t come knocking twice, and yet for you, it did!”

“Maybe so, but-” Veldris said.

“And I won’t let you waste it, no way, capisci?” Syndra interrupted her. “Brooding will change nothing, trust me!”

“…but I don’t want to drag you-” Veldris tried to continue her train of thought.

“Just forget about your past worries and live in the now!” Syndra interrupted her friend yet again. “You’d be surprised at how therapeutic heroic adventures can really be!”

“Syndra, I-” Veldris couldn’t finish her sentence yet again, as Syndra just talked over her.

“Whatever ails you, I can fix it”. she whimpered. “I promise.”

“You just have to believe-”

“ALRIGHT, FINE.” Veldris suddenly jolted. “YOU WANT THE TRUTH?”

“IT’S NOT ABOUT ME, YOU DECADENT, SPOILED DIMWIT!” Veldris snapped.

“IT’S YOU!” she continued. “IT WAS ALWAYS ABOUT YOU.”

“MY HEART CAN NO LONGER TAKE YOUR RECKLESS STUPIDITY.”

“WATCHING YOU DANCE ON THE BATTLEFIELD LIKE YOUR LIFE MEANS NOTHING TO YOU. ALL A SPECTACLE FOR SPECTACLE’S SAKE!”

“IN MY NIGHTMARES I SEE GLIMPSES OF A FUTURE WHERE YOU ARE JUST LIKE ME: BROKEN. HOPELESS. DESOLATE.” 

“GUILT IS TEARING ME FROM INSIDE, SYNDRA.”

“YOU WERE YET UNTAINTED BY THE HORRORS OF REALITY.”

Veldris sighed, trying to control her ragged breathing.

“Yet untainted, to this day.” she sighed.

“I’ve been protecting you to this day.” Veldris continued. “Because today, I failed.”

“You had to witness how things really are. People dying, heroes failing, evil reigning supreme.”

“None of this would’ve happened if I disagreed with you like I usually do.”

“Just this once, I tried to curb my pessimism and go along with your heroics.”

“I thought that maybe, just maybe, you are right, and I’m just paranoid.”

“And in return…” Veldris whimpered.

“I almost watched you die.”

“My son had to almost watch you die.”

“He loves you as much as I do, gods damn it!”

“Do you understand now, Syndra?”

“There are people who care about you. A whole lot.”

“You can’t be throwing your life away for any person or any idea you think is worth it.” Veldris said. “It’s never worth it.”

“ADVENTURING is not worth it.”

“MY LIFE is not worth it.”

“Some things break, and there is nothing we can do about it.”

“You cannot fix everything and everyone.” she said.

“And you certainly cannot fix me.”

An uncomfortable silence took over, lasting almost until the very end of the party’s ride to their new home. Veldris tried to catch some sleep, but was unsuccessful, as not only did the wagon keep bumping into rocks along the road, but her conscience was gnawing at her like a hungry gnoll.

Syndra’s quiet sobbing didn’t help things either. Before their argument, she was yet unaware of the ramifications of the traumatic event that had transpired earlier. Having been lectured by Veldris, however, Syndra spent her ride home agonizing over the countless possibilities of just how bad their situation could’ve gotten, blaming herself for each and every one.

She was about to start reconsidering the whole “adventuring” shtick.

Veldris suddenly got up from the pile of hay she tried to use as a bed. Unable to bear the fallout of her earlier breakdown, she tried to ease the tension between her and Syndra.

“I hope you didn’t take it the wrong way.” she said. “I know what… this thing we have means to you.”

“I didn’t mean to tear your dreams down.” she continued.

Syndra was still sitting with her knees to her chest, her head firmly facing the ground.

“I was just… afraid.” Veldris admitted. “Afraid you’d bite more than you could chew, get yourself hurt…”

“Afraid a young, ambitious soul would be snuffed out from this world, all because the supposedly-wise me failed to see it coming.”

“Failed to do something about it.”

Syndra’s pointy ears dropped lower than Veldris had ever seen them do before.

“I know I said a lot of things about feeling hopeless regarding my life, but…” she said. “I was overwhelmed.”

“I… wasn’t thinking straight.”

“I was being a little hypocritical, too.” she changed her tone to a slightly warmer one.

“Because, as a matter of fact, I do still have hope.” she smiled.

Syndra slowly lifted her head and raised her teary eyes from the floor.

“Your shenanigans worry me, but they also give me hope.” Veldris said. “As does my son, and Clandestine, and Emilia, and Belderyx…”

“Hope that maybe it’s not too late for me.”

“That I also have people who care about me.” she said.

“That maybe, just maybe.”

Syndra stared at her friend intently.

“Even a broken soul like me can be fixed.”

Syndra smiled through the tears, and the two elves entered a warm, forgiving embrace.

“So what do you say we give this adventuring thing another shot?” Veldris suggested.

Syndra nodded happily.

The party’s journey home continued in a much better mood, even allowing the two elves to catch some sleep after all.

Perhaps hope is all it takes.