A Young Girls Dreams.

[Fezzik]

Vanessa ran into the house and nearly bowled over her mother, in tears.

“What’s the matter child?”

After some time, the tears stopped and Vanessa was able to actually talk. She started from the beginning, having seen the man at the Trading Post; the brave legionnaire. Some evil creature, forged out of the fires of the Enclave, a clone of one of the most horrid creatures to walk Sundren. One that if it or its seed-giver were to meet, and one consume the other, the survivor would grow even stronger. She shuddered to think of such a horrid thing. She had seen the carnage when it attacked Sestra, an innocent and a monk, both torn in half.

It had created thralls; beings of no small power themselves, that attacked them when she and others went to Aquor to see what was happening. They dealt with the thralls, but the creature itself faced the brave Legionnaire. He fought it on the roof of an old crypt; the roof fell in.

“It ate him! It was horrible... then it crashed out of the crypt and we fought it... we fought so hard, but it wouldn’t fall! It bound up the cliff face like it was running on flat land! How could anyone create such a thing? Some sick experiment that couldn’t be controlled, why?”

“You knew long ago that this life was not going to be an easy one. You studied, you learned. You knew it was going to be difficult, but, now you understand, don’t you.”

Vanessa nodded weakly. She had known, but now, she really understood. Perhaps she would lose parts of her innocents, but if it was needed to help those around her, it would be a price she would have to pay.

[Fezzik]

Taking the Wine

Vanessa drifted off into a quiet sort of slumber. The meal had been good. She wasn’t used to wine, but then this wasn’t normal wine. The priestess and others were about her, watching her as she lay there.

The world shifted and changed... suddenly she was back in Sestra, near the entrance to the plateau. A man stood beside her, hate filling his eyes. “Now you will see what happens to warmbloods who dare oppose us.” He grabbed onto Vanessa’s hand, but she couldn’t break loose, she struck at him, hit him, kicked him and he shrugged off all the blows. The army of Naga, Yuan-ti, Slitherscales poured out around them into the town. She could hear screams; she could see people already running, and some of them carrying prized possessions. This wasn’t the way she remembered it, but it was the way it happened, or so it seemed.

The slightly scaled man with his narrow vertical pupils clenched tight to her arms as they came to the first of the dying and dead. People she had known all her life, a small child with a spear wound, a Yuan-ti soldier above it. “Stop! Don’t hurt that chi...” The sound was sickening, she looked on in horror, how could anyone be so cruel, to kill an innocent babe? She continued to struggle, but it was no use. Slowly they moved, from house to house, some empty, some still containing people trying to pack their goods, taken by surprise and slaughtered where they stood, like cattle.

Vanessa couldn’t break free... her eyes were full of tears. A group of adventurers could be seen trying to hold back the tide; it wouldn’t be stopped though, she gave a small sigh of relief as she could see some of the townsfolk run away. They would be safe from this cruelty. The being beside her merely laughed as wave on wave of Yuan-ti and others pounded against the stalwart people. “They will not survive, and if they do, it will be of no matter, we have taken your town, killed your friends. Nothing can be done to stop us. We will take the valley, and then move beyond, wiping your race from the face of Faerun!” As he spoke a Slitherscale came up to get new commands, the creature holding on to her merely took his sword and ran it through the Lizards stomach. “You are not to talk to me! Slave!” Vanessa blinked a few times, seeing the lizard fall, slowly from its wound, it’s dark blood pooling beside it. Slave? They are not working with the Yuan-ti, but under duress? She tried to move to the injured creature, and was yanked back.

[Fezzik]

Taking the Wine II

“His life has fulfilled its purpose, he will not need any further use for it, there are more where he came from.” Vanessa looked horrified. They continued to then entrance of the town, by now, the Adventurers had retreated, only the bodies of the dead remained. He stood before her, taller than she, and laughed. He thrust a sword in her hand. “Here, warmblood, for my crimes. Strike me down and let this all end!” He placed the tip against his chest. “I offer myself to you, and I repent my crimes!” He continued to laugh. She looked at the bodies of the fallen around her, and back to the lizard man he had run through. She could end it all here. Yes, he had surrendered himself, but was it enough that he faced justice, and not vengeance for what he did? She knew that it had to be. She looked at the sword. One quick thrust and he would be dead, the nightmare would be over and the army would fall in tatters, she could feel that in her heart. She turned the blade over, her palm facing the ground; she raised the sword up parallel to the ground, using his chest as the pivot.... and dropped it.

“My hand will never willingly hold another weapon in my life time, and if it does, I will pray that it will never be used to the effect that any weapon her today has. I will not kill you; you will face justice and you will pay for your crimes as it is demanded. These will be the hands that help heal the world. This is more mercy than you will likely see by anyone else.” She knew he wouldn’t walk away from the town like this. He was mocking her, her values, her beliefs. He thought he could turn her into something just like him. She looked down at her two small hands, then wound up, and struck the man in the jaw; his laughter ended, and anger filled his eyes, and the scene faded.

Before her, at a distance, in a small glade, stood a man, hunched over, broken bones obvious from his form. He walked over, oh, how could he walk like that? The tears filled Vanessa’s eyes, yet she felt warmth... so much warmth, compassion and filled the air around her she felt buoyed. The dead she remembered, but as he approached, she understood. She couldn’t help everyone, but she had done what was needed. Justice would be served, but with compassion and guidance. Vengeance was not her way. It was never meant to be.

She slowly stirred from the dream just before the man reached out to touch her, a smile on his face and a nod. The memory of the dream faded, but the priestess at her head smiled down at her and nodded. Vanessa felt the warmth for many days after, and remembered it.

[Fezzik]

Vanessa sat trying not to think of it as she sat by the fire. People talking about the Cartel – she couldn’t help but remember the scene on the mountain. It wasn’t a Troll, despite the look, it was a man that did it. Sulpher. He made an offhand comment about needing something to eat before he went with the group up to deal with some of the murderers. Vanessa’s stomach did a little somersault.

She, a dwarf, gnome and Sulpher went up the mountain in the days before. The fight was long and protracted in the end, but it was closer to the beginning that it happened. The sound of the transformation was disturbing enough. The crunching and crackling of bones and the ripping sound of flesh being stretched. Sulpher changed his form into a Troll. So they went forward, then it happened. He started dragging a dead woman around and started consuming the body; the gnome looked away, but the sound of the bones being crushed and flesh being torn was too much for Vanessa to handle. She vomited in the bushes beside the trail. The dwarf soon lost his stomach contents as well, partly due to Vanessa, and partly by the scene.

Vanessa’s mind tried not to continue thinking of the scene, but from time to time it came back into her mind. He said that it was the form, that it needed nourishment for its regenerative powers; Vanessa didn’t believe that the change could destroy the mind of the man – she couldn’t help but feel revulsion when she saw the man now.

[Fezzik]

Vanessa couldn’t understand the girl. What did Vuut mean? She assumed that the girls name was Gudnau, but she couldn’t be sure. She and another tried to figure out what she was trying to say... eventually Vanessa deduced that vuut was food, not friend or anything else. Her quiet despair at not understanding the girl grew a little bit at a time.

Finally a Hin, a follower of Umberlee, who could understand the girl said that wayward soul thought she was a goblin, from an isle somewhere. Vanessa didn’t trust the way the little Hin grinned and snickered as she talked to the girl. She talked far more than giving Vanessa feedback to. Eventually the Hin said that Vanessa would have to teach her the difference between what was acceptable and not, for food.

Over the course of a few weeks, she say Gud a few times. The other girl had learned some interesting words, like fire, wood... and kiss!? Apparently a man named Vigo had taught her the last. There must be more important things that could be taught instead of that? Vanessa only sighed at the ensuing conversation.

[Fezzik]

Two events stood out for Vanessa the next few days. While in the Ogre caves, her party, two dwarves and a gnome, were smoked out of the cave. Specifically, they were after the chief for the legionnaires at the fort, but their survival over took that quest. They fought their way into the cave, trying to outrun the smoke. In a room, they hid. The ogres finally started using magic to blow out the smoke; the group snuck past and found a small crack to get out, although they had to use magic to reduce their size to get out of the crevasse.

Investigations found a blue, cut, not torn, cloak with an insignia on it. Large footprints were found about the fire as well. Exigo wore blue uniforms, but it couldn’t be sure if it was some type of framing or not.

On their way out, they met 2 others with Miss Selene. The rest of her party left, and she talked with them for a short time. A giant mushroom walking around approached them, when approached, it sent out a bolt of acidic material, knocking one of the men over; without much further thought, instead of leaving the creature alone, the other three ran off after the creature for revenge; Vanessa couldn’t help but think the creature was merely defending itself against a threat.

[Fezzik]

“Umm... Excuse me sir?” Vanessa approached the large man, although some wouldn’t call him such, he seemed intelligent enough to talk and stay his large hand. He looked at her. “Have you registered at the City Hall? It would be better for you in the long run if you are not hunted down by the legion; you should get your papers if you don’t have them.” He looked at her oddly, then nearly ran up to her, in a long loping gate, standing nearly on her toes, glaring down at her with his red war paint. She stood up and kept herself straight, looking up at the man, keeping her fear down in her so it didn’t come out.

After a few moments, with others coming in behind, just in case he did anything to Vanessa, he suddenly laughed. “Not many humans have stood up to me. My name is Gladiator.”

Visibly she must have looked relieved; inwardly her heart was still racing. “Umm... I’m Vanessa” Almost before she could get out the sentence he sniffed the air, looking like a predator, he loped off out of the Trading post with tremendous speed.

[Fezzik]

The Necropolis wherein lay the Advent, their undead zombies. Selene, Sulphur and a dwarf named Bren. They fought their way in, and then went to the upper floor of the tomb; that was a mistake. They fought well in the lower levels, but they came, the real guardians of the living necromancers. Wights; Bren fought and fought, Selene was trapped beside the stairs and she fell, Sulphur fell next. There were three wights around the dwarf; Vanessa grabbed the other two and put them over her shoulder; she’d never carried such a burden in her life. The pain in her muscles took away the pain she felt for the suffering of the two she carried.

Later that week, the real horrors of the Necropolis would be unleashed. A strange woman came to the Post and started talking about fate coming, that they could be a part of it, or be washed away by it. The heroes stood around bickering about whether it was a trap, and that they shouldn’t try to find out what the darkness coming from the east was. Vanessa wouldn’t sit around and wait for evil to come; she would face it and see what could be done. They needed information, but refused to go out and get it.

So it was that she found out that the woman was a worshiper of Myrkul a dead god, evil and twisted. What did she want? Simply to observe the creation of an army of undead; one that might roll over Sundren if the fates so wished it. They questioned the woman about the future and she became angry, but hardly answered their questions about the past either. Darkness was coming, and they had to be ready. The Lord of the dead was waking.

[Fezzik]

Vanessa looked at the kind old lady and nodded. “I will find your necklace for you. You said the man had a lazy eye and ran north toward Aquor?” The old lady nodded.

So it was that she organized a group, including her friend Selene, to search the caves just outside of Aquor, where she managed to find rumours of the man. The continued to the lair of the Cartel, they found the man, but they also found a skilled assassin. Three of the party fell before they realized what was happening, but the man fled when they started getting the upper hand, vowing that they would be avenged upon.

Gathering their cohort, Vanessa and the rest bound their wounds and healed them. They found the necklace, but now they had to escape. The Cartel were waiting, but the group fought them off... and the assassin came back, but this time they were ready for him, and quickly beat him down. As he fell, the look on his eyes was shock and he said only two words... “What the...”.

[Fezzik]

Sain and Rastellia talked outside the new temple in Sestra as Vanessa passed some warm scones in her pouch. Two Kelemvorite priests had gone missing. One was sent to find the first, who had founded the temple but had also gone to check the Necropolis. So they went to find them.

Vanessa fought with all her might as they moved their way into the crypts of the Dead, but it was not enough.

“Where am I?” She mumbled to herself as she drifted with little feeling in her body.

Disembodied screams reached her ears. Not moans like the zombies that filled the Necropolis, but similar. Suffering. Living suffering.

She woke up suddenly looking at the ceiling of the tombs. “We have to get out of here. It’s coming.” The elf, Corvus, looked worried, as did Mr Cirion and Sain. Vanessa moved slowly to her feet, she managed to heal her wounds, but she couldn’t move fast enough for the party to prevent the giant creature to shamble up. She cast what she could, and they fought. Vanessa through her weight against the creatures legs and knocked it down. The group suffered few wounds as she kept knocking it down when it got up.

On their out, she stood looking, trying to figure out where the voices, screams of suffering, in her head were coming from. Maybe they priests were not beyond hope just yet.

As she stood, the others left. A priest of Myrkul came, and soon after, the massive Legionnaire, Juggra. Vanessa continued to think and tried to find the source of the screams before they faded. She looked around the Temple outside the Necropolis, but found nothing. By the time her search ended the priest had returned, with Juggra running out the gate, she heard only a few words as she looked at the throng of undead around the priest. “Juggra not know who good and who not anymore!” The priest... controlled the undead. Vanessa quickly left the scene, her mind in horror and her heart filled with disgust.

[Fezzik]

Vanessa walked along the bridge in Sestra, a man was standing looking out into the ocean. A grin passed over her face as she saw the spray of the waterfall and went to the other side of the bridge. She opened her mouth, like she did when she was a little girl, and let the gentle spray of the rivers cascading waters float onto her face.

“Ah, Vanessa, it’s nice to see you again.” Cirion greeted her warmly after she had stood there for a time.

After a little bit of talk about how things had been going and queries about the people of Sestra he smiled at her. “... and I just want to thank you, for all that you’ve done for Sestra and for Sundren. You are a the young hero of Sestra.”

Her face went blank for a moment and she just looked. Hero? “Umm.... thank you.” Her inflection was odd, like she thought it should be a question; a question of what he meant. She didn’t think of herself as a hero, she just did what she thought needed doing. She knew she wasn’t always completely on the course she should be sometimes, but wisdom comes with age, she knew that. There were many things she hadn’t seen yet, so there were things that she could not know how to react to other than with the faith that guided her. She smiled back, a bit unnerved as he walked away.

“No, don’t thank me, as I said, it is us that should be thanking you.”

[Fezzik]

The man approached the Exigo like he was any other customer, then he yelled out. “You’ll pay, you’ll all pay! You’ll see!,” and stormed out. Areil and Vanessa looked at each other and were dumbfounded at the outburst. They followed the man, and he recognized Ariel’s uniform as being of the Red Blades.

“Look, I’m undercover.” He flashed what looked to be Legion credentials. “I have a job to do, if you see a guy or two with hoods, just leave them alone, ok? There are things they need to do.”

“If they’re doing something wrong, then they shouldn’t be allowed to do it.” Ariel and Vanessa both agreed on this point. It wasn’t right for something illicit to happen, even if it was under the hospice of the Legion. They had authority, but they did not have the right to abuse it.

“Just let it be, ok?” He walked off, looking about.

Not long after, Vanessa saw a Cohortes talking to 5 men. One of them was the man they had met earlier. “Listen, you should leave now, ok?” Vanessa and Ariel couldn’t see the man’s point, and he sighed. “Fine, I have to do my bit for King and Country.” He walked off to the circle of men around the fire. As one, they threw off their robes and revealed old, tattered Veritas Uniforms and drew swords, charging and swinging at any that happened to be nearby. Innocents... they attacked innocents too!

Afterwards the Cohortes came and asked what had happened. He refuted the fact that he had just talked to these men, that they had seemingly been given orders by the man. These men did not seem like the Veritas that Vanessa had seen on the mountain; proud men, fire in their eyes from their convictions. The men that lay dead at their feet now were dull eyed... drugged! Their uniforms were old, not the proud materials used by the Veritas. It wasn’t right, and she didn’t like where the pieces were falling into place. But what could she do?

[Fezzik]

Vanessa followed Andy and Mr Vigo up the mountain. She didn’t enjoy the task at all, but didn’t want to see Andy get hurt either. She made sure she did as little damage to the zealots; after she would place the ones that had fallen in respectful poses, but there was no time in the heat of battle to do so now.

So up they went; a man stepped out of the cave entrance and confronted them, making bitter comments about the legion, Red Blades and other things. He turned his gaze on Vanessa. “You, you there, you don’t look to be one of these Legion dogs, you have the look of one of the Triumvirate, is that right?”

“Umm... “, Vanessa slowly stepped forward. He spoke with authority and audacity, considering what surrounded him. She wasn’t sure of herself with such a person asking questions, but she stuttered and stammered nervously, then things turned worse.

Miss Andy screamed at Vigo to silence the man, thinking that Vanessa was somehow possessed by the mans magic... even though he had cast nothing. So the man was turned to stone. And as the others hauled him down the mountain, Vanessa arranged the dead in repose as she went. There was no need for them to suffer anymore indignities at the end of their life.

Things did not go any better at the base of the mountain. Miss Andy insisted on accompanying the man to the Militia headquarters in the city, even though she was blatantly disrupting the flow of normal legion and lawful duties being performed. Vanessa was perplexed, but didn’t follow directly. She never heard what happened to the man.

[Fezzik]

A strange man came through the Post. Brother Baragorn, the Thayan Knight Lauan and a couple of others were there when he came. The Knight bumped and knocked him down, who knows why for sure, but the man retaliated with dark and heinous magics, trying to kill her for what she did. When confronted, he got angry, then disappeared, only a moment later, a devil appeared in the Post. The nearby elf merchant ran... quickly.

While others ran around the post, Vanessa confronted the devil, but as she ran toward it she saw Vigo flashing in and out of sight, casting invisibility and fighting alongside the devil. She wasn’t prepared...

Ethereal states enveloped her mind... distant thoughts came and passed her, letting her touch them as they went by. Nothing was solid, nothing was vapour... nothing was, but it was all there. She had form, yet it seemed she moved in nothingness, but against everything.

She heard screaming, pain wracked her mind, but she didn’t see it at first...

“Command me around will you mortal? I’ll show you what happens!” The creature, the one that knocked her across the fire and against the rocks stood there over the wrangled form of a man... a spirit, being mutilated and torn... tortured!

“Leave him alone!” The creature turned and walked over.

“Let it be you little wench! This isn’t your concern!!” It marched back and continued it’s torment.

Deep inside she could feel the power flow from around her, through her, into her. She said a silent prayer, then ignited her hands and marched to the Devil. “I sad leave him be!”

“Fine then, little wench, I’ll meld your souls together.” Overconfidence of it’s own abilities is what let to it’s demise. It fought, but it couldn’t land a blow on the girl now, she could feel the force of goodness within her. She dodged, hit and retreated as the creature tried, in vain, to land a blow. The force of her hands did nothing, the magic that coursed through, left little mark... but it was the divine link, the sacred flames, that did the creature in.

“Wha--?” As it fell into a pool of nothingness she tended to the spirit before her, attempting to heal it’s wounds. The damage was done, but what would the effect be....

She felt a pull, a gentle hand leading her away from the strange vision. She woke up in the temple, Vigo laying beside her mortally wounded; she had said a few words and cried out against the devil that had hit her, but she recalled nothing after a few moments, but felt the scar on her chest, were the infernal creature had hit her, and she felt the pang of pain every time a devil was mentioned for some time. She didn’t know why, the wound was superficial, but there was a quiet, sorrowful pain of loss, not hers, but for someone else.