Paths Entwine

Rue flew backwards and landed hard on her ribs. For an agonizing second all she knew was bright pain radiating through every part of her being. Gasping, she choked on the smoke rising furiously around her. It was too thick to breathe, and her vision blurred. She struggled to her feet and stumbled forward, trying to clear the burning barracks.

An angry roar caught her attention. Backlit against the burning ships, Guy was disappearing under a mound of undead.

She threw her bow over her shoulder and ran. It was all but useless with her eyes smarting from the smoke, and she didn’t want to risk hitting Guy. She drew her twin axes as she pounded closer to the horde.

“It’s about time you got in on this!” Guy yelled from under the pile. He ripped an undead's head back, keeping its jaws at bay.

She aimed a savage swing at the monster's neck, missing and burying her axe in its shoulder “I've been busy!”

Hacking away at the decomposing bones and skin, Rue helped unbury Guy. He grinned and clapped her on the shoulder as she pulled him to his feet. “That was fun.”

She managed a smile back, winded from the smoky air and heat. This was not how she was expecting her morning to go.

They turned their attention back to the main fray. The city guard were handling the undead as they fanned out across the port, shying away from the mage that flew over the battle in a cloud of magic and smoke. Guy cracked his knuckles and ran to help.

Rue spotted the leonin who had shielded her. He was barreling back towards the mage, right across the path of an overlooked undead. She figured she could repay him a little, and slipped her bow from her shoulder. The undead didn’t know what hit it.

The leonin halted under the mage, leaning his head back to assess. Then with a flick, he threw a dagger straight up. It hit the mage in the foot and glowed white hot as a thunderclap roared. The mage imploded in a shower of purple sparks. The leonin caught his dagger with a flourish.

Cheers exploded from the people on the port. The guards, encouraged, hacked at the remaining undead with renewed vigor.

Rue jogged to catch up with Guy. Townie mages appeared behind the city guard and got to work putting out the dock fires. She wondered how much could be salvaged, but it was clear that the port would be all but unusable for a while.

Guy was cleaning gut gunk out of his metal hand and walking toward a knot of people who handily dispatched the last two undead shambling about. She recognized the elf passingly, he'd shown up on and off at Guy's over the past month or two; and she was surprised to see the tabaxi from earlier. The tiefling she'd never seen before.

Against her own better judgment, her curiosity was piqued.

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“Coward!” Oda yelled, drawing her rapier and twirling it as the mage took to the air.

An escapee walked past, clutching his bloody arm and giving her an odd look. She winked at him, trying to look important.

Before she could decide where to go and what to do, there was a roll of thunder and the mage disappeared. Cheers rose from the port, and she hollered along with them.

The tiefling woman from the city cast an oozy green bubble of acid at the two undead that had made it close to them, totally disintegrating one and leaving the other armless.

Oda scrambled forward and jumped to slash at the disoriented creature.

“Take that!” She exclaimed as she thrust the rapier through her opponent's head.

She turned and grinned at the tiefling who raised an eyebrow at her.

“Don’t mind me, I’ve been here the whole time!”

Off to the side, a building collapsed in fire and embers. “Hey, it all works out in the end!” she said brightly to a passing trio of soldiers, “You don’t have to worry about housing soldiers anymore!”

“What?” one of them asked hoarsely.

“Because…” She motioned to the charred docks, and the bodies that were hardly more than bone and ash, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. “They’re all dead!”

The man stared murderously at her. “Lads, who wants to skin a cat?”

Oda squeaked and darted away.

____________________________________________________

Ides sheathed his dagger and tried to slip away. Any chance he had of finding Zandeer was long up in flames.

“Wait. Who are you?” The elf stood behind him, head tilted slightly to the side as though sizing him up.

“Just got into town, looking for some information.” Ides gestured to the aftermath. “This is not quite what I was hoping to accomplish here.”

He offered a short laugh, and his hand. “Eridin.”

“Ides.”

The metal-armed innkeeper stepped up to join them. “I’ve seen you two around my place before, but if you don’t remember, my name is Guy.” Ides nodded. He’d worked odd jobs at his inn the night before in exchange for a room. Guy seemed fair and friendly enough, and had handily proved himself a good man in a fight. He was going to like the halfling.

‘Thanks for the help today, it was incredibly heroic of you to risk your necks like that for a city you barely know. What little I can do for you, I’ll offer. Free rooms and meals for as long as you need them, in fact, the first round today is on me!”

Behind Guy, the blue-haired girl gave a little fist pump.

“Well, if we’re passing around introductions,” the tiefling woman said, walking up to the group, “I’m Blank.”

They all paused mid-greeting, confused.

She snorted. “Yeah. Blank. Like a blank slate. Or like your stares.”

The tabaxi chimed in, “I’m Oda! And I’ve most definitely been here this entire time!”

Guy looked over and raised a brow. “Nice to meet you too, Oda.” Then he reached back to haul Blue-Hair forward good-naturedly.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m Rue. Might've seen me hanging around Guy’s, I’m kind of a big deal there,” she flashed a toothy grin at Guy.

He dug an elbow in her hip and she winced slightly. “A big deal who won’t pay her tab.”

Oda padded a few steps closer. “You mentioned something about drinks?”

Just then, a very important-looking half-orc appeared, flanked by several guards.

“Who's the cheese?” Oda asked.

Guy stepped past Ides and Eridin. “I didn’t think you’d get down here this quickly!”

“My city’s port was just beset by a terrorist, where else would I be?” The governor snapped, a soft drawl undermining the sharpness of his tone. He caught sight of Rue and his face hardened farther.

“What were you doing down here this morning?” he addressed her.

Rue’s easy cross-armed stance turned defensive. “Saving people’s lives. You’re welcome.”

He dismissed her remark with a glare and asked Guy to introduce the rest of “Tralco’s saviors.”

Guy briefly pointed out each one, and they nodded or waved in turn.

The governor relaxed slightly. “I’m Vev, by the way, and I can’t thank y’all enough for the work you’ve done to save Tralco’s port.”

“You’re so very welcome,” Oda bowed.

Rue coughed and Ides heard her mutter, “Some more than others.”

As Guy and Vev discussed a meeting time to debrief the details, Ides’s attention drifted to Oda and the pouch the small tabaxi was absentmindedly toying with. A shudder bolted through him as he recognized the symbol.

He glanced away quickly, and his eyes found Rue’s. Her gaze also snapped up from Oda’s bag, and her quickly-masked expression betrayed her. She knew it too.

Zandeer.

Screams erupted from the city. They all started, reaching for weapons in a heartbeat before Blank gasped, pointing to the sky.

High above the dark smoke, stark white letters scrawled across the blue morning.

THE FATE OF REALTAM WILL BE THE FATE OF ALKENPO

As everyone stared in slack-jawed disbelief, Guy cleared his throat. “I assume this moves things up a bit?”

Vev clenched his jaw. “We need to talk.”

Oda, quickly dismissive of the sky-writing, gave a squeaky sigh of disappointment. “No drinks?”

Guy and Vev walked away, but when Eridin and Rue made to follow them, Guy stopped and held up a hand. “No, you all deserve a break, keep the time we discussed and I’ll see you all at the mansion.”

In their absence, the silence stretched. Ides wasn’t sure where to go from here, and hardly wanted to take the lead in a place he barely knew.

“So,” Blank said finally, “Food?”

“Food,” everyone agreed, and wound their way up the crowded, buzzing streets to the inn.

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“Rue, what in the seven hells is going on?” Thane, a dark haired half-elf and her only friend in Tralco, demanded as she approached the counter.

She smirked at him, wincing through a split lip. “You really missed out on some fun.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll explain later; for now, we need drinks.”

“We?”

She tossed a nod to the group settling at the table behind her. “Made some friends.”

“You? Friends? Forget the writing in the sky, this is the craziest thing that’s happened all day.”

“You’re hilarious.” Rue took the tankards from the counter and walked over. Just as she set them down, a waitress appeared with a pile of full plates.

Her four new companions fell upon the drinks and food, and not much was said for a while.

The tabaxi was first to finish. She sat back and surveyed her new companions. “So. What's everyone’s story?”

By the thick silence, Rue figured no one was overly anxious to reply.

Oda batted her ear. “I guess I’ll go first. We’re all friends now, right? And friends tell each other things? Then I’ll tell you. I was kidnapped. Taken from Gullwing on a ship. I killed the captain and escaped -meow- and then all that happened and I was definitely there the whole time, and now I’m here and you’re all my friends.”

There were murmurs of sympathy around the table. Rue stifled a chuckle. This Oda was quite the character. And if she killed a cat-napping captain, they were all the better off for it. Only the scummiest sea-rats stooped to such villainy. But how did she get her paws on-

Ides leaned forward. “And how did you come by that bag of yours?”

Rue glanced up at him. He was just as curious as she was about it, and she wasn’t sure that was an overall good thing.

Oda untied it from her belt and set the bag on the table, stealing little glances at the leonin as she did so. The Zandeer symbol was unmistakable.

“I took it. From the captain when I killed him.”

Rue blinked. Impossible.

“You killed a Zandeer captain?” Ides queried, his voice intense.

“I killed the man who kidnapped me.” Oda said. “And I took this when I did. That’s all I know.” She picked open the drawstring and produced three vials.

The first she produced was dark, the contents swirling like black fog.

Rue leaned closer and read the label. Smoke. Oda set it down.

Glue. The insides moved like tar, slow and tacky.

Solvent. Clear, viscous liquid sloshed against the glass.

The party stared down at the potions. Surely there was more to those little vials than what the simple labels advertised.

“That is quite the array.” Blank said quietly.

Oda curled her paw around them and her ears flattened. “Mine!”

The elf, Eridin, held up a hand. “Don’t worry. We’re not going to try.” He continued, “From what I’ve seen, you don't have much to worry about from the rest of Tralco, either. It’s a safe, sleepy town.”

Oda nodded, but her attention was once again drawn to the leonin, who was staring at the bag and the symbol it bore.

Ides seemed to realize he was the cause of Oda’s nervous twitching. He sighed. “I apologize, Oda, I don't mean to be intimidating.” He motioned to the bag. “I’m here to find those that wear this symbol. My mission is to bring them to justice.”

Rue’s stomach turned. A pirate-hunter? Hells.

“I arrived two days ago to search. I’m originally from Dealis, in fact I was a member of the Investigators of Gladis… until criminals led me down a dark path.” He stopped, as if he regretted saying the last part. Then he looked across the table to Rue.

“You were hurt in that radiance attack. I can heal you, if you’d like.”

“Uh,” she fumbled. She was already in this… mercenary’s debt enough as it was. Without his protection earlier, she’d probably be dead, and now he wanted to do more for her? “Y’know what, I’m good,” she said brusquely, “I’m a tough girl and I’ll be fine by morning.”

“You’re bleeding,” Oda pointed out.

Eridin jumped on the opportunity. “I’m still hurting if the offer stands.”

Ides cast a healing spell that momentarily tinged the air gold.

Oda pawed at the potions, then turned her weird green gaze to Rue. “What about you? What’s your story?”

Rue stabbed the food that sat soggily on her plate. “I’m local. Grew up around here mostly and now I’m looking for adventuring opportunities.” Tralco had been her parents’ favorite port for years, and Rue knew the city almost as well as she knew the Honesty, so technically, she was a local. Two years bumming around town didn’t hurt matters either.

Oda seemed dissatisfied with her answer. “And you?” She nodded to the tiefling at the end of the table. “Do you have a story or should we… fill in the blanks?” She laughed a creaky laugh, and Rue instinctively smacked her upside the head. Oda hissed.

“Never heard that one before.” Blank said dryly, then leaned on her elbows. “I don’t really know, to be honest. I woke up a few months ago with no memory of who I was before. All I have now is Pina.” She gestured to the pseudodragon perched on her shoulder. “I rescued her as a baby, and she’s never left my side.”

“I’m so sorry,” Eridin said. “I understand not remembering much about the past.” He did not elaborate.

The table was silent for a moment, the Oda picked up a new string of conversation. “Do you think I should keep the pouch?” The symbol leered up at them.

“No,” said Ides and Rue together.

Oda flipped the pouch inside out, but the backside of the embroidery was as bright and obvious as the front.

“Here,” Ides offered her a small, unmarked bag. “I use it for gold but I’m a bit short as of now.”

Oda handed him the emblazoned pouch and took his.

Ides flipped it right side out and set it on the table, facing Rue. “You know this symbol too, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

The party looked at her expectantly. She shrugged noncommittally.

“Well?” Oda flexed her claws, exasperated. “I thought friends told each other things.”

Ides looked hard at Rue. “It’s the symbol of Zandeer - a criminal organization that has killed hundreds, maybe thousands, and controls much of the coast.”

“Yeah,” she said slowly, “But Zandeer doesn’t control Tralco. It’s rare that you see a patch like this around here, but they pop up now and again. Locals try not to mess with them when they do.”

Eridin met her gaze and held it, as if to glean the truth from her eyes. Then, he grunted slightly and rose from the table. “Well, we’re not expected at the governor’s until this evening. I’m going to my room.”

They all nodded goodbye, then looked at each other.

“Well then,” Rue said, nodding to the tiefling and leonin, “how’d you two end up at the docks this morning?”

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Thanks for reading part three of my (as of yet unnamed) ongoing series! It chronicles the long-running D&D campaign that I've been participating in for over 2 years.

Part Two

Part Four