Seraphine Dewstride - The Dawnbringer

Seraphine Dewstride - The Dawnbringer

Halle had always been a place of revelry and peace. The halfling town nestled against the river’s bend, its thatched roof burrows and cobblestone paths warmed by the golden glow of lanternlight. Families laughed over their hearths, and the scent of fresh-baked food carried through the valley on the evening breeze.

But then the croaking began.

It rumbled from the riverbanks, a deep, unnatural echo that sent chills down spines. Then came the shrieks, the cries of halflings snatched from doorways, pulled from windows. Giant fiendish toads had emerged from the murk, their bloated forms writhing with dark energy as their tongues lashed out hungrily, their slavering maws wide enough to swallow a halfling whole.

By the time the warning bells rang, it was already chaos.

Seraphine Dewstride, The Dawnbringer, had been passing through, resting the night in lovely Halle when the attack began. A Paladin of Lux, she carried the radiant burning sun sigil of her order upon her chest, the light of the Everbright woven into her blade.

She heard the screams.

She saw the darkness leaking from the creatures’ warty hides—the sickly, writhing corruption that clung to their flesh.

And without hesitation, as others ran in fear, she charged.

Her blade, lit with pure radiance, cut through the night, its glow casting long shadows as she threw herself between the monstrous toads and the fleeing halflings.

One of the creatures lunged, its massive, leathery tongue snapping out like a whip. But Seraphine’s shield caught the strike, the divine magic pulsing as she repelled the attack.

She would not allow darkness to take this town. Not while she stood.

The toads came in swarms, dripping with abyssal ichor, their croaking filled with unnatural malice. They twisted and lurched, their hunger insatiable, their bodies swollen with unholy energy.

Seraphine met them head-on, her sword a beacon against the gloom, her magics a burning beacon to ward the town from harm.

She cut through limbs and cleaved deeply into hardened leathery torso’s, severing tongues before they could ensnare their prey. Her shield shone like the morning sun, sending waves of radiant energy outward, searing the creatures’ flesh, forcing them back.

As halflings scrambled to safety, locking doors and barring windows to escape, Seraphine called upon Lux’s divine will, summoning walls of golden light that struck down the foul beasts, turning their tainted forms to ashen remnants upon the riverbank and blocking their repeated attempts to overrun the town at her back.

One by one, the fiendish toads fell. Their croaking faded, the unnatural dark fog at the river’s edge dissipated. The dangers laid to rest.

And as dawn broke over Halle, Seraphine stood among the battered cobblestones, her armor and sword streaked with ichor but unbowed.

The halflings residents of Halle, shaken but alive, cheered her name.

She did not stay to revel in victory. There would always be more darkness to fight, more innocents to protect.

But as she walked away, Halle bathed in the light of the rising sun, the light The Dawnbringer had seen them through to.

Behind her, she could already smell the fresh scent of homecooked meals getting started as the impossibly upbeat halflings shook off the dealings in the dark to focus on what was important… Breakfast.