Betrayal and the Beast

NOTE: THIS STORY IS BASED OFF OF THE PATHFINDER RPG. SOME COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL HAS BEEN USED UNDER THE OPEN GAMING LICENSE RULES.

Storyline by Justin Groby

Compiled by Amber Manuel

Last time on Dice vs. DMs…

While Kyaer and Lilianna delved into studies on celestial legends and lore, Firro, Osamu, and Gerard split up in an attempt to find Theris. Only one did, and he was shot three times for his efforts.

Regrouping, the three managed to get Osamu back to the Temple of Saranrae for healing. Lilianna and Kyaer still hadn’t cracked the secret within the tome and with exhaustion tugging at them, everyone found their way to their beds.

But a full night's sleep wasn’t going to prove possible for everyone. Firro awoke to her husband lying dead beside her, and shortly thereafter everyone was awakened by a gunshot. Majet had broken into Firro’s room, having feared that Theris had found Firro during the night.

Uncertain what had happened to Kyaer, the group nonetheless found themselves at the Temple of Iomedae for a pre-dawn funeral…

The sun broke over the horizon, its first rays warming Firro’s skin. She remembered the way they had felt the first time she had felt them and knew with absolute certainty in which direction her path lay.

With the last rights done, her friends slowly trickled away to attempt to finish their night’s rest. Firro stayed behind, shocked, slumped to her knees as she prayed to Iomedae over her husband’s grave.

In the shadow of two days, Firro found her lost love and lost him again; this time forever. Despair was a familiar emotion, but it was not the one she felt the most in this moment.

It was shame.

Shame that she turned away from her life over something as trivial as ancestry. Shame that her path lead her husband to his death. Shame that she could not protect an innocent elf. Shame that she could not face what she was.

She had given up her entire life because of one lie that she couldn’t wrap her mind around. And now everything good left from that life was gone.

She couldn’t get Kyaer back, but she sure as hell was going to get the rest of her life back. And she would smite the evil root that lay at the core of the problem.

No matter what it took.

After a few long minutes, she stood and addressed one of the clerics who had remained behind. “I would ask one more thing of you,” she said, still staring at the fresh grave. When he remained silent, she took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. “I seek atonement. I strayed far and know I have done wrong. I wish to realign myself with Iomedae and return to her service.”

“Perhaps you should rest before you make any decisions.”

“I don’t need sleep,” she returned quickly. “Believe me when I say I am fully awake and prepared to return to Iomedae’s service.”

The cleric took a deep breath and inclined his head. “We unfortunately do not have the materials for what you seek here. However, if you truly seek redemption, you may go to a place in the southern mountains, where it is rumored that Iomedae herself once touched the world. It is a holy place, and it is said that if you go there, you may be cleansed.” He rubbed his shoulder as if it ached.

“May I have the directions to this place?” Firro asked.

He gave them, and Firro noted that the directions matched the ones that she had received from Kyaer. She didn’t bother to say anything as she thanked the cleric. He rubbed his shoulder again as he walked away.

After spending another hour in prayer at the foot of Iomedae’s altar, Firro went back to the Temple of Saranrae to collect her things. She pulled on her armor mechanically, going through motions she went through every morning without thinking about them. When she had all her weapons and gear stored about her person, she stared into space for a moment.

She blinked and found herself downstairs. How had she gotten down there? She couldn’t really remember, and it wasn’t really important. There were a few clerics up and about at this time of the morning, and she flagged one down to inquire about breakfast. Even if she didn’t feel hungry, she knew she had to fuel her body. Plus, eating gave her something to do while her companions finished sleeping.

She was halfway through choking down her meal when Gerard and Osamu came down the stairs. She nodded to them as they sat at her table with their breakfasts.

“What are we doing today?” Gerard asked.

She cast about and kept her voice low. “We should go after the seal,” Firro said

“I agree,” Osamu said.

Majet’s arrival had the table falling silent. She walked up and asked Firro how she was doing. Firro just stared at her and then went back to her breakfast without bothering to answer.

“So…what are doing today?” Majet asked.

“I think we’ll wait until Lilianna comes down to discuss,” Firro said and shoved the last of her breakfast in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed on autopilot.

The gnome sighed. “Oh-kay…”

After a while, Lilianna came down. As she walked down, Majet again asked what they were doing. “Lilianna’s here,” she said with Firro glared at her. “So let’s talk already!”

“I think we should go after the seal,” Lilianna said as she and her two companions sat at the table. “But I think Majet should stay behind and look for Theris. Look,” she specified. “Don’t engage.”

“Are y’all sure you don’t want me to come along?”

“It’s best if you don’t,” Lilianna replied. “Celestine will accompany you. Do not engage,” she repeated with a stern look at her bard companion.

The gnome bard inclined her head and then frowned at Majet. “Wasn’t your hair orange yesterday?” Celestine asked Majet.

Firro looked closely and noted that the bright orange of Majet’s hair looked washed-out. Faded.

Majet looked down at her hair. “Wow, look at that!” she said with false surprise.

Lilianna and Firro exchanged a look. “Is there something you need to tell us?” Lilianna asked.

Majet shook her head. “No.”

Firro scowled at her. She couldn’t quite detect what was off, but there definitely was something. “Seriously, if there’s something going on…”

Majet looked around at them and then smiled. “Well, it’s been fun traveling with y’all in the many different ways I have. Good-bye.”

They all jumped as Majet’s head exploded. Blood and brain matter covered the shocked group. The back half of Majet’s skull was completely gone, but the front half had a hole in the forehead, centered between the eyes.

It was exactly like the wound that was in Kyaer’s head.

As the party watched, Majet’s brain expanded in size to about three feet tall, grew muscular legs like a wild animal’s, and ran away, slamming open the temple doors by the sheer force with which it hit them.

Realizing it was the thing that had killed Kyaer, Firro jumped up and ran after it, drawing her weapon as she ran.

“That was an intellect devourer!” Gerard said as Firro disappeared. “It stays in a dead body for about seven to eight days until the body shuts down. It’s immune to just about everything!”

Jumping up, Lilianna, Gerard and Alondra ran after Firro. Gerard commanded his raven Poe to go up high and do a search for the brain-beast.

Firro noted the beast was kicking up dust behind it and used a trick she knew to increase her speed. About eighty feet outside the temple, Gerard passed her up and kept going. People screamed as they spotted the monstrous brain on legs. It knocked down a crowd when it ran through them, and trampled down a guard who had paused in an attempt to draw his weapon. The morning streets quickly became pure chaos.

Firro kept her gaze on it as it ran between legs and around carts, determined to catch it before it could get away. It had killed two people that she knew of, two innocent people. It would die for killing innocents!

She slowed when it disappeared into thin air. Seeing footprints in the dirt, she concentrated on following them, slowing down even more to keep an eye on them.

Ahead of her, Gerard stopped and began casting. The crowds, ground, and the monster were all suddenly covered in glittering golden particles that reflected the sun’s rays with intense effects. The people in the crowds began screaming as their eyes were blinded by the bright, sparkling powder.

The beast ran on, invisible except for the glittering particles on its back. Poe dove at the thing, attempting to hit it. A brilliant flash of light tore the air right before the monster and an angel appeared. Swinging its celestial weapon, the angel attempted to kill the evil creature. The beast skidded as it stopped it headlong flight, narrowly avoiding the celestial blade. The angel and the light disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.

With its way clear once again, the beast ran through a crowd of people and turned a corner into an alleyway. Firro ran after it, slowing as she came to the corner it turned down. She cast darkness and then she peered around the corner.

It was sitting there as if it were a dog. “All right,” she heard in her mind. “I’m tired of this game he wants me to play. What will it take to get you to quit chasing me?”

She stepped into the alleyway and faced it full-on, gripping her weapon in her hand. “Die!” she snarled.

“Hmm…That’s too difficult a request.”

She palmed a flask of acid from her pack. “Who’s had you playing a game?” she demanded.

“Yeah,” she heard in her mind. “Okay. I’ll trade my life for the information you want. Who’s had me playing this game? The real problem. The one who’s had me impersonating Theris all this time.”

“What?” she breathed. She hadn’t known someone was impersonating Theris! Was all this a mix-up? Was Theris not behind everything after all?

She heard running footsteps behind her and then a curse. Gerard’s voice began chanting another spell. Another set of footsteps that sounded animal came around and then Alondra’s voice called out.

“Firro! Where are you?”

“I’m here,” Firro replied distractedly.

“Are you okay?” she demanded.

She eyed the monster before her. “For the moment,” she replied.

One last set of footsteps came around the corner. Then Lilianna stepped inside the dark orb, her arms stretched out before her. Firro grabbed her wrist and stepped in front of her. She felt Lilianna put a hand on her arm and grip tight.

“What’s going on?” the cleric demanded.

“It’s giving me information,” Firro said quickly.

“What do you need to know?” it asked in her head.

“What’s the real problem?” she said aloud.  

“Well,” it started, drawing out the vowel, “the real person that’s running this show right now – that I know of – is a man clad in black called Tyota who offered me the most extraordinarily beautiful people who I could ever want to bring home to show the folks.”

Firro blinked. Tyota was the same guy who confronted them just the other night! “Where is Tyota?” she prompted aloud.

“At the Temple of Saranrae, of course.”

Back at the Temple of Saranrae…

Osamu picked up Majet’s body as his companions ran out of the room. She had some interesting artifacts on her and he wanted to make certain he got first dibs. He started to walk away but stopped as a tingling at the base of his spine warned him of a threat. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

He was being watched.

He turned and looked around. His gaze caught on a section of the wall as the shadows there changed colors. Fading into solid reality appeared the same guy from the desert.

Tyota. The traitor. The liar!

He threw the body at the Tyota and pulled his sword. “What do you want?”

“You still have that killer instinct I see,” Tyota smirked.  

“What the hell do you want?” he shouted.  

“Want? Oh, no. No, I don’t want anything, Osamu. I’m here to give you something, actually. Something I thought that, in all the time I’ve watched you since you left the clan, you would have already.” He tossed something at Osamu, a powder that easily cleared the distance between them.

Osamu inhaled on reflex and something deep down within him sparked. His body began to quiver as from the very depths of his soul arose a burning, fierce fury. Pulled deep from the same well where he drew his ki, a hurricane of energy and absolute blood-lusting rage boiled over. His breathing deepened, his fingers tightened on the hilt of his weapon, and his muscles bunched as they filled with scalding hot adrenal instinct. Osamu let out a primal roar as he charged the lying, deceitful impostor.

There was no question in Osamu’s mind that Tyota was a dead man. It was only a matter of time.

Back in the alleyway…

Firro tried to think. She was still wading through a fog in her mind, but there was something she needed to know. “Why’d you kill my husband and not kill me?” she demanded of the beast.  

“You’re too important,” it told her.

She was taken aback, both by the easy confirmation of her suspicion that this beast was her husband’s murderer and by the thought that she was important to its quest. “Why?” she demanded.

It seemed to sigh. “Don’t you remember the note about it?”

She shook her head. “What note?”

“The note I wrote you,” it said impatiently.

Patience snapped. “What! Note?!” she shouted.

“The one from the earlier town,” it said dismissively. “Something about leadership…and protecting shit…and stuff. And finishing szarkai.”

She stared at it. She was getting the impression that… “You think I’m that thing? Szarkai?”

“No,” it told her, and leaned towards her. “I don’t think you are. I know you are.”

She frowned at that and shook her head. There were other things she needed to know and she had a feeling she wouldn’t get a straight answer out of it about szarkai. “So Tyota’s running the show?”

“Yeah,” it sighed. “He’s probably meeting up with your friend right about now.”

“Shit!”

“What?” Lilianna demanded. “What’s wrong?”

“Osamu’s in trouble!” Firro dispelled the darkness so they could see who she was talking to.

“Hey Firro what’s—” The new voice cut off suddenly as the beast began speaking inside her head as well.

“You’re not a crazy person, are you?” it asked her.

“What?” she said aloud.

“I heard another voice inside there. You’re not one of those are you?”

“No!”

Four earth elementals closed in around the beast, completely surrounding it. They were all about Gerard’s height.

“What is going on?” Lilianna demanded. “Why haven’t you killed this thing?”

Firro realized they had only heard her side of the conversation and quickly filled in the blanks.

“You should go to the cave very soon,” it told Firro in under common. She frowned at it, but before she could ask it another question, it stood and stretched.

“Well I’m going to go now,” it said in common. Then, “Sorry about your husband.”

Fury rose in her at the reminder. The fury wasn’t just for Kyaer, though he was the bulk of it. It was for Majet and for every other individual who had felt the affects of this type of creature. It was nothing but evil, and it had to die!

She threw the flask of acid at its feet so that the burning liquid splashed up onto it. “I never said I was going to spare your life!” she snarled, and raised her sword.

The earth elementals struck, slamming the brain-beast with their fists. Blood and brain matter splattered everywhere. Then a pure golden spear of light from Lilianna’s holy symbol shot out. The beast fell and did not move again as blood pooled around it.

“C’mon! Let’s go!” Lilianna shouted.

With one last look of contempt for the beast, Firro turned and ran for the Temple of Saranrae. With them was a lioness that for some reason resembled Alondra.

The Drow didn’t bother to ask where they had picked up the lionness. Her mind was full of questions. How much of what the beast had told them was a lie and how much was truth? How much danger was Tyota to Osamu? What was it between the two of them? Was it really Tyota pulling all the strings or was there something even bigger going on? Was it a good idea to head to the cave when it had to have been this beast that told them to go, both as Kyaer and just a few moments ago as itself? Why did it want them to go there so badly?

And why the hell had the cleric of Iomedae rubbed his shoulder, just like Rock had before he turned on them?

TO BE CONTINUED...