The Price of Redemption

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…

A plan to go to the southern cave in an attempt to retrieve the second seal is pushed to the wayside when Majet is brutally murdered right before the party’s eyes. After a brief chase, Firro is the first to catch up to the beast, only to find it asking for mercy.

Meanwhile, Osamu meets up once again with his nemesis Tyota. With a sudden focus of all his anger, Osamu charged the other assassin, revenge within his grasp.

When the beast gives up information, including that Tyota was meeting with Osamu, the party quickly exacted justice for the lives of Majet and Kyaer and undoubtedly countless others. Just as quickly they turned heel and rushed back to the Temple of Saranrae to aid their companion…

The ground shook underfoot as Firro rushed back towards the Temple of Saranrae on Lilianna’s heels. As they rounded a corner and emerged from the alleyway, they could see a strangely glowing blue dust settling in the distance. As it cleared, the walls of the temple came into view, a portion of them collapsed as if an explosion had gone off within.

The blue glow remained behind after the dust settled, shimmering off a man in ragged remains of clothes. He had a knife sticking out of his back and he turned as the party slowed to a halt nearby. Red and gold eyes glared at the group with malicious intent.

Then, blinking, Osamu collapsed.

Lilianna ran forward and knelt beside the fallen man. Pulling the knife out of his back, she pressed her hands to the wound and gasped at the heat pouring off Osamu’s body. Why was he so hot? It was unnatural, but he was beginning to slowly cool…

She poured her goddess’s healing power into the man and watched as the wound disappeared. When he remained unconscious, she checked him for other issues. He was dehydrated, so she gave him some of her water, working his throat to make him swallow.

Firro began to dig through the rubble for survivors. Finding the head priestess of Saranrae, she felt angry resolve convalesce within her core. The woman hadn’t just been killed. She had been brutally murdered, stabbed repeatedly from a weapon similar to Osamu’s.

Firro glanced back to where Lilianna was taking care of Osamu with a frown. His weapon was obviously bloody, but had he or Tyota done this? What in the name of Iomedae was going on?

She moved along and found two additional bodies. The other two clerics of Saranrae. Their deaths had been quick. Firro could tell someone had snuck up behind them and slit their throats cleanly.

A merciful death, considering the alternative.

These two were killed first, Firro assumed from their locations. It looked like the Head Priestess had walked into the room with Osamu and hadn’t lasted long.

Tyota was nowhere to be found.

Firro walked over to Lilianna, who was still leaning over Osamu.

“Everyone’s dead,” she said shortly.

Lilianna looked up, startled. “What? The clerics? The high—?”

“Everyone,” Firro said shortly. “Looks like his blade – or one similar – killed your high priestess.”

Lilianna looked back down at the still-unconscious Osamu and sighed. “I do not know what happened here, but I will find out.”

Behind them, rubble moved. A dirty, befuddled Celestine emerged. Lilianna blew out an obviously relieved breath. “What happened?”

The gnome shook her head with one hand to it. “I’m not sure… It looked like it was going to be a seriously nasty fight, so I made myself invisible. Then… I’m not sure what happened after that.”

“Are you all right?” Lilianna asked. She stood and checked the gnome out for any injuries. After a brief healing, she instructed the gnome to go find some of the guard to let them know what had happened there.

“I’ll go with her,” Firro said, her mind running ahead to her next course of action. She allowed Celestine to run ahead of her and broke off, headed for the tavern. Inside, the common area was nearly empty. She moved to the barkeep and nodded to his greeting. “The bards I normally dance with. Are they staying here?” At his nod to the affirmative, she pulled out a few gold coins. “Tell me what rooms they’re in.”

He took the coins and pocketed them. “Upstairs, first door on the left.”

“Thanks.” She turned and darted up the steps. Knocking on the door, she stood off to the side. When that didn’t receive a response, she took out her sword banged on the door with the hilt.

“All right! I’m coming!”

She listened to the muttering and cursing from the other side until he opened the door. His eyes widened in recognition and then in fear as he saw her weapon. She shoved him into the room, kicking the door shut and slammed him against the wall.

“What have you been telling people about me?” she snarled with the blade of her sword to his throat.

“N-nothing!” he stammered. “I swear!”

“My group members!” she shouted. “Have you talked to anyone about any of us?”

He shook his head, his eyes frantic. “No!”

“What about the other bards?” she snapped.

“I don’t know. Honest! You’d have to ask them. They’re in the next rooms!”

She could tell he was telling the truth. With a sigh, she slowly lowered the sword and backed off. “Talk to anyone about any of us and you’ll have to answer to me,” she snarled.

“I got it!” he said, holding up his hands.

She nodded. Feeling a twinge of conscience, she shrugged. “Have a good day.”

He scoffed as she walked out. She could hear him muttering curses on the other side of the door as she went to the next room. She felt a twinge of guilt but shoved it to the wayside. The bards had known they were coming here and then, just after they arrived, all hell broke loose. She had to know for certain who – if anyone – they were talking to. And she had to make certain they weren’t going to talk to anyone.

And after that, she needed some divine guidance.

Gerard heaved some rubble with the help of one of the civilians that Lilianna had organized in a clean-up effort. Setting it outside, he stared at the breaks in the stone, trying to discern how the wall had come to collapse. Was it an explosion? He couldn’t see any traces of components that would cause an explosion, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t any…

“Where’s Firro?” he heard Lilianna ask.

“I don’t know,” Celestine replied. “She disappeared.”

Gerard looked over, curious at the new development.

“Define disappeared,” Lilianna gritted.

“She fell behind me as I ran to get the guards,” Celestine said. “When I turned, she was no where in sight.”

There was a tick of silence from the cleric. “You’re saying that you outran Firro. The bard who can dance along faster than she can run?”

“Yeah…”

Lilianna shook her head and met Gerard’s gaze with an “I’m gonna kill her” look in her eyes. He smirked.

“What happened here?”

He looked up to find a tall human male with the insignia of the city watch on his chest standing over him. From the rank on the guy’s shoulder, this had to be the captain of the watch.

“Still working on that,” he replied. “Some sort of drastic redecoration effort, apparently, but we’re still working on it.”

The man glanced around with a scowl. “I don’t know about any ‘redecorations’ but I’ve been getting reports of explosions and some person with blue wind coming off them showing up. Then people meeting your descriptions,” he said, his gaze taking in Lilianna, Alondra, and Celestine as well, “showed up here. Where’s the fifth person?”

Lilianna stepped in. “We weren’t actually here when my goddess’s temple was destroyed,” she said in an even tone. “We were chasing after a beast that had just killed one of our friends.”

“What kind of beast?”

“An Intellect Devourer.” At his blank look, she explained, “It looks like a brain on four legs.”

“I heard about that thing! Two of my guards came running up screaming like little girls about some monster knocking them over as it ran past. You all chased that thing down?”

“And killed it,” Lilianna agreed.

He nodded. “All right, but where’s the fifth member of your party?”

“She went to the tavern to gather our things from a couple nights ago,” Lili quickly invented. “We had stayed here in the temple last night, but we hadn’t checked out of our rooms.”

“Name?”

“Is something wrong?”

“Should something be wrong?” he returned.

She squared her shoulders. “My church has half-collapsed, my high priestess is dead along with the other two clerics who resided here. Of course something’s wrong! Did something happen to my friend while she was headed out to get our belongings or not?”

“I’m just getting names for my report,” he soothed.  

She visibly relaxed. “Filayne is who went to gather our gear from the tavern.” She introduced the rest of them as he jotted a few notes down with a charcoal pencil.

“All right, I’d like to talk to the fifth person. This…” He stared at the name he had written down.

“Firro?” Lilianna said.

He scowled at her. “Who’s Firro? You told me Filayne a moment ago!”

“Firro’s Filayne,” Lilianna explained. “She’s a bard who dances and that’s her stage name.”

Gerard buried a grin behind his hand.

The captain was still frowning, but nodded. “All right. I need to talk to some other people.”

“I need a runner,” Lilianna said before he could turn away. “Could you or one of your men get one for me? I need to send a message to Yenmass to the Temple of Saranrae there to send help.”

He nodded. “I’ll have someone come talk to you.”

She nodded. “May you go with the light of Saranrae.”  

They watched the man go for a moment. Then, “I’m going to sell the tome,” Gerard said. “I’ll be back in a while.”

Lilianna nodded. “The quicker we can get to the next seal and get out of here, the better. It would be best to have the tome sold now. Let me know what you find out.”

Using her hat of disguise, she gave herself a new appearance. With red hair and different features, Firro stepped into the Temple of Pharasma. She wasn’t certain if anyone here could answer any of her questions, but she didn’t trust the clerics at her temple and the ones she had trusted at the Temple of Saranrae were dead.

She wasn’t certain there was anyone she could trust anymore. Except Iomedae of course. But she didn’t have a direct link to speak with her goddess at the moment.

Not being able to ask for divine guidance from her own goddess was seriously hindering her actions. Okay, honestly, she was still acting on pure instinct and adrenaline from the shock of waking up next to her dead husband. The bards were certain to never trust her again, let alone work with her, and she was acting like a paranoid delusional type. But who could she trust? Anyone could be one of those things.

It had been living inside Kyaer. It would have stayed in Majet if it hadn’t been discovered that something was wrong with her. Who else could be walking around with one of those things lodged inside them? It had spoken of bringing people home to a family. How many of those things were running around?

When a priest approached her, she allowed him to guide her to a seat. People were leaving the temple from a ceremony, she assumed as she turned to the man. She had seen him before when she had come to see Majet, and was doubly glad she had disguised her features.

When Gerard walked away, Lilianna noted that Osamu was stirring. No, scratch that. He had probably been awake for a while now. She grabbed him under the shoulders and began dragging him out of the rubble to a more secluded area. She didn’t want anyone to overhear her while she questioned him.

“Need help with that body?” someone called.

“No, thank you,” she returned quickly and hefted him easily over her shoulder. “I got it.” She set him down a good distance from the main work area and frowned when his eyes stayed closed. “I know you’re awake,” she snapped.

He took a breath and opened his eyes. Stared at her for a moment before looking around.

“What happened?” she demanded.

He shook his head.

“Corpses are all over the place and you’re the only one left alive,” she told him.  

“Bad juju powder?” he muttered.

She glared at him. “My high priestess is dead and so are the rest of the clerics who worked here. The temple is half-destroyed! What! Happened?”

“I am just as confused as you are,” he told her.

She could tell he was telling the truth but there was something else, too… Casting a spell, she noted that there was something dark hidden within him. Some sort of evil deep in his aura. But he wasn’t evil himself. Just…something inside him…

“We’ll come back to this,” she said as the work shifted their direction. “For now, help clean up because I have a feeling you’re connected to this mess.” She held out a hand to help him to his feet.

Gerard walked past a red head shifting rubble near where Lilianna and Osamu were working and tapped the cleric on the shoulder. “Found a buyer for the tome,” he said when she turned. “Thought I’d talk to you and Fellatio about what you want since it’s a trade in goods.”

“It’s Firro.”

He turned to find the redhead looking at him.

“Do we know you?” Lilianna asked.

The redhead pulled a hook up over her head and looked at them. In a flash, Firro’s face appeared.

“Why are you disguised?” Lilianna hissed.

“I’m incognito at the moment,” Firro said, the red-headed guise settling back over her.

“Hi Incognito,” Gerard said. “I’m Gerard.”

“Why didn’t you stay with Celestine?” Lilianna demanded as Firro’s visage disappeared behind the red head disguise.

“I had questions I needed answered,” Firro replied. “And besides, I didn’t say I would go with Celestine.” She paused. “Okay, I said I would go with her, but I didn’t say I would stay with her.”

“Where did you go then?”

“Around.”

Lilianna growled in frustration. Osamu and Gerard glanced at each other.

“We’re gonna go get a drink,” Gerard said. Without waiting for a reply, they left.

“Well, you shouldn’t have gone off,” Lilianna continued without sparing them a glance. “We need to go get the seal now.”

“I think we’re being set up,” Firro replied to that, lowering her voice. “I don’t think we should go without more questions answered.”

“The angel I spoke to said the seal was in danger.”

“Imminent?” Firro prodded.

Lilianna paused. “He…wasn’t that specific.”

Firro blew out a breath. “I don’t like it. But…it does appear to be the only clear path left.”

“Exactly!” Lilianna said with the air of someone finally getting what they wanted. “We need to follow the path that we have!”

“Okay,” Firro grudgingly agreed.

“Celestine, go get supplies and the horses ready. Meet us at the tavern when you’re done.”

“I don’t think I should go in the tavern,” Firro said.

Lilianna stared at her. “What did you do?”

“I got answers to some of my questions,” Firro said evasively.

Lilianna rubbed her temples. “It’s not like you can’t disguise yourself!”

“There’s a certain number of people in our group. Just because one of them changes their features doesn’t mean certain people aren’t smart enough to figure out that’s the same person.”

“Then go help Celestine with the horses,” Lilianna snapped. “Wait! Promise you won’t go anywhere else but the stables and the tavern.”

Firro grinned. “I promise.” She fell into step with Lilianna and broke off near the tavern door. The moment Lilianna stepped in, Firro heard, “We already told your other companions – the guys over there – that we didn’t talk to anyone about any of you! Okay?”

Three hours later the party entered the foothills of the mountains. Above them dark thunderheads had gathered and rolled as if the massive clouds would let loose at any moment.

“There shouldn’t be a storm at this time of year here in the desert,” Alondra said. “We should find a place to camp before it starts.”

“Look at that,” Gerard said, pointing.

Off to the side was a section of worked stone carved into the side of a foothill. The party made its way up the slope towards the ruins. There were scars in the carved stone pillars, most of which littered the ground.

“There was a battle here,” Gerard said. “Nothing recent. But it looks like some sort of magic carved this portion of the stone out of the ground. Over there looks like something heavy hit it.” He looked across the ruin, his gaze taking multiple scars in the stone. “There’s a door. At least…it has handles like a door.”

The tall stone was one solid piece with no cracks where a set of double doors would normally have them. Two handles rested in the center of the stone beside one another.

“Szarkai,” Firro said, walking up to them. Nothing happened. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the handles and pushed. Nothing. Pulled. Nothing. She turned to Lilianna, who tried with the same result.

“The symbol here,” Lilianna said, studying the green circle with three crescent moons beside it on one side. “It’s ancient. The tome Kyaer gave me had this symbol. It was the symbol of Aroden.”

“Iomedae’s god before she ascended to become a goddess herself,” Firro said, picking up the story. “Aroden was the god of all humans, but he was killed. She took over.” A thought occurred to her. “Maybe Celestine should play the lyre? I don’t know how, but she does, right?”

“It’s worth a try.”

Firro pulled off her pack and took out the lyre, handing it over with regret filling her at the memory of her husband. Celestine strummed the strings once and then began picking out a tune that none of them had ever heard before. It was a hauntingly beautiful melody and expertly played.

Before Celestine, the doors cracked and shifted open. She kept playing, her hand moving as her gaze stared fixedly, as if in a trance.

Firro looked inside the chamber as a familiar presence touched her. Her prior days spent as a paladin rushed back to her. “I am not worthy,” she murmured sincerely.

The chamber, which had halfway fallen in on itself, was filled with Iomedae’s presence. She quickly divested herself of the sword she had bought when she began her descent into the shadowy realm of spying. She held it out to Gerard, who shrugged and took it. Then she stepped inside, her gaze going to a raised pedestal. Atop the pedestal was a sword sticking out of a carved stone slab.

Light grew inside the chamber. Firro watched as Celestine walked into the room. The light grew more as she continued playing.

Firro began to pray to Iomedae, seeking guidance. Perhaps here, in this chamber filled with the goddess, she could reconnect with her. Celestine walked up to Firro and in words that she felt she should not understand said, “I offer you what you seek but understand that once you pull the sword, you must stay the course.”

The words didn’t sound like any language Firro had ever heard, but somehow she understood them. Celestine pointed at Firro. “Once you pull the sword, I will give you what you’re seeking but understand it has a heavy cost in return.

“The choice…is yours.”

Firro stared at Celestine as the gnome’s eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed. Lilianna immediately knelt at her side. Firro’s gaze was drawn to the sword and she found herself stepping around the gnome towards the steps beside the pedestal. As she started up them, she found each one harder to take than the last until she was finally at the top, breathing hard, standing over the sword. Its hilt was blue wrapped with gold and its lustrous blade contained four blue gems, each one smaller than the next.

She could feel the weight of the atmosphere around her, could feel the weight of the decision resting on her shoulders. If she took this sword, there was no turning back. If she took this path, she would have no choice but to follow it for the rest of her long, lonely life.

The path she never should have stepped away from to begin with.

She grabbed the hilt and heaved. It slid out easily on a gust of wind that filled the chamber. Raising the sword straight up as a beacon for her god, Firro felt the atonement wash over her. She no longer felt any remorse, regret or guilt for past decisions. She no longer felt guilt over the death of her husband. She felt ready to continue on the path of Iomedae. She felt ready to avenge Kyaer’s death in Iomedae’s name.

Lowering the sword, she stared at it for a moment in awe. She couldn’t yet bring herself to set it down or sheath it. Looking at the pedestal it had so recently occupied, she saw a green jade seal with the same marking as the one on the door: a circle of green with three crescents beside it on one side.

Turning, she walked down the steps and held the seal out to Liliianna. “The second seal,” she said.

Lilianna’s fingers closed around the seal but she hesitated with a frown. Releasing it, she met Firro’s gaze. “You hold on to that.”

Inclining her head, Firro stuffed the seal down her armor shirt. Then she took off the hat of disguise. “Anyone want this?” she asked. “I no longer need it.” Could no longer use it knowing the deception it created.

Celestine raised her hand eagerly and Firro tossed it to her. The gnome immediately put the hat on and it became a barrette.

“We should head back,” Lilianna said. “Do you all think we should head back to Yenmass?”

“What about the tome?” Gerard asked. “I have something being made that won’t be ready until tomorrow.”

“Then we go back to Mohito.”

Firro stepped across the temple’s threshold and hit her knees as pain worse than anything she had ever felt before gripped her body. It was as if her bones were trying to rip away from her and burst through her skin. She braced herself on her hands to keep from collapsing from the pain that was so agonizing she couldn’t utter a single sound.

“Firro?” Lilianna said. “Are you okay?”

Firro finally managed to gasp in a breath. The torturous pain slowly began to recede. “Ow! That…hurt!” she breathed dumbly.

There was a moment of silence. “Why the language change?”

“What?” She leaned back on her haunches, panting as if she had just run all the way back to Mohito. “What are you talking about?” She wiped away moisture from her eyes and found blood on her hands. Had blood come from her eyes?

“You’re not speaking in common anymore,” Lilianna said. She turned to Gerard and said something that Firro didn’t understand. He shook his head.

“What did you just say?” Firro asked.

“You didn’t’ understand that?”

“No.”

“You’re speaking in celestial,” Lilianna explained.  

“Why would I be speaking in celestial?” she said. Osamu muttered something and Firro glanced at him. She understood that!

“I need rest!” Lilianna said.

“I think that’s a great idea,” Firro said.

Gerard nodded. “Let’s start back—”

The dark clouds finally burst, drenching the area with a heavy downpour. Lilianna sighed. “No use going anywhere now,” she muttered.

“I’ll take first watch,” Firro said. Assuming she could sit through her watch, that was. She wasn’t going to be able to fight much today, that was for sure!

“I’ll make a fire,” Lilianna said and headed back into the temple.

The rain continued to drench the area through Firro’s watch. When Osamu finally took over for her, she barely had the strength to pull her pack off her back before she fell into the deep trance that served her kind as sleep.

Sometime later, Firro jerked out of the trance. She looked around for the source of what had disturbed her. Gerard was standing at the entrance on watch. He was standing extremely still. Too still.

Movement had her looking over. Lilianna frowned and pointed at the fire. Looking, Firro saw that the flames were frozen, as if they had been painted on a tapestry.

Beyond the fire a jade shimmer appeared and coalesced into the specter of a knight. “You must not allow the seals to come together!” the specter announced. “That you would bring him here is troubling enough!”

“Who?” Lilianna asked.

“Him,” the knight said, pointing to Osamu. “He has a demon inside of him. The armor could release the demon. The three seals cannot come together!”

“Three? We thought there were only two,” Firro said.

“There’s three,” he said with cold assurance.

“Where’s the third?” Lilianna asked.  

“Perhaps we shouldn’t know if they can’t come together,” Firro pointed out.  

“Wise advice.”

“What armor do you speak of?” Lilianna asked.

“The armor comes forth with the binding of the seals. We died to divide them before. YOU MUST NOT ALLOW THEM TO COME TOGETHER!” he boomed.

The cleric and the paladin exchanged a worried glance.

“The last seal is already on the move. You must keep it away from the others. Hide them again.”

“Where?”

“Find a place,” he said. “That he and she are together is a bad thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“The armor can only be brought forth by a high cleric, her,” he said, pointing at Firro, “and the seals.

“Why me? Because I’m a paladin?” she asked.

“No. Because you are what you are.”

She remembered the words from the monster. “Szarkai?”

“Drow,” he said. “Albino Drow. That’s what Szarkai is.”

She frowned, still not understanding the importance of her peculiar ancestry.

“You were bred through magic,” he said. “For one purpose and one alone. To bring the armor back. You must not allow this!”

“What about a good person in the armor?” Lilianna asked.

“Nothing good can come of this armor. It will taint any person attempting to bear it, no matter how good they are.”

There was a long moment of silence. Then, “Thank you for this information,” Lilianna said.

“Grave warning,” Firro muttered.

He nodded and shimmered away.

“What should we do? Attempt to split them up?” Firro said.  

“I’m not certain. If the third is already on the move that means it could be anywhere.”

“Well, I don’t trust the clerics at the Iomedae temple in Mohito so we can’t ask them for assistance.”

“Why not?”

“Remember Rock? Remember how he was always rubbing his shoulder? The cleric I spoke to when I asked about atonement kept rubbing his shoulder exactly like that. I think Zarzuket’s hanging around.”

“I thought he was dead,” Lilianna said.  

“No, I’m pretty certain he’s alive,” she replied. “Atop that, the cleric told me he couldn’t do the atonement spell I was seeking and directed me to come here, to this temple in order to find redemption. I was in shock and not thinking straight when he told me that, otherwise I would have realized that wasn’t right. So I spoke to a priest of Pharasma in disguise with a hypothetical situation, he told me that the components of the spell aren’t that difficult to come by.”

“Maybe the priests at your temple don’t know the spell,” she suggested.

“That’s possible,” Firro conceded. “But I don’t believe in coincidences, and the way he was rubbing his shoulder was exactly the same way that Rock had!”

“Is something wrong?” Gerard asked.

Lili sighed. “Nothing about this is right,” she muttered. Getting up, she stepped outside to pray.

“You guys ok?” Gerard asked Firro. “You were asleep then you were suddenly sitting up.”

“You weren’t moving a second ago, either,” she told him.  

“Huh?”

She just looked at him and shrugged. “I’m not sure what happened.”

“Uh, ok…”

Firro settled back down and said a few prayers herself.

“Wake up!” Lilianna shouted, jolting Firro out of her trance again. It was just beginning to become light outside with the first rays of dawn.

Getting up, Firro drew her weapons just in case and walked to the entrance of the area. Seeing Tyota duck something Lilianna threw at him, Firro darted forward and into the fray.

From behind her came a red crackling ray of energy that just barely missed Tyota. Good. Their companions were up as well. Lilianna cast a spell and a burst of holy light came out of her, washing over Firro without a problem. Around them appeared a couple of shadowy people, holding their hands over their eyes. One had collapsed and lay unmoving.

Jade green light caught Firro’s gaze. Looking down, she saw that the disc hidden down the front of her armor was glowing. Beside her, a similar red glow was coming from beneath Lilianna’s armor.

There was a blue glow coming from a bag at Tyota’s hip. With a grin, he lashed out at Firro even as Lilianna ran towards the open desert.

Firro dodged, but the blade cut her. As her blood spilled, the seal melted a hole in her armor, shooting a beam of concentrating green into a spot nearby, where it met similar beams of red and blue.

The sky darkened overhead. Armor, black as night with oil oozing off it appeared in the center of the light. There was a giant ruby in its center, flat but encompassing the bulk of the breastplate.

Beside her, Tyota began laughing maniacally. “Finally! At last I’ll have my revenge!” A huge scar running down his face appeared, made all the more macabre by the smirk on his lips.

Firro began to dance, rushing as quick as she could past him, shoving her weapons into their sheaths as she went. She grabbed the armor and yelled, “Speedy come quick!” As she began to run with the armor, it whipped around and pulled her back towards Tyota. She fought it, but the pull of the armor to evil was strong.

Gerard darted to her side and cast something on her. She felt stronger, as she had in the tavern the very first day they had arrived.

Then Osamu stepped out of the temple. As one, their eyes were drawn to him as he walked calmly over to where Firro was struggling with the armor. She felt the nasty, dank, greasy feel of evil surge in the air as his eyes turned red and yellow. A bluish aura surrounded him, pouring off of him like steam. He easily pulled the armor away from her with a hand that looked more like a claw.

The armor expanded and grew as something rushed out of Osamu. A concussive blast knocked Firro off her feet. When she looked up, there was something residing in the armor. It was as if a spiritual being had taken up residence, its orange, red and black aura swirling. She knew with a sick dread that this was some sort of arch demon, and not just any demon. She couldn’t be certain which, but knew that it had a name.

It wasn’t just some random peon.

It was the leader that moved the peons around.

All hope of keeping the seals separate forgotten, Lilianna ran back and began casting. Firro felt a wave of healing energy wash over her.

With a scream of rage, Tyota charged the evil incarnate. His blade went through the demon, without any immediate effect. Then the world exploded in black fire, burning Firro where she lay on the sand.

The demon and armor began to shrink in on itself, outlying bits of it rolling inward until it imploded with a small thunderclap. The clouds immediately parted and disbursed as if they never were.

In the immediate silence, Firro looked to see the seals were lying in the sand, glinting innocently in the sunlight. She looked down to find that her armor had a seal-shaped hole in it.

Looking up, she saw Tyota glaring around at her and her companions with disappointed, angry gaze.

Lilianna was the first to recover. “It’s your own fault, you idiot!” she snarled at Tyota.

TO BE CONTINUED…