S10 Finale Ex Astris- 28/06/2022 - West Side Story, Kalta
Jun 29, 2022 20:16:20 GMT
Grimes, Jaezred Vandree, and 5 more like this
Post by Tamsin (Kalta/Cam) on Jun 29, 2022 20:16:20 GMT
Letters, sent before and after a battle.
Dear Nain & Taid,
I love you. I just want to make sure you know that.
I don’t want to worry you, but we’re expecting an invasion here. Soon. I’ll be fighting to defend us, of course, and I’ll do my best to stay safe and keep everyone I can safe. But just in case, I wanted you to know. I love you.
I miss you every day, but right now I’m glad you’re safe back in Faerun.
Thank you for everything you did, raising me when neither of my parents could. I am so grateful to both of you.
Take care of yourselves. I’ll write as soon as I can to let you know I’ve made it through the battle.
I love you.
Love and hugs,
Kalta (A name is crossed out, and next to it is a signature which is almost illegible. The only things which are clear are that it starts with "K" and ends in "A".)
Dear Nain & Taid,
I’m alive. We won. Longer letter to follow once I’ve rested. Love you.
K.
Dear Nain & Tain,
I might not send this. Gods, I feel like I start every letter to you in that way. It’s too hard to write knowing that I would have to send it.
I hope this will reach you either at the same time as my previous letter or soon after. I don’t want you to worry about me, but I had to do something. Just in case.
I survived. That’s what you would want to hear first, right? I’m okay. No lasting injuries. Nothing that can’t be healed.
We defended the fort, and we won, but it wasn’t easy. And I’m fine, physically, but not everyone is.
I don’t want you to worry about me. I never want you to worry about me. But I also don’t want to lie to you. If we were face to face, you’d know something was wrong. You’d see it in my face, hear it in my voice, and you’d have it out of me in seconds. It’s so much harder when there’s none of that.
One of the group I was fighting with died. I didn’t know her, but I wish I had. It was quick, at least.
We were using a telepathic link set up by another member of our group. I heard her last words. I watched her turn to dust. Nothing left.
It’s not the first time I’ve watched a companion die in battle. I don’t speak about it much, but you know that my time in the Company didn’t come without loss. It hasn’t happened as often here, in Kantas, or at least not permanently.
Sometimes the other adventurers here feel untouchable. I suppose this is a reminder that they’re not. None of us are.
So many have died. When I first came here, it was after they were well into rebuilding after an invasion. I didn’t see the loss and the grief, not like this.
Now it’s everywhere. I’m going to help rebuild, of course, as much as I can. I’m just not sure it will be enough.
We can rebuild a wall, or building, even replant a field. We can’t bring back everyone who has been lost.
I hope you’re both well, and taking care of yourselves. Don’t overwork yourselves too much!
Thinking of you always,
K.
When Kalta first came to Kantas, to Port Ffirst where she met the first friends she had made in a long time, they were still recovering from an invasion by orcs.
That had made some people look at her differently at first, but she’d still found a home there. A home first in the Cavernous Seashank in Port Ffirst, punctuated by regular visits to Daring Heights, and then a move to Fort Ettin. The settlements had grown so much since she first arrived. If the version of her who had first arrived here looked at it now, she’d never be able to find her way around.
She had come to this land when they were recovering from invasion, and it had become her home. She was not going to stand idly by while it was faced with invasion again.
She spent some time before the battle casting a new spell she hadn’t used before, Find Familiar, and summoned a small bat to her aid. She didn’t know what to name the creature yet, but she patted it gently before sending it out to watch for the enemy.
Kalta stood ready with the others on the western wall. Kavel, Glint, Sparks, Silvia and Derthaad stood with her. There were archers too, of course, but these were people she’d either adventured with or known as fellow adventurers, who she knew or knew of far more closely. She stood with them now and watched as the enemy approached. A storm gathered above them, guided by the wizard Veridian, to slow and weaken their enemies. She hoped it would work. The god she had grown up praying to was not a god of war, and would not help in a situation like this- still, it was her first impulse. Waukeen, protect the innocent, the shopkeepers and the businesspeople and their families, and let us be the ones to face the enemy. Protect this city and the trade it has brought, and more trade will be brought to you in future. Kalta was not in a position to promise trade or worship to the god she had worshipped semi-reluctantly as a child, but she had never chosen to worship any other god, and in times like this even such an unlikely prayer seemed worth the minor effort it took to formulate the words.
So instead, with her pointless prayer made, she turned to view the battlefield. The storm, the city, the ilithids which were at least temporarily on their side.
They could hold the wall. They had to.
She had planned to shoot as many arrows as she could, to slow the enemy forces. She would only be one of many archers, but if she could slow them, she would. There were traps on the ground to slow the approaching foes. A moat, and a pit of spikes where intellect devourers had been released to hinder the enemy. Kalta knew she would be more useful where she was, defending the wall and picking off any who made it past the traps, but a part of her yearned to clamber down and fight them face to face.
In the end, it was a good thing that she didn’t.
Derthaad shot a powerful spell, lightning of some sort, at the commander, only for it to fizzle out in midair. For a brief second Kalta wasn’t sure what had happened, till she heard a yell of “Fucking counterspell!”
The commander was too far away to have cast it, and indeed didn’t seem to have even noticed the sparks. Her companions began looking on the wall for the mage who had cast the spell, preventing what would have been a potent first strike against the enemy.
Invisible enemies hid on the wall, casting counterspell and attacking the adventurers. For each one that fell an explosion ripped through the air. Kalta’s companions were smart enough to realise the cause, and shoved two out of range over the side of the wall so that the explosion would not harm the defenders.
Kalta joined her companions in slaying them, and turned to aim at the commander of the approaching forces when a red dragon- furious, a ballista bolt through it’s wing- crashed down upon the wall. Thankfully it didn’t hit any of the defenders.
Derthaad and Silvia had offered Kalta some powerful poison, purple worm poison, with which she had coated three of her arrows. So far she had not used it, saving it for more powerful prey. The red dragon certainly fit that description. She took the three arrows and fired, 1, 2, 3 and one final unpoisoned arrow to finish it off. It didn’t kill the dragon outright, but Kavel finished it off with a powerful kick. A rider fell off the dragon, temporarily incapacitated by Glint, and Kalta turned her attention to more dangerous foes.
The rest of the battle was chaos. Magic and arrows and screams filling the night.
Somewhere amidst it all, Sparks cast fly on Silvia and Kavel, and Silvia flew out to face the enemy over the battlefield. She cast a curse on the commander of the githyanki forces, and Sparks flew out to join her, raining eldritch magic down upon the front lines.
The enemy commander dispelled Derthaad’s storm sphere, then turned to Silvia. A green beam of light shot towards her, and her last thoughts echoed across the psychic link bonding them. “I’m sorry Sorrel.”
As Kalta watched, too far away to do more than stare, she heard Silvia’s death in her mind even as she watched Silvia turn to dust. Disintegrate.
Overcome by fury, Kalta screamed into the night and fired twice at Silvia’s killer, missing the first shot but hitting on the second. She snarled into the night and yelled to rally the others.
Glint’s reaction was far more powerful. Casting fire down on the enemy commander and those around them, he destroyed them almost as thoroughly as they had killed Silvia, leaving behind Silvia’s trident, a spellbook, and charred bodies.
On the wall, Kavel killed the dragon’s fallen rider and flew from the battlements. Derthaad cast storm sphere again, killing the approaching Githyanki. From the corner of her eye ,Kalta saw Sparks magically lift Silvia’s trident from the battlefield.
The enemy moved on, still not dissuaded even as more died in the pit, some devoured by intellect devourers, some killed by the flailing Alan.Kalta shot again at those furthest forward as the enemy got closer to the wall.
The night was long and arduous. Blood was spilled, and no-one ended the night unscathed. The west wall held, and it’s defenders didn’t stop fighting until dawn broke, and reinforcements swept in. A mercenary band, like Kalta had once been part of, made up of centaurs who killed the remaining GIthyanki and looted the dead. Kalta was dimly relieved that Sparks had taken Silvia’s trident before the cavalry had arrived.
The fight wasn’t over yet, but Kalta caught the eye of her surviving companions. She was aware that she had known Silvia least. They had only met properly tonight. But she too was grieved by Silvia’s death. It had been a long time since she had lost a companion in battle, and this death seemed all-too permanent. She had never before been psychically linked to someone at the moment of death, heard the last thoughts, and felt that part of the chain linking them all go silent.
She, too, grieved for Silvia. She would not be the best one to tell Silvia’s surviving loved
ones- she had heard the others mention Sorrel- but she would remember, and she would mourn the hero she had not truly known.
As the dust settled and the fight ended, Kalta heard the names of some of the fallen, saw bodies of some who had died in and around the fort. She would not forget the cost of their victory.
Dear Nain & Taid,
I love you. I just want to make sure you know that.
I don’t want to worry you, but we’re expecting an invasion here. Soon. I’ll be fighting to defend us, of course, and I’ll do my best to stay safe and keep everyone I can safe. But just in case, I wanted you to know. I love you.
I miss you every day, but right now I’m glad you’re safe back in Faerun.
Thank you for everything you did, raising me when neither of my parents could. I am so grateful to both of you.
Take care of yourselves. I’ll write as soon as I can to let you know I’ve made it through the battle.
I love you.
Love and hugs,
Dear Nain & Taid,
I’m alive. We won. Longer letter to follow once I’ve rested. Love you.
K.
Dear Nain & Tain,
I might not send this. Gods, I feel like I start every letter to you in that way. It’s too hard to write knowing that I would have to send it.
I hope this will reach you either at the same time as my previous letter or soon after. I don’t want you to worry about me, but I had to do something. Just in case.
I survived. That’s what you would want to hear first, right? I’m okay. No lasting injuries. Nothing that can’t be healed.
We defended the fort, and we won, but it wasn’t easy. And I’m fine, physically, but not everyone is.
I don’t want you to worry about me. I never want you to worry about me. But I also don’t want to lie to you. If we were face to face, you’d know something was wrong. You’d see it in my face, hear it in my voice, and you’d have it out of me in seconds. It’s so much harder when there’s none of that.
One of the group I was fighting with died. I didn’t know her, but I wish I had. It was quick, at least.
We were using a telepathic link set up by another member of our group. I heard her last words. I watched her turn to dust. Nothing left.
It’s not the first time I’ve watched a companion die in battle. I don’t speak about it much, but you know that my time in the Company didn’t come without loss. It hasn’t happened as often here, in Kantas, or at least not permanently.
Sometimes the other adventurers here feel untouchable. I suppose this is a reminder that they’re not. None of us are.
So many have died. When I first came here, it was after they were well into rebuilding after an invasion. I didn’t see the loss and the grief, not like this.
Now it’s everywhere. I’m going to help rebuild, of course, as much as I can. I’m just not sure it will be enough.
We can rebuild a wall, or building, even replant a field. We can’t bring back everyone who has been lost.
I hope you’re both well, and taking care of yourselves. Don’t overwork yourselves too much!
Thinking of you always,
K.
When Kalta first came to Kantas, to Port Ffirst where she met the first friends she had made in a long time, they were still recovering from an invasion by orcs.
That had made some people look at her differently at first, but she’d still found a home there. A home first in the Cavernous Seashank in Port Ffirst, punctuated by regular visits to Daring Heights, and then a move to Fort Ettin. The settlements had grown so much since she first arrived. If the version of her who had first arrived here looked at it now, she’d never be able to find her way around.
She had come to this land when they were recovering from invasion, and it had become her home. She was not going to stand idly by while it was faced with invasion again.
She spent some time before the battle casting a new spell she hadn’t used before, Find Familiar, and summoned a small bat to her aid. She didn’t know what to name the creature yet, but she patted it gently before sending it out to watch for the enemy.
Kalta stood ready with the others on the western wall. Kavel, Glint, Sparks, Silvia and Derthaad stood with her. There were archers too, of course, but these were people she’d either adventured with or known as fellow adventurers, who she knew or knew of far more closely. She stood with them now and watched as the enemy approached. A storm gathered above them, guided by the wizard Veridian, to slow and weaken their enemies. She hoped it would work. The god she had grown up praying to was not a god of war, and would not help in a situation like this- still, it was her first impulse. Waukeen, protect the innocent, the shopkeepers and the businesspeople and their families, and let us be the ones to face the enemy. Protect this city and the trade it has brought, and more trade will be brought to you in future. Kalta was not in a position to promise trade or worship to the god she had worshipped semi-reluctantly as a child, but she had never chosen to worship any other god, and in times like this even such an unlikely prayer seemed worth the minor effort it took to formulate the words.
So instead, with her pointless prayer made, she turned to view the battlefield. The storm, the city, the ilithids which were at least temporarily on their side.
They could hold the wall. They had to.
She had planned to shoot as many arrows as she could, to slow the enemy forces. She would only be one of many archers, but if she could slow them, she would. There were traps on the ground to slow the approaching foes. A moat, and a pit of spikes where intellect devourers had been released to hinder the enemy. Kalta knew she would be more useful where she was, defending the wall and picking off any who made it past the traps, but a part of her yearned to clamber down and fight them face to face.
In the end, it was a good thing that she didn’t.
Derthaad shot a powerful spell, lightning of some sort, at the commander, only for it to fizzle out in midair. For a brief second Kalta wasn’t sure what had happened, till she heard a yell of “Fucking counterspell!”
The commander was too far away to have cast it, and indeed didn’t seem to have even noticed the sparks. Her companions began looking on the wall for the mage who had cast the spell, preventing what would have been a potent first strike against the enemy.
Invisible enemies hid on the wall, casting counterspell and attacking the adventurers. For each one that fell an explosion ripped through the air. Kalta’s companions were smart enough to realise the cause, and shoved two out of range over the side of the wall so that the explosion would not harm the defenders.
Kalta joined her companions in slaying them, and turned to aim at the commander of the approaching forces when a red dragon- furious, a ballista bolt through it’s wing- crashed down upon the wall. Thankfully it didn’t hit any of the defenders.
Derthaad and Silvia had offered Kalta some powerful poison, purple worm poison, with which she had coated three of her arrows. So far she had not used it, saving it for more powerful prey. The red dragon certainly fit that description. She took the three arrows and fired, 1, 2, 3 and one final unpoisoned arrow to finish it off. It didn’t kill the dragon outright, but Kavel finished it off with a powerful kick. A rider fell off the dragon, temporarily incapacitated by Glint, and Kalta turned her attention to more dangerous foes.
The rest of the battle was chaos. Magic and arrows and screams filling the night.
Somewhere amidst it all, Sparks cast fly on Silvia and Kavel, and Silvia flew out to face the enemy over the battlefield. She cast a curse on the commander of the githyanki forces, and Sparks flew out to join her, raining eldritch magic down upon the front lines.
The enemy commander dispelled Derthaad’s storm sphere, then turned to Silvia. A green beam of light shot towards her, and her last thoughts echoed across the psychic link bonding them. “I’m sorry Sorrel.”
As Kalta watched, too far away to do more than stare, she heard Silvia’s death in her mind even as she watched Silvia turn to dust. Disintegrate.
Overcome by fury, Kalta screamed into the night and fired twice at Silvia’s killer, missing the first shot but hitting on the second. She snarled into the night and yelled to rally the others.
Glint’s reaction was far more powerful. Casting fire down on the enemy commander and those around them, he destroyed them almost as thoroughly as they had killed Silvia, leaving behind Silvia’s trident, a spellbook, and charred bodies.
On the wall, Kavel killed the dragon’s fallen rider and flew from the battlements. Derthaad cast storm sphere again, killing the approaching Githyanki. From the corner of her eye ,Kalta saw Sparks magically lift Silvia’s trident from the battlefield.
The enemy moved on, still not dissuaded even as more died in the pit, some devoured by intellect devourers, some killed by the flailing Alan.Kalta shot again at those furthest forward as the enemy got closer to the wall.
The night was long and arduous. Blood was spilled, and no-one ended the night unscathed. The west wall held, and it’s defenders didn’t stop fighting until dawn broke, and reinforcements swept in. A mercenary band, like Kalta had once been part of, made up of centaurs who killed the remaining GIthyanki and looted the dead. Kalta was dimly relieved that Sparks had taken Silvia’s trident before the cavalry had arrived.
The fight wasn’t over yet, but Kalta caught the eye of her surviving companions. She was aware that she had known Silvia least. They had only met properly tonight. But she too was grieved by Silvia’s death. It had been a long time since she had lost a companion in battle, and this death seemed all-too permanent. She had never before been psychically linked to someone at the moment of death, heard the last thoughts, and felt that part of the chain linking them all go silent.
She, too, grieved for Silvia. She would not be the best one to tell Silvia’s surviving loved
ones- she had heard the others mention Sorrel- but she would remember, and she would mourn the hero she had not truly known.
As the dust settled and the fight ended, Kalta heard the names of some of the fallen, saw bodies of some who had died in and around the fort. She would not forget the cost of their victory.
