Old Rulers Return Home Part II - Baine
Sept 30, 2019 19:30:57 GMT
andycd, Grimes, and 11 more like this
Post by Ser Baine Cinderwood đ„đŒ on Sept 30, 2019 19:30:57 GMT
The Old Rulers Return Home - Part II
They draw their weapons and try to find secure footing in the sand, Baine pressing his back to Varis. Theyâre steeling themselves for the Yuan-Tiâs attack when the devil appears, and in a flash Varis is gone.
When he returns, moments later, the scene is radically different.
The already darkened sun is much lower in the sky, the Yuan-Ti are gone and the party scattered about in the dunes.
Baine is still next to him, but is facing him now, max at the ready and clearly readying for an attack to come from Varisâ direction.
When the Grandmaster appears, Baine lowers his weapon and bends over like his strings have been cut, breathing deeply for a moment. When he stands back up his face is tense and his eyes sweep over Varis, looking for injuries. Finding none, he nods tersely to himself.
âWe need to get out of here. Now.â
Without waiting for a reply he turns around and starts walking.
The older man looks around him, weapons raised and muscles tensed like spring steel. There is a touch of wildness to his eyes, but he swallows, lowers his sword and follows Baine.
âWhat happened out here?â
Baine doesnât look back at him. âA whole bunch of shit.â
He looks over to where the rest of the party is strewn about in the sand. Serpentine looks pensive, BB is holding what appears to be loot, Pieni looks stressed and Traavor looks like heâs about to pass out. When he shouts, even Baine has to struggle to make himself heard through the sandstorm.
âOi, you lot! Letâs get the fuck out of here!â
They walk for a few hours, four at most, before they settle down for the night. Luckily, those few hours were enough to get them out of the worst of the sandstorm. They make a small fire at the foot of one of those large adamantine boulders they passed on their way in and divide up the nightsâ watch.
Baine volunteers for the first watch (âThereâs no proper sunrise in this weather anywayâ) and when itâs clear that the rest of their exhausted party has fallen asleep he turns from where heâs been staring into the fire and looks at Varis.
âSo where did you go? Pieni and Serpentine reckoned it was some sort of pocket dimension. Like they just snatched you right up and stored you in a little bag. Was that it?â
Varisâ eyes are fixed on the fire and itâs a long time before he answers, shaking his head as though to clear it.
âYes, in a way. A demi-plane, tucked off this one. It was...unpleasant.â
Heâs silent for a long while, and when it becomes clear he isnât going to elaborate, Baine continues.
âAfter you got nabbed we fought the Yuan-Ti for all of 10 seconds before one of âem was dead from friendly fire, one was asleep and the third had gotten in my head.â He taps the side of his temple with a knuckle. âDecent spell. Made me wanna protect the princess at all costs. Pretty sure it would have dropped me if I had failed. So I stopped the fight and we had a chat.
The princess tried to sell Serpentine on her snake faith which is apparently the belief that All Great Snakes Are One. Donât think Serp was too keen on that. Then she drops the interesting tidbit that her home is under attack. That rumbling weâve been hearing since we got up on this piece of shit mountain is apparently a minor battalion of devils trying to turn the Yuan-Tiâs temple into their summer home.â
Varis expels a breath in a sharp hiss.
âBlack gods, does it never end? Was it clear whether they sought only to destroy the Yuan-Ti, or if they intended to stay once they had wreaked their revenge? We cannot allow them to establish an outpost on the material plane, let alone one so close to Daring.â
Baine gives him a small shrug.
âI donât see why theyâd be so intent on redecorating if they werenât gonna stick around. Thatâs why itâs been so hot - theyâre building another hell up here.â
The half-orcâs eyes shift from the fire over to where their companions are sleeping.
âSerpentine, she pulled out one of them rocks Aurelia has been putting up wanted posters for. She traded it to this princess in exchange for her releasing me from the spell. Princess says Glasya is destroying her home and she needs a map and a case from the temple and if we donât help her sheâll hunt us until death or something like that. Whatever. Apparently that star in the sky was a sign that they could find a lost city of their people.
At that point I just wanted to go see if there were more devils in the temple and figure out if one of them had you strung up by your ankles in a toasty dungeon or not, so I wasnât giving it my full attention, Iâll be honest.â Heâs speaking casually but looking steadily into the fire and nowhere else, and where theyâre resting on his knees, his fists are white-knuckled and clenched tight.
âShe put her hand on my shoulder and said she knew we had been having strange dreams. She said we could find someone in the temple that could tell us what the dreams meant. We never got to her though. The Inner sanctum has fallen by the time we got inside. Shame.â
As he mentions the dreams he pulls at a necklace Varis has never seen him wearing before, a golden fang of some sort of snake on a long chain. He looks away from the fire and turns directly to Varis, his dark eyes burning in the firelight.
âWhat was your dream about, Varis?â
The Grandmaster holds his gaze for a long moment.
âWar. Death. Powerlessness. The battle I am fighting with myself.â
He looks away.
âWhat did you find inside the temple?â
âJust⊠piles and piles of bodies. Dead Yuan-Ti in droves. One of them was still standing. He gave us some more directions on how to find that map.
So we go through the temple and itâs all ârespect the snake statues or they poison youâ and âdrop a demon on that devil so we donât have to fight itâ and âthis darkness is magical so you canât see in itâ. Whatever. We get to the stairs we need to get up to find the map and the devil who snatched you pops in again. Heâs some sort of general of Glasyaâs.â
Varis nods.
âTeâZeer. Second lieutenant to the Lady of the Sixth.â
âThatâs the one. Turns out these gems everyoneâs so hot for was made by Glasya back in the day, for the Yuan-Ti, because their home was being overrun by âWestern Invadersâ. The Yuan-Ti backed out on the deal somehow and now theyâre well and truly fucked because âGlasya is thorough in her vengeance.â
His voice drops to a murmur and his eyes to the ground.
âHe offered us a deal to get out of there alive. A deal to get you back. The remaining Yuan-Ti for you.â
Varis gives a mirthless laugh.
âUnsurprising. I expect he knew he could not hold me indefinitely. I was beginning to force my way out of the sub-manifold even as I was released.â
The corner of Baineâs mouth twitches. âOf course you were, Sir.â
âSo what did you tell him?â
âIn the end Serpentine took the deal, on the condition that it was hers alone. The rest of us were to be left out. We got back topside and she made it clear I owed her one. I donât even care if she did it to get one up on me or not - I would have taken the deal. I was ready to shake hands with a devil and I didnât have to. Iâll gladly owe her one.â
He lets out a small laugh thatâs more a dry wheeze than anything.
âBetter the devil you know, eh?â
The older manâs smile is mirthless.
âIndeed. I am touched that you would have risked so much for me, but no price is worth your soul, my friend.â
Baine sighs but doesnât reply.
So, what do you make of all this? What do you think our next move should be?â
âFuck me but this is mess. Snakes and devils and itâs all connected.â Baine picks up a stick at pokes at the fire as he thinks.
âThe few Yuan-Ti that are left are gone. They said all they wanted was to go find this city to the west and that they wanted nothing to do with Daring. Claimed theyâd never even heard of it. Seemed sincere enough. What theyâre trying to do with these gems is probably a question for Aurelia and the rest of the council. We need to deal with the devils, and quickly. Weâre running out of time. If weâre gonna make use of the information we got in Sigil we should do it soon.â
Varis nods curtly.
âAgreed. We can do little here at the moment. We should head back to Daring, regroup, and share what we know. But make no mistake, we will come back here, better armed and destroy this place.â
The rest of the journey back to Daring Heights is blessedly uneventful and they arrive at the Order compound two days later. Baine is making vague noises about how much heâs missed his bed when the sight of Gretcha stops them both in their tracks in the middle of the yard.
Her usually unimpressed face has a grave quality to it that Baine has never seen before.
âWelcome back,â she says. âKâul Goran is at war.â
In collaboration with Varis/G'Lorth/Sundilar .
