Ah, yes. Extremely satisfying.
ready for dnd today?
you bet
tho tbh I don’t know where the hell we’re supposed to go from here
to Shira’s tower right??
there’s no way in hell we’re ready to fight her lmao
I bet Liam’s got something else up his sleeve
bc we’re way too low level to face off against someone on the assembly
Admittedly Shira does have Final Boss Energy, but I guess we’ll find out. I collect my sketchbook, character sheet and notes, sparkling gold dice, and a few colored pens before trotting downstairs.
The whole world stretches out before Jaylie: sprawling fields of green, an endless expanse of blue sky, and a well-worn dirt road that disappears over the horizon.
This is the first time she’s left the city since…before. Until now she had no reason to leave. She loves Belandar, especially the plush accommodations, the excitable people, and her close circle of friends at Marlana’s temple. Though she’s eager to win back Donati’s favor, she’s loath to leave the city of her heart—and her perfect feather bed. But she reminds herself of the teachings of her goddess:Luck is out there where you least expect it, and opening yourself up to new experiences is the surest way to find it.
But surely sleeping in the dirt and shitting in the woods aren’t the sort of new experiences Marlana is referring to, are they?
Although Jaylie and Morgana squint skeptically at the wide-open sky, for the first time Kain and Loren are agreed: they’re thrilled to be free.
A sudden rush of air stirs the pale curls around Jaylie’s face as Kain bounds out into the grass the moment the gates groan open. It’s almost cute; the scattering of blue and yellow wildflowers gives the impression that the big man is frolicking. Loren trails behind him, playing an energetic waltz to accompany the tiefling’s leaping dance. Jaylie isn’t surprised by Kain’s reaction, as she expects he’s more excited by the potential for someactionon the roads than by the change in scenery. But Loren’s enthusiasm catches her off guard. Jaylie assumed that for someone with such a love of fine things, he would be as reluctant to leave Belandar as she. But no—he’s traded in his silk shirts for stylish and form-fitting leather traveling gear and pulled back his red mane of hair into a sporty tail. His grin stretches from pointed ear to pointed ear.
“Cheer up, Jaybird,” the bard singsongs, blowing her a kiss. “You’re finally getting the opportunity to fly the nest.”
Jaylie grumbles under her breath and readjusts the pack’s straps on her shoulders.
Donati gave the group detailed directions to Shira’s tower, and for days all they have to worry about is travel. But while the main road might take them a good two weeks to reach their destination—crowded as it is with wagons full of fresh summer produce, arguing merchants, mages hoping to join the Academy, and more—taking the less traveled trails through the surrounding farmland and wilderness will cut their journey in half. With the help of his intimidating guardsmen and their very sharp swords, Donati had impressed upon them the importance of haste.
It quickly becomes clear that Loren is no stranger to travel as he marches ahead of the party, masterfully navigating them past a series of friendly, red-roofed farmhouses and deeper into wild rolling hills dotted with clusters of trees and flower-sprinkled fields. Eventually he stops them at the base of a slope circled by a ring of trees, summons up a merry campfire, and sends them to a restful sleep with a lullaby.
The next morning, Jaylie wakes to the sounds of bacon frying, eggs sizzling, and the guttural speech of devils.
She leaps from her sleeping roll and grabs her holy symbol to ward off evil only to see Kain leaning over a frying pan positioned above the campfire. He flips one of the eggs with utter gentleness, careful not to break the yolk. Jaylie blinks rapidly, looking around. The others begin to rise as well, Loren rubbing at his eyes while Morgana groans and pulls her dark red jacket over her face.
“What was that?” Jaylie asks earnestly. “I thought I heard…I thought I heard talking?”
“I’m catching up with my father,” Kain explains, his eyes narrowed in concentration as he pokes at the bacon. There’s a hissing, dark laugh that catches at the edge of Jaylie’s hearing—but perhaps she’s just imagining it.
“What do youmean?” Morgana asks, her voice muffled under her coat.
Jaylie moves to Kain’s side to inspect the breakfast—He really did not strike me as the cooking type,she muses—and notices how the flames from the fire seem to curl around the frying pan with a mind of their own. She bends down closer to the heat and gasps when she sees it.
There’s a face in the flames. The tongues of fire weave together to form the edges of a horrifically wide grin full of sharp kindling teeth under two burning black pits for eyes. Bull horns identical to Kain’s sprout from a wide forehead and curl into smoke that spirals up between the leaves of the trees overhead. Immediately Jaylie’s palms fill with holy light, an instinctive defense.
Kain looks decidedly unbothered.
“Priestess, I’d like to introduce you to my father: Lord Maglorbizel of Hell, Ruler of the Bone Pits, Prince of the Flames, Burning King of the Damned, Betrayer of Man.” Kain lists off the devil’s titles like he’s reciting a nursery rhyme, they’re so familiar to him. “We communicate through fire.”
“Anyfire?” Jaylie says. Her voice comes out high-pitched and wavering.
“Any fire,” Kain confirms. “When I was a boy, staying with my human mother in her home on our dairy farm, he would come to me in the candle on my bedside table to tell me bedtime stories.”
“What sorts of fucking bedtime stories were those?” Loren asks. He’s standing now, green eyes wide with horror.
