I am Lena Wolf, Lena's life as it happens Options

[Lena Wolf]

4th Era, Year Unknown - Malice

"The deeper in we go, the more I sense malice... or something like it," Scarlet shuddered uncomfortably as they were descending into the Garden of Ignominy on the Bitterblack Isle.

"And to think that this is just the beginning," Lena nodded. "It is a cursed place for sure. And who named this garden, anyway?"

The Garden of Ignominy was the first area of the labyrinth that was the Bitterblack Isle. It was in fact a courtyard garden, it had a fountain with a once attractive sculpture in it, and it was infested with wargs, goblins and a cyclops. A huge shade with a scythe appeared every now and again, and the only thing you could do then, was run...

"No, we are not going to fight Death literally, not today and not ever," Lena said sternly when Scarlet dashed to challenge it. "Come back here, Scarlet! It's not your time yet." Sometimes being in charge had its advantages.

"Coming, Master," Scarlet replied automatically and sheathed her sword. It was the first time that Scarlet called Lena "Master", Lena noted.

The Garden of Ignominy led to the Duskmoon Tower which was another misnomer. The area was in fact another enclosed garden or park, a really nice one actually, filled with medicinal herbs and flowers and inhabited by nothing more sinister than rabbits and deer. The ever-present moonlight did give it an eery feel though, and the sounds of the wind high above and the water running somewhere close, gave the impression of sad and weeping music playing constantly...

"Do you hear it?" Lena thought she was going slightly mad. "The music? Or is the place playing tricks with my mind?"

"I hear it too," Cyril confirmed. "It must be a trick though, for who would be playing it? Flute and violin... that's what I hear."

"Wind and water is what it is," Scarlet said dismissively. "Mages..! Always imagining things..."

She broke off as they entered the Ward of Regret and saw zombies crawl out of the ground and bones assemble themselves into skeleton knights. Last time they ran for their lives after the knights killed each of them several times over and all Lena could do was dash between her pawns reviving them, all the while dodging the knights so as not to die herself, permanently. But this time they were better prepared, and Lena forced herself to remember to use her shield...

The skeleton knights were still a problem though. They wore heavy armour and had shields of their own, they charged with enormous force, knocking Lena to the ground, shield or no shield. The shield protected her from the worst of it though, so when Scarlet attacked the knight from behind and he turned around, Lena managed to scramble to her feet and swing her mace, hitting the knight square across his back, first staggering and finally shuttering him into pieces. His armour, shield and weapon vanished - they had been conjured. Scarlet was rising from the floor heavily - her attack was a sacrifice, it caused no harm to the knight but was meant as an opening for Lena. Of course Lena's first move had also been a sacrifice with the same purpose...

"Two sacrifices per knight is too much," Lena said as she and Scarlet were swallowing medicine while being bathed in Cyril's healing magics. "We need a better strategy."

"Leave them alone?" Cyril suggested. "Why did you have to pick a fight?"

"We didn't!!" Lena and Scarlet cried in unison. "They attacked us!"

"No, they were standing there minding their own business until you decided to clear out that room..!"

Their argument was cut short by a huge explosion that set them all on fire. After the knights, they had skeleton magi to deal with.

"Insolence!" Scorpio swore when his conjured firestorm failed to reach the magi but bounced from the bars in the archway, adding to the burns on their own party. "How come they can shoot through the bars but I can't?!"

"Curse this accursed place..!" Scarlet dropped the potion she was drinking and took off down the corridor, with Lena closely following. They had to find a way around the archways blocked by iron bars that the magi could shoot through from the other side but that were completely impenetrable for any attacks from the side our party was on...

"This is magic of the darkest kind..!" Scorpio kept cursing, and Lena wondered whether this was his way to prepare a spell to be cast the moment he had a clear line of sight to the magi.

They ran down some steps, took several turns, and it felt like they should now be on the same side of the arcade as the magi, just through that archway ahead... Lena raised her mace ready to crush the skeletons, ran through the archway... and found herself floating in a thick viscous goo that bound her legs and arms, she moved, yet made no progress... The magi were casting more spells, so close, yet impossible to reach... She felt her strength fail her, her mace was too heavy to lift, her armour was crushing her, it pulled her down, she fell... Scarlet lay beside her, struggling to lift her sword...

"I have it!!" A huge flaming explosion and an enormous ice spike erupted where the magi stood, crushing and burning their bones into dust.

"Strength in numbers, Arisen," Cyril said as if nothing of note had happened, bathing her and Scarlet in healing magic again.

"I didn't know you could cast giant ice spikes," Scorpio was wiping the soot off his fingers on his dark-coloured kilt.

"I didn't know you tossed combustible powder into your firestorms," Cyril grinned. "Where to next, girls?" He smiled, putting away his staff.

...

The Ward of Regret connected to a large circular stairwell - the Midnight Helix. It was a tall tower without intermediate floors, they could see the ceiling far above when they looked up from the ground. The stairs ran along the walls. A giant armoured cyclops was chained to the wall, his enormous club towering in the middle of the floor.

"This cyclops is much larger than anything we've seen so far!" Scorpio watched it in fascination. "Will be far stronger too!" He hit it with a bolt of lightening and the cyclops reeled.

"No!" Lena tugged on his coat. "Leave it alone! It will squash us the moment its chains are rent, and they don't look all that solid!"

"Are you sure?" Scorpio sounded disappointed. "Could be fun..."

"No!"

Lena was about to says something else, but a fireball coming from nowhere knocked her off her feet. Several pools of fire appeared along the walls of the stairwell - skeleton magi. The time for discussions was over.

They ran up the steps, jumping over gaps and trying desperately not to fall off the crumbling rocks to their death. About half way up they realised that large chunks of the stairwell were missing, and fragile looking rope bridges were spun from one side of the stairwell to the other, offering numerous new opportunities to fall to your death.

"Where are we going, exactly?" Scorpio breathed out, catching Lena as she slipped.

"Up!" She pointed at a group of skeleton magi on a platform above them. "To shut them up!"

"Umm... And when we get there, we'll see another group even higher!"

"We'll see! One at a time! Arrgghhh!!!" A shower of bone fragments rained from the platform as Lena swung her mace.

...

"Phew... How many skeleton magi?" Cyril caught up with them on the upper platform. "Good grief! And for what?"

"I'm still working on that bit," Lena was looking around for anything of interest. Was there any point to all this fighting? She couldn't see any...

"What is the point of it all?" She heard a nervous weeping voice. "Leave me alone!"

"Who said that?" Lena spun around. The voice was coming from a corpse, clutching a key. Lena snatched the key and started a careful descent.

...

When they finally stood in the Duskmoon Tower garden again, Lena marched off to the nearest locked door and tried the key - it didn't fit. She tried the next door - no. She kept going until she found a door that accepted the key. She turned around and looked at her three pawns in turn.

"Behind this door lies another section of the labyrinth, I have no doubt," she said. "Do we even want to bother with it? Why are we doing it?"

"Because we've come too far to leave, and yet we haven't arrived anywhere," Cyril said quietly. "Because this place resonates with each of us, we all feel its call, yet we know it calls us to our doom. It is a binding curse, Arisen."

"That young woman who called us here, she has an aura not unlike your own," Scorpio said equally quietly. "Yet also not the same. Similar to Selene too, but also different... It is most disconcerting."

"We have to understand what is going on here," Scarlet joined in. "We haven't found any clues yet. I say we go in."

"So be it." Lena opened the door.

...

The Vault of Defiled Truth connected to the Gutter of Misery that led to the Shrine of Futile Truths. By the time they got there, their potion supply was more than halved.

"This looks familiar," Lena noted as they looked upon a huge circular stairwell. It wasn't the same kind of a stairwell as the Midnight Helix - this one was much, much larger. The spiral walkway along its walls was wide and had an arcade along its inner side. There was no danger of falling off it, except if you purposefully stood on the edge. "This is just like the Everfall," Lena turned to her pawns. The Everfall was a structure under Gran Soren that was believed to be directly connected to the Rift. A permanent group of pawns were guarding it, or tending to it, or whatever else they were really doing. None of the decent townsfolk would come near it, mind. But since the dragon's coming, tremors could be felt coming from it, and so Lena and her companions had to go and investigate their cause. Something was wrong, that something nearly ate them alive, but they escaped... almost... It took them several attempts to get to the bottom of the structure, and each time pawns fell to the monster that had awakened within. Everyone shuddered.

"It is the same structure," Scarlet observed, carefully looking down from the arcade. "What is it doing here, I wonder?"

"There's a monster down below," Cyril pointed at something purple dwelling near the ground. It looked like a huge ball of goo. "I don't like it."

He wasn't alone in that. Their voices must have attracted attention of the monster, who suddenly sprouted long tentacles and started rising through the stairwell towards their level. It turned, and a giant eye looked right at them. Instead of eye lashes, the eyelids had teeth.

"Oooooh I don't like the look of that foul creature!!" Scorpio shouted, charging a spell.

"Noooooo!!! Let go, beast!!!" One of the tentacles grabbed Scarlet, but her frantic resistance made it loosen its grip, and Scarlet was propelled through the air, landing a good distance further down, but still on the floor of the arcade rather than all the way on the bottom. Scarlet had been knocked out, but Lena still had a chance to get to her. She bolted, and as she ran, tentacles were sprouting from the floor, spreading red goo, casting spells, trying to eat you... Exactly the same tentacles that swallowed pawns whole back in the Everfall.

Lena got to Scarlet, helped her up. The way up and down was covered in tentacles. Scorpio and Cyril were still alive, but barely...

"Time to go," Lena fumbled in her bag, fetching a polished stone. "Live to fight another day..!" She tossed it into the air, a vortex opened sweeping them in, there was a flash of light, and they stood by the entrance to the labyrinth where the young woman that had brought them there, was sitting reading a book.

Lena's first impulse was to leave for Gransys immediately. But they still had a lot of potions, and they had not found any clues as to what was going on. She should not give in to her fear, she told herself. She wasn't leaving until she found a clue of some sort, and that was final. Her resolve must have been showing, for the pawns looked at her, nodded, and walked back into the labyrinth.

[Lena Wolf]

Now that I play Dragon's Dogma on PC, I can offer you pictures. Here are a few snapshots in Gran Soren, the capital of Gransys.

Exploring the city from the rooftops

"What, you want to go out NOW?" - "Yes, NOW."

Wolf, Scorpio and Reynard the favourite peddler



And a few other pictures. There will be more in future posts.

The Everfall. Also the Shrine of Futile Truths on the Bitterblack Isle. It is huge.

Ogre!!!

Incoming!

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Jan 29 2023, 01:47 AM

[Lena Wolf]

4th Era, Year Unknown - A test of resolve

Lena touched a riftstone in a fort ruin. Once again, she had lost Scorpio. The portal opened and she entered the Rift.

The ground was covered in mist, as usual. You could see for leagues, yet the horizon was completely bland and featureless. There were no light sources, yet it wasn't completely dark. A single riftstone shone with diffuse blue light behind her - the portal back.

Pawns started appearing in the distance, they walked towards her, bowing in greeting. Some came quite close, others stayed back. She looked at them briefly, only to nod a greeting of politeness, she didn't come for them. "Scorpio should appear any moment now," she thought. She waited. He wasn't coming.

Lena started to panic. Was he actually dead this time? Was it even possible? And for what? The Duskmoon Tower on the Bitterblack Isle had many doors leading into the labyrinth, and one of those doors led to a round chamber - Rotunda of Dread. It looked to have a corridor going further in, but it turned out to be nothing but an arena. The corridor at the far end led to an abyss. Another abyss flanked the arena on the right, immediately as you came down the steps from the entrance.

What happened there? Lena could not tell. The first time they entered, Cyril quickly spotted another purple blob monster floating near the ground, and they turned around and left, not having a death wish just then. After a while they decided to take another look, saw no purple monsters, and descended into the arena. Before they knew it, they were attacked by half a dozen skeleton knights... The fight was ferocious, the knights skilful. Suddenly Lena felt her heart fall... or rather, she felt a tug in the empty space in her chest where her heart used to be. She looked around and couldn't see Scorpio.

When the fight was done, he wasn't there.

"What happened? How could he have vanished like that?" Lena looked at Scarlet and Cyril in desperation. "Surely, if he took a hit from a skeleton knight, he would have called, like you always do?"

"Not if he fell into the abyss," Cyril said softly. "That's what the knights were aiming for. There is no return from there, neither for an Arisen, nor for a pawn."

"No!!" Lena could not believe it. "But you cannot die!!"

"Do you believe everything that the Pawn Legion tells you?" Cyril's smile was sad.

"No, I do not," Lena nodded, a heartache spreading in her chest. "But not this. I refuse to believe it. He is in the Rift, he must be. I shall get him back." She marched towards the exit, with Scarlet and Cyril following.

...

"Hey!!!" Lena was banging her fist against the riftstone. "Open up!! I need to speak to a clerk!!" She was confused, always before all she needed to do was simply touch the riftstone, and the clerk would appear. But not this time.

"You might need to select a different pawn," one of the pawns touched her shoulder. "If yours had perished."

"He cannot!" Lena turned around. "You cannot die."

"We don't, normally," the pawn nodded. "But there is nothing that cannot happen."

"No!" Lena was adamant. "I do not accept it!"

She walked into the emptiness of the Rift, leaving the pawns and the riftstone far behind. She turned left, she turned right, she walked and walked, but the space was empty. The riftstone became no more than a speck of light on the endless horizon.

Lena stopped. Not accepting Scorpio's death wasn't working.

"All you have to do is to will it," she recalled Scarlet's words about restoring a broken riftstone. "All it takes is a few riftstone shards and a small part of your soul..." Lena took out her pouch of riftstone shards, grabbed a handful. "I will my friend to come back!" She said into the Rift. "Scorpio, come back!" She opened her palm and let the riftstone shards fall to the ground, let them dissolve in the mist.

A few minutes had passed, Lena was not moving from her spot. Nothing.

After a while, she started walking slowly towards the speck of light on the horizon that was the riftstone. Was her will not strong enough to bring Scorpio back? Did she not offer enough of her soul? Was she ready to choose another companion? Would she prefer to be transported back to Tamriel instead?

That question came out of nowhere, as if someone was talking inside Lena's head. She stopped dead. That was the real test. Just what did Scorpio mean to her?

For a split second she hesitated. To return to Tamriel, back to her life, to find her friends again... That was worth giving up a pawn, right? And her heart? Surely, she didn't need it at all...

"No," Lena said into the Rift. "No. Not now. Not like this. I want to go home, but this is not the way. I started something here, I met people... I met pawns that I care for. Scorpio and I have a job to do, and we are not done yet. I need him back."

"You might not get another offer to go back," the voice replied. "Choose wisely."

Was it all worth it? She did not know, but she felt that there was only one choice for her - she could not have lived with herself, had she chosen differently.

"I choose to stay here," she said. "Take what you will of my soul, I do not want another pawn. I want Scorpio back."

"We do not need your soul, we already have your heart," the voice replied. "You made your choice, Arisen."

The voice fell silent. Lena peered into the void. There was a flash of light in the distance and she felt her heart flutter. "Err... something where the heart used to be," she corrected herself, having pressed her hand to her chest and not feeling any heartbeat. She started walking towards the flash, then broke into a run. They promised. They must!

...

The pawns still stood near the riftstone, waiting patiently for the Arisen to return. She would have to choose another pawn, what else was there to do? One of them noticed a flash of light on the horizon. "This Arisen is not like the others," he said, pointing it out. "She brought him back." The other pawns turned to look where he was pointing, but there was nothing to see yet.

...

Lena was running towards the spot where she had seen a flash of light. At least she hoped she was running in the right direction, since all directions looked the same in the Rift. After a while she saw faint blueish light, and ran towards that. The light was growing stronger.

"Nooooo!!!" Lena saw the riftstone and the pawns gathered around it - that was the light she was running towards. She felt betrayed.

She stopped, thinking frantically what else she could do. Was that another test? A test of resolve, perhaps? The Legion certainly liked its tests. Insolence! She'd give them a piece of her mind now! Where was that blasted riftstone?!

The pawns watched in amazement an embodiment of fury run up to the riftstone and plant her dagger into it. "Liars!!!" She bellowed.

"A touch would have sufficed, Arisen," a calm voice said inside her head, as her dagger slid out of the riftstone, leaving no trace. A vortex opened and Scorpio stood before her.

...

"You don't see that every day," the pawns were walking away, but kept looking back at an Arisen and her pawn locked in a tight embrace. "That is one unusual Arisen. She will go far, that one..."

[Renee]

It's really slow at work. Time to read some Wolf. Now... where the heck am I? Ah, Page 9, Post 167. Cool, I remember this. She's about to enter some sort of weird Daedric-inspired arena fight.

"Focus!" - she told herself angrily. "There's nine of them still to come! You won't get far this way!"

Whoa, seriously? She (you) had to do a bunch of fights at once like this? She keeps using poison, too. Good thing. Sounds like she's got a lot of poison.

"Whoever said that axes were blunt, never felt one on their own flesh"

I've always taken this to mean the end of the shaft which holds the blade, not the axe's blade itself. 🪓 Otherwise, yeah, this caused a lot of controversion in OB, the fact that axes and blunt weapons were now in the same skill...

Anyway, This is a crazy fight. Oh cripes, she's down??? Good gosh. Saved by Sanguine and Dessos.

9/173

[Lena Wolf]

The Tournament of Ten Bloods is a really tough quest. In reality she was down quite a few times... And yes, you have to walk out of there on your own, it isn't enough to beat everyone. Boethia is a tough Prince to please, I think you have to be at least level 20 to do it. And there's a reason for that!

[Lena Wolf]

4th Era, Year Unknown - Bonds

"You found something there," the young woman at the pier on the Bitterblack Isle spoke first when Lena approached her. "I could feel it, you uncovered something."

"We have?" Lena was surprised as they didn't find any clues to the meaning of the Isle. "How?"

"By being here, I guess," the woman smiled. "My name is Olra, I know it now. I also know that I am bound to this place somehow..."

"Are you bound to this very spot or just to the Isle?" Lena squinted at her. If Olra had questions that needed answering, then why did she need someone else to delve into the depths of this cursed place looking for those answers?

"I... I do not know," the woman confessed. "The Isle... I've wandered the halls, but found no answers."

"And no monsters?" Cyril asked quietly.

"Monsters?" Olra seemed genuinely surprised. "There are dogs and forest beasts, yes, but they leave me alone..."

"Cursed wargs and goblins, more like," Scarlet squinted in suspicion. "Skeleton knights and magi, walking dead of all kinds, gargoyles, cyclopes, maneaters, gazers..." She broke off, as the only reaction from Olra was surprise and incomprehension.

"She is one of them," Cyril said to Scarlet. "She carries the same curse. The same as Barroch, nothing touches him either."

"Was that what he meant when he said he embraced the Isle?" Lena wondered. Barroch was the person they met in the Duskmoon Tower garden, he was an alchemist and a smith, and he'd seen many Arisen come and perish on that Isle. He had been an Arisen himself once (or perhaps was still an Arisen), and like so many, he was drawn to the Isle, but unlike the others, he became one with it. Lena had so many questions for him, but, just like with the Dragonforged, she couldn't think of a single question to ask.

"We are leaving now," Lena said to Olra. "Please transport us back to Gransys."

"Ser!" Olra looked dismayed. "If that is your will..." Lena nodded.

...

The sun was setting when they stood on the pier in Cassardis. Their foray to the Bitterblack Isle left them exhausted in more than one way.

"Pablo's inn is straight ahead, Scarlet knows the way," Lena turned to Cyril. "Rest up, you two," she looked at them. "You too, Scorpio, why don't you," she turned to him. "We are not going anywhere tonight."

"I am not leaving you on your own," he said, squinting. "There is no telling what foolish things you are planning."

Lena grinned. She wasn't planning anything, and she could tell that Scorpio's words were just an excuse.

They walked through the village, the air was warm, the sea was calm and the whole place felt sleepy and content. The light in the textiles shop was on, so they entered.

"Back to your old mischief, minnow?" The old woman stood up from the loom. "You look well, child."

"Thanks, Iona," Lena smiled. "We're just..."

"You had your bond tested," Iona observed, looking them over. "An Arisen is bound to the pawns. The dragon always comes around, sure as the seasons. The Chief and I still remember the last time..."

"Last time?" Lena spun around. "Last time what?"

"Last time the dragon came around, of course," Iona smirked. "Happens every fifty years."

"And what happened?"

"Nothing happened," Iona shrugged her shoulders. "Someone was made an Arisen, the same as you, but not in our village. 'Take up arms and face me, Arisen,' isn't that what the Wyrm says?" She squinted at Lena. "But you don't have to, really. You get used to living without a heart soon enough. The last Arisen didn't even bother with a pawn of their own, as far as I know. Refused to play the game. The dragon leaves after a while all on its own, and life goes back to normal for another fifty years. Simple as that."

"But then..." Lena was confused. "But then why... The Duke is assembling an army to fight the dragon... But if last time the dragon just went away, then why does he bother now?"

"Because of you, of course," Iona looked at Lena and Scorpio in turn. "Because you cannot leave it well alone. Because you are going after the dragon. Because your bond is stronger than most. How old do you think the Duke is? He was an old man last time, he must be ancient now..." She shook her head. "I've said enough. The rest is for you to discover." She gave Scorpio a long and penetrating look, looking into his eyes, as if reading his soul. Then she nodded and returned to her loom.

Lena and Scorpio walked up the path towards the chapel that stood on a high rock overlooking the village. A lawn in front of it ran up right to the edge of the rock, looking out into the sea. The village, the beach, the fishing boats, the ruins of an ancient temple sunk into the sea - it was all before them.

They stood near the edge, watching the lanterns light up as the evening progressed, then watching the lanterns being extinguished as the night deepened. They did not want to go anywhere, talk to anyone, the meaning of what happened in the Rift was slowly dawning on them. Finally Lena broke the silence.

"The Pawn Legion is bound to the dragon," she said quietly. "They are one and the same."

"Not quite one and the same, for the Pawn Legion has pawns, and we are not the dragon," Scorpio objected. "Yet there is someone or something that directs us. May be that is the dragon?"

"Or may be the dragon is in service of the Legion as well?" Lena shuddered, that thought was uncomfortable. "Who was it that spoke to me, I wonder?"

"Barnaby," Scorpio answered flatly. "You remember, the pawn who met us at the Pawn Guild in Gran Soren. He lends the Legion his voice."

"How?"

"Beats me."

"Hmm."

The night was dark, yet the sky was clear, and the stars shone the more for it. They sat down, finally realising that there would be no sleeping that night.

"Where were you?" Lena suddenly asked. "Why did you not come forward?"

"I... was dead," Scorpio said with some hesitation. "Not dead dead like you would be if you were to jump off this cliff," he smirked. "But I was... hmm... held in a sort of purgatory, I guess..."

"Purgatory?!" Lena spun around to look at him. "Waiting for what?"

"For what would come next," Scorpio shrugged. "Phantoms, spirits, the undead - where do you think they come from?" He looked at Lena sideways. "An immortal cannot die, so a transformation was bound to happen..."

"The undead..?" Lena sounded stunned. "I thought they were people who... umm... well... apart from vampires... I thought some evil sorcery raised them somehow..." She was getting very confused, she never gave zombies and skeletons any thought before.

"Some of them, yes, but that's temporary, while the sorcerer's spell lasts," Scorpio nodded. "Reanimated corpses are not proper undead. Undead are immortal. Some mortals become undead if they are too stubborn to leave this world upon death... There is a way into immortality for everyone," he added, his voice sounding hollow.

Lena was feeling cold. She shivered, and Scorpio unclipped his direwolf cape, draping it over her shoulders as he pulled her close. She rested her head on his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. A heartbeat... something she never gave a thought before either. She pressed her hand to her own chest - nothing.

"Let's not talk about the undead, it's not good for you," Scorpio said quietly. "Look, you are growing cold. Come closer." It may have been the duty of a pawn to protect his master with his life, but was it also his duty to prevent his master from slipping into immortality?

"But I took the cure..." Lena whispered. "The witch had promised..."

"That you would become mortal again," Scorpio nodded. "Did she also promise it to be permanent?"

No, she did not.

...

The rays of dawn coloured the sky gold, but Lena and Scorpio were still sitting on the grassy rock overlooking the sea and the village below. Scorpio's coat and cape were wrapped around them as Scorpio cradled Lena so as to keep her warm. She wasn't sleeping, but her consciousness was floating in that space between worlds that every soul must cross.

As the sun appeared above the horizon, her skin started to burn and she started to shake slightly. Scorpio pulled the coat and cape over her head to hide her from direct sunlight, holding her closer still. An hour or two have passed when Lena opened her eyes. She felt warmth spreading into the tips of her fingers, her face no longer burned, her heartbeat was steady... "Not my heartbeat," she sighed. She started moving, unwrapping herself from the coat and cape, yet not letting go of Scorpio, so she could still feel his heartbeat as her cheek was pressed to his chest.

"We'll get you your heart back," he said softly into her ear. "It's an arduous journey, but I'm with you for the long run." They sat quietly for a while longer, watching the fishermen take their boats out into the bay, then return with the catch; they watched the fish being cleaned and hung to dry and the seagulls hungrily circling around the boats, the fishmonger's tables and then the buckets with discarded waste. The sun was at its full height when Lena declared that watching all that made her hungry herself. It was time to return to the village.

As they walked into Pablo's inn with Lena talking about lunch, Scarlet looked at Lena's  flushed face and sparkling eyes and noted dark pressure patches on Scorpio's neck and upper chest. She grinned, winked and was about to make a witty remark, when Cyril touched her arm and said softly: "No, can't you see - their bonds are stronger than that."

...

"Three chimeras, two ogres, two golems, three cyclopes, ten sauriens, ten phantoms, forty-five undead warriors, twenty harpies and a drake," Lena put a stack of work notices on the table once the lunch had been cleared. "We've got work to do."

"A drake?" Scarlet picked up one of the notices. "As in: a small dragon?" She raised her eyes to Lena in worry.

"I don't know about small, we'll see," Lena nodded. "But yes. A dragon."

"There's room in my bag for more potions!" Scarlet demonstratively dropped her bag on the table. "It's madness."

"No, it's training," Lena objected. "Suit up."

[Lena Wolf]

4th Era, Year Unknown - Salvation

Gran Soren was bustling with life when they returned after another round of training. Lena had insisted that they should stay out for several days, fighting both day and night, since undead warriors would never appear in sunlight. Forty-five undead warriors was a tall order, as it turned out. Oh, there was no shortage of undead crawling out from under the ground at night, but most of them were "ordinary" undead - townsfolk and farmers, some still bearing their hammers and hoes. Undead warriors were rare, it would take many a night to encounter forty five of them.

"Why is it that undead knights and magi do not count as warriors?" Lena was complaining. "They fight well enough! Far better than the rest of them, in fact!"

It was odd, but her pawns didn't have an answer.

"At this point, I couldn't care less," Scarlet yawned. "We haven't slept in three days. Inn." She marched decisively towards the inn, ignoring Lena's protests that they should eat first.

"Sleep is most important now," Scorpio chimed in. "Come on, Wolf. Ice baths and bandages can wait till tomorrow," he caught her by the arm as she tried to go see the apothecary.

"Ice baths and bandages?" Cyril stopped dead in astonishment. "Haven't heard that for a while... Say... why would you need an ice bath when I'm here to heal your every wound?"

"Because she gets into more trouble than we can deal with," Scorpio smirked. "But I give it to you - none of the wounds are bleeding."

"I should hope not!" Cyril scoffed.

"Sleep. Now!" Scarlet rounded them up, dangling two sets of keys to the private rooms of the Union Inn. "Cyr, you're sharing with me. You'd better not snore."

...

"We meet again, friend," a man with a foreign accent stopped Lena in the street.

"We do?" Lena squinted - she did not recognise him.

"Mason is the name, if it pleases you," he said and bowed. "I have another favour to ask."

"Umm..." Lena couldn't recall doing any favours for him before, or even seeing him before. What was he on about?

"Salvation, naturally," Mason continued, not giving Lena any time to think. "They have an agent in the Castle now, it seems, and I would ask you to track him down. I know, skulking in the shadows is not your style, but please put your chivalry aside this once, and watch for him at night, then follow, carefully, mind, and unseen. Give your findings to Airsmith, friend." Mason bowed again, keeping one hand behind his back in an elegant gesture, then turned around and walked away.

"Err..." Lena started saying something, then changed her mind. "Another Assassin," she thought, noticing a selection of daggers discreetly arranged about his person, including two or three behind his back, where his elegant bowing gesture made them instantly accessible. "All right," she said out loud, and Mason nodded without turning around.

Her three pawns were staring at her with different degrees of incomprehension.

"What is going on, Master?" Cyril finally asked, calling Lena "Master" for the first time.

"It's a bit of a covert mission, this one," Lena looked at them in turn. "Much of what Mason said was a screen, pay no mind to that. I'm going to have to release you for now - we can't very well tail someone with a group of four people and remain unnoticed, can we?"

"So you actually understood it," Cyril gave her a long look.

"Yes," Lena nodded. "Well... in as much that there's someone that I need to tail discreetly and see where he goes. I expect to learn more as I do so."

"But who is Mason?" Cyril wasn't giving up.

"I've never met him personally before, so I don't know," Lena answered. "But it seems that we might belong to the same organisation... err... to the same sort of organisation," she corrected herself, realising that there was no Dark Brotherhood in Gransys.

"Hmm," Cyril squinted and shrugged. "Takes one to know one, I guess."

"Quite," Lena grinned.

It was still morning, leaving plenty of time before Lena had to take up a position in the Castle Grounds to watch for anyone acting suspiciously, besides herself. Yet there wasn't enough time for any further training, and they were still tired from the previous session, so she released Scarlet and Cyril and allowed Scorpio to make her sit in cafes sipping coffee for the most part of the afternoon.

When the sun set, Lena got up to go to the Castle Grounds, and Scorpio got up with her.

"I need to do this alone," Lena said.

"No."

"Yes. You cannot be seen."

"I have no intention to be seen. I'm just another pawn walking the streets of Gran Soren."

"People know you."

"People know you!" Scorpio said with emphasis. "I don't think anyone looks at the pawns that walk with the Arisen."

"Anyway, it'll be easier for me to do this alone," Lena was not giving up. "Even if... well... it goes sour."

"Stop arguing. I'm not letting you go alone."

It was no use. Lena shrugged and went to the Castle Grounds with Scorpio following at a discreet distance, yet not letting her out of sight. He did look the part of yet another bored pawn aimlessly walking the streets of Gran Soren, and Lena wondered just how many times he'd done exactly that.

The Castle Grounds were far from empty, despite the late hour. People were mostly walking around enjoying the cool evening air, stopping to chat, then moving on again. Some came to visit the Cathedral, and soldiers kept going in and out of the Castle Gates. Suddenly an unnaturally dark shadow by the Castle Wall caught Lena's eye.

Slowing her step to examine a particularly fascinating bit of the pavement, she kept watching the shadow without coming too close. A Ducal knight walked up to it, and in the light of his lantern Lena could see that the shadow was in fact a person dressed in a dark shapeless robe that made him blend with his surroundings. The person gave something to the knight, who carefully put it away before turning around. Lena thought it could be a piece of parchment or a small scroll. "A message of some sort," she decided. "This knight is the one I need to follow."

The knight took a leisurely stroll through the city, turning around and practically bumping into Lena at some point. He struck up a conversation making it clear that he understood the purpose of her being there, but that he wasn't all that alarmed. "Damn, I should be more careful," Lena cursed herself. Perhaps she was being too harsh though, after all, everyone knew who she was.

In the lower town things got easier. With all the women standing around and all the knights strolling slowly among them, it was easy to disappear from view, yet to keep the one knight in question in sight. He appeared to be going into an abandoned house - a previously abandoned house, it had to be said, as it now had lights on and sounds of activity were coming from within. Lena wanted to listen in to the conversation.

"Just what is it worth to you?" She heard the voice of Madeleine, a traveling merchant that she'd met previously. Lena carefully peered through an open window - this was getting interesting.

Madeleine was holding a folded piece of parchment which she stuck into her impressive cleavage while twirling around the knight. He grimaced and snatched it from her, without removing his armoured gloves or touching any part of Madeleine. He read the message and put away the parchment.

"Good work," he said, tossing a heavy coin pouch to Madeleine. She caught it with a smile.

"Is there... anything else... I can work for you?" She ran her fingers up his suit of armour, but he stopped her before she could get to a part of him that wasn't clad in steel.

"I bid you good night," he said forcefully and turned to the door, making Lena jump back quite energetically. She didn't think that another encounter would be advisable. She'd seen what she needed to see, and although she did not understand the meaning of the messages, it couldn't be anything right and proper.

"What is Salvation?" She wondered, remembering Mason's words. She turned to go back to the upper town, when a group of hip swaying laughing women caught her eye. Not the only group in that street by any means, and it weren't the women that attracted her attention, but the person they were trying to charm. Instead of a usual knight, they surrounded Scorpio. "Well, he's certainly making sure to avoid suspicion!" Lena smirked to herself. "No one sees a pawn, right! No one indeed." On a whim, she walked up to them, put her arm around Scorpio's waist which made him jump, and declared: "Sorry, ladies, this one's engaged for the night! You can have what's left of his purse in the morning." The women started to protest when one of them noticed Lena's daggers, signalling the others to switch their attention to a different customer.

"Are you jealous?" Scorpio grinned.

"No, but we're still twenty-odd undead warriors short, so you can't have a night off yet," she grinned back.

...

"So, you are the Arisen," a voice came from the darkness, somehow cutting through Lena's shouts and Scorpio's incantations right in the middle of a major battle with a dozen of various undead. "Our arch-enemy," continued the voice, making Lena stop for a moment, undead or no undead. "Prepare to die!"

"Aarrrgghhhhh!!!" She charged whatever she could make out in the firestorm that Scorpio had summoned around her. When the flames died down, the undead were once again temporarily dead, and Lena could see half a dozen or more pools of light - spells being intoned. Somehow she didn't think those were healing spells.

"Insolence!" Scorpio's angry voice sounded behind her - he too was intoning a spell. But he was one sorcerer against so many.

Instinctively Lena grabbed her bow, started shooting at the pools of light. She interrupted one or the other incantation, but the darkness was hiding the casters, and most of her arrows missed their mark. Some of the spells had blossomed - she was poisoned, petrified and slowed all at once. Her defences were lowered and her skills stifled. "What's next - set me on fire or freeze me solid?" She cursed, frantically swallowing potions from her bag, not bothering to read the labels. With most debilitations cleared, she extinguished her lantern and attacked.

It was a moonless night and the sky was covered in clouds, so not even the slightest star light illuminated the battlefield. Flashes of fire-enchanted daggers were seen near the pools of light, a cry was heard and the light went out, then the same was repeated with the next pool of light, and the next. It would have appeared an effortless run of elimination to a casual observer, but it was far from it. The sorcerers did not need light to know Lena's position, so even though she was methodically taking them out, there were always more of them lined up to poison, petrify and debilitate her. She kept grabbing potion after potion, herb after herb from her bag, until no potions were left to grab, and there were still - again! - half a dozen of pools of light gathering strength in the dark. There was nothing else for it but to keep going.

Scorpio had been taking out the sorcerers with directed fire spells. His fireballs were effective, but they took time to intone, and they were not always immediately deadly. He needed a better strategy. Extinguishing his own lantern and moving to what he thought was the centre of the circle of sorcerers, he hoped Lena would hold out on her own for a while, and started intoning a complex spell.

Lena took out another sorcerer, and noticed that she had run out of poisoned shivs and was nearly out of combustible powder. Not having the help of her tools to eliminate an enemy in one hit was going to be a problem. There was no time to poison her daggers. She ate the last mushroom and charged the next pool of light.

Suddenly the pool of light wasn't there. She heard wind sweeping through the area with an enormous force, she ducked to avoid impact, then stood up - she was in no danger. Scorpio had summoned a tornado.

The wind died down after a minute or two, and Lena saw Scorpio light up his lantern. Another pool of light was gathering in the distance, and Lena silenced that with a poisoned arrow. "A lucky shot," she thought. But the battle seemed to be over. They walked from corpse to corpse trying to understand who those sorcerers were, for they were no simple bandits. They all wore the same dark shapeless robes that made them practically invisible at night - the same robes as worn by the person who gave the knight the first message. One of the corpses had a scrap of parchment in a pouch tied to his waist, there was but one word on it: Salvation.

[Lena Wolf]

4th Era, Year Unknown - Prison, again

Lena pushed a door from one part of the sewers into another and was not met by a fresh conglomerate of poisonous spiders and snakes. This could mean one of two things: either she was out of the dungeons, or she was back in. Although the dungeons of Gran Soren had a large and firmly established rat population, they did not have snakes.

"Three days," she heard a familiar voice. "I could locate you by smell alone at this point."

"Not in here," Lena grinned, hugging a suite of chimeric plate that didn't smell of roses either. "Everything smells the same in the sewers."

"Let's hope Asalam will let us back into the inn," Scorpio coughed, and Lena thought that perhaps she did need a bath.

"Were you waiting long?" She discarded her prison rags and pulled on an unassuming set of everyday clothes that Scorpio handed to her.

"Three days, like I said," he shrugged. "When you did not return from the castle within the hour, I figured you took up residence in its lower chambers," he smirked. "Just what did you do?"

"Beats me," Lena shrugged. "Must've offended someone..." She looked sideways.

"Never mind," Scorpio dismissed the topic. "Let's go."

...

Lena's duties to the Duke were taking her to the castle every so often, and being her curious self, she decided to explore the grounds a bit before going to the Great Hall. There she got into an argument with the gardener who got offended and ran off, and the next thing she knew, she was being arrested and thrown into the dungeons, quite literally. She hit her head on a rock (or was hit on the head with a rock), and woke up on some straw in a cell, her belongings stripped clean and wearing a set of prison rags. "How on Nirn did I get out of my clothes and into these rags, I wonder..?" She asked herself, but that question was too uncomfortable and she brushed it away. Her cell had no shortage of sticks and small bones dragged in by the rats that made a nest in the corner, and for once Lena was glad of their presence. Here were the tools to make some lockpicks and some shivs and see about leaving.

It didn't take her too long to unlock the cell door, only to be met by a guard in the corridor.

"Five thousand in gold will buy you freedom," he said with a grin. "Which includes your gear. Can't be fairer than that."

"No thanks," Lena shook her head. "As you can see, I have no money on me at the moment, so couldn't pay you even if I wanted to."

"Oh you are no fun at all," the guard snorted and returned to his post, not even making the slightest attempt to get Lena locked up again.

"Well..." she followed him with her gaze, amazed. "He's nothing like the guards in the Imperial Prison..." That was true; however, she was also never hit with a rock on the head by the guards of the Imperial Prison. "I wonder where is my gear?" She looked around, and the only chests that she could see were near the entrance, with the guard presiding over them. "Ah, the bribe request now makes sense," she sighed, shrugged and decided to look for another exit first.

One of the locked cells had a big hole in the wall that led into the city sewers. Breaking several lockpicks on that lock, she entered the cell and dropped into the hole, and after wandering through the narrow and dark corridors for a while and having killed a dozen or more poisonous spiders and snakes, she finally found a barred door that led out of the dungeon sewers and into the far more civilised city sewers, also known as the slums. Besides rats, these sewers also housed people. There Scorpio had been waiting for her for the last three days.

"I didn't think you'd be leaving by the front door, somehow," he grinned when Lena inquired how he knew where to wait for her. "The first thing you did when we arrived in this city, was to investigate the slums and the sewers, and to commit them to memory. As this here was the only locked door, and as it was right below the castle... Well, obviously, that's the one you'd be coming out of," he concluded with satisfaction.

...

"I started to get worried," Scorpio's tired and hoarse voice greeted Lena as she pushed the same door out of the dungeon sewers for the second time. "A week?" He exhaled sharply and held his breath as Lena squeezed him in a hug.

"I need a bath, I know," she said, letting go of him. "I've been through a bit of an ordeal this time..."

...

"What happened?" Scorpio's voice sounded angry as he was rubbing oils into dark bruises on Lena's back, legs and arms once she had washed off the sweat and dried blood. "You didn't get these in a fight."

"It's a vipers' nest," she grimaced and cursed. "The lot of them. Duke and all."

"Explain."

"Last time when I got thrown into the dungeon..." Lena sighed. "Well, yes, I saw the gardener run off, but before that I bumped into the Duke's wife in the gardens, and she was all smiles and flirts..."

"The Duke's wife?" Scorpio stopped rubbing oil. "Not good."

"No... well... especially just how friendly she got..." Lena shivered. "Complimenting me on my strength and chivalry and gods know what else... as if I was a man... I was completely dumbfounded by it, you know."

"Some women..." Scorpio started.

"I know!" Lena cut him off. "Never mind that. I just ignored it, I guess," she sighed. "And so yesterday... err... a week, you say?" She whistled. "Well then, last week, when I went to the castle again, her maid begged me to meet her in the gardens after dark to hear some special message from the Duke's wife... The maid was all flirty as well, and suggested that it could be ill-construed by some, that the Duke's wife would be paying attention to a warrior such as myself... big and strong and stuff..." Lena shook her head. "Big and strong? And male? Me???"

"Not last time I checked," Scorpio grinned, looking her over. "But that obviously made you too curious to refuse..."

"May be that was the point of it..." Lena nodded. "Anyway. I stayed and went to meet the maid in the gardens at night, and guess what - the message was an invitation to visit the Duke's wife in her bedchamber at night."

"No!!" Scorpio roared with laughter. "And you went?"

"Of course I went," Lena grinned. "But not for the reasons you're thinking. Something was odd about that request."

"Like you not being male?" Scorpio was still laughing.

"Yes, that too... Didn't fit with the compliments and insinuations that they were making... Like it was rehearsed for a man, but I turned out to be a woman, and they didn't have a chance to change the script..." She shook her head. "It just didn't add up and so I went to the Duke's wife's bedchamber at night."

"Which carries a death sentence," Scorpio said gravely.

"Does it now?" Comprehension dawned in Lena's eyes. "Murder by Ducal Executioner," she grinned. "Effective."

"But it didn't happen," Scorpio resumed rubbing oils into Lena's bruises, taking Lena by surprise.

"Ouch! That's still tender," she complained. "Anyway, the Duke's wife started out all flirty, something about me saving her, running away together, whatever... I got so confused. And then the door flung open and the Duke stood there, with his jester pointing the way."

"The spy."

"Obviously."

"And?"

"I hid behind a screen," Lena winced as Scorpio started on a new bruise. "And then the strangest thing happened... A thunderstorm started... The Duke sent the jester away, and as soon as the door was closed, there was another flash of lightning and the Duke threw his wife on the bed and started strangling her."

"Understandably so," Scorpio replied dispassionately.

"No, not in a fit of rage or anything," Lena shook her head. "I looked from behind the screen... The Duke's face was cold... He was drooling... His eyes... I'm not sure... He looked like a zombie," she shivered. "And he hadn't seen me yet at that point."

Scorpio continued rubbing oils into Lena's bruises without saying anything. He seemed to have made a mental connection though. Lena turned to look at him, then continued.

"His wife was struggling for breath, he was going to kill her... So I jumped out from behind the screen, kicked him..."

"Typical," Scorpio muttered. "The Duke is twice your size."

"...and he straightened up, his face cleared up, he looked around, looked at his hands... Like he couldn't understand what was happening, what he was doing there..."

"Mmm."

"And his wife... The..." Lena swore. "She jumped off the bed as if nothing happened, started screaming, accusing me of breaking into her chambers, attempting to... err... there she got into trouble because what she was about to suggest wasn't biologically possible..." Lena cursed her again. "But she kept screaming and calling the guards... The rest you know."

"Dungeons, yes," Scorpio nodded. "But it doesn't explain these bruises."

"The guards weren't treating me as a lady," Lena scoffed. "I might have bitten one or the other in retaliation..."

"Bitten?" Scorpio looked up.

"My hands were tied, my feet too..."

"Fangs?"

"No."

"Thank goodness for that."

...

"Why did you switch to a sword and shield again?" Lena woke up and watched Scorpio put on a chimeric half plate cuirass over chainmail sleeves and clip on a golden bastard sword that they received as a reward for one of those monster slaying contracts. "I thought you enjoyed summoning meteors for every wolf we encountered," she grinned.

"You're making fun of me practicing, I've had enough of that," Scorpio pulled a face at her. "Also, I need to keep my sword arm strong, and I am getting out of touch with heavy armour. This will be slowing me down somewhat, and it shouldn't. I am not just a mage," he added defiantly.

"No, you are a Mystic Knight," Lena noted as Scorpio picked up a magic shield. "Aren't pawns prohibited from carrying those?"

"We are."

"But?"

"Let them try and stop me," he grinned.

...

"You are getting confused," Lena turned to Scorpio as he was trying to figure out how to block with the magic shield while holding the staff with both hands to intone a spell. "It's either the staff and no shield or the shield and a sword or a mace," she took the staff from him. "I had the same problem when I tried it last."

"And you can't swing your sword while blocking," Scorpio noted, hitting his own shield with his sword.

"Well, you're still better at it than I am," Lena observed. "I hardly use the shield at all."

"Not even that extremely overpriced cross-shaped one with a zombie head on it," Scorpio winked.

"Not even that. You know the Black Cat has all that fancy gear..."

"And all of it cursed," Scorpio nodded.

The gear sold at the Black Cat was on average an order of magnitude more expensive than even the best gear sold in regular shops, and all that special stuff had apparently been forged in dragon breath by some Arisen from the past, or belonged to some Arisen from the past, or else had special properties against a particular beast. Also, it looked ferocious.

"If goblins were dropping dead from just looking at you wearing, say, Chaos Armour, then it would have made some sense at least," Lena was looking through the catalogue. "But considering the protection that armour gives you, the only person dropping dead would be you."

"Which is why I stick to my chimeric plate," Scorpio smoothed out his pteruges. "It is a bit too heavy for me at the moment, but the pteruges are long enough not to need any greaves, and if I just wear leather boots and gloves instead of iron ones, I should manage."

"You forgot pants." Lena was watching him with interest. "Your direwolf cape doesn't cover the same area."

"A warrior does not wear pants under his kilt!" Was her answer. Did pteruges count as a kilt? Obviously. They were wide and dense enough to cover the body completely, it had to be said, but Lena just couldn't resist.

"Suit up and let's go find some goblins before Asalam throws us out of here for thrashing the walls," Scorpio straightened up. "I want to see you use that overpriced shield of yours since you insist on going practically naked," he smirked.

"I can't help it that this 'robe' is nothing but two flaps of material on the front and back! I wear other stuff too! I wear pants! They are enchanted!"

Never argue with a woman about her choice of armoured garments, you just can't win.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is another example of a lapse in story in Dragon's Dogma. The quest with the Duke's wife was clearly written for a male Arisen, and not just male, but tall, wide-shouldered, a warrior and never a mage or an archer. When you listen to the comments the Duke's wife and her maid are making, that's that picture that is being painted. But the Arisen can be anyone... such as a smallish Breton woman who happened to be an assassin... Umm... The comments still work, technically, but the impression becomes completely garbled. I decided therefore that Duke's wife must have planned this well in advance, but didn't know who the Arisen would be, then fell into the same trap as did Lydia in Skyrim where she expected a gorgeous tall Nord to become her thane and got that same shortish Breton female assassin instead...

The second part is my gripes with Mystic Knight. Dragon's Dogma works with vocations - you have to choose sword and shield (fighter), bow and daggers (strider) or a mage's staff (mage) to start with, then you can upgrade those to a two-handed warrior, a ranger with a longbow or a sorcerer with a special staff. Finally there are hybrid vocations that are only available to the player: Assassin (sword, shield, daggers, bows - shield for an assassin???), Mystic Knight (sword, mace, mage's staff, magic shield) and Magic Archer (magic bow, mage's staff, daggers). Pawns cannot have a hybrid vocation, and I wondered why. Fortunately there's a mod to fix that.

When I tried to make Lena a Mystic Knight, I kept getting confused with her weapons. So I decided to see if the computer can do any better and made Scorpio a Mystic Knight. And lo and behold! He was as confused as Lena. The computer kept switching from one skill to another, not being able to make a choice! Ha! That made me feel so much better... So the plan is now to let Scorpio figure it out. I'll be removing extra weapons from him so that the choice of associated skills would be limited, and I'll see how he does. Then I'll try to follow his strategy, because Mystic Knight is a useful vocation in theory, just a bit too confusing in practice. The good thing however is that pawns are programmed to learn to use their new skills and equipment, so that even if in the beginning he is in fact hitting his own shield with his sword, I hope that he'll learn to do better and then I can watch and hopefully learn it too.

[Lena Wolf]

4th Era, Year Unknown - Skeletons

"We should look into those skeletons allegedly plaguing the city suburbs at night," Lena was saying as she and Scorpio were methodically putting down the undead along the road. "Ser Maximilian said it was more serious than the usual trouble."

"Well, we have so far not encountered anything out of the ordinary," Scorpio replied, not having much difficulty with his share of the undead. "Unless he meant the skeletons along the Deos Hills Road? That's not exactly city suburbs though!"

"And it's nothing new," Lena nodded. "Let's ask around first."

The road crossing Deos Hills was notoriously dangerous: it was plagued by bandits by day and skeletons by night, making for excellent training grounds. But, indeed - it wasn't near the city and it wasn't new. But which skeletons was Ser Maximilian referring to? The city suburbs had their share of troubles, but they were all of a far more fleshy nature: bandits by day and sorcerers by night, as Lena and Scorpio had recently discovered. Sorcerers with specific hatred towards the Arisen, sorcerers belonging to a cult or a group named "Salvation". Perhaps that was as good a start as any.

"Sewers," Lena suddenly stopped bashing the undead and turned around to go back to the city.

"What? Why?" Scorpio sent the last fireball and followed. "Explain."

"Mason," Lena continued in her cryptic fashion. "Remember him?"

"The assassin?"

"Yes. He was talking about Salvation," Lena hastened her step. "He'll be in the sewers."

"How do you know? Why?" Scorpio was trying to keep up.

"Because that's where I'd be," she grinned. "You'll see."

...

"Looking for me, friend?" Mason looked up from his meal which seemed unexpectedly healthy for the surroundings. "Trouble?"

"Salvation," Lena said simply.

"Naturally," Mason gave her a broad grin. "Here, take this - their badge. Makes them think you're one of them. Didn't fool them on my account, but who knows, you might do better. If you find out where they meet, it'll be a start."

Lena pocketed the badge and started asking around.

...

"Surely, an Arisen inquiring after a cult that aims to kill the Arisen would be rather suspicious even to the most idiotic of its members," Scorpio was sceptical. "If Mason couldn't get to the bottom of it, what chance do you have? I don't see it."

"Err... we'll see," Lena winked. "May be I've got a trick or two that Mason doesn't. Let's start with that fellow," she added approaching a guard on duty. "Hello, good ser," she addressed him amicably. "Might you know where the next meeting is held?" She opened the palm of her left hand to reveal the badge of Salvation, while at the same time making a small circular motion with her right hand. Her eyes sparkled and bright green mist surrounded the guard for a brief moment. Scorpio grinned.

"Oh, that," the guard looked overjoyed. "We meet in the city catacombs - there's an amphitheatre of sorts there. There's a meeting tonight."

"Thank you kindly," Lena replied politely and walked away, leaving the guard to enjoy his euphoria for a bit longer.

"Charming," Scorpio smirked. "That was an unusual spell."

"Getting a cure for vampirism does not remove your powers once they've been mastered," Lena winked. "We have a meeting to attend tonight, we should get ready."

...

The catacombs was an ancient burial crypt built well before the current "progressive" faith came to Gransys. For that reason it was now considered to be pagan and archaic, and hardly anyone came there to pay their respects to the dead or to tend to the crypt. As a consequence, it was swarming with undead.

"I wonder how the members of Salvation make it to that amphitheatre through all these hordes of undead," Lena was saying to the rhythmical swings of her fire-enchanted sword. "It looks to me like no living person had walked through these halls in a very long time."

"Well, either your spell backfired and it's a trap, or there is another way in that they are using," Scorpio replied, putting down half a dozen of undead in one twirl.

"Or both," Lena nodded. "Hey, look at that - treasure!" Indeed, the halls had a large amount of treasure among the sarcophagi, mostly consisting of sacks of gold coins, valuable pieces of armour and weapons, and enchanted jewellery. "Do you think someone uses the catacombs for safe storage?" She grinned.

"And I bet they are not paying taxes either," Scorpio was counting the coins. "We should levy some."

"Stay back! It's cursed!" Lena jumped back from a chest she'd just opened - dark smoke was coming from it. "Dark magic. Or just rotten stuff inside," she managed to say through the cough. The treasure turned out to be better protected than they had originally thought - they suddenly lost all desire to open any more chests.

...

"I hear voices," Scorpio said quietly after they cleared yet another hall. "From over there," he pointed into a dark corridor. "Sssh... Listen."

"...and what is the point of living?" An echoing voice was saying somewhere down the corridor. "There is none!"

That must have been the meeting they came to witness. They followed the voice and came to a gallery overlooking an amphitheatre. A large group of people in dark shapeless robes filled the circular arena, leaving the centre free where another man in the same dark robe was speaking. Lena noticed the knight from the castle among the cultists, the one that she had followed before. He wasn't wearing a dark robe, but his darkened plate armour fitted well with the surroundings. He had lowered the visor on his full face helmet, but Lena recognised his statue and his long blonde locks of hair. She smirked, pointing him out to Scorpio.

"Came to join our flock, dear ARISEN?!" Suddenly the speaker turned and pointed at Lena in the gallery. "Come, join in the chaos that is Salvation!" He raised his arms in an incantation, instantly summoning a dark dense fog over them all. People started screaming, and Lena noticed the knight quietly slipping away. Within a few seconds the arena was filled with undead rising from the soil. Lena jumped down from the gallery looking for the speaker, but it was impossible to distinguish one dark-robed figure from another, and with the undead attacking everything and everyone, the screams and the darkness, she stood no chance of catching the man.

...

"Now, that was something," she heard Mason's voice from one of the side corridors. "Probably an everyday occurrence to you, Arisen, but I've never seen such a massacre before. I would thank you to join me here for a moment."

Lena followed his voice and entered a small chamber where Mason stood over a person in dark robes who somehow escaped the slaughter.

"This is the leader of the local cell," he told Lena. "Tried to escape as soon as the speaker started his incantations. The speaker himself is gone, I am afraid, so this man is the best we've got so far. He's all yours." Mason walked out of the room.

"But no, he promised!" The dark-robed man was cowering on the ground. "Please! I never bought into any of that Salvation rubbish!" He was pleading. "It was just to make some coin, all in good fun!" Lena was circling him, not quite believing her ears. Scorpio stood back watching, his arms crossed. The man tried to plead with him as well. "Please! I shall make it worth your while! Salvation has funds! I'm sure we can come to an arrangement!"

"That does it!" Lena's sword came down hard.

"Excellent!" Mason stepped out of the darkness. "I wasn't sure what you'd do with an unarmed man... I am glad we are on the same page," he smiled at Lena.

"We are, Brother," Lena smiled back.

...

"So, Salvation is a dangerous cult," Ser Maximilian shook his head. "But that's no proof that they are behind the skeleton plague."

"Yeah, about that," Lena smiled. "Which skeletons do you mean, exactly? Because, you see, there are no skeletons in the suburbs of the capital, day or night."

"No skeletons?" Ser Maximilian looked puzzled. "But I had reports... Umm... I don't know what to say, Arisen. Have you not found anything strange around the capital, then?"

"Strange? Well, we did run into sorcerers intent on burning me alive, time and time again, but no skeletons," Lena offered.

"It must be related," Ser Maximilian seemed certain. "Follow up on Salvation once more. I hear they also frequent a few spots in the lower town."

...

"Fancy a spot of dressing up?" Lena held up a set of Salvation robes that she brought from the catacombs.

"No." Scorpio backed off. "I'm not touching that."

"Oh, it's just a piece of cloth, I'm sure it's not going to..."

"No."

"Suit yourself," Lena shrugged, but tossed the robes into a corner - she wasn't keen on wearing them either.

Dressed casually and seemingly unarmed, Lena and Scorpio were strolling through the streets of Gran Soren. To any uninformed observer, they would appear to be a couple just about to fall in love. To anyone who knew who Lena was, they were the Arisen and her pawn. To the pawns, they were a squad missing two members. But who were they to the Salvation cultists? That was the most important question of all, since it's Salvation that they were trying to find.

"Sssh... Listen," Lena stopped dead on the bridge linking the upper and lower town.

"I hear it," Scorpio nodded, taking her into an embrace. "Under the bridge," he whispered into her ear. Now they definitely looked like a couple on a romantic walk.

"Shameless..." A townswoman gave Lena a disgusted look. Decent folk did not fraternise with pawns.

"...I did think that the skeletons were a bit much," a somewhat frightened voice was saying. "But I suppose the Conclave knows best."

"It's a grand rehearsal, they say," another voice under the bridge replied. "Bigger things are yet to come, apparently. I can't quite see why we need it, myself. But the Conclave will surely have its reasons."

"It's them, go," Scorpio breathed into Lena's ear. "Before they split up." He turned his back to the passers by allowing Lena to slip out of his embrace without anyone noticing. She curled up in a ball and jumped off the bridge onto the walkway below. There she stood up and took a few steps towards two men in dark robes who were trying to melt into the shadows.

"Hey, where did you come from?!" One of them noticed her. "What are you doing here?!" He seemed frightened. The other man broke into a run.

"Why, it's a public walkway, so I am walking," Lena smiled. "When you talk right under the bridge, your voice carries."

"No! You are the Arisen!" The man had a look at Lena's face. "I... We... I didn't mean any of it! You can go see for yourself, I'll sell you something very important to give you entry! Nine thousand in gold, and it's yours!"

"Erm..." Lena smiled and opened up her jacket revealing her fire-enchanted daggers underneath. "You were saying..?"

"Here..! Take it! I want nothing to do with it! It's in the catacombs, in a closed off area, and here's the key! I was only trying to make some coin, is all!" And with that he ran off.

...

"It must be one of those doors that seemed to be rusted shut," Scorpio was examining the key. "That's a clever lock."

The catacombs were again teaming with undead, but this time they were mostly skeletons.

"A grand rehearsal for what?" Lena wondered aloud, smashing them with her mace. "Let's hope we'll find out in that locked up section."

Apart from the skeletons, the catacombs were completely deserted. The gate that appeared to be fused together with rust, opened smoothly with Lena's key, and she and Scorpio had another chance to practice their fighting skills on two or three dozen of various undead, predominantly in skeletal form. Finally they came to a door requiring five enchanted gems to unlock which sent them exploring every last corner of the catacombs in search of those gems. Another two or three dozen of skeletal undead stood in their way, but not for long.

"These maces are quite effective," Lena was grinning at the relative ease in dealing with the undead. "And you know what - this zombie shield actually works. Although, admittedly, the undead are not crawling back under the ground as advertised..."

"You shouldn't... believe... advertising," Scorpio replied, making a pause for each punctuated swing of his mace. "I see no difference between your shield and mine."

"Mmm... Perhaps the skill of the bearer outweighs any dubious enchantments..." Lena muttered under her breath, blocking a frontal assault by a skeleton knight and not seeing him crawl back under the earth from whence he came.

With the five gems collected, they placed them in the sockets carved into the door, the magic lock clicked and the door slid upwards to reveal a large chamber beyond. It seemed to be completely empty.

"It's a trap," Scorpio said quietly.

"Obviously," Lena nodded and entered.

"Ah, there you are, Arisen!" A man stepped out of the shadows and the door slammed down, locking them in. "I've been expecting you! Prepare to die! Your bones will strengthen my undead army!"

He raised his arms in an incantation, red mist filled the room and Lena and Scorpio braced for an army of skeletons ready to make them join their ranks.

Three skeletons appeared.

Scorpio twirled, smashing them in one movement, not even leaving Lena with anything to do.

The door slid open. The sorcerer had vanished.

"Err... That was all?" Lena looked around, not seeing any further threats. "Underwhelming..."

"Well, there's this pile of soot where the sorcerer stood," Scorpio pointed at a dark stain on the floor. "I think he joined them himself, it seems to have been a ritual of some kind, but since you didn't grace it with dying, someone else had to..."

"Dark magic will always claim a victim," Lena nodded. "Sithis always wins."

"We'll probably meet him again, he'll be a particularly angry skeleton mage, I warrant," Scorpio smirked. "We're done here."




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another baffling bit of story writing on the part of Dragon's Dogma. A trained agent named Mason was unable to get any information from the members of Salvation, a sect that seeks to kill the Arisen. Yet the Arisen herself would naturally have no difficulty in getting those cult members to talk... Huh? I don't get it. So in my story I had to have Lena cast Vampire's Seduction on them, otherwise it just makes no sense!

Oh yes, and the final battle with the big baddy and his Army of Three Skeletons. Huh? Getting there was far, far more difficult than the boss battle itself... So yeah, "we're done here". May be someone forgot to put a few more spawn points in that room...

Scorpio is learning to use his Magic Shield, he no longer hits it with his sword while blocking, and he is no longer trying to block while intoning a spell. However, I found that he is unable to use any of the special skills designed for that vocation, and I was hoping to learn from him how to use them... I guess they were simply too complex to put into the AI, so he is skipping them entirely and using only the regular fighter and mage skills. I too am finding them too complex to get my head around... It seems Capcom couldn't figure out how to program intelligent use of them, so they left it to the player to figure out.

These things are peanuts though. Do not let me discourage you from playing the game. It is in my opinion one of the absolutely greatest games ever, inconsistencies notwithstanding.

[Renee]

Does Cutter have that name for a reason? (I've never had anybody who wanted to go to Shivering Isles.) SI sounds pretty nutty though. I'm reading the dialog in which Lena's needing to revive after her huge fight.

Oh cool, Hauk is back. And so is Rayenna. Hmm. It seems Rayenna doesn't know how old Lena is?

"Surely that meant that Lena was a traitor herself? Except... that was two centuries ago, and the girl in Lucien's bed was in her early twenties" Rayenna thinks or says at one point.

Wow. She's trying to make it seem like Hauk goes away. What a coniving ... tart.


9/176

This post has been edited by Renee: Feb 11 2023, 05:28 AM

[Lena Wolf]

Does Cutter have that name for a reason? (I've never had anybody who wanted to go to Shivering Isles.) SI sounds pretty nutty though.

Cutter is a smith, she makes sharp blades which she tests for sharpness on her own flesh. So yeah, Cutter.

Oh cool, Hauk is back. And so is Rayenna. Hmm. It seems Rayenna doesn't know how old Lena is?

The Dark Brotherhood doesn't just take lives, it also deals in secrets. Any information is only available on a need to know basis. Lena looks young, but advertising her age is definitely not required! Rayenna only knows Lena as a Sister, they met in passing, so Rayenna doesn't know Lena's history. Besides, that was a very painful affair with the traitor and all, it's not something that people are eager to talk about.

Wow. She's trying to make it seem like Hauk goes away. What a coniving ... tart.

She knows what she wants and she's determined to get it. "All is fair in love and war" - isn't it how the saying goes?

[Renee]

Ah, so that's why a lot of gamers are fascinated with Cutter.

Lena looks young, but advertising her age is definitely not required! Rayenna only knows Lena as a Sister, they met in passing, so Rayenna doesn't know Lena's history.

Got it. So she doesn't know anything about the vampirism, none of that. She just knows her sister casually.

[Lena Wolf]

4th Era, Year Unknown - Wolves

"You are not using any of the special skills that go with your magic shield," Lena noted, having observed Scorpio's technique in a number of fights. "Isn't it the whole point of such a special shield?"

"You are not using any of those skills either," Scorpio pointed out. "And neither do I see you use your Magic Cannon or Perilous Sigil skills."

"Well, I'm an assassin! I poison people, I don't hit them with some ball of magic energy!" Lena pulled a face. "I like getting close and personal with my daggers... or shoot an arrow from a distance! I thought you're the one who knew how to be a Mystic Knight!"

"Your love of daggers is what made me into a Mystic Knight in the first place!" Scorpio replied hotly. "I'm a mage, remember? A sorcerer! And here I am, limited to the kindergarten level spells from a plain mage's staff, forced to use sword techniques with a mace or a glorified club, and robbed of any shield skills because these magic shields are too damned big and heavy to do any bashing with them!"

"I never asked you to be a Mystic Knight, it was all your own idea!" Their exchange was getting hotter by the minute.

"I have to protect you! Both with magic and sword! This was the only way to do it!"

"Oh please, don't make any sacrifices on my account!"

They stopped in the middle of the road, staring each other down.

"Direwolves!!!" Scarlet suddenly shouted. "Stop arguing and start swinging!"

"Should I equip my staff or my sword, Ser Arisen?" Scorpio inquired with exceptional politeness. "Or perhaps my club? My all is yours to shape, Master."

"Oh shut up!!! Arrrgghh!!!" Lena jumped onto three wolves that were attacking her simultaneously, only to see them split up and lunge into opposite directions. She didn't hit any of them.

"I bow to your superior skill," Scorpio went on one knee and bowed his head. "But perhaps we should try to actually hit those wolves next time."

"Staff!! Now!!!" Lena bellowed, as the wolves returned, in ever increasing numbers.

"As you command," Scorpio was still offended, but he quickly equipped his staff and started intoning a fire spell. In a few seconds they were surrounded by flames, sending the wolves reeling - the ones that survived, that is.

"Now sword!!!" Lena decided to give him his due. "Slash them!!!"

"Gee, can't he decide for himself what weapon to use?" Scarlet stopped for a moment, watching the wolves regroup for another lunge.

"Apparently not," Lena shrugged. "'My all is yours to shape' and stuff," she rolled her eyes. "Are you having the same arguments with your Arisen?"

"No," Scarlet's face fell. "She actually buys all that Pawn Legion rubbish," she sighed. "I'm just an animated object to her."

"Oh."

"Get ready!!!"

The wolves had regrouped themselves, with one much larger wolf appearing among them - the Alpha of that pack. Lena and Scarlet stood back to back, and Lena switched from daggers to sword and even took out her shield, matching Scarlet's loadout.

...

"Thirteen pelts, seven large fangs, half a dozen small fangs, a few bits of animal flesh and a handful of rift crystals," Lena was distributing the spoils of that fight between them. "How come we get rift crystals from fighting wolves? Wolves don't come from the Rift."

"But they eat monsters that do," Scarlet pointed out, stashing away the loot. "Have you two made peace yet?" She looked at Lena and Scorpio in turn.

"It is my duty to protect the Arisen, with whatever limited means are at my disposal," Scorpio glared at Scarlet. "And to obey Arisen's every command. You know our charter."

"I don't need a nanny, thanks," Lena was getting cross. "Especially one who waits for me to tell him when to switch weapons because he wanted to be a Mystic Knight!"

Scarlet shook her head and sighed. No, they hadn't made peace yet.

"Well, I hope you sort it out soon, because we can't have your bickering where we're going," she looked sternly at them. "The Bluemoon Tower, remember? The griffin? With a couple of heavy bandit ambushes in tight quarters and a golem blocking our way? With harpies and skeleton knights thrown in for good measure? We need cohesion, or else we'll be dead well before we even approach the Bluemoon Tower."

"Last time we went through that canyon, the bandits had some Magic Archers and Sorcerers among them," Lena shuddered. "Magic Archers! I didn't think bandits could wield magic bows..."

"Pawns are not allowed to wield magic bows, but bandits are not pawns and are therefore held in much higher regard," Scorpio said in a pleasant, dispassionate voice. "Why not switch your regular bow for a magic one, Arisen? You can be a Magic Archer too."

"What is he doing?" Lena turned to Scarlet, completely ignoring Scorpio.

"He is following our charter," Scarlet smirked. "Talks as we are trained to talk. He's being an exemplary pawn."

"Good, then there will be no bickering," Lena's face turned to stone. "Let's go."

...

The road to the Bluemoon Tower was taking them far North from Gran Soren, into the lands inhabited by snow harpies, direwolves and an occasional cyclops. Even goblins seemed to avoid that area. Direwolf packs were getting larger, and as the sun set, they were joined by undead warriors and skeleton knights rising from the ground at night. Lena was hoping to reach a roadside camp before nightfall, but all the fighting delayed them far more than she had anticipated.

"When starting a long journey of this nature," Scorpio was saying in his ever-dispassionate voice, "one should aim to set out at dawn rather than in late afternoon, so one might reach a safe location before all the nighttime monsters appear."

"I shall take it under advisement next time," Lena retorted. "It's too late for it now!"

"The choice is yours to make, Arisen."

"CYCLOPS!!!" Scarlet screamed. "Not bad, it actually hurt!" The cyclops propelled her through the air and she landed on a cartload of dynamite that exploded on impact. "Aaarrrgghhhh!!!"

Lena looked around quickly, Scarlet wasn't knocked out. "That girl is made of strong stuff," Lena thought, loading poisoned arrows into her bow. "Take that, cyclops!!"

The fight was fierce, and Scorpio did not need to be told which weapon to use. But may be that's because he didn't have to switch weapons either - he kept shooting lightning bolts at the cyclops, while at the same time raising flames around them to keep the wolves at bay. "How does he do that?" Lena wondered, catching glimpses of him in between shooting arrows at the cyclops and fighting off wolves, undead warriors and snow harpies attracted to the smell of blood. "And with a plain mage's staff, too? And also blocking when necessary?" She watched in fascination as Scorpio quickly drew his shield to block a wolf's lunge in between intoning spells. "Once a fighter, always a fighter, I guess," she sighed. She fumbled with her own shield that still felt heavy and unwieldy to her, then switched to her bow and daggers. "Stick to what you know."

The cyclops had fallen, but the fight wasn't over. As the night deepened, more undead warriors appeared from under the ground, now joined by skeletons of all kinds - from simple soldiers to knights and magi. The wolves redoubled their attacks - it seemed that another pack or two joined in the fun.

"Mace, please," Lena touched Scorpio's arm. "You're the only one with a mace. Skeletons."

"As you wish," Scorpio nodded, switching weapons. That meant they had lost their mage. Perhaps Lena should have swapped her physical bow for a magical one - going magical would have allowed her to use a staff as well... But it was too late for that.

As they continued going North slowed down by all the fighting, Lena kept telling Scorpio when to switch his weapons - from mace to sword to staff, depending on which threat was the greatest, as far as she could tell. She had put away her bow because it became useless in the dark, and kept swapping between shield and sword or daggers. With all that switching, Scarlet was the most effective member of the group since she didn't have any switching to do. "This isn't working," Lena decided, "We'll need to regroup and... Ouch!" A large Alpha direwolf lunged at her, knocking her on the ground and pinning her down, his fangs at her throat. "Let go!!!" Lena bellowed, but the wolf was unimpressed. She was surrounded, with other members of the pack biting her as well, easy pray that she was, wringing on the ground. Scarlet was too far away, fighting off her own pack of wolves. Scorpio was smashing skeletons - his heavy and slow mace wouldn't do much against the wolves. Lena was on her own. Her eyes met amber eyes of the Alpha wolf. He bared his fangs, ready to bite her neck, but she twisted away and the wolf sank his teeth into her shoulder instead. Searing pain coloured her vision red.

...

The undead were rising from under the ground - the night was at its darkest hour. Two humans with lanterns were fighting off the undead, the wolves and the harpies. The wolves and the harpies wanted a piece of the human flesh, the undead simply wanted anything that moved. Were those two people actually human? Were pawns human? They were to the wolves and harpies - their flesh tasted the same.

A small group of wolves attacked the undead that were slowly closing in on one of the humans - the one with the mace. The other one had a sword - a far more effective weapon against the undead of the fleshy kind that had replaced the skeletons for the moment. The one with the sword was dangerous to all, the one with the mace... well. He had more flesh on his bones anyway.

Crimson teeth cut through the undead, they were no match for a small pack of direwolves that wanted the same prey. Harpies attacked next, they too wanted the man with the mace, even in spite of his heavy cuirass infused with magic. He blocked them with his large shield, conjuring up flames out of nowhere... Two of them fell, the others took to the skies. Nothing stood between the wolves and the man anymore, his shield would do him no good when the pack got him surrounded - his back still remained unprotected.

The Alpha howled, signalling the other wolves to fall in. The small pack coordinated its efforts. The Alpha would mount a frontal assault, while the others would keep the man distracted, it was a tried and tested strategy that worked every time. The Alpha lunged - the attack had started.

...

"Wolves!" Scorpio saw out of the corner of his eye an Alpha direwolf attacking the undead. "Strange, but never mind!" He was too busy repelling an attack by snow harpies. The mace felt heavy and awkward in his hand, but he couldn't switch it for a sword or a staff - not in the middle of a battle anyway. He blocked with his shield. "It's supposed to be able to conjure up flames," he thought. "It's no staff, but let's see..." he froze in concentration for a few seconds, allowing the harpies to approach uncomfortably close, but the shield responded just in time, the harpies hit it... and fell to the ground as their wings caught fire. "Not bad, it actually works!" Scorpio smirked to himself. "Now for the wolves!"

He glanced around, looking for Lena. He was still quite cross with her, but duty was duty, and his duty was to protect her. She could not have been killed - he would have felt it. The terrain was rocky however, so Scorpio wasn't surprised that he couldn't see her.

A small pack of direwolves had him surrounded. He would have to get rid of them first, then go looking for his Arisen.

The Alpha wolf lunged - Scorpio put up his shield - the wolf went clean past him, landing behind him and attacking some undead that rose from the ground... The other wolves froze for a moment, then attacked all at once, knocking Scorpio off his feet as he got distracted by the strange manoeuvre of the Alpha wolf. "Damn, these direwolves are clever!" He cursed himself, covering his head with his arms and hoping that his armour would protect him from the worst of the bites.

The bites let up a bit, and Scorpio looked up. Amber eyes were looking into his, fangs covered in blood were bared, heavy breathing sounded hoarse. The Alpha wolf appeared out of nowhere, lunging itself onto Scorpio and turning him on his back, exposing his neck where it wasn't covered by armour. In a split second the wolf's fangs would be tasting flesh.

The Alpha wolf howled in pain, knocked on the ground, his belly sliced open. Several other wolves lunged onto the same spot, and Scorpio felt the weight of their bodies on top of his, as they rolled and tumbled, seemingly fighting between themselves. It was all over in a few seconds. Amber eyes stared into his again, fangs bared, fur covered in blood... Fur... Dark fur of a warg draped over the shoulders, not the white fur of a direwolf covering the entire body. Fire-enchanted daggers in her hands, Wolf gave a long howl and disappeared into the night.

...

"She's here somewhere, she wouldn't have gone far," Scorpio got up, his anger towards Lena evaporated. "What sort of trouble did she get herself into this time?"

The sky in the East was showing the slightest signs of light, but it wasn't dawning yet. Having switched to his sword and holding it at the ready, he was circling the area, checking every rock, every crevice. An occasional undead was still crawling from under the earth, but their time had passed. Carcasses of freshly killed direwolves and snow harpies littered the area. He noticed lights further up, sharp noises indicated a fight, but by the time he reached it, all went quiet. Half a dozen bandits lay dead in their camp. "Cauterised cuts," Scorpio observed. "Fire-enchanted daggers. She's here." He dragged the bodies away from the campfire, straightened out some skins on the ground and sat down to wait.

He heard a slight noise behind him but didn't turn around. He felt hot breath on his neck and smelled the sweet aroma of fresh blood. Wolf's amber eyes were looking into his, a suggestion of fangs in her mouth, blood covering her neck and dripping from under her feral cape. Her cheekbones were flushed, her cheeks gaunt and grey.

"You lost a lot of blood," Scorpio said, jumping to his feet and casting a healing spell. "Let me close your wounds." She lost consciousness before Scorpio's spell was done, but he caught her just in time. "Let's get you out of here. The army campsite is nearby."

...

"This campsite was set up on the orders of the Duke specifically to assist Ser Arisen in her travels," the soldier at the camp looked at Scorpio with suspicion. "You can't just walk in here like that. Even if you don't look like a bandit," he added with some doubt in his tone.

"This is the Arisen," Scarlet pointed at Lena, still unconscious in Scorpio's arms. "We ran into some direwolves on the way. She got bitten."

"Direwolves..?" The soldier shivered uncomfortably. "They were not rabid, were they?" He took a step back.

"Well, they attacked the Arisen," Scarlet smirked. "I would not vouch for their sanity."

...

When Lena woke up, it was already past midday. Scorpio and Scarlet had dressed her wounds and stopped the bleeding, and dressed their own wounds and stopped the bleeding too. The soldiers left them completely to their own devices, in case the wolf that bit Lena was in fact rabid. "Better her than us," was the verdict. Scarlet got bored and went picking apples from the many wild apple trees growing nearby - she was particularly partial to them, the apples themselves and the sweet white wine that could be made from them later.

"Are you still cross with me?" Lena touched Scorpio's hand. "You are a far better Mystic Knight than I could ever be. I just do daggers."

"You manage all right with those huge shields and maces when you have to," Scorpio smiled. "Especially considering that some of them are bigger than you," he smirked. "I wouldn't have your agility to use the daggers..." He touched her forehead, gauging her temperature. "Your fever has passed. Those wolves weren't rabid, so what happened?"

"I am not sure..." Lena frowned. "I didn't grow any fangs, so it wasn't vampirism... Err... After that Alpha wolf bit me, I just felt one with the wolves... It's strange, I don't know..." She paused, trying to make sense of her memories. "Then I saw you surrounded by a small pack, and had to intervene."

"But you fought them on their own terms, like you were one of them," Scorpio frowned too.

"I was one of them..."

"It's good to have you back." He took her in his embrace, and that embrace wasn't just for show.

[Lena Wolf]

4th Era, Year Unknown - Affairs of state

"Arisen! Your urgent attention is required at the Southern Waycastle!"

"Arisen! Ser! Fly to the capital at once!"

"Cockatrice! Arisen! To the Southern Gate!"

"Aaaaaaaahhhh!!!!"

"Wait, isn't the Duke a world-famous dragon slayer? How come it's all up to me then?!"

"Don't think - fight!"

"Here - I'm not losing you again! Petrification antidote!"

...

"Well, I supposed we irritated it enough, so that it decided to fly away from here," Lena was watching a cockatrice take to the skies and leave Gran Soren. It's been a crazy day.

It started simple enough - a messenger from the castle came to the inn looking for Ser Arisen because once again her services were urgently required. Lena grimaced - she didn't like her breakfast interrupted, but went to the castle almost straight away.

"Arisen, we have received an urgent message from the Southern Waycastle - it is extremely important, but the soldiers will only speak with you," the Duke's chamberlain told Lena. "Fly to their side at once and see what is the matter."

"Umm, don't you find it a bit odd that they would not tell you - the Chamberlain - what it's all about?" Lena squinted at him. "Especially after that high profile theft from the Duke's treasury that I had to chase up, and after that rebellion at the Northern Stronghold that, again, for some reason I had to see to? It does form a pattern."

"You are right, I know," the Chamberlain nodded. "But those are the Duke's orders. The other two matters were unrelated, I hope... although it is true that they both involved Salvation... Err... A bit odd, I agree," he looked concerned for a moment. "But I'm sure the Duke knows what he's doing! Off to the Southern Waycastle, please, Arisen!"

There was nothing else to it, Lena shrugged, picked up Scorpio at the gates and the two of them set off to the Southern Waycastle, arriving there a few hours later.

"Arisen, Ser!" An out-of-breath soldier stopped them near the entrance. "An urgent message from the capital! Return there at once!"

"Why? What happened?" Lena steadied him, trying to get some more information. "And what about the urgent message that was supposed to wait for me here?"

"Here?" He looked at her in surprise. "Nothing is going on here, Arisen. Even the bandits are staying away... I thought you were just passing, on your way South, like."

"Oh." Lena nodded. This had clearly been a ruse to get her away from the capital, and now something was happening there. So she and Scorpio turned around and ran back to Gran Soren.

As they approached the capital, giant wings were visible behind the city walls, flapping.

"A griffin or a cockatrice," Lena pointed them out. "Attacking the city. Finally the city guard and all the Ducal Knights get something to do!"

"They are likely just standing around waiting for you, I think you'll find," Scorpio shook his head. "It's a dangerous business, fighting a cockatrice."

"Its breath is both poisonous and petrifying," Lena nodded.

"This gate has been sealed," a guard informed them as they approached the nearest city gate. "To prevent looting, you know. Go to the other gate."

"Don't they want that cockatrice defeated?" Lena turned to Scorpio. "You'd think they'd let us through."

"Come on - the other gate. There will be time for analysis later."

The guard at the other gate informed them that the cockatrice in question started out dead, it was a tribute to the Duke, a gift delivered together with many other gifts from the adoring populace. Once inside the city gates, the cockatrice came back to life and started wreaking havoc, mostly targeting the other tributes. Apparently, the main concern was for the safety of the goods, and not so much of the people.

"Arisen, go and slay it, Ser!"

Naturally.

The fight with the cockatrice wasn't easy. It was just Lena and Scorpio, they didn't have any other pawns with them, and although there was a small army of pawns stationed in Gran Soren, and there was also a small army of soldiers and members of the Ducal Guard watching the cockatrice from a safe distance, none of them actually engaged the creature. Well, there was nothing else for it, such was the fate of the Arisen.

Cockatrices were known to be weak to magic, and so Scorpio was constantly shooting fire and lightning at it, which required him to stand still while intoning spells. Which made him into a perfect target for the dreaded petrifying breath of that beast. Once affected, the victim would turn to stone within 30 to 40 seconds, and there was no spell to dispel it, no hope for a human and no return from the Rift for a pawn. Only an antidote taken before the process was complete, would dispel the ailment. The problem was, the cockatrice blew that stuff with every breath it took...

It didn't take long before Scorpio ran out of antidote vials, even though he did delay taking them until the last possible moment. The beast simply had more petrification on offer than there were antidotes in his pocket.

"But he's still casting," Lena noticed Scorpio's movements slowing down, yet the pool of fire still growing - he was intoning a spell. His light coloured coat and white direwolf cape got a dusting of grey... But no, it wasn't just dust! "He's out of antidotes!" Lena realised. She couldn't care less for the Duke's treasure, she bolted towards Scorpio, fumbling for antidotes in her bag, grabbing a handful to stick into his pocket, then realising that she had to administer one immediately and hope it wasn't too late...

Fire shot from Scorpio's hands, hitting the cockatrice flat between the eyes and sending it reeling, but his hand remained raised, his mouth frozen still speaking the words... He had turned to stone.

"Nooooo!!!!" Lena didn't know what to do. How do you administer a potion to a stone statue? "Oooh it better work!!" She broke off the neck of the little bottle and carefully dropped a little of the antidote onto Scorpio's lips, trying not to touch him, as victims of petrification were known to shutter into dust at the slightest touch...

But he didn't shutter. The antidote worked. First his lips, then the rest of his face regained colour, and Lena poured the rest of the potion into his mouth. A few more seconds, and Scorpio could move, although the dusting of grey on his coat and cape kept reminding them just how uncomfortably close he came to actual death. From that moment on, Lena wasn't leaving his side, shooting arrows at the cockatrice and pushing Scorpio out of the way of its breath, even if it meant that some of his spells got interrupted. After a while the cockatrice simply took to the skies and flew off.

"You did it!" A very excited Ducal knight ran up to them when all was quiet again. "All of the Duke's tributes are intact!" Lena looked around, and only then did she notice stacks of crates along the city walls.

"The tributes... Of course."

"The Chamberlain needs to hear of this! It is your duty to report on this mission!" The knight saluted and ran off.

"Has everyone gone mad, you think?" Lena squinted at Scorpio who was trying to dust off his coat and cape.

"There's only one way to find out - go talk to the Chamberlain," he grinned. "Ser Arisen. I've got a coat to dust off. Oh, and we pawns are not allowed in the castle."

...

"Amazing success!" The Chamberlain was ecstatic. "All the tributes are safe!" This was getting repetitive. "The Duke is very impressed with your excellent service! He wishes to entrust you another extremely important mission - an archeological excavation expedition!" The Chamberlain was positively beaming. "And he wishes to speak to you first! Personally in person! Follow me!"

Wow. Yeah. Lena followed. An archeological excavation sounded exceedingly urgent, considering that the dragon was threatening the very existence of the land... Or at least, that's what everyone had been led to believe. Things just didn't add up. Again.

"The office of an Arisen comes with a great valor, but also ambition," the Duke addressed Lena when the Chamberlain delivered her into the Duke's illustrious presence. "I have something to give you. Follow me."

Another slow and dignified walk through the castle followed, with the Duke leading Lena into the treasury - or perhaps rather one of the many rooms that were the treasury. Everything there was for her to take, comprising some nice armour and weapons and a lot of money. Fair enough. One of the chests had been magically sealed, and the Duke used his signet ring to unlock it. The item inside was a cape, a nice cape as capes went, a very useful cape, no doubt, with some unique enchantments... "Is that the Duke's old cape?" Lena wondered. "From the time when he was an Arisen? Did he confront the dragon wearing this cape?" It could have well been true. She took it with thanks.

Just as she was about to leave, a messenger ran up to the Duke with an urgent message of outmost importance... Lena pursed her lips. But this time the message was genuinely important - Salvation had attacked one of the Duke's strongholds and overwhelmed the soldiers. As that was the largest stronghold, Salvation must have been planning something big. "The skeletons were a grand rehearsal," Lena remembered. "Perhaps the real thing is soon to take place." Naturally, she were to drop everything and fly to that stronghold with all haste...

"Archeological excavations will keep," the Duke smiled at her. "Salvation needs to be dealt with." For once, Lena agreed.

...

"The office of an Arisen..." Lena shook her head, wondering about that turn of phrase with which the Duke had greeted her previously. "Some office! I've got a scar on my chest from which the heart is missing. Valor and ambition? Well, no, I'm just after my heart..."

"Pssst, Ser Arisen!" She heard a woman's voice call to her from the bushes. "Please!"

She recognised the Duke's wife's chambermaid. For some reason no one referred to the Duke's wife as the Duchess. How odd.

"My mistress is in grave danger!" The maid looked frightened. "The Duke flew into a rage again and sent her off to the Northern Prison! She's locked up in that fortress, I fear for her life!"

"That does sound ominous..." Lena agreed.

"Please, you must rescue her!" The maid pleaded. "Here, I stole a suite of armour that the soldiers wear, please, wear it and go to the fortress, they won't let you in otherwise! Rescue my mistress!"

"Umm... Err... Well... I can get to her, I guess..." Lena squinted. "But how am I supposed to 'rescue' her? I've got nowhere to take her, exactly."

"Oh, you'll think of something!" The maid beamed at her, pulling a large bundle of armour from behind the bush. "You're so brave and strong and..."

"...male?" Lena was about to say but kept her tongue. That again. But she took the armour thinking that even if the compliments didn't really work, the Duke's wife probably still didn't deserve to be killed for no good reason.

...

"What's that?" Scorpio took the bundle of armour from Lena's hands as she came out of the castle gates overloaded with gear. "Soldier's armour? Could the Duke do no better than that?"

"That's for something different," Lena shook her head. "You won't believe it..."

...

The matter of damsel in distress had to be addressed first, Lena decided the following morning. Realising that she would have to go into the fortress on her own, and cursing the weight of the soldier's armour, she had to pay close attention to her own armour and weapons, as well as potions and ammunition. She decided to leave her bow and arrows behind and to wear a light silk robe and hydra skin boots instead of her usual reinforced leather armour. She'd carry a shield and take a staff and a mace as well, just in case.

"Ah, the enchanted pants outfit," Scorpio looked her over when she was ready. "At least the shield is protecting your modesty," he grinned.

"Do I have a particularly large and vicious mace here to convince you otherwise?" Lena grinned back, placing her hand on the handle of her morgenstern. "I have to go light. Robes can be worn by Mystic Knights, which is what I am doing."

"You could just wear that soldier's armour, you know," Scorpio thought it was reasonable. "The way to that fortress is long, so why carry it as dead weight?"

"I am not wearing that for any longer than I have to!" Lena said defiantly. "It makes me look fat!"

...

The soldier's armour did come in handy for getting into the fortress. There it wasn't too hard to find the tower where the Duke's wife was being held. Lena looked for a way out that didn't go through the front gate as well. As any fortress, this one also had dungeons with holes in the walls. The only remaining question was what to do once they were out. Lena brushed it aside for the moment.

As Lena walked up the stairs to the lady's tower, she remembered the last time she saw her: it was in the castle dungeons. The lady had brought Lena some keys to help her escape, having betrayed her to the Duke in the first place... "Why did she ask me to join her in her bedchamber? Did she know the Duke would attack her? Was she planning to betray me all along?" Lena wondered. "There is of course something wrong with the Duke, but his wife is hardly any better. Why am I even helping her?" But by then she stood in front of the door into the lady's chamber, and there was nothing else to it but to go in.

The scene that followed was... strange. As soon as the lady recognised Lena under the soldier's armour, she flew up to her, embraced her and kissed her, then pushed her onto the large feather bed and... umm...

...

A few hours later it was really time to get going. Lena felt like she had been hit on the head with a rock again. May be she had been. She was naked and couldn't remember what happened, the Duke's wife kept chattering about their great escape and how she had loved her "warrior" from the moment she first saw her, and all that... "Big and strong" compliment came out a few times as well, and Lena wondered whether the woman had been delusional. Quickly getting dressed, they needed to get out of there. "There will be time for analysis later," Lena remembered Scorpio's phrase from before.

The soldiers in the fort did not take kindly to their prisoner escaping, and Lena had to kill them all. Strangely enough, they presented no challenge... "Weaklings," Lena snorted. Suddenly, the "big and strong" argument started making sense, at least the "strong" part of it, as Lena was still only a short Breton female...

Once they had climbed through the hole in the wall, they found themselves in the sewers with half-demolished bridges that required walking ankle-deep in water and jumping over some rotten planks and potholes. Their damsel in distress couldn't do it, and Lena had to carry her... "Big and strong" started making even more sense at that point. About half way through, Scorpio appeared out of nowhere, or rather from the other end of the tunnel, which was a great relief because he helped Lena fight bandits that inhabited the sewers. Lena tried to suggest that it would be far more practical if Scorpio were the one to carry their damsel in distress over the potholes, but the lady flatly refused, she wouldn't let another man touch her, she wasn't that kind of girl, etcetera, etcetera, and Scorpio looked like he was being forced to touch some rotten fish or worse... And so it was Lena who continued carrying the lady over potholes and puddles of water.

Finally the exit was in sight, and lo and behold, there was the welcoming committee: the lady's maid with two knights from their native land who were there to take the Duke's wife to safety and to make sure that no unwanted "warrior" lovers would follow her. More declarations of eternal love from the Duke's wife ensued, with tears of separation, embraces and attempts at kisses, but Lena strategically lowered the visor of her helmet to stop any such nonsense from taking place. She knew there was a reason why she had put on the soldier's armour again when she woke up naked on the lady's bed a few hours before.

With the Duke's wife and her guards departed, Lena and Scorpio turned to leave as well, only to get attacked by a chimera that jumped out of nowhere... "Where were you when I was getting all those unwanted kisses?!" Lena bellowed at the chimera, attacking the lion's head.

With the chimera slain, she and Scorpio could finally leave too. Lena was spent. There was an army camp nearby, the very same where just a few days ago Scorpio brought her unconscious after that direwolf fight. Now, as the two of them walked in, the soldiers simply pointed them to a tent, having recognised the Arisen and her pawn in need of rest after a hard day at the office. And what a day it had been.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Feb 13 2023, 03:13 PM

[Renee]

Rayenna thinks she can just kill Lena, or get her killed, ha. She's so obsessed!

How was it that these buildings still stood in their full glory while all the other Ayleid structures were reduced to rubble, at least above ground?

Magic. Magic explains everything, at least in an imaginitive way. We never see any stone masons or magicians performing repairs to crumbling foundations and whatnot (well, in ESO we do). But I like to think that in the I.C., all the resources to maintain this sort of stuff are always fully there, whereas out in the countryside, those ruins & forts only have a few outlaw wizards or marauders at best. These folks are too focused upon survival. They are transients, in some cases. They haven't got all the tools and manpower and resources to keep those structures from crumbling and whatnot.

Anyway, this episode's intense. UH oh, Rayenna's been paralyzed. I actually hate this woman for her desire to kill Lena, but now I feel sympathetic toward her.

Oh great" - Rayenna cursed, she was hoping for fresh air, but instead she faced a minotaur. And another. Some imps, too. "How do they even get in here?" -

I know, right?

Bookmark

This post has been edited by Renee: Feb 15 2023, 03:03 PM

[Lena Wolf]

Rayenna thinks she can just kill Lena, or get her killed, ha. She's so obsessed!

Some would call it "driven". Or perhaps "in love"?

Anyway, this episode's intense. UH oh, Rayenna's been paralyzed. I actually hate this woman for her desire to kill Lena, but now I feel sympathetic toward her.

She's a victim of of a fat little imp with a poisoned arrow.

[Lena Wolf]

4th Era, Year Unknown - Romance

"Must be nice to walk with a female who has no qualms taking her clothes off in your presence," said Ser Octavio at the camp where Lena and Scorpio had stopped for the night. "Do you to do 'it' a lot?" He grinned.

"We do not do 'it' at all," Scorpio answered coldly. "Not that it is any of your business."

"Oh come now!" Ser Octavio was still grinning, not offended by Scorpio's rebuff. "You pawns may not be human they say, but I don't see any difference. And neither do the girls in the lower town in Gran Soren."

"Yes, we have the same bodily functions and needs," Scorpio softened his reply. "But it has nothing to do with anything. Wolf and I have a different type of relationship altogether."

"As long as it is one that involves her taking her clothes off, I wouldn't mind it either," Ser Octavio kept grinning. "I wish we had women in our ranks," he sighed.

"It's probably best that you don't," Scorpio said quietly and returned to the tent where Lena was just waking up. "Coffee?" He handed her a cup. "Ser Octavio does make a decent brew, even if I can't say the same for his conversation."

"Oh, do not let me stop you from tending to your bodily needs," Lena grinned. "Even if there are no women around except this one who sleeps with a dagger under her pillow."

"But who cannot resist being hit on the head with a rock," Scorpio smirked. "I told you - some women prefer..."

"Yeah, I get it!!" Lena cut him off, nearly spilling her hot coffee. "I didn't think she'd actually do it! I never gave her any reason to think I'd be even remotely interested!!"

"No, let's see," Scorpio looked pensive. "You chatted her up in the castle gardens to start with. You agreed to meet with her maid after dark. You accepted her invitation to visit her in her bedchamber at night. You actually showed up! And then you came all the way to this remote Northern Prison to rescue her, while again visiting her in her bedchamber... What else was the lady to think?"

"That I accidentally bumped into her in the gardens to start with and was simply making polite conversation? That I thought her request was odd, having met the Duke before, and went to investigate? That I was actually more interested in the Duke's behaviour than in her person? That I didn't think she deserved to die even after she betrayed me?" Lena glared at him. "None of this implies any kind of romantic attraction! She's a woman, for gods' sakes! And I..."

"...prefer men, I noticed," Scorpio grinned. "Don't think I didn't see the way you looked at that knight from her guard, visor or no visor."

"Well, yes, I might have found him appealing," Lena grinned too. "But I didn't hit him on the head with a rock for it."

...

"Another day, another cyclops," Lena sighed after yet another fight on the way back to Gran Soren. "Let's take a break and actually eat some lunch for a change..." She motioned Scorpio towards the hillside. "Before Ser Octavio's excellent pies go stale."

Scorpio didn't argue. He too was feeling tired - perhaps Lena's emotional ordeal of the day before was rubbing off onto him after all. They cleared the hillside of snow harpies, picked a nice spot among the meagre greenery and spent a relaxing afternoon overlooking a Northern landscape with its tall pines, wild apple trees, short dry grass, thorny bushes and rugged rocks protruding from the earth at odd angles. They watched a pack of direwolves lazily lounge on a rock formation, a flock of snow harpies circle around an ox carcass and a group of bandits ambush the road. The air was cool but not cold, the food was plentiful, and for once Lena decided that chasing the dragon could wait.

The nightfall caught them by surprise. Normally Lena would have welcomed the opportunity to travel at night and face nighttime foes, but she felt reluctant to do so that evening. Perhaps she was still tired, or perhaps something else was weighing on her. There was no camp nearby however, nowhere to spend the night, and staying on the hillside was counter-productive if one wanted to avoid the fighting.

"The cave of the Dragonforged is just North of here," Scorpio reminded her. "Perhaps he'll let us spend the night there?" It was worth a try.

...

"What brings you here, Arisen of the present day?" The Dragonforged greeted Lena as they entered. "Do you already know what it is you wish to know?"

"Some of it, yes," Lena smiled. "Forgive me if it sounds too forward, but is your companion in fact your pawn?"

"That is an unexpected question," the Dragonforged raised an eyebrow. "Do you not wish to ask aught of the dragon? No? You wish to know about my pawn instead?" Lena felt his piercing gaze on her but didn't lower her eyes and did not falter. "Very well," the Dragonforged smiled. "Yes, this is my pawn."

"But he has no pawn print," Lena walked up to the pawn and asked him to show his hand with a polite bow. "He is a pawn no longer."

"He is, and he is not," the Dragonforged continued in his ever-enigmatic manner.

"Are you still a pawn?" Lena decided she'd paid enough courtesy to the Dragonforged and could now address his pawn directly.

"It is as my master says," he replied. "I am, and I am not. I no longer answer to the Legion, yet I exist only in the shadow of my master. Were he to perish, so would I."

"This is confusing," Lena had to admit, looking at each of them in turn. "But you are immortal, are you not?" She asked the Dragonforged.

"I am bound to the dragon," he replied, as if that answered Lena's question. She shook her head and looked at Scorpio in desperation.

"Perhaps the meaning will become clear later on," he said quietly. "Remember Selene - her pawn print also disappeared after her Arisen had died of old age."

"Yes, about that," Lena turned to the Dragonforged again. "Forgive me - but does an Arisen continue to age even without the heart? Like that..."

"...like the Arisen of Selene?" The Dragonforged sat down on his favourite chair. "I know of her. Yes, you continue to age and can die of old age if you decide not to pursue the dragon. As the dragon only comes every fifty years, it is entirely possible to die of old age before the next Arisen slays the dragon."

"Before the next Arisen slays the dragon?" Lena repeated his words, letting the meaning sink in. "Because the dragon has the Arisen's heart... So should the dragon die, so will the Arisen." The Dragonforged inclined his head in agreement. "...so will all Arisen whose hearts the dragon holds..." Lena walked around the room, stunned by the meaning of this. "Does the dragon still hold your heart as well?" She faced the Dragonforged.

"Indeed he does," he replied. "I fell in the duel with the dragon, I should be dead. I failed to retrieve my heart. The dragon made me into what I am now."

"And that was a very long time ago," Lena prompted him.

"A thousand years or more," he nodded. "I lost count. Very few Arisen live long enough to even face the dragon."

"And many don't even try," Lena added. "But..." She looked at him with worry.

"No, that question is best left unasked for now." Scorpio stood behind her, with his arm around her waist, and she understood what his words meant - the question about the Duke and his purported slaying of the dragon, if asked and answered aloud, would put events out of sequence. It was enough that everyone in the room knew what she was about to ask, and also knew the answer.

"He who knows what I know, knows it well," the pawn of the Dragonforged said quietly.

"Might we spend the night in your home?" Lena suddenly changed the topic, turning to the Dragonforged. "I feel the dangers of the night might overwhelm me at present."

...

"What do you make of them, master?" The pawn of the Dragonforged asked, once Lena and Scorpio were asleep in the adjoining chamber. "Her pawn's hand print is very dim."

"He's still a pawn and she's still his Arisen," the Dragonforged looked pensive. "The Legion still has hold on him. I don't understand why they released Selene... Her Arisen certainly did nothing for it to happen. We don't have all the answers, my friend," he looked at his pawn with fondness of an age long friendship. "But these two... who knows. Perhaps they will learn more than we ever could."

...

"You seem wistful and distracted lately," Scorpio started carefully as he and Lena were crossing the mountain South of Gran Soren. The narrow mountain pass wedged between high walls of rock made the place feel private somehow, harpies notwithstanding. "What is weighing on your mind?"

"Bonds," Lena answered absent-mindedly. "Several people, including the Duke's wife, have entered my life recently, with needs of love, lust, protection, or... I don't even know what! Why did Selene take over my house?" She looked at Scorpio in confusion. "I don't understand... I never led anyone on... or so I thought..." She shook her head and resumed walking.

"You are the Arisen, the hero of this time," Scorpio caught up with her. "Some of those people simply want to be connected to the hero, without caring too much for your person."

"Now, that I can understand!" Lena smirked. "Madeleine, for one. Asking for fifty-five thousand gold coins to offset her travel expenses!" Lena scoffed. "At least with Madeleine you know where you are - her affection has nothing to do with love what-so-ever."

"But you didn't give her the money."

"Obviously not."

"Even though you have more than ten times as much in the bank, and so many bits of armour and weapons as to raise double that amount."

"True."

"Then why did you not help her out?" Scorpio squinted at Lena.

"Because why would I?" Lena squinted back. "Who is she to me, exactly? A shop keeper. No more."

"Hmm."

They walked in silence for a while.

"Yet you gave gifts to several other shop keepers," Scorpio said suddenly. It seemed he was trying to work it out as well.

"Travelling merchants, yes," Lena nodded. "And I didn't give them money, but something that they could actually use."

"Health and stamina potions."

"Exactly."

"But why?"

"Because I found their services valuable and their manners pleasant. Because I want them to continue providing those services. Because they never asked for any intimate favours!" She finally burst out. "May be that's it."

"So, it bothers you when people ask personal things of you," Scorpio concluded.

"Some people, yes," Lena nodded. "Well, most people."

"Hmm."

The secluded corridor between two walls of rock was about to end and open to the Southern Waycastle. Lena slowed her steps, then turned around and started walking back.

"Ser Maximilian," Scorpio said casually. "You like him, don't you?"

"I like him more than most, yes," Lena nodded. "He's got a good head on his shoulders. But he's a soldier and has to follow orders. He's got the right balance though, I think."

"You will need to give him more gifts and pay him more attention if you want anything to come of it though."

"What?!" Lena stopped dead, staring at Scorpio. "What come of what?"

"You have to be honest with yourself. You know very well what I mean," Scorpio looked at her sternly. "Think on that. Come on, we were going South." He turned around and started walking South, with Lena eventually following.

...

The Witchwood was foggy, as always. They walked through the woods looking for a rare herb that someone wanted for their cooking. It made no sense to Scorpio, other than that Lena wanted to get away from it all. There was no one in the woods, it was quiet and peaceful, apart from a few wolves.

They came to the grave of Selene's Arisen, but no ghost appeared this time. Instead, a person of flesh and blood was sitting by the grave. Lena wanted to turn around, not wishing to disturb him, but he got up, greeted her and pointed at an ancient tablet resting on the gravestone.

"This is an ancient text in wyrmspeak. You should take it, Arisen. The Faith knows how to read such texts, and their services are free. I could read it for you as well, but my fees are highter. What will it be?"

"Err..." Lena was taken aback. "Do I know you? Are you trying to sell this tablet to me?"

"Not at all," the man shook his head. "I am just a traveling scholar."

He offered no further explanation of his presence there, and Lena thought that he didn't look like a scholar at all... But she took the tablet, nevertheless. Something about it was intriguing.

South of Witchwood lay Cassardis, and Lena suddenly felt the need to return there, even though it wasn't her birthplace at all, and "her" house was now Selene's. Still, everyone called her "cousin", and she could use the friendliness. Scorpio too liked the village, it seemed. They spent a few days there doing practically nothing, sitting on the beach, chatting with the locals, eating fish... "An Arisen's life is hard, come, rest a while, cousin!" People thought it was only right. At some point Lena thought that perhaps the priest at the local chapel would be able to read the strange tablet in wyrmspeak. They brought it to him, but he couldn't read it. "I know someone who can, however," he said, somewhat uncertain. "That is, I never met him myself. But there's a hill North of Gran Soren, with a drawing on the hillside, and there..."

"The old man on the hill, of course!" Lena beamed at him. "Indeed. Thank you." It seemed they had to return to the Dragonforged.

...

"Ah, the tablet presented itself to you as well," the Dragonforged held it for a moment, then returned it to Lena. "I held it once before, too. It represents whatever you hold most dear."

"A stone tablet?" Lena was confused. She held it in both hands, and suddenly there was a flash of light, the tablet vanished, and Lena held a golden ring.

"A ring," the Dragonforged nodded. "What you hold most dear, is other people."

"So? Am I to wed?" Lena was even more confused now. "What is the meaning of this?"

"It is called an Arisen's Bond, not quite a wedding ring," the Dragonforged explained. "More powerful than that. Give it to the person you wish to have an eternal bond with, and if they accept, the bond will be sealed. The magic within is immensely strong."

"Oh, this is easy," Lena smiled, turning to Scorpio. "I never wish to lose you again, my friend. Will you accept this bond?" She held the ring in her open hand.

"Never to lose you again," said Scorpio, taking it.

There was a flash of light and the ring vanished.

"You cannot give it to a pawn," the Dragonforged said flatly. "No point - he is already bound to you anyway."

"But I nearly lost him once!" Lena exclaimed, remembering the ordeal in the Rift after Scorpio fell into a deadly abyss and could not return. "He did not return to the Rift!"

"And you got him back?" The pawn of the Dragonforged asked in surprise and amazement. "You offered a piece of your soul?"

"I have," Lena nodded. "But they said they already had my heart."

"You do not need that ring," the pawn shook his head. "Your bond is stronger than that already. Choose someone else," he pointed at Lena's hand - the ring was there again.

"Choose an actual person," the Dragonforged joined in. "The bond will be either your shield or your undoing, it is a test."

"The Legion surely loves its tests!" Lena exclaimed in indignation. "They've been testing me from day one! Whether I am in truth an Arisen! Whether my will is strong enough! Whether I've got the resolve!" She was turning red with anger at first, but now she started turning pale with rage. "Well, I've got an ugly scar on my chest and an empty space where the heart should be. I am an Arisen in truth! Enough tests!" She flung the ring behind the rubble in the cave. It made a noise, then went quiet. "I do not want anyone else." She put her arm around Scorpio's waist. "Thank you," she said to the Dragonforged, her voice sounding perfectly calm now. "Thank you for the explanation, but if I cannot give it to the one I choose, it is of no use to me."

...

"Stubborn," the Dragonforged smirked when Lena and Scorpio had left. He stood in the doorway, watching them walk away. "Well, they can't say we didn't try," he looked at his pawn. "What was that about the soul?"

"If a pawn perishes, the Arisen has to choose a new one," the pawn explained. "It is rare, but it occurs. What is more rare still, and almost never happens, is when the Arisen protests the loss of a pawn. The Legion will ask something in return to bring back the pawn, such as a piece of the Arisen's soul. I haven't heard of an Arisen before who would accept the exchange... until now."

"Stubborn, like I said," the Dragonforged shook his head. "Women." He snorted. "Good thing I never bound myself to any of them... or to anyone else for that matter..."

"Her pawn does not seem to mind though..." He stood next to his master, watching Lena and Scorpio walk away, the road stretching before them.

[Lena Wolf]

4th Era, Year Unknown - Escort

"Ser Maximilian is requesting an escort," Lena was reading notices on the billboard in the Union Inn in Gran Soren. "Interesting."

"Aha," Scorpio grinned. "Do I get the night off?"

"Not that kind of escort!" She grinned back at him. "He has orders to march to the Greatwall Encampment by way of training," she shook her head. "But he questions the sanity of going alone."

"He does have a head on his shoulders," Scorpio nodded approvingly, peering over Lena's shoulder to read the notice. "That trek is very dangerous and will run into the night even if we set off at dawn and jog most of the way."

"Three cyclopes, two chimeras, three or four groups of bandits..."

"...five if we are unlucky," Scorpio reminded her.

"Five if we are unlucky," she nodded. "Wights, undead warriors and skeleton knights if we tarry, any number of snow harpies, several large groups of hobgoblins..."

"...a debilitating lake that poisons, blinds and silences all at once..."

"...with spirits and phantasms because it will be already nighttime..."

"...and a few packs of direwolves too, let's not forget about them!"

"Oh yes, let's not forget them," Lena nodded. "So, what do you reckon? Take Rook with us?" She looked at Scorpio.

"Rook?" Scorpio was taken aback. "A mage, yes, but Rook isn't strong enough for all of that. He trains beginners."

"You'll see," Lena winked and marched to the Pawn Guild.

...

"Hello, Rook," Scorpio greeted them when Lena and Rook emerged from the Rift at the Pawn Guild.

"Not here," Rook said quietly and walked briskly towards the exit. Once they were sufficiently far away from the Pawn Guild, he turned to Scorpio and said, smiling: "I know you think it's mad for me to join your party. But I am not really as weak as I might appear. Not that Barnaby needs to hear of it, mind."

"Oh, your secret is safe with me," Scorpio grinned. "Been training, have you?"

"There will be no new Arisen as long as this one is still chasing the dragon," Rook nodded. "So the Legion leaves me alone for now. I've been helping Olra on the Bitterblack Isle."

"Wow!" Scorpio was taken aback. "You're not exactly level six then any longer."

"I have not been level six for a very long time already," Rook rolled his eyes. "It's just what the newly Arisen are led to believe. But even so, I wasn't supposed to gain too many new skills... So Barnaby doesn't need to hear of it. By hiring me now, the Arisen simply wanted cannon fodder, as far as he is concerned."

"Happens often enough," Scorpio nodded. "All right then! Let's go!"

...

Escorting Ser Maximilian to the Greatwall Encampment started off as a lengthy jog along a largely empty road.

"We want to get through this part of the way as quickly as possible," Lena was telling him. "The 'monsters' around here are mostly just wild animals, they don't attack unless provoked. Which we won't do."

"For once," Scorpio smirked.

"For once," Lena nodded. "This isn't that kind of training. We'll face plenty of trouble further on."

"Good thing they didn't require us to wear full suits of heavy armour," Ser Maximilian patted his coat. "I couldn't jog all morning with that on."

"I do hope you have at least something under that coat though," Lena looked him over without stopping.

"I'll let you find out if we make it there alive," he winked.

"Hmm."

The jog continued, with Scorpio leading and Rook staying close to Ser Maximilian in case of adversity - Rook's primary task was to keep Ser Maximilian alive. It proved more challenging than expected, as Ser Maximilian got into the fun of things and insisted on joining every fight that they encountered along the way. "I need practice," he was saying. "Standing still in the Castle Grounds dispatching orders got me out of shape." Lena objected that he should have brought potions, but he flatly refused anything she tried to give him. "Your mage is healing me already, that's enough!" Lena shrugged and gave up eventually. Rook had his work cut out for him.

Two cyclopes and three groups of bandits later, Ser Maximilian was getting complacent, she thought. Next up was a chimera.

"There's a chimera lurking in these woods," she told him as they were climbing a winding mountain path. "We'll try to avoid it, but there are also bandits there, it might get messy."

"Bring it on!" Ser Maximilian grinned. "This sword could use some action!"

"That may be more action than you're used to though," Lena shook her head. "Chimeras can be overwheeeeee...!!!" A giant lion jumped out of nowhere, a goat sat on its back, his tail a giant snake. Chimeras could overwhelm, yes.

"Whoah!!!"

There were several strategies for fighting a chimera, but none of them involved also trying to protect an eager knight who was constantly underestimating the danger. Plus, there were bandits and direwolves to deal with as well. Lena shot a quick glance at Scorpio who was already climbing on the chimera's back in order to try and hack off its snake tail, thus stopping it pouring poison, even though it was a partial blessing as it affected the bandits and the direwolves as well, except that they were smart enough to avoid most of it. Rook was too busy shooting lightening at the lion's head in order to stop him jumping around quite so wildly - Scorpio was hanging on for dear life, never mind hacking anything. Ser Maximilian lunged towards the chimera, his sword drawn, his shield up, but the shield would not protect him from the snake's poison or the goat's magic... or the bandits' daggers and arrows from behind, as it turned out. He was hit, but not too badly, and Lena dealt swift justice to the bandits, but more were coming in, and with the rampaging lion it would not take long before the fight was lost to the opposition...

"Not on my watch!!" She bellowed, grabbing Ser Maximilian around the waist, hoisting him over her shoulder ("Heavy!!") and running off towards the edge of the cliff. The drop to the lower level was only small, Lena jumped off, still carrying bewildered Ser Maximilian over her shoulder. There she sat him down, took out her bow and started shooting poisoned arrows at the chimera from a reasonably safe distance.

"Stay here and don't charge the chimera!" She ordered him. "I don't know if I can carry you again. We'll rejoin the fight once the snake is done, at least."

"Damn, I should have brought some arrows with me as well," Ser Maximilian sighed. "I didn't expect this..."

"No one ever expects a chimera," Lena smirked.

...

"Phew!" The chimera was slain and Lena and Ser Maximilian joined Scorpio and Rook dispatching the remaining bandits and direwolves. Rook had his hands full casting healing spells now, as Ser Maximilian was still refusing potions that Lena tried to give him.

"That's wine," he said, sniffing a bottle. "No drinking on the job!"

"That's wine, aye," Lena nodded. "It keeps you alive. Otherwise there's no job to begin with." But no, he wouldn't have it, not until they were safely at the camp... Lena shook her head at that logic, but gave up.

After the chimera everyone became more cautious, Ser Maximilian included. They dealt with a few more bandits along the way, but otherwise proceded peacefully.

"The next bit is a danger onto itself," Lena warned Ser Maximilian again. "There's a cyclops further up, but the most dangerous thing about this stretch of road is the cliffside. The path is narrow and uneven, one slip, and you're dead. Watch out when we engage the cyclops - the fall is what is likely to get you first."

"Nah, I walked mountain paths before," Ser Maximilian started argueing, but then they made another turn and the full scale of the drop became obvious. "Oh... I see. What a drop." Lena was only hoping that the caution sank in.

An armoured cyclops was towering in the distance, completely blocking the path. There was no other way but to fight it.

"How did you know there would be a cyclops there?" Ser Maximilian squinted at her.

"There's always one there, it belongs to the bandits that hold that fortress," she pointed at the fortress at the end of the cliffside climb. "That waycastle. The cyclops is their guard dog."

"But you've killed it a few times already, haven't you?" Ser Maximilian didn't give up. "So where do the replacements come from?"

"A cyclops farm? What do I know?" Lena shrugged. "Smuggled over the border? Beats me."

"There is a cyclops farm further up, remember?" Scorpio joined in. "It only had one cyclops there last time, but he was quite tame - friendly to the keeper, that is. I bet that's where they get smuggled." That was indeed very odd, but they had to stop their deliberations because they'd neared the cyclops and it started swinging its giant club... The fight had begun.

...

By the time they defeated the cyclops and dispatched another group of bandits further up the path, the sun started to set.

"Well, that was fun!" Ser Maximilian was in good spirits - they were once again on solid ground past the waycastle, without any danger of falling into an abyss.

"No, the fun is only just beginning," Lena pointed at a flock of snow harpies. "Don't rush them. There's another chimera to the left and a poisonous lake just ahead. You don't want to fall into either, but the harpies will bring it on."

Everyone had to exercise some restraint and avoid chasing the harpies, although letting them come too close seemed like a dangerous idea as well.

"Wait for it..." Lena stood still, watching the harpie approach. "It will try to grab you..." She put her hand on the hilt of her fire-enchanted sword. "Now!!" A swift strike threw the harpie on the ground, the fire enchantment setting its wings ablaze. "It doesn't always work, but is always worth a try," she grinned.

"Help me!!!" Scorpio was less fortunate, another harpie grabbed him and was carrying him towards the poisonous lake.

"No, you don't!!" Rook's fireball hit the harpie in flight, singing Scorpio a little, but mostly making the harpie release its grip as it fell to the ground. Lena dashed to it, making sure it would never fly again.

"Ugh, twisted my ankle," Scorpio swore, trying to set it as best he could - they still had quite a way to go.

"Right, everyone fall in and follow me," Lena said sternly. "The slope is slippery, the ground is soggy, and I don't want to see any of you fall into that lake, harpies or no harpies!" They nodded and followed, picking their way as close to the rising hillside as possible.

After some time walking in silence, they found the hillside opening up to a valley.

"Home stretch now," Lena turned to Ser Maximilian again. "Hobgoblins and direwolves ahead, possibly spirits and phantoms, undead warriors or skeleton knights, we'll see."

"Charming."

"Quite," she nodded. "Watch your step and try not to die this close to our goal."

"Let us take the lead," Scorpio joined in. "We've done this before. Heroics are not called for."

Ser Maximilian was going to protest, but changed his mind. Perhaps they had a point.

"Keep your calm about you," Lena patted him on the arm. "Here we go. Remember, I still want to see what you've got under that coat." She winked and charged into the darkness - hobgoblins were ahead.

"Are all Arisen like that?" Ser Maximilian asked Scorpio who was watching Lena's movements closely.

"No, she's one of a kind," he answered without turning, but stopped Ser Maximilian from interfering.

"Holy fury!"

"Fury - yes, holy - unlikely," Scorpio grinned. "Direwolves!"

The battle continued.

"Watch out!" The wolves were going for Rook. Wolves always went for mages, either because continued use of magic made their flesh taste better, or because they had to stand still while intoning their spells. Lena lunged, leaving Ser Maximilian to his own devices, but the wolves were already tearing at Rook's clothes, then jumping back in pain. "Armour," Lena realised. "Clever Rook!" Mages could not wear most of the armour available to buy - iron and steel interrupted their magicka flow, while bone armour carried curses. But the Bitterblack Isle held ore with unusual properties, ore that could be made into armour suitable even for mages. It wasn't a full body suit, but it was enough to make a difference. "Leave... him... alone..!" She bellowed, and the wolves suddenly stopped their attack...

"Help me..!" She heard Rook call - his armour failed to protect him. Holding her blade in wait and watching the wolves, she moved towards Rook lying on the ground. The wolves followed in fascination, their eyes on hers. She reached Rook and helped him up, then pushed him away. She faced the wolves.

Later on, when asked about what happened, she couldn't quite explain it. She howled, and the wolves howled with her. She bared her teeth - not fangs - and growled at them, and the wolves stopped growling and one even turned around and ran, tail between its legs. She was the Alpha.

Until the real Alpha jumped in, that is. A wolf twice as big as any other, he lunged at her, but she flicked her sword aiming to slice open his belly... and missed. It was a sword, not a dagger. She had expected a dagger. The sword did make a cut, but it only angried the wolf even further.

Landing behind her, the wolf turned and lunged again, knocking her on the ground. The other wolves were watching, transfixed. Dark fur of Lena's warg cape mixed with white fur of the direwolf, and both turned red with blood.

"That does it really!!" Another white wolf jumped into the mix, his silver rapier reflecting the light of the lantern... A silver rapier? Flames erupted around them, the wolves in the circle whined and were finished. The Alpha lay dead.

"Wolf? It's over," Scorpio held Lena in an embrace, she was shaking. His white direwolf cape overlapped the dark warg fur on her shoulders. Rook was casting healing magic at them, and for a moment the night was perfectly still.

"Wow." Ser Maximilian came closer. "Is she all right?" He asked in a small voice.

"She'll recover," Scorpio nodded.

Lena was calming down. She held her cheek pressed to Scorpio's chest, listening to his heartbeat, fast at first, and gradually slowing, the longer they stood still. His armour was only a half-plate, protecting the clavicle and the shoulders and running under the ribs; she slid her hands under his cape, she could feel his muscles under the jerkin... She closed her eyes, letting the last of the shaking dwindle. She felt his cheek brush against her hair... did she imagine a kiss?

...

"What are those?" Lena heard a voice a little further away. Ser Maximilian.

"Spirits and phantasms," she heard Rook reply. "They only appear at night."

"And can only be defeated with magic," Ser Maximilian's voice was getting stronger, although he didn't seem to be coming closer. Lena was recovering.

"Yes, that's why you always need a mage with you," Rook's voice was getting stronger too.

"The Duke does not like magic."

"Then prey, never travel at night."

"I'm all right," she looked up at Scorpio. "We should get to the camp."

"We should," he nodded, releasing his embrace.

The camp wasn't far, but there was no need to rush. They walked at a leisurely pace, Lena and Scorpio leading, Ser Maximilian following a short distance behind them, and Rook following Ser Maximilian, who stopped several times to watch the phantasms in the valley below.

"What is that light?" He asked Rook pointing at an eery illumination seemingly coming from the earth itself.

"It's that poisonous lake that we tried not to fall into," Rook scoffed. "Very dangerous. Avoid at all costs."

"Are they close?" Ser Maximilian jerked his head towards Lena and Scorpio who were by then out of earshot. "Are they..?"

"They are close, but not in that way," Rook was looking at them too. "She must really like you, you know."

"She does..? How d'you work that out?"

"This is the first escort request that she picked up. She hates escorting people places."

"Well, in that case..." Ser Maximilian hastened his step, catching up with Lena and Scorpio just as they were crossing the barricades surrounding the camp, with the soldiers greeting them, then switching to salute Ser Maximilian because of course he was a commander. He came up to Lena, may be a little too close for a formal acquaintance, and said: "That was some trek. With all that I am, I thank you."

"I am glad we made it here in the end," Lena smiled. "Shall we see what Ser Alfonso has cooking in that pot? I am starving."

[Lena Wolf]

4th Era, Year Unknown - Choices

"And now again, the choice is yours, Arisen," the dragon folded his wings and looked at Lena with interest. They had arrived at the end of their journey - they were facing the dragon on top of the Tainted Mountain. The dragon that could have burned them all to a crisp with a single breath - this was no drake in Devilfire Grove, this was the real thing. And he wanted to talk.

"Are you unique?" Lena walked around his head which was the size of two oxen. "Do you have a name?"

"Grigori," the dragon was watching Lena's movements. "I am as unique as you are, as any living creature. Or perhaps you wish to know if there are other dragons like me? There have been, and there will be, but at each given time there is just the one."

"So, Grigori," Lena squinted at him. "What is it that you want of me? Why did you bring Selene here?"

Selene was cowering on the ground a small distance away.

"She is what you hold most dear, is she not?" Grigori's eye came close to Lena. "She was in your house. You must choose now: sacrifice her and live as the ruler of Gransys, or save her and face me in a duel."

"Err..." Lena was trying to find the right words to explain to Grigori where he went wrong. "Selene was living in my house, yes. Because we rescued her from the woods, and it seemed like the right thing to do to bring her among people. I myself don't live in that house though. Got it? She isn't what I hold most dear."

"Oh... should I have brought someone else then?" Grigori seemed nervous, fire started gathering in his mouth. "Speak up!"

"There is no one in this world you could have brought, who isn't already here," she looked straight into the dragon's eye. "You have my heart. Can you not feel it?"

"Your heart is confusing," Grigori admitted. "I've got so many other hearts, they are plain to read. Yours... you bound yourself to a pawn?"

"I chose a pawn," Lena nodded. "We started out as strangers, then grew close in our time together. He is what I hold most dear. And yes, he happens to be a pawn."

"A pawn won't work," Grigori said flatly. "You cannot have your own pawn as a part of the choice bargain. Selene comes closest, so choose now - sacrifice her and live as the Lord of this land, or save her and face me in a duel."

Selene was watching the dragon transfixed, but now started making small noises.

"Did the Duke face the same choice?" Lena squinted.

"Of course he did," Grigori sounded surprised. "Did the Dragonforged not tell you? Oh, he didn't want to spoil the surprise!" The dragon smirked, and small flames spilled from his mouth. "Yes, this is how it works. You make your choice. Sacrifice your beloved... err... well, Selene in this case... and I shall go away for some fifty years, you will become immortal and will not age and will replace Duke Edmun as the Lord of Gransys. Everything will become normal again. Oh, and you will lose your pawn," he clicked his tongue. "So perhaps the choice works after all."

"So, this is what the Duke chose."

"Yes."

"But I do not get back my heart."

"No. And you can get replaced by the next Arisen."

"This explains why the Duke was trying to get you killed," Scorpio said quietly. "But it is an easy way out. Do not be too hasty to reject it."

"Hush," she shot him a glance. "You already know what I choose, but Grigori needs to understand it... and I want to know more first, now that we're talking."

"You have to say it out loud, Arisen," Grigori was getting bored. "For the spell to work. Come on, what is your choice?"

"Not yet," Lena shook her head. "Tell me first..."

"I do not need to understand your choice!" Grigori was gathering flames in his mouth again. "I grow bored with you, Arisen! What will it be?!"

"You can't just kill me, can you?" Lena squinted. "That'd be against the rules... You'd get punished... A great big dragon like yourself - punished? I wonder who is that powerful... No, wait - I know. The Legion."

"The dragon serves the Legion after all," Scorpio said mostly to himself. "Interesting."

"Nothing interesting about it, pawn!" The dragon spat fire, but not enough to actually burn anyone. "I am an Arisen! I defeated my dragon! You bow to me!"

Scorpio didn't bow but stood there, watching the dragon gathering more and more flames in his mouth.

"Watch out - you'll choke," he said derisively. "I now know what you are. You are an Arisen who got back his heart from the previous dragon but failed to return it to his chest. You forgot what it was for! You fought your dragon for all the wrong reasons!"

The dragon flew into a rage, it seemed. He breathed fire, and Lena dashed to Selene to protect her from the flames. However, the flames were cold.

"So, this is where the Legion gets its replacement dragons," Lena smirked. "Arisen who fight the dragon for all the wrong reasons. Regardless whether they live or die, they would make perfect dragons themselves. Clever."

"A never-ending supply," Scorpio nodded.

"Make your choice!!!" The dragon bellowed. "Now!!!"

"Or what?" Lena put her hands on her hips. "You'll spit more cold fire?"

...

"Stubborn," the Dragonforged and his pawn were peering into a crystal ball, watching the events on the Tainted Mountain. Someone in the Legion was watching it too. "She's taunting the dragon."

"She's taunting the Legion," his pawn objected. "That is most dangerous."

"Stubborn," the Dragonforged repeated, shaking his head in disapproval.

...

Back on the Tainted Mountain Lena was trying to learn from the dragon what was supposed to happen after their fight, in case she won. The dragon wasn't telling; perhaps he did not know.

"It depends on you!" He rolled his eyes.

"All right, tell me how it went for you, then," Lena insisted. "You fought your dragon as a human, then something happened and you got this form..."

"That's personal, that is!" Grigori sounded offended. "That's my business! You'll have to see for yourself what happens to you! Chances are, I'll kill you and you will never find out!"

Lena wasn't getting anywhere with him. Perhaps it was time to make her choice.

"Get Selene out of here," she told him. "I choose the duel."

"Finally!" The dragon sighed a sigh of relief and Selene vanished, teleported away. "Prepare yourself, Arisen!"

...

"She is not dragon material," someone at the Pawn Legion was peering into a crystal ball. "Her heart is still beating inside the dragon, it didn't turn to stone like the others. If she gets it back..." The person looked at another, also peering into the crystal ball.

"She is of no use to us," the other person agreed. "Grigori will kill her."

"And her pawn?"

"And her pawn," the other person nodded. "Before his print goes out. He'll make a decent wight."

...

The fight had begun. It was an epic battle, or rather it started out as an epic battle. Grigori was breathing fire, Scorpio was shooting at him from a ballista, Lena... Well, Lena was no where to be seen.

"Where is the Arisen?" Someone peering into a crystal ball asked nervously. "Dead already?"

"Grigori hasn't started yet," the other person came closer to the ball. "Can't be!"

"Nooooo!!!" They cried in chorus as Grigori faltered and fell, white tendrils engulfing his body.

"You always meant to kill me then," he said, looking at Lena as she lowered her bow a short distance away. "The Maker's Finger..." He squinted at a large white arrow in his chest. "Assassin."

...

"She cheated!" Someone pushed the crystal ball off the table. "The Maker's Finger! Bah!"

"She is an assassin," the other person objected. "She took the easiest way out."

"Giving up Selene was the easiest way out!" The first person exclaimed in rage. "Now what are we going to do?"

"Well, there's always the Final Solution..."

"She cannot be allowed to get to the top."

"Then we'll need to make sure she doesn't."

...

"I cheated." Lena turned to Scorpio. They stood in her house in Cassardis, they were all teleported there by some unknown magic. Selene was there too, still in shock. Rook and Scarlet stood a short distance away. Lena felt apologetic. The fight with the dragon was supposed to be an epic battle, culmination of their long and arduent training, but instead... Was it all for naught? "I took an easy way out." She looked at him with a little smile.

"You killed the dragon," he said quietly. "You won."

"Have I?" She pressed her hand to her chest and felt a faint heartbeat inside. "This doesn't feel right."

"Let me see," Scorpio took her in an embrace. "You should have your heart back, that was the deal." He pressed his hand to her chest. "It's there, but it's very faint. Give it time, perhaps?"

Lena nodded.

"So, what now?" She raised her eyes to his. "Is this the end?"

"If you want it to be."

"No... wait... that's not right! I cannot lose you again!" She exclaimed with worry. "I meant it, what I said to the dragon." She looked into his eyes, but his expression was closed.

"You have your heart back, you've achieved your goal," he said in his dispassionate voice. "You do not need me any longer. You will return to your world and your friends there, and I shall stay behind. Isn't it how the story goes?" He smiled.

"I want to return home, yes," Lena nodded. "But also... No, this is not right." She stepped away from Scorpio who promptly released his embrace. She was pacing the room, her head in her hands. "Not right at all," she was talking to herself, it seemed.

She stopped in front of Scorpio, her face set in resolve.

"I shall release you if you wish it," she said. "But know that in this world or elsewhere, a piece of my soul belongs to you. The choice is yours to make."

"But... but he is a pawn," a small voice said behind them - Selene. "He cannot decide for himself... He cannot make a choice... You have to decide for him, Arisen."

"The choice is easy," Scorpio smiled, taking Lena into his embrace again. "You offered me your Arisen's Bond and I took it. I see that it still holds."

"He kissed her... he made his own choice..." Selene was watching them, in shock once again. "And I..." She rubbed her hand but her pawn print did not reappear. "It seems I am a pawn no longer... in truth... and yet... I did not resist the dragon... I avoided making a choice..."

"It'll come to you one day," Rook put his arm around her shoulders, leading her out of the room. "You'll learn. Come. This night belongs to them, and them alone."

[Renee]

Rayenna was losing her touch, or rather losing her head. She found the cave first and entered without an investigation. The next thing she knew was a troll kicking her in the ribs.

Oh my gosh! And then it took her two days to get back to health. Am wondering if you're gaming with Rayenna or if this is just Lena's story. Pretty sure you've gamed with Hauk as a PC, though i Might be wrong.

Uh oh, she's attacking another DB member. Naughty, naughty. And she got poisoned. Tsk tsk.

Bookmark (hope you don't mind. Easier to get back where I was if I link to it.)

This post has been edited by Renee: Feb 20 2023, 12:09 AM