The Sisters' Chronicles Thread 2: Nobody likes Abadaius

[Valmark]

Link to previous thread. (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?636976-The-Sisters-Chronicles)


Boots stumbled into bed, where Alifa wrapped her in a hug.
"How do you feel?"
"Weak like a little kitten," Boots said, and giggled. "Hi, Alifa. Get into any trouble?"
Alifa chuckled and got Boots's head under a pillow. "Trouble? Without you? Never."
"You're always getting into trouble... that's why I'm here..." Boots passed out on Alifa.
The blue-green houri frowned for a bit, but fell asleep as well.


Alifa woke up with Boots on top of her, so she couldn't exactly move without waking her up.
Peter, she thought, and her crab jolted into being. She tapped the crab on the head and joined their senses. Go see how Dethera is doing on Kat's weapon.

Gaze of Two Minds to keep a permanent mental link going.

Through Peter's eyes she traveled fast through the corridors of the castle, descending down into the laboratory. Immediately Alifa spotted Dethera snoring on a desk, evidently having stayed up late, and Kathleyîënis wielding a new bow experimentally shooting a target crudely drawn on the wall.

The bow looked made out of bone, rivulets of blood -probably Boots'- running over it. When Kat drew the string an arrow formed from the blood with a sparkly tip and, as she hit the wall, there was a brief spark of light while the arrow lodged itself into the stone wall without an issue.

[Xihirli]

Alifa directed Peter to ‘port onto Kat’s shoulder and drum with his legs a quick hello.

[Valmark]

Kat yelped feeling something suddenly on her shoulder- turning rapidly, she sighed relieved seeing it was Peter doing his spider dance and waved with a finger.

"New bow works. Is Alifa awake?" she asked, while Dethera stirred in her sleep mumbling something that sounded like whining.

[Xihirli]

Peter jumped up and down to make his spider head nod.

[Valmark]

Kat smiled and nodded, taking the time to throw a blanket on Dethera before leaving.

"Is she in her room?" Kathleyîënis asked taking the stairs, evidently heading to meet the sisters.

[Xihirli]

Alifa directed Peter to do the same little yes-dance again, then teleport ahead and lead Kat toward her.

[Valmark]

Alifa was first rejoined by Peter who snuggled up to her, then predictably heard knocking on the door.

"It's me, Kat"

[Xihirli]

Boots stirred as Alifa opened the door with thaumaturgy, stroking her sister’s hair.
"Come in."

[Valmark]

Kat entered and waved.
"Bow seems to work. I didn't get a choice on the design" she said, showing the bone-and-blood bow to the sisters "Taddeus said that when you're ready to go outside, he'll find us"

[Xihirli]

"Mmm I'm not ready." Boots tightened her grip on Alifa and closed her eyes again.
Alifa chuckled and then vanished, reappearing by Kat's side.
"Come on, Boots. It's time to be big ol' heroes together."
Boots groaned and sat up, looking for her clothes and armor. Alifa also started armoring up.

[Valmark]

Kathleyîënis swiftly moved outside of the room as Boots looked for clothes.
"I'll wait for you by Tilly" she said, leaving down the corridor through the way she already knew.

[Xihirli]

After she was dressed and armored up, Boots led the way down while Alifa gave Peter the kind of kisses you only give someone who did a very good job and is very important to you, right on his crab head.

"Hi girl," Boots said, stroking Tilly. "Did any undead bother you tonight?"

[Valmark]

Oh, for some reason I had forgotten he was a crab.

Still a lot of limbs.

Peter did what he could with his pincers to hug Alifa.

Tilly shook her head and licked Boots' cheek.
All good! The skeleton even tried feeding me! It wasn't anything I eat though.

Fog soon descended on them- it gathered and formed Taddeus' figure.
"Good morning princesses and Kathleyîënis! I, Taddeus Parsimmon Vassimius Emerhet the III, hope you have had a pleasant sleep!"

[Xihirli]

I forgot too.

Boots sprouted goodberries from her armor and fed one to Tilly. "I slept awesome! How about you?"

[Valmark]

Tilly melted the goodberry with her acid, then licked it up.

"Like a corpse!" Taddeus smiled and showed a symbol- it was a small badge with a bat motif.
"One of you take this- if we get separated you can use it to prove you're working for one of the Vassals, the Vampire one. Which is not strictly true, but nobody needs to know that"

[Xihirli]

Boots took it. "Thanks."
Alifa started gathering rainwater into a nightmare being. "Let me get you and Kat mounts."

[Valmark]

"I have my own, thank you either way though. Kathleyîënis, you can mount with me if you want" Taddeus clapped his hands, his zombie horse walking over for him to mount on.

"I'll take the Phantom Steed" Kat immediately replied. Taddeus didn't look too put out though.

[Xihirli]

Alifa generated an aberrant steed. This one was mostly just a horse, though it had eight legs that fazed into each other and its eyes leaked red ink.
"Alright! Let's go!"

[Valmark]

Kat concluded that as far as creepy mounts go perhaps the Steed was worse.

Riding fast, moving through a couple villages within Taddeus' lands Boots and Alifa saw that every guard was some kind of undead, meanwhile mostly living beings actually inhabitated the settlements. In the late afternoon the four crossed the border, and as they came to one of the villages within the Phantom Vassal's land they found a lively place, where living and ghosts mingled happily.

The weird thing was, Boots couldn't feel those ghosts through her Divine Sense.

[Xihirli]

"Are they… not undead somehow? Or guarded from divinations?" Boots asked as they rode.
"Anything we should know about the lord of these lands?"

[Valmark]

"What do you mean? Of course they are undead" Taddeus said, then frowned and stopped.
"These people don't have blood"

Now that they were deeper in it also jumped to mind that nobody was reacting to their presence.

Kat took up her bow and shot an arrow in front of the feet of a person, but there was still no reaction.
"I think they might be fake"

[Xihirli]

Alifa manifested a rubber ball that wouldn't hurt and threw it right at the nearest nonghost person.

[Valmark]

The ball passed right through the person, making the image shimmer and vanish- all of a sudden, Boots felt the presence of undeads rapidly advancing from beneath their feet.

Divine Sense is such a niche feature, right?

[Xihirli]

I mean, less so when your DM sort of just assumes you have it up in a kind way.

"It's an ambush!" Boots announced, and moved to Spirit some Guardians.

I imagine we're in initiative?
Boots: [roll0]
Alifa: [roll1]

[Valmark]

Honestly, I rule it that you can't know their location without spending an action- but you're always aware of their presence. If an undead were to Hide you would need the action to find it, for example.

Oh and yeah, Initiative. You can have the Spirit Guardians already up as Boots had the time to spring to action.

Ghost group A [roll0]
Ghost group B [roll1]
Ghost group C [roll2]
Kat [roll3]
Taddeus who has boosted dexterity because vampire [roll4]

Each group is five ghosts.


"They're attacking us so you're allowed to strike them down" Taddeus announced gravely "Cannot knock out a ghost, anyway"

[Xihirli]

"Then let’s."

I believe you are first.
Hm, thinking of Elementals and Short rest slots:
How do you feel about, in the future, Alifa keeping an Elemental around over travel and resting while the spell is active?
Or is that stretching "rest" too far?

[Valmark]

As the ghosts came up -white, ethereal creatures that look like people whose legs vanish past the knees- several of them plunged their hands right into them, draining their inner life force.


First off, [roll0]+1 against Boots' Spirit Guardians.

Secondly, it's two slam attacks each.
On Boots:
[roll1] [roll2] necrotic damage if it hits
[roll3] [roll4]

On Alifa:
[roll5] [roll6]
[roll7] [roll8]

On Kat:
[roll9] [roll10]
[roll11] [roll12]

On Taddeus (he's resistant to necrotic):
[roll13] [roll14]
[roll15] [roll16]

On Tilly:
[roll17] [roll18]
[roll19] [roll20]


Taddeus hissed and mumbled "My spells are not a good loadout against groups of ghosts" and from the shadow cast by his enormous hat he weaved a sword of darkness, that he stabbed in the ghost attacking him.

Taddeus attacks!

[roll21] adv. [roll22] [roll23]
[roll24] adv. [roll25] [roll26]

Psychic damage so it's halved. Aaaand it's Boots.

[Xihirli]

Spirit Guardians! [roll0]

Three ghosts! WHIP
[roll1]+[roll2]; [roll3]
[roll4]+[roll5]; [roll6]

WHIP
[roll7]+[roll8]; [roll9]
[roll10]+[roll11]; [roll12]

WHIP
[roll13]+[roll14]; [roll15]
[roll16]+[roll17]; [roll18]


Boots’s whip came out and whacked into ghost after ghost as her glowing beauty burned into the undead.

[Valmark]

Kat ducked between blows, taking distance before aiming her new bow at the one Boots had injured the most.

You bloodied the one that failed its save and Kat after Cunning Disengaging and getting 30 feet away will shoot it.

[roll0] [roll1]+[roll2]+[roll3]

The last 1d8 is radiant 'cause she channels Boots' blood.

Speaking of which, radiant? You can see they are vulnerable to it.

It's Alifa.


Taddeus called "If you need to use area magic don't mind me- I regenerate anyway"

[Xihirli]

Alifa nodded understanding, but this looked like something her sister could manage, so she simply vanished and reappeared in a sea of screams, moving away as she blasted.

Misty Step to recharge Benign Transposition and get out of melee. Then I want to Repelling Blast some ghosts into the guardians as I back away.

[roll0]; [roll1] force
[roll2]; [roll3] force

[Valmark]

The rest of the ghosts emerged from the ground- two swarmed Kat, two Alifa, four Taddeus and the last five attacked Boots.


Kat's Steed gets 'Killed'.

Taddeus' mount is beaten up with 20 damage ('cause it halves necrotic).

Boots is attacked:
23 to hit, 14 necrotic
26 to hit, 6 necrotic
Crit for 17 necrotic
There are more attacks but they missed.

Alifa is attacked:
18 to hit, 11 necrotic
26 to hit, 13 necrotic
Rest missed.

Tilly is attacked:
15 to hit, 9 necrotic
21 to hit, 14 necrotic
20 to hit, 10 necrotic
Rest missed.

Taddeus takes 7 damage.

Kat takes 14 damage.


Taddeus chuckled as he healed most of the damage received. Then 'paled', even if he was already paled.
"Right! My horse doesn't heal!" and stabbed the new ghost.

You'll never kill it but maybe you can soften it up enough.
[roll0] adv. [roll1] [roll2]
[roll3] adv. [roll4] [roll5]

Afterwards it's Boots. You have five ghosts on you.

[Xihirli]

Boots engaged her ghosts in a storm of whip-cracks, the air around her filled with lava as she brought Aizu and other magma fey to bear on her enemies.

[Valmark]

**** I accidentally deleted the damage taken and had to recalculate the total damage taken by every remaining ghost.

35/38/29/21/23 <-- Damage taken by those attacking Boots (the last three don't have the second round of Spirit Guardians factored in yet)
35/10/10/20 <-- Damage taken by those attacking Taddeus

Plus two on Kat and two on Alifa.


Kat barely dodged one slam, then realized those were chasing her and galloped back into melee shooting one of Taddeus' enemies as she did so.
"They should follow me into the spell"

Go! [roll0] [roll1]+[roll2]+[roll3]

Afterwards it's Alifa.


Unfortunately Kat's arrow went wide.

[Xihirli]

Alifa nodded assent and vanished, reappearing next to Boots.


Benign Transposition and Spirit Guardians for the round : [roll0]

[Valmark]

As nearly half of the ghosts burned under Boots' Guardians, Taddeus traded blows with the two fighting with him- meanwhile, the four chasing Alifa and Kat charged after them into the Spirit Guardians.

Four attacks on Kat
[roll0] [roll1]
[roll2] [roll3]

[roll4] [roll5]
[roll6] [roll7]

Four attacks on Alifa
[roll8] [roll9]
[roll10] [roll11]

[roll12] [roll13]
[roll14] [roll15]

Two attacks on Taddeus
[roll16] [roll17]
[roll18] [roll19]

Two attacks on his mount
[roll20] [roll21]
[roll22] [roll23]

[Xihirli]

"Everybody stay on guard! Let Fiamma’s Warriors handle this!"
And her lava burned brighter than ever as she lifted her shield.

[Valmark]

As Alifa and Kat started moving erratically to avoid attacks, the ghosts took some last strikes.


On Alifa
[roll0] dis. [roll1] [roll2]
[roll3] dis. [roll4] [roll5]
[roll6] dis. [roll7] [roll8]
[roll9] dis. [roll10] [roll11]

On Kat
[roll12] dis. [roll13] [roll14]
[roll15] dis. [roll16] [roll17]
[roll18] dis. [roll19] [roll20]
[roll21] dis. [roll22] [roll23]

On Taddeus
[roll24] [roll25]
[roll26] [roll27]

[Valmark]

As the last ghosts burned out, the group was left to gather their breath. Tilly and Taddeus' mounts were hurt, while Kat only really had some light scratches and Taddeus was regenerating.

"This was... Unsettling. It's no surprise communications stopped- ghosts should not be this crazy"

[Xihirli]

"Me and Tilly need a breather before we continue," Boots said, getting off her plant horse.
"What would cause ghosts to go nuts like that?"

[Valmark]

Taddeus shook his head.
"I don't know. It's not corruption for sure... unless the Vassal made ghosts out of darklings, but why would he? That said..." he frowned "He could be able to control the ghosts -much like how the Lich Queen is capable of controlling all the undeads of the Deathlands- but then to make them act like this, just attacking blindly, he either gave stupid orders or has gone crazy as well... Regardless of the fact that this might as well be open rebellion. If we went back now reporting what we found the Lich Queen would drop everything and come here" Taddeus explained.

"And probably raze everything to the ground"

[Xihirli]

"Hm. How about we investigate for the rest of the day and Send to the Queen once we have more information."
"Good idea." Alifa manifested Peter and started putting up her some."Peter and Hoots can start looking around while we try to recover."

[Valmark]

"Oh! But... If you know her enough to Send to her why would you need a deed under your name?" Taddeus asked sitting crosslegged within the dome.

"Because you can't Send to her?" Kat asked the vampire, who shook his head "Never actually met her"

[Xihirli]

"Oh, I was hoping you could," Alifa admitted. She sat down and sent Peter to go scout with his teleporty joy.
"Well, similar plan I suppose. We try to handle this ourselves. If it's too much, find a way to call in the cavalry."

[Valmark]

"I could Send to father if need be. He's one of the two other Vassals" Taddeus sighed "So he has to have met her. So, you had asked me what you should know about the Phantom?"

[Xihirli]

"Yeah," Boots said.
"Though I'm worried any information you have on them may be... strictly academic, now."

[Valmark]

"If only. I know he's also got a physical body he puppeteers... But aside from that I never had the dubious pleasure of dealing with him" Taddeus shrugged "Be polite and watch out for ghosts coming out of walls?"

[Xihirli]

"So, how’d you become a vampire anyhow?" Alifa asked.

[Valmark]

"Staged an attack against the previous baron with Dethera. Once won, the only way to ensure we would have a just ruler was for someone we trusted to step up- that and the fact that there was no other solution that would see us spared for hunting down and killing a baron" Taddeus sighed "So I met with who would become my father, and there was a grand ceremony as I became the baron of my lands... Which included my transformation. Taddeus was the name of the vampire that transformed my father, Parsimmon is his name and the name of who transformed me, Vassimius is my original name and Emerhet is the family name- the III because I'm the third. Brother is third as well, while father is second- so he's Taddeus Parsimmon Emerhet the II"

Kat didn't comment, but by the looks of it she didn't like how things went.

[Xihirli]

"Oh, I understand. You weren’t chosen as baron because you were undead, you became undead so that you could be a baron. Well… what happened to your old family?"

[Valmark]

"Dead" Taddeus said without emotion "I've been unalive for eighty years now and was an only child- my family died of old age. Happily, as I could control and make sure they could live without trouble- which is everything I wished for when I was made a vampire"

By the way Kat roll some hit dice as the rest is coming to an end [roll0]

[Xihirli]

Cool I’ll roll some too
Alifa [roll0]
Boots [roll1] know what [roll2] too


"Wait, so how old is the hot necromancer? Isn’t she alive?"

[Valmark]

"Oh, she's alive. Found a couple ways to extend her lifespan through... Not very pleasant methods, but nobody was hurt against their consent or was killed so it's... Fine" Taddeus Parsimmon Vassimius Emerhet the III assured Boots "There's a lot you can do when you specialize in the manipulation of souls and bodies and have a laboratory you can work in all day with essentially unending resourcess. If she was an adventurer she'd be long dead though- oh ans she's nearly an hundred years old. As am I if we consider both my life and unlife"

[Xihirli]

"She looks crazy good for a hundred," Boots said. She stretched and got up.

"Alright, everybody ready?"

Forgot Tilly. [roll0]

[Valmark]

Which reminds me, Taddeus' zombie horse [roll0]

Peter and Hootie came back- they reported that the nearest villages looked the same, though they hadn't tried interacting with the illusions since it could trigger an ambush. They reported of having spotted a nearby castle -which Taddeus identified as probably the castle of one of the Phantom's underlings- and further inside, seen from afar, green sickly looking clouds in the sky.

"That... Is a bad sign. It means a lot of necromancy magic done without a care for the enviroment- that's another crime that would require immediate intervention once discovered"

[Xihirli]

"Let’s head that way, then. And if we have to fight a wraith lord we have a Paladin."
Boots smiled. "That’s right – follow me!"

As she walked, Alifa churned the air as if pulling at it. It wound into all sorts of shapes until it took on a wide, gaping maw on a windy facsimile of a face. Twisters made up a body as she wove an Air Elemental.
"Welcome to the world… Bilbo Swaggins," Boots named it.

[Valmark]

Soon enough they could see said clouds- the innatural green cast a shadow over them.

"I suggest anybody who isn't an undead sticks close to the paladin" Taddeus said "You'll have an easier time breathing. And... Yes, this is the direction to the Phantom's stronghold- there's little hope he's still fine"

[Xihirli]

Alifa had Peter go into his little dimension and wrapped an arm around Boots.
"Oh wait, I might have something for this!" Boots said. "Do you think the gas is poisony or disease-y?"

[Valmark]

Taddeus looked around.
"Probably poisonous. My guess would be that it can make you weak enough to catch more diseases, but it's not inherently a disease"

[Xihirli]

"Alright then!" Boots said, excited, and craned her head back to kiss Alifa's forehead. She blew a kiss to Kat and gave Tilly a few pats on the side.

Casting Protection from Poison on Alifa, Kat, and herself which she shares with Tilly.

"Okay, now we're super ready. Isn't that right, Bilbo Swaggins?"

[Valmark]

The elemental churned- it exuded confidence within every whisp of wind.

As they entered under the poisonous area the sickly air filled their nostrils.

Kat can fail this save still [roll0] adv. [roll1]

DC 10 Con save to not be Poisoned.

As the sun got hidden from view Boots started smelling more undeath- no direction in particular though.
In the distance, a much bigger manor then the one Taddeus lived in came into view- the green clouds seemed to be more concentrated in there out of all places, and green smoke came from the highest tower.
"Not ominous. At all"

[Xihirli]

"Great!" Boots said, leading on.

I think Boots and Tilly technically can as well. [roll0] the first two adding... all of them adding 7.

[Valmark]

Getting nearer, they could make out more- the tall walls with demonic statues on top, or the massive gate. Ghosts could be seen floating above and through the walls, and Taddeus clicked his mouth dissatisfied seeing the lack of reaction at their approach.

"Should I call out to them? Or are you planning on something else?"

[Xihirli]

"If they don't want to talk to us or stop us, I say we just go in. It's not like anyone can complain about us going in uninvited... by the laws of your land, if the lord allowed this stuff then no one owns this castle so there's no one to invite us in, and if the lord didn't allow this he's either dead or in trouble, in which case we should go in."
"Do you need to be invited in?" Alifa asked. "As a vampire?"

[Valmark]

"I do... That said, there's a work around to it. If you get in and then invite me in I'll be able to enter" Taddeus said "My vampire nature doesn't require an inhabitant of the place"

Kat looked at the walls and the big gate.
"I think someone would need to teleport in. The gates seem too big to push open" she looked at the elemental and added "Or fly above"

[Xihirli]

"Here, I'll cast Extended Fly on Tilly and she can bring us back and forth." Boots patted Tilly again and suddenly the plant horse's kicking legs brought her flying into the air like a reindeer.
"Beautiful. Me and Alifa will go across first."
"Come with, Bilbo," Alifa said in Aquan.

[Valmark]

Wo-hoo! I'm flying!

"Before you go" Taddeus pointed at the statues "If it's anything like my castle those will animate and attack your mount as soon as it's too near- you could want to strike first. In addition, common ghost tactic is to strike out from within solid objects, so I'd imagine there are more attackers inside the wall itself"

Tilly stomped the air angrily.
Not a it! A she!

The walls are 160 feet tall- being ghosts they don't use ranged weapons a lot, and so built insanely high walls to avoid ranged attacks (or at least impose disadvantage) and most spells.

[Xihirli]

"Got it!" Boots said.
"Stay in between us and the wall, Bilbo." And from her staff Alifa shot more reality rifts.

Initiative, I guess?
[roll0]
[roll1] boots

[Valmark]

As Alifa shot her blasts, the gargoyles stretched their backs as they emitted a shrill cry of alarm- multiple shrieks echoed through the castle.

Go ahead and roll the attacks- they aren't surprised, but they also weren't moving until you struck.

Gargoyle group 1 (3 of them) [roll0]
Gargoyle group 2 (3 of them) [roll1]

Ghost defenders A (5 of them) [roll2]
Ghost defenders B (5 of them) [roll3]
Ghost casters (2 of them) [roll4]

Taddeus [roll5]
Kat [roll6]

[Xihirli]

[roll0]; [roll1]
[roll2]; [roll3]


Alifa zapped right at the gargoyles, though she fully planned to switch her targets to the ghosts and leave the gargoyles to Bilbo.

[Valmark]

As a gargoyle was blasted back, the other two came to life and descended- they weren't actually fast enough to reach the sisters though, instead descending on the elemental Bilbo Swaggins.

Meanwhile, ghosts emerged from the walls- they flew around the elemental engaged with the gargoyles, advancing on Alifa and Tilly. And Boots as she was there as well.

One gargoyle fell backwards into the ground out of sight, while the other two Dashed and are in Bilbo's face as they can't get to Tilly&co.

The ghosts are fast enough to fly around the air elemental and assault Alifa (who's attacking the walls) and Tilly (fliers seem to get priority).
On Alifa (three ghosts, two attacks each):
[roll0] [roll1] necrotic damage
[roll2] [roll3] necrotic damage
[roll4] [roll5] necrotic damage
[roll6] [roll7] necrotic damage
[roll8] [roll9] necrotic damage
[roll10] [roll11] necrotic damage

On Tilly
[roll12] [roll13] necrotic damage
[roll14] [roll15] necrotic damage
[roll16] [roll17] necrotic damage
[roll18] [roll19] necrotic damage

It's Boots.

[Xihirli]

Seeing herself surrounded by ghosts on all sides, Boots grinned, and suddenly a storm of whip-cracks sounded around her as she was surrounded in a large halo of the blade of her weapon rapidly flying. She pulled in another weapon, but it was not Sune’s face but a mirror, reflecting Boots’s own beauty into the face of the ghost that had first dared touch Boots’s sister.



SPIRITUAL WEAPON
[roll0]; [roll1]

WHIP
[roll2]; [roll3]
[roll4]; [roll5]

WHIP
[roll6]; [roll7]
[roll8]; [roll9]

WHIP
[roll10]; [roll11]
[roll12]; [roll13]

WHIP
[roll14]; [roll15]
[roll16]; [roll17]

WHIP
[roll18]; [roll19]
[roll20]; [roll21]

Tilly Dodges

[Valmark]

Two more ghosts emerged from the walls- instead of coming near though they hovered against the wall, as they started chanting what looked a lot like spells, though they did not seem to be using any material component.

One of them will cast a Ray at Boots [roll0] it doesn't know she's pretty hard to hit

The second one will be casting a different spell- I need a DC 14 Wis save from Alifa, Tilly and Bilbo. On a fail you're Frightened- repeat save at the end of the turn.

Then it's Alifa.

[Xihirli]

Boots closed her eyes and dropped down off of Tilly, falling into a drain that sucked in her and the air around her. A similar drain pulled in the vampire and he appeared where she was sitting on Tilly as Alifa was on the ground next to Kat.

"Alright, Bilbo! Let's get Swaggin' all over 'em!" Alifa called.
Bilbo pummeled into a gargoyle, sunlight beaming out of him in gaps in his twister as he wailed with hurricane forces against the stone monster.

[Valmark]

Bilbo's pummeling winds seemed to leave only light marks on the gargoyle's rocky skin, though the sunlight seemed to scorch it just fine.

Halved damage from physical attacks.

More gargoyles rushed in Bilbo's face, which made Taddeus smile.
Blood Spear time!" and he pulled some blood out of himself (so Alifa's) which he formed into a spear, sending it rocketing into a gargoyle.

Spell attack [roll0] damage [roll1] necrotic

In addition Bilbo and four gargoyles need to make Str saves to avoid [roll2] bludgeoning damage against DC 18.
Gargoyles' saves [roll3]+8 each.


Kat took out an arrow and, after a moment of thought, shot at one of the gargoyles.


Attack! [roll4] [roll5]+[roll]4d6[/doll]
Bonus action attack if she misses [roll6] [roll7]+eventual sneak attack.


More ghosts emerged from the walls- a couple of them run up to Alifa, while three more rushed Tilly. As gargoyles pummeled Bilbo and ghosts pummeled Tilly, more gargoyles could be seen approaching while Boots spotted a moment to strike.


Alright so


[roll8] [roll9]
[roll10] [roll11]
[roll12] [roll13]
[roll14] [roll15] slashing damage


[roll16] dis. [roll17] [roll18]
[roll19] dis. [roll20] [roll21]
[roll22] dis. [roll23] [roll24]
[roll25] dis. [roll26] [roll27]
[roll28] dis. [roll29] [roll30]
[roll31] dis. [roll32] [roll33]
[roll34] dis. [roll35] [roll36]
[roll37] dis. [roll38] [roll39]
[roll40] dis. [roll41] [roll42]
[roll43] dis. [roll44] [roll45]


[roll46] [roll47]
[roll48] [roll49]

[roll50] [roll51]
[roll52] [roll53]

[roll54] [roll55]
[roll56] [roll57]

[roll58] [roll59]
[roll60] [roll61]

[roll62] [roll63]
[roll64] [roll65]

In addition, since some ghosts are chasing Alifa, Boots gets an opportunity attack on eight of them.


Meanwhile more gargoyles showed up, in addition to a very hurt one that Alifa had pushed off before.

Two more groups of three gargoyles showed up- they are at least 200 feet away and will act last. In addition there is a lone wounded gargoyle that Dashes towards Bilbo stopping 10 feet away.

It's Boots.

[Xihirli]

Bilbo flared with each blow, flashes of light beaming the gargoyles immediately.

"At least we're drawing out their defenses," Alifa said as she grunted.

Boots hit the ground, hard, as Tilly disappeared. She got up and trudged over to the rest of the group before shining out with shimmering water filled with Queen Nasa's troops as trained by Nasha.
"That idea fills me with comfort."

Bilbo deals 20 damage back, 5 each on every gargoyle attack.
Also, extending Spirit Guardians level five. They can worry about the door after, and I think they might draw out literally the entire castle of defenses, so... yeah.

25 damage to enemies approaching or starting next to the group, Boots moves to encompass every one of her allies who aren't summons.

[Valmark]

Seeing Boots put up a magical dome, the casters lifted their arms as they tried to disrupt them.

Dispel Magic on Spirit Guardians [roll0] needs a 15 I believe.

Other caster... You've seen the elemental deal radiant damage, so unless the first one fails you'll try dispelling the elemental [roll1] otherwise the SG.

After this it's Alifa.

[Xihirli]

Alifa, surrounded by ghosts, stepped back and her body broke into fragments that were swallowed up by blue ink. Blue ink opened up thirty feet away and her fragments reformed to recreate her body further away from the ghosts, with Boots between her and them. She pointed up at the caster ghosts and reality-breaking rifts careened into them, striking at one.

Meanwhile, Bilbo Swaggins in a twister of confidence, lashed out with bright bursts of wind at the gargoyles around him. He ripped one apart and moved on with a mighty slam into the next one.


Eldritch Blast
[roll0]; [roll1] force
[roll2]; [roll3] force

Bilbo Swaggins (currently at -19 out of 90)
[roll4]/[roll5]; [roll6]+[roll7]
[roll8]/[roll9]; [roll10]+[roll11] +10 bludge and +5 radiant


"Oh what the-" Boots said as her spirits left. "Get back here!" Then she noticed the destroyed gargoyle hitting the dirt. "Oh yeah, BILBO! The swaggening commences!"

[Valmark]

A crab soldier flipped Boots the third finger as it left, which was an incredible feat given that it had two claws.

Taddeus burst into bats, surrounding a gargoyle as their magical teeth pierced and snacked on it- meanwhile Kat loaded an arrow, shooting at a ghost as instructed and dissipating it with an headshot. You'd think souls wouldn't be vulnerable to that and you'd be wrong.


But Taddeus used his action to transformed, so he can't actually deal damage just yet. He's just a bat swarm.


As Boots destroyed two more ghosts, the leftovers chased after Alifa- the gargoyles kept pummeling into THE AIR ELEMENTAL.


It's 4 gargoyles on Bilbo.
[roll0] [roll1]
[roll2] [roll3]

[roll4] [roll5]
[roll6] [roll7]

[roll8] [roll9]
[roll10] [roll11]

[roll12] [roll13]
[roll14] [roll15] all slashing damage

[roll16] [roll17]
[roll18] [roll19]

[roll20] [roll21]
[roll22] [roll23]

[roll24] [roll25]
[roll26] [roll27]

[roll28] [roll29]
[roll30] [roll31]

[roll32] [roll33]
[roll34] [roll35]

[roll36] [roll37]
[roll38] [roll39]



Meanwhile more ghosts and gargoyles showed up, the reinforcements getting closer.

The two gargoyle groups that had showed up before got closer- they are now 100 feet away from Bilbo, so they still are essentially out of the fight.

In addition at 200 feet away you see two more groups of 5 ghosts (one from the right and one from the left) show up, together on the right with two more caster ghosts and on the left with 3 more gargoyles.

It's Boots- she's not currently in melee, though she can easily reach Alifa and the ghosts surrounding her.

[Xihirli]

Boots ran up to Alifa.
"Don't you DARE touch my sister!" She announced as she went into a series of slashes with her whip, striking into the ghosts all around her.


Each pair is on one target... clockwise. No smites, I think four are about to die.
WHIP
[roll0]; [roll1]
[roll2]; [roll3]
WHIP
[roll4]; [roll5]
[roll6]; [roll7]
WHIP
[roll8]; [roll9]
[roll10]; [roll11]
WHIP
[roll12]; [roll13]
[roll14]; [roll15]
WHIP
[roll16]; [roll17]
[roll18]; [roll19]
WHIP
[roll20]; [roll21]
[roll22]; [roll23]

crits:
If either of the crits was on an untouched ghost, I will smite
So (1d6)[4] on the first crit
(2d6)[9] on the second and third
And whichever of those ghosts was previously untouched gets (6d8)[26] radiant to the face.

[Valmark]

One of the casters actually started speaking.
"Your sister assaulted my castle"

The four surviving ghost all echoed "Die die die die"

"Not my fault you can't protect her"

"Your fault your fault your fault your fault" echoed the ghosts.

"'My' castle... The Phantom might be speaking through them" Kat theorized.

At that one of the caster ghosts pointed at Bilbo.


Each of them can dispel twice, but one of them already used their second third level slot so a single Dispel Magic on Bilbo [roll0]

The other one will be Rotting Raying... Mmm... Hey Boots, **** you.
[roll1] [roll2] necrotic damage
[roll3] [roll4] necrotic damage
[roll5] [roll6] necrotic damage
It rolled a 2 to hit earlier, so I don't think it can reasonably say she's hard to hit.

Then it's Alifa.

[Xihirli]

Alifa scowled and pointed up at the two casters.
"Get ready to Vrock!" She declared, and a Vrock shackled to a confidently burning bird appeared in the casters’ faces.
"Consume them!" Alifa ordered the Vrock.



Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) piercing damage.

Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d10 + 3) slashing damage.

[roll0]; [roll1]+[roll2] radiant

[roll3]; [roll4]+[roll5] radiant

[Valmark]

"I was ******* dancing!" The vrock yelled angrily as it cut into the ghosts.

The ghosts were about to pummel into Alifa again, but then a caster talked.

"Enough. That demon will eventually get free- we don't need to engage them outside the castle any longer"

Kat shot at the retreating ghosts while Taddeus nibbled into a gargoyle in bat form, before they retreated or started to.


Kat! Finish a wounded ghost I suppose [roll0] you can't not kill it.

Taddeus try finishing the nearly dead gargoyle [roll1] [roll2]+[roll3]

After that the gargoyles will all fly back to the walls and behind them- the ghosts will start receding inside them.
The four in melee with Alifa actually can only Disengage and move 60 feet, they will escape next round. It's Boots!

[Xihirli]

Boots swore. "Oh, hells no." She tapped Alifa with her wrist and floated into the air, speeding after them with her whip flying.

Quickened Fly, get to the ghosts that are running away and ATTACK

WHIP
[roll0]; [roll1]
[roll2]; [roll3]

WHIP
[roll4]; [roll5]
[roll6]; [roll7]

WHIP
[roll8]; [roll9]
[roll10]; [roll11]

WHIP
[roll12]; [roll13]
[roll14]; [roll15]

[Xihirli]

Alifa floated a little as she blasted at the two remaining ghosts, attempting to drain their essence into a hole into the void.


Eldritch Blast
[roll0]; [roll1] force
Eldritch Blast
[roll2]; [roll3] force

[Valmark]

The last surviving ghost retreated into the wall, as the vrock turned around to claw at Taddeus' bat form.

Let's roll the rounds in case you actually do something that makes it relevant.

[roll0]

And it's you. I will roll the vrocks' attacks if it turns out as relevant.

[Valmark]

As Alifa passed by the vrock, it turned around.
"You!" It reached with its beak "Interrupted my dance! Suffocate!"


Spores (Recharge 6). A 15*-foot*-radius cloud of toxic spores extends out from the vrock. The spores spread around corners. Each creature in that area must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned. While poisoned in this way, a target takes 5 (1d10) poison damage at the start of each of its turns. A target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. Emptying a vial of holy water on the target also ends the effect on it.

Eventual damage [roll0]


Kat shot an arrow at the vrock, while Taddeus swarmed it in bat form.


Kat attack! [roll1] [roll2] if it misses [roll3] [roll4]
Sneak attack [roll5]

Taddeus! [roll6] [roll7]


As Alifa started flying, two caster ghosts showed up from the top.
"You haven't learned then"

They will try Dispelling the Fly on Alifa.

[roll8] for the first ghost, [roll9] for the second.


Then they fell back behind the wall.

[Xihirli]

Boots flew up at the top of the wall, her whip out and ready as she reached the top where the gargoyles were. She vanished, reappearing at the top of the wall, looking down.

Alifa coughed, flipped off the vrock, and blinked out of existence. The air split thirty feet up and screamed with hissing screeches coming out in geysers until the air formed her. She flew over the wall and started heading down at level with Boots.

Misty step, dipstick.

Oh and constitution [roll0]

[Valmark]

While Taddeus and Kat fought the Vrock, since they couldn't follow Boots and Alifa, the sisters stood on the keep's walls- looking in, what they saw... Was an army.

The courtyard of the castle was mostly empty of buildings except closed forges were white weapons with whispy blades were placed- many squads of ghost were waiting for them, the ones they had already seen being actually in the minority- more ghosts equipped with the weird weaponry stood in wait for them, and joining them were tall, hooded figures with nothing within wielding the same kind of weapon but in scythe form.

In addition they could see physical beings- it was very obvious who they were.

The disappeared villagers stared at them, the corruption flowing in their veins having twisted their figures- many had multiple black limbs of various kinds, with additional heads- some had toothed holes with weird, green energy searing within, and all of them had multiple limbs dedicated to flight. Some of them seemed to phase through the world, while others sported ugly, ripped wings and more had holes in their bodies through which wind blew, pushing them in the air.

Then there were floating, ghostly heads- no, those were ghosts of infants, puppeteering their bodies that moved like ragdolls, bloatex black bodies that had likely died because the children had been too weak in life to even stand the corruption.

Their numbers, all totaled, amounted at least in the hundreds. Many of them could fit in the place simply because being incorporeal they could fit within one another.

And they were not the most impressive creatures- no. Standing in the back of the army, on the ground, stood a creature- despite how twisted it looked, Boots and Alifa couldn't mistake it's four powerful legs, the black wings looking strained as they stretched while only air left the mighty jaws of the zombie darkling dragon, two heads staring at them without intelligence.
Atop it a rider clad in black armor wielding a barbed lance stood, and in the front of the army, within flight distance, stood a ghostly version of the dragon... And its rider.

The Phantom regarded them with a cold look.
"What did you think of accomplishing by assaulting my castle with a frontal attack?"

And Boots could feel the corruption within the Phantom, though not in his ghost dragon.

Casters from the back threw spells at Alifa and Boots.


You know the routine.
[roll0] all +3, to Dispel- otherwise the army isn't attacking yet.

Your turn- we're currently keeping the initiative going, but unless you'll be doing something that requires it we'll just post without a formal structure.


There were also several gargoyles, though they mostly were hanging back- probably because they were hard to remake if they died.

The ghost the sisters were hunting wasn't in sight- probably remained within the wall.

[Xihirli]

"You're corrupted with darkrot!" Boots realized.
"And this is something we shouldn't deal with," Alifa added. "Come on, Boots." She put a hand on Boots and the two women teleported down to Kat and Taddeus.
"There's too much for us to deal with in there, you should Send to your father that the Phantom has somehow been corrupted with darkrot and intervention is required from the Queen."
"I really wanted to deal with this on my own."
"I don't think that's going to happen. We need to move."
Boots frowned, and swore, but joined Alifa in cantrip-peppering the Vrock so they could get away from the walls.

[Valmark]

As the sisters started running, the ghosts emerged from the walls- Taddeus went back to vampire.

"Leave! I cannot be killed anyway! Not permanently!" He exclaimed, then flew up as he met the physical part of the army- he couldn't stop it, but he could buy the sisters the seconds it took to defeat him. He also Sent, unknown contents in it.

Kat rode by grabbing Alifa, her weak arms still enough to pull the lighter houri- as the ghost army emerged, soon overtaking the vrock which was dismembered in short order, something became clear.

Boots was not actually fast enough to get away fine.

Kat and Alifa are more or less fine currently- as such I will be making Athletics checks, and Boots will as well.

Armed ghosts [roll0]
Bog standard ghosts [roll1]
Darklings who start further away so probably aren't an issue [roll2]
Phantom on dragon [roll3]
Physical version of the dragon (starts further away) [roll4]

[Xihirli]

Alifa shot potshots back, Repelling anyone who got too close to her sister.


Can that count as Helping?
[roll0] + 9 to higher one.

[Valmark]

Alifa doesn't seem to be very helpful :p

Boots started gaining distance as she flew faster then the army could- the only one who was gaining ground was the zombie dragon, and it was still little difference. Then the Phantom fell backwards into a portal and disappeared, reappearing in front of Kathleyîënis, Alifa and the Steed.

"How rude, to run away like that"

He Dimensional Doored in front of Alifa etc. He'll be Opportunity Attacking the Steed if he can- either way, if Boots cannot teleport past a long a distance he'll be able to take a strike or two at her as well.

The rest of the army is losing ground though, except for the flying physical dragon who still is (A) farther and (B) doing worst at chasing

[Xihirli]

Alifa lifted her arms and her staff pulsed for a second. Cracks in reality formed around the ghost. Nothing visible appeared from the cracks, but Alifa knew that the space to get out of his spot didn’t exist anymore, so could not be used to travel.

Boots angled herself over the Phantom as she flew, Misty Stepping to add her distance over his head and move 90 feet.

[Valmark]

"Come on- I only wanted to talk" the Phantom fell into another portal, reappearing again in front of Alifa, Kat and the Steed.

"I can teleport more times then you have spells, wizards"

The army meanwhile was in the back, not a concern unless they stopped.

[Xihirli]

"Prove it… call the army off and we’ll talk!" Alifa shouted, directing Kat to slow down a bit to do so safely.


Phantom Steed disengaging should be able to stay ahead of the army with our lead. Boots will keep going a bit up as she flies to keep the phantom far away.

[Valmark]

"You assaulted my castle and I should be the one showing goodwill?" the Phantom plunged his blade in the dodging Steed, blocking its advance, then pulled the blade out lifting it staring down at Kat.

"You're the rider, correct?" but then Kat bailed so he shrugged and struck Alifa.

Kat... Well, she can turn invisible but that's not going to help. And she's one level too weak to get Misty Step.

Not that it'd help.

Alifa takes 79 damage.


Alifa blocked a strike, then the other two cut into the houri.
"I suppose you still won't stop?"

[Xihirli]

"Run ahead of me! He'll have to pick a target!" Alifa urged Kat as she dropped through another tear in reality, springing out far away from the Phantom and leaving behind a rumbling charge. She started running on her own two feet.

Thanks for the info. I don't suppose you could hurry the lich queen up? Boots asked the hot necromancer as she moved, trying to stay directly above Alifa.

[Valmark]

As Alifa teleported forward, she felt a rush of air- running, she could feel movement as the Phantom was soon flying past her and in front. He lifted the blade again.

"Why struggle? You know I'm faster" he asked "If you surrender now, I can still make you into a nice ghost- and your corrupted body will be so much more powerful"

There was no reply to Boots- and yet, she felt a voice in her ear, despite the fact that there was nobody around.
"It's funny. Whenever your sister is in danger you're too far to help... Or actually can't protect her. And she runs out on you and hides her activities. Let's face it- you've overall been more of an hindrance. But I'm not here to judge! Say... If you wanna help, just say that you owe me one"

[Xihirli]

Alifa vanished again. Help was on the way. She could keep this up for a little while longer. And he wasn't chasing Kat.

Be more specific, Boots said. She wasn't a fan of this whole "let's start this negotiation with an open insult" thing.
"Hey, *******! You don't get to touch her!" Boots pointed at the phantom and pink lights started shimmering around him, weighing the ghost down. She then started flying away again, keeping her distance from the phantom.
Earthbind. Strength Save.

[Valmark]

The Phantom groaned as Alifa ran again, and flew after her.
"Last offer" he said "I will kill you in the next few seconds if you don't stop" and his hand crackled with necromantic magic.

"The lich queen. She can arrive right now, if you accept my help. But I'll be able to force you into doing me one favor" Boots heard cackling in the back of her mind- no, not quite. It was the innocent laughter of a kid, the maniacal cackle of a murderer, the desperate cry of someone mourning, the ruckus of friends drinking and laughing together- all joined in a single sound.

[Xihirli]

This time when Alifa pulled back out of reality, she reformed a full five hundred feet away, still running and crying a bit.

I'll let you know in a second. Boots dropped down so she was face-to-face with the Phantom.
"None of that! You're fighting ME!" And the lava of Fiamma's Court burst forward, surrounding her in a haze of heat. Her whip flashed forward, cutting into the undead as the Paladin, a shining beacon of light, faced him head-on.

Quickened Spirit Guardians. [roll0]
Whip.
[roll1]; [roll2]
[roll3]; [roll4]

Third level smites. [roll5] and [roll6].

[Valmark]

"Mpfh... I hate your kind, paladin" the Phantom took a look at Boots, inspecting her features.
"Shame... If you weren't a paladin you'd probably make a strong darkling. But you are" and he teleported again saying "I'll leave you to my army"

Alifa found herself face to face with the Phantom, again.
"Missed me?"

And then Boots heard "Oh, that's funny. The Lich Queen's going to arrive just a second too late to stop the Phantom from doing one more thing. Forget the favor- I can talk to a dead person. Wanna bet a gold coin on wether she manages to get away?" the voice added.
"Well, you can still give me that favor. I can just halt him for a second- essentially the same thing"

[Xihirli]

Alifa felt so weak... but she could manage. She knew she could. She had a pretty good chance.

Alright, Boots said. One favor.

[Valmark]

"Smile, you protected your sister"

And there was a burst of black sparks that threw the Phantom on the ground, a big crimson smile cackling before dissipating- the ghost scrambled to his feet, barking "Who was THAT!?"

And then sounds of war could be heard- as the presents turned, they saw that the army had halted. The ghosts, Repears and various incorporeal beings turned on the darklings, the army tearing itself apart as the pure undeads started slaughtering anything carrying corruption.

'No... How... But... That..." "That would be only possible if the Lich Queen showed up?" and the air broke, a woman that had once been beautiful stepping forth- clad in robes, a piece of her face still looked alive except for the pale skin- long, black hair and a single curly horn identified her old appearance as the dead eyes stared at the phantom, while the rest of the body was just bones, tendons and organs. Following her, a knight clad in black armor with green flames enveloping his skull and a scythe stepped forth.
"Unfortunately for you, I am here"

We're out of initiative. You can stand aside and I'll just narrate the fight or chip in- in any case you won't be dying, not with the Knight Vassal and the Lich Queen on your side.

[Xihirli]

Alifa knelt. "Great Queen, we examined this area with Baron Taddeus Parsimmon Vassimius Emerhet the Third. We would be happy to share all we know, but the short version is that The Phantom has somehow been corrupted by the Darkrot, and is trying to turn others into Darklings."

Boots sort of jogged toward her sister to make sure she's alright.

[Valmark]

"SHE'S LYING!" The Phantom yelled and moved to fly past the Queen to Alifa, but the other undead threw his scythe- the blade swirled around the ghost as if alive, the chain wrapping around it and burning with purple flames as he yanked the Phantom into the ground. He tried teleporting but the Queen manifested a staff that ate his magic right up- the staff was a thin, black pole marked with religious symbols and arcane words.

"I don't need to believe this girl- your army was advancing side-by-side with darklings, and the sky's polluted" the Lich Queen said "And it only takes half a brain cell and a minimum of expertise in necromancy to know what a fool you've been. You found the corpse of a corrupted dragon, haven't you? Thought you'd turn bodies puppeteered by ghosts into darklings? But, you see, you cretin" the lich plucked the air, letting a few white strings become visible- they went from the Phantom to his army, and a few of those were black.
"Corruption spreads from bodies to souls- and to spirits. By commanding your own physical body you didn't even realize you made it possible to be corrupted"

She looked at Alifa.
"Rise. He hurt you, didn't he? Do you desire... Revenge? Do you wish to see him suffer? Or should his death be quick?" she extended her staff for Alifa to take.
"He who has tortured hundreds of people... Including kids, if my eyesight doesn't fail me. You who were personally hurt and saw his actions up close- what do you think should happen to him?"

Meanwhile Kat made her way back, looking terrified.

[Xihirli]

Alifa's hand closed around the staff, and her eyes glinted with vengeance. Then the staff glowed with sunlight that came out in narrow beams hitting all around the ghost, but leaving the center and the head intact. Alifa zapped and zapped again, and realized she was grinning. She was holding in a laugh as she brought the ghost lower and lower, blasting with bright summer days that diminished the ghost, literally making him less until she was looking down at an ectoplasmic puddle. Staff over her head, she brought it down once more right at the center of his head.
The beam expanded over his body slowly, frying all away until there was a crater in the earth... and no ghost.

Boots huffed up next to Alifa then.
"You must be... the Lich Queen," she panted. She bowed. "Honored to meet you. I am Clephesia, Scion Unseelie. Princess Heir to the Winter Throne. First of My Name."
"It's a bit of a long story where we're from. But there are different fey courts."

[Valmark]

"Good..." Alifa felt a chilling hand pat her shoulder as the Queen took back her staff "I look forward to when someone like you will be able to use such magic without the aid of objects"

It doesn't take high insight to understand that by 'someone like you' she refers to Alifa picking a brutal way to punish the Phantom.


As Boots started her titles Serendipity waved them away "Don't care. Titles are meaningless- they won't stop a blade, nor turn away a spell. A name's enough" she looked around and added "Should I assume Vassimius was discorporated?"

[Xihirli]

"He was. He seemed confident that he would be back, though."
Alifa let her take the staff, looking… pleased with the lich queen’s assessment of her.

[Valmark]

"He's a vampire- once the sun sets he should be able to recorporate in his castle. Mmm..." she looked towards the army, as the dragon zombie and its rider got taken apart "That'll make sure the Phantom cannot regenerate. For good measure I'll have his castle be broken down- now" and the lich turned towards the sisters and Kat.

"I suppose you aren't here just to do me a favor, correct? In a letter sent to me I was told about three people seeking audience- it'd be a weird coincidence to find three living adventurers completely unrelated to that within my lands"

[Xihirli]

"We bring two messages. One – The Fey Monarch Nasa has returned, and is gearing up for a war to take the Deadlands and end the darkrot. I would recommend seeking an alliance, as I understand you wage a similar campaign at times. The second – Monarch Nasa believes that the darkrot may come from another world, and is spreading into yours through rifts in the fabric of this realm. Their library was destroyed and is being reconstituted. We were hoping you would have information on the lost art of sealing away such rifts."
"For our own reasons, as well," Boots added. "And yes, we are those three." She gave her sister a kiss on her biggest boo-boo and sealed it.
Lay on Hands for... 40.

[Valmark]

"A paladin- although laying lips is an unhortodox method" the lich said with disgust (at the paladin part) "What's darkrot?"

"The corruption. What turns creatures into darklings"

"Ah... That's... Mmm, it would explain something. I never heard of any 'lost art' but I may be able to go somewhere where it has to be if it exist" the Queen mused "I trust you've heard of the Infinite Library? At least one of you?"

[Xihirli]

"Yes, Queen," Alifa said. "Though I lack the talent to make it there myself... for now."

Boots was not used to all the paladin hate.

[Valmark]

"Interesting. Any major enemy you've made?" the Lich Queen inquired "The Library is not as safe as it sounds- the Guardian defends those who want to study in it, but he's just the one person ultimately. Have enough enemies willing to risk it and powerful enough to get there and you'll put us both in danger"

[Xihirli]

"Oh, yeah. Abadaius seems to have sent his entire cult after us specifically," Alifa said. "We're from another realm and I guess that makes him angry."

[Valmark]

The lich stared. Her dead eyes still managed to show how foolish she considered the words she just heard.

Though she didn't seem surprised in the slightest at hearing 'hey I've realm jumped'.

"So... You're enemies of the second angriest god in the universe and want to go to the Library. Funny. Well, since you did expose the Phantom I'll be gentle and go there to find out information for you as well" Serendipity said, seemingly thinking about going alone.

[Xihirli]

"Thank you," Alifa said with a nod. She didn't want to add too much... if the Lich Queen was willing to help, there was no need to push their luck.

[Valmark]

"Good. Knight" she turned to her follower and pointed at the army of ghosts "I leave them in your care- go and cleanse every trave of the fool's work" at that, the Knight Vassal headed towards the castle.

Boots noticed something at the corner of her eye- a tall figure wrappes in a black robe, insanely thin- the hood was pulled over, and she could see a crimson smile with teeth bared under it.
"Real shame- I looked forward to you visiting the Library. No matter... There's more then one way to skin a cat" a coin was flipped in her direction.
"I was about to bet on your sister's demise so you won that gold- enjoy it. Don't tell anybody until tonight please~"

Nobody else seemed to have noticed anything- except a gold coin apparently falling out of one of Boots' pocket.

[Xihirli]

Is not telling people the favor? Boots asked. Cuz if not I'm gonna tell everyone.

[Valmark]

Boots heard a mixture between the racous laughter of a drunken men and the whimpering of an abandoned puppy.
"You're way funnier then your sister, I like you. Sure, tell everybody, that's not the favor- it'll be all the more amus- mh, I'm required elsewhere" and the figure dissipated.

The Lich turned back at them "Anything else?"

[Xihirli]

"Hm? Well, I don’t know if this is important, but this being that is all red and happy is talking to me and helped keep the Phantom still for a second and expects a favor in return."
Alifa thought about that critical moment… "The crimson smile?"
"Could’ve been."

[Valmark]

"The Crimson Smile..." the lich repeated, looking at Alifa and Boots with curiosity.

"That is quite curious- he's barely known, but from what is known he doesn't try to coerce people into helping them unless he's been angered- that said, he is an atypical god. Can you think of any reason he wouldn't just help you normally?" she asked, curiosity picked- it seemed that the Crimson Smile was a topic of interest for her.

[Xihirli]

"I assumed he had some sort of rivalry with Abadaius– law versus chaos and all of that. Aside from our outsider status, I suppose we are half-fey, and are chaotic creatures ourselves. Perhaps he wants to stake his claim on us."
"Plus I guess we’ve drawn a bit of attention from those paying it… we rescued a Fey Monarch, drove a crazy Druid who was kidnapping fairies off of Faerie, befriended a giant insect Queen and got her to join Lucilla, freed a dragon struggling with Darkrot."
"And I released a demon lord that Abadaius’s clergy had kept captive. That seemed to be what drew his eye in the first place."

[Valmark]

"That was a lot of information- some of which quite curious. Feys are not known to be friendly with gods, at least not our gods, but I suppose when you're kicked out by everybody else you have to make do" the lich shrugged "What was the name of the dragon? Where can I find it?"

[Xihirli]

"Why do you ask?" Boots asked. "You're not going to turn it into an undead, are you?"
"Forgive her, she's not very tactful. But it's true that the dragon didn't give us permission to give out any information."

[Valmark]

"I will not forgive" Serendipity's jaw clenched staring at Boots "I fought alongside dragons in the war, paladin. Many of them were my friends- them and their riders. So no. I don't want to transform someone who I probably exchanged stories with around a campfire when I was still alive into a moving corpse or inflict eternal torment on its soul- believe it, there's more to necromancy then going around murdering people to rise them- hope nobody dear to you ever dies, because you'll be turning to necromancy to resurrect them" she tapped the staff, air breaking into green flames that ate her up transporting the Lich Queen elsewhere.

Well unless you can Counterspell her.

[Xihirli]

Alifa let her go.
"There are a lot of words to exchange, Boots. But maybe from now on you don’t talk to people you personally dislike when we need their help. I’ll Send to Figrikhariz after we take a breather, see if she’s alright with us sharing her information with the Lich Queen, and I’ll try to smooth things over with her."
"We don’t need her, Alifa."
"Were you paying attention thirty seconds ago? This is no place for a ‘never flinch on my ideals’ Paladin and you know that. Or you did when you bargained with an unknown entity without understanding the consequences."
Alifa sat down and started making the dome.
"I’m going to contact Figrikhariz and get this sorted out. And then I’m going to help the Lich Queen and Nasa close their rift so we can close ours. If you don’t want to help me, go… I don’t know, wait in Fiamma’s Queendom with Ethrindae."
Boots gasped. "I… I saved your life!"
"Maybe so, Boots! But if you’re going to antagonize the only person who can visit the library for me I can’t let you near her!"
"Like you didn’t need me near Malyanna when she sent you to this world with the beak guy and no actual solution to our problem!? When she sent you here to die for her research? Like you didn’t need me when you ran off on your own and released a demon?"
"YES!" Alifa said. "Yes, like that! I don’t need you to protect me from Malyanna, and I don’t need you to protect me from making my own decisions! I’m not a child anymore, Boots! I’m an adult! A damn powerful adult! Now are you going to keep civil around the Lich Queen or am I going to have to find a way to ditch you?"
Boots stiffened her lip. "I… can be civil."
"Great." Alifa went back to putting up the dome. Boots stormed off before it was done.

[Valmark]

Kathleyîënis looked panicky as the two split off, then decided that Boots wouldn't go too far without her sister and sat down near Alifa.
"...I...am not sure wether it's appropriate to talk about what just happened" she said, shifting awkwardly keeping her hands on her bow.
Boots soon felt an owl's chirp as Hootie followed her, flying awkwardly around her unsure if he could land on the houri. But she was otherwise alone.

[Xihirli]

"No, go ahead. I value your opinion," Alifa said.


Boots lifted her arm to let the owl perch on her shoulder. "Hi, Hootie," she said. And then she started to cry.

[Valmark]

"Understood" and Kat fell silent for a good minute, thinking about what exactly to say.
"Oots is protective and loves you a lot. And based on my observation she has always been protective- and even spoke for you, as I understand it. It may have been not the best way, but screaming your hearts out -homewever brief it was- might help her come to terms with the fact that you are not a little kid any longer, and can make your choices and look after yourself. Said that... I think you both should apologize to one another. At the end of the day she is motivated by your bond- and it's not by 'ditching' her that either of you will make a step forward. Screaming at her that she's unneeded may have been too much" Kat said, looking away as she thought about something else.

"I have spent all of my life actively keeping my peers and social relationships with them away from my person- so I should suggest you take my words with a grain of salt'
Hootie couldn't talk, so he just hugged Boots' head with his wings, patting her with familiar intelligence.

[Xihirli]

Alifa smiled at Kat. "Can I hug you?" She asked.


Boots sank down onto her knees and cried into her hands for a bit, dropping her shield in front of her. Ethrindae, she thought. Ethrindae, my sister hates me and I don't know what to do.
I'm messing with spell slots and sorcery points. By using up my last spell slot and all my sorcery points I can get one Sending off.

[Valmark]

"...I don't feel the need to keep this specific social relationship away from my person" Kat said and spread her arms in an awkward way to hug Alifa.
She doesn't. But you need to recognize that she isn't weak, nor does she need a protector. I'm sure she wants the sister she loves-

In mere moments a Sending came from Firaga.
'So much to treat her as equal and recognize her strenght' says Ethrindae. I swear she needs to learn Sending herself.

[Xihirli]

Alifa hugged Kat tightly but not for very long – baby steps, no need to pin her into it.


Tell her... tell her thank you. And I love her. Boots kept crying for a little while, petting Hootie as a therapy owl. Finally she picked up her shield, stood up and headed back toward Alifa.


Alifa stepped outside of the dome, dispelling it immediately to run up to her sister and hug her tight. In surprise, Boots hugged her back.
"I don't know if I'll need you for the rest of this, Boots... but I still want you here! I love you, Boots. And I don't want you to go away."
"I... thank you, Alifa. I... I love you, too. So much. I don't... Alifa, when I was a kid, and... a lot of times, I've had this dream. A nightmare. Where you were drowning, and I tried to save you, but you kept diving back underwater."
Alifa squeezed her sister. "I can breathe underwater, Boots. I'm not drowning, I'm swimming. But... you're welcome to swim with me."
"I... I'd like that."
"Thank you for coming, Boots."
"...Thank you for having me, Alifa. Let's face the rest of this together."
Alifa stood on tiptoe and kissed Boots right on the nose. "Let's."
After a LONG hug, she put the dome back up and cuddled up against Boots to get in a nap while Boots stroked her hair, smiling.

[Valmark]

Kat petted her owl, smiling at the sisters- the hug had been too tight for her taste, but overall she was happy that everything had solved.
"So... Back to the castle of Tad until something happens?" she asked... Eventually. She wanted to leave space to them.

If you wanna short rest go ahead- and also DC 15 Con saves from the poison of the green clouds. Probably not gonna matter but it's still there.

Kat [roll0]

[Xihirli]

Got it.
Alifa[roll0]
Boots [roll1]

Oh and Alifa [roll2] let's heal some.

Alifa sat up after her nap. "Yeah. Let me get three Phantom Steeds up and then we can get going."
She wove a few more phantom steeds from poisonous gas they could ride, their bodies sickly green clouds whispering their desire to kill their riders.
"Alright, let's go."

Along the way, Alifa Sent to Figrikhariz.
We have met Serendipity, the Lich Queen. She wants to know your name, location. She is an Enemy of Darklings. Okay to tell her?

[Valmark]

"This Steed has an attitude"

Along the way to the castle Alifa got a reply.Ooooh Serendipity! How is she? She became a lich? That's so sad! Well I guess after what happened she didn't have a lot of use- and the Sending got cut off as Fig got excited at hearing newd about the Lich Queen.

[Xihirli]

Alifa shot another Sending to Serendipity. Spoke to Figrikhariz: seems excited to meet you again. She is north of Lucilla's Inner Crossing, with Silverling Tribe. Sister's sorry, can we talk soon?

"Well, they're made of poison that wants to kill us so that's to be expected."

[Valmark]

Sure, I'll talk to your half of the group. And... Thank you.

Eventually they got back to the castle- nobody was there to greet them, though the gargoyles opened the doors just as well.

[Xihirli]

Boots led the way in. "Is Dethera in?" she asked a gargoyle. "And should we have grabbed Tad’s weapons and armor before he reformed?"

[Valmark]

The gargoyle stared.

An heavily armored skeleton with a spark of intelligence behind its eyes stood hearing 'Dethera', and nodded at Boots with a big, bony smile. Asking about 'Tad' didn't seem to provoke any reaction though.

[Xihirli]

"Can you take us to Dethera?" Alifa prompted the skeleton.

[Valmark]

The skeleton clanked showing them the way down to the familiar lab- it was easy to spot Dethera, observing a small trinket that was projecting three images. A drop of blood, what looked like pink blood and a tiny, rainbow colored shimmering. There was also the fresh carcass of an exploded bat near her.

As they got close Dethera turned and exclaimed "Glad you're alive! When I saw that Taddeus was in his tomb and no sign if you I started getting worried! Dead or alive it'd be a waste of bodies if you didn't come back"

[Xihirli]

"Gee, thanks."
"What happens to his weapons and armor and stuff?" Boots asked, and went right in for a kiss.

[Valmark]

Dethera was more then happy to kiss.
"Oh, probably somebody will bring back the important bits- he does keep a reserve spellbook for cases like this, so it doesn't truly matter. Anything else can be thrown away- he has awful fashion sense. Anyway! Look here!" the necromancer put on a glove and lifted the bat corpse, showing it up close to the others "I managed to isolate something weird for a couple moments in your blood- after getting the timing down I tried injecting it into a bat. Any of your family is a fire elemental or something? It burned right up"

[Xihirli]

Boots frowned. "Uh, no, not unless you think all primordials are related that way."
"They’re not."
"No, no fire elementals in my bloodline. What else could have happened?"

[Valmark]

"Oh, mine was a random guess. A phoenix, a wildfire, whatever you have in your world that could make that" she pointed to the miniscule rainbow shimmering projection "And also make babies. And also burn things. So I suppose not a wildfire, though I'm open to be surprised"

[Xihirli]

"Maybe my grandmother. She’s a prismatic sylph whose magic is often expressed as different colors of fire."
"The half-god by birth, Overgod by title one."

[Valmark]

"That would make sense. There's certainly something there- I don't know if I have the instruments or the expertise to do anything useful with it, but there's definitely something" Dethera clapped her hands "So, how did it go on your end?"

[Xihirli]

"Pretty lousy."
"Can’t complain."
"We at least managed to get to the Lich Queen. The Phantom got corrupted by darkrot and she helped us put him down."

[Valmark]

"As I always say, if you managed to get the corpse who cares if it lost an eye?" Dethera put the bat body down, taking off her gloves before wrapping her arms around Boots' neck "You know your rooms, so if there's nothing else how about you and I check if we can make sparks another way?"

[Xihirli]

"Having just seen you handle a dead bat, how can I refuse?" Boots kissed her and picked her up, heading to Dethera’s room.
Alifa chuckled.
"Come on Kat, I want to get to sleep soon… I think the Lich Queen is going to Dream me. Can you make sure nothing happens while I’m asleep? I don’t like being vulnerable in these lands…"

[Valmark]

"Very well. I'm happy to say that pure elves aren't plagued by this risk" Kat nodded, following Alifa- once in the bedroom Kat sat down with her back along the wall, changing into lighter clothes as she started trancing on the ground.
Dethera winked at Boots.

"Wait to see how I handle a living bat"

Anything else you wanna do before trying to long rest?

[Xihirli]

Nope! All done!

[Valmark]

That night, Alifa had a Dream.

They were in the throne room of a bleak looking fortress, black jagged walls with barbed prongs threatening to hurt anybody who got too close- Serendipity was there, but she wasn't sitting on the throne. She was standing next to it, and various weaponry had been jammed into the seat breaking it apart.
"You wanted to speak"
Boots stood on an hilltop overlooking a jungle. Giant insects, dinosaurs and unknown animals prowled around, the sky setting on the horizon illuminating a tall spiraling white tower of unrecognizable manifacture that nearly reached the paladin's altitude. At least unrecognizable to Boots- the continous, even circular shapes looked a lot like Abadaius' temple structure.

The entity she had glimpsed previously now stood in full view, hunched over like an old person as it stared at the tower.
"My favor" it extended a limb -a blurry shifting form, first a tentacle, then a hand, then a spider's limb, then everything together and so on- towards the tower "Free the one imprisoned within"

[Xihirli]

"I assumed you would want a more detailed report than we were able to provide before," Alifa said. "The Demon Lord Graax was imprisoned by Abadaius for many days and gave them much information, but has agreed to come aid us against Abadaius when we call. Their stronghold was underwater, and an extra planar area all of its own. It was held in place on the Material by a tuning fork. We have killed two Judges, Astios and Burian. Astios has returned to life, leading us to more thoroughly dispose of the bodies. Abadaius has taken to low tactics, going after those we have helped to get to us – so fair warning, that may be here at some point… though I doubt it.
Those who serve Abadaius most zealously are armed with magic items that are useless to anyone not a follower of Abadaius. Another low tactic they have dropped to is aiding the truly perverse… a Druid who was kidnapping fey and fusing them with metal to craft abominations. I don’t believe I’ve left out much of interest to you, but you are free to ask questions." Alifa took a breath.
"The other reason I wanted to speak was to offer a more thorough apology on behalf of my sister. She had just been threatened by a ghost trying to turn me into a darkling undead, so that was fresh on her mind. And where we come from, we had never heard of a Lich dedicated to fighting evil and protecting the living as you are. I beg you to accept her slight as ignorance rather than malicious. Her oath is not against undead, but the dark disease that plagues this realm you and her both love. She will defend this world as fiercely as any native would, and any enemy of the Darkling Curse is lucky to have her around. And I’ve talked to her about being civil. So with that I extend an apology on her behalf, and hope we can start over with no ill blood between my family and yours."


Boots understood that she was in a dream, and probably not expected to march up to the tower right that second.
"Where is this? And what does the person imprisoned in the tower look like?"

[Valmark]

The Lich Queen listened silently, nodding along a few times.

"So that's why Graax wasn't talking anymore" she chuckled "He must be pissed. Astios and Burian... Never heard of them, but there again Abadaius' followers don't pass by much" she had no reaction to hearing about the evil druid.

Give me a Persuasion check regarding the apology.
"If you believe the world to be round it's roughly on the opposite side of the stone circle in the Inner Lands- there's a swampy Crossing a few leagues off so that you don't have to cross half the world. You're a friend of feys, right?" the entity looked pensive, then added "I think it looks like a muscular, ten feet earth genasi- but I could be wrong, it's been so long. You'll recognize it as the only prisoner that is free to leave"

[Xihirli]

"Real pissed," Alifa said.
[roll0]
"Alright, good to know. I’ll talk to Alifa in the morning about how soon we can head that way."

[Valmark]

The lich sighed and patted the throne.
"I... Admit that I'm a bit too biased. There was a paladin I put a lot of faith in once" she said "Everybody did. And... Well, he failed. It was a heart filled with pain that I ripped out of me- but... Your sister is not him, I suppose. I will... Keep an open mind" then her jaw clacked in what must be dissatisfaction "I don't see the point in accepting undeath with anything but a desire to help others forever- the liches of your world leave much to be desired"

Although I think she'd cut Osterneth some slack.
"Great! Don't fail- what was given shall be taken back if the condition is not met" the entity produced a handful of buttons- they looked like the one Alifa had found in her pocket "These will help you enter it. And bring something to see invisibility with- this tower is not visible in the naked eye" and after the next blink of her eyes Boots was back in Dethera's bed, the necromancer snoring clung to Boots. The paladin had the buttons in her hand.

[Xihirli]

"Thank you," Alifa said. "I expect me and Clephesia will be on the move pretty soon… going after Abadaius’s bloodhounds, probably. Can I ask that you contact us when you are ready to campaign against the Darklings again? Me and my sister would be happy to help, as would I assume Nasa and Fiamma."


"I hope you know what happens to people who try to hurt my sister," Boots said, suddenly serious when he mentioned taking back.
Then she put the buttons where her armor was and gently kissed Dethera awake to see how much she really wanted to sleep.

[Valmark]

"I will certainly do so. Speaking of which... I know of one other ally we can turn to" the lich mused "Well, several, but only one I know personally. Part of the 67th Ring- the archdevil Sorei, known among his peers for the brutality of his magic and blade and patron of many eldritch knights. He has long since recognized the threat darklings could be to other planes if they found a way to travel- but he's second in command to another archdevil undeserving of his title. The only reason he hasn't been able to seize power is that being devils open rebellion would just see him kicked out of the Ring into a demonic one" she said "If someone free to travel could help him ascend to the throne then we could very likely mount a full scale invasion rather then this... Defensive fighting we've been doing"
Dethera could do with less sleeping.

[Xihirli]

"How would I get to the hells?" Alifa asked. "Or travel between them afterwards?"

[Valmark]

"If you can't get there yourself come to my capital- I shall open a door for you to travel. Really anybody who can travel between planes can get there easily- every Ring is normally accessible through teleportation, so maybe there's a fey queen versed in magic you can talk to as well. Otherwise... Don't know" the Queen shrugged.

[Xihirli]

"Then I’ll see you when we’re ready to go to the hells. Thank you for your help today… and for defending this world." Alifa smiled at Serenity. "If our liches we’re like you, I don’t think my Lala would have had such a rough time before marrying my mom."

I am ready for morning.

[Valmark]

"I might be telling you the same thing soon enough" and with a snap Alifa was back in her bed, Kat trancing next to it.
The next morning, Alifa woke up to a fully geared up Kathleyîënis reading at the desk while Boots woke up in exactly the same way she had woken up during the night- with a snoring Dethera in her arms.

And there were bells sounding, which were making Dethera frowning in her sleep.
"I, Taddeus Parsimmon Vassimius Emerhet the III, am alive once again! Well, unalive!" an happy baron yelled through the halls.

[Xihirli]

Alifa sat up and cleaned up.
"Good morning, Kat." She started putting her armor on. "We’re probably going somewhere. Boots has to do her favor, but if she doesn’t have it yet… the hells."


Boots kissed the necromancer in her arms. "Hey, cutie. Do you know the nearest crossing to the feywild around here?"

[Valmark]

"The plane of Pain, Despair where Everything Sucks?" Kat asked looking up with confusion "Why? How? Isn't there only one of them?"
Dethera blinked the sleep away and took a looooong time answering.
"Mmm... I think those hot springs bound north are actually a Crossing to the Volcano Lands?" she said frowning "You'll have to leave the Deathlands, going northovest. Can't mistake them, they're right in the middle of the plains- and when there is a piece of land that looks completely random it's the fey's fault"
Meanwhile they heard bony clapping as skeleton and other undeads started clapping in time, drummers joining the fanfare.
"As beautiful, powerful and paleful as before if not more!" bats chirped following his words.

Let's see if the undead band plays better this time.
Performance [roll0]

[Xihirli]

"Where I’m from, there were a lot. Then only one. But we have a potential ally at the 67th circle of hell. A way to maybe destroy the darkrot at its source."


"Thanks, darling." Boots gave her another kiss before sitting up. "I’ll probably be heading that way today."


Both princesses popped outside at the racket, Alifa clothed. "Welcome back, Tad."

[Valmark]

"Fiendish Rings. Hell's the plane of Goenna, the Goddess of Despair born from those who wish for death after losing everything they had" Kat corrected her.
Taddeus was on a palanquin moved by ghouls, a fanfare of skeletons and zombies preceding and following him playing various instruments.
"Morning princesses! I, Taddeus Parsimmon Vassimius Emerhet the III, hope you had a good sleep! Glad you survived!"

Dethera peered from behind Boots to check if the undeads were fine, then went back inside to get more dressed.

[Xihirli]

"Glad to have you back!" Alifa said.
"I need to go handle something way far away," Boots said. "Passing through the feywild."
"Sounds good. We can ask Ethrindae for directions on the way if you only have a general idea," Alifa said.
Boots smiled and hugged her.
"Now put on some clothes."

[Valmark]

"No need!" Dethera called.
"Yes need" Kat corrected her.
"Oh easy for you to say, you travel with her"

"Uff. If we are to go to the Feywild it should be easy to get there- once out of the Deathlands I should recognize the roads"

[Xihirli]

Boots went into Dethera’s room to get her clothes. "Last looks!" she called to the necromancer.
She came out dressed. "Alright. Thank you for all your help, Taddeus. I hope we meet again soon." She headed outside to reach for Tilly yet again. She thought of fire, and Fiamma. And Aizu. "Come on back, Tilly!"

[Valmark]

"Never the last with some well-applied necromancy! Remember to Send to me if something really bad happens!"

*****

And her elklinnarsalamander came to life, Tilly scrambling on her new legs dragging around the longest tail she ever had- she run circles, getting accustomed to the new way to walk before leaping and tackling Boots, licking her with an hot raspy tongue before staring with her new big bulbous eyes.
This body is so weird! And this place is kinda cold!

Notably, she seemed kind of slow compared to linnars, elks or even the salamanders Boots saw in Fiamma's Territory.

[Xihirli]

"I’ll get a Phantom Steed ready!" Alifa called.
"Well, while that’s happening… I missed you. Yes I did!" Boots started scratching Tilly behind the eyes.

[Valmark]

djfjxowpfjskal

That and more gibberish came from Tilly as she went putty in Boots' care, slumping down with eyes half closed and waving a leg like a dog getting tickled.

"Hey I think you broke your Steed" mentioned Kat.

[Xihirli]

"No… not yet!" Boots kept scratching and kissed Tilly on the head. "I wuv you, Tilly! You’re a good girl, aren’t you?"

[Valmark]

Kfowoap Tilly tried her hardest to reply- nah she didn't, just happily took the kiss and scratches which her new salamander body just loved while murmuring nonsense telepathically.

[Xihirli]

"Such a good girl." Boots kept up the scratches until Alifa was finished making another nightmare steed that dripped blood with every step.
"Ready?"

[Valmark]

"Sure"

Eh? What? Oh right yeah sure Tilly shook a bit and stood up, ready to go.

Confirming that you're heading for the Crossing to Fiamma's Territory?

[Xihirli]

Yep!

Boots mounted up and Alifa got in behind her, hugging her sister.
"Don't worry, Boots. We'll figure this Crimson Smile thing out lickety split."
"It wants us to **** up an Abadaius Tower. I'm more than happy to. Oh, and prepare See Invisibility."
"I will... I have something in mind for it, if it's important." Alifa's eyes glinted with malice.

[Valmark]

And so they headed north and a little bit ovest- soon, after a couple days they found themselves out of the Deathlands which was easily recognizable by the fact that the lands, free of any kind of necrotic energies, immediately looked more fertile- even the grass was greener.

On the second night, Kat spoke to them before the group went to sleep.
"The Inner Lands are essentially split in four- the kingdom we met in, ruled by the alleged descendants of the First Hero. South of it, the other kingdom that together formed the empire that was destroyed during the war- essentially the same, but they respect the Second Hero. There was some infighting and they managed to tear thenselves apart" Kathleyîënis shrugged "Ovest of that, the Deathlands. And north this one- essentially the elven lands. You can find elves everywhere but they are mostly concentrated here- especially high elves, since many of them are insufferable snot-nosed rich brats" the high elf spat out venomously "We'll be heading for the heart of the land, near where the major school of magic is located- there we'll find the hot springs. It may be that seeing you're half-elves somebody might try to stop you from accessing them- keep in mind that nobody has neither the autorithy nor the skill to keep you away. People in that area are just a bunch of self-entitled idiots"

It did not take much intelligence to guess that Kat didn't like the place.

[Xihirli]

"I'm not a half-elf," Alifa said.
"Yeah, we're like a quarter elf. And who would keep me away from a hot spring? It's practically named after me!""
"Have you been here before, Kat?"

[Valmark]

"Right, quarter elves" Kat sighed "Born and raised, at least until I ran away. I told you about how I followed my teacher as an assistant- well, he used to teach at said school. He wasn't well seen due to being a dragonborn, but nobody could find a better oracle. And I used to be a student- tecnically still am, as I need at least a hundred and fifty years before I'm allowed to leave the school" the elf smirked.

"Not that they managed to stop me"

[Xihirli]

Boots grinned. "Oh, Kat's a rebel. Nice."

"We've always known that, Boots."
"We have?"
"Not this exactly, but that she was a rebel for sure." Alifa smiled at her. "Alright, if no one can stop us let's head straight for the crossing."

[Valmark]

"Rebel" Kat repeated it to herself considering the title.

In the next days they traveled through the elven lands. It was immediately obvious that their 'villages' were the equivalent of small towns- according to Kat their longevity had allowed the elves to retain much of their culture and craft after the war, where most other races had lost many of their adults and elderly leaving them with way less means to recover- that and the fact that elves slept half the time.

They saw many of the elven races they were familiar with, though the majority were high elves and they found no trace of drows or shadar-kais, though wether they didn't exist wasn't clear. And everybody used magic- sun elves making lights and keeping roads illuminated, wood elves growing the fields and so on.

Despite what Kat had said they didn't attract many looks at first- as they got deeper in land, the looks increased. Kat's humor got darker as well- her discomfort looking at her kin was directly proportional to the number of (high) elves around.

On the third day they got to the bigger city yet- tall, pearl white walls protected the city of Ithiryllis, the capital built in the Eternal Woods. Within, they'd find the hot springs fueled by the Crossing to Fiamma's lands.
Two elven guards moved in front of the gates to stop them.
"Halt! Who g-" one started, and Kat spurred her Steed in a gallop and vaulted right above the two guards, one of which had the scare of her life as a hoof flew very close to her head.

Kathleyîënis turned around and smiled at the sisters, motioning them to follow.

[Xihirli]

"Bye," Boots said, casting Fly on Tilly and having her soar right overhead of the guards.
"Thank you for welcoming us to your city!"
And once they were past she called down to Kat: "Wouldn't it have been easier to go around the city?"

[Valmark]

"Maybe. Road's more direct this way though" Kat replied "Also I wouldn't have gotten to scare a guard" she waited in case there were complaints.

[Xihirli]

"This is the hottest you've ever been."
"But mostly that's cool. Let's get going!"

[Valmark]

"Thanks. Let's"

The trio (well, six considering the two familiars and Tilly) headed down the street- Kat had only a little trouble picking out the way, as the roads had slightly changed. Passing by a great building with spellcasters practicing magic in the courtyard they heard Kat mumble "If this was my school... Then rounding the corner..." she took a right and sure enough there was a big gate. Past it they could see the road kept going, but while on one side there was grass and trees on the other there seemed to be the beginning of burned earth.

Kathleyîënis came to a halt, her eyes fixed not on the road ahead but on a group of elven youths who seemed to be around her age on the side of the street. She got down from her Steed.
"Go ahead. I'll join you soon" she said, before a shroud of magic covered her turning the elf invisible.

[Xihirli]

"Uh… I don’t know which way to go."
"Follow Hootie." Alifa pointed to the owl.
Which way?

[Valmark]

I wasn't born when she lived here! Hootie flew high, hooted and flew back down evidently having picked up the road as it flew through the gate ahead of them and turned right where they could see burned earth.

[Xihirli]

They followed on Tilly.
Oh, my mistake. Still, thanks Hootie.

[Valmark]

Rounding the corner, the two found the hot springs immediately past the gates. The ground was burned up, and streams of hot water departed from a great gate of boiling lava- the streams fed into pools where many elves bathed, in costumes while their clothes were watched over by a bunch of guards. The moment Tilly was above the ground changed by the Crossing she dove for it, partially sinking as the sisters were jolted back a bunch at the sudden accelleration- Tilly was on her natural habitat.

Wo-hoo! I'm on fire!

Then an elf in light armor barred their way.
"I'm afraid your... Creature is disturbing the quiet" he said, a few frowns thrown their way "I insist you leave"

[Xihirli]

"Yeah, we were just on our way out." Boots pointed to the crossing. "So.... if you want us to leave stop keeping us?"

[Valmark]

The elf frowned.
"B-" and then was knocked aside as Kat ran by, invisibility dropping from her while the sisters heard angry shouting behind them- the elves they had seen before, the ones Kathleyîënis was staring at, came into view shouting "Thief! Thief!" And one particular woman yelling "Kathleyîënis you *****!"

Unfortunately for them, there was no way to stop Kat as she bolted for the Crossing- she only stopped in front of it, turning around and staring at the one that had insulted her lifting what looked like a spellbook that the sisters could be sure their friends didn't have before.
"This contains the fruits of your school work right!?" and she threw it into a pool, the book devoid of protective casing immediately getting soaked and ruined- Boots and Alifa heard a shrill cry of hate, and a laughing Kat jumped into the Crossing.

[Xihirli]

Alifa gasped, looking at the book.
Boots just hooted out a laugh and directed Tilly into the crossing.
Mommy, I'm coming.

[Valmark]

Nobody stopped them, what with Tilly rocketing forward and many just wanting the chaos to go away and go back to enjoy the water.

Crossing the... Well, Crossing, Boots and Alifa found themselves in on the side of a volcano, not far from the Caldera. Kathleyîënis was only a dozen feet away- she had sat down and was perusing through a bunch of purses, books and other objects, grabbing what looked valuable and tossing it into the lava- though anything that looked usable for spellcasting -except spellbooks- had been set aside.
Spotting them Kat waved and said "I figured we could keep the gem for Cromatic Orb and the incense for a Find Familiar"

[Xihirli]

Alifa ran forward and tackled her. "Stop burning spell books! What are you doing!?"

[Valmark]

Kat didn't oppose resistance.
"I used to go to school with them" she explained looking only a little guilty for making Alifa mad "They'd make fun of me for not being good with magic- insults, pranks. I showed them who got better at magic" and now looked pretty proud of herself.

"Those are spellbooks written by pathetic useless brats with only a handful of weak spells, I haven't actually destroyed something precious. Not precious to anybody who matters- and I know they use a little trick to track them down, so if they have the courage to traverse the Crossing... They won't even find ash"

[Xihirli]

Alifa quickly looked over the spellbooks, then she took a deep breath and dropped one in the lava. "Okay... fine."
"Holy..."

[Valmark]

Kat beamed happily.
"Would it be uncomfortable to hug right now?"

[Xihirli]

Alifa gave her a soft, not-very-tight hug. "Not a problem, Kat. Whenever you need one."

[Valmark]

"Thank you" Kat said, hugging her the same way. Then she kicked the last things into the lava and stood with the gem and the incense "So... This is Faerie. Where are we going from here?" she asked, while her gaze was attracted by a bunch of salamander riding feys and the general feel of the place.
"Hot"

Speaking of hot, Tilly stared at the lava stream.
Can I take a minute?

[Xihirli]

"Sure thing, Tilly," Boots said.
"Our next step is to stop by Fiamma's to get directions to the crossing of... hm. Do you think Fiamma would let Kat in without a trial?"
"Oh. Crap. I forgot about that."
"Maybe you could go in, and me and Kat could set up camp?"
"And where will you get your water? I'm sure we can get Kat in."
"Well, we can try. So the main plan is to get directions from Fiamma to the crossing to... any specifics, Boots?"
"Uh... 'on the opposite side of the stone circle in the Inner Lands...' The crossing near there should be swampy. So probably the cannibal queen's lands."
"No problem, she seems to mostly want to avoid us."

[Valmark]

Tilly took a minute to bathe into the lava, making weird gurgling sounds that seemed to mean happiness.

Reaching the Caldera nothing seemed to happen- at least until the two fire giants stopped them, Firaga standing outside smiling as they approached.

"Mother has said 'it's about time you fight somebody somewhat powerful'' he quoted "Which, aside from the personal offense, means that these two are to be your enemies. She also said 'No kiting, smartass' which I believe was referring to Princess Alifa"

Yeah Fiamma just wants to see a good brawl, you've been away for so long.

I'm using fire giants exactly how they are in the PHB.

Initiative!
[roll0]-1 each, since there's only two enemies I'll be moving them separately.
Kat! You're level 8 now so [roll1] you have 18 Dex.

[Xihirli]

Seeing the fire giants approach, Boots and Alifa gave each other a glance.
Initiative! Guidance!
Boots: [roll0]+[roll1]
Alifa: [roll2][roll3]
"Alright, Firaga. Let's **** up some giants."

[Xihirli]

Alifa pointed up and a star twinkled for a second. The twinkling then reappeared next to one of the giants, stardust coming together.
"Transcending five thousand years time, the doors of the abominable will open once more. May your soul be the food of the new world! Advent, Warrior of Stardust!"

"Ooh, summoning chants. I like it. Are you gonna use those from now on?"

"That's the plan," Alifa said as the stardust clustered together into the rough shape of a humanoid, a chill coming over it to freeze the matter in place where it needed to be.
"Well that one was awesome! So he's like made of stars so maybe... Illumi-naughty?"
"Illumi-naughty, attack!"
Alifa got off of Tilly and backed away, letting Illumi-naughty handle one giant for now.


Illumi-naughty, summoned with a level 5 slot:
Whispering Aura
[roll0] Psychic

Attack! Extra d8 is Cold
[roll1]; [roll2]+[roll3]
[roll4]; [roll5]+7 crit +[roll6]+8 crit

[Valmark]

"All fey queens like pitting their guests against their soldiers?" Kat frowned and pulled out a pepper, which she fed to Hootie "Go"

The owl flew by the giant Illumi-naughty attacked, took a deep breath... And spewed a cone of cold that engulfed the giant, while Kat shot an arrow right into his gut, backpedaling as she got a few feet behind Boots.

Kat will use Dragon's Breath on Hootie, who then proceeds to breath [roll0] cold damage on the wounded giant, which she then shoots.
[roll1] dex save against DC 14 to halve.

Attack!
[roll2] [roll3]+[roll4] mixed piercing/radiant damage.


"What dreadful spells you're using, makes me shiver" Firaga lamented looking at the cold.

The wounded giant roared angrily, cleaving into the star spawn twice with a massive burning greatsword.
The other one instead charged right at Boots, though his eyes were fixed on Kat.

On Illumi-naughty!
[roll5] damage [roll6] slashing
[roll7] damage [roll8] slashing

On Boots!
[roll9] damage [roll10] slashing
[roll11] damage [roll12] slashing

Then it's you.

[Xihirli]

"Only Fiamma."
"Yeah, she **** *** ******** ** ****."

"It's been awhile since I've used my sword..." Boots considered, but took out her whip. "But I also like hitting things with you." She went for the giant's chest with her whip, and brought in a flowery face from behind to kiss it.

Alifa mulled over the giant fighting Illumi-naughty. She left those two alone even as a club slammed into the star stuff and pointed to the one fighting Boots. Reality fractured with cracks on the giant's head as she shot.


Boots!
SPIRITUAL WEAPON
[roll0]; [roll1]

WHIP
[roll2]; [roll3]
[roll4]; [roll5]

Alifa!
[roll6]; [roll7] force
[roll8]; [roll9] force

Illumi-naughty, summoned with a level 5 slot:
Whispering Aura
[roll10] Psychic

Attack! Extra d8 is cold!
[roll11]; [roll12]+[roll13]
[roll14]; [roll15]+[roll16]

[Valmark]

Wis save [roll0]


Kat kept shooting to help out the abomination, with Hootie breathing ice on it.
"I don't like this Queen" she seemed about to back off again, but then Firaga warned "No kiting, that's the rule" and the elf frowned and stood still.


The first fire giant is bloodied!
Kat and Hootie are gonna keep wailing on it.
[roll1] to halve [roll2] cold damage.
Arrow! [roll3] [roll4]+[roll5]


While one giant kept up his death dance with the Spawn, the other one moved past Boots charging at Kat, who gritted her teeth- she tried jumping behind Boots, but it didn't give her cover.


On the star spawn
[roll6] damage [roll7] slashing
[roll8] damage [roll9] slashing

Seeing how Boots is hard to hit and has missed most of her attacks, the giant will trigger an AoO as he goes after Kat who looks the easiest to take down to reduce the brunt on his partner- that means...
[roll10] damage [roll11] slashing
[roll12] damage [roll13] slashing

[Xihirli]

Claws (Slaad Only). Melee Weapon Attack: your spell attack modifier to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d10 + 3 + the spell’s level slashing damage. If the target is a creature, it can’t regain hit points until the start of the aberration’s next turn.

Slaad: extra d8 is radiant
[roll0]; [roll1]+[roll2]
[roll3]; [roll4]+[roll5]

[Xihirli]

d10s, Xi. The damage dice are d10s. [roll0] and [roll1]

[Xihirli]

"Hey!" Boots shouted as Illumi-Naughty got cracked. She aimed the whip as she did so, raking it at the giant's back. With a crack of thunder, it connected. She launched an assault on the giant's back, but did more damage to the dirt at his feet.
"Okay, that was just embarrassing."

Alifa's attention was occupied with the other giant. She this time slammed her staff into the ground. Fissures formed in it until a toad head leapt from them, hopping over on the rest of its body over to the giant that had killed Illumi-Naughty.
"Wailing audible from the depths of the darkness so thick, be wrapped in the armor of Death itself and show yourself!!"
And a long croak came from the slaad's throat as its claws raked at the giant, little explosions of light forming where the scratches connected.

[Valmark]

The giant keeled over, fire rising to protectively envelop it.

The other one was still fighting strong, so Kat ducked under his legs and pulled out a rapier- passing by she skewered his butt before tumbling away, Hootie swooping down to blast cold on the giant.

Rapier! Cold!
[roll0] against DC 14 to halve [roll1]
Attack [roll2] [roll3]+[roll4]


Seeing that his buddy had been taken down the giant turned towards the evil toad that took down his friend, deciding to take at least somebody down with him.

On the slaad!
[roll5] [roll6]
[roll7] [roll8]

Then it'll be you.

[Xihirli]

The giant was caught between Boots's whip and Alifa's beams... not an enviable position, but one that the slaad was perfectly happy to take advantage of as it raked into the pushed giant.
However, its froggy claws failed to get past the armor. But Kat had a wall of tanks between her and the giant, so that was good.

[Valmark]

The giant looked up at Hootie and seemed about to rip a piece of rock, but Firaga frowned and cautioned him "Don't be a sore loser"

At that the giant sighed- then Kat shot an arrow in his knee, showering him with cold.


Dex save! [roll0] to halve [roll1]

Attacks! [roll2] damage [roll3]+[roll4]
Potential bolt [roll5] [roll6]


The giant grunted and cut into froggie.

On the slaad:
[roll7] [roll8]
[roll9] [roll10]

He has 40 hp left before Kat attacks him, so I think you can defeat him homewever you want on your turn.

[Xihirli]

Boots's whips came up and smacked the giant into the ground.
"Alright, Firaga. Your mother better be-"
"Thank you for letting us in, Firaga."
Boots finished her sentence.

[Valmark]

Firaga rolled his eyes as the second giant was thrown down and enveloped in Fiamma's protective fire.

"Follow me"

Leading them in, foxfires came carrying a sash for Kat.
"Against the heat" he explained "By the way, what do we how this visit to?"

[Xihirli]

"We came for advice from Ethrindae."
"And guidance, looking for a particular crossing." Alifa described it as Boots had told her.

[Valmark]

"That sounds... Like the Swamps. You'll have to ask Queen Pleia- luckily, the return of Monarch Nasa has made her more... Diplomatic" as they walked in, they saw a foxfire spirit scurrying away- it was holding a key.

"Ah... Here it is. Mother decided to make it different this time" Firaga waited until the spirit disappeared around the corner.
"You're to steal the key without hurting the spirit"

"Why?"

[Xihirli]

Alifa pointed at the spirit. "Drop," she ordered.
"It’s part of the trial to gain admittance." Boots lifted a hand and squeezed, and vines sprouted to do the same to the fox.


Command: Drop from Alifa, Channel Divinity, Nature’s Wrath from Boots.
WIS save or drop the key and hold still from Alifa, STR/DEX save or be restrained (repeat save end of turn) from Boots.

[Valmark]

The foxfire dropped the key, then vines reached up and pinned it in place with an helpless yip.

Kat sauntered up, picking it up.
"...done?"
"Very well, follow me" and Firaga proceeded down the corridor.

[Xihirli]

"Sorry if that was too boring!" Boots called.
"I'm not."

[Valmark]

"You better be, that was lame. I expected it from Alifa but not you" came Fiamma's thunderous voice as they were showed into her throne- again, the fiends in her service were with her. There was also Nabar, though no sign of Ethrindae, Xvchimkx, Oegh, Elwina or Ronald.

"At least it was funny looking at you destroy a bunch of books"

[Xihirli]

"I only did it that way because I was so eager to see you as quickly as possible," Boots said, trying to smooth it over.

"Where are the rest of the circus performers?"

[Valmark]

They're away because... What was the reason again?"

"Nasa's elementals told yours to go die in a flood" filled Nabar in.

"Right. And Ethrindae's group needed the training, so I sent her to break up the fighting"

[Xihirli]

"What!?" Boots said. "But we asked them to come here for their protection! Now they've been sent into danger!? What if Abadaius attacks?" Boots shot off a Sending.
Ethrindae. Where are you? Have you seen any cultists? A tabaxi with a cape maybe?

[Valmark]

Fiamma waited for Boots' outburst to subside.

No cultists, no tabaxi. We're at the border between Fiamma's and Nasa's finishing up whipping some elementals into formation.

"I'll remind you that I can see through Ethrindae's eyes" Fiamma said "She's never out of sight. And she's also with her group and a small army of elementals" the Queen reassured her.
"Honestly not dangerous enough, I should have something prepared for when they come back- that said, I think you won't be able to keep her here for much longer. She has pleaded me to train them because it's dangerous- I don't think she's planning on sticking around for long"

[Xihirli]

"But..."
"We can't control her, Boots. You say they're coming back here?" Alifa confirmed. "We'll see them again real soon, Boots. They can handle themselves."

[Valmark]

"Yes. If it helps they're on the shortest road to Pleia's Swamps if you plan on going there- if you don't want to wait you don't even have to take a detour" Fiamma said.
"Otherwise Boots, in my bedroom in five minutes. Alifa, Kathleyîënis, you're invited as well"

Kat, who had been looking the other way until now, shook her head vehemently.

[Xihirli]

"It's alright, Kat. Me and you can hang out with Firaga."
"...Yeah, okay. I'll say good-bye to Aizu on the way out and we can meet up with them a little later."
"Maybe they'll come with us!"
Boots blanched. "Maybe not."

[Valmark]

Ten minutes later, Firaga was showing them around his archives- they had been refilled a bit from the last time they had been there.
"Thanks to the Seas, I can actually keep ink without it boiling and getting ruined. Though I mostly just pyroscribe so that it can't be destroyed" he explained, comparing spells.

Gave you the spell list on discord.

Boots was busy.

[Xihirli]

"Great!" Alifa said. "Let me know if you see any spells you like... I wouldn't mind copying Summon Elemental."

[Valmark]

"What about... That one?" Firaga pointed at Misty Step "I admit I struggle with a lot of the simpler spells"

Kat nodded knowingly "I used to be made fun of for that"

"Oh, luckily that doesn't happen. There were a couple feys that tried doing that, but they lacked the expertise to back up their taunts"

[Xihirli]

"Sure thing!" Alifa said. "Extraplanar travel and outreach was kinda my specialty as a student. Probably because my teacher wanted me to take this mission eventually." She looked at all the spells in her book. "Wow, is she going to be impressed when I come back..."

[Valmark]

"I really wish I had a teacher as well" Firaga sighed looking down at his book "Well... Not quite. More like someone who gets what I talk about and gets excited about my accomolishments. Father doesn't care and Mother is only happy of what I can do that makes others stronger as well"

"Or someone happy to help you do what you like" Kat sighed along.

Tell me when you wanna skip ahead.

[Xihirli]

"Oh? Who is your father?" Alifa asked.
"And what do you like talking about? Maybe me and Kat will understand."

[Valmark]

"Ooregh- you've seen him once when you came back from freeing Queen Nasa" Firaga said "Not big on love. And... Well, just magic really. Mother has only expressed interest in proxy magic and the way I craft my magic items, and really only how to apply it in practice. Although in her defense most feys don't need a formal understanding of magic- we have a lot of innate power to us"

[Xihirli]

Alifa nodded. "Yeah, magic is almost more feyish and... freeform here. Where we come from magic was structured into a weave by one of our oldest goddesses, which made it a lot more structured. I can see fey being even stronger here than there... though maybe not. Say, Firaga, what are fey here? Where do they come from? For us, the first fey was half-primordial, half-god and she made Faerie."

[Valmark]

"Oh wow if you told most of our feys they are part gods they'd spit in your eye" Firaga chuckled "Faerie, in the absence of a Monarch, is a mass of ever-changing chaos. Feys are born from it and soon after die to it- despite the fact that we are its native inhabitants we're incapable of surviving for a long time in it. The thing changes with a Monarch- someone in tune with Faerie, capable of shaping it in a way that reflects their nature. So... We're essentially elementals, just not pure ones. It's also why feys within a Territory tend to resamble it- they are born from it -or from creatures that live within it- and belong to it. The exception is when feys lose their Monarch, which leads to the destruction of their Territory- the feys then have three choices. Run to another one, run into the Material or perish... At least we think" Firaga frowned.

"Three things happen if you reach the border of Faerie- you re-enter it from the opposite side, keep walking without ever going anywhere or disappear. Though we can't be actually sure what happens to those who disappear"

[Xihirli]

"Are you aware of any Faerie Refugee nations in the Material? Or do they generally go into humanoid cities?" Alifa took a moment.
"Also, what got you into magic?"

[Valmark]

"No idea. Feys that stay in the Material tipically mingle with the present societies because they didn't like their fellow feys, the Monarchs or there was no suitable Territory. For example I know that when Queen Lucilla forbid evil pranks and using the power of the word to trick travelers into promises many left"

If you wondered why there were feys that ran away from Lucilla's rule, that's because she didn't let them be mean to travelers.

"And... Well, I wanted to know how it works. If I have this native magic it's not a good reason to not learn the how and why- and I can and did discover new ways to apply it, ways that no other fey learnt. Well except perhaps Queen Pleia, since she's easily the greatest spellcaster and alchemist on this plane- anyway, it was -is- my desire to learn how something works and how to apply it in a way nobody does. Or at least in a way only a few do" Firaga smiled "What about you?"

"The teacher looked cool, so I listened to his lessons. I'm happy to learn when there is somebody good teaching"

[Xihirli]

"My father is a Druid… his conjured beings were always fun to have around, and… well, I was never much interested in illusions like my teacher… my dad’s girlfriend . I guess wizardry is… my way of doing what my Lala does. But… in a way that appeals to me." She smiled. "After all, I’m not Relliss."

[Valmark]

"That's sweet" Firaga smiled "It's one of the better reasons I've heard to get into wizardry"

"Uhm... Your 'dad's girlfriend' isn't your mother then?" Kat asked "And who's Relliss?"

[Xihirli]

"Hm? Oh, no. So I have a bunch of siblings, but only four of us are also Mab's kids. Boots, me, Twilight and Lithy. Relliss is our older brother. Lala and Mama have an open marriage... and my dad's girlfriend is my teacher. Relliss is a granddad's boy, he's a druid just like every first son in Lala's family." Alifa went through it as quickly as she could.
"Explains a lot about Boots, doesn't it?"

[Valmark]

"She certainly seems to take from her father and I assume mother" Kat nodded.

"Why marry if you're going to keep it open?" Firaga mused "Mother never married for roughly the same reason. Or rather lack of it- well, at least that I know of. I don't pretend to know everything about her life"

[Xihirli]

"Well, a few reasons. It's romantic, the wedding was fun. And as a Queen, Mab mimicked her mother in the construction of the rules of the Court. Some of those rules are that heirs cannot be born out of wedlock."
Huh. Does that mean Tanaquill and Titania I were married... or is that why Titania I told everyone she was the only parent?
She continued: "So, in order for Boots to be Princess Heir, Mab needs to be married to Sirthis. That being said, the Unseelie is more chaotic than that... Boots isn't guaranteed to become Queen if Mama steps down, that all depends on who can control the Unseelie Court with their own power and force of personality. So whether or not she's a 'legitimate' child really only matters to Mama."
"Plus, Lala really likes saying the word 'wife.' I think that was a big reason they got married."

[Valmark]

"So... Is the Unseelie Court like a Territory? That you can only control through power and will and that makes you a Monarch?" Firaga asked "Either way, we have no such thing which might explain it as well. I know Queen Lucilla's parents were married... Though that was also a matter of formalizing the union between their lands"

[Xihirli]

"A bit… though more… political. But our lands don’t die when our Queens do on Aurora… I don’t think. Though I guess I could be wrong. The two current Queens have been around for a very long time." Alifa shrugged. "But no. Our Queens control what would likely be there without them."

[Valmark]

"Sounds like some of our feys would love that place" Firaga mulled "Those who're unhappy enough to leave, at least... Or those who would want to rule. As you can assume, no one who can't make a Territory can ever have a claim regardless of personal power or descendancy" the prince said "Queen Pleia and Queen Lucilla were in luck- or maybe the death of the Monarch subconsciously did make them more determined. Queen Pleia's devouring of her Monarch shouldn't by itself have let her become one, nor should have the loss of Queen Flowara... Which, according to Monarch Nasa, isn't even dead"

"So, is the fact that losing a Monarch weakens Faerie the reason for why Pleia hasn't been defeated and instead kept as a neighbor?"

"Essentially. That and the fact that before Monarch Nasa returned the only thing keeping Queen Pleia in check was Mother being nearly immune to anything she did, and Mother hoped Queen Pleia could make a truly vicious poison so she left her be"

[Xihirli]

"It is harder than it sounds to rule a new Queendom. There hasn’t been a new one since the Schism Seelie, only old ones reemerging."
Alifa thought about her words.
"Well… my teacher’s been trying. But it’s more of a fiefdom on unused land."