Chapter 9

Having snuck off from this accursed party for a moment - Irabeth thinks I'm getting more drinks - I can begin chronicling the events of today. The battle went... adequately, although we apparently required aid from Nocticula's newest pet to defeat the Black Rasper, the army, and the so-called "Prince of Blades". The good news is that I threw Bob into the newly-created Redemption Forge, turning it Good, and retrieved the Sword of Valor. The bad news is that when we got back to Kenabres and resurrected Fay... things got strange.

While dead, she must have found some way to steal a small amount of divine power, and now fancies herself a goddess. What's even worse than these delusions of grandeur is that it's actually working. When she started glowing upon rising from the dead, a large portion of the people watching spontaneously bowed down before her and cast aside their holy symbols! The queen would not listen to me when I said that this turn of events could be dangerous, and nobody else seemed to care. The worst part is that Garnet is now the "high prophet" of this so-called faith.

And then I had to attend Garnet's party, ostensibly to celebrate the battle, but in reality it's merely a way to convert new followers. I would have stayed home, but Irabeth wanted to attend, so she talked me into it. At the party Garnet was passing out strange drinks of her own creation, which I didn't trust, but people forced me to partake and kept telling me to "loosen up". Don't they know the war isn't over? Don't they know that things are only going to get harder from here on out? I have more important things to be doing than partying. I will admit that dancing with Irabeth was nice, but... no. This is a waste of time.

And now I've been gone too long... I must return to the gala. I pray by the sword of the Inheritor that I don't strangle Garnet after she makes fun of my horns one too many times. I'm sure Irabeth will keep me in check, though.

Chapter 8

After defeating the monster, we tried going across the dried riverbed to the city, but we were spotted and accosted by minotaurs and locusts. This series of battles left us bruised and battered. We needed to recuperate, so we went back to the army and took an hour’s rest. Wyn and Garnet were particularly rough, so we left them behind; I brought along Mishra instead.

We went back to the city and thankfully went unattacked until we got to the watchtower. Fighting our way up, one of the rooms had an empty cage in it. Fay, however, insisted that a cloaked figure was inside. Once we cleared the room of demons, she went over to the cage and started having a conversation with nobody. This was somewhat troubling, especially when she seemingly produced a demonic glaive out of midair! Apparently, she had been talking to her goddess Shelyn, who cloaked her presence from the rest of us. Shelyn gave Fay this glaive to put in the Corruption Forge after we figured out how to reverse its effects, turning the glaive into a holy weapon.

We reached the top of the watchtower and defeated the demons there, then I signaled to the army to advance. The six of us used magic to fly to the top of the Drezen citadel, and we went inside. After a couple more battles, we discovered the Corruption Forge. We realized we couldn’t change it then and there; we’d need powerful arcane magic to do so, so we decided to come back after the battle was won and have one of the army’s mages do it - perhaps Ruta.

Chapter 7

That day started normally, like any other day in the past two months. I got up with Irabeth, we had breakfast and put our armor on, then she left for field duty while I went to train our soldiers. Around noon, however, things got… surreal.

One of my soldiers made a mistake in the drill. I went up to her and had her do it again; this time she did it perfectly, but something was still off. I stared at her closely for a moment before I recognized her: Garnet Amisan, that shady “ex”-thief who insisted on traveling with us. Definitely my least favorite of the family. I sent the troops to lunch break, for which they were eternally grateful - but they shouldn’t get used to it - while I interrogated Garnet on what was going on.

She claimed to have been sent here by Irabeth and the Queen herself as an “Internal Affairs Investigator” to test our security. Apparently she pulled one of my soldiers out of line and took her place without me noticing! Naturally I was quite upset and sent Garnet off with a warning about poking her nose where she doesn’t belong.

At the end of training, Irabeth came up to me. Strangely, she was covered in some brown stains, but I didn’t ask about it, assuming at the time that it was just demon bile from field duty. It turned out that Garnet was telling the truth for once in her life. Irabeth was having concerns about security, and since she “didn’t want to hurt my ego”, rather than just talking to me about it, she decided to pull this convoluted plan to prove her point to me - as if that would be better for my “ego”. I was a bit upset, naturally - less that my drill had been interrupted, more that my partner apparently felt she couldn’t talk to me about something like this professionally. Still, I can’t stay mad at her. I made her promise to just talk to me in the future about this kind of thing. We made up at home later, and it seems everything with her is back to normal.

By the Inheritor, I caught myself about to write sentimentally about how I feel about her. But this isn’t a personal diary, it’s a professional journal to chronicle my part in the crusade. Get yourself together, Casimir.

Anyway, that night Irabeth and I were summoned to meet with the Queen about the upcoming Drezen siege. We (somewhat reluctantly) put our ceremonial armor on and made our way to the palace, where also summoned were Fay, Arueshalae, and - interestingly - Felix. I wasn’t too perturbed; people come back from the dead all the time, as I know all too well, but Fay was quite shocked. It turned out Felix had simply been living in the woods away from civilization for two months as he tried to get over the guilt he felt over Saggaroth’s death. I was glad to have him back; he needs to get more serious about the war effort, but he is a valued companion and brave warrior.

That evening was spent planning the siege. Fay and Felix are still new to this kind of thing, so they didn’t have much tactical input - except when Fay heard that there was a rumored “Haunted Vault” just outside the city, which she insisted we check out. Her excuse was that there might be a secret tunnel into Drezen, but I think she was really just excited about the concept of going through a creepy crypt.

After deciding how many troops and siege engines to bring, and planning our attack in which myself, Felix, Wynn, Fay, Arueshalae, and Garnet would sneak into the city at night, take out one of the watchtowers from within, then send a signal to the army to attack, we had two days to rest and get ready before the battle. I must admit I spent most of that time at home with Irabeth; you never know what’s going to happen in a war, and I’ve lost too many people close to me to take such a relationship for granted.

But that’s irrelevant. The day of the assault, we had a five-mile march to Drezen. Our army camped out out of sight in the nearby forest while my team took some invisibility potions and made our way over to the haunted vault. Unfortunately, there was an unholy ward on the vault preventing those of good heart from entering. Only Garnet and, a bit disconcertingly, Fay, were able to go inside. After a few minutes Fay figured out how to cancel the enchantment so the rest of us could join them.

At the bottom of the vault, after passing through halls of skeletons, was a chamber with an unholy altar. Once we were all inside, a ghostly force appeared. I prepared for such a foe by enchanting my weapon to harm the intangible, but what I wasn’t prepared for was that this creature was the wraith of our old lantern archon ally who died in Kenabres! Some foul magic perverted its holiness into this monstrosity, and it was our duty to destroy it, which we did without much trouble.

At that point, we heard a rumbling from up above, and we quickly returned to the surface. There in front of us, heading towards the army, was a monster the likes of which I had never seen - and I don’t say that often. It had green scales and pincers all over it, fused bizarrely with a doglike head. Around it was an aura of filth and disease. The battle was swift but brutal; I caught a few illnesses myself, but I trust that Fay will cure them before they become too life-threatening. Fay concerned me with her lack of effectiveness in the battle; she had quite a hard time breaching the creature’s magical resistances, but I suspect she was distracted by how “cute” the monster was. She was making cooing noises as if she were talking to a puppy the whole battle. I really must speak to her about taking this whole war more seriously.

Interlude 8: Origin, part 3

Alright, Iris, how are you going to get out of this one? she thought to herself. She tested the chains - solid and secure. She had no choice but to wait and see what happened. It seemed like hours passed, though she had no idea how much time it actually was. She made a specific effort not to fall asleep.

Eventually, a cultist came and opened the door to her cell. He was holding a small knife in his hand, glistening with some foul green liquid. “Time to go, honey,” he said with a sadistic grin. He bent down to make a small incision with the knife to poison her and presumably knock her out. Reacting instinctively, Iris kicked the cultist in the throat. The man clutched his neck with one hand. “You fucking bitch,” he wheezed, and threw the knife aside, taking out a heavy mace instead. He lifted it up with both hands and brought it down at Iris’s head.

Iris smiled as the mace came down and moved her head aside. Just as planned, the mace smashed into the chain holding her left hand to the wall, warping the links enough for her to wiggle her hand free. She grabbed the front of the cultist’s robe and pulled him down toward her, headbutting him hard and knocking him out. With her free hand, she went through the man’s robe pockets until she found a ring of keys. She tried each key until she found the one that set her free from the rest of her chains. She took the cultist’s knife and slashed his throat, then grabbed his mace and snuck out the cell door.

She found herself in a stone hallway, torches lining the walls. Up and down the hall were numerous other cages - some empty, some with corpses, but a few were occupied. She found her companions Sara and Alyssa, setting them free. There were also a few other women, scared and alone and apparently not much of fighters. She unlocked their chains but instructed them to remain in their cells until she returned for them.

The last cell on the left had a dead woman in it, and Iris almost walked right by it until she heard a sound. It sounded like… a baby crying? Iris examined the woman more closely. Held tightly in her arms was a newborn baby - the mother must have died shortly after childbirth. The baby had red skin, stubby horns on its forehead, and a small stump of a tail. When it saw Iris, it stopped crying and looked into her eyes. “Alyssa, stay here and watch over this baby,” Iris commanded. Alyssa obeyed, and Iris and Sara went to check out the rest of the compound.

Outside the door from the cage hallway were two cultist guards. They were chatting about something inconsequential and seemed to not notice Iris coming up behind them until it was too late. She bashed each of them in the head with her mace before they could shout a warning. One of them had a sword, which Iris tossed to Sara. “Now we make these cultists’ lives hell,” Sara said with a grin.

The two warrior women stealthily made their way around the cultists’ hideout, taking out guards wherever they found them. Eventually they found themselves at the front of a large room, at the end of which was none other than Alger. He had his back to them and was talking to someone. “Yes, Mother. The new women should be being utilized at this very moment.” However, he must have heard the door open, for he turned around. He was holding a black crystal in one hand, which pulsated with purple light - Iris’s religious studies helped her recognize this as a communication device.

Alger’s eyes went wide with shock when he saw Iris and Sara. “How did you-- not important. If you two won’t cooperate, I’ll have to put you down myself.” He put away the crystal and drew his sword, then he started striding forward.

Iris whispered to Sara, “Be careful. We don’t have any armor.” Iris went left and Sara went right, taking up a flanking position against Alger. Sara charged, forcing Alger to bring his shield up against her, granting Iris the opportunity to try to bash the fucker’s head in with her mace. Alger was more skilled than he let on, though, and deflected the blow with his sword.

“Good trick! It won’t work, but it was a good thought,” Alger sneered. He bashed Sara with his shield, and Sara fell backwards and prone. Alger twisted around in the same motion and brought his sword up at Iris’s face. Iris barely dodged the stab and tried to smash Alger’s guts with her mace, but he already had his shield back up in front of his torso. Behind Alger, Sara was getting up and preparing another assault, but Alger backed away from Iris, dodging her swing, and stabbed Sara through her shoulder. Sara cried out in agony and dropped her sword as Alger twisted his blade. “Now it’s just you and me, sweetie,” he said sadistically.

The two warriors faced off, circling each other. Iris realized her chances of getting past Alger’s defenses with her mace were slim, while one hit from him and she would be down for the count. Thinking quickly, she wound up and hurled her mace at Alger’s face, forcing him to bring his shield up in front of his head. While he couldn’t see, she charged forward and tackled him. She was on top of him now, holding his sword arm to the ground with her left hand and pounding away at his face with her right. She got a good two or three hits in, breaking his nose, before he brought his shield back up and forced her off of him.

Iris was prone on the ground as Alger stood up, so she swept her legs under him, tripping him back onto the ground. Miraculously, Alger dropped his sword when he hit the floor; the blade clattered away ten or fifteen feet. Iris and Alger looked at the sword, then at each other, then both scrambled towards it. They each placed a hand on the handle at the same time and began wrestling for it. Iris felt her grip weakening - Alger was stronger than she was. She had to come up with something or she would lose the sword and shortly thereafter lose her life.

She pulled on the sword, bringing her in close to Alger, and kneed him in the groin. Alger gasped with shock and let go of the sword. Iris took it and put the point up to Alger’s neck. Alger stopped moving and looked at her.

“Well done. I expected no less from my girl.”

“I’m not your ‘girl’, you monster.”

“Of course not. How silly of me. But listen, I’m sure we can make a deal. You can walk right out of here if you just--”

Wanting to hear no more of Alger’s lies and manipulation, Iris drove the point of the sword into his neck. His eyes went wide, then he fell to the ground. Iris immediately ran over to check on Sara; she could walk, but was in no condition to fight. After Iris patched her up, the two women made their way back to the prisons, where they collected the rest of the caged women.

Alyssa was holding the red baby at arms’ length as it cried. “Help me! I’m not a baby person!” Iris took the infant from Alyssa; when he saw her, he immediately quieted down. “Aww, he likes you!” said Sara.

“I’m keeping him,” decided Iris on the spur of the moment. She felt some kind of connection with this child.

“What’ll you name him?” asked Sara.

Iris thought for a moment. “I think I’ll name him after my father. Casimir.”

Interlude 7: Origin, part 2

Iris sent Tonber down to the city to scout around. The team waited silently and nervously on the top of the hill. The dwarf returned after ten minutes. “Looks deserted. No demon attacks.” Tonber wasn’t very talkative, even for a dwarf.

Iris and her team approached the ruined city. When they got to what appeared to be the city square, she stopped and turned around to face her group. “Alright, here’s what we’re doing. We’ll split up into teams of two to search for the cult’s hideout. Alger, you’re with Marco; Tonber and Sara; Verol and Alyssa. I’ll remain here and act as your base. If you find anything suspicious, return to me immediately and do not engage. If you get in trouble, shout and the other groups will come help you. Now, move out, and good luck.” As Alger went towards Marco, Iris grabbed his arm and whispered in his ear, “be careful”. He smiled that charming, confident smile of his and kissed her on the forehead before getting on his way.

Iris found an intact bench and sat down as the groups moved out, but couldn’t relax in this environment. She kept her mace and shield in hand as she watchfully scanned the area. The silence of the ruins was deafening, and Iris couldn’t keep track of time. So when Verol and Alyssa returned, saying they’d found traces of recent activity in what appeared to be the remains of a school, she had no idea how much time had passed. She shouted for the rest of the groups to return. Alger and Marco got back first, followed quickly by Tonber and Sara.

“Glad to see that your scouting missions were uneventful,” said Iris, shooting a glance at Alger, “except for Verol and Alyssa. Lead the way, and everyone be ready for trouble.” It seemed to be about a ten-minute walk through the silent streets to the school. As they approached, Verol pointed out some disturbed dust on the ground and that the front door was in good condition.

“Tonber, you first,” Iris said. The dwarf expert at trapfinding went slowly down the hallway on his hands and knees, inspecting every inch for anything suspicious.

“Definitely people here,” Tonber proclaimed. “Went this way.” He crawled along the ground up to a door at the end of the hallway. “Trap here. Just a moment.” The dwarf went to work, only taking a couple minutes to disarm it. He stood up and cracked open the door to peek in, then suddenly fell backwards on the ground, a crossbow bolt sticking out from one of his eyes.

Iris’s eyes went wide at the dwarf’s sudden death. They must have known we were coming… Marco! She turned around so she could kill the wizard for his betrayal, saying “Arm yourselves! We have to--” but her voice was cut off by a blade through her lung. She stared into Alger’s eyes as the man she loved smiled and pushed her off the end of his sword, letting her drop to the ground. Then all was black.

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When she awoke, Iris realized a few things immediately. First, she had been stripped of her gear and was in her plain underclothes. Second, she was chained to a wall by her hands and waist. Third, she was in a small dark cell, lit only by firelight from beyond the bars. Fourth, her wound had been magically healed. “Sara? Verol? Alyssa? Anyone?” she called out. A noise came from outside the cell, and Alger entered her field of vision, smirking. Iris strained against the bars. “You son of a bitch, when I get out of here I’m going to rip your fucking throat out.”

“Good to see you too, my dear,” Alger responded calmly.

“Don’t you dare call me that. Where is the rest of my team?”

“Oh, but does all our time together count for nothing? What a pity. I’m afraid Marco and Verol didn’t make it; they weren’t useful to my master - not like you, Sara, and Alyssa are.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Haven’t you guessed? You knew this was a Lamashtu cult. The Mother of Monsters has use for healthy females, you know.”

A cold chill ran down Iris’s spine. She said nothing, thinking about her options and planning how to escape and rescue the other women.

“Nothing to say? That’s a good girl. Listen, I have to go check on our other guests. But I’ll be back, don’t you worry.” He smiled at her, then walked off to another part of the dungeon, leaving Iris alone in her cell once again.

Interlude 6: Origin, part 1

Iris Barristan walked up to the gates of the new palace in Nerosyan, where the King of the newly founded nation of Mendev awaited her. She didn’t know why she had been summoned, but she knew it was important, obviously. Entering the throne room, she knelt before the King. “Your majesty.”

“Rise, Lady Barristan,” the King replied. This one was fond of formalities, which irked Iris somewhat. Still, he was a great warrior and leader, so she couldn’t complain too much.

“You’re probably wondering why I’ve summoned you here,” he continued. “I’ll let Marco explain.”

Marco was the King’s court wizard and his most trusted advisor. He stepped forward, his gold and red robes swishing along the stone floor. “It has come to my attention that a cult of Lamashtu worshippers is active in the Worldwound. The King has graciously chosen you to lead an assault on their headquarters. We believe they are in the ruined city of Thornwatch, three days march from here. You are to leave in two days’ time after selecting your men.”

Iris stared at the skinny, beady-eyed man a moment, then turned to the King. “Your majesty, I need more details than that. And do you expect me to take orders from your court mage? I thought, as your military advisor, I outranked him in these matters.”

The King cleared his throat. “Yes, normally you would be right. However, this is not just a military operation. Marco discovered the cult through his divination magic, and he also sensed some powerful arcana coming from their location. We are worried that they’re planning something big, something that could be a threat to the entire crusade. Which is why Marco will be accompanying you and your people.”

Iris shot a glare at the mage. “Your majesty, I must protest. Marco is a diviner, he is not trained for combat and he will only slow us down. I can take another mage to investigate whatever the cult’s working on-”

“That’s enough, Iris. I trust Marco absolutely to carry out his job. Can I trust you to carry out yours?”

“...Yes, your majesty. I apologize,” Iris sullenly said. Marco looked even more smug than usual.

“Good. Now, if you’ll follow us to the war room, we need to go over the details of the mission…”

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Iris was to march three days northeast from Nerosyan to the ruined city of Thornwatch. As they didn’t want to attract undue attention from any wasteland dwellers, she was permitted to bring no more than half a dozen soldiers along with herself and Marco, so she had to choose her team carefully.

“Come on, you know you want me to go along,” said Alger. The tall, muscular human swung his blade, which Iris expertly parried with her mace. She went in for a shield bash, which knocked Alger to the ground; Iris stepped forward and swung her mace at his head, stopping inches away.

“I would bring you, but it looks like you’re dead,” she said with a grin. “Again.” She held out a hand to help him up, which he took.

“I was distracted by your beauty, my lady,” he said, holding onto her hand and kissing it once he was back on his feet. “Again.” Iris sighed with exasperation, though she wasn’t entirely displeased by the public show of affection. The two had known each other for five years now, when they both arrived from separate parts of Golarion to join the Worldwound crusade. They quickly became sparring partners, then close friends, then lovers.

“Of course I’ll bring you along. You’re one of the best fighters we’ve got,” Iris said. “Which isn’t saying much,” she quickly followed before Alger’s head grew too big. “In fact, I need someone I trust. The King insists that Marco join us.”

“Marco? That weasel? I’d say I wouldn’t trust him as far as I can throw him, but I could probably throw him a pretty good distance. What business does he have in the Worldwound?”

“Marco said he sensed powerful magic coming from the cult’s location, and the King wants him to examine what they’re doing to see if it’s a threat to the crusade. Which seems innocent enough, but still… I need a second pair of eyes on this one.”

“Well, count yourself lucky, then. You’ve picked the prettiest pair of eyes in Nerosyan!” Iris sighed again, then laughed. Alger’s exaggerated ego was part of his charm.

“You’d better get ready for the mission; we leave tomorrow at dawn. I need to go select my other soldiers.” She kissed him, then left the sparring arena to go find a few good men.

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Choosing her other five people was difficult, but she eventually selected a well-balanced team. Along with the warrior Alger and the mage Marco, she needed another couple of fighters, a scout, and probably a secondary divine spellcaster; she herself was a cleric of Iomedae, but she had been neglecting her priestly training recently in favor of improving her combat skills.

For the fighters, she brought Sara and Verol, two of her strongest soldiers. The scout she decided on was Tonber, a dwarf ranger who was excellent at spotting traps. And her cleric to round it off would be Alyssa, faithful priest of Sarenrae all the way from Osirion.

With the team gathered the next morning, it was time to leave. Marco apparently had neglected to pack three days of gear and rations, however; he had never been in the Worldwound before and didn’t know what was necessary. Iris had to drag him back to the palace and pack his gear herself. Then they could finally be off.

They were prepared to fight some demons on their three-day journey, but the trip was surprisingly and suspiciously uneventful. Iris and Alger kept their eyes on Marco, who was looking around in wonder at their surroundings and scribbling notes on a long scroll.

Three days later, Iris held up a hand to stop her team. They were standing on top of a hill; on the other side they could see the ruins of a city. “We’re here,” she said quietly.

Interlude 5: The Sword, part 3

Six hours later, we were deep into the Worldwound, deeper than I’d ever gone before. We’d set up a camp - if it could be called that. It was really just all of us laying on rocks in our armor; no bedrolls, no tents, no fire. Had to be ready for battle at any moment.

I lay close to Leo, with Harriett about a meter away on my other side. We were all too nervous to even doze off; the three of us were talking in hushed tones.

“Hey… can I ask something?” Began Harriett. Without waiting for an answer, she continued, “Are you two really…”.

But Leo cut her off. “I do believe that’s none of your business,” he whispered sharply.

“Sorry,” she muttered to herself. We were silent from then on. She seemed a bit dejected.

“Hey, it’s alright,” I whispered to her. “Just focus on the mission though, okay? We’ll talk later.”

Just then, Leo sat up abruptly. “Everyone get up,” he said, just loud enough for everyone to hear. “We’ve got trouble.”

We all got up as quickly as we could while remaining quiet, and fetched our weapons from where they were lying. “Zinon, go see what’s up,” said Leo. Zinon the gnome was a stealth and scouting specialist. He silently crept off in the direction Leo pointed, where he heard something.

A few tense minutes passed; we all glanced nervously around at each other, not sure what to expect. Then we heard a noise from above - a shrill noise that started out softly but kept getting louder. Suddenly, we realized what the noise was, as Zinon plummeted from the sky and splattered on the ground in the center of our camp, and four shadow demons appeared around us.

They started talking to each other as they stood around us; fortunately, Abyssal is a standard part of our training, and we were able to understand them. “We’ll finish off these ones our spy said were the most important,” said one, “then we’ll go back to their camp and help our allies slaughter the rest!” We were all shocked - a spy in our camp - but we had to forget about it as the invidiaks attacked and we had to defend ourselves.

My nonmagical axe was no use against their misty forms, so I had to resort to what basic magic I had learned, slinging small orbs of light; my main use was standing between them and Harriett, protecting her as she used her holy powers on them to some decent effect. Leo was by far the most effective, cleaving through them with his enchanted cold iron greatsword as if they were mere imps. They were still too powerful for most of us, however, and by the time Leo finished off the last one, Lyric and Nazzareno had fallen; only Leo, Harriett and I remained.

______________________________________________________________________________

“We need to get back!” I shouted. “They said - “

“I know what they said!” responded Leo. “Let’s hurry; we can come back and bury our allies later.” We hustled as fast as we could back to the camp, but it was several hours to get there even at a quickened pace, and we were simply too late. We saw the flames rising from our war camp.

The ground of the camp was littered with the bodies of the crusaders, as well as the corpses of the demons that attacked them. They had to have been summoned there to get past the Wardstones. I knelt down by Reem’s body and said a prayer for her. It seemed the battle was over, with not a living soul in sight, until we heard a noise like soft chanting coming from a tent - the tent that belonged to me, Harriet, and Ramazi!

We rushed in and were confronted with the sight of Ramazi standing in the center of a fiendish symbol drawn on the ground in blood, chanting from a scroll he held. Leo drew his sword and rushed forward to slay the traitor, but he was too late; a burst of light and force came from Ramazi’s body as the wizard screamed in agony. His scream blended directly into a demonic howl, and as the light cleared we saw his body replaced with that of a demonic Marilith.

“You two run, get to safety and find help!” shouted Leo as he squared off with the powerful demon. “I’ll hold it off.” The Marilith hissed at him and drew its six swords.

“Come on, Casimir! We’ll be killed if we stay!” said Harriett.

“No, I won’t leave him!” I said defiantly. I drew my axe and tried to rush around to a flanking position, knowing that nothing else I could do could help Leo against this monster. I saw Harriett run out the tent, and I prayed to Iomedae that she got to safety.

Leo dueled the Marilith with his sword and paladin abilities. It was the first time I’d seen him really exert himself in battle, and I have to say, it was incredible to watch. He was truly one of the most skilled warriors of his generation, ducking and weaving through the storm of blades to launch impossibly fast attacks with his huge sword. Sadly, though, the Marilith was simply too much for him; though he had wounded it grievously, it skewered him with three swords through his chest, and he went down.

I screamed in anguish watching my friend fall. The Marilith turned to me, grinned, then turned away and went out the front of the tent. I realized it was going after Harriett and that I had to do something. I was almost out the door when I heard Leo’s weak voice.

“Casimir… wait…”

I knelt by his side. “Just hold on! I’ll get you a healer!”

“It’s… too late… for me. Listen… you need to… save Harriett. It’s almost… dead. You can do it… but you have to... take my sword.”

I picked up his precious greatsword, the cold iron glittering orange in the firelight. “I can’t lose you,” I said softly, tears in my eyes.

“You won’t,” he said. “As long as you… have that sword… I’ll be with you.” He smiled, clenched my hand in his, and closed his eyes.

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I stood up, my head still bowed, and offered a prayer to Iomedae for his soul. Then, knowing I had to save Harriett, I rushed out the tent with his sword in my hands.

The Marilith had cornered Harriett against a tree. The brave little halfling, bless her soul, held her mace and holy symbol in front of her as if she could do anything, and her expression was fierce rather than terrified. The Marilith knocked her mace out of her hand and laughed.

“Stop!” I screamed. “Turn and face me, demon!”

The Marilith turned around and eyed me. “Who are you calling demon, little one? You should know your own kin when you see them!”

Harriett seized the opportunity to hit the Marilith in the back with a ray of searing light. It winced in pain, then slithered to a position where it could see both of us. “You two have got some fight in you. I’m impressed! Fortunately for you, though, it was never the plan to kill everyone. We have to leave someone alive to spread the tale, after all. So I only have to kill one of you.” It eyed us both. “I’ll choose… you!” it shouted, as it lunged towards Harriett.

I tried to jump in the way, but I was too far, and I watched in horror as all six of its blades pierced her tiny body. She didn’t have time to scream as she fell. The Marilith laughed, looked at me, and said “Hope I see you again, demon boy!” Then it vanished, and I was left alone.

I rushed towards Harriett. To my shock and relief, she was still alive, if just barely, and I grabbed a potion from my pack to pour down her throat. It wasn’t enough to get her conscious, but it kept her breathing.

I don’t know how long I sat there, cradling her in my arms. It could have been ten minutes or ten hours. Eventually, I heard marching in the distance; as it came closer, I saw it was a patrol from Mendev’s army come to investigate the fight at the war camp. Thais was at the front of the line; when she saw me, she shouted my name and ran towards me with an embrace. It was then that I realized the nightmare was over.

The next few days were a blur of explanation. Harriett and I weren’t there for the battle at the war camp, so we weren’t much help there, but we were able to inform them about Ramazi’s treachery and Leo’s bravery. I told them of Leo’s last words, and I was allowed to keep his sword in his honor. They asked me to say a few words at his funeral, but I couldn’t; I wanted to, but the words just wouldn’t come.

It was a few months before either I or Harriett were back in the field. Neither of us were the same as we had been before that night, but our shared experience blossomed into something wonderful. We shared six years together before we were both killed by a Glabrezu out on a mission together. I was resurrected; her soul had found peace and didn’t want to return. Of course, I’ll never forget the time I spent with her - or my time with Leo, as short as it was. Both of them helped mold me into the person I am today. Along with Leo’s sword, I carry Harriett’s holy symbol as a keepsake.

I guess that’s how things tend to go in the crusade, though; it’s important to remember that none of us live forever.

______________________________________________________________________________

After I’d finished, Arueshalae was speechless for a moment, and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “That was incredible. I’m so sorry for you - to lose so many people you loved like that…”

“Like I said, that’s how it goes around here. Everyone I’ve ever loved has been killed by demons; most of the other crusaders have similar stories to what I just told you. That’s really why I hate the damn things so much.” I wasn’t sure, but I thought for a second Arueshalae looked uncomfortable. Probably my imagination. “I hope you never have to go through anything like that with Galfrey… but it’s important to be prepared for it. I don’t know how I’ve even made it this long.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re still here,” Arueshalae said. She hugged me tightly, then stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go cuddle my girlfriend and think about what you said.”

“Of course,” I replied. She hugged me again, then went back inside. I sat in the courtyard by myself for a while, thinking about lost loves of the past and present.