Discussions, Fears & Plans.

[u/Angel391982]

One shot: Short Story

Raven's Bluff: A Tavern-Late in the evening-Present

The chosen tavern was bustling with adventurers, hooded figures, most wanting to be left alone and most not wanting to be found. The pair of individuals who were cloaked, sat at a shadowy corner table, waiting for several others to arrive.

The woman of the pair was a High Elf, by the name of Larynn, and the male with her, is a human noble by the name of Jock. Larynn was one of many who marched with the mixed allied forces and adventurers against the mad vampire Orusha. An adversary that was unknown to them until word spread and intelligence was shared of a dire future where many died and this Orusha invaded all of Faerun. It was all still confusing to her as well as frightening but was also troubling was how such a massive host was rallied on the words of a relatively unknown family. Her thoughts were interrupted by Jock.

"It's getting late, they should be here by now" Jock said with a whisper, trying not to watch the Tavern door too much. Larynn let out a low sigh and was about to assure him everything will be fine, when the door to the tavern opened and five hooded individuals came in, spotted them, but took the time to order drinks before walking over and sitting with them.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, it's a long trek to here as well as making sure we weren't followed" a Dwarf woman spoke up, revealing herself. She had a stylized hair due of a single mohawk going back into a braided tail, intricate tattoos adorned the cleaned areas of her scalp. She was muscled, toned, like any Dwarf, man or woman, ready for a fight. Her eyes were a pretty mix of green and hazel, but in spite of her beauty, she was fierce and one of the many survivors of that final battle against Orusha.

The next individual to reveal themself was a Wood Elf man. His long brown hair was in a single braided tail, his light armor hidden under his cloak, his brown eyes still showed mourning since he and his late wife were also present at the battle against Orusha. He witnessed her death, and luckily for him, was allowed to bury his wife after her body was found and retrieved by one of the mysterious, metal beings that were aiding them those days. The Dwarf woman went by the name Alaina, the Wood Elf man went by the name Varys.

The next two individuals to reveal themselves, were a pair of older human men, both wizards, both adorned in various robes of blue and gold, the other in brass and blue. They weren't siblings, but they were secretly husband and husband, something they saw no need to advertise to anyone. While they weren't at the battle against Orusha and her hordes, they were spearheading every investigation they can into who Orusha was, and how she was able to amass such a following that remained hidden, if the rumors were true, for centuries. The one in blue and gold was named Klive and his partner was simply and unironically, named Tim.

The fifth individual amongst them, revealed herself to be a Drow woman, and not just any Drow woman. Anatha was placed in a position of influence again, even after trying to usurp Queen Avessa. The Queen was gracious enough to forgive her and to personally oversee her rehabilitation until it was felt she can be trusted again.

"Apologies for this meeting to occur in such a far-off place, but if rumors are to be believed, some areas in the Sword Coast and greater Faerun, are not safe" Anatha began, looking to each individual with apologetic eyes.

"First things, first. Plessa, what do we know about them?" Anatha continued. It was Jock who spoke up. "They recently reopened their docks and continent to the known world. Sent an invasion force twice to our lands. Have near invincible war beasts in the shape of a sub species of Red Dragon and great worms. And their Pikeman use an offensive magical attack through their shields capable of searing through shields and armor with simulated heat of the sun. Worked wonders against Orusha's hordes" he said, counting off on his fingers.

"Near invincible is right. While devastating as they were, their soldiers and war beasts can be taken down, but at great costs" Alaina added, taking a drink from her mug. "Which means, if Queen Saenissa chose to completely invade all of Faerun, she would penetrate near to the heart of greater Faerun, before we can even attempt to mount a counterstrike" Varys spoke up with a gulp.

"But the Queen herself has stated she had no intentions of doing so. The first time around, she arrived because she was investigating the mysterious white light, which turned out to be time reversal. Her arrival happened to be an aid to us since Orusha was on the march and experienced the Plessa war tactics firsthand" Larynn added.

"There was a lot of elements investigating that powerful magic. Us included. The magic was supposed to have a mind wiping effect, but apparently that aspect lessened. There are quite a few individuals who remember the details of what is now being called, The Cambrian Nightmare, which was a second happening of the Sword Coast Nightmare. Magic resistant dead laying waste to Cambria, then finding their way to not only Chult, but to the Sword Coast. Things were dire, people remember dying at the decaying claws of the dead that could run, jump, climb, and in some incident's, plant traps and even speak" Tim added in himself.

The group grew silent for a moment, their own memories of that nightmare coming back to them and realized each of them, with the exception of Anatha, died early in that nightmare, towards the end of it, or survived to witness the white magical light.

"But there is one deciding factor that is involved in that nightmare as well as the Sword Coast Nightmare" Klive spoke up. "And that is a Tiefling woman named Vaylin. From what I gathered of the Sword Coast Nightmare, she apparently rallied those who fled from the areas before Buldar's Gate, the survivors of Buldar's Gate, who then fled to Waterdeep, when that fell, tried fortifying the Sword Coast Mountains, but when that fell, amassed the remaining forces in and around Neverwinter. The siege of the dead at that time took a time of three months, before additional forces from the Underdark, and the surrounding areas to arrive as well as forces from the Oceans and even an army of Dragons, arrived to turn the tide. But it wasn't from strength of arms the day was won. From what I gathered, the dead simply dropped and rapidly rotted after three months and nearly a week and a half of horror and losing ground to them" Klive added.

Tim then took over for his husband. "And during the Cambrian Nightmare, that same woman resided on Cambria where that horror began. She and her family took it head on, but Cambria ultimately fell to them even after word was sent back to Neverwinter, and the late Haldir, ordered a strike force to be sent to Cambria to aid them. Only for that to fail horrifically. Refugees fled and arrived at the docks of Neverwinter, Waterdeep and Buldar's Gate, the survivors telling everyone what happened. The new batch of dead were still magic resistant, but can also sprint, jump, climb and, well, you know the rest. From what we gathered, this Vaylin sacrificed herself for her family and was apparently leading the dead when they finally came to the Sword Coast and Chult" Tim explained, looking through documents he and Klive gathered and could gather.

"And what of this Vaylin woman and her family?" Varys asked, intrigued and distracting himself from his own horrid memories of that incident. "That family has Queen Avessa's blessing and is in fact, close friends with them. Two Drow women, a pair of twin sisters to be exact, were present at the Sword Coast Nightmare, survived it, and after, chose to retire from that then Queen's service to live with Vaylin and the extended family she became a part of. A young, winged, Tiefling girl, by the name of Lanara, who was only ten and five (15) at the time, urged her family, who she reunited with, to track down Vaylin after losing her own sister to the dead things, and though Vaylin was in her early twenties, a young woman by that time, she was adopted into Lanara's family. And seemingly, over time, other individuals were brought into their fold, including the Drow twins, Annabella and Bellanna. A Gorgon woman, and various others" Anatha supplied that information.

"From what the Queen willingly told me, Vaylin died during the Cambrian Nightmare, and with the reversal of time, died again in her husband's arms surrounded by her children and family" Anatha continued. "That family has been at the center of several major calamities that were unknown to everyone as well. The metal beings called Warforged, that aided Faerun against Orusha, apparently, there was an evil one that set up shop in a Cambrian town. Converting the town's inhabitants into mutant creatures that can change form at will or when discovered. This Vaylin took it upon herself to scout that area, find the villain and escape, leading that being's army to their doorstep where two other Warforged fought alongside them, liberating another from that being's control, and ending it for good, but at the cost of several of their loved ones including the servants that still serve them" Anatha continued.

"An sí, it is so: rýnar ardanë ar imbi húnë, eär te!" (So, it is true, other planar beings and planes of existence, exist!) Larynn mumbled, realization laced with astonishment and horror flashed in her eyes.

"So, what do we do then? If the Queen of Plessa, chooses to turn on us, will the allies she's made go against us as well?" Jock spoke up, looking nervous. "From what Queen Avessa has openly stated, no, neither she nor Queen Saenissa, have any desire to conquer the known world, let alone Faerun. Yes, another big fear I secretly harbored as come to fruition. Queen Avessa's latest child is a Tiefling-Drow half breed. She has solidified relations with Plessa, which means any moves anyone plans on making against the Underdark, or even the close friends both Queens have made, will be like making a direct threat and declaration of war against both kingdoms and if that were to happen, woe to any who threaten them. As it is, Vaylin's now adult children are each as formidable and as deadly as their mother was and if I heard correctly, surpasses her in every way possible. From combat prowess, to stubbornness, to protectiveness. And in addition, three of Vaylin's adult daughters have recently given birth themselves, which means their ferociousness is tenfold now" Anatha added.

"As a change of topic for now, what are the reports concerning Orusha's castle?" Varys spoke up, drinking his ale. It would be Tim to offer up a more detailed analysis of what's been going on in the castle.

"Discoveries are still being made of Orusha's castle. Discoveries of horror and heinousness. For one, there was a treasury vault a group of adventurers managed to penetrate and in it was a barely sapient Elvish woman that went by the name, Madam Mim. Before this individual fled into the surrounding areas, the adventurers who discovered her found she was several thousand years old herself. Cackling, fractured in mind. Near insane. But upon hearing of Orusha's downfall, she cackled such a laughter, half of them expected her to suddenly become combative and from what I was told, arcane energies were crackling off her skin. Journals were found after this Madam Mim fled that told tales of her capture by Orusha. The heinous horrors she had to endure, which ultimately led to her captivity and experimentation upon herself. She used to be a High Elf, but whatever she did to herself, stained her skin a vivid magenta, her hair violet and her eyes various shades of purple hue. The vault she was found it was littered with various artifacts; some were fake and boobytrapped. One such artifact was a look alike to a Bag of Holding, but upon contact with an individual, it grafted itself to an adventurer rather painfully and gruesomely. The castle is still being explored as we speak, there are so many things in the ground levels and upper levels of the castle. The underground portions, have been partially mapped, including the catacombs. The various foul things that inhabit the castle are also being cleaned out" Tim explained, then took a drink of his own mug.

The group fell silent for a while, taking in the various information's that were presented, until Alaina spoke up again. "Back to this Vaylin, besides her family, what do we know about her?" the Dwarf asked curiously. Klive spoke up about this one, after ordering himself another drink as well as some food. "Not much is known about her, but before her ultimate demise, from what I could gather of her, she used to be a pit fighter. A rather vicious one at that. She was the youngest fighter an illegal pit fight establishment in the deep south of Chult had. She was merely a child. It was hard tracking this information down and even harder getting people who knew, to talk. But for ten and eight years, she lived in a fighting pit, fighting from the tender age of eight up until she killed her owner and stole her freedom. That information was dicey due to the command structure of Chult at the time, sent a strike force to the fighting pit location on an anonymous tip, ended up fighting not only two rosters of pit fighters, but also the surrounding area's undead hordes as well as hidden army of undead the owner of Vaylin kept, but at the time she was known as Sulfur" Klive explained as a tavern girl, young human girl of ten and four, brought plates of food over to him and Tim.

"This Sulfur and Vaylin, are the same Tiefling woman, who would rally the survivors during the Sword Coast Nightmare. A leadership role she didn't want from what I found out but took it anyway. The lord of Neverwinter at the time was incompetent and even through his actions, caused Neverwinter to fall to the dead when he secretly sent multiple expeditions behind the dead's lines to discover the cause, which ultimately ended up with him being bitten and turned" Klive continued, then between bites of his meal, added some further information he learned. "I learned she had an elder sister, who was searching for Vaylin for the same number of years she was raised in the fighting pit. They crossed paths by pure chance and accident, both on hired missions of their own, what those missions were, I couldn't find out, but even as a somewhat "Feral" woman, she was slowly gaining her mind back and when she came face to face with her elder sister, it was like a reunion in the making. Thanks to this elder sister and her allies at the time, they helped heal her mind and heart, which turned her into a fierce protector of her kin and friends. It was also during the fall of Buldar's Gate, she displayed spectacular leadership, and kindness, by having a pair of golden lion figurines that become sentient and full-grown lions, go throughout the streets to save as many children as they could" he continued.

"After the Sword Coast Nightmare, she more or less vanished for a while, grieving heavily for the loss of her sister as well as two of her companions. That's when the young girl named Lanara, rallied her family she returned to, united with Vaylin's remaining companions who were searching for her themselves, and came together and found her. After that, she lived a life of healing on Cambria for a number of years, to which another tragedy befell her in the form of an assassin targeting the people that took her in, but ended up killing her first husband and child. That's as much information we could gather before anyone loyal to the family would become suspicious" Tim chimed in.

"Suspicious? Was the family that tightknit?" Alaina asked, a hint of amusement in her voice. "Bordering on overly protective of one another. But again, we had a feeling if word got back to them that we were asking about Vaylin, someone was going to respond and depending on who from that family, depends on their response. Her two eldest daughters have been rumored to be just like her in temperament, fiercely protective of their family. And from what I could find out about her eldest daughters while asking about Vaylin, they were the spearheads that rallied the Underdark, Plessa, and the known world against Orusha" Tim replied.

Back to that subject, the group was renewed and ready to talk about the circumstances involving it all. "So, it circles back to this fight against Orusha. Please tell us you found out just as much about the circumstances, or do you know more Anatha?" Alaina asked, looking to the Drow woman.

Anatha sighed heavily, took a drink of her ale, and a bite of food she ordered, before continuing. "From what I learned, a pair of individuals from the future arrived in our timeline, as odd as that sounds, and gave dire warnings of a future that Orusha secretly took over, then invaded from within. Finally showing herself once resistance started popping up" Anatha explained.

"Time magic? A pair of individuals? They must have been powerful enough to even be able to use a novice level of Time Magic" Tim spoke up, shock in his grey eyes. "One of them was. And that individual was named Ember, the future daughter to Kiora, Vaylin's eldest girl from her second marriage. The other individual was the daughter to Kiora's sister, Roth, but she was one of Orusha's vampires, sent back to intercept Ember, but upon seeing her mother who wasn't dead yet, lost all will to fight and kill her cousin" Anatha replied.

"What information did this, Ember and the other one reveal?" Klive asked, intrigued. Anatha gathered her thoughts on what she was told and what she learned from gathered reports. "The second girl was named Rain, she was sent back by Orusha herself when Ember opened a time portal to go through and in doing so, both girls became the reason the skies turned red and blue lightning was coursing through the sky. They revealed that Orusha sent five agents to infiltrate key areas of Faerun, Plessa and even Chult. Succeeded in their timeline, which caused an all-out, desperate war to break out, where Cambria fell, and most of Vaylin's family died, including Roth herself, as well as most of their younger siblings" Anatha continued, drank more of her ale, and ate more of her food, then added further information. "These agents, one was a Tiefling, tasked with infiltrating Plessa, another was a Dwarf, to do the same to the Dwarven territories, a Drow woman was sent to the Underdark, then a Wood Elf and high Elf were sent to Waterdeep and Buldar's Gate respectively, Ember and Rain supplied the information of who to look for and in fact, their first target, the Tiefling agent, arrived at around the same time they did, which allowed them to spring a trap on the agent and kill her. Kiora, Roth, their two future daughters, and a couple of others of their family, set out to hunt down the other four agents and succeeded in Waterdeep, Buldar's Gate, and in the Underdark, where things were already happening. The Drow agent panicked, feeling her companions die, and revealed herself too early, which caused a massive battle to erupt between the Drow she managed to turn, the Queen's elite guard and soldiers, which Kiora and her group arrived and aided them. But after that victory, it would be the Dwarven agent that turned the tide" Anatha continued further.

Alaina then realized what she was talking about, she was present when that sudden battle burst out. She was amongst the many who were fighting Orusha's vampires that showed themselves. "I remember that. Apparently, this Rain, was taken control of by Orusha, and she attempted to kill Ember, but an Elven man intervened, putting himself between the two and was struck down. I witnessed both girls dissolve before my eyes. Whoever that Elven man was, was apparently the link between them" Alaina spoke up, revealing what she saw happen that day.

"Yes, that Elven man was their future father. I have no information on who was, but apparently, he got around with women. I'm not sure what made him intervene, though he was one of many who were fighting the vampires, but Rain killed him, Orusha's control left her and she realized who must have been, then both girls ceased to exist. After that, it was a hard road against Orusha, but which revealed that the Eladrin were keeping tabs on her for centuries, but until that moment, never revealed this information due to Orusha never leaving her territory" Anatha confirmed.

"Her reach apparently stretched far. From the information we gathered on Orusha, she pre-dated Faerun as a whole. Faerun was known by another name, but that name was lost to the annals of time, as was Orusha's original origin. for centuries she remained hidden, gathering her hordes. Even the castle she eventually met her demise in, belonged to another vampire that actually aided the surrounding areas. Then Orusha came. seduced her way into the castle, killed that vampire, and took over, transforming the surrounding area into what was known for a long time, as the Haunted forests and swamps. There was even a swamp Hydra that resided in the area, that became a rotting pawn of Orusha's" Klive spoke up.

"That means her followers are so amassed, we only scratched the surface of them. A lot of them have vanished, fled, others turned themselves in. The ones that turned themselves, reported they were under her influence on some degree and if any of them tried rebelling, a searing, torturous pain was reported to course through their minds. A lot of them were very aware of what they were doing, horrified even. Some were distraught after miraculously being cured of their Vampirism, they took their own lives from the extreme grief" Tim spoke up.

"Another thing. Before we leave here, I must tell you. The reason I said parts of Faerun are still unsafe, is due to a new mysterious cult showing up. More of Orusha's followers are vanishing. Former followers who turned themselves in, are being found brutally murdered. Groups of adventurers who were tasked, along with groups of soldiers from Neverwinter, Waterdeep, Buldar's Gate, and the Underdark, are going missing. Something is happening and I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of Orusha's followers. The cult in question is being called, The Cult of Orusha. They are randomly popping up but are not strong enough to be any direct threat. But again, former followers are going missing. Adventurers are going missing. When we leave here, be very aware of your surroundings. Whispers of nameless fears are starting to creep back into the vast forests and other places. Watch yourselves" Anatha whispered.

The group would then leave separately except for Klive and Tim. However, none of them would see Alaina, or Varys, or Lorynn, again. Their mutilated corpses would be discovered weeks, later, but their decomposition would be so severe, their identities would be unknown. Klive and Tim would eventually vanish as well, their fates unknown.

Anatha herself wouldn't hear of this at all during her return trek to the Underdark. Wouldn't know three of their conspiring group was now dead, with the two wizards missing. She would have no idea how truly vast the Cult of Orusha was.

The End, for now.