A Song for Winter: Eventide Campaign 2

    William grunted annoyed as he climbed the endless steps of the ancient twisted tower. The wind outside howled as it shook the crumbling tower sending a cold chill through the broken windows. A doorway suddenly appeared from the solid walls as a tall, thin, raggedy figure steps forward surrounded by some sort of strange blue magic. As the figure reached out its hand towards William, he waited cautiously for a moment not sure how to react when suddenly the floor fell out below him. William fell into a dark void for what seemed like an eternity into nothingness.

 

    Bolting straight up, William found himself in the bed of the inn room Izre got for him. The strange metal gear that William had picked up the day before was in his hand even though it should be in his coin bag across the room with the rest of his gear. Dressing quickly, William felt a tinge of pain as he strapped his eyepatch over his empty right eye socket. It had been over a week since he had lost his eye and it still hurt every day. Ignoring the pain William finished getting dressed and hurried to meet Izre at their designated meeting spot. The red-skinned demoness was already waiting for him with her wings folded against her back wearing clothes better suited for the adventure ahead than what she had been wearing previously.

 

    “Ah William, does this mean you’ve decided to trust a demon,” Izre inquired as the grey folf approached her from across the courtyard.

 

    “No,” William answered flatly, “it means that I have no other options for getting off-planet quickly.”

 

    “At this point, I’ll take it,” Izre shrugged and motioned for the two of them to begin heading out.

 

    Meteors streaked across the normally calm twilight sky as William and Izre began their journey by crossing the now bustling market street. Vendors lined the streets trying to sell their goods to the firefall adventurers and tourists looking for keepsakes. William knew better than to be pulled in by what claims the merchants yelled above the noise about their wares. Izre led the two of them through the crowds and towards one of the many roads out of town. Picking a road that was more or less a cattle trail worn into the ground from repeated use over the years. This was the worst time of year to be on Eventide as the yearly firefall brought out all the worst kinds of people looking to make a quick fortune.

 

    Izre broke the silence with occasional little bits of information about the Eventide. At one point the farmland had been part of a massive planet-sized city that was now broken up into individual farms. Domesticated sundogs roamed the farmland on the lookout for predators or sniffing around for signs of corrupt magic. Corrupt magic seemed to be Izre’s favorite subject as she went on at length about the topic. Bits of corrupt magic that became sentient was the demoness’s was what fascinated her the most as she spent a good hour going on about it. She wasn’t completely sure if she could contain anything strong enough to gain sentience but with William’s help, Izre was willing to try.

 

   

    A few hours travel out and all signs of civilization dropped away leaving nothing but sparse ruins on the skyline. The wind suddenly picked up blowing hard on the traveling pair. Izre struggled to keep her winds against her back as William realized this gust wasn’t natural. Stepping closer to Izre, William drew his witch knife from its sheath and began whistling a string of notes before spinning his talisman dagger in his hand creating a pocket of still air around the pair. Izre points to a tower in the distance while she yells something that is lost to William as he was concentrating on his spell.  Looking where she was pointing William saw a strange mustard color on the wind followed by a trail of yellow sparks. Carefully, William pushed his small pocket of stillness against the gusts of winds until just as suddenly as the gale started it dissipated. 

 

    Izre’s eyes glowed red with fire magic as she scanned for signs of magic before suddenly taking off into the ruins of a city. Willam chased her through the maze of ancient streets. He caught up with the demoness at an ancient crumbling fountain in what was at one point a city square. Motioning for silence, Izre gestured for William to circle to the opposite side of the fountain. Hiding in the rubble William found a strange translucent blue creature with a vaguely metal skull-shaped head. It was a construct of sorts that vaguely resembled a fox with a strange gauntlet in its mouth. As the fox-like construct growled, William made a leaping grab at it only to come up empty as it darted off. Needing no encouragement William leaped to his feet and began chasing the strange construct. A new storm erupted as William and Izre chased the fox being through the streets until it slammed through the ancient rotting boards of a tower.

 

    “Can you dispel this,” William yelled at Izre as he kicked through the remains of the door and started up the stairs.

 

    “I can try but it feels stronger than anything I’ve managed before,” Izre replied, coming up the stairs behind William.

 

    “Take this,” William told the demoness as he slammed his witch knife into her hands, “start casting and I’ll send you as much magic as I can.”

 

    William began whistling the Wintersong and directing its magic to his talisman dagger as he chased the fox creature higher up the tower. He could feel the air heating up around him as Izre’s fire magic began to gather around her. At the top of the stairs was a small landing with a door. William slammed into the door with all his might but despite its age, the door remained intact. A small noise alerted William to the fox-like creature on the other side of the platform by a large hole in the wall. Looking back William saw that Izre was holding a mass amount of fire and air magic in her hands as the fox thing leaped into the folf’s arms. 

 

    “We need to jump or the tower is going to come down around us,” William shouted over the storm.

 

    “I can’t fly in this,” Izre responded, struggling to contain the sheer magnitude of the power she was holding. 

 

    “Split the storm as we fall and I’ll catch us,” William replied, holding the fox construct tightly preparing to leap.

 

    As the duo leaped through the hole in the wall Izre focused her fire magic and William’s borrowed air magic into a single spell aimed at the apex of the spell. A blinding bolt of lightning split the sky violently dispelling the storm. Izre grabbed William in midair, wings outstretched struggling to prevent a death plummet. William whistled a couple of notes and an updraft caught the demoness’s wings slowing their descent. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to prevent a rather hard landing. The impact knocked out both Izre and William who woke several hours later to see meteors streaking across the twilight sky and a splitting headache.