Story of Group 5

Members of Group 5 and their relationships (Bonds)
This group consists of Hecate, Xiroz, Shrin'Zan nad Soarah.

Prologue...
The light bulb flickered a few times, trying its hardest to keep on shining, but after a few zips and zaps, it went dark. With careful touches, the wrinkled and shaking hand unscrewed the dead bulb and tossed it away. He seemed to be in a hurry, not bothering with a fresh light bulb, he lit a candle. With a snap of his finger, he lit the old wax candle to provide the light he needed.

With parchment on the table and pen in his hand, he dipped its tip in ink, and started to scribble. He tried to keep his hand steady, his writing legible, for what he was about to write, was of utmost importance. His mind was clouded, not just by age, but by some forlorn darkness that attacked him recently. A darkness that enveloped his inner being, his very soul, dampening the knowledge and vast magicks he used to know and use.

" I am sorry. I should have known. I should have warned you. Even if we had our differences, even if we never really considered each other family, you are my last living relative. My blood runs in your veins, you must have felt it too. You must know, don't you? It has shattered. The crystal. Don't you know?"

He tried to continue, but his mind wandered elsewhere, as if numerous shadowy hands tried to rip his attention from what he was doing. He did his best to stay in the present, to form the words in his mind and make those words appear as crooked ink-lines on the piece of parchment. The parchment that will become the last thoughts of a great man, of a great mind. He took a deep breath, as deep as he managed, and continued.

" You must not let it come to pass. You must help the Realm. No, not just the kingdom, this world is in peril... you must.... You felt it, you must have..."

His words on the parchment became erratic lines of nonsense, as did the words on his mind. The darkness finally claimed everything that was left of him. With his mind shattered to pieces, he lost the will to live.

A faint breeze came through the partially open window. A gust of wind, just enough to blow out that one candle that has illuminated the dead face of the man. Eyes staring into nothing, mouth agape, the face of utter defeat, enveloped in complete darkness, forever.

Funeral gone wrong.
The dead man, High Incubus Cineratus, now in full royal regalia, was more peaceful than he ever was when he was alive. He might even have been considered handsome, by some. His stern face, his bald head, his prominent horns, his tan skin, everything, even in death, radiated authority and power. His hands folded on his chest, two golden infernal stones on each of his eyes, to signify his importance to the Gods.

Another infernal, a live one, a loud one, telling all the deeds worthy of mention, ritually said the most important parting words that a High Incubus would ever need. If Cineratus would have liked those words, no one knows, but that is what you get when you die. You are no longer in control of the events that unfold around you.

In the great underground chamber, the infernal temple of Cinderton city, proud capital of the Exiled, hundreds of people gathered to to pray for the soul of the late High Incubus. The Flameguard was standing watch, as the High Priest finished his ceremony. When he said his final words, the living wall of opulently clad soldiers parted, to make way to the torchbearers who lit the cascading fire that slowly enveloped the altar. The lines of fire making their way ever closer to the body, drew a beautiful picture on the ground, and when they reached the magically sewn gossamer hanging all around the body of the High Incubus, the flames started to climb up.

Before the flames could envelop the High Incubus to send him on his way to whatever heavenly realm, the ground started to shake. A deep rumble echoed in the chamber, and with a great explosion-like noise, a huge earthworm emerged from the wall. The chaos was instantaneous, everyone tried to head to the gates, guards forming a shield wall around High Succubus Maenax and the most important dignitaries.

The worm, double mouthed and horrible, drooling and loud, encircled the altar with its tongue. From the mouth of the worm, a robed figure emerged alongside with hundreds of demons.

Four heroes stand tall.
Xiroz, being defiant and arrogant, he only sent his servant to attend the ceremony. The servant had Xiroz's removable eyeball in hand, so he can witness the funeral.

Hecate, pursuing her true heritage happened to be at this city at the right time.

Shrin'Zan, after forfeiting his previous mission to tail and protect Hecate from the shadows, he stayed in the city to seek out mortal pleasures. He came to the funeral slightly tipsy after a few hours of fun at the bordello.

Soarah, the Elven ambassador from the Fissure Forest, attended the funeral as a diplomatic gesture.

Protecting the High Succubus
As soon as the demons started pouring out of the humongous earthworm, Soarah and Hecate tried to get closer to the High Succubus, she being protected by the honor guard. This superior positioning might have given them an edge in battle. Xiroz, as soon as he saw what happened, he headed to the chamber to join the fray. Shrin'Zan casually wiped out two or three smaller demons in self defense, being totally proud of himself in the process.

The High Succubus, and her bodyguards managed to back out of the room with minimal losses, when that happened, all of our heroes focused on trying to save the body of High Incubus that is being slowly devoured by the worm. The hooded figure is standing tall, mentally commanding the demonic masses.

Xiroz, animating an undead boar to do his battles for him, he managed to defeat one of the larger demons. Meanwhile, a few smaller ones fell to the magicks of Shrin'Zan who was aided by Soarah. Hecate, turning into a majestic eagle, tore into the face of the hooded figure, whose face when exposed was nothing and everything at the same time. His face was pure terror to anyone who looked upon its visage. With a powerful blast of furious magic, he blasted Hecate who fell ass first to the ground and turned back into her humanoid form.

The hooded figure started a powerful incantation, our heroes could not do anything about it for the moment, so they retreated. The time was just enough for the worm's embalming process to finish, and as it did, the body was devoured, all the remaining demons recalled.

The aftermath
After all that transpired during the funeral ceremony, High Succubus Maenax, and Lord Quinvermont gather our four heroes to commend them for their heroism and their attempts to save the late High Incubus' body. During this rather formal meeting, The Final Mail was given to Xiroz who shared this information with Soarah.

Our heroes have decided to track down the hooded figure with the help of the blood Hecate drew during combat and a curse that Xiroz will use on that blood. In the meantime, Shrin'Zan made a financially optimal deal with Soarah, and they agreed to go on this journey together.

Their destination seems to be Cejancij at the moment.

Dawn of an adventure
Our adventurers with the awesome scouting skills of Hecate in eagle form, managed to ambush a band of gnolls. A War-chief and Shaman proved to be formidable opponents, but they were defeated rather easily. After sifting through the bodies of fallen foes, some great items were uncovered for later use.

They continued on, and stumbled upon a mine, ran by goblins. After a few minutes of tactical discussion, they decided if they could clear out the mine, they should. The vote again concluded that Hecate should turn into a stealthy critter and fuck the goblin's shit up. This did not go as planned and our heroes had to bravely retreat.

A few more hours of travel and they ended up where they needed to be. At the southern entrance of the Bridge. The sight what greeted them was gruesome and more action-packed than expected. Two different bands of goblins and gnolls and all different kinds of semi-sentient creatures besieged the great gate, with the intent to pass to the North. After cutting their way through with the help of the local guards, they've been summoned to the Guard Captain who gave them a brief... briefing about the situation.

The situation was somewhere between catastrophic and hopeless, as the Mage pointed out that he is unable to connect the magical bridge again without the help of our heroes...