"My condolences, sir Rezello," he said, and then a pause ensued as the old Scholar searched for words that could convey his curiosity but did not sound thoughtless. "I assume you know some of them. I could arrange another expedition to return them to their next of kins, that, if you don't mind, of course."
Rezello glanced at the scholar, looking back down at the skeletal corpse in front of him before answering, “I appreciate the offer, but in their state I’m not sure I could identify most of them... nor am I certain whether there would be any next of kin to return them to.” With a wave of his hand he extinguished the second spark he had been using to inspect the bodies before continuing, “Aside from myself, I only know of twelve others that evaded the disappearance in Scheel, and I’m not entirely certain of their current whereabouts...”
“You said that an entire town disappeared suddenly one day? The remains here seem awfully light to populate an entire town. And even then, you would think there was more evidence of an invasion of only these monsters corralled them away.” said Fia. She wandered near one of the piles of bones, it was browned with dust and dirt, obviously corroded by the elements, no flesh remaining of any sort. They were small, delicate, and gave away just how young some of the victims were. “I don’t know what kind of sorcery was at play then. We can only wish that the souls of these people didn’t suffer.
“It may simply be some misplaced hope of mine for answers to questions I’ve had for a decade, but from the age of the bones, the armor of the combatants, the... variety of deceased... I am confident these were people of Scheel. But, as you say, the number of bodies hardly accounts for all who vanished, and the matter of how they got here remains unanswered. I fear we may find more elsewhere in the forest...”
Perhaps they would have been better off if they really had just vanished.
Spelunking wasn’t something new to Rezello - plenty of monsters and outlaws he had fought in previous adventures had turned caves into their lairs - but tunnels as labyrinthine as the ones their expedition found themselves in now were fairly rare. If these passages were indeed connected to the library, he could only imagine it must’ve been a convenient accident rather than an intentional construction. Either that, or elvish tunneling was more haphazard than he would have expected.
Their slow journey through the underground was halted as Jazdia detected a group of passing devourers. One of them hesitated for a moment, turning towards the party as though it had sensed their presence; Rezello’s grip on his weapon tightened as he readied to strike if it made any hostile actions, but thankfully it continued down the path the rest of its pack had gone down. After waiting a moment for the pack to become sufficiently distant, they continued their trek through the tunnels.
Before long, the branching tunnels opened up into a larger chamber. As Jazdia warned of the remains scattered on the ground within, Rezello stopped to inspect the one nearest him; another armored corpse, its metal shell in the same style as that of the fallen knight they found outside the entrance to the caverns. But something was off. While he could have been another fallen member of the Sten Corps from that contract, there were several more corpses in the chamber than the losses of that mission would have accounted for. And, when Rezello summoned another spark to get a better view of the deceased, it became clear that most of them couldn’t have been knights of Scheel.
Skeletons of various sizes, most unarmored, and what scraps of cloth remained on them was clearly civilian rather than the dress of a resting soldier caught unaware. The arrangement of the dead seemed to indicate a defensive perimeter, clearly the few battle-ready members of this doomed group trying to defend the helpless majority. But what were they doing here in the first place? There had never been a civilian excursion into the forest; at most, the occasional foolhardy treasure-hunters who fell victim to rumors of hidden gold and artifacts in the cursed lands. So why were they here? How did they get in these tunnels?
A hypothesis was starting to form in Rezello’s mind, and he didn’t like its conclusions.
The time to depart came shortly after Rezello had finished cooking and eating his morning meal, giving him just enough time to clean and cool the heated pan he had made it in before returning it to its place among the rest of his mess kit. Summoning his armor, he took a moment to ensure it was secured before collecting his pack and following the rest of the party as they began their march.
For two hours they made their way through the forest, Rezello taking position near the front and watching the treeline for potential threats, though none had appeared. When they arrived at the gorge, he looked over the surrounding cliff faces before something Vesemir pointed them to caused Rezello to freeze.
Well... this is unexpected.
A skeleton, clad in plate armor corroded by years of exposure to the elements. But even through rust and decay, the design was unmistakable to Rezello; before them all sat the remains of a veteran knight of the Sten Corps. A knight of Scheel. A knight of Rezello’s home. While Vesemir, Stepan and Elc discussed the circumstances of the corpse’s presence and the logistics of transporting the dead, and Jazdia scanned the terrain ahead as she searched for the hidden entrance, Rezello approached the fallen knight, kneeling in front of it.
“A knight of Scheel...”
He remembered the story. A group of Sten Corps knights had been hired to assist in a mission that would take them deep into the forest. Such offers weren’t necessarily uncommon, but from what he could recall the rumors at the time were that this particular contract was especially lucrative, and had attracted the attention of several of the knights who otherwise might have had reservations about journeying so far into cursed land. The income from such jobs was, after all, a substantial part of what allowed a city as remote as Scheel to function.
The survivors of that expedition returned to Scheel just a day or so before he and his fellow knights-in-training were sent out on the final mission before being inducted into the Sten Corps. He had heard the mission went poorly, though he didn’t remember hearing anything about a vault; then again, such information would have likely been above his station, seeing as he hadn’t yet been officially knighted. But considering the timing... could something that happened during that mission have caused the incident in Scheel those many years ago? Could they, having survived whatever set ruin upon their expedition, have inadvertently brought an equally terrible fate back with them?
Banishing these thoughts from his mind, he stood, staring down at the body. Summoning his spadone, he turned the blade downwards, tip resting on the overgrown forest floor, and placed his palms atop the pommel before closing his eyes to pay respect to his fallen would-be comrade. The best way he could honor the fallen knight, he decided, was to ensure that the information he had died to secure was put to good use. After a moment of silence, he took up his sword, resting the blade on his shoulder as he turned and started to head towards the opening Jazdia had uncovered.
When Rezello emerged from his tent into the cold morning air, he had a single thought on his mind: breakfast. Making his way over to the camp’s stockpiled supplies, he sorted through the food stores before he remembered a detail from the aftermath of the battle the day before: no eggs. Something else would have to suffice to sate his hunger, and so he retrieved what he considered the next best thing: meat. Taking a pair of sausages in one hand, he returned to his tent to get a frying pan from his mess kit, positioning it on the ground in front of him before taking a seat. Summoning one of his daggers into his free hand, he began slicing the sausages into the pan when a panicked voice coming from the river stole his attention.
Miwa was standing by the water, apparently scolding Akari for something, whose head and shoulders were sticking out of the water. A morning swim? A basket on the ground near them indicated otherwise - if his guess was right, the ninja girl had been collecting something from the waters. And if that something was what he thought, it would make a fine addition to his morning meal. He stood up, dropping the final remnants of the sausages into the pan in front of him before stowing his dagger in his belt and making his way towards the basket; as he arrived, Akari had emerged from the water and begun to redress, but Rezello’s focus was entirely on the potential addition to his breakfast.
Kneeling down in front of the container, his suspicions were confirmed: it had been filled with a variety of fish, fresh from the river. Taking one by the tail, he looked it over before nodding and lifting the basket in the arm of his free hand. Turning back towards the main area of the camp, he glanced at Akari. “Good work. I can take these back.” Upon returning, he set the basket next to the rest of the stockpile before heading to the front of his tent again, pulling the dagger from his belt and quickly scaling and gutting the fish he had taken while on the way.
Dropping the prepared fish among the sliced bits of sausage, he picked up the frying pan, a hot blue flame manifesting beneath it as he began to cook.
Introductions were underway, interspersed with discussion about their next goal: delving into the Laisle Grand Library in search of a tome and a vault of artifacts. Under different circumstances, it could pass as a relatively simple ruins plundering mission; familiar territory. Based on what they had encountered so far, however, merely getting there would likely be complicated by the cursed forest, and if Theriadore was as accomplished an artificer as Vesemir made him out to be, a vault of his artifacts would certainly be well-defended.
All the more reason to take advantage of what tranquility they had while they still could. Retrieving a bowl and a long-handled spoon from a mess kit in his pack, Rezello served himself a helping of the stew Akari had started, taking a seat on a fallen log nearby. Lifting a spoonful to his mask, its articulated lower jaw shifted such that its mouth opened and shut in unison with Rezello’s as he began his meal. Getting used to eating and drinking with the mask on had taken Rezello some time, but after nine years it had become as natural for him as if it hadn’t been there at all.
He paused mid-spoonful as an unexpected guest entered the camp. Akari was the first to react, apparently recognizing something about the newcomer as she invited her to join the rest of them. From the sound of her story, it seemed another group was trying to make their way into the forest - with a particular emphasis on ‘was’. While a band of scholars fleeing in the face of danger was by itself understandable, abandoning the one escort they had hired while doing so was not only cowardly, but stupid - after all, there was nothing guaranteeing they wouldn’t encounter more foes during their retreat. A problem that was no longer Miwa’s responsibility, in any case.
Miwa finished explaining her situation, offering to join their expedition, an opportunity Vesemir was quick to capitalize on. Giving her a pouch of coin similar to those he had used to pay the rest of them, he welcomed her to the party. With the tension relieved, Rezello continued eating while Akari began to prepare a second pot of stew. Conversation continued with the calmed atmosphere; while Miwa expanded on her background in the Far East - the same “faraway land” Akari hailed from, evidently - Rezello acquired a second helping of stew, this time making his way towards the nearby river, gazing across it into the darkness of the forest beyond.
Perhaps something in the library would hold some clue towards the answers he sought, hidden among the tomes and records.
After a moment, he returned to his previous seat, finishing his meal.
The steel blade of Rezello’s polearm cleaved through the treent’s limbs with ease, the once tough wood rendered brittle by stress and heat. Embers thrown into the air by the melee singed his armor, leaving marks of ash on the blackened steel; had the fight gone on for too long, the accumulating heat might’ve sapped his strength, but fortunately it didn’t seem like that would be a problem. As he stepped aside to dodge a sluggish, desperate swing of the ent’s remaining limb, a bolt of concentrated flame shot a hole through the ent in front of him and left a crater in the second; an arrow loosed by the elven ranger finished off the latter, the treents collapsing into burning heaps.
Making his way out of the field of ash and flames, Rezello’s pollaxe vanished from his hands as he returned the weapon to its place in the Armory. Returning to where the carriage had been, he sorted through the hastily discarded luggage until he found his travel pack, picking it up by the strap and slinging it over his shoulder before returning to the rest of the group, receiving a pouch of gold from Vesemir upon his arrival. A substantial sum for as early as it was in their mission; now all he had to do was survive to the end to make use of it.
After what supplies from the carriage that could be recovered had been salvaged, the group carried on to their next destination. The glade they arrived in seemed almost idyllic, as though it were an inverse of the reputation the rest of the forest had. In all likelihood, it would be their last taste of peace before they delved deeper into the cursed lands. Once the camp had been set up, Vesemir called everyone over to begin introductions, starting with the members of the initial party. Eblana, Stepan, Mr. Elc, Jazdia, and of course, Vesemir himself.
The first member of the reinforcement party to introduce themselves was Akari, the girl with the self-duplication magic. She described herself as a ninja, a term Rezello wasn’t familiar with, but seeing as she was from a “faraway land”, he figured it was a regional title in the same way that “Sten” was, to his knowledge, only used in Scheel for their knights. After she finished her introduction, Rezello spoke up, stating, “I am Rezello Fulsteel-Ashton. Was trained as a knight before I became an adventurer.”
Fia’s conjured lightning struck true, but unfortunately it was evident that electricity had little effect beyond searing the outer layers of their bark skin. With no other obvious physical vulnerabilities presenting themselves, the sole feature that stuck out as a potential weak point stood beyond the reach of Rezello’s weaponry. A bow and arrows - or at least a few javelins - suddenly seemed like a worthy addition to his collection of armaments, but now was not the time to regret not being prepared for every possibility. While he had been considering his next move, Degel had moved in to intercept the nearer of the two ents, while the elven archer and Akari had moved in to attack the one in the rear, setting it ablaze and draining the vitality of the vegetation that had begun to engulf the barrier.
Quickly carving an opening through any of the remaining growth that might have blocked his path, Rezello moved to place himself between the two ents; the frontliner seemed the weaker of the two, more visibly damaged and held in place by Degel’s grapple. Thus - and at Degel’s own urging - he stepped towards the burning, staggered rear-ent. While it had suffered severe damage already at the hands of the archer and the ninja, it still lived, and therefore was still a threat. Though the glowing sphere upon its head remained out of reach, and there were no weak points in the same way as a gap in the armor of a human opponent might have, the fire that was consuming it had likely weakened its natural armor.
Figuring that the wood that bent and curved to form the ent’s limbs was probably less resilient than that which the torso was made of, Rezello set to work circling the faltering foe, hacking away with his pollaxe at the scorched tree-flesh that formed its legs.
The burst of lightning magic proved effective, stunning the creatures long enough for the mercenary at Rezello’s side to lop off the head of the nearest of the three. The combined effort of his allies quickly dispatched the remaining foes, a combination of magic and steel carving through cursed flesh. Now all that remained was the draconic beast that stood ahead of them. From the horse that was rapidly disappearing into its maw, it was clear that if they fled and it gave chase, there would be little chance of escape. Whatever course of action the various members of their group may have been considering, the situation took a definitive turn when the dragon began to speak, revealing an unexpected intelligence. Which, of course, made it all the more dangerous.
After Vesemir stepped forward to speak to the dragon, it launched into a brief monologue, and though its words were both mocking and threatening in tone, it seemed as if their contractor’s words managed to convince it to leave in peace, as much as leaving behind a barrier of poisonous mist instead of attacking them directly could be considered “peaceful”. Then two of the nearby trees began to move. Twisted roots tore from the earth as thick trunks warped into wooden torsos, limbs that might have once carried fruit now bent into clawed arms. For the moment one merely stood and watched as the other gained its bearings, but it was clear that a fight would soon be upon them.
While Fia charged her lightning-spell, Rezello shifted his spadone into a half-sword grip, the weapon becoming engulfed in silver light as it was replaced with his pollaxe; a far cry from a proper lumber axe, but still more suited for chopping wood than any sword. While the treents were still readying themselves, he scanned their forms, looking for anything that might indicate a weak spot or other such vulnerability - especially in the areas that the arcane storm their sorceress had just unleashed might have struck.
A man garbed in green and black wandered the empty streets of an abandoned city, the sound of footsteps on stone roads echoing in the unnatural silence of the pristine ruins. Cobblestones gave way to gravel, and gravel to dirt and mud as he approached a riverbank, staring across the flowing water into the darkness of a thick forest that consumed the other side, stretching endlessly in every direction.
You think you’ll find anything in there?
A pale apparition appeared at his side, a vaguely humanoid silhouette gazing into the trees beside him.
Maybe. I doubt I’ll ever have another chance to find out.
Fair enough. I hope you’re ready, then. It’s time to move out.
The forest, river, and city suddenly collapsed into void as Rezello was jolted awake by the carriage’s sudden stop. After four days of uneventful travel along what seemed to be nothing but fairly standard forested road, something had gotten the coachman worked up. Rezello shifted to look outside, spotting the light of the group in the distance. The carriage shook again as two of his fellow hires made their exit and their way towards the glimmer. Given the coachman’s urging, and the sounds coming from the direction of the light, now was no time for grogginess; forcing himself awake, Rezello pushed himself out of the vehicle, his body enveloped by a flash of silver light and his feet landing on the ground beneath with a thud as his armor manifested upon him.
Breaking into a sprint, he quickly scanned the scene before him; two armored mercenaries in the frontline, an older elven gentleman - the source of the light, and no doubt their employer - in the middle, and a pair of elven women in the rear, one an archer and the other some kind of spellcaster. Facing them, something around a dozen... monstrosities of some kind, though not like anything Rezello had encountered before. Akari and her duplicates had moved to reinforce the front and left flank, while Verdant had slipped behind the beasts, so Rezello shifted to reinforce the right, extending a hand that was soon filled with the grip of his spadone, sparks of lightning manifesting from the guard and traveling up its blade as he readied an attack.
As he approached the front line, he moved to transfer his momentum into a thrust of his blade, releasing a line of lightning focused on striking the three southernmost beasts - aimed directly at the one further back, while threading the gap between the closer two.
Appearance: Rezello stands at a height of 6’6”, or roughly 198 cm.
Reason to Join: For the past decade, Rezello has been on a quest to discover the cause of the disappearance of the population of Scheel, the city of his birth. As it was built near the southern border of the Land of Twilight, Rezello believes there may be a connection between the event and the forest’s cursed nature.
Passives
Steelblood: The men and women of the Fulsteel lineage inherited the tall stature and robust physique of their progenitor, warrior-adventurer Redmond Ashton, granting them enhanced strength and endurance.
Heavy Weapons Specialist: Though trained in all manner of weapons as part of the path to knighthood, Rezello is especially adept with larger two-handed weapons such as polearms and greatswords that fully utilize his strength.
Spells
Armory: Rezello can access a small pocket dimension in which he can store a multitude of weapons and a suit of armor. Mundane equipment stored in the armory can be summoned and dismissed freely, but that which has been enchanted, made from magic materials, divinely forged, or otherwise enhanced beyond purely physical means consumes magic energy to do so.
Lightning Shell: Rezello emits a surge of electric energy conducted by the metal in his armor and weapons, delivering a surge of lightning to enemies that strike him or are struck by him in melee combat. Consumes a small amount of magic energy while active and a larger amount while inflicting damage. Ineffective on foes that do not conduct electricity.
Due to the magic-conductive nature of the alloy used to forge his spadone, Rezello can concentrate the electricity into the sword’s blade and release it as a ranged attack. For example, swinging the blade unleashes a short-range wave of lightning, while a thrusting strike would launch an arc of lightning in the direction of the thrust.
Conjure Sparks: Rezello can produce small flames roughly equivalent to that of a lit torch, the properties of which he determines- whether or not it will ignite objects it touches and how readily it spreads, whether it produces warmth and how hot it burns, and whether it emits light and how bright or dim the light is. The color of the flame changes depending on these properties; ignition colors it red, heat blue, and light green. These flames can be created and moved freely anywhere within a small area around Rezello, as long as he can see the point of origin, and multiple flames can be merged together.
Mundane Skills
Survivalism: Basic survival skills were a bare minimum expected of all members of Scheel’s Sten Corps, as defending the city often required them to track beasts and other monstrosities through the untamed forests that lie beyond its borders.
Equipment Maintenance: Though the Sten Corps styled itself as a proper order of knights and held the prestige of one within Scheel, in truth they were little more than well-equipped and trained guardsmen. Without elements such as the page and the squire to perform tasks like maintaining equipment, it fell upon the knights to do so, either by hiring capable servants or learning to do such tasks themselves. Rezello chose the latter.
Equipment
Fulsteel Spadone: A two-handed sword with a blade thinner than a typical greatsword. Intended as a token of his knighthood, it was forged from a dense, magic-conductive alloy heavier than the steel normally used in swordsmithing.
Weapons of the Armory: Rezello’s Armory spell currently contains a messer longsword, a pair of long daggers, a pollaxe, a bec de corbin, and a morningstar.
Sten Corps Armor: Blackened steel armor, consisting of a mix of plate and mail; pauldrons, gauntlets, half-plate rerebraces and greaves protect Rezello’s limbs, while his torso is covered by a gambeson, hauberk, and green-clothed brigandine. A helmet would also normally be worn, but the one he used to wear does not fit over his mask.
Mask of the Tower: A broken and seemingly cursed mask of unusual design, resembling both an elven face and a skull. Rigid, but with a leathery texture, it fused to Rezello’s face when he put it on; the lower jaw is articulated and can move with the motions of Rezello’s mouth, and as such he can eat, drink, and speak normally. A spirit trapped within claims to be familiar with the Ashton bloodline and grants Rezello his magic abilities.
Miscellaneous Tools/Adventuring Gear: Rope, equipment maintenance tools, digging and climbing implements, a waterskin, currency, and other such items that an experienced adventurer would bring with them, stored within a pack that he can carry on his back while traveling and quickly drop so as not to encumber himself upon entering combat.
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