D&D - 8

After you rush to the railing to peer down at the mangled bodies of Mina and Myna, you begin to notice a soft glow and a faint ringing tone coming from somewhere behind you. You turn and see the familiar metallic orb rising from the throne that lies near the center of the dias. As it gets higher in the air, the tone and the light grow brighter, until you have to look away.

When the light dims a bit, and the tone fades, you turn to find the sphere, now about 50' in the air, projecting the now-familiar image of Myrna sitting as though on the throne, his head bowed in sorrow.

"Ah, heroes," the magical projection sighs, looking up at you. "You don't know what you've done here."

He stands, and begins to pace back and forth before the throne. As he draws in the air with his hands magical, glowing constructs appear to visualize the narrative he tells.

"Thousands of years ago, there were five great adventuring companies that vied against one another to be the greatest heroes in the land - the Company of the White Panther, the Jade Vipers, the Order of the Falcon, the Crimson Wolf Brigade, and the Black Sun. Mina and I founded the Company of the White Panther and collected to us many of the strongest, bravest, and most clever adventurers in the Realms."

"The race to become the greatest adventuring company led each of us into some of the most dangerous keeps, ancient manses, and terrifying ruins the Realms had to offer. It was the Black Sun that first stumbled upon the thing that would doom us all - the Portal of Varian."

"I don't know where the portal came from, or really who named it, but I do know this: when Valdryn - the found of the Black Sun, and perhaps the greatest warrior I ever knew - opened it, the forces of Hell came screaming out of it descend upon the Realms in a wave of death and destruction that nearly could not be stopped."

He stops pacing, and turns to face you. "The entire company of Black Sun was destroyed in that first wave, and it took the combined might of the remaining four adventuring groups to turn back the tide and seal the portal again. Realizing it was our own lust for power and glory that had brought the world to this state, each company agreed to commit themselves to protecting the portal forever more."

"We set up a sort barrier between the world and the portal, anchored on each of its four sides by one of the companies. For centuries, I held the High Seat," he gestures at the throne. "I tired of the task, and of the burden of leading the descdants of those who followed us here, so I turned the task over to my beloved, Mina." He pauses for a long while, a looks sadly towards the railing where she and Myna had plunged to their deaths. Finally, he looks back to you.

"The Portal is vulnerable now. I no longer know how to directly contact the other companies, but I will seek them out. *YOU* will have to accept the burden of protecting the world from this terrible evil. Keep the Orb, and do not let it fall into the wrong hands - I will use it to contact you when I know how you can proceed to take over guardianship of the Portal's paths. Good luck, heroes, and may Eha guide your steps."

Previously, on "Anne's Campaign":

We toured the sewers some more. At some point, we ran into that brat Kip - or, rather, an illusion of him wielding a sword. Further progress into the sewers led us to Kip himself, and then to a small chamber under what is believed to be the site of a former temple. Inside, we found the daughter of that one annoying rich guy, as well as some other chick which turned out to be a dude in disguise - it's not clear if there was magical assistance for the disguise, or if he's just Ru Paul cubed. The room was full of swords, and some of us began examining them, hoping to find the sword that brought us here. Others of us brought a beaten and morally severed Kip into the room and shut the door then stood in front of it, trapping everyone inside. The girl was whiny and unaccountably fierce, but I think we were about to fix that when Radar and his friend had to go.



fin