Main Session

"This isn't the direction of the bandit camp!" She yells as gear clunks and rattles in your hurried sprint, "What the hell could be happening all the way out here!?" Her voice tries to carry over the sounds of your movement.

It didn't take you much longer to round a nearby corner, letting you step into perfect clarity, the answer was right in front of you now that you'd found the source of the grim plumes of thick grey clouds.

You come to a stand still. Wood blazes against the sky painting the hue a deep crimson, crackling flame bites against your ears only to be shellshocked by the sudden clarity of nearby screaming, sobbing and aggressive yelling. A female voice shouts back, only to be quickly silenced.

You see a figure running from the burning building, face in her hands, disraught as she joins a small family bundling up together in fear.

"I've always hated this place!" A distant shout calls out against the scene before you, snapping all of your attention to listen harder.

"You rich scumbags deserve nothing!"

"Burn it! Burn it to the god damned ground!"

The voices sound too aggressive, like snarling creatures on the verge of spitting out every word rather than yelling them.

A woman turns to watch the horror, her hands folded over one another in disbelief as she watched the embers consume the wooden manor, "...Elves would not have done such a thing to us!" She yells back, defiant to the last moment, her shoulders curl forward, bunching up with anger, the girl overflowing with emotion.

"Y-You! You animals!" She roars, her fists jumping by her sides as she screams towards the house. Those were her last words.

Arrows pierced the viel of smoke, sending her to her back in a heap, disappearing from view in the long wheat that drifted roughly in the smoke. It didn't take much to sway you to take the side of the farmers.

Eris didn't hesitate as the arrows found their mark, boots set to pounding against the hard-packed earth that led to the burning homestead. It wasn't the barn she ran for, though, but where the woman had vanished beneath the un-harvested stalks.

There wasn't much she could do in quelling the flames- that, she left in the capable hands of her compatriots for the moment. She swept over the wheat, eyes wide and searching for any sign of the woman. If she could just get to her-

She was rarely the type to panic.
Overthink, perhaps. But panicking in a situation left no room for calculated decisions. Ophelia took in her surroundings. The smoke, the screams, a casualty—that was where an emotion finally penetrated the stoicism of the luminary.

“It has to be the mist,” she couldn’t think of a well enough reason for such chaos to ensue.

She noticed a cloaked figure behind the wilting of wood and raging of flames. “There’s someone—“ were the only words Ophelia got out as they fled the scene.

They couldn’t focus on them, though. Not as things began to escalate.

“If we don’t do something, they’re going to kill the rest of them.”

Ardira pulled the edge of her cloak up to her nose; the breaths she took in being filled with too much smoke to bear.

Her eyes darted from the fleeing masses to the barn set ablaze, eventually following Ophelia’s gaze and spotting the cloaked figure in the distance.

Elves would not have done such a thing to us.

The screams rang through Ardie’s pointed ears and her heartbeat began to race. Confusion and panic set in — but she had to keep stay calm.

“I— we—“ she stammers, her head on a swivel as she looked around frantically. “We need to help whoever we can.”

Ardira narrowed her eyes, peering through the chaos of flames in search of anyone in desperate need of help.

Vaeri stops next to Ophelia, her eyes meeting the same mark. She then snaps out of it, seeing Eris run into the fire, eyes going wide.

"We'll deal with whoever that was later!!"

Vaeri runs forward, hands raised towards the sky. She then does a little spin, and in her arms an illusionary parasol appearing in her arms. As she puts it up, the comedy of it juxtaposing the horror of the screams from the burning building, it suddenly starts to heavily rain over the manor.

Nezryn moves alongside Vaeri, choosing to remain silent and focused. She was familiar with fire, but this was... Excessive.

She raises her arms to try to keep the flames from licking too far out into the open air.

The flames wilt under the fall of rain, it wouldn't be long until the building calmed down, especially as Nezryn moved to help control them. Eris makes it over to the elven girl, she's able to see even without checking...she was gone already. The elf laid on her back, eyes closed with arrows littering her that had unfortunately found their mark.

"Please...there's got to be something you can do" One pleaded, only for a hand to fall on their shoulder.

"God! Our home...it's- it's all gone and now our daughter? Why would any one do this!?" A female voice sputters through sobs, "We've never hurt anyone or caused any trouble!" She wails as she becomes inconsolable, her words suddenly muffled by her hands.

Eris' heartbeat skipped and skittered as she finally laid eyes to the woman- a daughter, her parents' anguished wails falling heavy on the paladin. She forced a swallow down, throat tight as she leaned protectively over the trio.

"I can see that you don't join her." As if that would ever be enough, but it's all Eris had to offer. "Go, head for the fence line-" A swift gesture pointed out where her compatriots stood ready, "We'll do what we're able." Orders given, gentle as they could be in the wood elf's curt tone, she stepped between the bandits and the farmers.

With a steadying breath, shield brought close to her chest, Eris sent a small set of prayers skyward. One drew a gilded sheen over the paladin- well that was new. Not one to waste an opportunity though, another prayer was woven, and a mote of light peeled free to trace a menacing arc towards the nearest bandit.

The man looked as though he was being torn apart by chaotic energy. his face scarred, eyes burning with dark magic.

"I hate this feeling!" The man yells in torment, grabbing the sides of his head, "I hate it! I hate it!"

He writhes before aggression comes over him, "No one gets away!" The man snarls, unvieling a hand wreathed in black shadow, the outstretch palm is flung forward with a grunt of effort from the man.

A bolt of black magic hits one of the farmers behind Eris, throwing them on to their back, their chest smouldering with smoke. It didn't require a second look, they were gone.

She howls in confusion, swinging her sword at thin air multiple times before honing in, "God! I can hear my heartbeat in my head!" She howls in torment before it stops. Her head droops down, pausing still.

The bandit woman slowly raises her eyeline, spotting the elf farmers, "Someone wants you dead! They did this to us to kill you all! If you die...this will all stop!"

Just like the man before her, she throws a shadowy bolt of darkness towards a Farmer and they meet the same fate.

Another bandit woman seems to have the same idea, shooting at another farmer, who narrowly survived.

Nezryn goes running forward, hurling a mote of fire directly into one of the aggressive bandits. As she yells, her voice is amplified much louder than she should be able - resulting in her command sounding in part like a deep, rumbling, draconic roar, "STOP!"

She blinks, half surprised by the sound that left her, but she continues, playing on whatever confidence she can muster, "Stop hurting each other, lest you want to taste the bite of metal and fire - please! You CAN stop this!"

"We didn't...we didn't ask for this!" He yells, sounding delirious. The dragons roar resounds around the farmyard, the bandits look notably scared. The corrupt bandit takes off, running across the farm before lashing out, the last farmer meeting the same fate as the others.

Ardira stood silent in front of Ophelia, one hand outstretched protectively to her side in a wordless effort to keep her friend from rushing into danger.

The dwindling firelight danced in an amber reflection along her blade, a goading heat travelling up its length; humming in anticipation until the warmth reaches her skin.

The sensation didn’t burn. It was a comforting grasp, as if her hand was being held tightly in firm reassurance.

“I’ll keep you safe.” she whispers into the smouldering winds. “Stand behind us.”

Ardira slowly takes Seravorn from her side; narrowed golden eyes settling at the tip of the blade as she points it to the flame-tinged sky.

”By ember and starlight, the dance begins.”

The words that leave her mouth don’t just sound like her own — but a contrasting harmony as she’s joined by a much deeper voice perfectly in tandem with her own.

Ardie’s eyes soften, closing peacefully as her form is engulfed in a cloud of shadow and gold, slowly emerging in a shimmering burst that reveals a billowing black cloak with a hood that swallows her face in darkness.

A golden spectre emerges from behind her, an echo of a warrior from another time — Seravorn. His movements mirror Ardira’s in perfect sync.

“Let the veil endure.
Spoiler
” They speak together, making their way through the charred grounds with a graceful haste.

“Together.”

A glistening aura radiates from the gem set in her sword; a sea of gold crawling up her skin to form a magical defence as the pair rush into the fight. (edited)Monday, 8 December 2025 05:02

Nezryn spots one of the bandits aiming his longbow at her. She freezes, much like a deer in headlights and lets out a nervous squeal in anticipation. When all she feels is a little tink off her shoulder, she hesitantly opens her eyes to see the patches of golden scales shimmering brightly beneath her clothing. Dumbfounded, when she goes to summon more fire to lob at the man, it immediately fizzles out.

The men are wilting under the fear caused by Nezryn's powerful roar, the skirt along the outsides of the farm, shrieking off crackling bolts of shadow though their aim is far less steady.

One of the women is engaged in combat with Eris, lashing out with her blade against the paladin. Eris' skillfully deflects hit after hit but misses her own strike back in return, the crazed woman pressuring her as they're locked in a duel.

"NO-!" But no amount of protest would hinder the trio of shadowed bolts shot past. Eris didn't turn to see the three farmers fall, didn't need to witness the damage done to know.

And yet, even as she closed with the closest of the bandits, even as her blade skipped off of the woman's own, it hadn't been aimed at anything vital. "Whatever this is- fight it! You're stronger than they think you are!"

Vaeri drops to her knees beside the fallen farmers, hands trembling as she presses them uselessly over wounds that are far, far beyond saving. She feels for a pulse, but gets nothing.

All of them, nothing.

Her voice breaks in her throat, a tiny, choked noise swallowed by the roaring fire behind her.
"No, nono- please-"

She squeezes her eyes shut, her hands curling into fists against the dirt. Something cold and furious coils beneath her ribs. It's a very new feeling.

Then something splits.

A pop, and some more confetti, and suddenly Vaeri is standing beside herself.

The second Vaeri, identical to the first stands there- expression bright and cheerful, whereas the real one is pale and shaking. The illusion tilts its head, beams, then gives a little wave.

"... What..? That's... oh that's new.. wait-!"

The duplicate doesn't wait. It skips it's way over to Ardira, twirling around the bandits she's engaged with. The real Vaeri darts to her feet, following after it. The man in front of her slashes down with his greatsword, Vaeri ducking under it just in time. Just in time for the illusion to reach it's hand out, patting the man on the back.

Dark purple energy, sparkling in the fire light, bleeds like ink from the double's hand down his back, drawing life force- seemingly making the illusion brighter.

“Don’t!” Ophelia yelled as one of the bandits struck toward the last remaining member of the family. Her hand flourished through the air. Three spectral, light-blue missiles conjured at her gesture and slammed into the bandit, forcing him to stumble back far enough to create space.

He was being controlled.
They all were.

This wasn’t like their earlier fight, when the others were still capable of following their survival instincts. He was aware of his decisions—guilt-ridden, but his actions betrayed him as violence raged and coursed within.

Ophelia moved behind one of the fences, taking cover.

Her back pressed against the cold stone as she squeezed her eyes shut. Her breathing turned ragged and rough. “Okay. Okay.”

Vivid memories flashed through her mind, as though she were reliving—no, seeing moments that hadn’t happened yet. Eris’s sword swung wide as one of the bandits blocked the attack. Though more controlled now, fire reflected, gleaming against the woman’s armor.

And she saw it. A weak spot.

When Ophelia opened her eyes, just for a moment, her surroundings seemed… different.

Darker. Ruined.

Her hands grasped ash beneath her fingers. Then, as if nothing had happened, the ash was dirt in her hands. A bolt of shadow shot directly past her, slamming into a haybale instead of her—like it'd somehow phased through her rather than struck.

She gathered herself, taking in her surroundings. Eris was fighting the same woman, arching her sword. “There's a gap in her armor!” Ophelia cupped her hands and shouted to her comrade.

“Her waist. Aim th—” Another round of attacks forced the wizard to take cover again, her magic fizzling under the stress.

"AggHhh! Stop doing things!" The dragonborn just about shrieks, having hit her wit's end after the day's events. So much violence... So much pain... This was certainly well past a kerfuffle with an irate squirrel.

She thrusts her arms forward towards the bandit threatening to slip past her, sending a sizzling ball of condensed flame directly into her chest plate.

Nezryn lets out a flustered squawk - completely and utterly losing her composure. The sorceress throws caution to the wind and lobs another miniature fireball in quick succession, landing squarely in the bandit's shoulder. Nezryn stops, panting with her exertion, and glaring daggers.

"As one."

Ardira dances with ease around the pair of corrupted men, hardly registering the slight singe of pain when a shadowy blight of energy catches the side of her arm.

She makes three strikes against one of the men, each succeeded by a burst of ethereal energy that's sent spiralling into the body of the other beside him. She plunges her rapier into the thigh of the man, then quickly pulls out and stabs into his abdomen. The third and final strike pierces through flesh and between ribs, reappearing clean on the other side before being returned to her once more, ready for the next attack.

As she twirls into position, the sight of Vaeri catches her off guard — not just Vaeri — two of her. Ardira's steadfast focus falters for a moment, eyes flitting between the duplication of drow.

"Vaeri?" The dual toned voice echoes, confusion evident even through the veil of facelessness.

The waist? Eris pivoted, too caught up in the pitched battle she was locked in to notice much of the cacophony that surrounded she and the cursed woman. That bit of advice from Ophelia, though, was snatched from the roar of flame and cries of friend and foe alike, and with it the paladin snapped her wrist down, around, a thrust angled at the bandit's side-

Eris wasn't the only one who'd heard it, as a quick sidestep drew the bandit just out of the thrust's trajectory. "Please-" Eris panted out, sincerity clear even the labored breath, " 'Least give us a name, something- Who, if you know?"

The real Vaeri rushes past her the man who fell at her feet thanks to Ardira, and drives her dagger into the second man’s side. The movement is desperate rather than practiced, but the blow lands true, sinking between ribs with a sickening give.

She freezes mid-recoil, her dagger still in both hands, as Ardira questions her very confused. She gestures helplessly between herself and her duplicate.

“I- I guess I just needed a bit of extra help?”

Vaeri gives a weak smile, trying to play it off as if that explained everything. At the same time, the illusion nodded enthusiastically as if to confirm this extremely unhelpful statement.

The warriors weren't stopping but seemed to have a complete aversion to closing the gap with Nezryn. They skirted around the farmyard, moving closer to the group in round about ways. They hurled the shadowy energy in crackling bolts of corruption, the blasts finding their target multiple times in glancing blows.

The bandit women circled around, trying to pick off targets towards the back, one specifically combatting Ophelia in a fierce duel of magic while Eris held the line to stop any more advancing from the north of the farm yard. While the bandit women made their way towards the entrance to the farmyard, the men were locked in combat with Vaeri and Ardira, slowly falling against the powerful duelists.

Slowly beginning to understand, the confusion hidden beneath her hood soon returned to a steeled focus as her attention switched to the corrupted bandit just as its sword would meet her chest — narrowly avoiding the hit with a swift side-step turned lethal blow as her blade stabs straight into the creature's heart.

"We do not falter."

When the tainted corpse falls to the ground, Ardira looks over her shoulder in search of Ophelia, squinting through the smoke until she finally makes out her form and sprinting with urgency towards the shadow-slinging bandit, weapon at the ready. (edited)Monday, 8 December 2025 09:35

"All I can hear is a thousand screams! I can't think!" The woman yells back furiously to Eris, their swords clashing as the bandit leans forward while speaking. It was animalistic, filled with unnatural rage, Eris' words falling disappointingly on deafened ears, "We killed them! We'd kill them again."

She leans closer still, flashing a corrupted smile of grit teeth, "We never asked for this!"

"So now it burns! Everything burns!"

Nezryn takes a stumbling step, struggling to get a handle on her breathing. "Stop it!" She pleads again and hurls more fire at the bandit edging closer to Elric. She can't lose another person today, "Come after me, you coward!"

For some reason hearing Nezryn speak to him snaps him out of his scared stupor, realizing she was just a person like anyone else. The bandit takes the taunt, yelling out a battle cry before Nezryn sees him draw back on a large greatsword. Its shrouded in a black, nasty looking energy, taking her off guard. The slash lands, knocking the zeal out of her as shes made to stumble backward.

Nezryn is nearly floored by the slash. She asked for it, but that didn't mean it wasn't painful. It almost didn't feel real - none of it did. Maybe it all was a dream? She felt the healing magic from her companions, which was barely enough for her to be able to take the next attack.

The dragonborn flails with her dagger, missing the bandit entirely as tears blur her vision.

Her spells were failing, fizzling for reasons beyond the obvious. Ophelia wasn’t good at this. The bandit’s focus turned on Nezyrn, and a harsh slash made the wizard realize that, without intervention, another hit would take her.

Vaeri dealt strong enough damage to threaten his fall, but not enough.

She took a breath, steadying herself before leaving cover. She ran toward the bandit, and electricity trickled between her fingers—enough for Ophelia to feel a tingling sensation along her hands and arms.

She hadn’t wanted to kill him. Though justice should be given to those who’d harmed the innocent…

He too, in a way, was innocent.

And Information could've been gleaned from his exposure. But with her party’s lives on the line, Ophelia couldn’t allow one member to die so this man could live. Research shouldn’t be prioritized over a life.

As he swung again, Ophelia caught his arm, sending jolts of arcane energy through his body and shocking the man to death. He fell to his knees first, his collapse forcing her grasp to break.

Plumes of dirt puffed up as his body hit the ground.

Ophelia exhaled. “You’re alright?” she asked Nezyrn, her gaze searching for Vaeri and her endless, magical confetti. “She doesn’t look well.”

Those same eyes found Ardira, and subtle relief loosened Ophelia’s shoulders, though tension still lingered as Ophelia sat on the ground near the dead man.

“Wisper,” she ordered, somewhat solemn, yet still with the calculated tone that rarely left her voice. She was already halfway through a spell, pausing only to explain her intent.

“If the Archive has anything on void energy, it might be able to tell us. If not, then… I’m logging information that we could use in the future. Give me a minute."

Nezryn plops herself down where she was standing and wraps an arm around her middle. "Alive," she sniffles, "how much more are we doing today..? That was... A lot-"

Both Vaeris snap their attention to Nezryn at once.

The real Vaeri still looks pale, shaken, her hands trembling faintly as she fumbles for one of the mana potions around. The other Vaeri, much more chipper, silently crouches in front of Nezryn and, without warning, squishes the dragonborn’s cheeks between her hands.

Her touch is semi-solid, but her hand glows as she presses her palm to Nezryn’s wound, a warm pulse of healing magic sweeping across torn scales and skin.

The illusion beams proudly afterwards, letting go of Nezryn’s face, and then reaches behind her own back. With great dramatic flair, she pulls out a huge patterned cloth from absolutely nowhere. She gives a silent, over-the-top little bow, then she twirls, throws the fabric over her head, and in a small popping burst of sparkles and soft smoke, vanishes out of existence.

The drow, now singular, rubs the back of her neck awkwardly. "We still need to actually get to the source of the void magic, it's probably near by, but..." She looks up at the burning manor, wincing slightly, trying to avoid look back at the dead family. "It will probably still be there tomorrow?"

Nezryn lets out a shuddering breath, still shaken, but much of the overwhelm has been calmed by the healing and conclusion of the battle. "Thank you, Vaeri," she forces a smile, "What about Elric, Darcie, and Lii-... Leona? Are they alright?"

"Hey, I don't think this is the time to be worrying about us, you guys should take a break, catch your breath and take it easy...seems like all these shadowy weirdos are all gone." She looks around at the bodies before grimacing at the bodies of the farmers, "To think something like this is happening so close to town...these poor people."

"Maybe in the rain the fire will go out if we stick around a little while, too. Maybe we could look in the manor once the fire is gone." She lacks her normal bubbly attitude, instead she raises another point, "Unless we go after the rest of this Scarlet Hand. If they're doing things like this, well, I don't think anyone would disagree – they deserve to be punished."

The fire in the rain slowly wilted, raising its arms up in protest against the falling water only to retreat into embers flickering against the charred black wood of the farm house manor.

Beams of wood collapsed, the exterior to the building suffering holes where the party see planks come loose and clatter against the flooring. The second floor became lopsided, while the majority including the stairs remained in tact, one of the bedrooms had sloped downward after losing support, crashing into the farm yard along with a shattering window.

The roof would never be the same, the building in complete disarray, even the front door had been completely reduced to a useless ashy plank, falling away to reveal the entrance. Right by the door was a small raven insignia.

The sound of a body slumping over broke through the silence as Elric flipped over a bandit with his boot. "They look as though they were cut by something, don't they?" He asks rhetorically, examining their faces and arms.

"Doesn't seem like they were undead, or at least, I can't see any wounds that might have killed them."

"Could be poison, maybe? I've thought about doing the same to you when you keep squabbling with me." The dry joke doesn't bring a laugh but it does help to make things feel just slightly more like normal as Leona picks the bodies for items.

"How are you all doing? Maybe playing detective with us will take your mind of things."

"Or yknow, if any of you need to talk, I'm a great listener, I used to practice alot since–"

She rolls her eyes, "I kinda talk a lot" There's a smile thrown up but its lost as quickly as its found, "These poor people, we'll find whoever did this eventually. I know it."

“We’re too weak. We need to recuperate before we continue after them,” she said to Darcie, who was as persistent as ever and intent on tracking the group down.

Her insistence could get her hurt in the future, but she kept that thought to herself.

Once Ophelia and Wisper finished their examination, and most of the information she could glean from the bandit was transferred to the archive, she stood. “We didn’t inflict these,” the wizard said, gesturing toward the cuts that oozed corruption before slowly fading.

“Open wounds seem more receptive to the energy. The bandits we ran into earlier weren’t as far gone. This group was almost entirely controlled.” She closed her book with a dull thud and slid it into the satchel hanging across her shoulder.

“Whatever the case, be mindful if we come across it again.”

"Rest isn't being weak." She smiles, "It brings strength too, kinda!" A smile glimmers on her features against the backdrop of fading flame, the evening sun falling to sit along the horizon before any of the party had even realized it had began to get late.

Above, colours melted into one another, the sky softening into a warm smudge of yellows and oranges with the last remainder of blue still hanging defiantly over head.

The burning building had entirely stopped, as had the rain, "I'm just glad everyone's okay." She takes a sour glance over to the farmers before glancing back, "*Yknow what I mean..." Darcie grimaces.

Ardira stood casually over Ophelia’s shoulder whilst she undertook her examination of the bodies, scouring the landscape with crossed arms.

“Hang on a minute,” she interjects, pointing towards the entrance of the manor. “There’s a raven insignia— just like on the key we found!”

She jogs over to the building with an excited grin plastered onto her face, digging the key out of her pocket.

She comes over, peaking at the key, "I wonder if there's something inside. Now that the place isn't ablaze, we should go and check it out." Leona says, looking to the party to see what they think of the idea.

Checking out the farmstead wasn’t anything Ophelia believed to be of note. Not pertaining to their investigations—but when Ardira pointed out the symbol that matched the key they intercepted…

“Yes, fine.” She nodded, a tilt of her head for her friend to continue with the unlocking.

As the party approach the entrance to the homestead, their entry is made far easier by the lack of front door. The wood had suffered heavy damage from the flames, leading to it falling uselessly from its hinges to lay in the hallway.

How did the fire even start? Was the void energy coming from within the farm home?

When Ardira approaches the entrance absent of a door, she stands still in the empty frame, looking around in all directions. Deeming it somewhat safe, she takes cautious steps into the hallway, walking on top of the fallen door.

“We’ll just take a quick look around.” she offers to no one in particular — running her eyes over the charred walls and inspecting the ceiling above.

She slowly makes her way through the hallway, keeping her fingers crossed that she’ll find another raven.

As Ardira makes her way around the hallway, pushing through fallen wood. The decorations of the building had been entirely ruined, family portraits fallen to the floor, glass shattering across the wooden flooring. As her footsteps tread around the creaking floorboards, she catches a stairwell heading downward. On the door is the same raven insignia.

The shards that Vaeri noticed look almost like glass, except they're tiny shards of purple crystal.

Ardira pauses mid-stride, stepping backwards a few paces to stop at the stairwell, taking a brief moment to look at the insignia.

She slowly descends the stairs, glass crunching beneath her boots. “I’m heading down!” Ardie shouts out to the others — just in case.

Following Ardira in, Vaeri whispers a little mantra to herself as she is looking around. She splits off away from the stairs, seemingly following something. She crouches by the "glass", then uses her dagger to flip it over, seeing that instead of it being glass, it's instead purple crystal.

"Uh, guys- I think I found something?"

"What is this stuff?" He says, leaning down, taking a dagger from his pocket. He experiments, jabbing it gently with the tip of the blade to watch it scratch against the ash covered wooden flooring, "This stuff is sharp, be careful." He says, watching as the crystal carves lines in the flooring as he moves it.

Ardira heads into the basement, as she steps inside the room she sees a large set of double doors, a well decorated cabinet that was adorned in silver. The center of the cabinets has the same intricately carved raven insignia. Maybe this was why the bandits that stopped the party wanted the box? The cabinets were locked with a large keyhole.

Ardira approached the cabinet curiously, taking careful steps as watchful eyes examined the space around her.

No foul play, absent of magic — could it be as simple as the turn of a key?

She digs the ornate silver key out of her bag, and slots it into the keyhole with a pensive sigh, slowly turning it.

Her eyes trailed after Ardira but ultimately followed Vaeri—who seemed intent on traversing a certain area of the farmhouse. Ophelia’s mind was far too busy piecing together what she’d learned—more so gathered about the void energy to pay proper attention.

It was only when the Drow called out she crouched beside her. “I’m not sure…” The wizard reached into her bag for a handkerchief, lifting a piece to inspect it further.

“Perceptive, Vaeri.” It was obvious that this had been Ophelia’s way of saying good job.

Vaeri smiles at the praise, but waves it off. "My friend showed me the way, so it's nothing, really!"

She pauses for a second, smile dropping as she thinks for a moment, then continues. "If it's that sharp, could this be what cut up the bandits?"

The cupboard creaks with the ache of age, inside you see a silver blade. The blade has a black handle, with the grip much of the same. The blade is neatly displayed on a handle shelf, holding it neatly in place. On the guard of the weapon the same little silver raven is encrusted on it.

Her explanation only had Ophelia’s features contort into further contemplation.

Friend.

But before she could question more about her abilities—and whether or not her friendships usually led to magical revelations.

Vaeri’s theory had clicked. “Could be, actually.” The injuries the bandits sustained Ophelia assumed could’ve been anything sharp enough to cut through skin.

But…

“It has a familiarity to the mist. It could be pieces of something.”

“Something that could’ve worsened the corruption.” She wrapped the shard into the handkerchief, pocketing a singular piece into her bag.

“You mentioned you weren’t studied in the arcane?” Ophelia asked, like it’d been something she’d forgotten.

"Well, kinda! I studied it a little, but I wasn't very good at it- not at all." She laughs, standing up and brushing the ash off of her knees. "I can do a bit of real magic, but it's not all that impressive."

She mutters a small incantation that sounds like some strange dialect of elvish, drawing a little symbol in the air, and 3 small, bright red motes of light appear floating around her hand, acting much like a fushigi ball. She contact juggles them in her hand as she looks around.

"You said it could be pieces of something, how about we try to find the something it was pieces of?"

She watched as the woman casted the motes of light into the air. It wasn’t a spell Ophelia had learned—but one she knew about.

A flicker of a rare amusement glinted in her blue irises. “… I would consider that impressive.” She stood to her feet, offering a cautious glance to Elric and his proximity to the shards.

“We can look around, though I doubt it’d be that simple. It makes me wonder if it shattered entirely, or we missed a bandit that snuck off with the rest.”

Golden eyes sparkle a touch brighter as she sights the blade which she takes from its housing without hesitation, but with care and respect.

Ardira deftly flips it over in her hands, grasping it firmly and assuming the correct posture, preparing for a test swing. Although a longsword wasn’t her chosen weapon — she still knew what she was doing.

Or so she thought.

Just as the blade arcs over her head mid twist, a burst of radiant energy pulses from the blade directly out in front of her, sending it crashing into whatever lay in its wake.

The unexpected power causes her to jump backwards — her grip on the hilt faltering as she almost drops it in surprise.

The drow seems to zone out for a moment, looking at the shards on the floor. Her head tilts, and she lifts her hands, almost as if measuring the explosion radius with them.

“I think you have a point- that whatever it was shattered entirely. Looking at it, they’re all very uniform, right? If there was a thing left over, it would be in the middle but it doesn’t look that disturbed.. It’s almost like they shattered outwards in an ex-“

Her head darts up, looking around frantically before landing on the nearby window, her face falling. “Oh no… That can’t be a coincidence that this literally looks out on where that creepy guy slinked off into the forest, can it?”

Moving towards the window, she full body leans out of it, looking around, before pulling herself back in and turning back to Ophelia and Elric. “My bet is that those bandits were already in here harassing those poor farmers, then that cloaked guy threw a.. thing at them in through the window and it turned them crazy.” She sighs, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck before letting out a tired groan. “That unfortunately opens up sooo many more questions though.”

“It does,” Ophelia agreed. “But we know more than we did before.” The cloaked figure being the one to throw the scene into chaos had already been a suspicion, but the confirmation explained that the bandits—true to their word—hadn’t brought this on themselves.

“Our main concern should be finding them before another incident happens.” She doubted they would succeed. With the sun already beginning to set and the earlier rain, the tracks were likely washed away or too faint to see in the dark. “Why sow discord between a group of bandits and a family who, from the looks of things, didn’t have a stake in this to begin with?”

She paused.
“Unless it wasn’t personal. Maybe the figure thought that the more people exposed to the corruption, the quicker it would spread?” They still needed a motive—why the infection mattered to this person in the first place.

“If they need people infected, The Scarlet Hand would make the perfect scapegoat. Murderous bandits—what else is new? Nobody would question it.”

Except the people hired to.

Ophelia notices as she places the shard on the hankerchief, the inside of the shard (not its hard edge that was laying on the wooden floor) begins to outwardly spread a small form of residue. The simple, weak fibres of the hankerchief begins to weaken before a hole forms around it.

She's able to discard it to the floor before the same happens to her bag. The damaged hankerchief remains tainted, a purplish black spreading slowly along it.

The effects seemed more potent due to the absorbant material, but again, it didn't look like a burn. It looked almost as if the purplish colour was slowly decaying the material and it was soon crumbling on to the floor beneath her.

This amount of the substance didn't seem to be bothering the wooden flooring, but as a studious mind, Ophelia could gleem that the substance caused a corrosive effect.

It did seem like a huge amount of this stuff could cause the building to decay in Emberwynd, but it seemed like it'd be unlikely that no one would see it happening.

He idly picks up a discarded piece of broken wood, poking the crystal shards together, it forms pieces of what looks like a sharp concave diamond. With Wisper being a sorting protocol, his natural reasoning is to logically sort and archive.

"...Always making a mess..." He mumbles as if it was somehow Ophelia's doing.

He puzzles it together rather simply, theres huge missing fragments and it looks completely unstable, but for a moment the thing holds together in a rough shape.

The crystal pieces pressing against one another release a hissing sound, resonating against one another before scattering outwards, launching across the room's floor again.

The sudden eruption spooks Wisper, one moment he's on the ground happily sorting, the next he's zoomed up Ophelia's back, hiding in her cloak while trembling, peaking over her shoulder.

It seems like those pieces of crystal might have been tampered with, forced together through additional means or once whole and made unstable.

As Vaeri says she's studied, a pair of glasses forms on her face, made of wispy black shadows, tracking her movement as she laughs. When she casts her own spell, they poof away as she concentrates.

"A fine blade– though lacking by comparison. You shan't need it." He explains to Ardira in a very matter of fact tone, a statement rather than an opinion, "If your allies have no want of it, then I ask, no, insist that it relinquishes it's core to me."

The gravelled voice almost sounded demanding if not for it's refined edge.

"That sounds like you could be on to something..." She says, not sure what to make of it all, "What about the fire? It was huge! If it wasn't for you guys..." She puts both hands on her hips, "I doubt the building would be here for us to even investigate!"

The blade releases a sound like cracking thunder, a scorch of white radiant light arcing in a white crescent moon releases from her powerful draw of the weapon.

It easily cleaves through the wooden surface, the slash carving through most of the property, screaming out into the farm yard.

Ardira stands still, breathless, in the midst of the rubble created by the sudden surge of energy. When she hears the voice of Seravorn, her body relaxes — bringing the blade into both hands and feeling its weight as he speaks.

“Relinquish its core?” she repeats back to him with a puzzled look, still staring at the weapon, warm with radiance. “You’re going to have to elaborate, I’m afraid.” Ardie lets out an amused huff from her nose, shaking her head.

“Wisper,” Ophelia scolded as the gem went off, grateful the shard hadn’t embedded itself or hurt anyone. It did narrow some things down, though. “The crystal wasn’t just tainted with energy—it’s almost like it made that way, melded together with the intent to be unstable.”

As she stared at the tainted handkerchief, Ophelia began to wonder what could have set the farmstead alight. She had plenty of theories, one of which relied on internal combustion—something within the farmhouse itself. “It—”

A loud crack rang out, the splintering of wood alerting Wisper just as much as Ophelia, who at first believed it to be his doing.

When she realized he was still by her side, the wizard quickly moved toward the stairs and began descending. “Ardie?”

She released with her steps, the words tumbling out before her boots ever touched the basement floor.
“What happened? Are you alright? There are corrupted shards upstairs—did you touch anything?”

Key NPCs

Key Locations

Important Info

Recap

The party arrives at a burning farmstead mid-massacre, where corrupted bandits slaughter an elven family under the influence of void-tainted crystal. Despite efforts to intervene, most victims are killed. A cloaked figure is spotted fleeing. Investigation of the manor reveals sharp, corrosive purple crystal shards and a hidden basement marked with a raven sigil. Using the raven key, Ardira unlocks a cabinet containing a magic sword.