//------------------------------//
// Chapter 23: Return to Dragonkeep part 1 
// Story: Borderlands 2 DLC: Vault of the Consular 
// by NightStream 
//------------------------------//

After the victory over Queen Chrysalis and what subsequently happened with the changelings, all of the Vault Hunters agreed that some proper rest and recovery was in order before they were to take on the overwhelming challenge of opening a vault and potentially fighting whatever was inside. Though, when it came to how to recover, there were a bunch of different ideas. Yet, there was one idea that was better than the rest. And luckily, they were just about to get started.

“So what was the name of this game again?” Spike asked as he sat next to Gaige and Starlight while Tina was Twilight’s seat back at the cutie map. Thanks to some of the digistruct tech that Tannis had repurposed from her training course of Digistruct Peak, she was able to send specific items to them and the vault hunters could send items back.

Of course, the first thing that was sent was something Tina had personally requested. And when she finally got her hooves on it, she couldn’t wait to get started. “This, my dear friend, is a special game that we call ‘Bunkers and Badasses’!” she proclaimed, while setting up the board and also placing the dice and figurines on the table, “As the bunker master, I will weave together a tale of fantasy while you as the players get to determine how the course of the story plays out-”

“Wait, hold on… are ya telling me this is some kind of kids game? Why do ya like playing this?”

“Maybe because DON’T TALK TRASH ABOUT IT, AJ!!”

“Tina,” Maya now spoke up, before looking back at the startled earth pony, “She’s kind of right though. It’s rather fun once you get started. Heck, Mordecai had his doubts last time they played and by the end of the game, he actually enjoyed it.”

“Yeah, so before you go about thinking it's a kids game, actually give it a try.” Axton said as he was sitting across from Spike. “I was hesitant at first as well, but after a few games it’s pretty fun.” 

“Hold up there, shorty,” Tina replied, “While I do have some new figures and everything, I only got enough for a certain amount of people.”

“Wait, new figures?” Gaige asked, “Since when?”

“Well, I kind of ordered them a long while before we were all ‘ZAP! POW! KA-BLAM!!’ before we ended up here, so I thought it would be a perfect chance to try them out.” Tina replied, “Now, before we get this game rolling, since we are starting a new campaign, you pick your characters. We got the Gunzerker, Commando, Mechromancer, Assassin, Psycho, Siren-”

“DIBS!!”

“- … which Brickety brack called dibs again,” Tina continued, “And lastly, the two new ones I got. The Hunter and the Monk.”

“How are those last two supposed to work? Are they new additions?” Lilith now spoke up.

“Well, according to the new updated rule guide on the ECHO.net, yes!” the excited teenaged alicorn proclaimed before she started to look at her echo device, “The hunter is supposed to be a long ranged fighter who can tame various animals and have them fight alongside their companions, while the monk can protect their allies and defeat their enemies by beating them up with their bare hands.”

“Wait… bare hands you say?” Brick then got a thoughtful but troubled look on his face. “Mind telling me more?”

Tina obliged to the request and began to fill the slab king in on what she called ‘the deets’ surrounding the particular class. It was something that fit up Brick’s alley. Though, last time around, he really had fun playing as the prettiest siren in the land named Brick.

“Hmm, that does sound like fun, but I wanna be a Siren again.”

“Well, why not flip a coin and go from there.”

“Yeah but, I don’t know Slab.”

“You sure there isn’t something where he could do both, Tina?” Gaige asked, “I mean, aren’t there like subclasses or something?”

“Yeah, but Sirens don’t really have a lot of options that involve smacking people in the face. They’re more about magic… and setting people on fire.” Tina replied, “But hey, you guys are cool with trying new stuff! Remember when we let Mr. Torgue join?”

“That was after we ended up being kind of a dick to him,” Lilith sighed, not exactly proud of that particular moment to him, “Besides, if we’re starting a new campaign, then we should start off fresh, right?”

“Yeah I agree, a fresh start sounds nice.” Axton commented while some of those who didn’t know the details looked at Lillith with confusion.

“I GOT IT, I GOT DIBS ON THE MONK.” Brick proudly exclaimed. “HAHA a fresh campaign deserves a fresh character.” 

“Well that answered that I guess.” Axton sighed as he looked on the board. “You know, I wanna try out that Hunter class might be an interesting take on this for me.”

“I’ll go mechromancer,” Gaige replied. “This will be fun.”

“Oh right, that reminds me,” Maya asked, “Are you going to tell Roland that you made his character an NPC during the last time you guys played?”

That had Starlight ask a different question now, “Wait, last time?”

“Yeah the last time that we played, it was just myself, Brick and Mordecai with Tina as the Bunker Master. Gaige and the others were beating the crap out of a Hyperion informant that snuck into Sanctuary somehow after Handsome Jack died,” Lilith clarified, “It had it’s… twists and turns, but all and all, it was still fun.”

“Yeah I think you should tell him.”

“BE RIGHT BACK WITH HIM, HE SHOULD JOIN US!” Brick announced as he quickly rushed out of the room, shortly hearing Roland start protesting. 

“DAMMIT BRICK I CAN WALK ON MY OWN!”

“Well, that was sudden,” Maya said, a bit caught off guard by how Brick decided to take things into his own hooves so quickly. “So, who wants to bring him up to speed?”

“Ok, so why did Brick bring me here? Not that I mind but an explanation would be really nice right now.” Roland stated as he was then seated next to Brick.

“We are going to play a game of Bunkers and Badasses.”

“Alright and?”

“AND LAST GAME WE PLAYED YOU WERE IN IT HAHA!!” Brick announced.

“Gonna need some more details on that.” Roland said, looking towards Lilith.

“We were mentioning that last time, Tina had your character be an NPC since… you know…” Lilith then moved a hoof across her neck to try and symbolize what she was referring to, “It was still a fun campaign, even though…”

“I was kind of in a dark place back then hugaboo, so I kind of used Bunkers and Badasses to help… well, cope.”

“Ah I see, but hey I’m here now alright. But we all need some things to cope when we are in a dark place, and if this helps then go for it.”

“Speaking from experience?” Starlight asked. Yet, before they even got to that, Tina immediately started giving everyone pieces of paper and pencils.

“Alright, hunk-a-dunks! Here are your character sheets and these are the dice we are using,” She said, before dropping a massive hoof-ful of dice onto the table, “Take about ten minutes to come up with your characters and then we’ll go ahead and get this bitch STARTED!!”

“ALRIGHT!!” Brick shouted as he got his character ready.

“I think I get what this is getting at.” Axton commented as he saw what was going on with his character.

“Given how Tina has described everything so far, this is going to be fun,” Gaige remarked shortly afterwards.

“Well, I hope this is going to be fun.” Roland said as he saw this. 

Once all the character sheets were filled and everything was put in place, there was only one thing left to do.

“ROLL FOR INITIATIVE, SUCKAS!!”





“Some time ago, the story of a group of adventurers saving the queen of the land and bringing waste to the tyrannical leader known as the Handsome Sorcerer brought forth hope and change. For a time, there was peace. However, recent events have left the citizens uncertain about how long it will last. The queen’s trusted white knight, Roland, had sent out a call to all adventurers around the lands… and stuff. Brought together by his call, your party now arrives at Flamerock Refuge. Whether it be for honor, glory, or dat sick legendary loot… I know who you are, you’re all here for a reason. Now, you gotta go find him and see what is up in da neighborhood.”

Once Tina was done with her ‘narrator voice’, the young alicorn looked to all the badasses that were playing before asking a simple question. “Now, what do you do?”

“Starting in town? That’s… new,” Gaige thought, before shaking her head, as she raised her metal arm, “Oh, right, how about we start by finding Ellie? She would probably know where Roland is, right?”

“An interesting observation,” Tina replied in her ‘girly voice’, “Party members, what do you think?”

“One thing first, who’s Ellie?” Spike asked, fairly new to the game and also felt that Tina was talking about something that some of the other vault hunters knew about that some of the new players weren’t familiar with, “It might sound familiar to you guys, but not to us.”

“In our last campaign, Ellie was in charge of watching the town while we were helping Roland stop the sorcerer,” Lilith took a moment to answer the dragon’s question, “Basically someone that was keeping watch while the queen’s knight was away.”

“From what I heard, she had an interesting side quest you guys went on.”

“Heh, finding some armour for her was something.” Brick brought up.

“Yeah, because the only options were either actual armor or a metal bikini,” Lilith groaned, not even wanting to remember what it took to get Brick to not choose the latter of the two options, “Anyways, I think finding Ellie’s a good starting point. Any objections?”

The room went silent, before Lilith looked back towards Tina and gave her a nod. Which had Tina pick up from there. “As you wander around town, your gaze soon turns to the sight of a hefty figure, with shiny valkyrie armor and badonkadonks that could crush the head of any fool too dumb enough to cause trouble. Yet, there’s no sign of any ‘white knight’. When she notices you, the fair lady speaks,” the teenager would then clear her throat, before she began her best impression on Scooter’s sister, “Well, howdy! Been a while since we had a party like you roll into town, sweet things. I’m Ellie, pleased to meet you. Flamerock’s white knight told me to be expecting you, but ah’m surprised so many answered his call.”

“S-so, do we roll to see who gets to talk to her first?” Spike now asked, recalling something similar in the tabletop games he was familiar with, but wanted to make sure that he wasn’t getting ahead of himself.

“Eh, not really. Huggabutt, we roll on those kinds of things that could make or break a campaign,” Tina shrugged her shoulders, “Now, who’s talking.”

Maya raised a hoof to get Tina’s attention, before taking the chance to speak, “I walk up, before saying ‘Why hello to you as well, fair lady. Would you happen to know where the white knight is? It would be rude of us to keep him waiting’.”

“Now, no need for all this fair lady crap. Ah can handle myself, ya hear? Anyways, if it’s Roland you’re looking for, ah last saw him by the stables reporting to the queen. Ya probably want to mozy over there, for something’s gotten him in a bit of a twist lately if ya know what I mean.”

“And with that, your party’s first destination is the town stables. Home to the majestic queen herself, Butt Stallion!!” Tina would then place the miniature of the queen on the board, something that surprised Spike when he took a look at it. Especially since the queen herself looked almost like Rarity, but with a few extra steps.

“Been a while since we last saw Butt Stallion.”

“I GO UP AND SMACK THE QUEEN ON THE BUTT!!” Brick yelled out. “Of course after I feed her some Eridium.”

“Wait, you’re going to do WHAT NOW?!” Roland asked.

“Long story, not really the right time to explain,” Mordecai said to try and calm things down.

“Tina, care to help?” Lilith asked.

Tina nodded, before clearing her voice as she began to narrate, “When you arrive at the stables, you see the White Knight Roland, looking very fine with his shiny armor and sword of badassery on his hip, while her majesty was idly standing. The knight's faithful companion, Bloodwing swoops in from the sky and lands on Roland’s arm. A note appears to be attached to the bird's leg, one that he quickly glances over before noticing your arrival.”

Then, the alicorn began to do her best impression of Roland right on the spot, “Well, you must be the ones that answered my summons. If I knew so many of you were coming, I could’ve prepared you something special for coming out all this way. Yet, we don’t have the time for that I’m afraid.”

“What seems to be the problem?” Starlight now asked, taking a turn to respond as the character she chose.

“Where do I even begin, shorty? There’s been a rumor on the wind about suspicious activities around what remains of the handsome tower and shiz. I sent my most trusted badasses in order to go investigate. Yet, it’s been days since their last report and I fear the worst,” Tina said, before holding up a blank piece of parchment in hoof to act like the Roland in game was holding the scroll that he received from Bloodwing, “Right now though, we got some good news and some bad news. Good news is, a defector of the Holy Order of Knights claims to have important information that can help us. Bad news is, the rest of the order is hunting them and we don’t know how long it will be until they catch up with them.”

“Does this knight even have a name? For all we know, it could be a trap.” Mordecai asked.

“Can’t say for sure, homie. Whoever wrote this wanted to keep their identity hidden. They just go by ‘The Owl’. The note also says that they have taken up refuge by the abandoned blacksmith in the forest. Find them and make sure they get back here safely, shorty.”

“And with that, Roland has given your party your first quest! Find the defective knight and make sure they’re brought back to town. Alive, preferably.”

“I can totally do that hahaha!” Brick announced.

“Tell that to the dwarves then.” Axton commented.

“Don’t remind me,” the Firehawk replied, before looking to Tina, “Before we set out, is there anything we could do in town?”

“Not at the moment, hugaboo. Though, it’s your choice if you want to explore or not.”

“Technically, with how urgent the situation is with the Owl, the sooner that we find her, the better,” Gaige suggested, “Besides, with the gold and xp we get from the quest, we can worry about ungraded and such later.”

“Works for me, besides it can't hurt to do some searching later on anyway.” Axton said as he looked at Brick.

“HAHA ONWARD TO THE FOREST SLABS!!”

“Alright, I guess we’re in agreement on that,” Maya replied, “So Tina, this Forest you mentioned they were in. Care to set the stage?”

The young alicorn nodded, before changing out the map and placing their miniatures on top of it, along with a hut farther down on a side back that Lilith recognized as the Forge, “You now enter what was once the Forest of Tranquility! The forest used to be calm and pleasant as much as the fairies and spirits that lived here. Yet, because of the Handsome Sorcerer’s magic, many of the trees now once symbolized all of the people that he had transformed into dangerous treants. Things had slowly begun to take a turn for the better, but there’s no way to reverse it. Also, Orcs are very much an annoyance.”

Once they made it down the ledge and into a clearing, Tina was quick to place what looked to be three cardboard plaques of what appeared to be tree stumps. “Just as you’re about to make your way down the hill, you’re attacked by three stumpys and an elder treant that’s behind them. Now, roll for initiative and we’ll see who gets to act first!”

“Alright I got-”

Axton didn’t get to finish before Brick beat him to the punch. “HAHA TWENTY!”

“Um Brick goes first I guess.” 

“Okay, Brick, what do you-”

“I PUNCH THE STUMPS!”

“... Y’know, I was kind of expecting that,” Tina replied, before having the berserker roll again to see how successful he was, “Alright, go ahead and roll, you need a 9 in order to clear-” Brick took a chance to roll the dice before she could finish, “And 16, that and your strength modifier results in a crit! ‘With a powerful strike, the stumps are no more. Yet, the elder isn’t quite happy with the murder of his children right in front of him. While they prepare to unleash an attack, the rest of the party has time to act’! Gaige, you’re up next.”

“I roll to summon Deathtrap and to have him cover Brick from whatever that Elder’s planning!”

“Alright, a spell! What’s the modifier on your sheet for that?”

“Um… around thirteen?”

Tina then rolls the dice, before she spoke again, “You were able to shield Brick from the treant’s attack, but your DT has taken some damage! Fortunately, the elder is focused on your summon and not the rest of the group. Which gives them the perfect opportunity to attack while their attention is elsewhere!” she then looked over to where Spike was, “Little guy, you’re up next.”

Spike, at first, was surprised by the sudden shift to him. Though, that’s when he got an idea, “Um… who was to come next after me?”

“I think that’s Axton. Why?” Maya asked.

“Well, one of my abilities here says infusion… get the chance to infuse another party member’s weapons with a certain elemental affinity that only lasts for the length of the fight,” he said, before he looked to the bunker master, “Tina, I want to roll to infuse Axton’s next attack with more fire damage.”

Tina rolls again, with a small grimace on her face, “You barely made the threshold, shorty! ‘With a twist of his hands, Spike the brave has strengthened his nearby ally and readied them for their next attack. Now it is time for the Commando to take advantage of this given opportunity’!”

“Alright, time to get a hit in!” Axton then checked his sheet. “Modifier is a sixteen for me.” 

“Sixteen, check! Now roll to see if you land that sucka!”

“Alright here we go.” Axton then rolled. “Uh what does a fifteen get me?”

For a quick second, Tina went to check the Bunker Master Handbook, before looking back to the Commando. “Your attack hits and thanks to the enchantment, fire begins to burn away at the enemy’s wooden skin. Quickly, the flame spreads and the fiend falls!” she cheerfully replied, “Now that they’re gone, you got your XP and can proceed. Be careful though, for there may be more lurking about.”

“As long as it’s balanced, I think we’ll be okay,” Lilith chuckled before looking at Roland, “Last time around, she forgot to balance the combat by the forge, so we almost fought something way out of our league.”

“Like if you had to fight Crawmerax when we first stepped foot on Pandora.” Mordecai added.

“What the hell, that would’ve been a nightmare alone. At least you managed that on the fly Tina.”

“HEHE, I bet we would’ve been able to handle it just fine.” Brick brought up.

"Always the optimistic one," Maya commented.

“Damn right Vault Hunter!” Brick said.

“Alright now that is done, let's continue on before this guy we’re looking for ends up dead or the one who causes himself to die.” Axton commented. “I guess I can look around to see if there are more around just in case.”

“Currently, the main road is clear. Though, since the forge itself is off the beaten path, be on the lookout for any alternate routes.”

“I’ll be on the lookout then for the paths.”

“And I’ll be on the lookout for more creatures to pummel.”

Gaige could only smile at that as she looked towards Axton briefly. “Well, looks like things are off to a pretty nice start.”

“Yeah, for now.” Axton smiled back. “Alright let’s get a move on.”

Tina nodded as she had the group continue to move forward. Though, at one point, she had them stop as her monologue changed just before they reached the path to the forge. “In the distance, you can hear the sound of steel clashing against steel and the cries of pain. Yet, as you reach the clearing, you see the bodies of a couple fallen knights. Along with a triumphant and sexy warrior standing over them. For they were no ordinary fighter, this was, in fact, the Owl herself!”

The Owl
‘A wise badass once said…’

At first, Lilith was not sure of where she was going with this. But when Tina put down the mini that was supposed to be this new character, the siren had a feeling of ‘who’ this was supposed to be. Though, Gaige was the first to speak.

“Hey, is it just me or does that look like that one lady you had at Sanctuary. The one named Athena, I think?”

“I mean, I guess it works?”

“About time,” Tina began to immediately voice the character, “I had the feeling that the White Knight would send someone to aid me, though I did not think it would be a group of adventurers. Well, there’s no point in complaining-”

Suddenly, Tina changed her voice to the point that anyone nearby could hear a voice crack, “There she is! Kill the traitor to our order!! We will not let a defiler of our holy ways still draw breath!”

“And the time for talk has passed. Look, I know that there was something I wanted to tell the white knight, but I can’t do that if I’m dead. Help me make sure that these idiots don’t separate my head from my shoulders and I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

“HELL YEAH, TIME FOR COMBAT!”

“Easy Brick. Something tells me that these guys aren’t the same as the stumps we just fought.” Maya tried to tell him, even though the Berserker was more focused on driving his characters fist through their skulls.

At that point, Tina placed down several figures. Including three knights with swords and shields, two archers in the back and a giant knight with a hammer. “There she is! It’s time we clip that traitor’s wings!!”

“Well, time to take this carefully.”

“I PUNCH THE KNIGHT IN THE FACE.” Brick announced which was followed by Roland and Axton facepalming at the same time.

“Should we even roll to see who goes first? Because I bet Brick’s going to get a high number again-”

“TWENTY HAHAHA!”

“Yep, saw that coming.”

“You were able to hit the knight in the face! However, the vacant spot left behind by where the knight previously had been was immediately filled by another expendable squire!”

“Crap, it must be that guy with the hammer,” Maya cursed, “If we kill any of his underlings, he can just find replacements to fill the void.”

“Oh so like interns at Hyperion?” Gaige asked

“Well… that’s one way of putting it,” Lilith added.

“Yeah, definitely fitting. So who's next on the turn order?”

“That would be you, Axton”

“Alright, I'm gonna aim for one of the archers.” Then he rolled and slammed his head into the table as he saw the number. “Got a one.”

“Ooh, that’s… not good.” Tina grit her teeth.

Of course, around that time was when Gaige remembered something, “Hey, doesn’t Axton’s class have a proficiency bonus in Range Combat? How much would that be?”

Axton immediately perked up and quickly checked. “Phew, makes it into a 13 instead.” 

“You take aim at one of the archers and…” Tina then rolled another die, “The attack hits! But instead of you hitting their heart, the shot hits them in the shoulder instead. They’ll take damage, but not enough to kill them, hugga boo.”

“Who was next on the turn order?” Lilith asked, only to see Spike nervously raise a hand, “Alright, what was it that you wanted to do Spike?”

“Tina, how close are each of the enemies? Not close to us, but close to one another?” the dragon then asked, “Are they spread out or is that not the case?”

“The knights and squires are close together and are a few feet apart while the archers are farther back and closer to the big butt in charge.”

When the young alicorn told him that, Spike got an idea as he looked over to Lilith. “I’m going to roll to infuse Lilith’s fire magic. If we can get a good roll, then we can hit every enemy with a well placed fireball.”

“A bullet might have a name on it, but a fireball is addressed ‘To whom it may concern’,” Lilith grinned, “I like the sound of that.”

“HELL YEAH LITTLE BUDDY!” Brick shouted out.

“Time to mop up some of them.”

With that in mind, Spike rolled his die and Lilith rolled hers. After being able to successfully enhance her abilities, Lilith’s roll for the fireball, as Tina would put it, was a critical success.

“Your one-two combo was a success! Not only was it able to take down the knights, but the archers were caught in the blast. Leaving their commander as the final one to face,” Tina spoke, before changing her voice to match the final character on the field, “H-how dare you!! I’m one of our order’s Holy Templars! Hand picked by the Sorcerer himself!! I will not let some adventurer filth best me!! I will purge all of you and that traitor from these woods, even if it costs me my life!!”

“Here he comes!! Get ready!!”

Then, Tina changed back to her narrator voice, “With a swing of his hammer, the Templar’s weapon is now coated all over with lightning! One false move and your shields might be enough to protect you from him!”

“Alright, who's next to deal with him or is it the big bads turn right now?” Axton asked to confirm.

“If I’m reading this correctly… Starlight’s next!”

M-Me already?” the unicorn spoke, surprised that it was her turn all of a sudden.

“Alright, so what are you going to do to end this fight?” Roland spoke out in curiosity. 

“W-Well, it looks like they’re preparing something big,” Starlight stuttered, “D-does my character have anything d-defensive?”

“Well with what your class is I would think so, or you could try and disrupt him in some way?” Axton brought up. “So try to just think of that.”

That had the unicorn think for a moment, before looking back to the character sheet she had, before her eyes darted towards something, “Huh… So, I have an ability here called Stellar Warding… Grants a defensive shield to reduce the damage of incoming attacks-”

“Yeah, but that would only be for you, bucko-”

“But what if everypony else got behind me?”

That had Tina pause, before picking up Starlight’s character sheet with her magic and then handing it back. “That’s… a valid point. Though, the boss’ next move is coming up fast…” Then, an idea came to the young bunker master, “I’ll allow it… but everybody else needs to roll a dexterity check to see if they can get behind your warding in time! So roll them dice!!”

“Alright. I got a 15.”

“17 FOR ME!”

“13!”

“14 for me.”

“... I got an 8” Gaige huffed in disappointment. “Well, this is going to suck.”

“As you all scramble to safety, the mechromancer loses her footing and falls to the ground as the templar unleashed a powerful thunder smash!” Tina proclaimed, “While most of you are safe and unharmed, the mechromancer has not only taken damage, but is also paralyzed!!”

“GOTTA GIVE HER SOME COVER!”

“She was already hit though.”

“I think he meant to give her time to recover or something along those lines.” Roland said in defense of Brick.

“Well maybe one of us can get her out of the paralyze?”  

“Do any of you have curatives for that?”

The question was met by silence.

“I think that answers that, so… beat up the bad guy?” Axton asked after a minute of silence.

That was one possibility, before it appeared that Maya had an idea. “Is there a helmet on the last guy’s head?”

“Roll for perception.”

Maya took the 20 sided die and rolled, only to be caught off guard by the results. “19”

“Despite the amount of bulking armor around the rest of its body, the head doesn’t appear to be protected. Whether they’re being brave or foolish nobody knows, but if you hit it with enough force, the possibility of staggering him could be likely.”

The siren then asked a much different question as he looked back towards Brick. “How heavy would Brick happen to be?”

“HEHE, I like your thinking slab. I’m pretty heavy.” Brick answered.

“What… are you doing?”

“Well, I was thinking that I could use my abilities to pick up Brick and throw him at this guy. I mean, he would qualify as ‘enough force’ right?”

“Are you sure about that?” Roland brought up.

“I think she's pretty sure.” Axton said.

“I’m definitely sure,” Maya assured them, “Now, what would I need to roll?”

“Well,” Tina said, before scratching her chin with one of her hooves, “Since you are using your abilities for it, you’ll need to roll an arcana check. Though, you really need a high score to-”

“Hah! 20, bitches!!”

That definitely surprised Tina, before looking to Brick, “And Brick will need to roll a strength check-”

“20!!”

“I think that does it?” Roland asked to confirm. Which had both Maya and Brick hoof-bump each other.

“HELL YEAH, THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!”

“In an unforeseen instant, one of the brave sirens came up with an insane idea. Using their powers, they pick up Brick in their grass, before launching them towards the templar,” Tina described, moving her forelegs forward as if she was throwing a shotput, “Their foe was unable to prepare for such an attack and when Brick’s fists made contact, the templar exploded so violently that all of his armor (and their innards) were scattered everywhere!!”

“FATALITY!!” Gaige proclaimed.

“HAHA BRICK WINS!!”

“That is definitely one way to win a battle.” Axton said after calming down from a laughing fit. 

“I’m… not entirely sure what just happened, but I’m too relieved to even care about that right now,” Tina said in the voice of The Owl, “But we don’t have time to rest. Let’s hurry back to Flamerock Refuge. The White Knight’s going to want to hear what I have to say.”

“I’m all on board for that.” Mordecai said.

“Time to go back to base. Then to find out more about this story.”





One scene transition later…

“Welcome back, Adventurers. Glad to see that you’re all still in one piece” Tina replied in the voice of the white knight, before turning the miniature she had of the White Knight towards the one of the Owl, “And you must be the Owl. Gotta say, I did not expect for a defector to cause so much trouble for the Knights.”

“The same could be said for you,” The Owl told him, “Though, I think we don’t have much time to casually conversate.”

“You’re right there. So, what exactly is so important that you decided to defect from your order to warn us?”

“That’s a… pretty valid question. Why did she defect anyways?” Gaige asked.

“Hang on, shorty. I’m getting there,” Tina hushed the mechromancer, before looking back at the rest of the group and clearing her throat, “After the Assault that you led on the Dragon Keep to rescue your queen, most of the Handsome Sorcerer’s forces are in shambles. Yet, there are still some powerful figures that remain. One such figure is a wizard that is the surviving member of the Sorcerer’s Court… and from what I overheard, he has a plan in place to commence a ritual to bring the Handsome Sorcerer back from the dead… and if it’s not stop, many people in this kingdom will die as a result.”

“Well, sh*t. That's some pretty bad news and a valid reason to defect.” Axton said. “Do you know where the ritual is?”

“That’s the problem. It’s not set in one specific place, but in multiple,” Tina said, before motioning as if she took out what looked to be a crudely drawn map, before drawing a circle around it and placing five dots. Four along the perimeter in the circle and one in the center. When she connected the dots, the shape looked like an hourglass, “They plan to do a series of smaller rituals to kickstart the major one, with the dragon keep being the epicenter. What these mages plan to do is sacrifice a soul of a hero and all living things in the area at each location in order to restore the soul of the Sorcerer, before placing it in a body that the wizard is preparing. If they actually pull this off, countless lives will be lost at the sake of bringing back a madman.”

“So, how exactly are we going to stop it?” Maya asked, “Because otherwise, we’re screwed.”

“The first thing that you’re going to need is help. Because at each of these ritual sites, there is a prisoner there. One of the four heroes that took part in slaying the Handsome Sorcerer at the assault on dragon keep alongside the white knight. If we want to stop them, then our best bet is to rescue them from an ill fate.”

“So should we split up and take them on at the same time or one by one?”

“Yep, but first!” Tina said, out of character, “Let’s take a short break, get some snacks and all that shiz. Then we’ll come back and be heroes!!”

“Yeah, I could use a bit of a break. Rather not have my legs fall asleep on me,” Maya added

“Not gonna lie, This does seem like fun.” Roland added as he stretched.

“Oh it definitely is.” Brick said. “Now just imagine if you were a part of this?”

“Heh, it would probably be slightly more chaotic than it already is.”