//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Pathfinder: The Lich of the 5th Crusade // by TenebrisScholar //------------------------------// The deaths of Baphomet and Deskari shook the world around Commander Mors, his companions, and Areelu Vorlesh. A surge of power caused the ground to quake and the World Wound, the chasm leading to their Abyssal realm, to creak and groan. Areelu did not seem particularly surprised. Rather, she was entirely focused on the task at hand. “It is done. The road to greatness lies ahead. All that remains is for you to use a crystal.” “I authorized some studies to be conducted on Nahyndrian Crystals. The search showed that newly created crystals can interact with one another. If you have five of them, you can merge them together into one immensely powerful crystal. What do you think would happen if I used a crystal like this?” The skeletal form of the commander asked, his boney jaw hanging open but not moving as he spoke. No longer having vocal chords or any flesh for that matter, he no longer needed to move his mouth to speak as he spoke solely through necromantic magic. He didn’t even need to open his jaws but he did so out of force of habit left over from when he was still living flesh and blood. “I can only guess. The regular crystals allowed you to impart some of your power to your followers — those whose souls were closely tied to yours. It is likely that an improved crystal would let you endow your companions with a small amount of the demigod-like power you are about to receive.” “If I attain demigod-like power and heal myself of the wound, what will happen to you?” The lich inquired. Two skeletal bat-like wings shifted creakily on his back, the once living wings that emerged from his demonic heritage as the son of Areelu Vorlesh. “The wound will eventually destroy my soul. I will never be truly healed. But I have no regrets. I have achieved everything I wanted and more.” “I’ve managed to acquire six crystals. I will share them with my companions and give the sixth to you, Areelu. All of us will venture into eternity together.” The lich told her. Astonishment bloomed in Areelu’s eyes. “Ascend… together? And live without fear of gods or demons, exploring the infinite world? You truly want this? I can’t believe it!” She said happily. Calming down a bit she continued, “But I will grant you your wish.” With a wave of her hand Areelu made a string of nahyndrian crystals levitate before her. Another gesture — and several of them burst into a swirling whirlwind of pure power. Their essences merged into a single vortex that flowed towards him, into him, infusing him with power. And then there was a loud crack and the crystals fell to the ground, having been shattered and everything stopped. Iomedae herself now stood there, sword in hand, glaring at the Lich and Areelu Vorlesh. With her were two other goddesses Pharasma and, quite surprisingly, Urgathoa. “What?!” Areelu hissed, taking a step back away from the gods. Pharasma proceeded to rip the Commander’s phylactery away from him before he could react. Terror would have gripped him in that moment were he still capable of such intense emotion. As it stood he could only feel annoyed and unsettled by this inconvenience. Pharasma casually tossed the phylactery into the world wound and with a flash the rift was sealed shut. Iomedae picked up a shard of the crystal she had just broken and examined it. “Hm… It seems we were but a moment too late. He’s already received the vast majority of the power of the crystals.” “That hardly matters. Even if he had absorbed the power of the crystals in its entirety it would not be enough to stop this.” Pharasma stated. Everyone in the room, except for Mors and Areelu Vorlesh, quickly knelt before Iomeda and Pharasma, casting wary glances towards Urgathoa who looked quite annoyed. “Hello, goddesses! Excuse me but what are you two doing here and why did you break the Commander’s crystals?” Ember asked curiously. “I’m afraid we’re here to stop the Commander. Please stand back and do not try to interfere.” Iomedae responded. “You as well, Urgathoa? This is quite the unexpected betrayal. If any of the gods were to have sided with me, I would have thought it would be you. Or perhaps Asmodeus as, were I living, my soul would most certainly be bound for Hell.” Mors stated, eerily calm despite the circumstances. She laughed and gave him a wicked smile. “I was actually thinking of taking you as a lover after your ascension. Sadly, one lich, even a demigod or near demigod such as yourself, is hardly worth going to war with the Boneyard, Heaven, Elysium, Nirvana, Axis, and both Hell and the Abyss. Yes, you’ve made quite a few enemies on your little crusade. Even Asmodeus wants you gone despite the fact your soul aligns closer to Hell than with Abbadon. I believe he thinks you would seek to attain full divinity and then try to overthrow him and attempt to conquer Hell with the army you build in the Abyss. The Axiomites believe after claiming Baphomet and Deskari’s realms for yourself you will go on to conquer the rest of the Abyss and turn it into a second Hell, thus disrupting the cosmic balance and Lamashtu and the other Demon Lords think similarly. Heaven, Elysium, and Nirvana all believe you will attempt to conquer the mortal realm if left unchecked. Pharasma detests you because you would prevent souls from going to her boneyard. You’re simply far too dangerous for your own good Commander.” Everyone looked at Mors who flexed his skeletal wings a bit but otherwise remained impassive. “I see… That is quite the list of enemies I was entirely unaware I had made. How unfortunate. So you all see me as the second coming of Tar Baphon, it would seem. A powerful lich seeking to conquer everything… Well, I can’t say I haven’t considered it. Only considered it, mind you. Everything else I have done up until this point, including becoming a lich, has been for the crusade. To drive the demons back to the Abyss. I turned to necromancy and lichdom as a last resort. Even with Mendev and the Hellknights on my side and the mythic power I unlocked within myself in Kenabris, the demons seemed insurmountable. I lacked the forces and power to drive back the Abyss on my own and I very nearly died numerous times before becoming a lich while my mythic power was still in its infancy. I was scared and desperate, to say the least. Terrified that the meager power I had wouldn't be enough to force back the armies of the Abyss let alone to defeat Baphomet and Deskari. And now this is my reward for all the sacrifices I have made for the good of Golarian and my hard fought victory…” “But you were planning on leaving the World Wound open and using it to achieve semi-divinity were you not?” Iomedae inquired. “Well, yes. But I’m quite confident my undead would have been able to hold back any future incursions even without the Wardstones. I’m not entirely sure it’s possible but I’ve also been researching ways to turn demons into undead completely enslaved to my will so their own forces would simply strengthen my defenses. I’ve already managed to temporarily bring back part of the essence of a demon lord in the Abyss to question it about its death so I see no reason why other demons could not be raised similarly. So your angels would have been able to return to your realm and the wound would have been contained regardless of it still being open. And I’m quite confident I can make my own artifacts similar to the Wardstones to keep the wound from expanding. Regardless, even as dulled as my emotions are, I can’t help but feel a faint sting of betrayal.” “How convenient for you. A near endless supply of demonic corpses and essence for you to build a nigh unstoppable army. An army you could then use to conquer all of Golarion. And with your power why stop there? Why not conquer the other planets in this solar system too? And why not other solar systems? Or the entire universe? Why not other abyssal realms if not the entirety of the Abyss? Why not use all the souls and essences you gather to strengthen yourself further and become a god? Then why stop at the Abyss or the Material Plane? Why not conquer Abaddon too? Or Hell? Why not all the planes? After all if you can raise demons from the dead it would stand to reason you could do the same with the inhabitants of the other planes as well. And given how your lichdom has affected you, you would never be content with just the Worldwound. Nothing could ever satisfy you. You would be constantly trying to fill the hole in your soul left when the Lich Zacharias ripped out your emotions with ever more power and control. Regardless of your original intentions." Pharasma said in a disapproving tone. “As Urgathoa said, you are far too ambitious and too much of a risk to be allowed to roam free.” She then shook her head in disgust. “Unfortunately, given the power you and Areelu have absorbed from the crystals it would be nigh impossible to erase your memories from your soul. You are too close to being a divine being. So just killing you and sending you to the Abyss, Hell, or even Abaddon would not eliminate the issue. It would merely postpone it a few months or years at best. Besides which, Urgathoa has not abandoned you entirely and refuses to let us simply destroy you. And for the miniscule amount of good you've done, Iomadae and Desna both have seen fit to vouch for you. Thus we came to an agreement, much to my disdain. So Commander Mors and Areelu Vorlesh, you are both to be banished to the furthest reaches of existence. Far beyond the Maelstrom, beyond where even we can reach, to planes known only to the Outer Gods. Perhaps there will be other worlds and other gods wherever you end up, but you will never be able to return to plague our existence.” “Wait! If you’re going to banish the Commander, send me too!” Ember said getting up, rushing over to the commander and clinging to his decaying armored robes. “Mors may be undead now but he was a good person when I first met him. He was just forced into a difficult position and wanted to do whatever it took to make sure we won. And I think deep down he still is a good person. He can still be redeemed. So wherever you’re sending him, I want to go with him…” “Ember, this is most unwise. We are being sent beyond even the primordial chaos that predates the multiverse. Wherever we end up, it is very likely we will be destroyed. Our deaths would be just punishment, but yours would be pointless. You should stay. One of our companions can help you get to Kyonin to find your mother.” The commander said, looking down at the young elf girl clinging to him. “It’s not pointless. There’s a chance we’ll survive. And if I come with you and we survive you won’t be completely alone! And I'm sure my mama would understand. Besides, she probably thinks I’m dead anyway so not much would change.” Ember told him with a smile. Arueshalae stood up and walked over to the commander as well. “Lady Desna, if you are watching please forgive me, but… I’m going with them as well… The Commander helped me discover my dream. He was there for me every step of the way, even after he became a lich. He’s the reason I was able to redeem myself… And he’s so much stronger than I am… I would be a hypocrite if I thought he couldn’t do what I have. So if you’re going to banish him, I’m going with him.” Lann stood up next and stretched his arms a bit before going to stand next to the commander. “Well… I don’t know about these fancy ideas of redemption. But he’s definitely my best friend and while he may be an evil monster, he’s had my back from the day I met him. It’s only fair I have his back too. Besides, I’m gonna die soon anyway so what the heck? What difference does it make if I die here or beyond the Maelstrom? So I’ll come too.” Nenio also stood up and joined the group more eagerly than pretty much anyone else. “An excursion beyond the Maelstrom? I didn’t even know there was anything beyond the maelstrom! I’ll be coming too, of course. I don’t know if there will be any way back but this could be the biggest scientific expedition in the history of the multiverse! Someone is going to need to record it. I wonder what sorts of experiments I’ll be able to conduct… hm… A shame I didn’t have time to procure more equipment to bring on this trip. A full lab set up would be the most optimal. But I suppose I’ll just have to make do with whatever we have in our bags of holding.” Woljif looked around at the gods nervously before standing up hesitantly, as if he was worried the gods would strike him down on the spot. “Uh… The commander’s probably the first real friend I ever had. And he saved me from being a meat puppet for my gramps, sooo, uh… I’ll be coming too… Hey chief? Be honest with me. Do you think we’re gonna survive this?” “You want honesty? Very well. Then I’m not sure. I have no idea what to expect. Even the gods don’t know what to expect, do you?” Mors asked, looking at the goddesses. “We do not.” Iomedae stated. "Sadly, no." Urgathoa shrugged uncaringly. “Oh… Great…” Woljif said nervously, clearly terrified. Sosiel looked up at the group and was about to stand up but stopped when the commander raised a hand. “Stop. Before you get up and jump to hasty conclusions like everyone else seems to be doing. Think. You are a near demigod now so you likely no longer need to rely on Shelyn. However, you will be beyond Pharasma’s reach as well, so your soul will be lost should we all die, especially considering my Phylactery has been destroyed. You will never receive your ultimate reward of going to Nirvana, and perhaps meeting your goddess. There is much you can still do here in Golarion. The same could be said for all of you. If any of you wish to back out now, I will not hold it against any of you. In fact I would encourage all of you to stay. This is a punishment. A death sentence. I might be able to raise you all as undead should we die, assuming I don’t die myself now that my phylactery has been so rudely destroyed…” He glared at Pharasma who returned the glare. “However, I would assume not all of you are eager to meet such a fate.” “This is one thing I will agree with the Lich on. You and your brother should both stay, Cleric. Your talents would be best served in Golarion. And since we’re here Shelyn has requested I pass on a message to you two for her. Trevor, she does not blame you for your fall from grace. Many have done so over the course of this war. It’s an unfortunate reality of dealing with the Abyss. So if you are willing to put in the effort to redeem yourself, then she is willing to forgive you and give you a second chance. A second chance you will not have should you follow the Commander. It will take time. Perhaps even years or even centuries depending on you. But you need only to let your brother guide you back to the right path.” Iomedae told them. Trevor tried and failed to stifle the tears that welled in his eyes and Sosiel wrapped a comforting arm around his distressed brother. “Commander, I’m going to be honest. You’re evil. One of the most evil creatures I’ve ever encountered. That includes Nocticula, Deskari, and Baphomet. Killing Drezen and raising almost everyone as undead proved that. But even when you were already deep into necromancy and your soul was fully corrupted by evil, you still went out of your way to help save my brother from the Abyss. So despite all the atrocities you committed, I am grateful to you and I do still consider you a friend. I want to come too, but… I suppose I’ll listen to you and the goddess and stay… Thank you for everything you have done for me and Trevor. For what it’s worth, I truly wish I could have saved your soul before it was too late… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry that I didn’t see how scared and desperate you were sooner. That I didn’t try to reach out and help you back when you first started on this dark path you’ve chosen. Back when you still could have been saved… I’ve failed you, commander. Both as a cleric of Shelyn and as your friend.” The lich merely nodded in response. “Commander, I commend you for accepting your punishment so readily. You were a respectable leader. I will be staying here, of course.” Regill stated, not rising from his kneeling position before the gods. “I suppose what I do will depend on you Commander.” Greybor said. “I am terminating our contract, Greybor. You need not accompany us. I told you in the Abyss, I will not stop you from claiming the fruits of your labor. That still holds true even now. Enjoy your partial divinity.” Mors told the assassin. Greybor nodded. “Good luck wherever you end up, Commander.” Daraen looked around for a moment, clearly mentally debating his next course of action. “Commander, I’ll thank you one final time for saving me from that horrid entity, The Other. However, I’m afraid this is where we part ways.” Commander Mors nodded at the pompous noble. “And what of you, little one? Your place is here in this world. Your destiny is to lead the dragons to greatness, Jharsygax Aghamornalyandre. I’m sure we can find you a new guardian. One much better suited to the task of raising you. The cleric and his brother, perhaps.” Pharasma asked the little dragon that was currently wrapped around the Lich’s shoulders. Its scales changed occasionally as if it had not yet fully decided what it wanted to be, and currently its scales were golden in color. Pharasma then glanced at Sosiel and Trevor. “We would be honored.” Sosiel stated. Pharasma nodded then looked back at the little dragon. “Or should they not suffice, we could even return you to your previous guardian if you wish.”  The little dragon squeaked and clung a bit tighter to the commander, nuzzling his skeletal face. “I see. How disappointing. Though with your power I’m sure you will eventually find your way back to us one day. I just hope it is for better rather than worse. Though being raised by such a vile lich, I fully expect the worst. I pray you don’t end up becoming a lich yourself… Such a thing would be a travesty of the highest order… You, succubus of Desna, and you, Elven grand daughter of Andoletta. I am giving the two of you a task. A task more important than even these petty crusades. Ensure that does not happen. The dragon can not be allowed to be tempted by necromancy.” Pharasma ordered. “Okay.” Ember stated calmly. “I suppose I can try to teach him what I know of Desna and Elysium…” Arueshalae said, looking over at the freshly hatched dragon. “That’s fine. I care not if he becomes like the havoc dragons of Elysium or anything else so long as he is not corrupted by the lich.” Pharasma stated. “Hmph… If I had eyes, I would roll them.” Mors commented in as sarcastic a tone as his near emotionless deadpan would allow. "Not to worry, Commander. I do have eyes and have already rolled them for you." Urgathoa stated. "Jharsygax would make for a lovely dracolich, I'm sure." “It is time. Commander, Areelu Vorlesh, and those individuals who have decided to join them, you are banished. Never return.” Pharasma stated. “Grandma, if you’re watching, good bye! I’ll miss you!” Ember called out just before the group vanished in a flash of light. All that were left were the goddesses, Regill, Sosiel, Trevor, Daraen, Greybor and the two grave guards the Commander had brought with him rose. Pharasma looked at Delemere and Staunton Vhane. “It is past time for both of you. I am sending both of your souls, and the souls of the Lich’s other grave guards, to my court to receive judgment.” Suddenly the two undead collapsed like puppets whose strings had been cut. Their souls sent directly to Pharasma's boneyard to await judgement. Then Pharasma, turned and glared at Urgathoa who was chuckling to herself. "Aw... Too bad. I was just a bit too slow. But so were you, Pharasma. You managed to get those two, but I already took the other two myself. Such a shame, I would have loved to have Delemere as a toy to taunt Erastil with. It's just as much of a shame that the Commander didn't cut Galfrey's pretty little head from her shoulders or just let the demons finish her off for him and make her one of his grave guards when he had the chance. Wouldn't you agree Iomedae? At least then she could have actually done something useful." Neither Iomadae nor Pharasma dignified Urgathoa's taunting with a response. A moment later and the goddesses also vanished in flashes of light leaving behind the five mortals. All of them stood up. “I will be returning to the Hellknights. They will need to be informed of the gods’ decision regarding the commander.” Regill stated. “I… With the World Wound closed, I suppose my brother and I will return home. Tevor has a long path ahead of him to redeem himself. And I promise I’ll be there every step of the way to help you along that path, brother. I promise, I won't fail you like I failed the commander.” Sosiel told Trevor with a smile and a pat on the back. “Th… Thank you, Sosiel…” Trevor muttered. “Ugh… Well… This has certainly been a journey. From the crusade, to going to the depths of the Abyss, to freeing myself from that malignant entity, I will have stories for years to come! And yet I feel… somewhat numb. Did I make the right choice by staying? Perhaps I should have gone? Hm… Well whatever. It’s too late to second guess my decision now. It’s not like I can call on the gods to return after all. So I’m sure a bottle of wine will help the feeling pass. Oh I can’t wait to return to my luxuries and to exploit my new powers to their fullest.” Daraen said. Elsewhere, like an arrow loosed from a divine bow, the group streaked through the infinite cosmos into the maelstrom. And through the maelstrom they traveled for what to them felt like an eternity before exiting past even the maelstrom and entering something else entirely. An entirely different multiverse separate from their original multiverse. And through this new multiverse they traveled before landing in its equivalent to the material plane where they fell from the sky onto a particular planet like a meteorite in a brilliant streak of light. The streak of light hit the ground with a hard crash that made a bit of a crater and knocked them all to the ground. Mors was the first to recover, using the bottom of his scythe to push himself back up onto his feet. Jharsygax was still wrapped around his shoulders, having suffered by far the least out of any of them. Looking around, the lich saw they had ended up in a forest of sorts. It was currently night, judging by the moon in the sky and how dark it was. “Fascinating… It would seem we won’t be dying any time soon after all.” The others started getting up as well. Woljif groaned. “Ow… That feels like it’s going to leave a bruise… Oh. A forest? Huh. I guess we got lucky after all, eh? Or maybe the gods decided to take pity on us and send us somewhere nice?” “I would not be so quick to jump to conclusions. We have no idea where we are or what sort of creatures live here. We could still very easily be prey for some god-like extra-planar entity.” Areelu stated. “Man you’re just a ray of sunshine aren’t you?” Woljif commented sarcastically. “Ooh, so many new un-recorded forms of flora! I’ll need to collect samples and record them all in my encyclopedia! Actually, speaking of my encyclopedia, I can’t exactly call it the Encyclopedia Golarianica since we aren’t on Golarion any more now can I? Hm… Oh! I know! I’ll just call what I wrote while we were on Golarion the Encyclopedia Golarianica and start an entirely new encyclopedia for this world!” “Just… Try not to go as overboard this time as you did with your original book.” Lann said, grabbing his bow and holding it at the ready just in case as he looked around warily. “Miss Areelu, I have a question. The gods said Mors absorbed a lot of the energy of the crystals before they interrupted. So what does that mean?” Ember asked curiously. “Hm… Given the point at which they interrupted, I assume all of us absorbed maybe seventy to eighty percent of the power. Ninety if I was being very generous in my estimates, as the process was not complete. So we are all likely at least partially divine. Near demigods, if you will, rather than true demigods. Those of us who were not already immortal originally are very likely immortal now, and of course we are more powerful than we once were.” Areelu stated. “I shall need to build a stronger Ziggurat to remake my phylactery. Hm…” Mors muttered to himself, considering the necessary design details in his mind. He was a sorcerer not a wizard so magic came naturally to him, but he had still put in as much time studying the arcane as any wizard and a significant amount of time learning everything Zacharias had to teach him. So he was very well aware of all the equations and geometry he needed to calculate for the creation of a ziggurat to aid in creating a phylactery for his newly empowered soul. “Yeah, about that. When you mentioned considering becoming like Tar-Baphon you didn’t actually mean it, did you? Once the necromancy stuff started, I heard some crusaders talking about him and… Let’s just say what they said wasn’t very good.” Lann asked. “Hm? Oh, that. As I said, I considered it. I was not fully committed to the idea by the time we were dealing with the World Wound and on the verge of ascension. I am quite certain I would have been a better ruler of Mendev than Queen Galfrey who has proven herself to be completely incompetent, and I had already proven myself to be the vastly superior military leader. And perhaps after a few centuries of consolidating my power and growing a sizable army of undead, I may have eventually thought to start expanding my borders. So, yes, I did indeed consider it. I will not lie. However, that hardly matters now. I’m not even fully certain if there is sentient life on this planet or not.” Mors said in an almost bored tone as if he were discussing the weather or some paperwork. “Huh… Guess the gods had a good reason to intervene after all…” Lann muttered under his breath. “Well, we can either set up a camp here or try to find a temporary shelter. A cave would be nice. But we can always break out the tents if we have to.” “I think we should start with the tents. We can look for better shelter tomorrow. I’m sure all of us are a bit exhausted by everything that happened today. And it is night time here, so I think we could all do with sleep.” Arueshalae said. “Very well. I suppose I shall take watch after the tents are set up as I no longer require sleep. There is no need to take shifts.” Mors stated before reaching into his large bag of holding and retrieving the tents for everyone other than himself. He even helped them set up the tents and start the camp fire since he didn’t exactly have anything better to do at the moment. That night they had a stew consisting of what rations they had in their bags of holding. It wasn’t much but it was enough to feed all the living members of the group. As they were eating there was some rustling in the forest so Mors stood up from the fallen log he was using as a chair, casually using his scythe much like a walking stick, and approached the source of the noise. Suddenly a large lion-like creature with bat-like wings and a scorpion-like tail leapt from the bushes and roared at the lich. “Die.” Mors said, causing the creature to immediately fall over dead. “It would appear I have taken care of tomorrow’s hunting for you, Lann.” The Lich stated. Lann sighed. “Great… Guess I gotta gut and skin this thing before going to bed now.” “I can do so myself, if you are opposed. Or I can freeze it with Ice Prison and you can wait until morning to deal with it.” Mors offered. “Oh no. No, no, no. I’ve seen you in a fight. Everything you touch immediately starts to rot, and a lot of your magic rots things too or just saps the life from things. Even your magic that should burn, freeze, or electrocute things instead. Heck some of the plants are withering and dying around you right now! So if you do it there won’t be any edible meat left by the time you’re done. Same thing if you froze it. Besides, no offense Mors but you’re not good at this sort of thing. You were bad at skinning things when we hunted together when you were alive and I doubt that’s changed now that you’re dead. Just let me finish my stew and I’ll get to it.” Lann said. “As you wish.” The lich stated before returning to his seat. Nenio quickly finished off her own food and walked over to the corpse of the creature and began taking blood, tissue, spinal fluid, and tail venom before scribbling a bunch of notes down in a fresh book. “Fascinating… This creature closely resembles a manticore to the untrained eye but there are numerous differences from the body structure to the tail and how it functions! Even the shape of the claws and teeth are different!” “Hey! That’s good meat! Don’t ruin it with… whatever you’re doing!” Lann demanded, on the verge of standing up to chase her away from the body. “Don’t worry, nothing I’m doing will in any way make this creature less edible. I am just taking samples for study and comparison to manticores back on Golarion. Also the tail is venomous and the tip is the means of injection, so you should be aware of this before you attempt to skin and dress this creature as we do not yet know just how dangerous this venom is… Hm… Maybe I should—” Nenio stated as she continued her examinations. “No. You are not going to drink or inject that venom into yourself. I don’t care if we are demigods now.” Lann said sternly. “But—” “No buts! Don’t make me take that venom and stinger away from you! I’ll do it!” Nenio pouted but put the vial of venom away. Arueshalae smiled and chuckled a bit. “This is a lot like my dream. The only thing that’s missing is a nice house, a table, and our friends who stayed behind and it would be nearly perfect.” “That sounds like a nice dream… I’m just happy the crusades are over! People don’t have to get hurt fighting the demons anymore.” Ember stated. “No, they’ll just get hurt fighting each other instead.” Areelu commented. “Wars were waged long before I opened the World Wound and they’ll be waged long after it is gone.” “I know. And it's sad. But at least it won’t be as bad as it was with the demons.” Ember said, looking at Areelu. “A shame I won’t be there to collect the corpses and souls. The bodies will just go to waste being buried in the ground or cremated and the souls will go to waste being sorted into particular planes for their ultimate reward or punishment by Pharasma.” Mors commented as he checked the edge of his scythe. The battle with Deskari and Baphomet had dulled it. Unsatisfied with the fact his best physical weapon was dull, he took out a whetstone and started sharpening the blade. He desperately needed a better weapon, more befitting his new power. “Yeeeaaah… A real cryin’ shame, that. I guess they’re just gonna have to go on with their deaths without you, Chief.” Woljif stated. “Indeed. Truly a pity.” Mors stated as he continued to sharpen his scythe. After what Zacharias had done to turn him into a lich, his emotions were dulled significantly. He could barely feel anything, let alone humor. However, this was indeed his attempt at a joke despite not finding it funny himself. Unfortunately it didn’t seem like the joke landed, judging by how uncomfortable several of them looked. “That was a joke. I don’t actually care. The wars in Golarion are no longer our concern. Let alone what happens to the dead from said wars. The gods made that very clear when they banished us here.” “Oh. Haha… Right… Sorry, Chief, your deadpan tone makes it a bit hard to tell.” Woljif said, relaxing a bit. “I see… Unfortunately the ritual Zacharias conducted to make me a lich rendered me very close to emotionless, as you all know. So I apologize if my intonation was a bit off for the joke to land properly.” Mors said, as he continued to sharpen his scythe. “Hey, don’t sweat it, buddy. We all understand.” Woljif said, smiling at him. Lann finally finished his food and got up. “Alright. Guess I better finish this quickly if I wanna get some sleep. Hey, Woljif, help me tie this thing's hind legs up and get it hanging in a tree.” “Oh, sure.” Woljif said, getting up and walking over to go help Lann. The two of them tied up the lion-esque monster and hoisted it up with a sturdy tree branch. Once that was done Lann took out a knife and slit the monster’s throat. “Hey, Commander, I gotta bleed this thing before I can start. Think you can help speed that up a bit?” “I can. You might want to take a step back. This will make a mess.” Mors said before standing up and casting exsanguinate on the manticore’s corpse, causing blood to come gushing out of its slit throat until it was completely drained of blood down to the last drop. With that done, Mors sat back down and returned to sharpening his scythe. Meanwhile, in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle who had been stargazing with her telescope in her library watched as a strange white and green light emerged from the light and crashed into the Everfree Forest resulting in a bright flash that lit up the night sky for a few moments before the light dissipated. She could immediately tell that had been no normal meteor. She had never seen anything quite like it before! Sure she had seen falling stars and such in the past but none of them had ever looked like that before and they never emitted such a large flash upon crashing. She needed to investigate. She had seen it land in the Everfree. So calculating the velocity and trajectory she was able to determine a rough estimate of where in the forest it should have landed. She was going to have to get some of her friends and head into the forest tomorrow to go investigate. Maybe Zecora would be able to help them find their way to the spot? She knew the Everfree pretty well so she should be able to act as a guide. And if nothing else, she would be able to help them avoid dangerous plants and animals, and it would be fun to go for a small adventure with their new friend. So, the next morning that’s exactly what she did. She, Zecora, Fluttershy, and Applejack were all walking through the Everfree towards the location of the crash site. “So, what are we lookin’ for exactly?” Applejack inquired as they walked through the forest. “A meteorite, I think. I told you, I watched a strange light crash into the forest last night, and I assume it was a meteor. Though admittedly it was very unlike any meteor I’ve ever seen or heard of. But that’s exactly why I want to find it! It has to have a unique chemical composition or maybe a magical charge and I want to study it. Something like this could be the biggest astronomical discovery of the century!” Twilight explained. “Hm… I also saw this meteorite in the night. It was quite the brilliant sight. However, I would be leery as the forest has become quite eerie. It is just a theory, but I do not believe this is anything cheery.” Zecora said in a wary tone. “Eerie? W-what’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked nervously. “The animals have all fled and the plants are full of dread. Even the winds speak only of the dead. So we should be cautious where we tread lest the ground run red.” Zecora answered ominously. Fluttershy squeaked in terror and even Applejack stiffened up a bit at the warning. “T-Twilight, I don’t like this… L-let’s just go home…” Fluttershy pleaded, trembling in terror. “What? No way! Maybe the noise of the meteor hitting scared the animals or something. I’m sure it’s fine.” Twilight said dismissively. “I don’t know, Twi. It is pretty quiet… Way too quiet if yah ask me. There ain’t even any birds. If they were just scared by the noise, they shoulda come on back by now, right Zecora?” Applejack asked. Zecora nodded, looking up at the trees in concern. Twilight rolled her eyes. “Just relax… If it does actually get dangerous, I can just teleport us back to Ponyville. It’ll be fine.” Applejack frowned and sighed. Shaking her head she said, “If yah say so… I trust you.” As they continued to walk they started to smell something. Sniffing, Applejack looked around. “Hey, do any of y'all smell somethin’ cookin’ or is it just me?” “No… I smell it too… Weird. It doesn’t smell quite like any food I’ve ever smelled before.” Twilight commented. “It’s… It’s meat…” Fluttershy squeaked. “What?” Twilight asked. “I’ve… I’ve cooked meals for a bear before with an animal that died of old age who agreed to let me feed its body to a predator after they passed… I’ve only done it once and never tried it again since it makes me nauseous and really sad to cut up an innocent creature, even if the creature is already dead and it's to feed another creature. So now I give the bodies to predators raw… but the smell… I will always remember that smell… that smell is cooking meat…” Fluttershy explained, looking more terrified than ever. Zecora’s expression became very grim. “Oh… Uh… Wow… Okay… Well, if it’s being cooked then that means something intelligent has to be doing the cooking… That or some poor animal got trapped under a burning tree or in a bush or something after the meteor hit and was burned alive. If it’s the former then I assume whoever it is, is smart enough to be reasoned with. If it’s the latter, then it’s just an unfortunate accident and while sad it should be harmless save for the chance of a forest fire.” Twilight said, now becoming a lot more wary. “You sure we should keep going, Twi? It ain’t too late to turn back.” Applejack said, her expression having become quite stoic and her stance making it clear she was getting ready for a fight. “I’m sure. If it’s something too dangerous, we’re going to need to report it to Princess Celestia so it can be dealt with. If it’s not dangerous, then it could be an important scientific discovery. Either way, we need to at least see what it is.” Twilight said. Applejack nodded. “Alright, but you get ready to teleport us away if it’s dangerous, yah hear? I’ll fight if I gotta, but I’d rather not have to.” “Got it…” Twilight stated. As they got even closer another smell joined the smell of cooking. A sharp metallic smell. “B-blood… Th-that’s blood…” Fluttershy squeaked. “Everyone try to be quiet. We’ll sneak closer and see what it is.” Twilight whispered so only Zecora, Applejack, and Fluttershy could hear her. Zecora and Applejack nodded, while Fluttershy just trembled in fear. As they snuck closer they started to hear something. Talking, they realized. Somepony was having a conversation up ahead. “Definitely intelligent…” Twilight muttered quietly under her breath. Sneaking even closer, they saw a camp full of bipedal creatures unlike anything any of them had ever seen before, all of whom were as tall as minotaurs. No two bipedal creatures looked fully alike. However, two creatures caught their eye in particular. One was the skeleton of a manticore which had two green glowing lights in its eye sockets and was moving around on its own. The other was another skeletal creature, however this one looked like the bipedal creatures, was wearing armored robes, had two skeletal bat-like wings, and was carrying a large and scary looking scythe. This creature also had what looked like a tiny dragon-like creature with silver scales curled up on its lap. Scooping up the tiny dragon-like creature, the scythe wielding skeleton handed it to the creature in blue clothes with bat-like wings and two horns on its head. It then stood up and said something before vanishing in a flash of light. “Did it just use magic? Where did it go?” Twilight whispered. “Behind you.”