(33) The Fortuna Massacre
Young Platick’s POV
Leodaav, Agix
Fortuna Manor/Hidden Treasures
Midnight, 14 Years Ago
None of us slept.
The house was a disaster. Every front-facing window was smashed by thrown rocks, bricks or knives. The outside of the manor was coated in mud, sludge, and dozens of splatters of paint or ink. Pieces of wall were cratered inward or torn away as the only thing that kept the house from looking absolutely destroyed was the fact that the inside was mostly in one piece.
A majority of the downstairs was the family shop; Hidden Treasures. It was something of a shop for ‘heroes,’ as Mom called them. They were actually travelers and adventurers but whenever Mom called them heroes, she would think back on good times of her own.
There wasn’t much of the family left inside. My grandfather, my Uncle Geld, Dad, and Mom were shackled and driven away by the city guard. At the same time, another uncle of mine, Uncle Silber, took his wife and kids and fled the city with our caravan company.
Our caravan company was named the Fortuna Trade. It was how our family made such good business. Even when rival companies or big name merchants tried blacklisting us, we survived because of the Fortuna Trade. It was where my grandfather Oro, who I always called Pops, first grew the Fortuna name.
No one blamed Uncle Silber for running. In fact, that’s what Pops told everybody to do. If something happened to the family, find the caravan leaders and get out of Agix. Above all, stay safe.
I wasn’t able to go with them. Neither was the family at our manor. Once Dad and the others were gone, that only left myself, Granny Relli, and my baby sister Moneta.
Granny Relli was in her late sixties and time hadn’t been kind to her. She stayed in her room most days while occasionally sitting out on the balcony. And, no matter what, she would be happily conversing with her spellbook.
Granny Relli was training to become a mage before Pops met her. She was pretty good at it too. But when she fell in love, Relli’s family cut her off and acted as though she was never part of the family. That just made spending her life with Pops all the easier.
But right now, she was in the hallway, her body strengthened by an Enhance Ability spell. With it, she held Moneta in one arm while casting Message on each of us in the house to give out commands silently.
Moneta was only six months old by this point. She stayed quiet thanks to a Suggestion spell Aunt Opal cast on her. She was pretty pudgy if you ask me and up until recently she was always a very quiet baby. Mom always wished I was this quiet when I was a baby.
Moneta had a tuft of blondish-brown hair and pale blue eyes that usually stared at everything in wonder. Granny Relli was a little disappointed when she saw that.
Granny’s birth family had silver eyes. It was something of a symbol for them. But none of Relli’s kids or grandkids had silver eyes. Until I was born, that is. Granny Relli was over the moon when she found out. To her, it was like her ancestors revealed they hadn’t abandoned her.
Then there was Aunt Opal and her husband, Uncle Fernol. They had run over to the manor from their own store and home when they heard what happened to us. They were also doing a majority of the packing. Aunt Opal was Pops and Granny’s second child. And if the Suggestion spell on Moneta wasn’t a give away, Opal was a mage too.
More than that, she was a half-elf like Pops was. Everyone else was human but that didn’t matter to us. Opal’s elven lineage just meant Pops wouldn’t outlive everyone now. She had glasses like Granny did but she also wore this funny looking witch’s hat. Purely for laughs, she would say.
Sadly, Uncle Fernol wasn’t as interesting. He was still one of the family but he didn’t know how to fight like Mom or Dad or use magic like Opal or Granny. He was a terrible salesman too, unlike me and Pops who were naturals.
But he was great for emotional support. He kept the family grounded and knew how to keep everything and everyone organized. And tonight, that was exactly what we needed.
I crept up the steps with a backpack full of all the food from our kitchen. “Granny? I’m done. And I made sure to put the bread and bags of flour between each of the plates, like you asked.”
Granny looked down at me and smiled weakly. “Good job, Platty. You’ve been very brave tonight.”
I returned the smile and carefully put the backpack over my shoulders as Granny told me. It was heavy but since everyone was carrying something heavier, I didn’t complain. “Is Mom back yet?”
Mom. She was carried off with the others almost a week ago but this morning, she came back alone. She was released from the dungeon after Pops, Dad, and Uncle Geld took the blame. But Mom was forced to implicate Dad. If she didn’t, the Guard would never have released her as early as they did.
Once she got back to us, she had a plan. She used to travel around with a group of friends all over Leodaav. She met and helped dozens of people in villages and towns far enough away from Agix where we would be safe. Even if word about the Fortunas ‘crimes’ reached them, they would know it’s all lies and take us in.
But we had to get out of Agix first. Thankfully, Mom had connections here too. She just had to reach them. She left about four hours ago, telling us to pack everything we needed and to pack light.
Only problem was none of us knew how to do the things she and Dad did. We didn’t know how to run away or deal with danger. Mom was a hero. We weren’t. We were a family that ran a store for heroes.
And when the slamming on the front door started, we cowered and flinched.
Yesterday at midnight, people broke down the door. There were four of them all with shortswords but no armor. They were thugs trying to steal everything still inside Hidden Treasures.
But when that happened, they didn’t expect Granny Relli and Aunt Opal.
Granny teleported them both downstairs that night and Opal let loose this huge Lightning Bolt. By the time Uncle Fernol ran down the stairs wearing Dad’s armor and waving around a shortsword of his own, the robbers ran for their lives.
That wouldn’t happen now. This time, there were more than four thieves. Without looking out the window, we heard an entire crowd of people gathering. We could see the torches lighting the street and, when the slamming started, so too did the shouting.
“DEATH TA THE FORTUNAS!” “DIRTY TRAITORS!” “THOUGHT YOU WAS BETTER THAN US, EH?!” “WORSE DEN ALL DA OTHER MERCHANTS!” “THEY GOT KNIFE EARS IN THEIR FAMILY TOO!” “DEATH TA FORTUNAS!” “BUNCHA WORTHLESS CROOKS!” “HEARD YA GOTTA KID IN THERE! BRING ‘EM OUT ‘ERE, WHY DON’TCHA?!” “YER NAME’S NO GOOD HERE!” “HEROES MAH ARSE!” “DEATH TO FORTUNAS!” “DEATH! TO! FORTUNAS!”
“DEATH! TO! FORTUNAS!”
“DEATH! TO! FORTUNAS!”
“DEATH! TO! FORTUNAS!”
Their screaming fell into this synchronized chant that shook the whole manor. I stepped back from the stairs, feeling Granny Relli’s hand on my shoulder as she tried calming me down.
Moneta opened her eyes and squirmed uncomfortably in Granny’s arm. The Suggestion spell kept her from crying but it couldn’t make her stay asleep.
“Are they in yet?!” Uncle Fernol screamed at us as he ran into the hall. At this point, staying quiet was worthless. He had three backpacks over his back and a shortsword by his side.
“Not yet,” Granny returned. “The door won’t break! It’s the windows I’m worried about!”
“We need to get downstairs,” Aunt Opal joined us, her spellbook floating beside her as her witch’s hat rested on her back thanks to the chinstrap.
“But that’s where they are!” I screamed back. “What if they see us?!”
“He’s right,” Uncle Fernol agreed. “These aren’t thieves anymore, that’s a mob! They’ll have swords! Crossbows! That’ll take down any of us!”
“But why?!” Aunt Opal demanded. “Protests and screaming?! Throwing rocks?! That I get! Why do they want us dead?!
Granny quickly reached over to the side table beside her and picked up a stone with a face carved onto one side. Mom had the other one but I didn’t know what they did.
But Granny did. Putting the stone up to her mouth, I watched as it glowed a faint teal color. As it did, Granny spoke pointedly and with purpose; without screaming too.
“Joya,” Granny started. “They’re here. Oro was right, those monsters are insane. Hurry back, they’ll be inside any second. Platick and Moneta are still here...Hurry soon!”
Joya Fortuna’s POV
Outside Fortuna Manor, Across the street
‘Platick and Moneta are still here...Hurry soon!’
I lowered the rock from my ear and looked ahead at the scene before me. Over forty psychopaths crowded around the front of my family’s home and every one of them had a weapon and armor underneath vests or cloaks to make them seem like commoners. They weren’t an angry mob. They were a band of mercenaries.
I looked behind me where three other people stood. I had one afternoon to gather whoever I could trust to help my family. Even with all the favors people swore they owed me in the past, I could only end up relying on three people.
First was Sgt. Glenmoran Marvis; a high ranked, red dragonborn Aura Guard and Boros’s—my husband’s—former superior. He had a number of scars from his time as a mercenary himself. However, the pristine Aura Guard half plate, the shield, and the longsword he sported made him all the more terrifying.
Then, leaning against the wall of our alley was Sai; an elven mage and good friend that traveled around with Boros and me. She was wearing a heavy cloak that hid any distinguishing features. Her typical outfit was traded for bland, muted clothes as well.
Finally, there was Madame Kiirnodel; a ‘tavern owner’ who was something of a teacher to me. They stood out the most with a flashy gold opera mask on their face and the poofiest, flashiest ball gown imaginable. However, despite the outfit, they didn’t seem to lose any mobility. In fact, they had the most alacrity out of any of us.
None of these three had anything to do with one another. In fact, Sgt. Marvis was staring daggers at the Madame every second he could. The only thing they had in common was wanting to help me.
I turned the stone to my mouth and proceeded to speak. “Don’t worry Mom. We’re outside. On our signal, get everyone out the back door. Only attack if they get through the windows. I love you.”
Twenty-five words said and delivered. As the magic sent, I tossed the Sending Stone to Sai. It was used up for tonight.
The mob had its leader and another muscle bound punk trying to brute force their way through the front door. It wasn’t going to work. I set that Immovable Rod myself. Still, sooner or later the mob would give up on the door and realize the boarded up windows were easier.
Sgt. Marvis stood up beside me and gritted his teeth. A small stream of soot and smoke poured from the side of his mouth. “Where are they? I set up guard shifts ‘round the clock. They should be here!”
“The mob scared ‘em off about forty minutes ago,” Sai told him. She was watching the mob for the past hour with Invisibility. “Some of them left without a word. Others talked a bit and either ran or skulked off...Last one’s dead in the next alley over.”
“And you let that happen?!” Marvis asked through a hushed growl.
“Oh please Marv, what was the poor dear to do?” The Madame challenged. “One mage vs forty-two men and women? You might as well split her open yourself.”
“Guys, enough,” I told them. “There’s only four of us now. We don’t have long and we need a plan. What do we got?”
Sgt. Marvis took a deep breath and sighed. “You’re right, my bad...Assuming they were hired like you said, they won’t be scared off by a show of power. And after killing and bribing my men, they forfeited any innocence. Go as loud as you need. We’ll capture whatever’s left. If more Aura Guard arrive, let me deal with it.”
“For once, I agree with Lt. Uptight,” the Madame told us. Said ‘Uptight’ glared in response. “We’ve heard of this band before. They have an all or nothing methodology. Expect them to stand their ground till the last man.”
“Loud and hard then, huh? That’s what I’m hearing at least.” Sai cracked her knuckles and took out a patch of mixed sulfur. “Joya? Any thoughts?”
All three of them waited for my order. Sai and Marvis had book and weapon alike ready and the Madame magically changed their outfit into that of a subdued maroon vest and dress pants with a cowl over their face to hide their identity. The golden mask remained.
I looked back to my home. By this point, the two in front were chopping at the door with handaxes and while they were breaking it apart, it still wasn’t going anywhere. The hinges were steel, the doors only opened inwards. If two cyclops couldn’t budge the Immovable Rod, two humanoid idiots didn’t have a prayer.
“I don’t care if it sounds selfish,” I began. “But even if you have to shield them yourselves, keep my family safe. Especially my kids. You got that?”
“Naturally,” Sgt. Marvis said as he stomped out the alley, sword raised. “I already planned to.”
“It’s not selfish, Joy. For once, it really isn’t,” Sai promised me, stepping out with the familiar arcane words for Fireball rolling off her tongue.
Madame Kiirnodel gave me a playful roll of their eyes and walked past. Since it was the first time I saw them without a poofy dress, I watched the way they walked. Their legs kept bending at wrong angles. Even the magic couldn’t disguise it. If anything, it was more unsettling how the illusions tried snapping the legs back in position.
They turned around and lifted my head by the chin so I wasn’t staring at their legs. Then they placed their finger against my lips in a shushing motion. “Rest assured, no harm will come to those children. I givE You my worD, JOya."
They walked out, prepping a Fireball of their own to match Sai’s. “And you know how I feel about promises~!”
I took a few seconds to shake the unsettling feeling off my spine and found my focus when one of the mob members kicked open a window board. Right away, he was met with a jolt of electricity, courtesy of my sister inside.
They found their entrance.
At that thought, I reached for my waist and pulled out a red-bladed dagger in one hand while forming three spectral daggers above my other. At that time, two Fireballs and Sgt. Marvis’s fire breath incinerated the mob from behind. A handful of them heard us coming but it didn’t matter. Four of them dropped dead before anyone could turn around.
Before the fire cleared, Marvis rushed in and cleaved his way through two more goons. One had her chest pouring out a massive gash while another cried out at the stump of an arm he was left with.
Six dead.
The brunt of the group turned around and readied maces and axes but by this point I ran. I took the hand with three magic daggers and tossed them in the air. The mob then watched as my knives suddenly pointed forward and whizzed over their heads before plunging into the chest of their presumed leader.
As he screamed in rage, I ducked under the axeswing of one lady and drew out a new dagger in my off-hand. As I leapt back to my full height, I ran my daggers along her leg and stomach before slitting her throat with a flick of my wrist.
She fell to the ground with fire and blood spraying out of her cuts as I stood and let myself be soaked in the crimson spray. I let the warpaint drip as I stared at the crowd. I already looked as red as Marvis.
“Uh-huh. There’s the Bloodletter I know,” Sai remarked as she tossed a simple Fire Bolt at another poor sap. That made eight bodies.
“Your nickname’s Bloodletter? Really?!” Sgt. Marvis gave me an odd look while blocking a mace from his next opponent. He then cut at their shoulder with his claw before skewering them with his blade.
I smirked under the coat and gave a mocking shrug before twirling around stabbing my daggers into another person’s chest and twisting like I was winding up clocks. One knife surged a bout of flames into his lungs while the other struck a major artery.
As he tore himself away from me, delirious and burning from the inside out, I took a chop to the calf and a sharp slug punch to the face that sent my vision rolling.
Suddenly, a bright flash of dozens of colors lit up the space ahead of me. Several of the mob members turned slack-jawed but the rest simply rubbed their eyes and closed in around us.
The guy who struck me was one of the many who survived the Fireballs and tried striking at me again. The dagger I slid through his neck told him otherwise.
“You ought to do better than that,” the Madame scolded me. “Don’t disappoint me now.”
I grinned, blood tracing each individual tooth before I took the knife in my opponent's neck and wrenched it like a valve. While I was painted with what was inside, I took the knife and flung it at the guy running up behind me, popping his eye.
As he clawed at the knife, I rushed up and stabbed at his abdomen half a dozen times, forcing flames to spit out as his skin popped and crusted. When I reclaimed my daggers, I held them in reverse grips.
Two ran past myself and Marvis, closing in on the Madame but they merely grinned ear to ear. Madame ducked under the first blade and caught the second with their palm, redirecting it into the ribs of the first merc. As they screamed, Madame crushed the sword with a tight grip, shattering the metal and leaving the upper half embedded in the guy’s chest.
The second one dropped her ruined blade and went for her dagger only for a bright beam of fire to burn into her shoulder, courtesy of Sai’s magic. “You’re welcome,” Sai tossed out.
Entertaining the idea, the Madame stepped up and swiped the merc’s dagger off her. After rending the woman’s head from her body to finish her off, Madame launched the knife across the street and into the face of a merc closing in on Sai.
As he fell to his knees, Sai finished him off with another fiery beam and Madame giggled. “Now we’re even.”
“Joy, you have weird friends,” Sai shouted at me as she fired her last Scorching Ray into a merc that was deadlocked with Marvis.
“You’re on that list too, you know,” I returned while severing someone’s jaw from their face into this funny mouth before ducking behind them and tracing their spine on either side.
Ahead of me, I watched around ten thugs ready their crossbows towards myself and the Madame. The leader shouted this one syllable in a tongue I couldn’t recognize and suddenly the mercs fighting us ducked away as the crossbows loosed.
I held up my arms but it didn’t matter. Marvis ran forward, pulling out his shield and sliding to a stop in front of me like a skilled ice skater. Four bolts plinked off his metal shield while a fifth one tagged his leg.
The Madame cast a Shield around herself that dispelled most of the bolts flying at her but two of them reached her. One in her arm and the second smacking into some invisible object just above her head.
I lowered my arms and smirked at Marvis. “Thanks for the assist.”
“Thank me later,” he shouted while slicing an approaching merc with the sharp edge of his shield. Then he chopped at the merc’s wrist, disarming them.
The battle continued like that for the next minute. They would catch one of us with a lucky strike but the other three covered for them long enough to recover and rejoin the effort. All of us started earning more cuts than we cared to admit.
On top of that, our mages had to sacrifice their safety to blast at the mercenaries running for the manor’s windows. There were close calls, but we were slowly whittling down their numbers.
Eventually, they fell down to less than half their starting number. Marvis and I stood beside each other as another fifteen murderers formed a wide ring around us. Meanwhile, about four people reached Sai and the Madame each.
“Ya know,” Marvis spoke under his short breaths. “Yer pretty good. If you didn’t fight like a maniac, I’d offer you a spot in the Guard.”
“Really? With. My shiny new. Criminal record?” I said between heavier breaths. By this point my hands were slick with blood and I lost four daggers in the slaughtering of these scum. “Don’t think the. Top brass would. Take kindly.”
“Screw ‘em,” Marvis said. “I got no time fer. For politics anyways. I train the city watch, not lawyers. Besides, I’m in the top brass.”
“That right? I thought you...Were a red dragonborn, not brass.”
“I can arrest you too, ya know,” he fired back.
“Touché.”
We watched as the area of the ring ahead of us opened up, allowing the boss to step in with us. Aside from the Magic Missiles I fired at him, he remained untouched.
He looked at the two men on either side of him and signaled to the window that had been kicked open. “Kill the family.”
No!
“NO!” I tossed another dagger, hitting one of the thugs in the shoulder but he kept going. About five mercs standing between me and my house raised their weapons but they weren’t what stopped me.
Instead, my body seized up as an arrow from out of nowhere struck me in my lower back. The pain brought me to my knees and I felt a pulse across every muscle like a ripple effect from the arrow.
Poison, I recognized. I think it's paralysis—Crap!
A few mercenaries stepped forward to carve me up but Sgt. Marvis stood over me, letting out another blast of flames that burned at their flesh.
“You good?!” Marvis shouted at me.
“Y-Ye-Y-Y-Ye-Ye. Erraaaagh!” My jaw started locking up but I forced whatever muscles would cooperate to try and force myself back to my feet. I didn’t work with poisons but I knew enough to focus my body into fighting it off.
“Wait a second...You.” Marvis straightened up and stared at the leader as they put out the fire on his cloak. “I know you. You’re Blindshot. I worked with you once.”
“Iiiis. I-I-Is tha’ uh...Good thing?” I had to force every syllable out but I was at least standing and holding onto my daggers.
Marvis growled and readied his longsword as ‘Blindshot’ pulled out a greatsword larger than the usual sort. “No. It isn’t.”
The leader had a sick grin spread across his face. “Been a while since someone called me that. I see you’re doing well fer yerself. Glen.”
Sgt. Marvis narrowed his eyes. “I always hated that nickname. Sounds too human.”
“Weird insult, but what would I expect from you?” Blindshot shrugged. “Look, I’ll tell you the same thing I told yer men. We’re here ta kill the rich kids; no one else. So, fer old time’s, if ya leave now I’ll excuse yer little escapade. The other three still die, of course.”
A visceral scream was the last thing one of Blindshot’s men let out as the Madame twisted his neck the other direction with their bare hands. “Ohohohoho~ I’d like to see you try,” they taunted.
Following that, a loud Boooom followed by the trembling earth was Sai’s challenge as she reduced some lady to mush with a giant glowing hand. The two mercs beside their buddy looked on in mortified terror.
“What they said,” Marvis returned as he readied his stance. At the same time, those two thugs Blindshot commanded ripped the remaining boards off the window. One of them fell to the ground, twitching and convulsing with lightning.
“Joya?! Hurry up!” My sister’s voice screamed.
“Opal!” I cried, forcing my muscles to obey me as I tried looking for an opening from the mercs. “Why are they still inside?!”
Blindshot let out a loud, obnoxious scoff. “You really think we’d just crowd around the front door? Give us some credit here.”
He’s got people in the back. No. No, I gotta get in there! Or someone has to... ”Sai! Sai, teleport in the house! The kitchen!”
Blindshot glared Sai down, raising his hands to snap his fingers. “Oh no you do—” FwoooOOOOOOOMMM!
Immediately, every merc to our left was incinerated with another Fireball. Except, it didn’t come from the Madame or Sai that time.
Standing at the second story balcony and overlooking the street was Relli; my mom. She bared down at the mercenaries as her spellbook floated beside her. Both of them looked down at the scenes with disapproving expressions.
“Relliana, I believe you just put a target on your back,” Mom’s spellbook mused sourly. “Not the wisest plan.”
Mom ignored her book and stared at me. “Joya, the children! Fernol can’t hold off the men at the back door!”
Taking my chance, I forced my stiff legs to run, running my daggers across two of the mercs as they tried picking themselves back up from the most recent explosion. By now the number out here was reduced to twelve.
Seeing this, Blindshot grinded his teeth and brought up his hand again. “Enough a’ that!”
With a solid snap of his fingers, I saw a glint out of the corner of my eye. Across the street from a rooftop, I spotted a blink of light before a mangled-looking lance rocketed out like a ballista bolt.
However, it sailed faster than any ammo I had ever seen. It never lost height, nor did it change its angle. It flew in a perfectly straight line over everyone at street level. I saw where it was headed and screamed.
No one could stop it. The lance ran straight through Mom’s chest, throwing her back into the house as the entire outer wall was painted with her blood.
“MOM! NO!”
No longer able to see her, I fought through my fears and dove through the first-story window. The last mercenary was only halfway through the door as I springboard of his back, dissecting his nape as I went. I landed awkwardly on the floor, my arm punctured by a board’s exposed nail, but I pulled it free and ran for the stairs.
“Belay that!” I heard Marvis shout. “Sai! Get in the house! Madame, on me!” He was giving out commands to the others.
I dashed up the steps three at a time, clearing the whole space in a matter of seconds. Then, I ran into my parents bedroom.
The windows had blood and pieces of offal dripping down them but it hardly mattered. The force of that lance launched Mom through the balcony door as she now laid against the side of her bed. The lance went out her back, forcing her to sit at this awkward angle as she fought to keep her eyes open.
“Mom! Mom, oh dear Gods, Mom! Please! Please don’t—no. No, please Tymora, NOOO!”
I fell to one knee beside her, cupping her face in some vain attempt to have her look at me. “Mom, g-g-get up! Come on, please don’t. Not like thi—”
I felt something dull lightly bludgeon me in the back of the head. Out of instinct, I pulled my knife and turned to tear it to shreds but stopped just short as Mom’s spellbook floated weakly behind me.
“Heavens child, you nearly carved my leather with that. Take hold of yourself!” It’s voice was that of a pompous old man. Not something that made me feel any better.
“Gordon, do you have any idea what just happened?! I know you don’t care about us, but you can at least preten—”
“You think I do not care?” He asked. The tiny metal face printed on the front of the book shifted its expression to one of anguish. “Joya, dear. Relliana’s family and yours may not get along but that squabble never met my ears. I remained by your mother’s side. I cared about her as much as you. But I have seen death many times. I will see it again. It does not rattle me.”
I stared back at Mom. She was gone. She was barely here when I reached her. Her eyes were half closed and blood was leaking out of her abdomen.
I forced my tears down and took a couple shaking breaths before saying my goodbyes to her. Then I stood up and looked at Gordon. “H-How...H-H-How are you still moving? I thought M-Mom’s magic—”
“I will not be for long,” he told me. “The last of your mother’s magic will leave me before the hour is up. I will help your friends. As I do, I trust you will reach your children?”
I gave him a nod and watched as the spellbook slowly floated back out the balcony before letting loose an orb of spiraling smoke. Dry groans of pain followed by the sound of bodies falling to the ground.
“Oh great, what’re you?!” Marvis barked.
“Your ally, dragonborn,” Gordon returned.
I ignored them after that and ran again. Except, rather than head for the stairs, I cut across the hall and into mine and Boros’s room. Wiping the tears and blood from my face, I tore open the top dresser drawer to reach the underside where a false bottom of plywood was waiting.
I peeled it off like a sticker and was hit with the pungent smell of brimstone as I threw Boros’s mustard yellow cape over myself. As I did, the arcane words hit my head and I quickly repeated them aloud.
In that moment, the bedroom was coated in thick smoke before I vanished and reappeared outside in a moment, at the back of the house where I immediately heard steel meet steel.
Ahead of me, trying their best, was my sister Opal and her husband Fernol fighting off four armed thugs. There were another two as well but they stood in a daze thanks to Sai’s magic after she teleported in.
However, standing behind them all was Platick. He was doing his best to hide behind the door frame as Moneta was now freely crying in his arms. Opal’s Suggestion spell was faded on her now.
“Joya!” Opal cried out, watching as I stood there, daggers drawn and drenched in blood. “Uhhh, what happened to you?!”
‘They got Mom,’ is what I wanted to say but didn’t. Not when Platick was right behind her. So instead, “Platick, honey? Mommy’s gonna need you to look away, okay? This will only take a second.”
Fernol, wearing an old set of Boros’s leather armor, tossed his sword at his attacker and focused on blocking with his shield. The merc stumbled in place as the sword miraculously cut into their shoulder, distracting them. Still, a different one moved in and went for an attack.
I ran forward, throwing one dagger at a lady’s jugular before she could turn towards me, and pounced on the man attacking Fernol. I latched onto his back, I dragged my knife across him like a brush until a fanciful ‘F’ was carved along his skin. Then, as the cuts ignited in flames I stabbed against the base of his neck and let him fall to the ground below me.
As his blood coated my armor, I lulled my head to the side and stared blankly at the final brute to my right while blood fell from my cheeks.
“You scared my son,” I said, playing up the act as their eyes went wide.
As if adding to the performance, a fifth merc I hadn’t noticed tried coming at me from behind. She made it about three steps before suddenly seizing in pain as she was electrocuted by my sister. They yelled in this stuttering voice until I twirled the flame dagger around to a reverse grip and swung behind me where I heard her voice.
I severed her vocal cords like a mad barber as flames emitted from his mouth and painted my mustard cape with ketchup. As Opal saw this, she ended the spell and gave out a sickened groan.
“For the love of Tymora’s Lucky Coin, what is wrong with you Joya?!” Opal cried at me.
“This is actually sorta tame,” Sai defended me. “You should’ve seen her when we fought trolls. Did you know troll limbs move on their own?”
I furrowed my brow and gave Sai a disapproving stare. “You could’ve gone without that part, Sai!” Thank the gods I had blood all over my face, otherwise they would see me blushing.
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Fernol mumbled as he hid his face behind his shield.
Just then, a voice came in from the back of my mind. Gordon’s. ‘Joya, their leader just escaped through your window. He’s coming.’
Not bothering to respond. I pushed myself past Opal and Sai and to our back door. The one merc Fernol hit shook his arm while taking a swing at me with the other. He cut into my thigh but about that point I had plenty of momentum to make it indoors.
The others looked confused but when they heard the heavy boots marching down the hall, Sai and Opal left Fernol with the last attacker out back.
Blindshot stormed at us. His greatsword was gone and instead, in his hand was a wood carved spear. It was almost tribal.
He looked between each of us. Me, Sai, Opal, Fernol in the back, and then easily the weakest prey of us all; Platick, with Moneta in his arms.
Seeing them, he clicked his tongue. “Guess I’ll get them over with. Sorry,” he tossed without remorse as he pulled back his arm and launched the spear; snapping his fingers as he did.
Like the lance, the whittled stick fired with inhuman speed. Platick stared like a deer in the headlights, clutching his sister tightly as Opal and Sai dove to take the hit. But they weren’t fast enough.
Without time, I slid in Platick’s way and used myself like a human shield like Marvis had done for me. But with no shield, the spear was free to pierce my side.
I felt my hip bone break as I was taken off my feet by the force of it. There was no way that a human man just threw that spear. I’ve seen—felt—spears hit me before. They were never like this.
To make it worse, the spear had a bit of a spin to it that had it drilling further into my abdomen before getting caught on some form of sinew. I hit the floor in front of Platick, nearly knocking him over as I writhed and twisted in pain.
Several of the others screamed my name as I screamed syllables. I couldn’t focus on anything and I couldn’t hear anything over the beating of my heart in my ears. But what terrified me the most was that I couldn’t hear Moneta crying anymore. It made my brain go into overdrive as I fought to shake off the misery and pain.
It took all my will to look up and spot Blindshot still marching down the hall as he tore a picture frame from the wall.
“SAI!” I screamed, only barely hearing myself. “THE KIDS! GET ‘EM OUT!”
Sai did exactly that. She ran over and knelt down, taking what I assumed was Moneta our of Platick’s arms. I heard her shout...something to Opal and the last thing I could see was Blindshot about to break into a run before Sai cast Dimension Door, getting Moneta out of there.
When the spear hit me, I felt it exit partially out my back. I wasn’t sure if it reached the kids or not. It might have when I stumbled back.
In a rage, Blindshot tossed the picture frame into the air and snapped his finger again. This time, without any reason behind it, the picture frame sailed at Platick like a demonic frisbee.
With all the strength I had, I forced my legs under me and jumped, catching the frame with my jaw as I felt the wood and glass shatter my jaw. My own blood flooded my mouth as a handful of shards threatened to rend my neck apart as I hit the ground in a thud. I couldn’t see out of one of my eyes anymore and my broken teeth were stabbing the inside of my throat.
Everything sounded muffled. I felt Platick trying to pick my head up off the ground but all it did was push the glass in deeper. I think I heard crying while Platick tried to pull the glass out of my face. With my one good eye, I saw one of his fingers get cut.
Opal stood beside me, firing a burst of flames down the hallway in an attempt to stop Blindshot but all he did was flinch for a couple seconds as the wooden walls and ceiling caught fire.
‘Get out! Opal, take Platick and go!’ I tried speaking but my jaw wouldn’t move anymore. I tried pawing at the air towards my older sister, making a shooing motion when I tried sitting up.
“MOM! MOM, G-GET UP! YOU GOTTA GE—NO!” Platick was screaming in my face. My good eye was starting to swell as he tried thrashing out of Opal’s arms.
I had no idea if Fernol and Opal could handle the two guards still out back. I didn’t even know if Fernol was alive anymore. Just that Platick was further away from Blindshot and the man did not look happy about that.
He also didn’t look happy about the flame dagger I tossed into his pectoral.
He took it and then raged in shock as flames erupted from his chest. I was given that dagger back when I was traveling around with my husband and friends. The guy I got it from said it was like delivering a mini-fireball unto whoever was struck from it.
Blindshot still took it like a champ, however. And when the ‘mini-fireball’ was done, he tore it out and turned it around in his hands.
He said something probably really cliché and pointed the knife at me from four feet away. He kept talking, not that I could hear anymore. I didn’t care either. I was just smiling through the blood. That monster nearly killed my kids and I stopped him.
I saved the day. I’m still a hero.
He twirled the dagger in his fingers for a moment in a flourish. As he did, I used whatever strength I had left to spit a mouthful of blood at him. It landed on his boot.
Blindshot shook his head, chuckling to himself as he said a few more words. Not interested, I gave him a ‘hurry up’ motion and sat back. I was losing consciousness and no torture this guy could do would make it any more terrible than pretending to hear this guy monologue.
The guy gave me that much mercy. He stopped talking, gave a mock salute, and then snapped his fingers again. My knife lau—
Applejack’s POV
The Void
I watched the dagger shot out of Blindshot’s hand and into the center of Joya’s face. Dead in an instant.
Darkly, I started turning my focus away from the scene but the magic took that as a sign to finish off the act without me. So, I was forced to watch as Blindshot moved without my control. He stepped up to Joya, pulled the dagger out of her face, and then looked out the doorway as Opal ran deeper into the alleys with Fernol draped over her shoulder.
You can’t let me stop now, can you? I thought to myself.
Up until now, I was running this whole tragedy and I hated every moment of it. I probably made a bunch of Platick’s family really strong, or really weak, or maybe the whole thing didn’t make sense in Story’s world. After all, I only played for three days by this point.
So, did I care if it was realistic or interesting? No. I never cared. I did what I had to out of respect for what Platick wanted. Now the magic was doing its best to clear up the loose ends.
Platick forced his arm out of Opal’s grip partway down the alley and dared to look back at his house. He saw Blindshot, standing over Joya’s mangled corpse as fire crept up behind him.
And as Blindshot looked up at Platick, the boy’s heart sank as he took off like a dog after cats. His aunt was so distraught getting her husband to a doctor’s that she left without Platick. So, Platick unfortunately took a wrong turn into a labyrinth of alleyways.
Blindshot let the boy run. Especially when he heard the heavy steps of an Aura Guard approaching from within the manor.
“Blindshot!” Sgt. Marvis roared, standing in the flames of the house with his sword ready. Story said dragonborns like him didn’t get burned easily. “On your knees! NOW!”
A huge part of me wanted to make Blindshot surrender. To have him realize all the horror he just put kid Platick through. But I couldn’t. The magic wouldn’t let me. I had already set up the kind of monster Blindshot was. He was almost as much his own person as Platick was. And the magic forced everything to be believable.
But I didn’t want to sit through anymore death. I was so done with this and I just wanted out. Except, the only way to get what I wanted was by playing my part like a good little director.
Sunset, you got no idea how much I hate duna-dance—err, no. Duna...Whatever it’s called! I hate this so much.
After a second, I forced the darkest part of my imagination to play out the moment. It was disturbing how easy that was. Like I was born to do it.
“Not gonna happen, Glen,” Blindshot told him. Then, with one hand, he grabbed Joya by the neck and threw her body at the dragonborn’s clawed feet. “Nearly all my men are dead and I couldn’t finish the job. You take me in, I’ll be dead by the end of the week.”
Marvis narrowed his eyes. “Who’s they?”
Blindshot shook his head. “No. But what’s it gonna be Glen? You gonna chase me down and let people believe the Fortunas mass murdered a buncha protesters? Or will ya stay and clean up her mess?”
I let the two standoff as the fire spread around them. I was able to kind of ‘fast forward’ to the part where Marvis pulled Joya’s body over his shoulder while Blindshot laughed him off.
From there, the two left out of different exits, Blindshot into the back alleys and Marvis out the front after disabling the Immovable Rod. Story told me about that thing. He helped with parts I couldn’t figure out.
As Marvis opened the front door, he stared out at the corpses either burned or cut to ribbons. Madame Kiirnodel was long gone already. And the magic book that came to help used the last of its magic warning Joya about Blindshot. It was lying lifeless in one of the many bloodpools.
Marvis bent down and picked it up just as guard patrols finally came rolling in. They were responding to the sound and flashes of Fireballs and a burning building.
“ABOUT TIME!” Marvis roared as I had him repeat my exact thoughts. “Cordon off the street and alert the fire watch! I want as much of this building saved as possible! And alert the city entrances! The instigator is fleeing on foot! He’s a human male in his early forties! Willen, A.K.A. Blindshot! Capable of magic! I repeat! Magic! Proceed with caution! Do not engage alone!”
The guards scrambled to obey every order but one in particular ran up to the Sergeant. It was the second in command of the guard patrol that was supposed to be watching the Fortuna Manor.
Duncan, I decided, as I let my frustrations out through Marvis.
“Sir!” Duncan began, standing up straight and giving Marvis a salute. His expression was more vacant than it should have been for the tragedy he was staring at. “Sgt. Marvis, I’m sorry! They convinced all the men to leave for one thing or another! And when they swung at Tristen I. I-I—Arrgh!”
With one arm keeping Joya on his back, Marvis used the other to grab at Duncan’s neck and pull him so close the soot and ash pouring from the Sergeant’s maw clouded his subordinates face.
“Tristen. IS DEAD IN AN ALLEY! YOU LEFT YOUR CAPTAIN TO DIE!” Marvis spiked Duncan to the blood-slick cobblestone. “And If you had any honor, you’d of stood your ground and died right there with him!”
Duncan dragged his elbows under him, observing how his arms and hands were now drenched in the blood of over forty casualties. But rather than reflect on it, the malice started to build in his eyes as his hands curled into fists. “Sir. I wasn’t gonna do that.”
Marvis and I both had our senses leave us for a moment. I didn’t do that, I noticed. The magic did it. It was controlling Duncan.
I could feel my control over the scene fading away. I didn’t have this odd omniscience over everything like I did until now. I could only see everything around Duncan and Sgt. Marvis.
“What did you just say,” Marvis demanded shortly.
Duncan took a breath and began standing up, turning to glare back at the massive dragonborn ahead of him. “I wasn’t going to, sir. I got a family. I gotta son. You wanted me to stand watch here, fine. That’s my duty. But I didn’t become a city guard just to protect a bunch of crooks in a fancy house! I became a guard to stop criminals, not sacrifice my life for them!”
...Oh, that ain’t gonna fly, I decided.
Acting on my anger, Marvis grabbed at Duncan’s chestplate and pulled him in close. “You think being a father makes you special? That you’re the only one with a kid?! There were children in that house! Innocent, young children! One of them was a baby! You think SHE’s a crook?! You think her life matters any less than your son’s?! You left those children to be slaughtered! And the killer got away!”
Marvis let go of Duncan’s armor and adjusted Joya on his back so her body wouldn’t fall off. “You see this woman, Duncan? Her mother sacrificed herself for her daughter. And then she sacrificed herself for her children. If that murderer gets his way, they’ll be dead for nothing!”
Duncan gave the dragonborn a dark look as Marvis stared back with the fury of the drill sergeant that he was. “Duncan Crow, you’ll be stripped of your rank before daylight. But before you are, I’m giving you two choices. You can finish your job tonight, go home, and tell that son of yours how you nearly let someone else’s kid die. OR. I have you dragged to the Iron Hill, right beside the Fortuna cell. And you can tell them as you rot beside them. What’ll it be?”
Duncan stared back at his ex-commander’s face. Without remorse, without regret, his expression twisted into pure hatred. “You think I was the only one? Tristen hated those Fortunas too. The only reason he stayed was ‘cause of your order. You! You’re the reason he died! And all you care about are the criminals!”
Reaching for his shoulder, Duncan stripped the Aura Guard symbol off his shoulder and tossed it into the blood. “He died for the Guard. Not criminals. And if this is what the Guard really are, well...I quit!”
Duncan stormed off as Marvis growled. The dragonborn bared his teeth and looked over to the closest set of real Aura Guard near him. “You two! Apprehend Duncan Crow! For insubordination, assisted murder, and treason! He will be tried in the courts of Agix!”
Hearing that, Duncan’s bravado broke as he ran, but he didn’t get far. Several Aura Guard tackled him to the ground and manacled his screaming form to a nearby lamppost where he would watch as the rest of the Guard did their jobs.
The firemen Marvis called for soon arrived and put out the fires before it reached any structural part of the building. Thankfully, they were in time to keep it from spreading onto the second level.
They brought Relliana’s body out not long after, setting her down beside the body of her daughter, Joya Fortuna. The two of them, plus all the mercenary bodies, made the death count well over forty people.
As the two of them were left alone, Sgt. Marvis bowed his head in respect and got to work like everyone else. After that, I began losing control over everything. Even Marvis fell out of control from me.
But I was fine with that. And when the scene became blurry and faded into the void of space with all the other memories I made before this, I felt myself take a breath. Then I felt my eyes close.
The bloodbath I had created was stuck to my mind like a fly in a field of yellow tape. I guess the game finally took pity on me too because, without proper warning, I was back in the game room in my family’s barn.
The magic was done with me. I finished what I set out to do and I felt terrible for it. With no help from the girls, my mind came up with everything. I wasn’t a violent person. At least, I didn’t think I was.
I felt dirty at how perfect I made it fall into place. At how well I started inventing all of this. The second I got used to the void, I was out like a shot. Is this what Rainbow felt with Ravathyra? Was this what Sunset and Twilight felt like as those demon versions of themselves? To have all these messed up thoughts and somehow feel proud of it?
Story acknowledged me when I woke up. He gave me this sad look as he took what I had created in stride. He was definitely rattled but not like I was. Probably because, to him, it was like watching a film I wrote.
Sunset was still out of it by this point but Story assured me she was wrapping up too. She was giving Stostine some happy memories after her own tragedy.
A good idea, I thought to myself. Maybe once I get my wits about me, I might go...wait...
Flashes of that massacre played out all over again like a tape real. It took shaking my head to make it stop.
I hated that. All of it! I never wanna do that again—Why am I already thinking about going back?! No way am I...
I gave one last shake of my head, confusing Story, as forced that thought away. No! I’m not going back. Not for a long while, at least. I’m sorry, Platick. I just hope I kept you as yourself. I hope I kept my promise.
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Big Oof, for both Platick and Stostine. Those are some hefty backstories.
Another excellent chapter, and oof, hope she does give him SOME good memories.
Oh, wow that was brutal. I feel bad for Platick and AJ. Still, I’d almost exactly what he asked for…
Frog
11176420
There were good memories in there too. Applejack built up Platick's family members before forcing herself to fill in the moment that made Platick who he was.
11177288
I can understand why that would be frustrating. With all the friends and ways Pinkie would know how to have fun, it would make sense for her to have known about D&D before. In hindsight, that might have been something I could have taken into account a little better. My apologies.
11176894
I just realized; you went back to a bunch of previous chapters. I know this story suffers from long chapters, so you have my respect and appreciation! Thank you so much!
Okay! I just finished reading this again! Now I believe that the second group needs to play their game, so we can see whether or not the magic spreads, and then the group storms the hideout and levels up to Level 3!
If I'm going to be completely honest, I really hope the magic doesn't spread. The girls already have a lot on their plates with their own game and characters, and Story really doesn't deserve that sort of weight on his shoulders.
Also, if I've guessed the subclasses right, and based off the details from earlier, we have at least 6 D&D books: core three, Xanathar's Guide, Tasha's Cauldron and Lost Mine. That's a lot of Ranger options! Maybe Vareèn's a Gloomstalker....?
Edit: And based off Platick's Background, the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide as well!