Dark Alliance: A Kirin's Tale

by Blackdrag-rose

Baldur's Redux: Plane of Air

Once Rain and her friends were done chatting about what they had done, and some even suggested that there was no way for some of the others to have completed their special quests, all in good fun she realized, Jherek approached them, which told everyone that it was time to get down to business.

"As you no doubt know by now, Randalla, Omduil, Rain and I are members of the Harpers," Jherek stated, as he suspected that one or two of them might have forgotten that piece of information, so he was covering old information before adding new bits for everyone to understand the situation they were being hired to join again, "and we, along with the rest of our order, have dedicated our lives to the safety of the Realms and the people who calls this land home... some of us work like this, finding adventurers like you to hire for a number of jobs, while others, like Rain, will head out to deal with the various dangers directly. We seek to protect the Realms when they cannot protect themselves, something you have proven to be quite well at, and you have done us a service by recovering the four artifacts... however, with them in hand, it's time that I told you about the threat of the Onyx Tower."

"You mean Eldrith's tower, which crumbled when Rain and her friends slew the Betrayer?" Borador inquired, because after everything that they had been told so far he assumed that the tower was no longer something for anyone to worry about, though now it looked like they would have to reevaluate what was going on.

"Indeed I do, but the tower is more than that: it is, in fact, a massive gate, a powerful construct that can move anywhere in Faerun with each new moon," Jherek said, something that made Rain wonder why Eldritch hadn't done so when she was in control of the tower, since she was sure that she had spent a lot of time building her army, but decided that it wasn't worth worrying about at this point in time, "and, thanks to the efforts of Rain and her friends, we learned about how one could forge gateways made out of onyx that linked two points of the world together... it was how Eldrith planned to bring about the end of Baldur's Gate, using the Onyx Gates to move her army in right under our nose."

"So the Zhentarim are seeking to use it's power to spread their influence, right?" Vhaidra remarked, which made sense as she thought about it, because the traits that came with such a structure seemed interesting and worth collecting, though at the same time she knew that some of her companions would seek the tower's destruction.

"Yes, which we cannot allow. The Harpers must claim it, either to seal it or destroy it." Jherek stated, as crippling the vast network of the Zhentarim would help keep the lands safe for some time, even though he knew they would come back into power with a new plan in no time at all, they were annoying like that, before he focused on the heroes once more as they listened to the information he was sharing with them, "This is why we sought four special artifacts to serve as Elemental Keys, so we could reactivate the tower's four Elemental Foundations, restoring it's physical form so we can send you in to either seal it... or destroy it. We're positive that Rain holds the key to doing so, the very blade that she pulled from it back when she fought Eldrith with her friends, so we just need to restore it long enough for her to do her job."

As Jherek went on to explain that the cause was just, the rewards would be staggering, and that the tale would be one of legends, all of which Rain knew would interest her friends greatly, she could see that all of them were going to take down the Zhentarim and stay by her side, causing them to smile as they informed Jherek that they'd help him.

"Excellent. Now, Omduil's magic can take you to any of the four Elemental Planes, so I'll leave the decision to you as to which one you want to take on first." Jherek said, though he was pleased with this piece of information, because while he knew that he could trust of Rain to do all four tasks on her own, and maybe in record time, having the heroes meant that whatever guards the Zhentarim had selected were doomed no matter what.

Rain focused on her friends for a moment as they briefly discussed which Elemental Plane to tackle first, where she found that they were thinking about the Plane of Air first, causing Jherek to nod as he handed over the Orb of Thunder, which she tucked away for safe keeping. With the decision made Omduil called forth his power for a few moments, allowing him to focus on moving them from this Plane to the one of their choosing, and it wasn't long before they disappeared from the manor that they had gathered in while he worked. When the world around them reformed, as in Rain and her friends had been dropped in the outskirts of the area that happened to contain the Air Foundation, everyone found that the ground was made up of sections of earth that had been brought together by the very power of the structure they were after, with no railings to speak of. As such it meant all of them had to be careful, since falling off the edge would result in a death that was very painful, though Rain reminded her friends of the blessing she had gotten when they recovered the Oceanic Urn, so she should be able to catch them if something happened.

"Everyone alright?" Rain asked, because she wanted to make sure the others were fine after teleporting to a new area, as she and her first group of friends had gotten used to it rather quickly, while making note of the fact that parts of the area were already full of holes, more hazards they had to deal with, especially since they appeared to be high in the air and had some strong wind to deal with.

"We're fine. Let's find that Foundation." Allessia stated, though at the same time she and the others readied their gear as Rain started to walk away from the dead end they had been teleported to, which seemed to be the edge of the Plane, as there was no telling where their target was located or how long it would take to find it.

This time around it was only Rain and her friends, as Shadow was resting with Jherek and Omduil, as they had told her the Planes would be too dangerous for the displacer beast, or maybe it was to make sure her focus was on their objective and not having to divert her attention every now and then to make sure she was safe. Rain was fine with this, as this was far more important than what she and the others had done during her first adventure, so it allowed her to focus on the area that was around them, where it was easy to find floating rocks that, when broken, dropped some gemstones that were swiftly claimed by Borador. Everyone agreed that this place seemed to be a rather peaceful Plane, save for the occasional ball of lightning that floated around the area, which Ysuran took down with ease thanks to his newfound powers, but, at the same time, they kept their guards up. There were also beings that took the form of dust devils that tried to attack the group, where Rain discovered that the enchanted weapons that her friends possessed, giving them more power to keep themselves alive, allowed them to smash their enemies apart with ease.

Rain quickly found that this time around her friends didn't need her to step in and help them, rather they had grown into their various roles by completing their personal quests, something that caused her to smile as she glanced out at the rest of the Plane of Air. She noted that it looked like they were above the clouds, once more making her wonder if the force of the Foundation had pulled pieces of earth out of the ground and brought it up here to form a path in case someone came to access the structure that was connected to the Onyx Tower. While they walked she imagined that the Planes of Fire and Water would be far more dangerous than this one, especially the former once Rain remembered the fact that a dragon was guarding the Fire Foundation, thanks to the conversation that they had overheard, and knew that it was only a matter of time until she was proven right or wrong. Her friends, however, tore through the balls of lightning and the dust devils in no time at all, allowing them to make excellent time in getting through the rest of the section of the Plane of Air as Rain felt the draw of the Air Foundation, allowing her to direct them to a large area.

As they walked into the area, however, a decent sized creature flew down and Rain found that it seemed to be a winged lion of some kind, a manticore according to Allessia, and on it's back rested a short bald figure who seemed to be a mage, likely the Guardian they were here to kill.

"Tremble in fear, adventurers, for you now face the terrifying might of the all powerful Habdazar Doomwing, skymage of the Zhentarim!" the figure stated as his steed landed in front of them, confirming that he worked for the organization that the Harpers opposed, though at the same time Rain found that he sounded arrogant, before glancing behind him at an obelisk that radiated elemental energy, the Air Foundation she realized, "You many now pray to whatever deities you worship, for whatever protection you think they can offer you, but know that it will not matter: you will die here, by my hand."

Rain found that she really didn't have to do anything this time around, as Dorn leapt at the manticore before it could move back into the air and severed one of it's wings with his axe, causing Habdazar to curse them as he raised blasts of ice down on them, though it was purely his fault this had happened. Had he remained in the air Rain knew that it would have been a far more impressive battle, but his arrogance seemed to be his undoing since he seemed to be making some questionable decisions after seeing Dorn harm his steed like that. He kept attacking the heroes as some black guards, the same that had come for the Orb of Thunder, rushed in to join the fight, though they failed to do anything as Vhaidra crushed their chests with a powerful punch and kick that slipped through their defenses. Ysuran and Borador used their ranged attacks to bring down the manticore, allowing Allessia to finishing it off since she had been careful not to let it bite her, though as the beast died Habdazar decided it was time to flee, where Rain caught him with her magic and removed his head, as he wasn't worth trying to fight for real.

With that done she turned towards the Air Foundation and pulled out the Orb of Thunder, where the artifact glowed before turning into energy that struck the obelisk, causing it to glow in turn, allowing them to see that one Foundation had been activated, causing everyone to smile as they were pulled back to Baldur's Gate so they could pick another Plane and see what sort of dangers might be waiting for them this time.

Comments

[Night_Moon60606]

I think, I will not be seeking out these games as they seem far to easy to beat, even taking Rains OP staus into account, most of these fights have been a joke...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11584829 You have to remember that Rain's traveling with all the characters in both games, which means you have more fighters than what the players are supposed to have, four for the first and six for the second. It's bound to be easier with a full party of heroes.

[Night_Moon60606]

11584894
Yes, but you, yourself, have oft commented on how most of these fights in game are a joke, I took Rain being there and her being completely OP into account when I made the determination. In fact, it was a common problem for games of that nature back in the day...if your numbers were high enough, you were literally invincible, no way to possibly lose...also, web sites with cheat codes were VERY popular during that time...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11584899 Yes, cheat codes were accessible back in the day, but they aren't part of the story. Rain's presence has allowed them to overcome the hardest bosses of the two games... for example you literally cannot beat Eldrith until you get the onyx blade, as she'll kill you before you try to end her with normal means, so Rain opened the way to win a nearly unwinnable battle.