(Vax’ildan)LoVM: A Dead Gnome’s Guard

(Excerpt from second half of episode 83, location: inner sanctum of Thordak’s old lair, lovingly known as undead horror cavern k thanks bai)
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“FIX HIM!” Grog’s eyes misted over his mounting fury, shaking my shoulders while I held Scanlan’s cold small frame in my arms.

My throat caught. A soft, “I can’t” escaped me, just as my gaze shifted from the material plane. I felt it. Saw it. The Raven Queen stood beside Grog, her pale hand out, palm up.

/My Champion…/

I shook my head, my gaze pulling back to the physical around me. I could hear Allura and Kima trying to explain to Grog Why none of us- not even Pike could resurrect him- were being blocked.

“It’s this goddamn place!” I heard exclaimed, but I couldn’t focus. My heart ached.

“They brought back Percy Just FINE!” Grog bellowed back, “Why?!-“

I could feel something dark with what little paladin divine sense I had left, blocking directly on Scanlan’s form. But I could also sense his soul lingering just outside of him. A golden thread, frayed and loose, like broken spider silk ripped prematurely from his chest. I held him tighter to me.

Everyone else moved quickly about me, making plans to destroy this disturbing sanctum of undeath. Percival and Grog shoveling potentially dangerous items from the remaining shelves into the bag of holding. Keyleth forced Raishan’s body to complete its soul curse of Mallora, an odd finality that felt right amid all this wrong.

I stood, unfocused, closed off, unable to think.

Before long, all else was done. I wasn’t certain who at the time, but I felt the friendly shepherding to gather at Allura’s side to teleport out.

“We will get him to a temple, I’m sure we can get him back as long as we get him there soon-“ Pike’s calming assurances to Grog grew cold when Allura’s teleportation failed around us.

A cold chill of winter hit my spine. Every sense in me sharpened to her presence next to me.

/Vax’ildan…dearest Champion. You need to let go./

My jaw clenched, my face scrunched as I stared at my feet. Usually when she would visit me like this, I felt free to speak out loud. But right now was not that time. My friends needed me to stay steady. I needed them to solve our escape. If I spoke now, I would distract them. I refused to look the Raven Queen in the eye, my grip on Scanlan’s body tightened. Kerreg and Grog kept close pace to me, making sure that Scanlan would not be left in this forsaken crypt.

/Vax, I cannot shepherd him when you’ve wrapped your thread so tightly to his…/ her voice- it… it reminded me of my mother. A calm sorrowful ache of a voice. The sound and feel of one who wished not to cause more suffering.

Everyone was now distracted with clearing out back the way we came. I hung back, unable to fight the few flying furies that cackled ahead.

/Dearest Vax’ildan- / she beseeched me once more.

“No.” I whispered, now alone. My heart and soul knew it isn’t wise to go against one’s matron like this, yet, I still refused. “He’s not done. Punish me if you must, but He is Not Done.” I said, quiet but firm, my eyes now on her. “If it were not for this curse from your sworn nemesis, he would be breathing.”

I could see it now. The frayed thread woven into mine. That final tether that kept my friend’s unknowing soul close to me was protected with my own life. The Raven Queen had every right to him. As her Champion, I was meant to obey. She had every right to cut me down where I stood for this infraction.

She recoiled her hand.

“Brother, hurry! The way is clear!” Vex’ahlia called at the bottom of the stairwell ahead.

/Once again, fate-touched, you surprise me./ Her tone was of soft intrigue. I walked through her projected form to rejoin my sister, the Raven Queen’s final whispers to my ear as I walked.

/I will allow you to hold him for now./

My emotions were already raw. To hear this blessing? My face was a wreck of tears. It was not a promise for his return. It was not a pledge for a punishment either. I was uncertain what path this led to, holding so desperately as I was, but I knew I wasn’t ready to let go.

The cracks of sunlight at the end of the cavern felt like crossing the threshold of a planar shift, so drastic were the welcomed rays from such hellish undeath. I adjusted my hold on Scanlan, the fresh air cleared the musk but painted my reality of how awful the two of us smelled.

“Ok, we are Out!” Kima cried out in relief, her plate armored shoulders relaxed for the first time since we arrived. “We Got to get back somewhere safer. This place is awful.”

“Preferably someplace with a temple-“ Pike agreed with a gentle reminder. “Our keep has a sigil that’s still standing. And has my shrine to Sarenrae. Might be a few bottles of ale too-“

I gave a soft warm chuckle. Seeing Pike planning ahead so many steps. “It’s for your sake, dumbass…” I muttered, hoping Scanlan’s soul could somehow hear me. Not that he ever really bothered listening to me when he breathed- I bit my lip and took a stabilizing breath. My face washed with tears, finally, it really hit me. All of us really do drive our poor cleric to drink, don’t we?

Allura set up her teleportation circle, “To your keep then.” Opened, and she stepped through. Kima instinctively went to join but halted when the spell gave off jumpy sparks.

“Shit- something’s wrong-“ she stared at the jumping energy, like hiccups of sparks, but the spell was waning, and Allura had already gone through. “Shit! Fuckit!” Kima rushed in after her.

“No- Kima wait, WHAT DO YOU MEAN???” Keyleth panicked and tried to reach out to stop her. The portal closed.

All of us panicked. But we are Survivors. We knew we could rely on each other’s instincts. Vex tossed the Flying tapestry to Keyleth. “You, SCRY! Percy?” Vex nodded to Kiki and the tapestry.

“Of course! Get on!” Percival unraveled the roll, activated it and manned its piloting. It was big enough to fit him, Kiki, and the majority of the rest of us. Vex took her broom and Pike.

“Fly us to the largest tree at the beach.” Keyleth suggested, prepping her scry while Kerr and Grog kept all of us steady. Percival flew us like a race, we didn’t know what else we Could do. Allura and Kima could have come out Anywhere.

“We need a new plan.” I heard Pike shake loose, holding on to Vex. “We got to make sure they’re okay- that they get help if they’re not-“ her voice was growing faster.

“One crisis at a time,” Percival tried to keep his voice slow and level, but I could tell how much it shook. “We Will Help All our Friends.” His determination stood a beacon to all of us.

We came to the beach just as Keyleth pulled from her scry. “This isn’t good- I- I don’t know where they are- they’re trapped in the middle of Ocean!”

I felt myself shaking. Perhaps the panic of all of this was overwhelming me? All I knew was Allura had used all of the few spells she had. And Kima? A small being like her in Plate Armor- trapped to swim?

I couldn’t focus on what the others were saying, not when every ounce of me pleaded for my wings to return. I tried, beseeched in my mind, but to no avail, the wings were spent. My eyes focused again around me, catching Vex and her broom. She nodded, understanding. Vex heard Kiki call out and point suddenly to the horizon, and she took off.

Kerreg took a deep breath and let out a soft drained sigh. “I really didn’t want it to come to this… Keyleth…” the paladin placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, his next words cut through my haze. “Sometimes, we must learn to let go.”

My heart ached, my eyes stared past the middle horizon, my grip around Scanlan and the back of his cold head. Kerr’s ‘pep talk’ continued while Kiki broke down in his arms. “It happens. There are times when we lose our allies and cannot return them for their families.”

I slowly looked down in my arms. Cold and broken. I tried to force my sight to see it again- fate threads. My vision blurred with hot tears. Grog started to pace a path into the sand, left with no way to help anyone.

“Fuck it.” Percival snapped, pulled the Tapestry back to attention with just himself on it, and rushed after Vex’ahlia.

‘Is it supposed to be like this?’ I, instead, turned my thoughts..to my Matron, asking in silence. ‘How do I say..goodbye, when it is like this?’

Call it an answer, call it a blessing of mercy, call it fate. Whatever and whoever had answered all of our broken prayers to see Percival and Vex returning with Allura and Kima alive. Found. I could see the shock in Kerr’s eyes. A full grown man shook in his beliefs. I think I will thank Fate personally.

/You have such a connection to these threads around you, Fate-touched. And They connect equally in turn. There indeed Is still Much to be Done on Both sides./

A chill of winter cut through my armored shoulder in the shape of a slender hand. My body flooded with a rush of instinctual fear as I remembered my original deal to save Vex back in the sunken tomb. How long? How long can I keep the goddess of death waiting? ‘I’m not done here, either.’

“Vax!” Keyleth called to me, “Snap out of it! Get IN.” She held the side of the tree like a gate, the other side was of Whitestone and the dimming ends of twilight. I rushed through, feeling Keyleth step close behind me just as the spell closed. “Please, Vax…” she hugged me from behind, a faint whisper.

I looked behind me, greeted with her being whole. With the day we have had, it would have been impossible not to imagine the worst. “I’m sorry, I’ll try to focus better.” I held her hand with the same arm I bolstered Scanlan with. “The worst is over now. I’m going to go…uh… clean him up…for whatever is next.” I took a shaky breath to calm down. The thought of being alone in the ramshackle temple to my Matron after such a blatant infraction frightened me. “Will you go with me?” It came out quieter and more fearful than I intended to show.

Keyleth sniffed back a fresh threatening sob. “Sure.”

“Me too.”

We both looked at Grog, still smeared in battle gore. His eyes stared hard at our precious cargo. With a soft smile to him, I gave a quiet nod.

“What…is that stench….?” Kiki gagged a bit, leaning away. I walked to the temple a bit faster to give her breathing room.

“Oh. That lovely aroma?” Grog asked too genuinely for me to take it seriously. But honestly..what do I expect? This goddamn armor smelled even before hoisting a questionably soaked gnome through an equally questionable cavern.

I tried hard to just keep on one task at a time. One foot in front of the other. Just go in. The Raven Queen wasn’t someone who’d collect me with company around, was she? I couldn’t keep dwelling on that. Not right now. I had to set that for later. Right now, the one little man who kept me from being my own end for so many years needed me to return the favor.

I may be the Champion to the Goddess of Death, but right now, I was the Guard of Scanlan Shorthalt: Bravest Gnome to ever live.