Friends Before the Fire

Friends Before the Fire is the 48th Chapter in the SKT Saga.

## Short Summary

The wayfarers help around town, and find out more about each other.

## Characters

* The Wayfarer's Guild
	+ Almond
	+ Benedikt
	+ Lox
	+ HD
	+ Yen
	+ Alice
	+ Fenris

* The Wingdings
	+ Gon
	+ Weed
	+ Old Him
	+ LG
* Laeral Silverhand
* Dagmaer Suljack
* The Phandelver Phive
	+ Arthas
	+ Chadwick
	+ Junior
	+ Abu
	+ Marc
	+ Sildar
* Cassian Claude

## Timestamps from Recording

pt. 1

00:04:08 – After the fight with Hyperion, Yen informs the PP that TWG took down the titan, and flies off to help civilians. Ben heads off to find LG and the Wingdings. Lox and Gon find corpses scattered near the ruins of the HoJ. There, they find a knight and two kids stuck under the rubble and save them. Ben goes to the Wingdings camp to check on LG and is informed by Old Him and Weed that everyone is safe, and that they went to help civilians flee through the tunnels.

00:32:50 – On his way out, he bumps into an old woman with white hair and white robes floating in the air (Laeral Silverhand). Ben explains what happened with the attack on Neverwinter to her. She tells Ben that the LA will help with the city along with their new friends who turn out to be flying ship of Luskan which belongs to the third high captain Dagmaer Suljack. After Silverhand vanishes, Ben goes off to help within the city.

00:42:06 – Lox transports the children in the HoJ to the tents where healers are. HD walks around looking for survivors to help. She finds a middle-aged man whose leg is trapped beneath a rock, and people are trying to push the rock off the man. She shatters the rock with one kick.

00:55:50 – Arthas summons a Peryton to aid Yen in helping throughout Neverwinter. He spots people who are trapped under rubble and rallies the guards into helping them. Near the city walls, he sees three suspicious people heading away from the town. He relays the description to Junior who tells him they could be shadow thieves. Yen overtakes them with the Peryton and attacks them. Two of them die and the third one surrenders. Yen asks him about their objective, and the man tells him they were paid to light some fuses and move some stuff around for 100 gold. When Yen asks if they really killed all those people for 100gp, the man says that its more money than him or any of his forefathers had ever seen. Yen instructs the Peryton to take the man to the protector’s palace, and resumes his rescue mission.

01:09:30 – At night, more reinforcements arrive. A large ship from Luskan brings food and provisions. Later at night, TWG receives a message to head over to the HoJ. Upon arriving, the gang sees that the area has been cleared out and other guards working in the relief efforts have set campfires and are resting. Chad instructs TWG to do the same. Ben tells the gang what happened with Hyperion and the PP. They discuss possible motives for the attack, and Al talks about his relationship with Loki, who was like a brother to him. Yen and Ben bring up the possibility of another battle with Loki, and stopping him for good. Al says that he understands their feelings, and that he won’t hesitate to stop Loki next time, considering the casualties in Neverwinter.

01:20:31 – Lox brings up the magical healing that took place across Neverwinter after the fight. Al informs the gang that it was the act of Mythil, who was chosen as the warden by Ilmater. Ben asks Al if wardens are allowed to have boyfriends, and Al says he is not sure. Al also says that he held no attachment to the shroud, and he doesn’t feel any particular way about not being the chosen one. Yen, Ben and Lox note that HD has been acting off the entire day, and ask her about her past with Hyperion. HD takes off her mask to reveal a very scarred face. She tells the gang that Hyperion killed everyone she knew and loved. When asked why he would do that, HD says that it was probably another job for him. She also says that it was not Hyperion who gave her the scars on her face. Yen briefly marvels at how good-looking Lox is.

01:36:46 – The gang discusses how the enemies knew their location, and knew well in advance that the conch would be in Neverwinter. Yen talks about his past; wandering into the feywild, his amnesia after returning, the voice in his head, and the queen of air and darkness. He also tells them about how his dad tried to kill him, and Yen managed to escape after gravely injuring him, which is how he found himself in the feywild. He suspects that the voice in his head might be a very powerful fey, and something bad would happen soon. Yen then confesses about the deal he made with the archfey in return for Harshnag’s soul. He shows them the tattoos he has and says that he doesn’t have much time until the archfey sends a ‘sibling’ to come get him.

01:50:00 – Lox tells the gang he has found Billy (Gon). Ben doesn’t believe Lox at first, but Lox tells him about the transmutation magic and amnesia. Al asks why Lox hasn’t told Gon his true identity, and Lox tells him that Gon’s brain starts bleeding whenever anything from his past comes to light. Yen suggests kissing Gon to break the curse, but Lox says its not that simple. They discuss who might have cursed Billy, and ruled out Lox’s family as Lox would have recognized their magic. Lox tells Yen about his true identity as a Sunweaver.

02:00:40 – Noticing that HD looks a bit hungry, Yen throws a chicken leg at her, which smacks her forehead and leaves chicken grease on her. Surprisingly, Ben knows that this could cause pimples. HD wipes the grease on Ben’s cloak. Ben turns HD into a chicken, Yen throws a chicken slice at Ben. Chicken HD lands on Lox. Yen tries to feed Chicken HD some chicken. She doesn’t eat it.

02:10:15 – Ben suggests leaving for Maelstrom as soon as possible. Yen and HD agree to joining on the Maelstrom mission. Al then tells HD and Yen about his past; his childhood with Loki and Stella, growing up under the teachings of Mundo, the war with a fallen empire for the ioun stones in the caverns, the disappearance of the genies as a sacrifice to end the war and a possibility of clashing against Duran Duran.

02:17:33 – “Wait, so we have an entire elven kingdom, a bunch of primordials, Illuminator Hyperion and I’m guessing Ben’s skeletal wife coming to attack us?” -Yen.

The gang tells Yen about their past with Nightshade, Mitsu, and Al’s first encounter with Loki in Bryn Shander. Al also tells Yen about how Kalika the hag tricked him and Lox into eating human flesh.

02:24:03 – Ben asks if anyone knows someone who is 2000 years old, and asks Alice if he recognizes the mind elf. Alice doesn’t know him. Lox sits on HD’s lap, and Yen sits on Lox’s lap. Al tries to get Ben to join in and fails.

pt. 2 (things that happened before leaving to Maelstrom, anytime before or after the fireside chat)

00:03:35 – Around 10:00, the portal near HoJ opens to reveal injured Abu and Marc, who head to Sildar. Cassian follows behind them.

00:07:00 – After the fireside chat, Lox contacts Lorenzo’s folks to let them know that the conch was taken by the shadow thieves during an attack. He then meets up with Gon, and asks to buy his winged boots, but Gon says that he can’t really sell it. Lox explains the importance of the mission, and Gon gives Lox his boots until he can make a pair for Lox. He asks Gon about his personality change during the fight, and Gon tells him that he is worried he is a bad person because he felt so alive during a dangerous battle, and wonders about how he knew just what to do in that situation. Lox assures him that he is a good person and promises to buy him lunch when they see each other again. They discuss Almond, his nice personality and his rock-hard 12pack abs. Gon then says that Lox is the nicest thing he has seen and immediately leaves.

00:32:38 – Ben goes to find LG before the fireside chat. He flies around and sees a line of people emerging from a rundown building in the river district. They are being ushered towards the relief camps by the wingdings, including LG in a bright yellow vest. Ben goes to help somewhere else.

00:37:50: Al goes to check on the children of the church and Myhtil. Mythil is exhausted, and the children are fine, but upset that Mythil might have to leave soon now that he is a warden. Al tells them to look after each other as he will be leaving on a mission to stop the conflict. He assures them that Mythil watch over them, even if he is far away, and that Al is going to create a better future for them. They ask him when he will be back, and Al says that he isn’t sure. The children are worried about who will look after them when Mythil and Al leave. Al tells them that he would be back soon.

00:46:30 – Al goes to pick up Lamp, who looks at him with his tree-like eyes. Al tells him that he is going to go on a dangerous mission, so he has to leave lamp in Neverwinter to “protect everyone within the Protector’s Palace”. He tells Lamp that Arthas is going to look after him.

00:51:48 – HD meets with Chad and asks him to look after Butter. Chad’s cat Salem is with him. Chad finds Butter adorable, and immediately takes him in. HD asks if there is anything she can do anything for him in return, and he tells her that he wants her and the rest of the wayfarers to forget the day’s events and focus on the mission. HD sits down and drinks a vial of animal blood. Chad offers her a napkin and doesn’t say anything about her drink.

01:00:00 – On his way back to the gang, Lox runs into Cassian. She hands him the 100gp she owes. They drink some prestidigitated water that tastes like wine. She tells Lox to hit her up if TWG find themselves in Waterdeep, where she is archmage Cassian Claude, magical historian.

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