OF DEATH AND WILL

***OF DEATH AND WILL*** is the twelfth session of *Glimpses Into the Fade.* Leaving Duncaster, our six adventurers move north towards Northfolk. As they travel they come across a hot springs, where death seemingly awaits one of them..

## **Synopsis**

*This following session contains mostly travelling, making the time of some events to be unspecified.*

The night before leaving, Oriza stands behind the clinic, arms outreached to the stars as if pulling of strings. They summon their steed into being through pure starlight, a large Clysedale horse of dark black and purple, with a pristine white mane. Oriza greets her steed, Spectre, despite being different from when they last saw her in the Kingdom he accepts her as she is. Oriza talks softly to her old friend, and Spectre understanding them nuzzled into his hand.

Running last minute errands before leaving the town of Duncaster, Hira and Bran head towards the postal office to send parcels and letters to Calypso and Violet. Hira sends a bundle of books, along with a letter, whilst Bran sends a letter back to his sister. The two peruse for a moment, and find postcards of Duncaster. Hira finds one with the clinic visible and purchases it.

Taking their leave, they begin their trek north towards Glenwell. Through the dense forest of Esmos, the leaves start to fall as winter is creeping in. Trees around them are dotted with dark orange and yellows leaves, and Bran enjoys the scenery, reminding him of his hometown known as Corna. He picks up maple leaves from the ground, and gifts one to each member of the group.

As they travel, Oriza has taken to riding Spectre along the path. Hira approaches them, asking if they bought the horse in Duncaster, to which Oriza jokingly says they signed a pact with a wizard to obtain her. Hira stares for a moment puzzled before Oriza admits it was a joke, they are more jolly then usual with the return of Spectre. Oriza offers Spectre to her asking if she'd like a turn, but Hira admits she's never ridden a horse before. With Spectre taking a liking to her, Oriza helps Hira up to enjoy her first ever horse ride. Mint is a bit jealous of the new attention on another animal, and perches himself on Hira's head, puffing his chest out proudly.

Arriving to a quieter part of the forest, making the approach to north of Esmos, the trees are still a little green, slowly turning orange. The party encounter a riverside in the forest, where trees protect them from the heat. Monsoon calls for a break and begins rolling up his pants, asking if anyone knows how to catch fish. Oriza dismounts from Spectre to join him, and is offered a long spear from Monsoon's satchel. Monsoon sparks a competition, the one who catches the least fish will have to make dinner. Monsoon catches fish skilfully, throwing them into the bucket Anthir holds for them. Oriza grows frustrated with each missed strike, and casts Thaumatergy to disturb the fish in the water. As fish leap from the waters shaken, Oriza grabs one with their bare hands, chucking it into the bucket in triumph. However the victory is short, with 4-1, Oriza finds themselves gutting and cleaning the fish with Monsoon over her shoulder. He jests that if Oriza had a dagger the process would be easier, and Bran immediately hands one of his own to avoid conflict, but takes it back after Oriza lightly threatens Monsoon, who admits it was only a tease as he laughs to himself.

Moving forward, the group of adventurers have travelled two weeks towards Northfolk. In the midst of their journey, Spectre grows restless, bucking Oriza off her back before running deep into the forest. Monsoon rushes ahead to follow whilst the rest are close behind, but lose sight of him. Riya casts *Speak with Plants,* and the voice of her ring translates to her that both were seen moving north, just up ahead. The group approaches to see Spectre and Monsoon unharmed in the middle of a large clearing. A tall tree sits in the middle of a lake creating shade with it's canopy, with rocks around the edges creating smalls pools of water which steam rest atop it. It looks to be a natural hot spring and much to their surprise is not a location on their map.

Those with arcane energy feel like waves of magic throughout the area, Anthir and Riya recognize the water to feel therapeutic, like how healing magic felt. Anthir deems the water safe, and perhaps rejuvenating in nature, and the group begin to fill their water skins with the equivalent of a *Potion of Healing*. Bran moves towards the tree, feeling something divine in nature. As he looks down into the water, a reflection is cast. Red eyes stare at him, and a voice recounts a threat spoken weeks ago. As two tentacles shoot up from the waters and pull Bran into the scalding waters with the intent of drowning him. Four water elementals begin to form from the lake and begin to attack. Monsoon and Hira rush to Bran's aid as he struggles underwater, shouting the monster's resistance of non magical hits.

As Hira heals Bran as she struggles to pull him out, Arel proceeds to mock him, revealing their petty nature to carry out their threat. The elementals surrounding Anthir and Riya begin to transform, turning invisible in their movement, they create geysers that the two of them avoid. In the center of the lake, one elemental begins to transform into a humanoid shape wielding an axe causing Monsoon to freeze before breaking away towards Bran. Lightning lure in hand, Monsoon pulls Bran free from the tentacles. Hira grabs Bran and moves further away from the water, calling to her friends to also retreat. The figure in the middle begins to shift into Arel, and the monsters grow in size, becoming more violent as they make their attacks. Oriza tells Anthir and Riya to retreat, with the intent to guard their backs, finishing off an elemental with a divine smite.

Slow on their retreat, the watery figure of Arel takes three shots at Bran with the intent to kill. As three eldritch blasts release from their palm, putting Bran immediately unconscious as he crumples to the floor. They stand up elegantly, despite being water the smirk in their voice is evident. As they did their petty revenge, they got to strike a little boy down from his prideful podium, Arel snaps their fingers and the water dissipates along with all enemies.

>
> "*Even with your friends they still can't save you..Don't get in my way again. And if the next time I see you Vhenan, if you are with them, I will not show you any mercy. I'll show all you little maggots not to cross me again."*
>
>

Bran's breath is stuttering, his chest rises and falls, rises and falls, until it stops. He feels the intense pain within him, this eldritch energy consuming him until he feels no more hurt. As he dies he thinks of Violet, of his visits to the Western Roost Library, of his dreams of being helpful to others, to have many adventures. As Bran opens his eyes once more he's met with bright sunlight, a meadow field, and Violet sitting beside him. Smiling at him, she asks if he's done fighting. Bran weeps, explaining how much he misses her, and Violet reciprocates that feeling. She understands he wishes to protect her, but she also wishes for him to live and fight again, he can't protect her if he is dead. Bran reminds her he's doing this for her, to look for an answer or remedy, and proclaims he's not done fighting. Violet wipes the tears from his eyes, then looks up at the sky saying "*See? I told you he wasn't ready yet, like me."* Multiple eyes open from the blue sky staring down at them both. A deep voice proclaims that he will not take him today, as one day he will soon return.

Meanwhile Monsoon is above Bran, pouring a bottle of the warm healing water into his mouth. As Bran comes back from the dead, his brown hair slowly changes to white as death has given him one last chance.

## Featured Characters

#### The Fireflies

* Anthir
* Bran
* Hiraeth
* Oriza
* Riya

#### Returning

* Monsoon
* Arel
* Odin
* Violet