Cynthia

Cynthia was a Succubus and one of the members of the Knight's Guard. She was regarded as one of the weaker members of the group, especially due to her bad luck.

## Appearance

As a Succubus, Cynthia can choose to appear in any medium-sized humanoid form she wishes. She typically stays in a specific blonde form around Darrow or in public places and in her natural Succubus form when she's comfortable.

In public places where Cynthia doesn't want to draw attention to herself, she stays in the guise of a specific blonde female. Darrow doesn't like seeing her natural form due to his hatred of fiends, so she reluctantly stays under this blonde guise during their missions. This blonde form is tall, with long, bright hair. She is quite buxom and wears a short white and gold dress that shows off this fact. Cynthia has bright blue eyes in this form and is rather pale.

Her natural form, however, is what she prefers to appear as. In this form, her hair is shorter than her other form and a bright red. Her eyes are a reddish-brown. This form is much more petite than her other form, and while she is still pale, she is less pale than her blonde form. Cynthia's outfit in this form is black and red, is more protective, less airy, and much longer. She also has jet black wings that give her the ability to fly.

Once she regained her soul, her old form was revealed. As Fleore, she has pointed ears, showing her Elven heritage. In this form, she is taller than her Cynthia form, but still rather short for an Elf. She has short platinum blonde hair and a light build. Her eyes are the faded color of celadon.

## Personality

Cynthia is a bit of a pessimist; she complains about many of the situations she's put into, voluntarily or not. She made multiple complaints in the Cave of Kimyona due to the amount of water. She's not very fond of water, due to her nature as both a Succubus and a Pyromancer.

She is rather friendly towards new people though - sometimes a bit too friendly. This is excluding celestial beings, which she has a natural distaste for due to being a fiend. This isn't to say she automatically hates all celestials - she had a cordial relationship with the Couatl, Tim.

As a Succubus, Cynthia spends much of her free time corrupting civilians. She finds many people boring, which means that they're fun to corrupt, but a pain to be near. To her, being honourable, steadfast, steady, mild-mannered, and well-controlled - like Icarus, for example - is equivalent to being somewhat boring and bland. On the flip side, she takes a liking to people who are more erratic, risk-taking, and daring, like Krieg and Ignifer.

While Cynthia is normally rather warm and welcoming, she can be quite cruel, mainly to her "companion", Druzil. Whenever he shows up, she either complains and tells him to leave or just outright attacks him.

Cynthia has revealed that she quite enjoys spending time with the Knight's Guard, despite Darrow's dislike of her and feeling as though she is the least useful. She even says that this is the best thing that she has found in her 300 years of being a Succubus.

Fleore is less pessimistic than she was as Cynthia, and she's much less wild. Having the wisdom of hundreds of years through an untainted lens has caused her to be quite wise. She still retains her dangerous, adventurous streaks, but seems more gentle and goodly. She thinks before acting, unlike she did before. On the other hand, though, this could also be seen as being less brave as opposed to being less reckless.

## Quotes

"Uck! Let's finish this quickly, I hate water."

(In reference to Darrow) "That angelic ape says my normal form makes him uncomfortable."

"Being with the Retainers has been the most fun I've had in the last 300 years."

## Relationships

### Allies

#### Achilles

While Cynthia originally thought Achilles was boring and somewhat ignorant, she has no choice but to respect him for his strength, especially after he assisted her in her battle against Ratas'ta. She owes him her life, and after regaining her soul, she does plan on staying true to that.

#### Aladix

In a similar situation to Krieg, Cynthia first talked to Aladix when they split off together in the Cave of Kimyona. The pair aren't very close, but they did bond a small bit during their time in the Cave.

Aladix spoke in Cynthia's defense at her trial, and was the first to suggest a trial for her and Ignifer, ultimately resulting in them leading a happy life.

#### Druzil

Cynthia's doting imp companion, Druzil seems like a mere nuisance to Cynthia and the rest of the party. The first time that Druzil popped in, Darrow immediately kicked him. Cynthia, loving the idea, joined him in beating up Druzil until he disappeared. Now, whenever Druzil shows up, Cynthia gladly takes him down, unless somebody else beats her to it.

#### Krieg

Cynthia first talked to Krieg when they split off together in the Tomb of Kagaami. While the pair aren't great friends, Cynthia likes Krieg's utter insanity and erratic decision making.

Eventually, Krieg and Cynthia became better friends, after Cynthia revealed her relationship with Ratas'ta whilst at the bar. They had drank together at the bar many times, but that time, they really grew much closer to one another.

At Cynthia's trial, Krieg gave her a short sentence due to their close relationship and Cynthia's sympathetic story. After her time was served, they co-owned a restaurant with Ignifer, and eventually the three ended up raising an adopted child together.

#### Phoebe

The member of the Knight's Guard that Cynthia is closest to, Phoebe is good friends with Cynthia. The two hit it off instantly when they met one another at The Arena in Kandella. They sat next to each other and chatted while watching a fight between Achilles and Darrow that both had bid on. Later that same day, after Phoebe passed out drunk in the tavern, Cynthia graciously took Phoebe into her own room.

Cynthia enjoys daring and reckless people, and while Phoebe isn't reckless she is quite daring. She'll often think of dangerous plans in just a moment and immediately go for it, such as when the pair blinded a Red Dragon and fled with its treasure instead of fighting it.

Soon after Cynthia, Phoebe, and Ignifer went together through the Mountain of Certain Death, the three began to spend more time together. The spunky girls quickly grew to become an inseparable trio and very close friends.

After Cynthia regained her soul and the memories of her past life as Fleore, she had a new layer of friendship with Phoebe. As it turns out, Fleore had been almost like an aunt to Phoebe when she was little. This only deepened their bond.

After Phoebe's plan to go to the other dimension failed, Cynthia sadly turned against her, acknowledging that what Phoebe had done was wrong. Cynthia couldn't bare to watch Phoebe's final moments, so she refused to appear at the execution.

#### Ignifer

Before they even interacted with each other personally for the first time, Cynthia found Ignifer to be interesting and fun due to her selfishness, greed, and recklessness. The first time they had a real interaction was when Ignifer swindled Cynthia in a game of dice. Cynthia noticed afterwards that the dice were loaded, but merely chuckled and walked off.

Soon after Cynthia, Phoebe, and Ignifer went together through the Mountain of Certain Death, the three began to spend more time together. The trio quickly grew an inseparable bond and became very close friends.

After Phoebe's interdimensional debacle, Cynthia and Ignifer were forced to spend much more time together. They served their prison sentences together, assisting Diath and Darrow in their quests. After they were released, the pair co-owned Krieg's restaurant Bunions and Flagons. The two eventually became a romantic couple, and, with Krieg, adopted and raised a child.

#### Others

Many of Cynthia's other allies - namely Icarus and Shuise - are all, in Cynthia's opinion, rather boring. They rarely do anything stimulating or interesting, restraining themselves to be civil. Normally, Cynthia would quite enjoy people like this, because they are more fun to corrupt. Due to the fact that she has to refrain from doing so to these people, though, they just bore her.

### Enemies

#### Ratas'ta

Ratas'ta was Cynthia's Pit Fiend master for her 300 years of being a demon. When he first took Fleore's soul and memories, Cynthia quite enjoyed Ratas'ta, as expected. Over time, though, she eventually grew to dislike him and his demands. Eventually, she even grew to disobey him unexpectedly. He didn't seem too upset until she helped defeat Shimin, ruining one of his plans.

After dragging her down to punish her, she didn't plan on going down without a fight. Thankfully, Achilles was there to help her defeat the Pit Fiend and return her soul to her.

## Abilities and Skills

As a Pyromancer, Cynthia can control and summon fire in almost all ways. She can summon fireballs, heat metals, and shoot flaming rays. She can burst into flames, causing every thing around her to light aflame. Using her entire power, she can even summon meteors to rain down from the sky.

While she isn't especially physically strong, she does keep a whip on her that she can use fairly well. When forced into close combat, she will choose to summon dual flaming whips instead, though.

Retaining her Succubus abilities, Cynthia can transform at will and can sprout fiendish wings. Also due to her time as a Succubus, she is very charismatic, and is very good at persuading and deceiving people.

## History

### Beginnings

Cynthia first appeared at the Arena in Kandella, where she met Phoebe and Queen Anopra. At this point, she was still disguised in her blonde form and going by the name "Serena." After bidding on Darrow in his battle against Achilles, she sat and chatted with Phoebe. Right after watching the other duel, Cynthia battled Phoebe and Nic while disguised as a man named "Gareth." She barely lost the battle as Phoebe slammed her against the wall with Durandal.

Later that night, Cynthia saw Phoebe blackout from drinking too much at the tavern. After Phoebe being helped by Cadmael, Cynthia volunteered to take her up to her room where she revealed her true form. Phoebe called her ugly and then promptly fell asleep, beginning their long friendship.

Cynthia went with Phoebe to the Queen's palace, where her faithful butler Shuise recruited them - along with Darrow, Dragonite, and Achilles - to be the Queen's Retainers. This was because she was soon to be the ruler of the country due to her father, The King, being bedridden with sickness. They all accepted, but he told them that they must go on a quest to prove their loyalty and strength. He sent them to the Tomb of Kagaami to retrieve an ancient treasure of Kandella's that had been lost. He also sent Krieg, the Retainer of Anopra's sick father, to make sure that they told the truth about their journey.

### Tomb of Kagaami

Once the group made it to the tomb, they decided to split off into three groups, with Cynthia accompanying Krieg. They ran into a group of evil snake monsters from the plane of fire - Salamanders. Cynthia, being a Pyromancer, was quickly getting annoyed by the amount of monsters with the element of fire that they were running into. They dispatched a few of the beasts, but they just kept coming. Krieg swiftly killed one of their leaders and frightened the other, forcing them to run away down a flight of stairs. Cynthia was in the process of convincing Krieg to follow the beasts when, all of a sudden, Verbrenn - an Azer the group had met earlier - came charging through the corridor in pursuit of the salamanders, quickly followed by his friend Tim, the Couatl. Cynthia and Krieg, wanting to assist their friends, ran to follow them and came face to face with an Efreeti - a genie from the Elemental Plane of Fire. After a thankfully short battle, with the rest of their group coming to assist them - along with a newcomer, Aladix - they defeated the being. As Verbrenn informed them that he had felt something calling him to this place, Darrow noticed a treasure chest at the other side of the room, glowing bright red. As he opened it, a red ball of energy flew out of it and into the sword he had taken from the Fire Giant, imbuing it with the Element of Fire.

The group uneventfully returned to Kandella and were officially hired as the Queen's Retainers. Before anyone could have the chance to celebrate, however, they learned that The King had fallen to his sickness.

### Cave of Kimyona

A few months later, Shuise called on the group once more. He told them that he had another mission for them to embark on. The kingdom's wares had not arrived on time and he was worried that their merchant ship had been intercepted by pirates. He also subtly disclosed that another ancient piece of treasure was amongst this specific shipment, the Bowl of Controlling Water Elementals. He then sent them off to the coastal cove of Kimyona where the merchant ship was sailing to. The group called for their pet griffons they had found on the way to the Tomb of Kagaami.

On the way there, the group had a run-in with an Air Elemental and they tamed a Roc. Afterwards, though, they flew straight into a thunderstorm and got struck by a lightning bolt, sending Phoebe flying off the bird, hurtling to the ground below. Cynthia was a tad upset, but just accepted her death.

Soon, the rest of them landed and, after some investigating, they began to search a coastal cave. After quickly dispatching a Water Weird, the group continued to delve deeper into the cavern, which gradually grew further underwater until the group was swimming, which Cynthia much disliked. Eventually, they came to a split path, and Cynthia went to the right with Aladix.

Unluckily for Cynthia, that route ended up sending the pair completely underwater. Whilst there, they had a daring battle with a Water Elemental that was quite taxing. Further down the path, where the water had receded, they ended up encountering another dangerous foe - an Oni. After the opponent let out a great wave of magical cold, doing extreme damage to the pair. Aladix, not wanting another dangerous fight, used Geas on the Oni, controlling him and forcing him to support them.

They soon ran into a Marid, a genie from the Elemental Plane of Water, guarding a chest that was glowing bright blue. In the midst of their battle, the Marid threw his trident at Aladix, and then flew forward and cast a spell - sending the Oni to the Elemental Plane of Water, never to be seen again. After dispatching the genie, Aladix snatched its trident and went to the chest. As he opened it, a blue ball of energy flew out of it and into the trident, imbuing it with the Element of Water. The entire group soon reconvened, and the group learned that Phoebe had survived. They also met their three new companions whom the others had saved: Diath Greyclaw, Ignifer, and Icarus.

### Mountain of Certain Death

A few more months afterwards, Shuise sent them on another quest - this time to the Mountain of Certain Death for the Stone of Commanding Earth Elementals. So the group of nine departed on their Roc for the northwest.

After finding a cave system inside the Mountain, the group soon came to another split route. This time, Cynthia went to the left with Phoebe and Ignifer. After going down a narrow dark path, they came into a large room and were surprised to see a White Dragon, already engaged in a battle with another creature. As the trio started to assist, they realized that the creature was someone they already knew - it was Tim! After Ignifer slayed the dragon by animating her coins, Tim explained why he was in the caverns. Apparently, when Tim was sent back to his camp after the events at the Cave of Kimyona, Verbrenn had disappeared. Tim searched everywhere around their campsite, but couldn't find him anywhere, eventually deciding to continue on to their original destination of the Mountain of Certain Death to look for minerals, thinking that's where Verbrenn may have left to.

Just then, a wave of necrotic energy flowed through the caverns. Tim was surprised as he was swiped from the air by the now-reincarnated White Dragon's tail. Phoebe, acting quickly, set an Arcane Mine upon one of her arrows and notched it, sending it flying and blowing up one of the dragon's wings. After the group felled the dragon once more, they pressed forward, despite being very injured. They soon came into a smaller room, with a large treasure chest at the end. There was only one problem - in between them and the treasure was a Young Red Dragon. Phoebe, thinking up a scheme on the spot, gave Cynthia an order and had Nic go behind the Dragon to the chest. Phoebe cast a spell to blind the Dragon while Phoebe surrounded it with a stone wall. Nic picked up the chest, and the four adventurers dashed off with their treasure, which seemed to be the Stone of Commanding Earth Elementals that they had been looking for.

Eventually, all three groups converged back at the center, with many questions to ask one another and a treasure to show. Before any questions could be asked though, the caverns started shaking as something large came charging towards them. In an instant, an enormous and frightening Dracolich stood before them. Darrow told the trio of treasure hunters to stay back - an arduous battle lay before them. As the rest of the Knight's Guard began fighting the beast with the help of Tim, Aladix dashed off, back to an underground lake they had found, so to do a large attack on the monster. While the Dracolich was drastically outnumbered, the battle was quite a challenge to the heroes due to the creature's immense strength. In the midst of the battle, the dragon breathed a great breath of flames hitting many, including the already wounded Tim, knocking him out cold. Seeing the unconscious celestial, the Dracolich took its chance and clawed at Tim, instantly killing him. The group could do nothing about that, and soon, they had gotten the beast upon its last legs. They knew, however, that if they killed the lich without first destroying the object that held its soul - its phylactery - it would just come back to life. Achilles, thinking on his feet, transported the creature to the Feywild, where it would burn to death. Since it and its phylactery were no longer on the same plane, the soul had no way of getting to the Dracolich to reincarnate it.

They then took some time to mourn Tim, and Darrow took his body to give him a proper burial. Phoebe then brought out the Stone of Commanding Earth Elementals - but all of a sudden, it seemed to be completely non-magical! Apparently, the stone had indeed been the Dracolich's phylactery, and not the treasure they had been searching for. Aladix asked his new Geased servant, an Aboleth, about it, and the creature explained that a group of very strong people had been in the caverns only a short while ago and almost certainly taken something with them. The group flew immediately back to Kandella, then, sadly empty-handed.

The group summoned their Roc and flew back to Kandella. As they approached the Kingdom, it seemed unnaturally lifeless. Upon entering the war room, they immediately noticed that Queen Anopra looked disheveled and worried. She greeted the group, but wasted no time in informing them of the situation. Apparently, as soon as they had left for the Mountain of Certain Death, Mingsheng had attacked on multiple fronts - Mingsheng had started a war.

### War of Mingsheng

After Queen Anopra explained the entirety of the situation to the group, Phoebe and Cynthia volunteered to go to Mingsheng to cut off their supplies. They immediately set off, then, travelling as fast as possible.

Once Phoebe and Cynthia landed on the outskirts of Mingsheng, they separated, with Phoebe going for an armoury and Cynthia going to burn crops. After burning some fields, Cynthia came face to face with a bulky man in poor clothes. After revealing he already knew who Cynthia was, he introduced himself as Op the Mystic. As Cynthia prepared to attack him, she heard the synonymous cry of Druzil, "Nyah! My mistress!" She told him to leave and went to kick him but before she could do anything, he mentioned someone named Ratas'ta. After getting rid of Druzil, Op revealed that he knew who Ratas'ta was, a Pit Fiend lord. Cynthia then, upset, threw a fireball at the man, which seared off his shirt - revealing that he was made of steel! He revealed that he was what you might call a metal golem, created by Queen Hisana of Mingsheng and her departed mother. He then lifted up Cynthia with his mind and slammed her into the ground. Cynthia continued her assault, though, until Op was sizzling and burning. On his last legs, he grew a large magical cybernetic claw to defeat her with, which she swiftly dodged. After defeating him, she left his robotic remains next to the burning field.

After returning to Kandella, the Knight's Guard shared what had happened to them on their journeys then dispersed for the night. Cynthia, Ignifer, and Phoebe took this opportunity to go to the bar together and have a "Girl's Night Out." After much drinking, partying, and conversation, the three grew much closer.

The next morning, the group reconvened in the war room. As they started talking battle strategy, Diath asked a question out of nowhere - why had they been collecting the elemental treasures? Shuise said he would show them, but before he could, they noticed something out the window. It was a great Pit Fiend! Shuise's explanation would have to wait, as the group rushed out to meet the encounter and Phoebe got herself up to the top of Kandella Castle to snipe. As Darrow flew up to attack the beast - his attack went straight through, for the beast was an illusion! All of a sudden, all nine of the Mingsheng generals came out of the trees to battle the group.

The battle was short and chaotic. Darrow immediately shouted at Verbrenn for lying to him and turning against his allies once again. Verbrenn responded with anger at himself for being so conflicted and turned away, the flames on his head rearing up. Alizabeth went directly for who seemed to be the least intimidating Cynthia, flipping around her and slashing at her with Rillifane and Sehanine. Dragonite burrowed beneath the enemies, then popped out, breathing his radiant breath upon half of the enemies. Andromeda called for Iparu, who, turning into water, leaped on her shield, which she tossed up at Phoebe with a cry of, "Osmosis!" It missed, though, flying through a window into the War Room, where it almost hit Anopra but was kicked out of the air by Shuise, who proceeded to hold the buckle in place with his foot while stomping on it. Meanwhile, Andromeda was bashing Darrow with her Soul Hammer. Achilles got behind the group, similar to Dragonite, and let loose a great beam. Shimin teleported behind Cynthia, and tried to get her to join her since they were both, apparently, allied with Ratas'ta. After Cynthia told her to shove off, Shimin went to stab at Ignifer with her magical rapier which was imbued with the Element of Death. Ignifer dodged, though, and deftly stole the weapon from the snake woman, which immediately bonded to her. Darrow turned to Andromeda, slashing at her with his greatsword while Phoebe rained down a volley of arrows upon her. Diath charged forward, meeting Balasar head-on,, confronting him as to why he had returned instead of going back to his family. Balasar then revealed that Lord Tavaati had kidnapped his family and was threatening to kill them. Diath convinced him that they would save his wife and daughter after this battle if Balasar didn't continue fighting, and after some coaxing, he agreed. Lavernicus dashed back, doing a similar tactic to Dragonite and Achilles with his breath. Cynthia went forward, throwing a Fireball at Op while Nic slashed at him with his blade hand. Iparu jumped out of the War Room window, thoroughly beat up by Shuise. Aladix turned to him and cast Disintegrate, killing Iparu once and for all.

Ignifer opened up her portable hole, seeing Krieg move. He roughly grabbed Princess Alizabeth, and in one fluid motion, tossed her into the hole. The entire battlefield stopped in its tracks as Op calmly walked forward with his hand raised. "Please. There is no need to harm the princess; I will join your side." Upon seeing the doubt that the Knight's Guard showed, he called to Verbrenn, telling him that they were all on the same side now. Darrow approached Andromeda, to which she responded by dramatically telling him to just finish her off quickly. Darrow then announced a parlay between the two groups, and those that refused would be killed. Vimak shrugged, admitting that he would lose if he continued, and sheathed his weapon. Shimin tried desperately to run, but was grabbed by Dragonite and she started panicking. Cadmael lost his cool, then, shouting and calling the rest of the Mingsheng Marauders traitors before teleporting away. Achilles quickly teleported to him, grabbed him in a crushing grip, and teleported back. Darrow then pulled Verbrenn to the side, telling them that he planned to knock out all of them besides him and Balasar. He then did so, but also left Op awake by Verbrenn's request.

Before they could do anything with the unconscious generals, Diath had Op scry for Balasar's family. Achilles then teleported Diath and Balasar there, grabbed Balasar's wife Laury and his daughter Temika from their cell, and then teleported back. When they reappeared though, Achilles was nowhere to be seen and had disappeared without a trace. Balasar had a heartfelt reunion with his loving family, who had many questions about the situation.

Soon after, the War Room was once again filled. The Knight's Guard, Queen Anopra, and Shuise were meeting with Op and Verbrenn after throwing the rest of the prisoners into the dungeon except for Balasar, who was spending time with his family. Before anything could be said, however, a runner came in, announcing that the reinforcements from Versillias had arrived. Following him was a large orc, who looked quite intelligent and refined. Anopra took a long look at him before asking if he was Zarro. He nodded, revealing that he was under an oath of silence. Anopra and Shuise told the group that Zarro had once been the retainer of Queen Anopra's mother. They had no idea, however, that he was now a general for Versillias. They welcomed him into the meeting.

Op proceeded to tell them everything; he first told them all about every one of the Mingsheng Marauders, but most importantly about Shimin. She had been planning for a decade now to throw the continent into chaos, and then take control of it with the assistance of an evil tiefling warlock named Daku and a Pit Fiend lord named Ratas'ta. She had been convincing Queen Hisana to do things that would lead to an all out war with Kandella, and King Migurushi couldn't bear to tell his wife "no". Apparently, the Queen was grief-stricken mad after the loss of her first husband, daughter, mother, and brother. After the death of her brother, she took in his daughter, Alizabeth, and raised her as her own daughter, so Alizabeth and Op have something of a strange sibling relationship. He also told them of how Lord Tavaati was a mysterious man that nobody knew the history of, but that he was lazy and unassuming. Shuise then decided to show them what they had been collecting the elemental treasures for.

They left Op and Verbrenn under the watch of Dragonite, and then went all the way down into a secret underground room. There was a basin in the middle, in which Shuise mixed the strange liquid Phoebe had found and put in one element of each item: The Brazier of Commanding Fire Elementals, the Bowl of Controlling Water Elementals, the Censer of Controlling Air Elementals, and the Stone of Commanding Earth Elementals. "This is the Basin of Truth." He dipped his head in, and came up with a disappointed look on his face. Anopra cautiously stepped forward and dipped her head in as well. Darrow then asked what she had asked for. Anopra said that she had wanted to see what her mother had looked like, and Shuise replied that that was a personal question and that he was not obliged to answer it. Ignifer got up in his face once again, incredulously accusing him of using the kingdom's recourses and sent the personal retainers of the Queen for *personal reasons*. He responded that the Basin of Truth could be used for many other important things, as Aladix dipped his head into the strange liquid. His memories came rushing back to him, his entire past coming to him. Teima then came in, surprising the group, and Aladix told her everything. She comforted him about the sadness in his past, but quickly, for she had resolved to find something out about herself - her parents. The beast tamer dipped her head into the Basin, and she came back up, her face was wracked with shock. "My parents... are the King and Queen of Mingsheng!"

### Final Battle

Teima explained what she had seen in the Basin. Apparently, Queen Hisana's first daughter died of a genetic disease when she was a child. King Migurushi couldn't bear to see his wife get that attached to the child just to have to go through that again, so he drowned the child as soon as she was born. Or he had attempted to, not realizing that the elemental blood in his veins would manifest in his child becoming an Iceheart, allowing her to breathe underwater. The group was shocked at the development, but the more critical thinkers were thinking of what this meant for the war. Krieg also drank some of the liquid in the Basin, revealing that it also doubled as a truth serum.

The group had one more night before their final assault. Krieg and Ignifer pulled Cynthia to the side, asking about Ratas'ta. She told them that she was her demon lord and that she had been barely satisfying him with the amount of souls she was corrupting. Cynthia knew that she would be severely punished, but she didn't care, for being Queen Anopra's Retainer was more enjoyable than anything else she had found in her 300 years of being a demon. Phoebe then joined them and livened up the mood, and the group ended up having another night at the bar, growing closer.

The next morning, the group reconvened in the War Room to plan their final assault. Diath and Aladix would be going to the west to fight their personal enemy, the evil warlock Daku. They decided that they would have Cynthia and Achilles ride upon the Roc to cause a distraction whilst Zarro led their soldiers to assault Mingsheng's front wall and Dragonite burrowed into the castle with Phoebe, Ignifer, Darrow, and Krieg.

Cynthia and Achilles were about to board the Roc when Cynthia was dragged through a hole deep into hell, and Achilles swiftly followed. After landing, she realized she was in front of her Pit Fiend master Ratas'ta. He declaring that Cynthia had done enough and that helping to defeat Shimin had been the last straw. He bit Achilles, poisoning him, before going to focus on Cynthia. After bashing her repeatedly, she responded with the greatest fires she had ever summoned. Ratas'ta continued to attack Cynthia until he was suddenly blinded by a bright flash - Achilles had used Solar Flare! The dazed and blinded Pit Fiend threw a fireball, blowing up all three of the combatants. Achilles dashed forward, attacking the demon with a flurry of intense blows. Cynthia, bleeding and on her last legs, went up to the lord and with one final crack of her whip, the great lord was felled. All of a sudden, Cynthia was bathed in a pillar of radiant light. Once the blinding light cleared, there was a new person in her place. She had regained her soul from her previous life, and remembered who she had once been. She was an elf - and her name was Fleore! She realized quickly, though, that she retained her Succubus powers, strangely. Achilles quickly took the two back to the larger battle at hand.

Whilst riding the Roc to the Mingsheng castle, a humongous magical explosion came forth from the fort, blinding the pair. When they came to, they were on the ground, their Roc having been turned to stone. It seemed that their magical weapons had protected them from the blast. But standing where the castle once stood was a gargantuan Tarrasque that the entirety of the group would have to work together to defeat.

With all of their legendary items together, including Cynthia's newly acquired Radiant Whip and Zarro's Thunder Ring, they knew they could beat the Tarrasque. Ignifer let her magical song flow, inspiring her allies. Krieg, using his powers from his Cloak of Arachnida, climbed up the leg of the beast, slashing at it repeatedly with his great Lightning Axe. Achilles teleported behind the beast, launching a mighty Spirit Bomb at it. Darrow flew up to the creature, bringing up his Sword of Flames to burn the monster with radiant fire. Phoebe notched an arrow with Durandal, attaching an arcane mine to the end, causing a tremendous explosion. Zarro launched sound waves at the Tarrasque, his fists moving so fast. Cynthia cast a spell, an enormous flaming ball appearing inside the beast. Lavernicus breathed his great breath as Diath leaped into the monstrosity's gaping maw, stabbing it with his Acid Knife the whole time.

The Tarrasque let out a frightening roar, clawing at Krieg and ramming Darrow with its horns. It attacked Nic with its tail, but the golem brought up a magical barrier to protect himself. The monstrous Tarrasque slammed into Dragonite, and the two struggled into a grapple.

Aladix took the opportunity that he saw with the beast occupied with Dragonite. He had been charging up his attack, and with all of his strength and magical power, he launched his Trident, which flew off like a rocket at the monster. It met its mark, landing right between the Tarrasque's horns. It let out one more great roar, but this time, it was one of defeat, for it fell down into the rubble. Darrow quickly cut Diath, luckily alive, out of the creature's stomach. The group reconvened, celebrating their victory, as they all explained what had transpired whilst they were separated.

With the war won, Cynthia, now having her new memories as Fleore, was finally at peace, and could settle down and spend quality time with Phoebe and Ignifer. She now had her soul back, and felt truly happy for once in much too long.

### Epilogue

Phoebe stole the magic out of all the legendary magical items they had collected, opening a hole into another dimension to find her father. Ignifer had trapped Teima in her Portable Hole, and Phoebe had cast Imprisonment upon Aladix to torment him for always hating her. Cynthia had no part in that part of the plan, and expressed her concern about it, but still was going to the new dimension with the two, and let it be.

Once they arrived in the strange shadow world, they immediately went to Phoebe's father King Peandro. As soon as they entered his chamber, he drew his swords, asking Phoebe questions that she didn't understand and threatening to kill them. The trio told Peandro that they were from another dimension, but he didn't change his stance, and so they begrudgingly left. On their way out, they found Achilles and convinced him to join their side by not telling him any real information.

After exiting the castle, they found the rest of the Knight's Guard there, having followed them to kill them and close the dimensional portal. They decided, though, that Cynthia, Ignifer, and especially Achilles all had somewhat solid cases and decided to give them each a trial, and included Phoebe in that as well, despite knowing she would ultimately be executed.

Cynthia was given a shorter sentence than Ignifer, though they both ended up serving for equal time. To reduce their sentence, they agreed to assist Diath in building New Inu and Darrow in his usurping of Ares. Once she was released, Cynthia co-owned Krieg's restaurant Bunions and Flagons with him and Ignifer.

Throughout Cynthia and Ignifer's time together once Cynthia regained her soul, Cynthia couldn't help but fall for the devilish Dragonborn. The two ended up becoming a happy old couple, and helped to raise Krieg's adopted son.

## Major Battles

* Phoebe vs. Cynthia (Disguised as "Gareth")
* Knight's Guard vs. Cyclops
* Knight's Guard vs. Tim and Verbrenn
* Knight's Guard vs. Fire Giant and Hell Hound
* Knight's Guard, Tim, and Verbrenn vs. Efreeti and Fire Elementals
* Knight's Guard vs. Air Elemental and Roc
* Knight's Guard vs. Water Weird
* Cynthia and Aladix vs. Water Elemental
* Cynthia, Aladix, and an Oni vs. Marid
* Cynthia, Phoebe, Ignifer, and Tim vs. White Dragon
* Knight's Guard, an Aboleth, and Tim vs. Dracolich
* Cynthia vs. Op the Mystic
* Knight's Guard and Shuise vs. Mingsheng Marauders
* Cynthia and Achilles vs. Ratas'ta
* Knight's Guard vs. Tarrasque

## Trivia

* Phoebe and Cynthia have a few similarities. First of all, neither of them have any real attachment to the kingdom of Kandella due to them both being from very far-off places. They also both have a mutual dislike with another member of the Knight's Guard - Phoebe with Aladix and Cynthia with Darrow.
* Cynthia is very unlucky and is bad at aiming, frequently missing enemies when she attempts to attack them in battle.
* Once, during her downtime, Cynthia had an affair with a man - and then, in the same week, had an affair with his wife.
* Cynthia hates being in water.