Sune's Solution (D&D/MGE)

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[X] [Ask her nicely to leave] (Lay on the Charm)

Unbeta'd, be kind.

—

You do not have time for this right now, not when something is strong enough to simply teleport through the most heavily warded place next to Thay itself. You would not put Ignis, or any of them in danger. Ignis was a fine fighter, but you would not have her face an unknown opponent. The beast growls, not moving, not yet, but its muscles tensed. "Ignis, I understand you wish to face strong opponents, however, as your…" You close your eyes. "Husband, I would ask that you kindly protect the other members of our group. I will happily battle you later," turning your head towards Ignis, you look the Salamander in the eyes. "But please, do this for me."

The reaction was… not quite what you expected. You had expected her to at least argue, or, perhaps decide she wanted to fight the both of you at once. What you hadn't expected was the flames on her tail, previously heavily diminished by the anti-fire wards of the place, to spark to life, and a heavy blush to settle onto her face as she bites her lip. "I'll… I'll handle it!" then she moves to follow your command, and the beast darts forward.

It leaps up and to the side, its legs colliding with a bookshelf as it moves to chase after the retreating party.

No.

"YOU WILL FACE ME!" you shout, and your power surges.

The beast falls to the floor against its own will, limbs flailing before it crashes into a bookshelf. It rights itself almost immediately, saliva dripping to the floor as it turns all three heads to look at you and growl. Then it charges, dagger-claws clacking against the stone floor as it clears the thirty foot space between the two of you in the span of a moment's thought. You step to the side, slashing up with your blade as you do so. Your blade slices across the exposed musculature, spending a spray of black, viscous fluid out that sails through the air more like a gel than any liquid.

A claw impacts against your stomach a moment later, far faster than you expected, and you grunt as you slide back across the library, your back slamming into a stone pillar. Your hand shoots to your side, your teeth gritted as you switch to holding the blade in one hand. It was fast, far faster than you expected.

It reminded you of a hellhound, but hellhounds didn't have three heads. It reminded you of a Cerberus, but those generally had flesh. It was an abomination of some sort, and immediately a threatening one at that. But it's deployment… made little sense, unless by accident, or truly unlucky happenstance.

It lunges again, three heads snapping, all attempting to tear chunks out of you via razor sharp blades of teeth. Your blade slashes upwards as you step underneath the charge, and the blade cuts one head clean off the shoulders, causing the 'dog' to fall to the ground, yelping. You spin to face it once more, only to find the creature already raising itself to its feet, blood oozed out of the open wound, not dripping like blood. It hung and swayed with every moment, a black syrupy mixture that trailed closer to the floor with every passing moment, but never quite reaching it.

You drew in a breath, then shifted one foot back, your hands raising your sword all the while. "Come then."

The rightmost head rears its head back and howls. It is not a dog's howl, or even that belonging to a beast. It is a howl made up of screams, men, women, children screaming in legion. You don't move, despite a surge of fear sparking within you. It is a weak, ignorable thing, and it is gone a moment later. An interesting trick, and not a unique one, but altogether less than pleasant regardless.

You forward, your blade still raised, and the beast lowers itself and growls. Step. Step. Step.

It lunges.

You stab forward, your blade glowing white. The beast slams into the blade, the silver metal piercing through a mouth and out the back of a neck. The other head, ignoring the death throes of its 'brother', snaps around to clamp its teeth into your arm. The fangs sink deep, going straight through your light tunic and through the flesh to slam against the bone. It shakes there, not out of anger or a desire to kill however, but from agony

The white light from your blade suffuses the creature's body, piercing out of the flesh, melting the space around it. The movements get more frantic, more desperate as the beast flails, until in mere moments, it is nothing more than smoking ash on the floor. You let the blade lower, slick with the black ooze, then cast your gaze to your arm dripping blood onto the floor. You flex the arm and move the fingers…

The healing can wait for a moment. You turn your head towards the door the group left via, then begin to run.

—

You step outside to… a bloody mess. Brynhild and Ming stood a good dozen feet away from the door, the two of them huddled against one another. Both uninjured and conscious, just they also both looked terrified out of their minds. Far closer were Ignis and Fuyao, both holding bloodied weapons. At their feet just near the door, was what looked distinctly like a dire-wolf, that, at least, was a creature you were familiar with.

You were also familiar with the sight of one laying on the ground in a pool of its own blood. Fuyao stood over it panting, her ax held in a deathgrip. Ignis stood just beside her, hand raised to wipe sweat from her brow.

"Is everyone alright?" you ask.

"Nobody is injured boss, unless you're counting Ignis's dignity." Fuyao responds, raising herself to her full… not very great height. She was still breathing heavily and rapidly, but seemed in full control of herself regardless. "Thing landed right on top of her head."

You turn your gaze towards Ignis, she doesn't return the look. Instead she's rather pointedly looking towards the library you just left, a fierce blush once again on her face as her tail repeatedly hits the ground. She isn't a dog however, so it's actually making a rather sizable mark on the dirt, along with setting the small bit of weeds there on fire.

"Good to see you are alright, you say, then sheath your blade. Turning your attention to the 'scholars', you take a step forward towards Ming and Brynhild. "And the two of you?"

"Good sir, you are bleeding!" Brynhild cries out, her gaze focused on your left arm.

"Indeed, are you both uninjured?" you ask.

Brynhild nods rapidly, Ming for her part however, says and does nothing. Letting out a slow breath you turn your attention to the group of sages around, even as you place your hand against your arm and heal the wound. More of the 'wolves' were about, all dead, crushed by the golems. None of the students, sages, or guests seemed to be injured however, nor did you see another one of those three headed beasts.

It was stronger than you had expected, and with none out here, it almost seemed targeted.

"Lilolarys," you call out.

The dragonborn woman appears in the midst of the crowd, pushing past a golem to get to you. Like the rest, she was thankfully uninjured. But then, Candlekeep was one of the most secure places in Faerun. Or, at least, it was supposed to be. Frost formed in the air around her snout as she came to a stop in front of you, her hands moving to her knees as she caught her breath. "Baeran, you're hurt!"

You remove the hand you were pressing to the wound, it was bloody, but sealed. "Just a dog bite, is anyone hurt of your group?"

Lilolarys shakes her head. "None, the golems… they activated the moment portals opened up."

"How did they open up?" you ask. "Candlekeep has wards against teleportation."

Lilolarys opens her snout, then shuts it, looking back towards the bodies. "I… genuinely don't know Baeran, it shouldn't be possible. If this was an attack it was a particularly weak one. And our systems haven't reported any more intruders or anything stolen."

You nod your head, then turn towards Brynhild and Ming. "Brynhild, and teleporters in your homeland?"

Brynhild blinks, a hand moving to cover her mouth. "A… few sir, but none that would do something like this. We certainly don't have beasts like this."

Ignis snorts. "Sure, just not in your fancy pants places. I used to hunt things like this all the time."

"No did not." Ming replies. "Last Dire Wolf died century ag-"

"Ming, drop the accent." You say, cutting her off. "What do you know?"

Ming glares at you, one hand moving to push her glasses back up her face while the other plants itself against her hip. "Fine. Regular Wolves, yes. Dire Wolves were exterminated over a century ago. And there is nothing like what you fought in any record, the last recorded Cerberus turned into the queen of the southern kingdoms some four hundred years ago."

"Look, I fought some big wolves, alright?" Ignis replies, growling.

"I'm sure you barbarian." Ming replies snidely.

"That is enough." You reply, stepping forward. You don't raise your voice, but the tone is enough for the both of them. "Nothing in your studies like this?" you ask, looking pointedly towards Ming.

Ming shakes her head.

"And nothing has been stolen, and the portals were nonsensical." You say.

"It would seem to be the case, we have golems scouring the castle regardless for any stragglers, but we can confirm nothing has left. Unless they have magical portals that we are completely unable to trace." Lilolarys replies.

"So we have beasts nobody recognizes, breaking into the most magically secure place on the Sword Coast, possibly entirely by random." You say, moving a hand to your chin as you think.

"... Boss?" Fuyao says, some trepidation in her voice. "Does that mean we won't be going on that vacation?"

You smile, looking down at the squire. "Fuyao, is an adventure not a vacation?"

"Asking every scholar on the Swordcoast if they've heard anything isn't." Fuyao replies.

"While I do agree," you reply, placing a soothing hand on Fuyao's shoulder. "This is a bit too dangerous to leave alone, how about a promise, we solve this one, and then I'll give you some time off in Neverwinter."

Fuyao narrows her eyes. "For how long?"

"Until the next cry for help comes around." You say, now grinning.

Fuyao begins to lightly kick her foot against your shin. You almost feel it. "I kid Fuyao, a fortnight, we both need the rest."

Fuyao stares up at you, then lets out a sigh. "What's the plan boss?"

"Well, for starters." You say, turning your head back. "Ming, I do believe it is time for you to leave Candlekeep, you are welcome to travel with m-"

"Fuck off." Ming replies.

"Perfectly fair," you continue. "Regardless, Lilolarys please let me know if you find out anything, I'm going to begin a search nearby."

Then you begin to turn, only to find a grip on your arm halting you. It's nowhere near the amount of force actually required to stop your movement. But it was a surprise enough to halt you regardless. Turning back, you find Brynhild wiping at your arm with a white kerchief. The white silk quickly turning red under her ministrations.

"I'm no longer hurt Brynhild."

She continues wiping regardless, until the only thing left was the puncture marks in the tunic itself, she looks the arm over, then nods with a smile. "Good sir, you defended me, it is the least I could do."

"Thank you Brynhild." You reply, debating patting her on the head for a moment before deciding that would be less than proper. Turning back towards the gate, you raise a hand over your head. "Come, let's see if anything is outside."

—

To your frustration, there were no more monsters about. Frustration mostly due to the fact that you weren't getting to the bottom of things. But something interesting did happen, regardless.

[] [You summoned a 'Celestial' to get to the bottom of things]

[] [You were stopped by a very… catty merchant]

[] [Someone broke into the mansion?]


—
Someone has a 'surprise' for Baeran. Fairly soon.