Too Pretty To Die, Chapter 12: The Flood [Story]

When we arrived at the village, it had already begun to flood. The great serpents we had seen in Skull River had beat us here, and here they crawled up the beach, which was now submerged, and on to the city streets. A man stood cornered in an alley, and took up a defensive posture between the serpent and a group of school children. Steranis bellowed out a great roar, and once again the old man transformed into a great stone giant. He charged toward the snake, swinging his pole-arm this way and that, and the townspeople parted to make way. Tenebis swooped down to take on the other serpent, who looked much like it had already swallowed someone, and was slithering away to digest its meal.

As for myself, I could no longer fly, for my magic was nearly gone for the day. I brandished my staff and began to pelt the nearest snake with magic missiles.

Before long, there was a great splashing sound behind me, and I turned to see a great monster emerging the lake. The black, many-tentacled thing was at least fifty feet wide, and as it squelched up onto the shore, a great cloud of billowing grey smoke billowed out from it like ink dispersing in water.

Tenebis looked up too, having finished with the serpent he had been fighting, and saw the great monstrosity.

“We’re fucked…” he said out loud.

“Don’t be so pessimistic,” I said, “you’re too pretty to die. And so am I,” I insisted to myself, trying to summon my courage.

The cloud of smoke overtook me, and as I coughed on the bitter air, I felt the familiar rush of hostile magic overtaking me. My vision blurred. People became nothing more than coloured shapes dancing about, and anger rushed through me like a flood. Try as I might, I could no longer distinguish friend from foe. Someone shoved me, and I found myself turning and running after her. I shot at her. Something slimy grabbed me from behind and smashed me against the ground. Everything went black.

◊◊◊

As I slowly regained consciousness, I found that I was lying on my back on the ground. Two faces hovered over me, but my vision was coming slowly, and I could not yet distinguish them. As they slowly faded into view, I began to make out colours. To my left, an olive skinned face with long, silver-white hair; to my right, a grey one, completely bald. Someone’s hand rested on my forehead, and it felt cool against my skin. My reason returned to me faster than my vision, and I was able to fight out the realisation that these were Asclepius and Domoki, respectively, though I still could not see enough to recognise their faces.

“Asclepius, did I hit you?” I asked, slurring my words as I came to.

Domoki, realizing that I was now awake, quickly removed his hand from my forehead and hid it behind his back.

“Don’t mention it,” Asclepius replied. “You were not yourself.”

“I’m sorry I hit you,” I said.

“There’s no need to apologize. How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Dunno,” I answered, “can’t see yet.”

Asclepius recited a spell, and shone a bright light into my eyes. I squinted.

“Good,” she muttered to herself.

“Did I die?” I asked.

“No, you were just unconscious,” she answered.

“That’s what I thought. Because, you see, I’m too pretty to die.”

Domoki chuckled quietly.

“It would seem he is himself again,” said Domoki. “Perhaps you should go tend to the others.”

“There is nothing to be done for them, at the moment” said Asclepius, a note of sorrow in her voice. “But if you two would like to be left alone, I shall go.”

Asclepius packed up her bag and got to her feet.

“Thank you, Pigeon,” said Domoki, as she walked away.

“What did she mean, ‘there is nothing to be done for them?’ What happened?” I asked Domoki.

“Steranis and Ulrick are both dead.”

“Shit,” I said. “Did we slay the sea monster?”

“No,” said Domoki. “It got bored after a while, and returned to the lake. Tenebis says it’s some sort of Demigod, but that’s all he knows.”

Domoki’s face was slowly fading into view as my sight returned to me. One by one, I made out his features: the lumpy, misshapen nose; the droopy eyelids; the chipped and scratched living stone of his cheeks and forehead; the hard-set mouth. Oread faces were foreign to me, and I could not read emotions in his as I did with other people. But his voice betrayed what his face hid, and I knew that Domoki was terrified, angry, and sad, all at once.

“We can bring Steranis, Ulrick, and Joanos back,” I reminded him. “We have the money, we just have to go Magnimar. It worked for Asclepius.”

◊◊◊

When I had fully come to, I watched as Asclepius performed the ritual to call Ulrick back from the afterlife. It turned out she could do this herself now (or perhaps she always could; she wasn’t particularly open about the extent of her abilities). Asclepius laid out Ulrick’s body on the ground, placed the candles around it and lit them. We waited with baited breath as she chanted her prayers and offered up the diamond dust (which I supposed she had had the foresight to procure before we left the city). The precious dust was swept away on the wind. Some of the dust settled on Ulrick’s body. It caught the light in a unique way, causing the silent and still corpse of the young Aasimar to sparkle as we watched it intently for signs of life. All of a sudden, his chest rose in a great, heaving gasp for air. He opened his eyes and blinked several times.

“Sweet!” he exclaimed. “I’m back! Thanks, Pigeon!”

I laughed. It seemed Domoki’s nickname for Asclepius was catching on.

Next was Steranis. The ritual that Asclepius laid out for Steranis was different, and at first, I wasn’t sure why. As Asclepius chanted, something was appearing next to Steranis’ body. It was ethereal at first, wispy and translucent, but slowly it began to take the shape of a man, and I realized what she was doing. Asclepius was creating a whole new body for Steranis, a young one. When he returned, he would no longer be plagued by the aches and pains of old age. The young body had pale skin, broad shoulders, and the delicately pointed ears of a half-elf. It did not come clothed. I thought for a moment that perhaps I ought not to stare, but the process was too interesting for me to forgo watching. When the young body had finished taking form, Asclepius placed one hand on Steranis’ shoulder, the other on the young man’s shoulder, closed her eyes, and concentrated. The young man’s chest slowly began to rise and fall. The young man’s eyes opened and he looked around. Then, as if as an afterthought, he looked down at his own body.

“Hmm, half-elf,” he said. “It’ll do.”

He gave his new body a shake or two, then walked over to his old body, removed the clothes from it, and put them on himself.

“Is there anything you want us to do with your old body?” asked Asclepius.

“No,” answered Steranis, “it is but a vessel. Throw it in the lake.”

We had left Joanos’ body at the Fort, and presently I mentioned we should probably go back for it if we were going to raise him as well. As much as things were far more pleasant without him, I couldn’t deny that he was useful, and if we were up against Demigods, we needed all the help we could get.

“No,” said Asclepius, simply. “He left me instructions not to try to bring him back.”

It took a minute for that information to sink in. I had wondered if his reckless behaviour in the last combat was the result of magical compulsion, but in light of the new information, I began to see it for what it was. Joanos had left this mortal realm on purpose; it was suicide by Ogre.

“What his life really that miserable?” I asked, more to myself than anyone else, but I suppose I spoke aloud, because Asclepius answered me.

“Why do you think he was always drinking?”

I had never thought of it that way, but in retrospect, it was obvious. Joanos had been a profoundly unhappy man, drowning his sorrows in drink, and lashing out at the world whenever he could. I had been unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of many of his lashing-outs, but now that I saw them in context, I felt a little bad about how I had handled them.

“I suppose I wasn’t really helping matters, was I?” I reflected out loud.

“You are not to blame,” she said. “You were only responding to his attempts to antagonize you.”

Steranis unslung his pack from his shoulders and coaxed Joanos’ ferret out. After a short time chattering back and forth with Steranis, the ferret looked around at each of us, as if to say farewell, and ran off into woods alone.

◊◊◊

The village had been evacuated by this point in light of the rising water level. We were exhausted from the ordeals of the day, so we slept a fitful sleep before heading out the next morning to see what had happened to the dam. I felt stronger in the morning, and a new reserve of magic sat untouched for the day’s use. We packed up quickly and were on our way. As we left town, I noticed the water level had receded a bit since last night, and I breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

As we made our way upstream toward the dam, the river banks rose steeply on both sides until we found ourselves in a canyon carved out by the river.

After a few hours walking, we rounded a corner and the dam came into view. A great stone monstrosity spanned the width of the canyon here. Into the face of it were carved five giant skulls, somewhat weathered over the passage of centuries, but imposing nonetheless. The right-most of the skulls was almost completely obscured by the giant cascade of water pouring down the inside of the dam. A huge section of the dam near the top had cracked and fallen away, and water poured down from the gaping hole with a tremendous roar.

On the near side of the river, a tall stone staircase ascended toward the top of the dam. Along its sides, pikes were hammered into the stone and capped with skulls. The skulls came from all manner of animals, from badgers and foxes to great cats, dogs, and bears, to humans and even the occasional Ogre.

“What kills Ogres around here?” I asked.

“Trolls,” replied Tenebis.

“How do you know that?” I wondered aloud, for Tenebis hadn’t shown much evidence of having done research before this.

“I know a great deal of things,” he answered, “only there was no need to share them when we had Joanos around to do it for me.”

“Oh,” I said, “Sorry.”

“They’re vulnerable to fire,” he added. “Have fun!”

I grinned, and we began to make our way up the steps.

As we ascended the steps, and idea began to form in my mind. Domoki was walking next to me, quietly, deep in thought. He had three quivers strapped to his back, each containing a different type of arrows, and his bow was strung, but hung over his shoulder.

“Domoki,” I asked, “which of these quivers do you use most often?”

“Huh?” he asked, wondering, I suppose, at the intent of the question.

“Which of these quivers do you use most often?” I repeated, not quite willing to let on to the nature of my plan.

“Umm… this one. Cold-iron,” he replied, a bit hesitantly.

I cast a spell and pointed at the quiver he had indicated. A glowing bead of light exited from my index finger and floated over to the quiver of cold iron arrows. There it settled, and the quiver full of arrows glowed faintly for a moment before fading. Domoki looked at me quizzically for a moment, but when I didn’t answer to his inquiring gaze, he shrugged and continued climbing. I smiled quietly to myself and followed him up.

As we neared the top of the stairs, we prepared ourselves for combat. Tenebis grew to twelve feet tall, Steranis assumed Stone Giant form, and I sprouted my wings. Ulrick unholstered his gun and Domoki unslung his bow from his shoulder and knocked an arrow.

The stairs ended abruptly in a small cliff. Ten feet up the cliff was the mouth of a cavern. From another cavern entrance forty feet to the right emerged more stairs leading up to the top of the dam. It seemed the cavern was likely to connect the two entrances, leaving us little choice but to pass right through it. Tenebis flew in, and I followed a short distance behind, and we stopped for a moment to let our eyes adjust to the dim light.

Before us stood an enormous two-headed giant. It wielded a flail in each arm and lumbered towards us from the back of the cave.

“That’s not a Troll,” observed Tenebis, “that’s an Ettin.”

To our surprise, the Ettin spoke before attacking. His two heads took turns shouting brief commands at us.

“Go away!” grunted the left head. “Turn around!” grunted the right one. “Go back!” “No want you here!”

“I’m afraid we can’t do that,” said Tenebis. “We need to fix the dam.”

“No!” “No fix dam!” “Our dam!” “Not yours!” “Go away!” “No bribes!” “Gorger no take bribes!” “Chaw no take bribes!” “No bribes!”

“Really?” I asked, flying up closer to draw attention to myself. “Are you sure you don’t take bribes? Because it does seem to me like that might be the easiest way to deal with this little situation. We do have quite a bit of gold!”

At this, the Ettin attacked.

“Oh well,” I said, flying up out of his reach and raining down fire, “have it your way.”

Those of us who couldn’t fly were still stuck on the stairs, and Tenebis and I had to hold off the Ettin for some time while they climbed up. Steranis probably could have turned into a Pterodactyl again, but then his wingspan would have been too large to enter the mouth of the cave, so this wasn’t helping him. However, in his twelve foot tall stone giant form, he had little trouble hoisting himself up over the lip and into the cave to join the fight.

The ranged attackers couldn’t get a clear shot at the Ettin from down below. The cave did not leave a lot of extra room, and the three of us probably could have handled the Ettin on our own, but nonetheless Ulrick took it upon himself to scramble up the cliff face to get a better shot.

“Really? Is that what we’re doing?” I heard Domoki ask, rhetorically, as he reluctantly began to climb up the cliff as well.

Ulrick scrambled into the cave and bullets began to fly. Unfortunately, entering the cave also put him within reach of the Ettin, who seized the opportunity to attack someone smaller.

Domoki climbed into the cave as well and loosed his first arrow of the fight, and I treasured the look of surprise and glee on his face when the arrow caught fire mid-flight.

“Cool!” exclaimed Domoki, as he fired three more arrows and watched them flare up, but I think he was distracted by the novelty, for all three of them missed their mark.

The Ettin had Ulrick backed into a corner by now, and Ulrick was on his last legs when Domoki’s arrows finally started hitting. Both heads roared, and he wheeled around, still ignoring Tenebis and Steranis, and wailed on Domoki instead. Circling the beast overhead, I stepped up the intensity of my fire, burning through it more rapidly than I ought to.

The Ettin swung his flail out at knee level, sweeping Domoki’s legs out from under him. Domoki fell to the ground, smashing his face against a rock. Tenebis and Steranis swung back at the Ettin with sword and naginata as I continued to pour fire out onto it. It swung its flails once more, at once knocking Steranis back and smashing Domoki’s head further into the rock. Tenebis’ next blow felled the Ettin. I landed next to Domoki. He was not moving, and I dared not turn him over for fear of causing more damage.

Tenebis swooped out of the cave and returned with Asclepius, but after checking for a pulse, she shook her head sadly at me. It was simple gesture, but it hit me in the chest like a Warhammer. Tenebis rolled Domoki over onto his back. The living stone of his face was shattered, and as his body settled onto its back, chips of stone slid off and landed on the ground. Beneath his shattered face, the orange magma of his insides oozed out. I stood there in shock for a few moments, taking in the gruesome sight. Finally, I tore my eyes away from his mangled face and stared imploringly at Asclepius.

“Please tell me you have more diamond dust,” I said. “You can bring him back, right?”

“I can, if he is willing,” she answered.

“The Trolls know we’re coming now. They’ll have heard gunshots,” pointed out Tenebis. “It’s not safe to do it here. We could get jumped.”

“No!” I snapped. “I’m not leaving him here!”

“Then we’ll take him with us,” said Tenebis.

“Yeah, sure, you’re just going to sling him over your shoulder and keep on fighting!” I exclaimed, “That’ll work great! It’s not like you need both arms for that!”

“Tenebis,” said Asclepius, gently, “Urhador is clearly in no shape to go on. Stand watch at the mouth of cave please, and I shall call Domoki back.”

Tenebis and Asclepius stared at each other for a few moments, as if in a battle of wills, but it seemed Asclepius won out. Tenebis turned and walked over to the far side of the cave, and Steranis guarded the near entrance.

The next hour swam by in a blur as Asclepius performed the now familiar ceremony. I was always surprised at how the gust of wind came right at the moment the diamond dust was offered, even in a stuffy cave like this one. It seemed that the Gods really were watching and working through her. The stone of Domoki’s face slowly moved back into place, the gashes closed up, and soon he looked like himself again. His chest began to rise and fall once more, and I breathed out a sigh of relief. I hadn’t noticed I had been holding my breath. Domoki opened his eyes in serene silence. He looked about, and seemed to be counting us, trying to account for each one so as to know he was the only one down. Slowly, he sat up and began checking himself for wounds. Finding none, he looked up at me.

“Well, how do I look?” he asked.

“Well, your face is kinda fucked up…” I began.

He quickly raised his hand to his face to assess the damage.

“…but no more so than usual,” I finished.

The look of worry disappeared from his face and he shot me a disappointed glare. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Ulrick covering his mouth to hide a laugh. Domoki stood and took a few steps forward. I was surprised to find him steady on his feet already.

“Shall we go on then?” he asked.

◊◊◊

Exiting the cave, we climbed the last few steps up to the top of the dam. To the north were the high, churning waters of Storval Deep; to the South, the long drop to Skull River below.

A group of Ogres stood atop the dam a ways from us, chipping away the stonework with pickaxes. That certainly explained the hole in the dam and the flooding. Tenebis and Steranis had great fun pushing the Ogres off the dam and watching them fall down the steep dam wall to their deaths in Skull River.

We walked along the top of the dam to what looked like it might be the control room. Tenebis busted open the door, and we met our first Trolls.

They were massive, broad, sickly green coloured things, with arms hanging down to their knees. They suffered from a terrific case of under-bite, causing their lower tusks to stick out far in front of their faces, with their large flat noses and their black, empty-looking eyes.

They did not like fire, and between my fireballs and Domoki’s flaming arrows, they were soon toast.

“Yeah!” exclaimed Domoki, when the last spark had died out and the burnt Trolls lay at our feet. “Go team flame!”

Tenebis and Ulrick chuckled.

Domoki held one hand out for a high five, but I simply stared at him, one eyebrow raised sceptically.

“Yeah, can you not call us ‘team flame’?” I asked.

“Why?” said Domoki.

“Well, I was trying to avoid the obvious ‘flaming homosexual’ jokes, but apparently, it’s too late for that.”

“I don’t get it,” said Domoki.

“I’ll explain later,” I said. “Let’s find the controls for this dam.”

We did not find the controls on this level, but we did find stairs leading down into the inside of the dam, which we took. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we found ourselves in a dark room mostly filled with a pool dug into the floor. There was something swimming in the pool, and it tried attacking us – two somethings, in fact, as we soon learned – but they were quickly dissuaded, and they swam off into the depths and out of sight.

In the next room, we were attacked by a strange, scorpion-shaped creature made entirely of skulls. It seemed intent on adding to its collection, and very nearly succeeded when it came to Tenebis’ head. It had him in its pincers and was just about to tear his head off of his body when Asclepius cast a spell on him and he got all slippery and was able to wrench himself out of the skull-scorpion’s grasp. When the creature finally died, it fell apart, and several dozen skulls clattered across the floor.

Looking around, we discovered in this room a scale model of the dam sitting in a small pool against the Eastern wall. This we presumed to be the controls for the dam, though we did not yet know how they worked. Tenebis was eager to sweep the rest of the complex for monsters first before we took to the time to figure that out, and, having no particular desire to be ambushed by some foul creature, I agreed wholeheartedly.

There were only two more rooms left. The first was empty save for another non-descript pool of water.

In the final room, two spacious alcoves were carved into opposite walls, a rusted iron portcullis closing off the entrance to each. Inside the west alcove was nothing more than a pile of crimson ash, but in the left one, a large comatose creature lay on the ground. With its massive dark red humanoid body, larger even than Steranis in his stone giant form, its bat-like wings, and its reptilian face with long, sharp horns, it looked to be a denizen of hell. As we neared the creature to get a closer look, it lifted its head weakly off the ground, opened its glowing red eyes and gasped out a few words in Taldane:

“Please… let me out…”

“Tell me who you are first, and I’ll consider it,” answered Tenebis.

“I was once called… Avaxial… but I have been trapped here for ten thousand years… and no one has called me anything in that time…”

“Who trapped you here?”

“A Runelord named Karzoug. This device…” he gestured to the alcove in which he lay, “sucks out my life-force… to power the dam. And I’m almost out. My brother over there,” he continued, indicating the pile of ash in the other alcove, “ran out about 50 years ago. That’s why the dam… won’t open. It needs life forms in both alcoves for power.”

“Are you a devil?” asked Tenebis.

“You know I am…” he rasped.

“Then why should we let you out?” asked Asclepius.

“Because you only have three options…” answered the Devil, “and letting me out is the least repugnant of them.”

“Oh?” I asked. “How so?”

“Well your first option…” he began, summoning his remaining strength and pulling himself up onto his elbows “…is to let me out. And I shall go back to hell, and I shall bother you no longer. Your second option… is to put someone in that other alcove… and activate the floodgates… sucking the rest of my life-force out and killing me. But if you do this… I still go back to hell, and this time I have a grudge against you, for forcing me to suffer… and when I return, I will burn your homes to the ground, and take everything that you hold dear. And of course your third option… is to leave me here, and do nothing… but if you do that, the dam will break, and the whole land will flood, and I suspect all sorts of people will drown. So you see,” he finished with a coy smile, “you’re in a bit of a fix.”

We retreated out of earshot of the devil to discuss our options.

“First of all, is he telling the truth?” I asked Domoki.

“Yes, but not all of it,” he answered.

“If you kill a devil,” volunteered Asclepius, “it’s stuck in hell for 100 years and can’t leave.”

“It’s when it gets out after 100 years that you have to worry,” said Tenebis.

“Won’t we all be dead by then?” asked Ulrick.

“Domoki won’t,” said Tenebis, “unless he gets himself killed again. And I’d like to think I might still be alive by then as well.”

“Not to mention some of us might have children,” I added. “The question is, if we make some sort of deal with him, can we trust him to follow it?”

“If you are very careful about the wording of the deal,” provided Asclepius, “then yes. A devil is like an evil lawyer. They get you on the technicalities.”

“Then what we need is someone to draft an airtight contract,” said Tenebis.

“Damn it,” I said, “just when we need Joanos, he goes and dies on us.”

“We will just have to do the best we can,” said Tenebis. “I don’t want a devil with a grudge coming back to torment me in my old age.”

“I’m not comfortable with this,” I admitted.

“Good,” said Asclepius, “you shouldn’t be.”

◊◊◊

It took some time, but eventually we came up with what we hoped was an adequate contract.

This contract is a binding agreement between Avaxial, Pit Fiend of Nessus and the group referred to herein as “The Seven”: Tenebis, of Cheliax; Asclepius, Cleric of Dalenydra; Brother Domoki, of the Kazaron Sactum; Ulrick Kranar; Steranis, fourth incarnation of the Tanglevine Druid; and Ÿridhrenor Ruyshekcu. The fact there are only six members of the group known as “The Seven” shall not void this contract.

The Seven agrees to dispel the magic circle imprisoning Avaxial on the Material Plane. Furthermore, the Seven agrees to allow Avaxial to Teleport back to Nessus, the ninth level of hell.

In return, Avaxial agrees to remain in hell for one hundred and one (101) years. During this time, Avaxial shall not enter the Material Plane, nor shall he send any of his minions, associates, contractors, or subsidiaries to the Material Plane for any reason.

After a period of one hundred and one (101) years has elapsed, Avaxial is permitted to travel between the planes. However, at no point shall Avaxial or his minions, associates, contractors, or subsidiaries contact the Seven or their heirs or descendants for ten generations. Avaxial (and his minions, associates, contractors, and subsidiaries) shall not, directly or indirectly, harm the Seven (or their heirs or descendants for ten generations) nor in any way seek retaliation upon the Seven (or their heirs or descendants for ten generations) for any harm done to him at Skull’s crossing.

When the contract was complete, we passed it through the bars to Avaxial and hoped for the best. He skimmed it over casually, pricked his finger with a sharp fang, and signed it in blood. I was concerned by the fact that he did not even try to argue the terms, and desperately hoped that it was out of desperation that he agreed so readily, and not that we had left an obvious loophole. Avaxial passed it back through the bars and dragged himself to his feet.

Tenebis cast dispel magic upon the stones imprisoning Avaxial, and in seconds, he had Teleported out and was gone from this plane.

◊◊◊

Having released the devil (and hopefully having succeeded at banishing him to hell for an hundred and one years), we were left with the question of how to power the dam.

“So, the dam uses whoever’s in the alcoves as a power source?” I asked, to no one in particular, since we’d all received the same information from Avaxial.

“Seems like,” said Tenebis.

“Right then,” I said, lifting the portcullis on one of the alcoves and stepping in, “I volunteer.”

“Urhador, you don’t need to do that,” said Domoki.

“Relax, Domoki,” I said, “Avaxial was in there for 10,000 years. It obviously drains life force very slowly. One activation isn’t going to kill me.”

I waited expectantly for someone to step into the other alcove.

“Urhador, stop being ridiculous,” said Tenebis. “Get out of there. I’ll summon some scorpions or something.”

“What, you mean it doesn’t have to be sentient life?” I asked. “You can just throw any old bug in there and it’ll work?”

“Only one way to find out,” said Tenebis.

I stepped out of the alcove, slightly embarrassed.

Tenebis dismissed his Eidolon, and the telltale glow lifted off of him, forming into its own creature and flying up through the ceiling of the room and out of sight.

Steranis, meanwhile, was staring very intently at the stone floor of the East alcove. As he stared, the stone slowly began to move, molding and shaping itself like clay until it had formed the shape of a small cage in the center of the alcove’s floor.

When the cage was complete, Tenebis walked over and summoned a scorpion into it. The scorpion skittered to and fro within the cage, searching for a way out, but there was none, and its efforts were fruitless.

When Steranis and Tenebis had repeated the procedure in the other alcove, we stood around waiting for something to happen. Nothing did.

“The controls,” said Tenebis, as walked out of the room and back towards the scale model of the dam we had found earlier.

A minute later, there was a great flash of light in each alcove, and when the light faded, two, tiny black piles of ash remained – all that was left of the summoned scorpions. Then there was a low rumbling sound and the floor beneath my feet vibrated. The sound of rushing water filled my ears as the water of Storval deep finally flowed once again through the open floodgate of the Skull’s Crossing Dam.

The flooding in Turtleback Ferry would be worse at first, since there was more water pouring through the floodgate than had been pouring over the top, but we had relieved the pressure on the dam, and the danger of it collapsing altogether had thus past. Once this infernal rain stopped, everything should go back to normal.

◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊

FAQ

What is this?

This is a character journal from a playthrough of the Pathfinder Adventure Path "Rise of the Runelords". It contains spoilers (obviously) from Rise of the Runelords, but game mechanics are abstracted in favour of telling a narrative.

Where can I read more?

The full, novel length story can be read at: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20787326/

This story is 5 years old, why are you posting it to r/gametales now?

After a long hiatus due to having young children, I have more content coming soon! Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting excerpts from "Too Pretty to Die" to r/gametales in hopes of drumming up an audience before the next big installment of the story is posted.

Does this story have romance in it?

Duh.

I hope you enjoy my story! If you're still reading, please comment below and let me know what you think! I love fan-mail and criticism alike!