3.4 – Creating Allies

Sgith knelt by Illara. “Geoff. What are your wishes for your wife?”

I stared at the form on the floor. It wore Illara’s face, but the light was gone. It was just a vessel. “Cremation,” I rasped. “She deserves a clean flame.”

“A holy flame for a holy woman!” Juliana declared, rising to her feet. “My god, allow me to grant her final rites!” Before anyone could stop her, she thrust her hands forward. A column of fire roared into existence, engulfing the body and scorching the ceiling beams overhead.

Drisnil lunged, grabbing Juliana’s arms. “Are you mad? You’ll bring the roof down on us!”

Juliana blinked, the zeal in her eyes fading as she extinguished the pillar of fire. A pile of white ash was all that remained. I couldn’t bring myself to speak, just a hollow ache where words should have been.

Sgith let out a sigh.

“I presume you are going to need more people than just us for your mission?” Sgith asked.

“Yes, ideally” Drisnil responded.

Sgith looked at Drisnil with a scowl on her face.

“Well, if you wouldn’t mind creating the rest of my party, I believe they will be helpful.”

“Won’t they attack Drisnil though?” I asked.

“Possible, but I can try and assuade them of that desire.”

I sifted through the ghosts of our campaign, past the fallen wizard and fighter whose names were lost to brutal encounters. Phenia. I started with the witch. Her player had been cautious, measured—less likely to attack Drisnil on sight.

I fixed my gaze on the empty space near the hearth, pulling the memory of her into focus: the fall of her dark hair, the intricate silver clasps on her black robes. The air shimmered. A figure coalesced from the motes of dust in the firelight—a young, beautiful witch, blinking as her eyes adjusted, before they locked onto Drisnil.

“It’s you, what evil scheme has she hooked us into this time?” Phenia asked.

“It’s ok Phenia, I don’t think it is an evil scheme this time, it isn’t her asking for help, it is Geoff.”  Sgith pointed in our direction.

“Phenia focussed her eyes on me, “Are you a twin?  You look almost identical, the only difference is your clothing.”

“Not quite,” I responded, “I summoned myself a body to use, I don’t possess one myself normally.”

Phenia gave me a disgusted look.  “You stole a body?”

“No, it was empty when I created it, it is a clone of Juliana.”

Phenia then moved her gaze to Juliana,

“I am Juliana,” she said with a serene smile. “I serve Lord Geoff. We were once… closer. He is a humble god, content to walk among mortals in a form like my own.”

Phenia’s disgusted look continued, “It seems you have a weird group of people you are working with Sgith.”

“You know me, I only judge on what people do, and if they align with my god Solvarn’s values.  So far Geoff and Juliana have given me no reason to smite them.”

Phenia began to smile, “you always do seem to enjoy a good smiting.”

“Oh, I don’t do my duty due to enjoyment, it is what I’m compelled to do.”

“Sure, sure, where is everyone else?” Phenia asked while looking around the room.

“Geoff here, will be summoning them shortly, please take a seat and watch this miracle.”

Phenia nodded, and found a seat, sitting as far as possible away from Drisnil.

I again focussed, this time Rozan, he had ended the campaign thinking he was a Platinum dragon after losing his mind during a polymorph, I may be able to recreate him just before that moment.

“I drew on the memory of Rozan—not the dragon, but the man he was before Phenia’s spell. The space before me wavered, distorting like heat haze, and then he was there. Dressed in black, his eyes darting around the room, assessing, before landing on the familiar, unwelcome face of Drisnil.”

“Ah, this is a bit strange, why is she still alive?”

Phenia began to tear up, “Rozan!  You are alive!” She then ran up and gave him a hug.

“This hug is all nice and all, but why would you think me dead?”

While hugging Rozan, Phenia responded, “I polymorphed you, and you lost your mind, I thought you were gone forever.”

Rozan patted her back, “I really appreciate the hug, but I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Phenia released Rozan and looked at me, “Is this an earlier version of Rozan?”

“Yes, I wanted him, not a platinum dragon.”

Phenia smiled at me, “thankyou for undoing my mistake, I’m so pleased I no longer have to live with that guilt about what I did to him.”

Rozan looked around bemused, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I’ll always accept a hug from a beautiful woman.”

Phenia smiled, “ick, you always have to turn it into something creepy.”

“Aw shucks, why aren’t I flat on my back right now with a bruise to my face.”  Rozan sniggered.

“Well, let's put that down to the fact I thought I had effectively killed you.  You will get the usual treatment again soon.”

“Now Rozan, how about you move away, I believe Geoff will be summoning someone else shortly.” Sgith said, breaking the awkward silence.

Rozan moved to the side of the room and leaned against the wall, Penia sat back down.

Next up was Billin, he had died to a medusa, turned into stone and smashed, I focussed on Billin the gnome at an empty space.

Again a person appeared, a gnome, just as I had pictured him.

“Hmm that was weird” he said, while looking around the room.

“Who are the Nhalyri?  I assume based on you all having your weapons this isn’t a prison scenario?  Unless you are infact not real.”

Sgith smiled, “Billin, I’m so happy to see you again, what do you remember?”

“I remember… a Medusa. Her eyes. Then nothing until now.” He looked at his hands, then back at Sgith. “So this is the afterlife? It’s… drafty.”

“Not quite,” Sgith said gently. “Geoff is bringing back allies for a mission.”

Billin stroked his beard, his gaze sharp and calculating. “Bringing back? That’s a word with dangerous edges. Still,” he glanced at Sgith’s determined face, “if you’re vouching for it, I suppose I’ve got nothing better to do. Being smashed to dust was terribly boring.”

Billin then walked up to me and held out his hand, “Well met Geoff, thank you for bringing me into this world.”

I shook his hand, it was a strong handshake, but he had soft skin.

“It is my pleasure, I’ll introduce you to everyone else soon.”

A wave of lightheadedness came over me, I suppressed the feeling.

“Are you ok Geoff, you seem a little unsteady?” Juliana asked, a look of concern on her face.

“Yeah, I think I’m not used to having a body to myself.”

“Lord Geoff, please don’t push yourself too much.”

Lastly the monk, Everett, the player that controlled him would often start fights without any thought to the result.

I thought back about what he was described as to look like, his mannerisms and his skills, what he had been through.  The world again began to warp, suddenly there was a bald man wearing robes in front of us, then the world went black.