Aftermath

	Linus roared and cast a jackalwere back from the walltop.  It slammed into the ground and writhed in pain.  The guard beside him put an arrow through its head.  A ball of flame soared over them and slammed into the stone before the wall, blasting bodies away.

	It was total anarchy.  The Jackalweres had sent a few of their troops to each road that approached the House of Duty to occupy the walltop troops, then abruptly charged from the west.  The troops they had sent to the other walls all had slings and bows, and were just large enough in number to keep the men facing them from disengaging to bolster the west.  Linus and his core group of adventurers were essentially holding the west wall by themselves, save the three men assigned there before.  The ground outside the wall was slick with blood and coated in desert dust.

	“For our Dutiful Lord!” one adventurer hollered, throwing a bag of acid vials into the air.  They spun lazily through the air, then a blast of Magic Missile darts pierced them, sending sharp glass and boiling acid through the air to coat the road below.

	Linus gritted his teeth as a shortbow shot clinked off his helmet.  If he had had time to set his skirmishers on the rooftops, he would have had thrice the clear zone between the walls and the enemy, but no.  They were actually at the wall, in places.

	Suddenly, he heard words in his head.  He immediately recognized the voice of the cleric from Farview, Erastus.  “Linus, a faun and satyr are here and they say they’re here to see you when you can get free,” he said.

	“NOT NOW, ERASTUS!” Linus shouted.  “CALL BACK LATER!”  He ignored the strange looks of the other men on the wall and hurtled a bottle of acid as far as his enhanced muscle let him, and it broke over the doorframe he had spotted movement in.

	A Jackalwere fell out, shrieking, and the guard shot him, too.  “What on Toril is wrong, Linus?” the guard demanded.

	“I got a Sending at the worst time,” Linus said irritably.  He pulled the guard down as a rock flew past their heads to clatter against the cobble inside the wall.  “Damnation!  They’re everywhere.”


	Far off in Conyberry, Erastus flinched at the rage and violence in Linus’ voice.  “Uh… he’s really busy.  He says I should call back later,” he said awkwardly.  “I don’t know how much later.”

	Lumira reported that to Viri, who sighed in frustration.  “Why are Primes so busy all the time?” she asked irritably.  “Ugh.  No, don’t translate that!” she said as Lumira opened her mouth.  “I’ll… just wait here for a while.  I suppose we should get a room.”

	After Lumira translated Viri’s words, Erastus awkwardly directed her to the inn, and watched as the two fey walked off.  “What a bizarre town this is,” he muttered to himself.

	Once the innkeeper was done gawping at the two naked, furry people in his establishment, Viri managed to secure lodgings for herself there, and walked up to take a look.  The two women spent several minutes marveling at the amenities of the little frontier inn.  Neither had ever seen a mirror before.


	Linus thrust his blade aloft and held it high.  “Victory is ours, friends, for Landwells and Torm!” he called.  The ragged cheer went up from the scattered survivors of the defenders, who held their holy symbols aloft.  The last of the jackalweres were gone and running for their lives.  Behind the walls, the citizens of the town emerged from the House of Duty, gawping at the condition of their homes.

	The Paladin lowered his gleaming blade and met the eyes of the remaining defenders.  “My friends, the day is ours, and although we did not all emerge unscathed, Lanwells survives.  May it recover from this brutality, and be made stronger for it.”


	An hour later, his healing magic spent, Linus was putting his things in his bag to leave when Deacon Mordican walked up to him.  The Deacon had not had to risk himself in the fight, thanks to the ferocious efforts put up in the House’s defense.

	“Knight Vorth?” he asked.

	“Hmm?”  Linus finished tucking his remaining ammunition in his pack and looked up.  “Can I help you, Deacon?”

	Mordican bowed his head.  “I wanted to thank you again for aiding us, sir.  You may well have saved us all.”

	Linus bowed back, but waved a hand.  “No, sir, I suspect your House may well have weathered the assault without me.  Still, you are most welcome for the aid.”  He slung his pack and shifted it to a comfortable balance.  “And now, I need to return to Conyberry.  I’m told a friend is awaiting me there.”


	As he rode on Noble’s back to the west, he felt the brief buzz in his mind again.  Erastus spoke to him from the distant village.  ‘Is now better?  Viridian and a Satyress are here to see you.’

	Linus concentrated on his return message.  ‘I will arrive tomorrow.  Is there some crisis?’

	Minutes later, another Sending entered his mind.  ‘No.  It’s not urgent.  Viridian says she wanted to speak with you.’

	‘Acknowledged.  I should return around lunch tomorrow.’  Linus looked up at the horizon as his reply faded from his mind.  “All right, then,” he said to himself.  He patted Noble’s back.  “We’re going to see Viridian,” he said.  Noble flicked his mane.  “Yes, you do remember.”  Linus sighed.  “And a Satyress.  Goodie.  Well, this should be interesting.”


	Erastus shut the door on the inn rooms and Viri beamed at her escort.  “He’ll be here soon?  Yay!”

	“Apparently,” Lumira said.  She stood and stretched.  “This place is boring.  I’m going to go find a snack or something.”

	“Okay.  I’ll see you later!” Viri said.  She started pacing around the room, wondering what she and her friend would talk about first.


	Lumira idly scoped out the treeline of the Neverwinter woods.  The local game was pretty great, she remembered, although it belatedly occurred to her that she hadn’t brought a bow.  She huffed irritably and wondered if it was worth going back to Viri to get some coin from her to buy a meal.

	No, she decided.  Better to go off and try to catch game the hard way.  If she found nothing, oh well.  She moved down the road, out past the gate, and off to the trees.

	As she drew near, however, she suddenly halted.  Her eyes widened as a woman she knew emerged from the mass of green and brown.  “…Slicce?” she asked.

	The other Satyress threw up her arms.  “Lumira!  Welcome, sister!” she said, and moved to embrace Lumira.

	Lumira took a half-step back from Slicce, shocked.  Her friend did not look well.  She was gaunt in her limbs, and the skin on her face was drawn, but she was also bulging slightly below the belly.  She managed to open her mouth to speak before Slicce caught her in a hug.  “Slic- oof!” she managed.  She returned the hug, then held Slicce at arms’ length.  “Sister, hello,” she said breathlessly.  Her friend was indeed showing.  “Slicce, are you… pregnant?” she asked.

	“Yes, sister, I am!  Oh, you figured that out quickly,” Slicce said.  “I suppose I’m showing more than I thought.”  Slicce stepped back and gestured to the woods.  “Come, see how our tempt has come along!  We have such fun here!”

	Lumira bit her lip.  That was a very good idea, it seemed.  Still, Slicce did not look well.  “Er, I can’t,” she said.  “I contracted to aid Viridian here, to keep her safe while she visits Linus.”

	Lumira couldn’t have said why she had mentioned the Paladin’s name, but as soon as she did, Slicce recoiled.  “Oh!  Oh, well, that’s alright,” Slicce said.  “Well, maybe you could bring her with you later?”

	“Maybe,” Lumira said.  It was a highly tempting offer.


	Viri was slowly pacing in her room when Lumira returned.  She was so lost in her own head that she didn’t notice the conflicted look on her satyress friend’s face.


	The wind lifted Noble’s wings as he soared through the air, carrying Linus on his back.  The pair of them flew with the currents, soaring high over the forests of the Northlands and past the edge of the vast desert that had long ago swallowed up Netheril.  They flew in silence, unencumbered but for Linus’ kitbag.  As the sun drew lower in the sky, Noble angled down to come to rest in the woods that lay dotted northwest of the great moors.

	Linus sat back against his dozing mount’s flank and focused his mind.  Meditating before sleep was a great way to tire oneself out quickly, and he had learned its value during the campaign against the Cult of the Dragon.  As was usually the case, he drifted off to sleep almost immediately.

	Atypically, he did not have his mind drift in the dreamless emptiness he usually enjoyed when he slept.  Instead, he felt a vision coming on, one that struck with a speed that startled him.  In his mind’s eye, he saw his temporary home, Conyberry, surrounded by the wooden walls that they had been building for their community.  To his horror, he saw a vast horde of animals sweep in from the woods, gnashing and snarling, crawling up the walls and battering the gates, then falling upon the shocked settlers and devouring them.  His mind recoiled from the sight as Father August from the shrine fell, riddled with arrows, and the Farview Company lads crumpled under relentless spear-throws from the horde.

	Linus’ throat tightened as he saw the monsters responsible.  “Gnolls,” he snarled, and he awoke with a start.  He sat bolt upright, scrabbling for his dagger, but all was quiet around him.  He drew still and listened, but there was nothing but the chirruping of crickets.  He stood slowly, looking around.  He heard an owl’s faint hooting, and the sound of Noble shifting in his sleep.  Linus forced himself to relax, then put his hand on his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut.

	That… didn’t happen.  That simply did not happen.  He had been in the armed and glad service of Torm for years, and not once in all that time, despite toppling the Cult of the Dragon for him, aiding in the destruction of two of the Elemental Cults, and now bringing Conyberry back from the brink, had Torm ever visited his mind with a direct vision before.  He had received visions and glimpses from other gods before he had gotten one from Torm.

	So what in the hells did that mean?  There were no gnolls in the Northlands in that number!  There weren’t that many gnolls and hyenas in the northern fifth of the continent combined!  Linus slid his dagger under his pillow and glared at the stars overhead.  He needed answers, and he knew from long experience he wouldn’t get them from Torm.  No fault of his or Torm’s, though.  His god was a busy one, overseeing the lives and deaths of hundreds of millions of people on many worlds.  Still, that didn’t mean he was out of options.  He closed his eyes and tried to force sleep.  He had work to do when the sun rose, once he was done saying hello to Viri.