Prologue

I served in the last war Raise the main-sails! I dealt in death; it was all I knew Prepare those magefire cannons! Move it you sissies! Youre slower than arcane ooze! We dont have much time before she makes another pass! Captain! The cann nnnrrnnnrnnn! The captain turns around just in time to see his first mate, encased in ice, shatter into a million tiny pieces that glint in the early afternoon light. Mauris! The captain curses in Latin. Theres only one chance now Malandra! Get up to the main firing deck and man those cannons! Aye, sir! Malandra rushes to the cannons, trying to get a lock on the dragon that soared above them. She fires the cannons as the dragon lets forth another blast of ice cold breath from her colossal maw. The shots from the cannons strike the dragon on her underbelly, but have almost no effect, other than causing a slight steamy mist to rise from her belly. The ship is coated in ice and the timbers making up the supports and riggers of the ship are beginning to creak under the strain, with his last breath the captain yells toward the only one unaffected by the dragons breath, Malandra! Get to safety; youre our last hope to save the continent from the nnnrrnnnrnnn. Hes encased in ice before he can finish and shatter before Malandras eyes. Captain! Malandra runs towards the single remaining life boat, grieving, but not crying, as she goes. As she is nearly ready to launch, an image of the captain, her mentor, her friend her father, crosses her mind. Tears start to falls, hot and salty and full of grief, as she launches the lifeboat. Her boat is barely free of the ship when the dragon, enraged by the shots from the cannons, swoops down and destroys what remained of the once proud vessel. As her world is filled with

falling debris, ice, and loss, Malandra sets course for an island on the horizon. Near daybreak she makes it to the shore where she collapses of exhaustion. The last thing she thinks is, Father I wont let you down. Then everything fades to black. But with the war over and my home destroyed, I set my eyes of the horizon. And the city of Stormreach

Chapter 1
Oi! You alive there!? Malandra stirs as a voice cuts through the haze of pain, loss, and exhaustion. Oh! So you are alive than, good. Malandra opens her eyes, sits up, and begins to take stock of her surroundings. Shes on a beach, sitting in the sand. The ocean opens up toward her right, deep, unforgiving and uncaring. To her directly in front of her is a range of snow capped mountains, with a surreal sunrise coming from behind them, acting as natural sentinels, keeping watch over all within their shadows.. To her left stands a small man, maybe a total of 3 foot 5, give or take a few inches, scrawny, and with darting eyes and fingers that suggest an intellect and dexterity not uncommon among the race of Halflings. Where am I? Malandra asks the Halfling, and who are you? My name is Jeets Shimis. Master lock pick, trap monkey, and assassin, at your service, Jeets says with a slight bow, and as for where you are, youre on what was formerly known as the Island of Korthos, but has become just the Village of Korthos. Formerly? Why Formerly?, Malandra asks with a confused expression, would it have anything to do with the white dragon that attacked my ship while I was still at sea? Ahhh! So you came face to face with Aussircaex and lived? I was wondering where all this wreckage came from. Yes. Our ship was attacked. I was the only survivor, as she says this, an image of her father runs through her mind, bringing a fresh wave of guilt and sadness.

Jeets gives her an odd look, which makes her wonder how long hed been standing over her and what hed heard, Yeah, I thought so. Theres a village on the other side of the mountains there, pointing to the ones that Malandra had noticed earlier. My friends Cellimas and Talbron are waiting further into the Island. We were sent here to deal with the local tribe of Sahaugin. Sahaugin? Arent they usually peaceful creatures as long as you leave them alone? Normally yes, but these Sahaugin apparently started worshipping an evil deity known as The Devourer, and now they abduct villagers as human sacrifices. My group and I were sent to deal with a high priestess in one of the caves in the mountains, we were told there was a secret entrance from there into the village, so if you want a place to sleep for the night, or passage on a ship, thats where youd want to go. Jeets looks at Malandra, an idea in his eyes, You could probably come with us and help defeat the priestess. Im sure Cellimas would prefer to have another person as bai I mean support, just in case. Malandra looks at Jeets suspiciously before answering, Sure, I wouldnt mind a chance to rest a bit, and passage to Stormreach would be welcome. Just show me where I need to go. Jeets nods, Ok, follow me. Talbron and I are packing up camp still; we told Cellimas wed meet her at the cavern. Jeets begins to lead Malandra up a steep mountain path. As theyre hiking the sky gets noticeably lighter and she is able out make out more of her surroundings. The path theyre on is covered in small green vegetation. She looks around her at the mountains that theyre now climbing, and notices several unusual shades of rock, including magenta, aquamarine, and even neon green. As she takes stock of her appearance, she notices several small cuts and bruises, but nothing life threatening. Then she notices her clothes and almost lets out a groan, her favorite Tshirt, one with a black angel with his back to a white angel and their wings interconnected, was torn to shreds, with barely enough material left intake to reach down to her mid stomach.

Fortunately her favorite jeans, dark blue denim with red swirls on them, were in fairly good condition so she didnt have to worry about that. She looks towards her rescuer, hes wearing a splotchy dronish/black shirt, with brown cotton leggings, and a small belt full of what looks to be different types of tools going around it, as well as a strap going across is back, presumably across his chest as well. On the side she can see are several knives, sharpened and balanced for either throwing or stabbing someone in the back. Silence pervades the walk as the Halfling leads Malandra to his camp, when they finally arrive she notices a tall metallic figure moving among the remaining supplies, this must be the mysterious Talbron that she had heard about from Jeets. As they approach Talbron turns to greet them, Its about time youre back Jeets, you know how Cellimas gets, the large Warforged says in deep gravely, but not unkind, tones, Ahhh, and who have we here? he asks, looking towards Malandra. Malandra. Malandra replies, holding out her hand, which Talbron shakes firmly, Malandra Angelsword. Your friend Jeets found me on the shore after my ship was destroyed by Aussircaex. I told him Id offer any help I might give in return for the possibility of a room in the nearby village. I see you may want to check your pockets just in case. Jeets has been known to acquire certain objects that arent exactly his own. Malandra quickly checks her pockets, but finds nothing missing. Not soon after that she seems as if theres an absence of something heavy somewhere on her person, she look down and realizes her necklace is gone. Jeets, Malandra says in blatantly angry tones, where is the pendant that was around my neck before came onto the shore? Jeets backs away from Malandra a few feet, well, you see, I found it on the ground and I-I- I thought it might be important so I picked gack! Jeets chokes as he finds Malandra hand under his chin, a fistful of his tunic in her hand. Give. It. Back. NOW! Malandra demands.

Yes, yes, of course! Jeets squeaks before she releases him. He reaches into one of the many pouches on his belt and pulls out a necklace made of a delicate gold chain with a single pendant on it. A pendant of a wolfs head made out of the blackest Onyx howling at a full moon made of the purest Silver. He hands it to Malandra who immediately releases him and practically sighs with relief. I apologize. This pendant is very important to me. My Mother gave it to shortly after I was born she said it was the last memory of my father that she had. Ive treasured it ever since. Its quite alright, Talbron replies, Jeets does have the tendency to take that which does not belong to him, but have no doubt, Jeets is a rather loyal friend. If theres a need and he can help he will do everything he can to make sure you come out of it safely. Malandra looks skeptical, Ill take your word for it. In the meantime though, shouldnt we be getting to the cave where your friend is waiting? Talbron and Jeets share a look, Yeah, we should The only thing is we need to finish, uh, packing up camp. Why dont you go on ahead and tell her that well be there soon? Just keep following the path up for a few more feet and youll come to the entrance of the cave, Cellimas shouldnt be too far in. Sure Ill just go do that Malandra replies. As she starts off up the path again she tries to figure out what those two were thinking, but then thought that even if she could find out she probably didnt want to know. She soon arrives at the entrance that Talbron spoke of, and quickly does cursory inspection to ascertain that it was safe to enter. Once she was satisfied that the cave wasnt about to collapse on top of her, she headed inside and began making the decent into the belly of the mountain and, hopefully, the area where Cellimas waited. As she made her decent she thought she heard the feint sounds of dripping water, oh great, she thinks, dark AND damp. This is just getting better and better. Soon though, she notices a light up ahead, and although shed firmly deny it later, she hurries towards it as if it was The Silver Flame itself.

She soon saw a figure standing next to large stone door near the light. The figure was a woman with bright gold hair that hung down to mid waist, and piercing blue eyes that told you she wasnt someone who would give up easily. She was dressed in a light blue breastplate and plate skirt, with a shield of the same color. In her right hand she carried a large mace with symbols sacred to the Silver Flame. This must be the Cellimas that Malandra had heard about; she was definitely unprepared for a priestess of the Silver Flame though. She could almost feel the divine power roiling off of the battle ready woman in front of her as she approached. Who in Khyber are you? the priestess says once Malandra gets close enough that she doesnt have to yell. My name is Malandra Angelsword. My ship was attacked by Aussircaex and your friend, Jeets, found me on the shore. He told me of the village that is supposedly beyond these mountains. I offered to help you 3 dispose of the Sahaugin priestess that resides in these caves so that Id be able to get to the village and hopefully secure room and board for the night. The cleric sighs, I hope Jeets didnt take anything from you of any importance seeing the look on Malandras face she realizes the obvious and continues on, well, anyways, I thank you for offering your services in this matter. Wed been camping in these mountains for days and only just now found the entrance to the High Priestess chambers. I had planned on waiting until Jeets and Talbron had gotten here, but I think we should continue with just the two of us for now. Alright. So, whats behind this giant door anyways? A gate the lever for which is, unfortunately, on the other side. I havent yet found a way over it, but perhaps youd be able to see something I did not. Malandra shrugs, worth a shot, lead the way. Wait, Cellimas says just before Malandra opens the door, allow me to surround us with a protection spell. This will keep us from dieing, but we can still be wounded, so try not to get hit too much.

Malandra gives out a small chuckle, you dont have to worry about that, theres not many things that can actually hurt me in any serious way, but thanks for the spell anyways. The cleric raises her eyebrows, really? Youll have to tell me how sometime, considering youre not wearing any armor. Perhaps, but after we get to the village. They open the door and step through into a wide cavernous room. Theres a shallow coating of water on the floor, about three inches deep, with torches set on metal sconces on the walls. The question of how they stay lit in such a damp atmosphere is answered quickly as they change colors, theyre magically infused flames. Directly across from the entrance that the two adventurers came in lays a heavy wooden gate, with vertical and horizontal bars tied together and reinforced with magic to keep even the sharpest of swords or the most powerful of spells from breaking it down. As they walk further into the cavern Malandra notices a hole between the top of the gate and the ceiling of the room, look there, she says, pointing to the hole, I think if I were able to get up there I could fit through and open the gate. She quickly searches around the gate for a means of climbing up, and notices several foot and handholds etched into the wall on the left of the gate. She begins to make her ascent, quickly climbing up the short wall and getting to the opening she had spied from below. Just as she is about to drop through the opening Cellimas calls out, be careful, many Sahaugin probably pass through ere, be prepared to deal with at least a gate keeper. Thanks, Ill keep that in mind, she says as she drops through the opening and into a hallway on the other side of the gate. She walks forward for what feel like half an hour but is really only ten minutes until she hears the soft padding of slimy webbed feet bumping stone, the gatekeeper must be up ahead. As she moves closer she can make out the Sahaugin guarding the lever, its bent with age, but still has hatred in its eyes for all warm blooded creatures. She silently summons the reason why things rarely harm her, Lyall, you there?

Theres a noise that seems half way between a cough and a chuckle, but only Malandra can hear it Always, where else would I be? Seeing as how Im bonded to your blood and everything. The voice lets out another strange chuckle. Yes I suppose thats true. In any case though, are you ready? Of course I am, Ive been waiting for some action that I could actually take part in. Throughout this entire silent, internal, exchange Malandras Black, Ruby-red-streaked hair, started to change to a brilliant white with sapphire-blue streaks running through it. And if anyone had been close enough to tell they would have noticed her Dark blue eyes turn the same bright white as her hair, only with bright red specks, the same as the streaks in her hair, dotted throughout the iris. In front of her a mysterious white substance begins to seem to seep out from the center of her palms, coalescing into a single misshapen mass. With her will, augmented by that of Lyall, her eternal companion and friend, she changes the mass into the shape and size of a dagger, perfectly balanced for throwing. The blade the same white as her hair, and the hilt a deep Onyx-like black with intricate runes and symbols inscribed on the hilt. She stalks forward a few more inches until shes within optimal throwing range. She takes aim, and just as shes about to throw the dagger the Sahaugin notices her. It lets out a slimy, gurgling like sound from its mouth and starts to charges her. Cacamas! she curses before quickly willing her weapon to take another form. This time its a 3-foot double edged long sword, the blade still the same gleaming white, but the hilt a bright sapphire blue in the shape of an eagle in flight with its wings extended out and its beak between them in front and its majestic body flying out from under it as the handle. No sooner has her weapon finished reforming than the Sahaugin reaches her and attempts to skewer her with its spear. She quickly parries and then, in a mighty swing, cuts the spear in half. With the fishy-humanoid disarmed she quickly slices of its head, and watches with a cool detachment, as the headless body

sinks to the floor. Keeping her weapon in her hand she moves cautiously to the lever. Upon reaching it she quickly pulls it towards her, thus raising the gate that the cleric Cellimas had been trapped behind. What took so long? Cellimas asked as she approached Malandra by the prone body of the Sahaugin guard, he seems to be old, couldnt have been a hard fight? No not really, but he noticed me just as I was getting ready to jump him, it forced me to improvise. Cellimas cocks her head slightly to the right, noticing that she had left something out, but decides not to pursue it, hmmm, well, anyways, you defeated him and go t the gate open. Now if Jeets and Talbron would she pauses as they hear the sound of metal feet and leather shoes hitting rock in the entrance chamber. Were here an out of breath Jeets exclaims as he comes into view, what do we need to do? Cellimas and Malandra shake their heads, for now we just continue down this hallway, the Priestesss chamber shouldnt be far from here. Jeets nods as he attempts to regain control over his breathing. They continue on down the passage until they come to another large stone door. This one inlaid with brilliant sapphires, diamonds, and other precious stones. In the center of the door there are several runes etched into the stones that read Lilith Anyone have any idea what that says? It says, The Chambers of Priestess Lilith, Malandra answers. When the silence goes on for a good minute she looks around, what? I studied ancient Greek when I was younger. She looks at each of her companions in turn, feeling embarrassed. Well at least we know we have the right room now. Talbron interjects into the silence, why dont we knock to see if theres anyone home?

Sure, allow me, Jeets walks up to the door and places a small square on the center, everyone may want to get back, if youd prefer not to get blown to smithereens. They all quickly take cover behind the corner of the tunnel they had just come from. Several seconds later they hear a large explosion and pieces of the tunnel roof fall down in front of them, Ok, should be safe now. They cautiously move back towards the door and find it in ruins, all that remains is the doorway that once housed it. They quickly charge through the open doorway, expecting to find several Sahaugin waiting for them, but the room is empty. What? Wheres the bloody Sahaugin? Jeets exclaims as he looks around. we were told that they would be here It would be logical to assume Talbron begins before Cellimas yells, TRAP!!! They all turn to look as a second, heavier, door slides into place, this one made to withstand all but the largest of explosions. As soon as the door slams shut, multiple Sahaugin seem to appear out of thin air and attack the group of adventurers. Attack! Cellimas yells unnecessarily. Without time for niceties Malandra contacts Lyall and the same changes as before take place, her hair turns white with blue in it and her eyes glow with the same bright color. The orb of her blood appears in the air and she wills it to take the same form of a long sword as she had when battling the elder Sahaugin guard. She leaps into the fray, slicing a Sahaugin in two who was about to stab Jeets in the back before it even knew she was there. The fight continues on for what feels like an eternity, Malandra moving with such precise movements its almost as if she and her attackers had choreographed the entire thing, Talbron casting spell after spell that laid waste to those who sought to destroy him. Jeets moving along in the shadows, only to strike without warning and deadly precision and blend back into the shadows leaving the remaining Sahaugin to wonder what had happened to their comrade. Throughout this whole spectacular and death-defying dance, stood the cleric, Cellimas. She wielded the holy power of the Silver Flame to both heal her comrades and encourage them when they were failing, and to completely annihilate those who thought that shed be an easy target. To

Malandra, when she was able to take the time to scan to make sure everyone else was fine, Cellimas seemed like a Holy Angel of death, it seemed she could almost make out a faint Light Blue flame around the clerics head the blessing of the Silver Flame. Malandra had heard of it, but never seen it in action before, it was an awe inspiring sight. Before she could appreciate more, however, she was attacked again and the dance began anew. Finally, as the last Sahaugin slumps to the floor, dead, things remain silent. Jeets cleans his daggers, Talbron rests from all the spell casting he had to do, and Cellimas thanks the Silver Flame for the giving her the power to do what she had to do. Malandra releases her will on her sword and it slowly forms a sphere once again and then slowly seeps back into her palms. As she looks up she notices the other three staring at her. Just as the silence begins to become uncomfortable, Cellimas speaks up, I dont know what that was, or how youre able to do it, but Im glad youre on our side. You werent kidding about not many things being able to hurt you; you seem to be completely unscathed. Malandra shrugs, actually I was stabbed a few times by one Sahaugin, he must have had a magic spear, but they were quickly healed by your spells. Indeed so, how are you able to do that anyways? And what is it that makes your weapons? In answer to your second question, thats my blood. Your blood?!? the other three exclaim in surprise, how are you able to do that with your blood? And why dont you need to cut yourself in order to have it come out of your body? Its a long story, so you may want to make yourselves comfortable. The reason Im able to do that is because, while I was still in my mothers womb the archmagi of the tower of the twelve on korvare melted down a sentient weapon. The weapon didnt lose its sentience though; it was simply in a liquid form. They werent sure what to do with it, because this weapon had been the cause of many unintentional murders and other evil acts for many centuries, so they called the order of the Silver Flame. The high priests of the order of the flame came and, combining all of their holy powers, they were able to purify the sentience in the liquid

weapon; this allowed the user to maintain their sanity, and still be able to use all of the weapons powers. Once the archmagi realized that people could use this weapon again, they tried to reforge it, but it was almost as if the weapon its self didnt want to be a single shape anymore. So, my mother, a wife of one of the archmagi, volunteered for a radical experiment. They drained me of all but the minutest traces of my blood, and then infused the liquid weapon into my body as I was still developing. Once I was born and began to grow, I started to notice a presence within me, one other than my own. As I grew older I started being able to contact the other presence and understand what it was saying. I learned that the presence I had felt was the sentience from the liquid weapon in my veins, and that its name was Lyall. Eventually, the rest of the magi knew about this and they started training me to use my blood as a physical weapon. I learned how to make it take the form of any weapon I willed it to be, as long as I had seen it before. Malandra finishes her tale and looks around again at the eyes of her companions; they range from sympathy, to shock and curiosity. Well, thats certainly an interesting life story, eh? Jeets replies, but, were running out of time, so the rest of it will have to wait, anyone see a way out of here? They all start searching around until Talbron calls out, Curious, I just stepped on something, a latch? As he pulls the latch a wooden gate opens up in the floor, leading to a pool of water with a large metal key on bottom. Hmmm, it looks like that key would fit the door over there Cellimas says, pointing to a door directly opposite the one that they had come in, Anyone feel like going for a swim? Hydrophobia mean anything to you? replies Jeets, sorry, if I go in there Ill start to rust, I havent had the opportunity to get some upgrades for a while. Talbron interjects. Guess that leaves me. Malandra says, she quickly strips off her T-shirt, which is little more than rags by this point anyways, and her pants, leaving her in a single, form-fitting, blue one-piece. As shes about to jump she hears a whistle form Jeets and turns to give him her most menacing stare before jumping into the water. She swims down to the bottom, looks around to make sure that

there isnt any obvious trap, grabs the key, and swims back to the surface. As her head breaks the water she yells out, I got it! She looks around the pool of water and notices a ladder to her right, she swims to it and quickly climbs out. She looks down and her dripping form, hey Talbron, any chance youve got a spell that could dry me off? Id rather not have to listen to Jeets comments that are no doubt forming in his head as we speak. Talbron gives a deep metallic chuckle, sure, just give me a few seconds to concentrate. The Warforged closes his eyes, and then starts whispering in a language that even Malandra cant understand; the spidery language of magic. As he finishes the spell Malandra feels a gust of wind for a few seconds and then the air is still again and shes no longer dripping water. She goes over to her clothes and puts them on, and gives Jeets another scathing glare for good measure, before going to the door and inserting the key to open it. The group walks through the door and continues further into the mountain. After a few minutes they come to an area with bright torches lining the walls and a clear spring running for a few feet before disappearing back into the stone of the tunnel. This seems like a good place to rest, Cellimas says, just before sitting down. Really? Tired already? I feel like I could go another mile or two, Jeets replies. Cellimas gives him a look, well, if thats the case than why dont you go and scout ahead. As Jeets walks off Malandra gets up and says, I think Ill join him. Make sure he doesnt bring the entire tunnel down on us. She continues forward for a few feet before coming to another large room with water on the floor, this one lined with torches. Directly ahead is a metal gate, and halfway between the gate and her is Jeets. She walks up to the Halfling and asks, so, why you just standing there? Theres a trap on the door, Im attempting to find the control panel to disable it. He spends several minutes searching the entire room before stopping just to the right of the gate, there he pulls back a false panel, and fiddles with the machinery inside until theres a feint click. Hah, it was no match for yours truly, Jeets says with a small bow, you can open the door now

They walk up to the door and open it, as theyre walking through Cellimas and Talbron catch up to them, having fun you two? Its time to go. The group continues forward for a few more feet until they come to a metal portcullis in a stone doorway. There, thats the priestess, performing some kind of profane blood magic. Cellimas says, pointing to a large Sahaugin with intricate symbols painted onto her scaly hide. On three Ill open the door, Talbron explains. One Two Three! On the count of three the Warforged pulls a heavy iron lever to the right of the portcullis, raising the door. At the same time the other three charge into the room, taking the Sahaugin completely by surprise. The battle is over in seconds, and around an altar to the Devourer lie three bodies of Sahaugin, one bigger and more intricately decorated than the rest. There, this priestess wont be bothering the citizens of Korthos anytime soon. Our employer said that there was a secret entrance from here into the town; you and Jeets try to find it, Malandra. I must purify the energies surrounding the altar. Jeets and Malandra spread out and search the entire cavernous room, looking for a secret entrance. Finally, in what appeared to be a storage room, Malandra finds an entrance in the wall, concealed by magic and a pulley mechanism. She pushes on the wall and the door slides open, revealing what appears to be an abandoned house. Good job, looks like you found it. Woohooo! Tidy lasses and pints up the wazoo, here I come! Jeets exclaims as he runs through the door leading into town. Cellimas and Talbron shortly follow their friend, leaving Malandra in the building. Before she steps through the door into her future she thinks back over what happened in the past few hours, and wonders what will happen from now on. Then, she takes a step through the door, and boldly walks into her destiny