Conflict on a Frozen Lake

Cold. It was all cold. Her skin was cold. The air she sucked into her lungs was cold. Hells, she could have sworn her bones chittered around beneath her flesh. Ciel scrambled out of the snowdrift in a panic. Through her ringing ears, she could make out some shouting and crashing all around her. The pain as she inhaled kindly informed her at least two of her ribs were cracked. She blinked out the snow from her eyes and looked at the carnage around her. Smoke in the air above the village. Splintered trees all around the lake. On the hill beside the river, some kind of effervescent plasma flowed out of the tumor entrenched in the snow and dirt, glowing with a pale blue light. She’d made it bleed, but she couldn’t destroy it. The red flesh pulsed and gnarled as the wound began to close.

“Watch your left!” came a rumbling voice, echoing through the basin. Her head jolted up and her gaze found the adventurers that had joined in this doomed effort. The two white dragonborn ducked and whirled and kicked and slashed around their opponent with a speed and grace that it couldn’t match. From the tumor in the ground ran a fleshy cord into the tail of the thing. That terrible and grotesque thing, that was formerly two different dragons - one red and one white - was now a tangled mess of seven legs, four wings, and two heads all spiraling out from a barrel of iron-hard scales and muscle. She didn’t know how it could move, much less attack with such ferocity.

The two dragonborn warriors didn’t seem to be finding any gaps in the thing’s hide, either with Dreslad’s fists nor Rhigg’s sword. Laeren’s musical conjurations and Cordelia’s primal magics fared no better against the thing’s arcane defenses, only being able to slow it down marginally. They afforded the two scaled warriors their opportunities to duck away from whatever slash of claw or gnash of teeth came their way, but did nothing to properly wound or halt it. Argolo and Merofalk were stuck handling everything else - standing between the legions of minor demons and the civilians of the lake village. It was hopeless.

A gout of flame erupted from the thing’s maw, charring the rocks and trees on the bank of the lake. Rhigg emerged from the fire and thrust his sword at one of the thing’s toes. Cordelia’s ward protected him well from the flame, but the thing’s hide protected it similarly from the dragonborn’s steel. Despite everything, they pressed on.

Ciel steeled herself. I have to think of something, she thought adamantly. Whatever magic spawned this tumor was beyond her capability to dispel or destroy, that much was clear. But maybe she didn’t need to destroy it.

Ciel leapt to her feet. Her mind raced. There had to be some other way to get rid of it. A banishing magic wouldn’t work- even if the tumor was of the Abyss, the dragons were of Toril, so back to Toril they would return before much of any time passed. Would it separate them? Would it be worth it to deal with two rightfully pissed off dragons? They only were holding up so far because the thing was clearly mad. She couldn’t risk returning sapience to their adversary. So what?

Think, think, she rubbed her brow. Think, think. Her stormy gray eyes darted  everywhere, looking anywhere for an answer. The thing whirled in the distance, slamming its limbs against the ground. Dreslad yelped, bludgeoned, but not crushed.

And then she saw it. It was plain, and uninteresting. She would never have noticed it normally, but her mind was running as a courser would across a plain.

A frozen rock, against a tree.

Encased in ice.

The lake! Ciel snapped to attention and sprinted down to the bank. A tendril erupted from the throbbing tumor, just barely failing to grasp the aasimar’s ankle.

It doesn’t want me to leave. It must be worried about what I could do, thought Ciel. Good. Her left lung throbbed. She wheezed. She pressed on. She didn’t notice as the earth beneath the tumor creaked and cracked.

The river that flowed into the lake was iced and slushy, but fortunately it still flowed. The lake itself was much more stagnant. The vernal sun wasn’t quite enough to melt it at this particular time of year. But if the river water flowed, that must mean there was somewhere for it to flow to. Some integral problems in the frozen lake. Some seams or cracks that could be exploited. Ciel crouched into a slide as she came upon the slush.

She squinted and looked back up at the thing. It was far enough away that she could do this, but not so far that it wouldn’t catch on. If it made for her, all she could do was hope that her party could slow it down. But that was step two. As for step one, Ciel threw her gloves off and dunked her hands into the slush and clenched her teeth as her fingers numbed. She focused, and steadied her breath.

There is no word truly accurate to describe the black mark on Ciel’s right arm. Some assume at first glance that it’s a scar or a dreadful birthmark. Many others assume it is a rather unusual tattoo. But a second glance informs any viewer that it is none of these. It lays flat on her skin, but it does not appear so. Depending on where a viewer may stand, it may look like a growth entrenched in her veins, or it may look like a chasm, an endless void. It changes shape subtly when she is at rest, calmly writhing and undulating. But, when the aasimar sorcerer unleashes her arcane might, it spreads. It crawls, following her veins down her arm and up her neck, appearing as though her skin is cracking open. When she exerts herself enough, it glows with a mesmerizing unlight.

So, as Ciel’s fingers crackled with white light, the mark spread over her arm and up her cheek. It writhed and pulsed under her coat as her energies poured from her fingers into the water, and in no time she regained feeling in her hands. She sighed, and unclenched her jaw. And then her hands warmed. And then, as the water around her hands began to bubble, her hands became hot, and steam erupted from the river. Her fingers blistered, and she clenched her jaw again. The slushy river was now a roiling, bubbling flow of boiling water, pouring directly into the frozen lake. Around the seams and cracks of the lake, water began to liquefy, and the cracks began to widen, turning the lake back to water. A loud, explosive pop of failing ice interrupted the cacophony of roars from the thing, and like the land around it, it froze. And its heads craned and all four of its eyes affixed on Ciel.

All she could muster was “Shit.”

Both maws roared once again and it began to crawl toward her, across the sheet of ice. It was some fifty or a hundred yards away, and it would be upon her in no time. Rhigg and Dreslad were already in its dust, and it was still shrugging off anything Cordelia and Laeren could throw at it. The lake wasn’t even close to being liquid enough for it to fall in yet, but something had to be done. Ciel had little affinity for defense, but her talent for wounding extended to the things she could conjure.

After a moment of focus, one of Ciel’s reliable tricks erupted from her shadow. Its maw formed first, gnarled needle teeth finding their correct arrangement. Its legs followed as it began to bound forward to intercept the thing. Last, its face tore apart as two white circles formed into glowing eye sockets. The hound, made of ink, pitch, and smoke, opened its maw and leapt forward. It had little hope to match the thing’s might, but all it needed to do was keep the mass of draconic flesh where it was for a few moments longer. The teeth of the hound found what was once a hind leg and it yanked, unbalancing the thing. It collapsed and squirmed, its heads trying to find the annoyance that tripped it.

The precious seconds that the hound bought allowed Rhigg and Dreslad to close the distance the thing had left between them. Whether or not they cared to be trapped with it, Ciel couldn’t say, but they fought with a redoubled vigor, aches and bruises be damned. The thing was well and truly distracted, its fury toward Ciel forgotten, at least momentarily. From the bank, Cordelia and Laeren began to contribute to Ciel’s efforts, pouring gouts of light and flame into the lake.

And, just as Ciel began to hope, she felt a sharp pain in her back. She yowled, and looked down. Through her sternum was a spike of red, pulsating flesh. Behind her, the tumor gurgled with what she could swear was satisfaction. Its flesh had formed into putrid tentacles, and it swayed back and forth, as though breathing. Ciel spat blood and crumpled. As she fell off the tendril, her face hit the snow and mud just next to the water. She’d caught herself just enough to avoid drowning, and only one hand remained in the river. Between heavy breaths, she could feel the heat leaving both her body and the water.

Panicked shouts crossed the lake bed. With Ciel’s magic fading, the hound began to collapse under its own weight, leaving Dreslad and Rhigg to themselves in their futile effort. Everything seemed to be moving slower. Ciel’s blood steamed and congealed as it touched the snow. The tumor gurgled and shrieked, satisfied in its victory. And then, its shriek was cut short.

Ciel jolted again as a bassy thud launched the tumor onto the crackling ice. Her right eye gazed at a pair of thick leather boots, and as it rolled up, it looked at a man with a head wrapped in heavy goggles, a scarf, and furry hat, none of his visage apparent save for a bulbous red nose.

“Mero! Over here!” hollered Argolo. His coat was ripped and covered in burns and blood. “She’s bleeding out, patch her up quick!”

Snow crunched as the gnome bounded over. Argolo took up a stance and stood fast between the tumor and the collapsed aasimar.

“Hells, it’s bad,” said Merofalk. “There’s some abyssal taint here, it’s going to take more than a patch job to take care of you.”

Ciel spat the fluid out of her mouth and gasped for vital air. 

“Don’t-” gasp “need to be-” gasp “healed, just-” gasp “close me.”

“Didn’t need to tell me twice,” said the gnome.

He wound up some contraption and set it on her chest. She felt little pricks as needles began to sew her up. An unusually gentle heat as her wound was cauterized. A fiery cold from some ointment or serum that it injected into her. The fever from whatever secretion the tumor had was beginning to set in, and she could see her vision beginning to double, but she’d have to worry about that later. She sat up again and used her hands to rub the mud from her face, and then plunged those muddy, bloody, burned hands back into the river and let her magic erupt from her palms.

Merofalk revved another of his devices, arcing lightning and flinging shrapnel at the tumor as it shrieked and violently crawled toward the trio. Argolo maneuvered and redirected its weight, throwing it away. It wouldn’t make it back to the bank, not as long as the duo stood firm. In the middle of the lake, the weight of the thing was becoming a hindrance. The ice began to splinter as it gave way to pockets of water. Despite their many batterings, Rhigg and Dreslad were more easily evading its swings, as it began to concern itself with staying above the sheet. They started making their way back toward Cordelia and Laeren, leaping and flying across the roil of ice and water.

The thing shrieked with both maws. It was unsure, frightened. Its unwieldy form was too awkward, and it couldn’t claw or fly out of its trap. It sank, and sank, and its shrieks became muffled. Gouts of flame and icy wind erupted from beneath the surface. The fleshy cord that connected it to the tumor began to lose slack, and the tumor gurgled as it began to be dragged away. Argolo unleashed a torrent of kicks that sent it spinning, and Merofalk unleashed some device that blew a torrent of wind that pushed it toward the middle of the lake. As it futilely tried to swim to the surface, Ciel began to channel a different magic. Laeren and Cordelia followed suit, and the lake began to stiffen. The crests and troughs of icy waves slowed. Spires of ice and malformed water solidified, and the lake became a field of wicked shapes that would be right at home in the Abyss. But, it was still. And after the echoes of the shrieks and gurgles dissipated, the air was quiet.

And then, from all who could breathe comfortably, cheers erupted. Dreslad hugged everyone in his immediate vicinity, and would have kissed Rhigg, were he not shoved off by the burlier dragonborn. Each time Cordelia was pried away from one victim of her embrace, she promptly found another. After it was clear she wouldn’t stop grasping for some time, Laeren was content to let her be affixed to his person. Argolo and Merofalk seemed to scream with such vigor that they each almost passed out. Ciel smiled quietly and sat back on her haunches, fully at rest for the first time that day.

Argolo shouldered her as the group made their way back to the village. Demon corpses lay strewn about still, and houses were clearly charred from the violence, but the town was still standing. Cheers and applause rang through the streets. Merofalk, Laeren, and Argolo waved to the crowd. Cordelia and Dreslad shook hands with any in their path. Rhigg gave no reaction. They made their way back to their lodging, and in short order, Cordelia and Merofalk had healed Ciel of the Abyssal venom. As luck would have it, her Celestial blood had burned out the majority of it already, preventing it from causing any lasting damage. The party ate like kings that night, and slept more soundly than any of them had for months.

In her sleep, Ciel dreamed deeply. She walked through a field of iridescent grass. There were mountains in the distance each way she looked, but they never seemed to get closer. The sky had seven suns that spun around slowly. She walked, and walked, and there was still nothing except grass, until she saw something very far away. Just barely within her visibility were three silhouettes. People? She started jogging toward them- maybe she knew who they were? And then, the grass began to char. The ground split in front of her, separating her from the three silhouettes, and red light erupted from the chasm. A sonorous laugh bellowed from far, far below. The suns began to slow in their orbit around each other, and they changed color, turning the haze of red light to an emerald green. As Ciel looked up, they slowed further, and drew closer, before becoming a single black sphere in the sky. The sphere split and gave way to a yellow eyeball, staring straight into Ciel’s very being.

She woke up with a start. Whatever the hells she just saw, she knew it meant one thing: it wasn’t over.