A New BeginningSeptember 5th, 2016, 10:16 pm

The folk of Pinedale gather at the Inn, to celebrate their long-awaited victory over the Al'Carn and his Legion. Strong ales and wines are passed around, a feast is prepared, and music fills the air. The celebrations quickly spill over into the surrounding town, and people dance and sing, hug and kiss, as they grow giddy with happiness over their new-found victory – and security.

Suddenly, the druids of the town all stop in their tracks, the same struck-dumb looks on their faces. As one, they hurry towards the lake. Those that notice, mostly the seasoned adventurers of the town, follow behind them. As they move towards the lake, they see countless animals, small and large, heading rapidly in the opposite direction.

Then, the ground shakes. Just a small tremor, but it lasts several minutes.

When the large group of adventurers arrives at the beach, they witness another celebration: Pisceans play and cavort in the shallows, dozens of them, perhaps hundreds – it is hard to tell, as the water is practically boiling with leaping and splashing fishfolk. Atticus walks forward, and asks one of them a question in Draconic. A rapid conversation ensues, then he turns back to his friends.

"He says their master has returned, and we will all be washed away. He says we must leave or we'll be drowned."

Sidhan steps forward and asks, "Leave the beach? That's fine, it's their lake anyway."

"No", says Atticus. "Leave Pinedale."

"We'll see about that!", growls Ivan, drawing his sword and advancing on the nearest Piscean.

All at once, the center of the lake erupts, and a head as big as the Inn emerges, mounted atop a long, sinuous neck. It's the largest creature anyone has ever seen – has ever heard of! – and it stretches its head forward, fixes Ivan (now stock-still) with a huge, baleful green eye, and speaks.

"You will not harm my children, Ivan Freelander. None of you drylanders will do so. I am Pisces, returned from my slumber, and I have decided to make my home here, in the ancient ruins of Nalbendel."

"This lake is not large enough for my complete comfort, so I have decided to… expand it. I have used ancient Draconic rituals to cause the lake to fill to a more satisfactory level. Sadly, for you, the gradual rise in the water level here will soon engulf Pinedale and Cairnhold. You have three days to gather whatever belongings you treasure and depart in peace."

The immense form of the dragon, hundreds of feet long, begins to emerge from the water, coiled upon itself like an enormous serpent. The Pisceans caper and gambol in ecstacy, their celebrations growing frantic. They are in the presence of a god, their god, and the futility of opposing this being is obvious to all present.

The enormous head rears back, and it roars. The force of the blast pushes many of the townsfolk off their feet (though, interestingly, the more observant amongst them notice that the Pisceans seem unaffected by it) and most of them take to their heels.

Octavius steps forward, his face hard, and starts to speak, but Pisces head shoots forward in a blur and butts into him. Octavius flies several feet, and lands hard, the front of his segmentata armor dented and hissing, being eaten slowly by acid. Others rush to aid him, and some draw weapons.

"BEGONE!", bellows the god-dragon. "You show more bravery than sense, little dogs. You have three days!"

Pisces whispers some words, and a shimmering field of force descends around the lake, trapping the beast and his children inside, and keeping the townsfolk out. Marcus steps forward and touches it, and receives a nasty jolt to his arm.

Janos the Scholar steps forward and gathers several large rocks. He places one right at the edge of the bubble, then measures a pace away and places another, then another a further pace. He returns to the first rock. "See? Already his shield expands!" The bubble is now an inch over the first rock Janos placed. "I suggest we get back to town and begin packing – NOW!"

Two days later, the water level had continued to rise, and was now at the far edge of the field outside town. The protective bubble Pisces erected had faded a day later, but the water never stopped rising. The engulfing of Pinedale was inevitable.

The third morning, an old man with a staff strode into town.

"I am Elderman Tomas, from Maplewood. Some of you have passed through our little town, about thirty miles southwest of here, before. We heard that you had finally dealt with the scourge of that lich a few days ago, and I set off to come here and confirm that it was really true. You see, all these past years, while you've been playing politics with Cairnhold, having your truces and stalemates with the undead, that lich was sending his minions far and wide, slaying all they found. It's been almost ten years we've been suffering, and our poor town's population has been cut in half."

"Now, I arrive here and see that you have new problems of your own. I had to walk a day out of my way just to get around this new inland sea – it's quite large! And it seems to still be growing! It looks very much like you need to find new homes for yourselves. I'd like to extend an invitation to all of you to move to Maplewood. We have plenty of vacant houses, and we've erected a goodly number of large tents with fine wooden plank floors if the houses and cabins aren't enough. While our inn is very fine, Merchant Town would do well with some new commerce. The trade routes will have to re-route around this lake, and if all of your fine craftspeople and merchants relocate to Maplewood, we'll have a leg up on the competition right away!"

"Furthermore, Maplewood is somewhat more… civilized than Pinedale ever was. After all, we're much closer to Terra and Civen than Pinedale is, so people are just more used to following some rules and laws. We have many advantages. And I'm sure you know about the Helix."

Oz the Merchant's head came up sharply. "The what?", he said.

"I thought everyone knew about the Helix of Maplewood", said Tomas. "It's the reason for the town's existence. There is some sort of enormous ancient artifact buried beneath the town. It heals us and protects us, and the town. All residents of Maplewood benefit from it – as long as they don't break the laws."

"Laws?", said Dren. "We're not used to much in the way of laws here. This is the Freelands."

"Our laws are very simple", said Tomas. "Don't hurt or kill other people, and don't deprive anyone of their property or dignity."

"Who enforces these laws?", asks Dren.

"Why, the Helix does, of course, with the assistance of the townsfolk, occasionally, and the Elders. Those who break the laws lose the benefits of the Helix – in fact, they feel themselves subtly repelled from Maplewood and the surrounding area. We call it The Shunning. The Elders can ask the Helix to shun someone, and ask it to lift it too. It's all very civilized."

"We can tell you more about it all when you arrive", said Tomas, "but we should get on the road quickly. The water seems to still be rising."

Both comments and pings are currently closed.