The Unyielding - Cursed Compass

General Summary

As the group reels from the balor attacks a loud noise crashes in their heads and they all see stars and feel their minds pound.
When they open their eyes again they are no longer in the bleak stone chamber, instead blinking into the daylight church bells ringing nearby. The group flashes into the church where they see a woman in a white dress and Abio stand at the alter. Sarya and Amelie notice three vertical lines on Abio's collar. The group notices that the Prince stands to Abio's right as his best man.
The officiant asks the woman if she takes Abio to be her husband and she agrees.
He turns to Abio, “Do you take this woman?”
Abio solemnly recites, “I swear to the sun, the moon, the mountains and the oceans that I will love you deeply, passionately, that your happiness will be my desire, and your safety my mission, I will give anything and everything to protect our family”
The scene changes and shifts, Abio is older as a soldier comes running up to him yelling, “Help!!! Help!!! Help!!!”
“The prince has been captured in the forests outside of town. A group of unknown men attacked us and we were all nearly slaughtered, I just barely made it back to get help! We must retrieve the prince.”
Myra recognizes the man who ran up as the man who attacked Abio in the alley.
“What do you say, the prince has been taken? Where were you at?" Abio demands. "Me and my men will be off at once.”
“We were around the Skulltree.”
The wizard who has stalked Abio since his arrival interjects, “We do not know who is responsible, we should gather 2 garrisons and respond.”
“Magistrate that will take too long. We must go now!” Abio demands.
“It is better to be prepared than walk into a trap.”
“I will not risk it, we are off”
“You had better come back with him or your head will sit next to this fools”
“If I do not return with the Prince, then I will have surely died in the process, soldier go to the nearest wizard or cleric and send for Abio’s blades. Tell them to come on horses and bring an additional one for me, tell them to meet me in the forest, at the Skulltree”
One of the soldiers puts a hand on the knight who came to warn Abio. "Don’t touch that soldier, he is not under your command and his escape will allow us to retrieve the prince, he’s a hero," Abio orders.
The vision seems to blur momentarily and when the group regains their vision they are not in their own bodies but those of Abio and his blades. As they rush to the Skull Tree they find the field filled with a centuria of men. While they seem to be prepared few look trained in the art of war. As Abio demands to know where the prince is a wizard yells out for the unit to surround them and attack.
The blades carve through the men until the last vestige's of the centuria retreat leaving only the mage. The mage, who had cast greater invisibility on himself, is found by Lin and held by Fin allowing Abio to brutally eviserate the mage. Standing over the body of the mage Abio realizes the prince is no where to be seen.
Lin speaks up saying that they saw Rin taking money the other day, while Jin himes in that he remembers seeing the roster and Rin was supposed to be gaurding the Prince. Abio goes over and picks Rin up asking for an explination but Rin slips out of his grasp as Fin tackles Abio shouting at Rin to run. Rin darts quickly away as Abio whirls on Fin. Abio declares that both Fin and Rin's lives shall be forfieted telling the other men to seize Fin. As the do some of the group notice that the remainder of the centuria headed off towards a nearby town.
Abio tracks them, still covered in the blood of the previous battle. As he enters town he declares, “I know the Prince of Skull Hill Keep is here. Set him free now and I will commit no more bloodshed. Deny me him, and I will paint your walls with your blood, I will turn your rivers red. I swear to you, that if you deny me his highness, this town will be eviscerated, all that will remain will be a crater.”
As no one steps forward the scene follows Abio as he forcibly enters first home. There is a woman and her husband. As the husband runs towards the door, Abio kicks him in the chest, “Where is the Prince?”
“We do not know, we are not a par-” Abio slashes down the man before he finishes.
He stares at the woman, “Where is the Prince? Do not lie I know he is here"
The woman grabs her husband's body, crying, “I don't know where he is.”
Abio slashes down on the woman and proceeds to the next house. The scene repeats three times, with Abio slaughtering everyone in the house regardless of age, until he reaches the fourth house. He kicks in the door, finding a family with children. "Where is the Prince? Surely you value your own life. Nothing can be worth the sacrifice of your children.”
Abio gingerly places his hand on the young boys head. The child is probably 5 or 6. “If you desire for the last time you ever see your child to be now, lie to me. If you desire them to live, tell me where the Prince is.”
As most of the group has returned to viewing the scene from the third person, Sarya and Amelie are able to notice that the man is thinking extremely hard about their decision. They can almost see the neurons firing trying to process their greater loyalty.
“He is underneath the boards in the corner under the rug,” the man finally admits defeatedly.
“Show me now!” Abio yells.
The man pulls back large rug, underneath there is a storage cupboard with the Prince handcuffed.
Abio turns to the man, “I will keep our bargain, your child shall live. But, you cannot, I can make it quick now, or we can take you back to Skull Hill Keep and it will be painful and unending.”
“End it quickly”
Abio walks over to man, pulls out his sword, and plunges right into spinal column, separating the vertebrae connecting the brain and the body.
“Run you fool, they only want me,” the Prince commands Abio.
“I am your brother, I will save you even if it means death”
“You are my brother and that is why I want you to live”
“All is fine. You are safe now. We will get you home," he says softly to the Price before turning out the door and yelling loudly to the crow that awaits him outside. “I recommend everyone remaining in this town consider that you just declared an act of war on Skull Hill Keep, what that means and run. The remainder of the army will return”
The vision fades the dimmly lit cavern of a prison coming back into focus. Time seems to have passed as the group reconnects and contemplates the looming darkness ahead.

Report Date

31 Mar 2022