VII. Farewell to the Bachelor

General Summary

The party had been left in dire straights, with the Valandian unconscious and the rest of the party not much better off. Dev had put up a Fog Cloud to obscure their positions, but a Hobgoblin warlord cast Gust of Wind to break it up and the party was vulnerable once more. Now having come to the conclusion that they were simply too overwhelmed to continue fighting, the group tried to make a mad dash toward the north, where they didn’t yet see any enemies. Before they could begin their flight, Dev got knocked unconscious, but Lady Kohinoor was able to bring him back with her Lay on Hands. Once Dev was awake, he called out the party with his Mantle of Inspiration and allowed everyone to move as quickly as they could. The Valandian, who had been healed by Tharduin or Dev, removed his helmet for the first time, revealing his face to the party: a Hobgoblin, half his face covered in burn scars. He handed his helmet to Gault and ran forward, intending to face the onslaught by himself as the rest of the party got away. As the rest of the party made a break for it, Hobgoblin archers rained arrows down on their retreat. The Valandian, Alizeh and Dev all got hit with parting shots that knocked them unconscious. Achilla ran back and threw Alizeh over her shoulder, and in a feat of strength, dragged the Valandian to saftey behind her as well, while Tharduin carried Dev in his arms. With a look of dismay, Gault took the Valandian’s helmet with him and ran ahead to scout the darkened hallway ahead to make sure they wouldn't run into even more enemies. Kohinoor placed a hand upon Alizeh's cheek as Achilla passed by, healing her and bringing her back to consciousness. Gault returned and reported that ahead lay two directions, one a dead end with a clear pool, and the other leading down a hallway. As the rest of the party reached the end of the hall, they heard the hobgoblins call off the chase, confident that the party had run into a dead end and could be smoked out before long. Taking a moment to make sure everyone was back and able to carry themselves, the party deliberated their options. Dev argued that they should rest in the clearing with the pool, even offering to create a Tiny Hut for them to do so, but the rest of the party voted in preference of exploring farther so that the Hobgoblins wouldn’t know their last location--and where they would be resting. They noticed the water in the pool seemed to be flowing into another room from a crack at the bottom of the wall. Lady Kohinoor volunteered to explore it since she had been battered the least in the fight, and the rest of the party acquiesced. After stripping off her cloak and handing it to Gault to put in the Quiver of Ehlonna, Lady Kohi dove into the water below and swam through crack at the bottom, which opened up into a short tunnel. The tunnel led through into another room where the she came up for air. Unfortunately, her noisy entrance caught the attention of a creature lying in wait inside. A Behir slithered out of the darkness and spoke to Lady Kohi in a language she couldn’t understand. When she didn’t respond to its words, the creature electrocuted the water, which instantly knocked her unconscious. The rest of the party saw the bright flash of blue coming from the crack at the bottom of the pool and knew immediately that something was wrong. Gault, Alizeh and Tharduin rushed into action. Gault moved the fastest, diving into the water and happening upon Lady Kohi’s unconscious form, which had sunk to the bottom of the room on the other side of the crack. With great effort, he managed to move her heavy body through the tunnel and pass her along to Alizeh, who had followed him. Just then, the Behir appeared underwater as well, looking for its prey. Gault was hidden from the beast in the darkness, but revealed himself in order to get its attention away from Alizeh hiding with Kohi in the tunnel. Alizeh swam back with Kohi’s body and passed it up to Tharduin, who was waiting in the water above. He took hold of Kohi and healed her, bringing her back to consciousness before she could begin drowning and heaved her body back to shore. Moving fully into the chamber, Gault shot the Behir with his crossbow, but the creature attacked him at the same time—and stronger. It snatched Gault out of the water and squeezed, crushing and immobilizing him. Gault clutched the Bachelorette tightly, one last crooked smile appearing on his face before he was swallowed whole, separated from his friends in the room on the other side. Alizeh and Tharduin saw a cloud of blood fill the water, and Gault’s hat floated up to the surface a few seconds later. Almost in disbelief, Tharduin fished it out and handed it to Lady Kohinoor, who was sitting on shore catching her breath. She broke down in tears at the realization that Gault was dead...and he had died to save her.

"Why did you give it to him?"
-Tharduin Oakheart

The anger in Tharduin's voice was barely drowned out by grief.

"I...I don't know..."
-The Valandian

The Valandian's voice was just a whisper. Gault Harrow had accepted his last act with content, knowing it was what he wanted to do. Whether the rest of the party could do the same remained to be seen.