TWACK
The ball rocketed past the net, hitting the center of the square and bouncing straight towards Sarah. Despite the incredible power behind the projectile Andras had just launched at her, Sarah managed to return it to its sender. Albeit causing some strain to her right shoulder in the process.
“Andras, ease up!” Sarah grimaced, rubbing her strained shoulder.
Andras watched her expression with a twinge of guilt. If even Sarah, the tennis star of the group and all around athlete, was feeling overwhelmed, then he was doing something wrong. He had to be so careful when exerting himself to avoid going overboard, always being careful to not injure the people around him.
“Sorry!” He called out, taking extra care with his return swing, this time aiming at Bianca’s side. Andras couldn’t lie he felt a little bit of amusement at making the resident wild child scramble for the ball. It wasn’t uncommon for Bianca to make any member of the group scramble to help her out of the situations she seems to find herself in almost weekly so this yielded a little satisfaction.
“The crazy part is that she doesn’t realise that it wasn’t full force.” Lena chucked within herself, she did quite enjoy the front row seat she had watching Andras absolutely demolish her friends.
“Well I’m not trying to leave a 3 inch hole in our roommate.” He joked back to her.
“No, that would be quite unfortunate, we’d have to take her to hospital.” She started.
TWACK
“We’d have to hear her complain the entire time…” Andras added.
“And we could forget about ever living it down…”
“Don’t we know it.” Andras finished.
TWACK
On this late afternoon the gymnasium was quite warm, Andras thought the bright lights were keeping the room warmer than it would be at this time but it’s not like they could reliably play in the dark. Well, he probably could but Sarah and Bianca would be sitting ducks.
This was one of the longer volleys the group had exchanged, it took some fine tuning of both Bianca and Sarah warming up and Andras finding the right power range for his swings before they could get any sort of rhythm going. Ever since defeating Idsalis their lives had become a bit of a blur, seldom did Andras get a chance to rest.
TWACK
He was having to sit through all the different classes the girls had, do assignments with them, constantly submit to whatever new or recurring test Elizabeth wanted to run and spend any spare moment outside of that training with Lena.
Their ‘blissful bubble’ of just worrying about keeping Andras’ existence a secret while at university had been shattered. Idsalis was the culprit and he had annoyingly left them with very little to go off of, Andras imagined that was the Daemons way of being annoying beyond death. He alluded to the existence of another artefact which usually meant more Daemons but he also made the even more troubling implication that the artefacts were part of some whole. If these two incredibly powerful objects were merely part of something larger, then it was not something that could be ignored.
TWACK
So they trained. Not just Andras and Lena, but everyone.
TWACK
Sure it wasn’t feasible to expect any of them to be able to take down a Daemon hand to hand but any ability to buy more time before losing or being captured could make all the difference.
Andras’ thoughts began to shift to today’s test results. Lena’s unknown DNA marker had grown a further 5%, now making up a total of 14%. No new ‘abilities’ had manifested just yet but her strength continued to improve and their phasing was steadily getting smoother.
“Think I’ll start turning purple?” Lena quipped, her tone light despite the serious undertone. Andras knew she was joking but he couldn’t help but think about the thoughts neither of them had voiced. He could feel her anxiety with every test done by Elizabeth, with every examination done by Amber and with every morning they woke up and first looked in the mirror.
The Daemon knew Lena was deeply worried with potential transformation beyond physical enhancement, while she wasn’t a princess who was obsessed with her looks, just about anyone would be horrified at the thought of transforming into a demon.
Everything had been fine so far but with every morning being underscored with trepidation of the future had laid out a lump in their throat that they don’t dare express genuine concern, because then it makes it real.
Snapped from his reverie by the tension in his grip, Andras lost control of the racket, sending the ball hurtling wildly off course.
Andras watched in slow motion as the ball travelled well over the net and sliced through the air towards the top of the gymnasium. Sarah and Bianca’s heads hadn’t even finished turning by the time the ball made contact with one of the windows lining the top of the wall; it didn’t stand a chance.
Silence had overtaken the gymnasium as their feet stopped and their heads turned. The silence was broken by the sound of shattering class that echoed through the building like a gunshot. The four of them stood frozen as they watched the shards of glass hurtle towards the ground and shatter even further on the ground. Decorating the floor with hundreds of little shards.
Bianca glanced towards the exit. “Time to book it?” Her tone was half-joking, but her stance suggested readiness.
“Yep.” Sarah said, scrambling towards her gym bag.
Andras quickly followed.
=====================================================================
“Before you stands the grandeur of Baldurs Gate, a sight that you have not seen in many moons. Regardless of how many times you have seen it, it always maintains a level of awe thanks to its sheer scale” Sarah narrates to the table.
Their shattering of the window had come at the right time, by the time they had returned to the dorm it had almost been time for their weekly session. Amber had wondered what got them so flustered, she admonished the Daemon when Sarah explained exactly what happened and whose fault it was.
Nonetheless they’d all settled down for what would surely be an epic session, Andras was sat next to Kiera who was clearly content with the close proximity. An extra layer of ease crept over the Daemon with her presence, his insanely smart and incredibly beautiful animator girlfriend always had this effect on him.
Ever since Idsalis’ crusade, Andras and the girls were thrust into a world where the Island Daemons weren’t the only ones. The vigilance had never truly settled with him and he felt like he always had to be scanning people around them for any hint of hostility. But being with her was different, it was quite simply, good.
“As you approach the gates you are greeted with a sight that was definitely unfamiliar to you. The guards are primarily made up of members of The Flaming Fist, a mercenary company that serve as the cities guards, but among them stands a pair of huge, steel constructs clad in illustrious black armour with gold accents. They each carry a greatsword so obscenely large that you doubt any normal humanoid could hope to lift it let alone use it effectively.” Sarah continued
“Your approach goes unacknowledged by the constructs as they seem to maintain their unwavering watch over the scene however once you step foot onto the bridge their heads simultaneously rotate to fixate their gazes directly on you. ‘HALT, state your intentions!’ its metallic voice echoes towards you”
The group’s eyes turned towards the face of the party, Amber. Unfortunately the girl had been on her phone and only after several long seconds of silence did she look up and realise everyone was waiting on her, “Oh sorry! Uhhhh I….” She stutters, putting her phone away.
“What were you doing?” Sarah asked politely but with the slightest hint of annoyance that her narration wasn’t received properly.
“Oh I’d picked up some more chatter on those message boards regarding Daemonic history an… nevermind.” Amber started but interrupted herself, deciding it was best to just get on with it. “Nevermind, I’ll say ‘we have a pass to-’”
Andras felt Lena sigh a little bit as Amber continued to speak with the guards, he couldn’t blame her. Amber had been frequenting those message boards ever since they defeated Idsalis but it had yet to provide anything tangible since the Daemon Opus. She was always going on about a new lead she had found that could have been about anything from the true origin of the Daemons to new and different artefacts but it never seemed to pan out.
Their collective patience was starting to wear a little thin with her theories and obsession but they all knew it came from a good place. Amber was probably the closest thing to a ‘Daemonologist’ in the world she had studied so much.
Thankfully this one reminder was enough for Amber to maintain her attention on the game and they were all able to continue progressing smoothly… or as smoothly as you can in a game of dungeons and dragons where any plan can be immediately undone with a dice roll. This was one of those times.
The group had wandered in a direction that was definitely not meant for them at this level. One little rumour about the crypts had sent them on a dungeon dive where they found themselves fighting an undead dragon… at level 7.
Sarah paused, letting the weight of the moment settle over the table. She lowered her voice, drawing her friends into the dark, cold crypt they imagined around them. “As you edge closer, the air grows chillier, the oppressive silence of the crypt only broken by the distant drip of water echoing through the stone chambers,” she began, her fingers hovering over the ominous dice.
“The dragon, enormous and skeletal, its bones clattering softly, rears up before you. Its eyes, deep pools of malevolent red, fixate on you with unnerving precision. The faint light from your torches flickers against its ivory scales, casting long, menacing shadows that dance along the crypt’s ancient walls.”
She leaned in closer, her voice a whisper that carried a note of doom. “Its wings, tattered and bone-thin, stretch out, enveloping the space in darkness. The creature’s breath, a visible mist in the cold air, sends shivers down your spine as it prepares to unleash its fury. The very ground beneath your feet seems to tremble in anticipation.”
Sarah glanced around the table, meeting each player’s eyes. “You stand, weapons in hand, hearts pounding in your chests as the beast inhales deeply. The tension is palpable, a thick cloud of dread that fills the chamber. What will you do, heroes? Will you stand and fight, or will you flee? The choice is yours, but choose quickly, for the dragon is about to strike.”
With a dramatic flourish, she picked up the die. “The dragon’s maw opens wide, a searing light building deep within its throat…” She let the die roll from her hand, clattering across the table as every player watched in silent anticipation, knowing this roll could determine their fate.
=====================================================================
“The dragon rolled a 6 meaning he’s going to take another breath weapon attack. Saving throws, let’s have them.” Sarah demanded, doing little effort to hide her glee at getting to run something so powerful.
“Aww I barely survived the last one.” Bianca complained.
“I don’t want to hear it, what did you get?” Sarah dismissed the girl.
Bianca 6, Andras/Lena 22, Amber 3, Kiera 18.
“Ok Kiera you succeed so you take half damage, Andras you also succeed but take none because rogue.” She said with a hint of annoyance, “Amber and Bainca you both take the full 46 damage.”
“I’m down!” Bianca whined even louder.
“Me too.” Amber added, “What are we supposed to do? Our exit route is blocked.”
“Shame.” Sarah replied teasingly, “Andras it’s your turn, what will you do?”
“Man Sarah really isn’t pulling her punches is she? We really don’t have a lot of options, that thing is way too powerful to beat without an insane amount of luck and we’re all too spread out from Kiera for her teleport to save all of us…” Lena mused.
“That’s it!” Andras declared.
Andras realised he just needed to close the gap, with Kiera up next she could hightail them out of there. “I was really hoping to save this for a fight we could actually win with it but better than nothing.”
Andras gripped the edge of the table, his focus entirely on the figurine that represented him in the thick of the battle. “I’ll start by using my action to drink a potion of speed,” he announced confidently, reaching to mimic the action of his character in the game.
As he described his character downing the potion, a ripple of anticipation passed around the table. Sarah, nodded, her expression turning a mix of intrigue and curiosity about his next move. “The potion’s icy chill contrasts sharply with the heat produced by the dragon’s fiery breath,” she narrated, watching Andras for his next move. “As it takes effect, your senses heighten. The details of the crypt become clearer, the dragon’s every bone, every twitch of movement, now vivid before your eyes.”
The room around him faded as he visualised the scene, his character’s perception sharpened to supernatural acuity. “With my new speed, I speed through the difficult terrain effortlessly,” he continued, his voice steady but filled with the excitement of the moment.
Sarah responded, her voice echoing the critical nature of his action. “The ground that once threatened to slow you now seems trivial. Each step is calculated and swift. The dragon’s looming presence grows as you close the distance, its massive form casting a shadow that chills the air.”
“I’m going to run over, pick up Bianca an-” Andras began.
“My hero!” Bianca chimed in, getting an eye roll from everyone.
“And using cunning action I will dash, doubling my speed again allowing me to run back over to Kiera and Amber.” Andras excitedly announced. “That’s my turn, Kiera you’re u-” Andras began.
“Legendary Action.” Sarah excitedly interjected, drawing all eyes to her in a snap. “It’s going to make a sweeping attack at you Andras. If this hit’s you’ll both take damage and be knocked back 15ft.” There was something particularly evil about Sarah’s voice while explaining this. Images of Sarah being some evil mastermind flashed in his head, making him shudder.
Sarah made a show of rolling this attack, even bringing out the comically oversized and well decorated D20 used for intense moments, with a flick of her hand the die shot across the table and bounced back and forth. A damn 17… “That’s a 31 to your AC so you both tak-” Sarah started.
“Silvery Barbs!” Kiera excitedly announced, the young animator seemingly waiting for this moment all night.
Sarah narrowed her eyes at the girl but smirked as she reached to reroll the die. Another flick and the die hit the table for the second time, a 3!
“Hell yeah!” Everyone, including Sarah, celebrated.
“Good job.” Sarah said with a little clap, “That’s its legendary action, what would you like to do Kiera?”
“With a flourish of my hand, using my helm of teleportation I cast teleport and take us all back to camp!” Kiera exclaimed happily.
“Ok, great stuff. You’re all out of combat now, we’ll end the session there. Maybe next time when two different NPC’s warn you that the crypt is an obscenely dangerous place, even for seasoned adventurers, you’ll listen?” Sarah said smugly.
“I told you we shouldn’t have gone down there!” Amber exclaimed, “But noooooo, the promise of loot blinded you all to the obvious warnings.”
Andras knew this was a dig at him, afterall he was the one who campaigned that they venture further and managed to convince everyone except Amber. The Daemon wondered if she’d held out only so she could still say ‘I told you so’ like she currently was. “Hey to be fair, the legendary staff was right within our reach. A slightly better roll an-”
“Uh huh, isn’t ‘I just needed a slightly better roll’ the line you used when you got us into trouble with those orcs on the road just a few sessions ago?” Amber rebutted the Daemon. “What are we going to do with you Andras.” She finished, shaking her head teasingly.
“Hey, I got us all out of the-” Andras began again.
“I, I got us all out of there, thank you very much.” Kiera interrupted the Daemon. His girlfriend had a ‘challenge me, I dare you’ look on her face that he knew all too well, Andras had learned not too long into his friendship with all the girls that he needed to pick his battles carefully. Oh how true this was for Kiera specifically.
Andras held his hands up in surrender, “Alright, point taken. I’ll keep the heroics in check—unless absolutely necessary.”
“Wise choice.” Lena giggled. The group laughed as well.
“Well to celebrate your survival, lets go to Arobella’s. They’ll still be open for another hour and a half so if we hurry we can get a nice meal in.” Sarah proclaimed happily, folding up her DM screen.
Amber perked up at this, “I haven’t been there in ages! Their fresh pasta is unbeatable.” The girl was practically salivating.
“I will be claiming the usual DM tax though.” Sarah added.
“Ok but don’t go hog wild, even splitting it 4 ways might be a bit much.” Bianca said with an uncharacteristic level of caution.
As everyone began to pack up and chat about what they might try at Arobellas this time, Kiera grabbed the Daemons attention. “Hey, don’t think this counts as date night by the way. You’ve only got 3 days left in the week so I’d figure something out soon.” She prodded him.
“What do you mean? We’ll be sharing a nice meal and enjoying each others company, I think that fulfils the criteria of date night, your honour” Andras argued with his best lawyer impression.
This grabbed the table’s attention, slowing their packing to enjoy what they thought might be a great show, “Oh? Well counsellor as this event will include the presence of other parties.” She answered with her own impression while motioning towards her friends. “It does not meet the minimum level of privacy to satisfy the requirements of date night so I reject your argument and motion to move forward with the arrangement of a new event.”
Andras pretended to straighten an invisible tie, “Well that might be the case in normal relationships but I put it to you that privacy is not only not feasible but not been the case in any of our previous dates that you have deemed ‘date night’ because for us to go out there always has to be at least one other friend present to serve as host. Therefore, either every date we have gone on so far doesn’t count or they do and so will this one.” He explains as eloquently as possible.
The peanut gallery giggled at this. One flick of Kiera’s eyes in their direction was enough to silence their laughter. Kiera only folded her arms and stared the Daemon down intently. Andras tried his best to not squirm under her intense gaze but Bianca, who Andras assumed was likely just outside of Kieras peripheral vision, caught his attention waving her hand at her own neck and mouthing what seemed to be ‘tap out bro, save yourself’.
Returning his eyes to his girlfriend he was greeted with a gaze that had not wavered even slightly, he could practically hear Lena’s blood pressure rising. Lena’s waves of amusement alleviated this slightly but Andras decided to make his second wise choice of this night.
Andras sighed loudly before saying, “The defence concedes the case and will submit to the terms of arranging a date night that meets the required terms within the timeline of 3 days.”
Kiera nodded, “Thank you counsellor, good day.”
The group had remained serious right up until the point Kiera reached down to pick up her dice and laughed out loud at the situation, they all joined her before packing up and leaving for the restaurant.
Arobellas was situated on the edge of campus and served both students and regular customers. It was essentially the golden jewel of campus cuisine, almost every amazing grade was celebrated there. It was only about a ten minute walk from the girls’ dorms so they’d get to enjoy the comfortable night air for a bit before arriving.
Kiera walked alongside Andras at the back of the group whilst Bianca and Amber pestered Sarah. He wasn’t catching every word they said but he was pretty sure they were trying to get some more magic items out of her, as if they weren’t already stacked beyond belief.
Andras spared a glance at his girlfriend, his eyes enjoying her delicate face illuminated by the moonlight. His eyes wandered down, following her neck to the unusual amount of exposed skin. She’d been wearing a blouse but undone the top few buttons to cool herself down when the cramped setting of the dungeons and dragons game got a little warm. His eyes wandered down a little further and managed to catch a glimpse of her bra clad breast as her top shifted with her movement which he enjoyed.
“When are you going to take things to the next level with Kiera?” Lena asked out of the blue.
Andras was admittedly taken aback, he was tempted to feign ignorance as to her meaning to buy himself a little bit of time but he knew she’d know. There wasn’t really hiding anything from her these days, they might still talk directly to one another but they didn’t really need to.
Andras mentally shrugged, “Honestly I just don’t think there’s any real feasible way of making it work. It’s not like it would work with my real form and If there is any way of using one of you girls without making it awkward, I’m not seeing how.” He replied honestly as he continued walking, he snuck a side glance at his girlfriend to admire her.
“Mmm I guess you could always use the Daemon Ritus to extract one of us so it is just the two of you.” Lena suggested candidly.
Andras lightly shook his head, “That would be less awkward but there has to be a better solution that avoids any awkwardness.” The Daemon lamented.
“Bianca did actually offer a while back but I turned her down, I also don’t know how Kiera would react to that.” He added.
“Well, have you actually asked her?” Lena asked.
“You know I haven’t. This whole thing is such uncharted territory, not just for Kiera and I but probably for the history books.” He answers her.
His girlfriend squeezed the hand she was already holding, pulling him out of his conversation with Lena, “What are you two talking about?” She asks with a polite smile.
“What? How are you sure we were talking?” He asks quizzically.
“Oh please, it’s not like the signs are hard to find. Every time you and her are engaged in conversation it’s like you’re on some form of autopilot. Your eyes don’t wander as much and you go quiet. So I’ll ask again, what is going on in there?” She asks coyly.
“I’ll tell you the specifics later, in private, but she’s kinda grilling me.” He explains.
From the look on Kiera’s face Andras got the impression that she might have some idea of what the conversation might be about, considering the secrecy. But if she did, she didn’t say.
“Ok but I’ll hold you to that, let’s hurry though, they’re leaving us behind.” She said, drawing his attention forward.
Sure enough the trio had left them behind a fair bit, it looked like Sarah was walking faster to try and escape Bianca and Amber’s pestering. Andras smiled as he and Kiera picked up the pace to catch up.
The chapter ends with Andras wondering what he might do with her, before Ambers phone goes off. She had found a lead
.Lena & Andras are playing tennis against Sarah and Bianca. It’s late afternoon so they’re in the gymnasium. They talk about how it’s nice to just blow off some steam with something relaxing.
Cut to Sarah and Bianca struggling to keep up with the enhanced pair while they mull over Elizabeths finding, a new test had showed the marker was now at 14% with Lena’s performance steadily increasing. Their lapse in concentration ends with them hitting it way too hard and going out of bounds.
The two tease Andras and Bianca before they all pack it in for another dungeons and dragons game. At this point a game between the core group takes place, with everyone having fun. I dare say this will be a relatively high encounter, maybe the squad is playing a baldurs gate game?
During the session Amber will have to be reminded that it’s her turn as she is enthralled on her phone. When asked what she was doing she answers that she was reviewing more message boards about the demons.
No one says anything but they do exchange looks that they think her efforts aren’t going to pay off anytime soon. Lena voices as much to Andras but they wait a few more moments before she puts her phone down and rejoins them.
The encounter ends on the verge of a TPK before one of them (not andras of lena) does something cool and saves it. They decide to celebrate their victory by going out to eat as some campus restaurants would still be open. Keira and Andras/Lena end up chatting at the table while the others beamed about their encounter for that night. (Sarah would not be paying as the groups thanks to her). The pair talk about whether or not this technically counts as date night, Keira doesn’t think so but Andras says there is literally always at least one of the girls with them, what difference does it make if all of them are there?
As Kiera joins in on the DnD conversation Lena poses a question he didn’t think she’d ask him. “When are you going to take things to the next level with Kiera?”Andras doesn’t really have an answer in the form of a timeline, only an answer that he didn’t think he’d be able to make something like that work because he’d either have to use his body, which wasn’t feasible, or use one of the girls and he didn’t see a way to do that without making it awkward. Lena jokes that he could extract one of them so it was just the two of them, it was meant to be a joke but Andras ponders it before stating, “All parties would know what was going to happen which is still awkward, there has to be a better solution” but neither of them could think of one. Andras certainly didn’t want to just possess someone random either because ever since his alignment change from “Chaotic Evil” to “Chaotic Good” he’d been big on consent. Andras remarks that this makes him an interesting Daemon.
Keira regrabs the Daemons attention by grabbing Lenas hand and askes him what those two were talking about. He doesn’t give her the straightest answer but she says that it will do. She says that she wasn’t budging that this counted as date night and that she expected him to organise one for before the end of the week.
