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| '''Croak and Dagger''' is a collection of the coolest, oddest, most inappropriate heroes the realm could ask for. Started some time post Age of Heroes by former adventurer [[Craig Firebrand]], Croak and Dagger started out taking every day odd jobs from apple-picking to pizza delivery, and have moved up to demon slaying and cult extermination. This motley crew of misfits were the first recognized adventuring party since the [[Sankofa Accord]]. | | {{Infobox organization |
| | | name = Croak and Dagger |
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| | | leader_name = [[Craig Firebrand]] |
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| | '''Croak and Dagger''' is a collection of the coolest, oddest, most inappropriate heroes the realm could ask for. An [[adventuring party]] started some time post Age of Heroes by former adventurer [[Craig Firebrand]], Croak and Dagger started out taking every day odd jobs from apple-picking to pizza delivery, and have moved up to demon slaying and cult extermination. This motley crew of misfits were the first recognized adventuring party since the [[Sankofa Accord]]. |
| | [[File:Croak & Dagger Shield.jpg|thumb|alt=A shield with the seal of Croak & Dagger.|A shield with the seal of Croak & Dagger.]] |
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| Its current members include: | | Its current members include: |
| * [[Clymene]] | | * [[Clymene]] |
| * [[Omerók]]
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| * [[Andol the Magnificent]] | | * [[Andol the Magnificent]] |
| * [[Maribelle Blackpyre]] | | * [[Maribelle Blackpyre]] |
| * [[Aiden Thorin]] | | * [[Aiden Thorin]] |
| | * [[Oleza]] |
| * [[Lumira Igne]] | | * [[Lumira Igne]] |
| | * [[Charles Harper]] |
| * [[Craig Firebrand]] | | * [[Craig Firebrand]] |
| | * [[Garrett Havelock]] |
| | * [[Gilroy Jenkins]] |
| * [[Gulak]] | | * [[Gulak]] |
| * [[Hildr Firebrand]] | | * [[Hildr Firebrand]] |
| | * [[Karima]] |
| * [[Marilka Thyrnmur]] | | * [[Marilka Thyrnmur]] |
| | * [[Raiah Theron]] |
| * [[Skulk Greymind]] | | * [[Skulk Greymind]] |
| * [[Sayrax]] | | * [[Sayrax]] |
| * [[Logan Karstark]] | | * [[Logan Karstark]] |
| * [[Lyra Roseshade]] | | * [[Victor Salazaar]] |
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| Former or deceased members include: | | Former or deceased members include: |
| * [[Aileen]] | | * [[Aileen]] |
| | * [[Barbatos]] |
| | * [[Incineryn Blackpyre]] |
| * [[Laura|Lydia Barrett (Laura)]] | | * [[Laura|Lydia Barrett (Laura)]] |
| | * [[Lyra Roseshade]] |
| | * [[Omerók]] |
| * [[Quoruk Cluiekill]] | | * [[Quoruk Cluiekill]] |
| * [[Barbatos]] | | * [[Whisper]] |
| * [[Incineryn Blackpyre]]
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| Additional members or temporary agents in side-adventures include: | | Additional members or temporary agents in side-adventures include: |
| * [[Damiralla Itiniallle (Dam)]] | | * [[Damiralla Itiniallle (Dam)]] |
| * [[Leviathan "Levi" Blackpyre]] | | * [[Leviathan "Levi" Blackpyre]] |
| | | * [[Robynn]] |
| <big><big><big><big><big>The Adventures</big></big></big></big></big>
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| <br> <big>A chronicle of all of Croak and Dagger's adventures.</big>
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| =Heroes for Hire=
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| ...and so the page turns to a new tale. With adventure just on the horizon, five individuals from across the realm answer the call of renowned adventurer, '''Craig Firebrand'''. After the '''Sankofa Tragedy''', adventuring parties were banned and in their place new factions of power fight for control in their absence. '''Craig''' looks to defy the world powers that forsook heroes and show them how much the world needs its heroes. Five adventurers, five stories, one purpose. Adventure is calling...
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| ===Bad Apples===
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| The soon to be founders of '''Croak and Dagger''' met on the docks of the capitol of the Human Kingdom, '''Meadowcraft'''. K'jalis, Clymene, Omerok, Barbatos, and Robyn all gathered at the address provided on the bottom of a crumpled piece of parchment paper with a poor illustration of one, '''Craig Firebrand'''. They were a little underwhelmed to see that Craig has been forced to rent out a room at a local fishery as his base of operations. Nobody said starting an adventuring party was going to be easy. During the meeting, a well-dressed, very well-groomed knight is in the midst of scolding Craig, before leaving with a huff. Craig reveaed the knight to be '''Roland Castille''', an officer in the human military and the son of '''Edgar Castille''', Craig's old adventuring buddy. Craig introduced the group to '''Quoruk''' and '''Dennis''', a rough looking Aarakocra and a Firbolg in need of a bath, who helped Craig secure the room at the fishery. The daring, high-octane adventuring party that Craig promised is only eight people strong. Craig promised the five recruits that if they stuck around long enough, run enough dirty, gritty jobs, that their labors would be very well rewarded. They just had to trust Craig and his process. This is when their first contract comes in from the small autumnal town of Oakvale.
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| Mayor '''Tobias Fillmore''' greeted Croak and Dagger outside the town hall and explained to them that Oakvale has a yearly Cider Festival that brings in tourists and gold that keeps Oakvale afloat for the frigid winter season. More than that, it's an Oakvale tradition to have sweet, freshly-pressed apple cider made readily available. '''Newton Tell''', the only cider maker in Oakvale, hasn't been seen in days and nobody has had the time to check on him. Mayor Fillmore feared the worst and sent Croak and Dagger to check on Newton Tell and bring back at least six casks of his delicious cider. On their way to the orchard, Croak and Dagger are intercepted by a group of no-good bandits that had just come down from the orchard in a hurry. Rather than explain themselves like good law-abiding individuals, they ordered Croak and Dagger to relinquish their weapons and they'll be allowed to past. Not seeing this as a legitimate business practice, Croak and Dagger decided to relinquish their weapons into the skulls of the bandits. The two surviving bandits, the leader and his recently vine-wrapped associate, immediately surrendered and thre down their weapons. Croak and Dagger let the associate go with a harsh warning, but question the bandit leader. The leader explained that he and his men were hired to rough up Newton Tell on account of the debt he owed. When they arrived however, the orchard came to life and attacked them. Croak and Dagger decided to explore the orchard and bring the bandit leader along, promising to free him once they completed their contract to Oakvale.
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| At the main entrance of the orchard, Croak and Dagger were immediately attacked by possessed strawmen with a fear of fire. Things inside the eerie orchard weren't much different. The trees came to life and attacked them as well. The Awakened Trees proved to be formidable foes as they battered Robyn and broke his leg with one good slam. After handling the trees, Croak and Dagger were able to proceed to Newton's cottage where they found ingredients for making cider, and a few possessed apples that gnashed at them with razor-sharp teeth. Amongst Newton's possessions was a strange drawing of a large black figure covered in shadows with "the Black Blade" scribbled all over the back of the paper. It seemed whoever this Black Blade was might have had something to do with the hauntings and possessions at the orchard. Assisted by the ghost of Newton Tell, Croak and Dagger brewed more than enough sweet cider to fulfill the contract. With the cider in tow, Croak and Dagger gave Newton Tell a proper burial and released the bandit leader as promised. Back at Oakvale, Croak and Dagger celebrated with the townsfolk and drank pints of sickly sweet apple cider. During the celebrations, Clymene bumped into a large Fallen Aasimar with a thing for black attire and black makeup. She looked eerily familiar...
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| ===Bleeting Around the Bush===
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| After successfully completing their very first adventuring contract, Croak and Dagger received another one in the form of a strange goat knocking at their door. Omerók used his Druidic abilities to speak with the goat who revealed itself to be '''Finethir Shinebright''', a self-proclaimed Master Polymorpher whose student stole his wand and turned him into a goat. Fearing that his student had gone mad with jealous power, Finethir tasked Croak and Dagger with finding the wand and returning Finethir back to normal. Before they could leave Meadowcraft for Finethir's school in the woods, they were stopped by Ugo, a large Orc hired to find Finethir and bring him back to the school. Seeing that only the worst awaited Finethir if he was taken, Croak and Dagger did the only reasonable thing when faced with an Orc and his attack dogs. They called the city guard and had the Orc arrested.
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| Upon arriving at Finethir's makeshift wizard school, Croak and Dagger avoided any confrontation by approaching Finethir's student, '''Amon Nok''', directly. Amon explained that Finethir had always verbally abused him and often had him running errands disguised as "lessons". So one day Amon took his tutelage into his own hands and stole Finethir's wand and turned his mentor into a goat. Croak and Dagger talked Amon down from starting a fight, and even scolded Finethir for the way he treated Amon. Croak and Dagger were able to get the wand from Amon, and attempted to use it to change Finethir back. One of two things would happen, either Finethir would be turned back into his glamorous self, or he'd violently combust and repaint the interior of his school. Thankfully, Finethir did not explode and was returned to normal without a single life being lost. Finethir apologized to Amon who hesitantly accepted the apology. The two then promised to enroll in a proper Polymorphing Class at the College of Meadowcraft.
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| ===Dhor' Dash===
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| Croak and Dagger's third contract came from a pizza shop owner in the Dwarvish town of Dhormire by the name of '''Oroku Saki'''. The middle-aged Kobold explained that every other day he received a delivery order for six pizzas, and every delivery they refused to pay and recently rough up one of his delivery boys. Oroku has since refused to deliver pizza to the address, but wanted the outstanding debt settled by any means necessary. Croak and Dagger went to the address and were perplexed to see it was the entrance of the sewers. They navigated the foul smelling sewers and found a large sealed door that led to a hideout beneath Dhormire. There Croak and Dagger met the debt-accruing culprits, four Tortle brothers dressed in blue, red, orange, and purple ninja garb. A fight ensued and the Tortle brothers proved to be quite agile and adept at avoiding Croak and Dagger's strikes while preventing them from entering their home. It was revealed that the Tortle brothers had kept a hostage underneath their home, a red-headed Dwarf named '''Lydia Redfort''' whom they insisted on calling "April". Once freed, Lydia ended the fight with one well-placed Eldritch Blast that disintegrated the head of the orange Tortle brother, scaring the rest into surrendering. The debt had been collected, and a damsel was saved. The eldest Tortle brother swore this wouldn't be the last that Croak and Dagger saw of them. He would avenge his brother's death...
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| ===The Debt===
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| Croak and Dagger took a small detour from their usual adventures to visit Clymene's home village of Yulyu, a large village that sat just north of Meadowcroft. It had been some time since Clymene left the village, against her mother's wishes, to become an adventurer. Clymene's mother, Atalanta, was the fearsome head of the hunters, and was more than disappointed in her daughter's choice of career. Croak and Dagger met Clymene's father and sat down to have a meal, when said meal was interrupted by the arrival of the large, black-haired Aasimaar from Oakvale. She quietly introduced herself a '''Hildr''' and had returned from a nearby keep which she swiftly cleared of bandits that had been harassing Yulyu. Hildr returned with barely a scratch on her or her Direwolf '''Baruk''', both of whom would be on their way once they were paid by the village as promised. The problem on Yulyu's end was that they had barely a bag of gold of their own to pay Hildr with, having amassed a debt with the High Elves of Val-Adin. Croak and Dagger, to avoid a very unpleasant encounter, talked Hildr's price down to a fraction of what it was, and paid her. Her cold, detached demeanor frightened not only Croak and Dagger, but also the village of Yulyu who might have been the next site of Hildr's latest massacre. Hildr left without blood being drawn.
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| It was revealed later that night, that '''K'Jalis''' knew '''Hildr''' from his time in prison. She was a member of the '''Forsaken''', a gang that K'Jalis ran with during his short stay in prison. When asked about the Forsaken, K'Jalis's usual cheerful demeanor dropped. He had only said that he hoped the other members were far, far away. Much later, K'Jalis was awakened by Baruk at his bedroom window. The Direwolf led K'Jalis to an ominous tavern staffed by figures in black tattoos and cloaks. Hildr was staying at the tavern and thought it was as good a place as any to catch up with K'Jalis. The exchange was short. Hildr warned K'Jalis that the Forsaken hadn't forgotten what he had done, that they were very much interested in finding him. On his way back with thoughts of the Forsaken finding him and his friends, and what would happen when they did.
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| ===Liberator's Day, the Sword of Embers===
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| Liberator's Day was a celebration of the armed forces and those who served, or currently served the Alliance. It was a large city-wide festival complete with merchants, game booths, an archery tournament, and a performance in the arena. Croak and Dagger eagerly seperated and went off into the festival to see what merriment and hijinks awaited.
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| '''Clymene and the Archery Tournament'''
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| Clymene decided to enter the Liberator's Day Archery Tournament where some of the Alliance most notable, up and coming archers came to flaunt their skills with a bow and arrow. Most favored to win was '''Raiah Theron''', an elite soldier in Val-Adin's coveted Jaeger Corp. Determined to prove herself to her mother and the visiting High-Elf military leadership, Clymene entered. Clymene briskly climbed to the top three finalists and would fight for the number one spot in a three-way archery battle with paint-filled ceramic arrows. Feeling out of her element, Clymene looked to the stands where K'Jalis got the crowd to cheer Clymene on. The first to be eliminated was '''Kikyo Yukino''', an archer from the south-east Alliance territory of Sheng-Lao. It came down to Raiah and Clymene, who at the last second struck one another perfectly. It came to a sudden death match, the two Elves would be given two arrows and ten paces away from each other. The crowd was dead silent as they began to count down. On the final count of 'ten', Raiah and Clymene drew fast on each other. Clymene displayed an incredible feat of marksmanship when she shot Raiah's arrow mid-flight, and striking Raiah dead center in the chest. Bright blue paint covered Raiah and the crowd roared and cheered. Clymene had won!
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| '''The Reenactment of the Battle of the Valley of Whispers'''
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| You can't keep a man of the arts like K'Jalis away from a performance. K'Jalis and Barbatos were committing themselves to joining the reenactment of one of the most notable battles of the Seven Year War. They smooth-talked and pestered their way into joining the performance troupe, and even went as far as changing the mood of the performative battle. Where excited children and their parents awaited a spectacular, grandiose battle in which the Humans defeated the villainous Goliaths, spectators were instead met with a gruesome, bloody reenactment. It was riveting, emotional, and downright brutal. Edgar could only watch on in horror as the troublemakers had completely rewritten the script and subjected not just the people, but King Alexius himself, to this new, less glamorous performance.
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| '''The Heist of the Legendary Sword of Embers'''
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| During the theatric reenactment, Knight '''Augustus Brandwell''' was scheduled to make an appearance. He was to brandish the Tyrell family sword, the Legendary Sword of Embers, and defeat the Goliath savages with it. It was during this rehearsed brawl that the sword has shattered almost immediately. The crowd went silent as two things went through their minds, either the sword wasn't nearly as legendary as they thought, or it had been stolen. A furious King Alexius berated the guards and demanded that his sacred family sword be found. Croak and Dagger took it upon themselves to find the sword and complete one of their most high-value contracts.
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| Aided by Lieutenant-Captain Griffon Harper, Croak and Dagger's search led them to the blacksmith that was in charge of maintaining the pristine shape of the Sword of Embers. The blacksmith had fled as soon as news of the sword being stolen had be made public, leaving behind his anxious assistant Poderick. The young blacksmith-in-training pointed Croak and Dagger to the Battered Arms, his mentor's favorite drinking spot. There, Croak and Dagger were watched ever so closely by those loyal to the blacksmith. Looking to reach the secret backrooms, Croak and Dagger responsibly started a brawl that led to ears being lost and tiny gnomes being thrown. While trying to get to the blacksmith, the adventurers ran into his beefy bodyguard, a large, green beast of an orc called '''Skulk''' who explained that the Carta Cartel hired him to protect the blacksmith, and the sword, at all cost. There was absolutely, positively, no way Skulk was going to let them pass. Unless of course they paid him a compliment, which they did. Skulk was sick and tired of the way his employers treated him, and seeing Croak and Dagger as honorable, super chill mercenaries like him, Skulk joined them and promised to redeem himself by helping them get the sword back. They all turned their attention to the trapped blacksmith who divulged that the sword he had was actually a decoy and that the Carta Cartel was already preparing to leave via boat with the real sword. This was all said before Skulk accidentally crushed his windpipe.
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| Croak and Dagger, accompanied by their new hulking green ally, sped to the docks where they found the heavily guarded ship that the Carta Cartel were going to leave on. Before a plan could be hatched, Skulk charged forward and knocked over two gunmen before facing his boss on the ship. The man in charge of this heist, was an individual known as '''Marco-the-Million-Faced-Man''', a shapeshifter who had taken the form of Knight Brandwell and stolen the sword out from underneath the king. An explosive encounter took place as Croak and Dagger attempted to stop the ship from leaving by any means necessary. The well-armed Carta thieves shot at them from afar with rifle and pistols, keeping our heroes pinned long enough for them to pull away from the dock. But Skulk wasn't having it. Having survived a gunshot to the head, Skulk angrily grabbed one of the ropes to the ship and held it long enough for K'jalis to board and sneak into the hold. On the ship, K'jalis faced off with Marco who revealed a Forsaken tattoo splayed on his forearm. Marco recognized K'jalis, but the same couldn't be said for K'jalis who tried his best to place Marco. A slew of words and taunts were exchanged and the current and former Forsaken member squared off with swords and guns on the bow of the ship while Incineryn had her own plan. Seeing the ship was well within fireball range, Incineryn lobbed a well-placed shot right into the ship's munitions, sinking it almost immediately. On board, K'jalis barely escaped with his life, and the sword, as Marco was consumed and lost in the explosion. It was messy, but Croak and Dagger had retrieved the Sword of Embers. As payment for their fine work, King Alexius gave Croak and Dagger the deed to the Hero's Rest, a tavern in the city often frequented by Pre-Age of Heroes adventurers. He even pardoned Skulk who became the first outside-member of Croak and Dagger. With their name on a successful contract and their own tavern, Croak and Dagger were finally beginning to make a name for themselves. But as we all know, with status comes more attention. And with more attention, comes danger.
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| ===The Underdark===
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| One of the deadliest early contracts that Croak and Dagger had taken up. It started out as a simple caravan escort. The client was a middle-age caravan leader named '''Beltran Scott''' who spoke of a new, up and coming town far out east called Bog Harbor. It was ripe for settlers to build homes, shops, and a life away from the hustle and bustle of cities. Beltran hired Croak and Dagger on the spot to escort his caravan full of families to Bog Harbor where they'd be paid in full for their work and even given a pint of ale on the house. Not even halfway through the trip, the caravan was shaken by a terrible earthquake that split the land beneath their feet. Without a moment to react, the caravan, and Croak and Dagger were swallowed up into the void of the Underdark.
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| Croak and Dagger awoke to pitch blackness and stumble around in an attempt to recover themselves. '''K'jalis''' remained at the top of the opening with Beltran, having barely escaped the earthquake. Further down below, the other members of Croak and Dagger were startled to see that the other survivors of the fall had been plucked away. The party followed the gore and bloody drag marks to two large, hungry Hookhorrors that immediately turned their sights on their newest meal. The Hookhorrors slashed and cornered Croak and Dagger, one was in the midst of scaling the wall to snatch at Clymene, when the other was finally felled by Incineryn. K'jalis joined his friends not a moment too soon, when the fighting and smell of fresh blood, drew the horrible denizens beneath the gravel of the Underdark to the site of the fallen caravan. Quickly, Croak and Dagger escaped down one of many tunnels, narrowly avoiding hungry, boney hands.
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| Further down the tunnel, Croak and Dagger encountered a terrifying new creature of the Underdark. What appeared to be two Illithids turned out to be some strange hybrid, abomination between an Illithid and a Shardmind. The crystalline creatures set themselves on Croak and Dagger, but not before more of them sprung out and attacked as well. The ambush was cut short when a figure from above dropped hunks of crystal onto the feral Hybrids, giving Croak and Dagger room to escape. The figure introduced herself as '''Moonstone''', she was a villager with the Shardminds of Oasis, a small colony of Shardminds that existed within the Underdark. Moonstone told the party that the attacking Hybrids were beginning to skulk closer to Oasis and threatening the safety of anyone that left. The leader of Oasis, '''Whitestone''', blamed the Illithids and believed the Hybrids were the failed attempts of a ritual gone wrong. Whitestone promised Croak and Dagger that if they dealt with the Illithids and their newest creations, she would help return the party to the surface. With no other options before them, Croak and Dagger accepted Whitestone's proposal.
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| Croak and Dagger trekked the deepest reaches of the Underdark and found the Illithid's lair, a temple built into the side of the walls of the Underdark complete with Eldritch relics and statues dedicated to their figures of obscure, destructive power. The party was surprised to find that the temple was mostly empty, except for the bodies of a number of Illithids and strange figures dressed in black attire. After some scavenging, the party discovered that the strange figures were members of the '''Black Sun Cult''', a group of fanatics and zealots that followed a figure known as '''Caelrogh Soledad'''. They believed in merging the realms and its creatures, that through this shared, destructive fusion a mortal could achieve their full potential. They believed that the Gods had separated the realms to make mortals weak, and only through regular sacrifices, and a cataclysmic ritual called the Day of Black Sun, could Caelrogh be summoned and the rifts between planes opened. What had happened in the temple, was a series of failed sacrifices, or so Croak and Dagger thought. Beneath them, the temple shook and quaked, and a voice told them to leave immediately. Croak and Dagger being...Croak and Dagger, they instead taunted the voice and attacked crystalline veins trying to keep them out of the basement. The veins quickly snatched up all but Clymene, and pulled them into the depths. Rather than risk herself being captured as well, Clymene wished her allies the best of luck, and abandoned them. She got as far as the front door of the temple when a Hybrid Umber Hulk paralyzed her and dragged her down to the basement to join her friends.
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| In the basement, Croak and Dagger met a being dubbed the '''Hybrid Queen'''. The Hybrid Queen was a massive, sentient ecosystem of plantlife that had been corrupted by the ceremony above and warped into a crystalline beating heart. It explained that all it wanted to do was purge its tunnel of the Underdark of all sentient life, whether it be Illithid, Shardmind, Duergar, or any other humanoid-like being. It would not seek to conquer, only to protect itself and its new hive of Hybrid beings that were corrupted by the Black Sun Cultist. When it seemed like a truce of some kind might be met, the Hybrid Queen noticed the mark of Vecna on Clymene, who earlier in her adventures had blindly prayed into the open and was struck a deal by the Arch-Lich. Seeing the mark of Vecna threw the Hybrid Queen into a fury, choosing to cast the party members out onto the surface as far away from the Hybrids as possible. Despite having been returned to the surface so quickly, Croak and Dagger couldn't help but wonder what fate awaited those in the Underdark. And whether they would see the Hybrid Queen again.
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| ===Black Hole Sun===
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| The Day of Black Sun had arrived. '''Hildr Firebrand''', a sentinel of the Black Sun Cult and Craig's daughter, planned on using sacrifices from the village of Yulyu to complete the ceremony, and open a doorway for Caelrogh to step through. Croak and Dagger weren't having it. The first real test of Croak and Dagger's metal lied just on the horizon. Their first battle with a woman of unbridled rage and power.
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| ====Part One====
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| Croak and Dagger were startled by a village of Yulyu bursting into the tavern. The villager explained that black-robed cultists had attacked the village and kidnapped a number of villagers, Clymene's father among the kidnapped. At Yulyu, Atalanta and her huntresses prepared themselves to track down the cultists on horseback. With Croak and Dagger joining her, Atalanta took off in the direction the cultists fled. The tracks led to an abandoned campsite deep in the forests behind Yulyu. It seemed that the cultist had fled. Yes, it seemed that way. One of Atalanta's hunters activated a trap by the campfire which ignited and threw a number of Croak and Dagger off their feet. All at once, a number of cultists attacked the rescue party and a battle ensued between the Black Sun Cultists, and Croak and Dagger.
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| Croak and Dagger were vital to gaining the advantage over the Black Sun Cultists. It seemed victory was in their grasp when Hildr made an appearance, and went to work on separating Atalanta from the others. Joined by Barbatos, Clymene quickly went to aid her mother is the fight against Hildr who proved to be a walking tank. Atalanta's nimble strikes were no match for Hildr's supernatural speed and strength. Hildr dropped Atalanta then went to work on Barbatos and Clymene who struggled to keep up in their first fight against someone of Hildr's caliber. She cut Barbatos's arm off, beat Clymene down, then went to finish Atalanta off. Clymene, hellbent on protecting her mother, notched an arrow and prayed it would do something, anything to Hildr. Before she could loose it, it was Vecna's voice that answered. The Lich Supreme called in their previous debt, and told Clymene to let her mother die as payment, or he would take Clymene's soul as payment instead.
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| Clymene kindly told Vecna, of all beings, to go fuck himself and fired at Hildr...just before Clymene turned to ash. The arrow did next to nothing to Hildr who taunted Barbatos, called him and the others D-List Adventurers, then broke Atalanta's back against the nearest tree. Hildr and her cultists fled into the forest, leaving behind a dying Barbatos, paralyzed Atalanta, and non-existent Clymene. In the aftermath of the fight, Croak and Dagger sought the help of renowned artificer, '''Charles Harper''', who gave Barbatos a prosthetic arm as well as give Omerok the necessary ingredients to bring Clymene back from the dead with a ''Reincarnate'' spell. Croak and Dagger was pulling themselves back together...but without '''K'Jalis'''.
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| In a heartfelt goodbye letter, K'Jalis explained he had a deep history with Hildr that went back to a group called the '''Forsaken'''. K'Jalis didn't have the heart to tell his friends in person, that he was scared of them and what this ritual was leading to. K'Jalis was gone.
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| ====Part Two====
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| Omerok had successfully reincarnated Clymene back into a Wood-Elf and Barbatos had grown attuned to his prosthetic. The only issue that remained was where Hildr and the Black Sun Cultists had fled to. This, luckily, was remedied by the arrival of '''Laura'''. Lydia Barret, or '''Laura''', was a test subject for the Forsaken rescued by the Rangers of Oakvale during one of their later adventures. To return the favor, Laura worked in secret for Craig who tasked her with finding the Black Sun Cultist's hideout. She did this by beating the ever-loving snot out of one of their captains and bringing his head back to the tavern. Anything and anyone connected to the Forsaken, whether these cultists were or weren't, had Laura's crosshairs on them.
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| Croak and Dagger followed Laura's directions into the back channels of the cave system the Cultists used, while a second strike-force led by '''Edgar Castille''' would go for a more direct frontal assault. As Edgar distracted the main Cultist defenders, Croak and Dagger slipped into the underground temple without making a sound. Inside they learned more about the figure the cultist worshipped known as Caelrogh Soledad and about the ceremonies performed in his name. The party stealthily slipped past unnoticed to the main courtyard where the remaining cultist had gathered.
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| Hildr was in the midst of slashing the throats of prisoners, their bodies being consumed by the overhead black energy of the encroaching eclipse. Before Hildr could send Clymene's father's soul to the Nightmare King, Clymene loosed a bolt that found its mark. Croak and Dagger made a combined pushed against the defending Cultists. The battle to stop the Day of Black Sun had begun.
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| Overcoming archers, swordsmen, and astral abominations, Croak and Dagger cornered Hildr and her dire wolf in the furthest chamber room. Craig begged his daughter to stop the madness, to come home. "I am home." Hildr said, as the eclipse cast a ray of dark sunless energy on her. Infusing her with all the power of the sacrifices from earlier. Hildr divided the party up, striking down their casters and outlasting their tanks. She was aided by Clymene's use of wind wall, accidentally sealing off her friends. Hildr demonstrated supernatural strength and speed in the fight, but her rage clouded her judgment. Using Hildr's rage against her, Croak and Dagger began forcing Hildr to exhaust herself with multiple uses of the power of the eclipse. The energy sapped Hildr after every use, which Croak and Dagger followed up with their own volleys. Before long, Hildr had all but completely exhausted herself and was defeated. Left with what to do with Hildr, the party was divided between killing her, and taking her as prisoner. In the end, they took her in, chained and bound. Croak and Dagger had finally gotten their first taste of a high-stakes fight, and won.
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| ===The Dragon's Hoard Casino===
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| Croak and Dagger decided to take a much needed break. It was '''Quoruk''' who suggested they go to the Dragon's Hoard Casino in Val Adin, one of the largest and only legal gambling establishments in the Alliance (WIP)
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| ===Arm's Race===
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| ===Seeing Red===
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| =Cataclysm=
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| ===Torn Asunder===
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| ===Here We Stand===
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| ===Hell===
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| ===The Festival of Lanterns===
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| ===The Shadowfell===
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| ===The Nightmare King===
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| =We Could Be Heroes=
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| ===The Rescue===
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| Nearly two months after the events of Cataclysm, on a suspiciously empty street, '''Jordun''' a low-ranking Forsaken lieutenant, is ambushed by the newly guilded Croak and Dagger. His security detail is swiftly dispatched by Croak and Dagger and their friends, and Jordun is dragged unconscious back to the Heroes Rest. There, he is psychological tortured by '''Raiah''' and reveals the location of their founder, and dear friend, '''Craig''' who was abducted by the Forsaken during an attack on Clymene. Jordun truthfully swears that he only passed Craig off to the Carta Cartel for Craig to be smuggled through their vast network and tortured for the entire duration of his captivity. The party turns to Logan who did business with the Carta Cartel as well as a rather dangerous number of other criminal syndicates. Using a note Andol found in Jordun's carriage at the ambush, Logan was able to narrow down Craig's location to three different routes. To find the correct one, he pointed the party towards three safehouses known to be crossroads between the routes and their endpoints. Joined by their newest member [[Lumira Igne]], Logan, and...Marilka...the party set off to the first of the safehouses, a mine in the jungles near San Rosalita.
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| The party planned a clever ambush led by Omerok against the Carta Cartel guards there. The fight took a dangerous turn when Marilka tried to join in and gruesomely finished off one of the last remaining guards. On the bodies, Croak and Dagger found more clues as to which route Craig was taken on, as well as evidence that the Carta Cartel practiced a kind of death-worship with the Raven Queen as their holy figure. Seeing that most of the guards had been taken care of, the indentured slaves and workers in the mines made their escape. During this escape, Andol noticed a shady individual posing as a slave and confronted them. The young man drew his hood back, stared Andol in the eyes, and uttered, "Death upon us all..." before grabbing hold of Andol and detonating a large explosion centered on them both. The young man identified himself as Javier, or more flashily, [[Project Atom]]. Capable of detonating high-powered explosions and irradiating the land around him, Atom took Andol hostage and threatened to completely obliterate him if Croak and Dagger attacked. Javier and Aiden had a brief exchange after the former recognized the latter. Javier called Aiden "Project Apex" and said "the Tortle" spoke highly of him. Aiden used this to his advantage and tried to relate to whatever Javier was going through, eventually talking him into a deal. Javier agreed to release Andol further up the hill without further harm, as long as Croak and Dagger didn't try anything. As promised, once Javier made it up the hill, he released Andol who was swiftly healed by his friends.
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| Once they pulled themselves together, Croak and Dagger went to the San Rosalita Winery for their next clue. There, Croak and Dagger were lucky enough to catch the tail-end of a conversation between associates of the Carta Brothers, whom questioned the brothers' power. It was revealed that the Carta Brothers owed an outstanding debt to the '''Realms Bank''', one that was nearing the end of its very lenient grace period. Continuing their investigation, Aiden, Omerok, Clymene, and Andol snuck into the basement of the winery while Logan, Maribelle, and Aileen provided the needed distraction. In the cellar, the search team found that the Carta Cartel was shipping refined Hex in wine bottles to be processed into their vials. A duo of Merchant's Fleet employees were busily packing the wine bottles without any knowledge of their contents, when Aiden drew the attention of one. He quickly threatened the man and persuaded him to leave without so much as a word. The man later was revealed to be Raiah's father... that totally won't backfire later, will it?
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| The remaining basement investigators all confronted the last Merchant's Fleet employee, a middle-aged Rabbitfolk named Gem, who believing she was in danger, swiftly threw a wine bottle full of Hex right at the group as a distraction. The bottle struck Aiden right in the face... but had an entirely different effect on him. Instead of tapering off stress and giving him an energetic high, the Hex instead acted like an adrenal shot straight to Aiden's system. It fueled something deep inside him. Something terrible. While Aiden was trapped inside a terrible ethereal prison, Malor the Beastlord, seized control. Malor set himself with absolute fury on those in the basement, ripping, tearing, and slashing through anything and anyone he could find. Attempts to save one another were cut short by Malar's long, bloodied claws which very nearly killed Aileen, who had went down to aid her friends, and the others. Inside of Aiden, a different kind of battle was raging. One where Cassandra Castille aided Aiden in locking Malar away again, just before he could finish slaughtering Aiden's friends.
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| In the aftermath of the close-quarters slaughter with Malar, Croak and Dagger fled through the cellar walls to avoid the corrupt city guard that was now descending on the winery. Through some mysterious turn of events in the ethereal realm he was in, Aiden saw that Cassandra had actually breached the planes and was now with them. Croak and Dagger found a long tunnel system which they realized was some kind of abandoned smuggling system the Carta Cartel used. It was abandoned on account of the nest of Intellect Devourers that had made homes in the skulls of the dead smugglers. Aided by Omerok's druidic magic which turned them into Moorbounders, and Andol's speed magic, Croak and Dagger promptly got the f*** out of there...but not before Aileen was stunned and had her brain scrambled. Through Intellect Devourers and squishy spiders, Croak and Dagger escaped the tunnels and got a breath of fresh air. Bloodied, bruised, and terrified, Croak and Dagger decided to scale the side of the cliff and regroup with Lumira and Marilka in San Rosalita. It seemed Malor still wasn't giving Aiden full control without a fight, when he wrenched control from Aiden for a moment, and accidentally impaled Aileen, killing her.
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| Grieving over the loss of Aileen, Clymene had repeated a mistake she had made during her first months with Croak and Dagger. Clymene had accidentally prayed into the open once again to "anybody" that would bring her friend back. Before anyone could stop Clymene, someone had answered. In an eerie circus carriage, decorated with malformed, twisted puppets, was the Mistress of the Night and Pain, the Lady of Loss, the God of Thieves, and the Singer of Eternal Night, Shar...
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| Desperate to have Aileen back, Clymene quickly made a deal with Shar in which Aileen would be returned to life, in return for the life of '''Tuunbaaq Miastroth'''. If Clymene failed to do so, Shar would take Aileen's soul back. Before the other's could even get a question out, Clymene entered the fold and accepted the terms of the deal. The deal was made.
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| Following their harrowing encounter with Shar, Croak and Dagger stayed at the nearest hotel, joined by Lumira and Marilka. While the others slept, Logan and Maribelle set out in search of a man named Hector, whom Logan believed held the final clue as to where Craig was being held. Actually, Logan had been working for the Carta Cartel and the moment Maribelle stepped outside she was knocked unconscious. But not without putting up a fight.
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| In the hands of the Carta Cartel, Maribelle had the joy of enduring long monologues and poor attempts at poisoning her. But the lack of clean air thanks to the poison, was certainly not good. Enter the same backstabbing wiseass that handed Maribelle over in the first place. Armed with a strange, alien-like firearm, and a terrible singing voice, Logan blasted and exploded his way through the small compound and freed Maribelle who almost beat him to death. Logan explained that it was the only way to get Hector to come out of hiding, and for Logan to scurry off and find his shiny guns. The dispatched of the last of the guards then went to confront Hector, who Logan had left locked in a cell. After nicely asking Hector where Craig was, Maribelle crushed the cartel member's skull like a watermelon and left with Logan with one location. '''Hadleigh'''. They and the other members of Croak and Dagger eventually returned to Meadowcraft to lick their wounds, and prepare to rescue their boss, and friend.
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| While the others restocked, Omerok used a scrying spell to first try and locate where exactly Craig was in Hadleigh. The spell revealed that Craig was being held by Photon, the same red-robed Warforged who tried to steal Winona Harper's workbook at Bhurnram. There with him was Omerok's old crafting colleague, Zirildeler. The Duergar artificial engineer mentioned Visera's involvement with recent events, and how her "discovery" will benefit them all. This of course couldn't go on without some confirmation from Omerok, who was struck with a powerful loop of feedback when he attempted to scry on Visera. All Omerok could see through the Supreme Mechanica's eyes, was a single, red stone. A Philosopher's Stone. Things just had a way of piling up for the heroes.
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| The journey to Hadleigh was cut in half by Omerok's ability to teleport via plants which he used to visit the Firbolg's farm. The Firbolg, having just prepared some tea after a hard day's work, let Croak and Dagger borrow some giant goats to ride all the way to the Alliance city of Hadleigh. At the City of Twins, Omerok pointed out the only clocktower in the city where Craig was conveniently located. They spent some time planning and figured avoiding a large fight was the best way to make sure Craig survived. Omerok and Andol teamed up, cloaked one another, and flew up to the main clock face and pulled Craig through. Almost without a sound if not for Photon seeing Craig moving. Despite Photon's best efforts, he only lightly damaged Craig and Andol. A boost of speed from Andol guaranteed a lightning quick escape from what would have been a long fight. With Craig finally saved, Croak and Dagger...or Clymene...turned her attention towards Tuunbaaq and the village of Yulyu.
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| ===Look For The Light===
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| Croak and Dagger awaken one day to find Clymene gone. All that is left in her tidied room is a letter saying goodbye...
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| -----
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| '''(Clymene's Letter)'''
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| ''I kind of suck at these. But… you know. As you see here, I have to go. I just can't face it all, knowing I can't help you guys. My village is in danger, and I can't burden you all this time. It already hurts trying to hide everything with a smile and a joke for so long as I did.''
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| ''Jordun was right. I rely too much on you. I'm a coward who can't fight. I'm not built like Hildr or Aiden, who can just shrug off anything and kill anything with the ease of opening a can of juice. I'm not as quick and scary as Maribelle, as quick witted as Andol, or as brave as Aileen and Omerok. I can't simply undo 100 years of training and learn a different style. Nor work hard enough to build muscle. Realistically, it's impossible. But I need to do this. I need to rescue my home… I try time and again to change, to be smarter, to warp myself from a whelp to a true hunter like my mother and her father, or to be as sharp tongue as my aunt, or as brave as my father. It's just not me.''
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| ''Barbatos is dead because of me. Maribelle, Andol, and Gulak died because of me and my attempt to be clever and help out. Aileen died because of me. Seeing her go… I couldn't bare it, I was close to just… losing it. I'm scared of the idea that my Gods don't exist, because no prayer seems to reach them. And that I'm just a used up rag to be passed around. Whatever Aiden had - it terrified me and helped me realize that I wasn't helpful. Jordun's words...by Hades, he's my elder, so he would know better than I would, and it made me realize how true it was. I tried to treat you all as friends and a family, but in the end used you as mercenaries or tools and tried to act like I mattered.''
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| ''If I never left Yulyu, the village would still be stable. No mad cultists worshipping some mad God, my mother would still be a leader who worked herself to the bone to be a leader, and not a paraplegic, I would still be an elf, and my friends would probably still be alive and someone like Tuunbaaq wouldn't have strolled in and colonized it. I'm a cursed being. So the most I can do is try to use myself against someone I detest.''
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| ''Please, let Jordun take my place. He's crass and rude, but he was still a master in combat in his prime, and he can be a useful ally. If I don't return - well… you guys are free, right?''
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| ''I don't regret being a member of Croak and Dagger. It was a year that gave me purpose. It helped me see the world and meet some wonderful people. Skulk, Sayrax, Logan, Charles, Quorok, Gulak… and you guys. I love each of you.''
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| ''Please. Stay safe. And be like my aunt prophesied for me. Forget I existed.''
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| ''- 88th Clymene of Yulyu''
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| -----
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| Clymene rode off towards Fort Erris where she planned to dig up any information she could find on Tuunbaaq. Once stopped at the gate, Clymene tried to talk her way past the guards, but at the mention of Tuunbaaq, the Jaeger guards immediately turned her away. Unbeknownst to Clymene, Andol had informed Elvira of Clymene's intentions. It seemed Elvira would have no part of Clymene's hare brained revenge plan. Back at the Heroes Rest, the others plan on how to best intercept and stop Clymene, while Aileen's timer has begun counting down. Clymene has three days to kill Tuunbaaq, or Aileen dies, as per her deal with Shar. Andol sends a second warning to Tuunbaaq's husband, '''Hakim''', and advises them to prepare for anything. Andol decides it's best to finally go to Yulyu with a few others, and speak to Tuunbaaq herself about what her intentions are for Yulyu. They get there well before Clymene and see that Yulyu has never looked better. That it resembles a small city or town in the making if Tuunbaaq's work detail continues as it is.
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| When Clymene arrives in the forest around Yulyu, she finds herself in a very strange loop, almost as if the forest itself was tricking her. Keeping her from Yulyu. Shot off her horse, Clymene prepares for a fight only to see that one of Tuunbaaq's captains, an Elf named '''Kozak''', has surrounded her with several other well-armored Fireflies. They bring her in to Yulyu under strict watch where she sees the new village for herself. The talk between Tuunbaaq and Clymene goes about as well as anyone expected, when Tuunbaaq verbally assailed Clymene and accused her mother Atalanta of being a complacent elite in a classist system. Tuunbaaq gave Clymene three choices before they continued, to leave, join them, or step into the ring if she wished. Clymene could only glare at Andol who she blamed for her early plan for going wrong.
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| While Andol, Maribelle, and Aileen were at Yulyu, Omerok and Aiden pressed a reluctant Jordun for information. Seeing no reason to continue protecting the Forsaken, who would almost certainly kill him anyway, Jordun made a startling confession. That the day Andol saw in his memory trip of Jordun in Yulyu, Jordun wasn't there for Tuunbaaq. That Tuunbaaq had all but killed the people the Forsaken had made a deal with. Jordun was there to speak with the Elders and Atalanta. Devoted allies of the Forsaken.
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| With this new shocking revelation, Aiden and Omerok sent a message to Andol in Yulyu, then went to Noble Agency to see what they could gather on Yulyu, Atalanta, Jordun, and Tuunbaaq. The two detectives found further evidence that confirmed the connection between the Forsaken and Yulyu, but were met with blacked-out text across Tuunbaaq's small record. They decided to go to Fort Erris, the heart of the Jaeger Program, and see if they couldn't find more information on the leader of the Fireflies. While Aiden and Omerok continued their investigation, Andol and Aileen continued helping out during work detail at Yulyu, while Maribelle kept a close eye on Clymene. As the day went on, Clymene and her good friend Jason went to Clymene's house which had been emptied and locked up in Atalanta's exile. In the house, the two went through the family's belongings, while Jason concocted a nefarious plan. Jason had scavenged a small handful of Jarrin root from the Ardeep Forest. The root was highly, highly poisonous in small doses. And Jason had convinced Clymene to use it to poison Tuunbaaq.
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| Once the workday at Yulyu had ended, Tuunbaaq and Hakim invited Andol and Aileen to their small home for tea and dinner. But before they could properly sit down and speak, Andol had gotten word of Clymene's plans to poison Tuunbaaq from Maribelle who heard the entire exchange between Jason and Clymene. Before Clymene could poison the tea, Andol, Aileen, Tuunbaaq, and Hakim caught Clymene red handed. In a fit of rage, Tuunbaaq attacked Clymene, dragged her outside before the whole village, and berated her. Tuunbaaq said to the village that Clymene was evidence of a poisonous upbringing under Atalanta and the Elders who had aligned themselves with the Forsaken. The shocking announcement didn't seem to surprise most of the village, who could see the Elders aligning themselves with such a group. Clymene, confused and angry, tried to talk to her friends, to the villagers, anybody who would listen. Her outcries went unheard, except by Tuunbaaq who, having grown tired of Clymene, initiated a challenge to the adventurer. Try as she did to ignore it, Clymene could not avoid the challenge once Tuunbaaq struck her twice. The duel that ensued lasted for all of 10 seconds, ended by Tuunbaaq who, untouched, choked Clymene out in front of everyone. Upon winning the duel, Tuunbaaq declared Clymene banished from Yulyu. It was the last thing she said, before Jason shot her in the head with an Eldritch Blast. Quickly, he too was literally disarmed, this was by Hakim who lobbed Jason's arm off with a liquid-metal blade.
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| Meanwhile, Aiden and Omerok's day at Fort Erris had been a productive one when, after multiple embarrassing attempts, they convinced Elvira to give them access to Tuunbaaq's private military file. The detectives discovered that Tuunbaaq had grown up on a now abandoned Wood Elf Reservation that doubled as a chemical weapons testing site for the High Elves. The lead chemist had been fired and would go on to terrorize his former employers, when Tuunbaaq, now older, set her sights on him during Operation Kingslayer. The events of Operation Kingslayer resulted in the death of the chemist, as well as a large number of innocent civilians. The blame fell on Tuunbaaq who was swiftly cast out of the Jaeger Corp, and supposedly spent her time in Sheng-Lao. Throughout all their research, Aiden and Omerok could not find a single connection between Tuunbaaq and the Forsaken. Instead, while scrying, Omerok did find that Grok and Meryl, aided by Atalanta, had planned on entering the Feywild through the Ardeep Forest. Their plans? Unknown. With this information, Omerok and Aiden quickly traveled to Yulyu to rejoin their friends, who had subdued and tied Clymene up in Tuunbaaq's kitchen.
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| After regaining consciousness, Clymene saw that her friends had all seemingly turned on her. Worst yet, Tuunbaaq had survived Jason's attempt to kill her. Finally, the group explained to Clymene the connection the old leaders and her mother had to the Forsaken. At first, Clymene refused to believe it. Then it finally dawned on her stubborn head. The other members of Croak and Dagger did their best to explain to Clymene that her explosive tendencies and impulses were a danger to those around her. Clymene refused to accept this as well, arguing that she was only trying to not be someone to be taken care of. Despite the group's best efforts, Clymene didn't seem to hear them out. What she did hear, as did everyone, was Maribelle bursts through the room she had been interrogating Jason in with Hakim's help. Jason, to nobody, but Clymene's, surprise had been aiding Atalanta and the students loyal to her, this entire time. Jason laughed and confessed that Orion and the others had ambushed Hildr in the forest, dead set on finally getting their revenge on her for attacking them all those months ago. In another fit of rage and lack of impulse control, Clymene windwalled Jason, accidentally knocking Hakim out, and launching Jason out the window. Giving Jason enough time to escape and teleport away.
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| Croak and Dagger dashed on horseback to Hildr's last known location. There, they found the bodies of Orion and over forty other Forsaken-loyal Yulyu warriors. At the center of the massacre was Marilka who was clutching Hildr's arrow and wound-riddled body in her arms. It seemed Hildr had died protecting Marilka from the likes of the Forsaken-Yulyu assassins. But, Omerok has discovered Hildr still had the feintest pulse. That despite the assassin's best efforts, Hildr was still alive. But barely. They all rushed Hildr back to the tavern where Lumira and a talented surgeon named [[Rex Du'Razal|Rex]], began to work on Hildr by removing arrows, sealing wounds, regenerating bone, and sewing her jaw back into alignment. The eight hour ordeal gave Hildr a very, very small fighting chance at survival. It was all up to her now.
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| In the aftermath of Hildr's ambush, thanks to the investigative efforts of Omerok, Croak and Dagger discovered that Atalanta and her Old-Era Yulyu loyalists, known as Purists, had infiltrated the Feywild with the help of Meryl and Grok. Atalanta and the Purists planned on using an old-world ritual to rewrite, or corrupt one of the Feywild's gates and wipe out all Half-Elves in the known realm. Croak and Dagger quickly sent out the call for help, and were able to band together Elvira and her Jaegers, and Tuunbaaq and the Fireflies. Croak and Dagger, with their allies in tow, traveled to the Ardeep Forest to find any trace as to where Atalanta jumped through into the Feywild. While attempting to travel to the Feywild, Croak and Dagger and their friends were ambushed by Purists. Quickly, '''Lyle Littlefoot''', a sword-for-hire fighting for the Jaegers, took to the forest-top with aerial gear with his unit to try and weaken the ambush.
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| The Purists were being led by Jason, who used powerful magic given to him by a strange gauntlet, to bombard Croak and Dagger. During the attack, Jason feebleminded Aiden and banished Andol. Jason's overconfidence got the better of him, when he was blindsided by Maribelle, and immediately vaporized against a laser-wall of his own creation thanks to Andol's magic ring. With Jason defeated, the ambushers were forced to retreat as Lyle's unit gave chase, hoping to reunite with their own scouts further in the forests. Given enough room, Croak and Dagger helped Elvira's mages finish the teleportation ritual, and entered the Feywild.
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| (IN PROGRESS)
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