Chapter 9: The Adventurer

Scenario Text
You are passing through a valley of high cliffs and winding rivers. Sparse vegetation colors the landscape with patches of green. A man appears in front of you on the path you are traversing, carrying a long spear and a variety of exotic accessories. A rare singing bird is perched on his shoulder.

“So I have finally found you. I am Rainer Starhallow, gold league adventurer, and I believe you each have something of mine. You see, I had a treasure room in Genesis Cave where I stored a variety of valuable items I had acquired on my quests, and I recently returned to find that some of them had been stolen.”

He looks to Michael.

“So that’s a void crawler. Magnificent thing. Although I am afraid if it is has somehow imprinted on you, I will have to destroy it. The rest of you thieves, hand over your tools immediately, I have no qualms at all with the use of force.”

He gestures to the bird on his shoulder and it starts singing a shrill, eerie song. The Ifrit’s Candle, Captain’s Hat, Disciple’s Vest, Librarian’s Glove, and Fury’s Horn all turn a dull grey color, the energy inside them gone. Rainer draws his spear.

What do you do?

Calen
Calen gives his potions to Solomon. He helps Jack throw grenades at Rainer. When Jatin and Nick become incapacitated, he takes up Jatin's bow and arrow and starts firing at Rainer.

Jack
Jack gives a dogfire grenade to Solomon to use to upgrade Michael's Void Crawler. Along with Calen, he throws dogfire grenades at Rainer. After Rainer flees, he trains with his sword using the techniques Ba'az taught him while the rest of the players recuperate.

Jatin
Jatin shot at Rainer with arrows to keep him on guard, most of which he avoided by conjuring shields and using Vanishing Arts. Jatin was impaled and grievously wounded by Rainer's thrown spear. He instructs Solomon to use their healing potions on the more injured Pippin, getting an alliance with Nicole. Eventually, Solomon produced another healing potion to heal him.

Michael
Michael gives all of his potions to Solomon. Michael, with the instruction of Solomon, feeds his giant's blood to the Void Crawler, making it grow to the size of a large human. He then commands the creature to attack Rainer with the intention of immobilizing him, while helping Nick and Jatin reload their weapons.

Nick
Nick shot at Rainer with his crossbow, who avoided most of the shots by conjuring shields and using Vanishing Arts. He was impaled by Rainer's spear and seriously wounded. Eventually, Solomon produced a healing potion for him.

Nicole
A rage tonic-empowered Pippin fights Rainer to distract him and gets grievously injured. Nicole helps Jack and Jatin reload their projectile weapons with which they are attacking Rainer. She picks up Nick's crossbow and begins using it when he falls. After the fight, she receives two health potions from Jatin for Pippin in exchange for declaring an alliance with him.

Ending
Calen and Michael give all of their potions to Solomon, who identifies them. He takes a clarity potion for himself, feeds the giant’s blood and a one of Jack's dogfire grenades to the void crawler, which makes it enormous and able to secrete flammable liquid from its pores. A tonic of rage is given to Pippin, who goes to fight Rainer. Solomon makes two sleep grenades by mixing the components of the boomdust grenades with the tonic of dreams. Nick and Jatin begin shooting at Rainer with arrows, while Jack and Calen throw grenades and Nicole and Michael help reload the projectile weapons. The rare singing bird immediately flies away. Rainer blocks the first volley of arrows by materializing shields out of the Collector’s Pitcher. The Void Crawler approaches Rainer with the intent of holding him down. Rainer neutralizes grenades with Vanishing Art: Flicker. He uses the same technique to shred Pippin, then impales him with the Kingfisher Spear, Chrysler. He then throws the spear, which goes through Nick, then curves to go through Jatin, then returns to his hand. Nicole and Calen pick up the ranged weapons and resume the firing. Rainer evades the Void Crawler for a while with Vanishing Arts as his Sylvian Cloak begins fanning at the flames from the dogfire, but the fumes from the chemical fire still irritate and begin to choke him. The Void Crawler manages to hold down Rainer's legs for a few seconds, burning at him with chemical fire secretions, and Solomon throws the sleep grenades at Rainer, who inhales the gas and begins to lose consciousness. His Sylvian Cloak wraps around him and whisks him away out of sight. Solomon gives both of the health potions to Pippin, cementing an alliance between Jatin and Nicole, and begins to make more health potions for Jatin and Nick.