choose your own adventure, episode 25C

KNIGHT SWORD, EPISODE 25C

You think of your father, killed by Ulmoch and turned to a Raven. You think of your blood father, Liam Tarnavale, killed by the Blood Queen. You think of what Ulmoch will do to Dietrich and the others.

You take a deep breath.

“I’ll do it,” you say. “I will take up the soulblade. I will become a Paladin.”

The messenger nods.

“So be it. Until we meet again, Rosalyn, daughter of Liam Tarnavale of the soulblade – for we shall surely meet again.”

The messenger strides forward, lifts his right hand, and places his finger against your forehead.

Into your forehead.

Pain erupts through you, and you scream, scream as you feel the messenger’s hand sink deep into your skull. The messenger’s eyes change, no longer harsh blue, but a brilliant, blazing gold, like sunlight beaten into metal.

Then golden fire erupts in all directions, and this strange gray place vanishes.

###

You awake, lying on the cold ground of the hills, the sounds of battle and furious magic filling your ears.

You feel…

…good.

The soulblade still rests in your right hand, the hilt warm as living flesh beneath your fingers.

You open your eyes. Dietrich is bent over you, face twisted with pain…but the pain vanishing beneath sudden shock.

Like he just saw your wound disappear.

“Rosalyn,” says Dietrich.

You get to your feet.

The first thing you notice is how much more clearly you can see. You can see the currents and flow of magic around Curtwall, the locus of darkness within your father…and the much stronger well of dark power within Ulmoch. You lift the soulblade, and you see that the crystals in the blade and the pommel are glowing, seeming to burn with golden fire, sheathing the blade in a haze of light.

For a moment the battlefield falls silent as everyone looks at you.

Then Ulmoch screams, a hideous sound, full of insane rage and perhaps even a hint of fear.

“Kill her!” he roars, spinning to face you. “Kill her now!”

Jerome breaks free from his fight with the exhausted Caius and Mourner and races to face you, moving with the inhuman speed of a Raven.

But you can see him coming, and you know that he is moving fast, but he seems slow, to slow, and you feel power pouring from the soulblade, filling you, and you move to meet him. You sidestep his attack, the soulblade plunging into Jerome’s chest. The golden light blazes, extinguishing the darkness within him, and he falls like puppet with cut strings.

Your father’s body crumbles to dust, freed from the dark power of the Ravens.

Another stunned silence falls over the hillside. You see Vlacht and his orcs watching you from the trees, alarm on their faces. Caius and Mourner stare at you with something like astonished awe on their faces. But most of all you feel the weight of Ulmoch’s sulfurous yellow gaze on you, full of rage and growing fear.

For only a Paladin’s soulblade can harm a Night Raven.

“Well?” you say, surprised by how calm your voice sounds. “You want to the soulblade so badly, Raven? Come and take it.”

Ulmoch roars and comes at you in a dark blur.

He’s a lot faster and stronger than your father was.

But the soulblade gives you strength and speed to match him. You are not a very good swordsman – but neither is Ulmoch. In a flash of insight, you realize the Raven has spent years overconfident, that he has relied far too much on his immunity to mortal weapons. He has not faced a real opponent, an opponent with the power to threaten him, in decades.

In a burst of exhilaration, you realize that you can defeat the Raven.

But Ulmoch has one advantage. He is covered in black plate armor, and you are not, and even with the enhanced strength the soulblade gives you, you cannot penetrate his armor. He’s not wearing a helmet, though, and Dietrich’s hammer left a weak spot in his cuirass. If you can find a way to distract him long enough to land a telling blow…

You see Dietrich running for you, hammer in hand, while Curtwall lifts his staff and begins a spell.

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