It’s Dungeons and Dragons time! Here’s the latest installment of the epic journey of our heroines, Danaeryzard and Alaria! (If you’re new here, check out the entire saga in order by reading the chapters organized on the D&D tab of this site!)

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The Crystal Temple atop of Mount Blaze was so high above ground level that the elite Midnight Ring party could no longer hear the booms and crashes of the war going on below. Instead, they could feel a much stronger and more ominous presence all around them. Danaeryzard and Alaria quickly recognized that the giant crystal slabs along the walls of the temple were the same as those from Lake Constant. The Crystal Temple was being fueled by the magic within these crystals, and the magic was so strong that it created a blue light that emanated from almost everywhere. The blue light pulsated, almost like breathing.

The party couldn’t help but feel as though they had been expected, and were being watched.

Dany and Alaria lead the way down a large corridor, followed by Bikira, Ezra, Drex and Hendricks. They all walked with their weapons readied, not sure what to expect. Suddenly, Dany heard the jangling sound of chains. Moments later, the walls of the corridor were draped with chains that had fallen down from above. Just as Dany nudged Alaria in the arm to point them out, the chains were flying straight at them! They dodged to opposite sides of the hall, with Alaria getting ensnared by one of the chains. More chains were flying off of the walls to lash at the rest of the party.

Bikira readied her long sword to attack the chain wrapping itself around Alaria’s arms. “Hold still!” Bikira cried as she swung the long sword down on the chain, causing sparks to fly.

A deep voice laughed from the opposite end of the corridor, and as they all turned their heads, a silhouette of a large fighter had appeared. As he approached the party, they could see that he too had chains all around him, but he was controlling them.

“It’s a Chain Devil!” Drex exclaimed, shooting a bolt at the menacing foe. But the Chain Devil dashed out of sight, into a room leading off of the main corridor of the Crystal Temple.

It wasn’t long before Hendricks and Drex were also entangled in the wild chains. Alaria managed to twist away from the chain wrapping around her. Danaeryzard tried to help free Drex from the chains by chopping at them with her Dragon Tooth Dagger, but it had little effect.

“Move up ahead,” Drex commanded Dany, seeing that her weapons were proving useless against the metal chains. “We’ll be free of these chains soon enough.”

Dany moved further down the corridor, searching for the Chain Devil. She was followed by Alaria, and Drex not long after that. Bikira, Ezra and Hendricks continued to struggle with chain attacks.

Alaria quickly spotted the Chain Devil in a nearby chamber and shot him in the shoulder with her new crossbow. While the devil winced in pain, Bikira managed to slice the chain that was attacking her right off the wall, and it fell lifelessly to the ground. She ran to catch up with the rest of the party.

Dany pulled her crystal orb from her rucksack and cast a Shatter spell at the Chain Devil. A thunderous clap echoed through the chamber. Smaller crystals in the area were reduced to dust, but the larger structural crystals remained intact. The Chain Devil covered his ears, clearly in pain. He turned to the attackers and snarled angrily.

The Chain Devil made direct eye contact with Alaria and with a magic spell, transformed his image into Father Sirzer from her childhood in Eklatar! For a brief moment Alaria hesitated to attack, but she shook her head and blinked her eyes hard. When she opened them again, her eyes saw the Chain Devil once more. But he was now on the move, heading towards Bikira and Ezra, who were trying to help free Hendricks from the chains on the wall.

Ezra spotted the Chain Devil and readied her longbow. Alaria was in pursuit and shot him again with her crossbow. While Bikira fumbled with the chains ensnaring Hendricks, Dany cast a Magic Missile spell and blasted the devil with three strong bolts of power. Drex cast a magic spell as well, causing the Chain Devil to see invisible spikes all around him. Drex’s magic was so strong that these fake spikes were able to cause real damage!

Hendricks, finally freeing himself from the chains, dashed straight for the Chain Devil, screaming a war cry as he stabbed his great sword at the vicious foe. Ezra and Alaria took turns shooting arrows at the Chain Devil, followed by the hot flames of Bikira’s dragonborn breath weapon. Dany ran up from behind and attempted to stab the Chain Devil with her Dragon Tooth Dagger, but again it proved useless.

The Chain Devil began to whip his chains at Ezra, and she is grappled. Hendricks swung his great sword to hit the chain, but accidentally hit Dany instead. Alaria and Bikira moved in closer to ready their next attacks.

Dany wasn’t sure what to do; her dagger was ineffective. She decided to switch to her quarterstaff. When she looked up from her new weapon, the Chain Devil was staring straight at her. Once again, he did a transformation spell. This time, he became Danaeryzard’s dragonborn father. She became paralyzed in fear when she saw the vision of her father, who she had not seen in several years. Dany began to shake and could not manage to attack.

The Chain Devil then turned to Ezra and whipped his chains at her. She buckled over from the impact. Her attempt to fire a retaliation shot with her long bow was a miss. Alaria tried to attack with her rapier but the hit did not land. Dany struggled to raise her quarterstaff to attack what appeared to be ‘her father,’ and instead cringed and dropped her quarterstaff in defeat.

“This monster is almost conquered! Do not give up now!” Drex hollered as she ran up to the Chain Devil and stabbed at him. Hendricks lifted his great sword to attack the foe, but once again hit Dany by accident! Enraged, Hendricks took a second turn and as he screamed out, he jumped, spun in the air and sliced his great sword directly through the Chain Devil’s skull. The remaining chains that had been under the devil’s control wiggled, withered and died. The Chain Devil collapsed in a heap.

Ezra was still buckled over, coughing up blood.

“That was only the first enemy that we’ll encounter in this evil place,” Ezra said, spitting on the crystal floor. “Consider that a warm-up round. Take these Greater Healing potions and get ready. The battle has only begun.”

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And so ends the latest installment of our DnD adventures! Thanks for reading! I hope you like this ongoing storyline lol! If you play Dungeons and Dragons too, let’s hear about your character in the comments! 🙂