who these things happen to

☾

Another bird had worked its way into Manishtu's room. The bright yellow canary stood out staunchly against the dim lighting of his office, but it seemed content enough as it perched on the back of their chair.

"I am not the one you're looking for," he told it, barely sparing it a first glance. "He's one floor up."

The canary chittered disinterestedly, digging its beak through its wing feathers. Manishtu continued to ignore the bird, setting up for their final class of the day. Once the bird finished preening, it let out another chirp, and the fluttering of wings was his only warning before he felt a weight settle on his shoulder.

With a grunt, Manishtu shrugged his shoulder in a half-hearted attempt to shove the canary off, but it held fast, dropping whatever it had in one talon on the table before them, keeping a bundle clutched tightly in the others. They picked up a small dried acorn, spinning it between his fingers before sighing. On his way out the door, he set it on a bookshelf, level with his eyes.

Fucking birds.

☾

"I hope that answers your questions, Mx. Axebrook," Soren said, offering a wave and a slight smile as he closed the door behind the student. Baale Axebrooke, a young half-orc, grinned as they returned his wave.

"Helped loads, Professor Ware, thanks! I'll be sure to stop by Professor Einar, as well."

With a final hum, Soren shut the door, sighing as his stiff posture relaxed.

"Having fun, are we?"

The sudden voice in the previously empty office had Soren jumping and drawing his swords in the same breath.

Manishtu chuckled, saying something in a language Soren didn't understand as they leaned against the other's desk. The bright yellow canary on his shoulder twittered in apparent assent—certainly an odd combination.

Seeing his fellow professor was enough to give Soren pause—Manishtu always eyed him with a strange glint in his eyes he could never fully discern—but it was the canary that concerned him the most. It twittered as Soren resheathed his swords, flying over to his shoulder and burrowing into the folds of his cloak with a contented trill.

"Hello, friend," he murmured, reaching a finger out to pet its head. "I cannot imagine you're here because you missed me." Soren held out his other hand, and the canary released the bundle clutched in its talons.

"Your patron is a... cryptic fellow," Manishtu noted, eyeing the bird and bundle with a lingering smirk.

Soren huffed, setting the bundle on his desk. "Unfortunately." Then, under his breath, "Are all the gods this poor at communicating?"

Manishtu let out a strangled cough, waving off Soren's concerned glance. "Dust. Either way, if you could communicate to your patron that I don't appreciate being your middleman, that would be fantastic."

The human grunted. "If I could, I would, but I think this is more of a one-way line of communication." He thumbed through the bundle's contents, taking stock of the dried herbs and flowers.

Holly, wintergreen, and rhododendron, mixed with cedar twigs and tied together on the ends with twine. Separate from the bundle was a single sprig of dried lavender. Soren swallowed. He set it down before unceremoniously shoving books and papers out of the way, only wincing a little when his tea spilled onto a stack of ungraded tests.

"What?" Manishtu asked sharply, any of their previous lackadaisical attitude gone.

Soren didn't answer, dashing across the room and throwing open his storage cabinet. Grabbing the small obsidian caldron that he rarely used and a silver dish, he moved to rush back to the bundle when Manishtu grabbed his forearm in a vice grip. He glanced down at the other, their eyes unusually sharp.

"I should have known by the canary alone," he admitted, slumping. "With the disappearances, too, I should have known." Manishtu's grip loosened, and Soren broke free, setting the caldron and dish side by side on his desk. He held up the bundle and lavender. "These all but confirm it. Something is deeply, deeply wrong."

Before Manishtu could reply, the door flew open, banging against the wall. Brewyn Heartgrove stood rushed in, breathing heavily as if she had run all the way from the school's greenhouse. Once she straightened, Brewyn blinked at the sight of them. "Ah, good, one less trip for me," she said. "Both of you, with me now. Lunvagran's called an emergency meeting." She turned and walked off, not waiting for either of them.

The two shared a glance before taking off after her, catching up quickly.

"What happened?" Soren asked, wringing his hands together.

The halfling shook her head, not breaking her stride. "Not too sure," she said before allowing him a glance, her silver eyes uncharacteristically wide with worry. "But another student's gone missing. Axebrooke."

Soren stumbled. "Axebrooke?" He repeated. "Baale? That's impossible. I—I just saw them."

"And now they're missing," Manishtu snapped, bringing up the rear of the group. "Now is not the time for impossibles, Ware."

"They didn't show up for their most recent class," Brewyn added, sighing, "and their dorm was ransacked. Hurry, everyone else is already in the Headmaster's office."

☾

Though it was only a room for one person, Headmaster Ewyn Lunvagran's office was easily as large as a classroom. A long table with enough chairs for the university's professors ran perpendicular to Lunvagran's desk, where she sat overlooking the quietly chattering faculty.

Aryan shifted uneasily in his seat, eyes nervously darting to and fro, and just as the chatter seemed to die down, the large doors to the office were thrown open. Brewyn scurried in, followed closely by Soren and Manishtu, quietly muttering to each other as they entered. Curiously, a bright yellow canary flitted between the latter two like it was unsure who it wanted to be near. The three quickly filed in, with Brewyn taking the empty seat next to Aryan, Manishtu next to her, and Soren next to them, with Elaine on his other side.

As the doors fell shut, Lunvagran stood, wordlessly calling the attention of everyone in the room. "Thank you all for coming," she said, her voice even and commanding. "I understand that having you all here on such short notice may be confusing, but I would not ask it of you if it weren't necessary."

"People have been saying another student's gone missing!" r'Ihn f'Ash, a golden-colored Grung blurted, leaning up in her seat. A few other professors murmured in assent.

Lunvagran nodded solemnly, and the murmurs picked up. "Silence!" The Aasimar called, and a hush fell over the room. "It is true; Baale Axebrook has gone missing—"

Soren let out a choked sound, and Aryan looked over to see him white-knuckling the finished wood of the table so tightly that it audibly creaked.

"—However, that is not the only reason you have all been called here. We've received word back from the search party."

The room perked up at that; a search party ventured out three days after the second disappearance—one week after the first. Few had kept in contact with the party aside from Lunvagran; it was an unfortunate mix of too-new and too-irritating professors for anyone to be close enough to try and send any missives.

She raised a hand, the motion cutting through the growing murmurs. "I warn you; it is not pleasant." A sigh, then she continued, "It appears that nearly all have perished. Professor Rasyax is the sole survivor and has written that he has abandoned the cause."

The uproar was instantaneous, and though Lunvagran tried, she could not silence it. Aryan stared wide-eyed. Priastil Rasyax was the Dragonborn professor of alchemy, and though he thought Rasyax was rather seedy, he never thought he would abandon his quest.

"ENOUGH!" Lunvagran bellowed, her voice magically amplified loud enough to shake the walls. A grave silence fell across the room. With a prim sigh and a wave of her hand, she dismissed her spell. "That being said, I will be personally leading any further efforts to locate the missing students, and while I understand you all have received distressing news, for now, we must not let the children worry.

"Until we know more, we will continue classes as normal; however, there will be a strict curfew, and there will be a scheduled roster among

one-on-one meetings with all of you in the following days to further discuss your individual roles in this. Dismissed."

Chatter erupted once again as professors scattered off to continue with their business.

"It's gotta be someone here then, huh?" Delphius Montaali slid into the now vacant seat directly across from Aryan, resting a pale cheek delicately on his hand and his lips quirking into a vague smile.

Soren shook his head. "It could be. It could also be someone at the bottom of Lealams Wharf with the right ritual." The bird on his shoulder chittered.

Delphius hummed, eyeing Soren with a look Aryan couldn't discern but made the human squirm.

"Ware," Lunvagran said, approaching the group before the conversation could go further. She stood before the table, tilting her head to the side. "I see you've received a message from your... patron."

As one of the only warlocks employed at Laeliths, many others preferred to dance around the subject, even Soren himself. The man was incredibly tight-lipped about how he even got his contract; not even Aryan even knew.

Soren straightened immediately. "Yes, I have. I was hoping I'd have the opportunity to discuss it with you."

Lunvagran looked from the canary, contentedly returning to its preening, to Soren and sighed. "Come on, then," she said, jerking her head to the side, perfect white coiffed hair bouncing with the motion.

With a sharp nod to the table and a grunt, Soren stood, his chair scraping crudely against the cobblestone floor, and the two disappeared into the private room just to the side of her office.

"Do you think Soren's alright?" Elaine asked, her foxlike eyes narrowed curiously as she watched them leave. "He seemed gruff. More than usual, that is."

Manishtu shrugged, standing from his seat but making no attempt to leave. "Whatever his patron—" Of everyone, they always spoke the harshest of Soren's patron. "—said, it shook him up. He seems to think it has something to do with this." He made a vague waving gesture.

Aryan shifted uneasily in his seat. "Well, what now? We can't just do nothing while more students go missing!"

"What, going to go after them all by yourself, are you?" Delphius snorted, their appearance seeming to ripple briefly.

"If I have to," he huffed. "They may be annoying, chaotic little shits, but their my little shits, and I'm going to bring them home if I can."

"Here, here!" Elaine called, rapping her fist on the table. "We'll petition our own quest to Lunvagran if we have to."

Brewyn sighed, ever the levelheaded one. "Let's not get hasty now," she said solemnly. "I'm with you both, of course, but it does those poor students no good if you die before you can find them. Once Lunvagran is done, we can talk to her. Who knows, maybe Soren is already petitioning a quest."

☾

"Professor Ware, don't tell me you're trying to petition a quest of your own.

"That's exactly what I'm doing, Headmaster."

The Aasimar sighed deeply, well-manicured fingers pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm sorry, but it's just too soon. We need to gather more information, need more time to better prepare."

They stood in a private room, one constructed specifically for the Headmaster to conduct one-on-one meetings with professors and students alike.

Soren pursed his lips. "We don't have the time," he fired back. Contrary to his tone, he held the canary carefully in both his hands.

"Well, please," Lunvagran snapped, her patience with him clearly slipping, "enlighten me. Don't come here just to waste my time."

Reaching into his tunic pocket, Soren scattered the contents of his patron's missive onto the desk between them.

"This," he motioned to the bundle, "while still a protective measure, is a warning, an omen. It speaks of deaths and more to come if we do not hurry."

"And that?" Lunvagran asked, nodding at the sprig of lavender.

Soren sighed, picking it up. "It is a line of communication to him. They wish to speak to me."

She hummed and, with no warning, dragged him into a dimension door straight into his classroom. Watching unimpressed as he stumbled, Lunvagran crossed her arms. "Well? Contact him, then."

Jaw set, Soren got to work, grabbing the cauldron he had set out before leaving his classroom previously and grinding the lavender into the center. He went through the motions, pouring this and that and chanting, feeling only a little awkward under the Headmaster's piercing gaze. As he finished, he stepped back, brushing his hands on his pants. "There," he said. "Now—"

To onlookers, Soren's head snapped back, his eyes rolling back into his head. To Soren, he went from standing in the warm, dim light of his classroom to the dank darkness of temple ruins.

"I was beginning to wonder if my messenger arrived."

Rindrevom stepped out from behind a crumbled pillar, and Soren fell into a low bow.

"Enough of that," they said, his voice warm and lilting, paradoxically high and yet low enough for Soren to feel it deep in his chest. As he rose, his patron sighed. "Will you not show your true face?"

Soren winced. "I cannot. Not now."

Rindrevom sighed again. As most gods tend to be, he was beautiful—eerily so. They shared a close resemblance to the birds he created, with sharp, stormy eyes, a narrow hooked nose, dark, iridescent hair that cast a slight glow with what little light there was, and equally iridescent feathers scattered across his dark olive skin. "Very well." A pause, then, "I expect you know why I have summoned you?"

He nodded. "I would hope so."

His patron hummed. "It is in part to do with the mission you took when you swore your allegiance to me and the recent disappearances." They took a seat on what was left of the temple's southern wall. "There have been whispers," he continued, "of a ritual. A horrible, dark thing that has the power to allow the user to usurp the gods."

"And you believe they're after you in particular?" Soren asked, tilting his head to the side.

"The work I've seen bears a resemblance to the necromancers who oppose me," Rindrevom admitted, pursing his lips in thought. "Whether I am their target or Maen themself, it is not something that can go unchecked."

Soren nodded. He was being assigned a quest, a job. He was good at those. "What would you have me do?"

"Gather a party," they ordered, standing now and easily towering over even Soren. "No more than four others, and travel to the Forest of the Nameless. There, you should find the root of this all."

"Forest of the Nameless? That's a little on the nose."

Rindrevom shrugged in a decidedly ungodlike manner. "You know necromancers. They've always got a flair for the dramatic." Stepping forward, they placed a hand on Soren's forehead, pushing back slightly. "That is all I can tell you for now; you must return. Remember, act quickly." Then, his grip changed, yanking Soren's face back down.

With a gasp, Soren found himself back in his classroom, Lunvagran having settled in his desk chair while she waited.

"Well?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Soren blinked, trying to soothe his dry eyes. "They believe that the culprit behind the disappearances wishes to usurp the gods."

The Headmaster said nothing, but her eyes widened minutely.

"I have been ordered to take up a quest," he continued, catching his breath as he rubbed his neck, "alongside a company of four to travel to the Forest of the Nameless."

"Fine," Lunvagran said eventually. "Have a list of names ready by tonight. I will have the final say, but be prepared to depart by the end of the week." She rose from her seat and strode to the door, black heels clicking on the stone floor. "And Professor Ware? Do choose wisely."

☾

cedar: used for healing, purification, and protection
holly: used for protection and luck
lavender: used for protection and various rituals surrounding death
rhododendron: means "beware;" seen as a sign of caution, and a harbinger of adversity to come.

wintergreen: used for protection, healing and hex-breaking. used to bring protection and luck to children.

☾

wc: 2.7k
status: edited

ahaha wow hi! this chapter has been sitting in my drafts for so long; i'm so glad i can finally put it out there! as i said previously, i want this to be pretty close to a campaign as a written story can get, so there is a chance i may ask you to make a choice for your character or how you think they would react (while trying to avoid spoilers as much as possible). you can also request a choice or reaction or anything!

if you haven't, please try and fill out character relations when you have time! i've put this chapter out since it's been in my drafts for months now, but i really want you guys to be as involved as possible. that being said, i hope you all enjoyed this chapter and that i've done your characters justice. since i'm done with school for the summer, hopefully i'll have more chapters out soon!

also i meant to put this out earlier, but for reference, here is the map i made for this story:

and, in the comments here, you can find the link to a doc with brief descriptions of each location on the map.