Chapter 4 - Where There's a Wyll, There's a Way
The party made their way down the path only a short ways before they encountered some private conversation between three Tiefling adventurers. They were obviously not members of the refugees for they were arguing about whether they should remain and help them or not. Kaedyn took a quick pitstop and helped mediate between them, convincing them to stay and help. It was annoying to the party, and once again everyone but Gale was unhappy about Kaedyn's constant need to help people. Vexir, Shadowheart and Astarion's relationship went down by 1 while Gale's went up by 1.
Next, they came upon the children working through combat training exercises. An adult Tiefling male was helping to guide them, as was the man known as "The Blade of Frontiers." As they started to make their way past, they heard the human man say to one of the children, "Go on, Umi. Give me your best shot."
The Tiefling boy called Umi took a lunge at him, and the Blade of Frontiers blocked the blow easily. Then he swatted the boy on the backside with the flat of his rapier. "Gah!" Umi growled.
The Blade laughed a little. "Not bad. Again. Keep focus. See how I used your own force against you?"
Umi was dejected. "I can't do it," he whined while shuffling his feet."
The Blade remained positive and confident. "Of course you can. It just takes time. I didn't become the Blade of Frontiers overnight."
Then, much to everyone's surprise, the man's smile bent downward, and his thoughts became the thoughts of everyone in the party. An unknown face commanded their minds; blue skin, gnarled horns.
The moment passed. Vexir looked up at him, making eye contact. "He is infected," she said with a mixture of frustration and surprise.
The Blade looked at each of them in shock. "I'll be damned to the Hells. You were on the ship." Then another strange sensation coursed through them. It was the first time that, during a connection of the minds, that their thoughts were joined, the bond ended, and then it was reestablished. Somehow, in a moment, they knew that his real name was Wyll, and his mind unfolded before them. His secrets became half-revealed.
Vexir pressed him. "I saw a creature in your thoughts. A devil? A demon?"
Wyll was clearly uncomfortable about this. He noticed Umi was looking back and forth between them with an overly curious look on his face. He decided to end his training session with the boy immediately so he could deal with this new problem. "Keep at it, kid," he said, and he patted the boy on the head as he left him to join the party on the path.
"A demon?" said Wyll with a loud voice. He was pretending to be his usual, positive, charismatic self for everyone nearby to hear. "Sounds like that brain-bug's really wormed its way in."
Then, when he was beyond earshot of the Tieflings, he said in much quieter tones, "Let's try to keep this amongst ourselves, shall we? He glanced back to make sure no one was still listening. Then he said to them, "We've all got parasites tickling our gray matter. And I've been having the strangest dreams. Haven't turned into a Mind Flayer just yet, but sooner or later, my luck'll run out. Been thinking I need a healer, and I reckon you've been thinking the same."
Kaedyn nodded. "I hoped someone in the grove might know how to heal us."
Wyll shrugged. "I've been waiting for this druid Halsin to return. They say he's pretty powerful. He could probably help us. Problem is, the goblins've nabbed him. We'd better go find him before we start growing talons and tentacles."
Kaedyn glanced at the others. "We could look for Halsin together," he suggested to them all.
The others seemed skeptical, but Wyll jumped all over the plan. "Excellent idea, but I have a condition."
Vexir eyed him warily. "Go on," she said. She wasn't at all sure she approved of having him as a part of their party, but she was open to it at least.
Wyll seemed relieved that they didn't shoot him down immediately. "Look at these kids," he said, gesturing behind him with deep, heartfelt sympathy. "They've no chance on the road; not while goblins infest it. I've got the grandest of plans. You and me, we kill the goblin horde's leaders. That should scatter the buggers. Frontier justice, I call that. What say you?"
Kaedyn then looked at the others to see what they were thinking. Seeing the looks of uncertainty on their faces, he said, "Isn't it better if everyone who has been afflicted by this are working together to try to find a cure? Alone, we may resist. But together, we can overcome."
Vexir couldn't argue with him on that. She sighed. "What's one more?" she said at last. "Fine. I'm on board. Let's clear the road for the Tieflings." Her relationship with Wyll went up to 52.
Shadowheart shrugged. "The more, the merrier. Right?"
"Well," said Astarion. "I suppose as long as he's okay with what I am, I'm fine with it."
Wyll looked at him curiously. "Are you something more than an elf?"
Astarion's devious grin sent a shiver down Wyll's spine. "Indeed, My Dear." Then, in low tones, he whispered, "I'm an anomaly, you see. So, how serious are you in regards to joining our happy band? Are you willing to join no matter what I am?"
Wyll seemed uncertain now. Then he looked at Kaedyn who seemed uncertain as well. Kaedyn wasn't at all confident that Wyll would be okay with what Astarion was. "Well, I suppose that if the rest of this group is okay with it," Wyll said at last, "then it can't be too bad. There's quite a mixed bag here, after all."
Astarion laughed. "Ah. Well. Yes. I suppose we'll find out." He then drew close to Wyll and spoke in a tone that Wyll barely heard. "I'm a vampire spawn."
Wyll was taken aback. "You're a what?"
"You heard me, Darling. I probably shouldn't repeat it," said Astarion. "As you can see, though, the brain-bug, as you called it, has made quite a few changes to me. So, I'm able to walk around by day without issue... among other things."
"He's free from his master," Kaedyn added. "We're going to try to figure out a way to help him find a cure to the parasite and still be free from his vampirism."
"Or, at the very least, free from my master," said Astarion.
Wyll shook his head. "I must say, I was thinking of many things that you could possibly be, but that never remotely crossed my mind." Then, after only a moment of thought, he said, "Well, I can't help but agree with this guy." He gestured at Kaedyn. "'Alone, you may resist. But together, you can overcome.' Sounds like something a hero would say." He grinned at Kaedyn. "Count me in. Here's to the Afflicted." He slapped his right fist into his left shoulder as if in salute. After all Kaedyn did to assist him in joining the group, Wyll's relationship with him was 55.
"The Afflicted," said Kaedyn with a laugh. Wyll was so positive, he couldn't help but feel better just by being in the man's presence. It was nice to have someone around who he felt comfortable with. Gale was the closest person who seemed to have similar ideals and morals, but Wyll seemed to be closer still. "Seems appropriate. From now on, we shall be known as 'the Afflicted.'"
Vexir rolled her eyes. "So can we get moving now? Who knows what the Gith have done on their own."
With that, the group continued on their way towards the prison. Before, anything else happened, however, the DM allowed them to level up Wyll. To determine HP, they rolled a 3+2=5, so his total HP went from 10 to 15 at Level 2. They then got to choose one of the Eldritch Invocations from the Warlock list. They chose Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast. At Level 2, he could choose up to 3 Level 1 spells from the warlock list and 2 cantrips. They chose Booming Blade and Eldritch Blast as his cantrips and Hellish Rebuke, Hex and Cause Fear as his Level 1 spells.
For Level 3, his HP increased by 6 to 21. Since Wyll was known as the Blade of Frontiers, the DM determined that he had to choose the Pact of the Blade. There was no other option available, like with most Warlocks. The DM locked that option in.
This allowed him to use an Action to create a pact weapon in his empty hand. He could choose the form that this melee weapon would take each time he created it. He was proficient with it while he wielded it. This weapon counted as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to non-magical attacks and damage. His pact weapon disappeared if it was more than 5 feet away from him for 1 minute or more. It also disappeared if he used the feature again, if he dismissed the weapon (no action required), or if he died.
This was how he, being a Warlock, was able to use a rapier, which a Warlock was not normally proficient with. It was not a genuine rapier but a pact weapon that he had conjured, giving him proficiency at it. His rapier was thus also considered a magical weapon.
He could transform one magic weapon into his pact weapon by performing a special ritual while he held the weapon. He performed the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which could be done during a short rest. He could then dismiss the weapon, shunting it into an extra-dimensional space, and it could appear whenever he created his pact weapon thereafter. He couldn't affect an artifact or a sentient weapon in this way. The weapon ceased being his pact weapon if he died, if he performed the 1-hour ritual on a different weapon, or if he used a 1-hour ritual to break his bond to it. The weapon appeared at his feet if it was in the extra-dimensional space when the bond was broken.
He then received another spell pick for being at Level 3. However, the DM determined that Wyll already knew Misty Step, which was how he teleported from the wall down to the ground during the fight at the gate. Therefore, this spell was already locked in and they couldn't pick it or change it.
As for a spell focus, little did any of the party know, but Wyll's false eye was his spell focus. Thus, he didn't need to hold one or any such thing.
Wyll contributed 25 GP to the party's overall GP. Thus, the party had 30 total Gold Pieces after Wyll joined them.
End of Chapter 4
