Swords Without Master – Gauntlet Con 2018

<h2>Cast</h2>
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            <img src="https://fictivefun.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Cleave.jpg" alt="Cleave" itemprop="image" height="1800" width="1230" title="Cleave"  />
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    Cleave
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            <img src="https://fictivefun.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Inaxx-the-Firebreather.jpg" alt="Inaxx the Firebreather" itemprop="image" height="864" width="840" title="Inaxx the Firebreather"  />
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    Inaxx the Firebreather
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            <img src="https://fictivefun.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Little-Bird.jpg" alt="Little Bird" itemprop="image" height="1032" width="774" title="Little Bird"  />
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    Little Bird
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            <img src="https://fictivefun.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Sanjo.jpg" alt="Sanjo" itemprop="image" height="830" width="560" title="Sanjo"  />
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    Sanjo
The rogues arrived at the Temple of the Sky.  The whispers of the feathers told Little Bird that she was needed here to be able to find a new home and she convinced Inaxx to join by telling him it's a place he could gift his lover, Innara, the power of lightning.  Sanjo is here because his secret lover believes that the secret to Sanjo's noble heritage could be found in the temple which would allow their relationship to no longer be secret.  Cleave worries that the divine break the barrier into the mortal world here and lightning gods are bad news.

The journey to the Temple of the Sky was long and arduous.  Lightning cracks and strikes the spires and as the rogues approach, the lightning creeps closer and closer to the ground.  Unafraid of the lightning, Inaxx strode forward towards the tower.  A bolt of electricity struck Inaxx, who bore the pain easily, but the doors on the spire shut.  Fortunately, the rogues found an entrance to a tunnel nearby.

Little Bird enters the tunnel without caution skipping around.  She sees a feather on the ground and as she leans to pick it up a blade flies over her head.  Later on another feather signals a pit trap that is avoided as well.  She wants to use fire like Inaxx so she creates a massive fireball to shine light across this pit.  The fireball snuffs out and the rogues find themselves in total darkness until the blue glow of slow moving electricity creeps towards them.  The shadows that dart around the tunnel remind Sanjo of the time he has spent in Ghostlands.  He approaches the ball of lightning in hopes of creating a portal to the Ghostlands for which the electricity to pass safely.  It works but Sanjo is electrocuted badly by the ball lightning.

Later on, the rogues find themselves in a beautiful large cavern filled with bio-luminescent fungi, ferns, and insects.  Despite its beauty, it seems that the creatures here are afraid of something.  Cleave feels the presence of a divine being in here and the rogues hear a voice within their own heads, “Don’t harm my glowing children.”  Little Bird jumps on a mushroom sending bits of glowing dust into the air.  She continues to move about, marveling at the beauty and wonder here and discovers a huge stone gate.  However, she fails to notice a large creature watching from the shadows. This beast is protecting the gate to its home and a place into another dimension.

A clattering of stone as the gate begins to rumble and out pour creatures of bone and light wielding blades of pure energy.  Cleave moves Little Bird out of the way and meets the creatures head on.  Whirling around with a terrible flourish, Cleave proves that none can match his skill with a blade.  Cleave holds his ground, cutting down many, but they continue to emerge from the gate.  Inaxx hides Innara underneath a mushroom and moves towards the gate and picks up a giant chain.  He mightily pulls on the chain to close one side of the gate before rushing through the creatures to push the other side shut as well.  Unfortunately, there is a horde of these beings in the cavern now.  Sanjo unfastens his chest piece and continues to disrobe completely.   Sanjo finds a pool of blue, glowing liquid and begins to coat his skin with it.  Sanjo knows that the creatures would yearn to have flesh like Sanjo instead of their own desiccated bodies.  They are struck by Sanjo’s life-force and fill with desire and regret before collapsing.

The rogues finally locate an entrance to the main spire of the temple complex and enter.  The silence is deafening but it seems that the spire itself is breathing.  Sanjo begins to walk the perimeter of the spire and gently drags his fingers along the walls as he feels the tingle of energy.  He can feel the throbbing pulse of the spire and knows it is full of life and he learns that he must renounce a true love in order to discover the roots of his true heritage.

Inaxx is fascinated by the power of the spire and begins casting flame into the air.  This reveals runes on the walls which he reads and becomes excited he is close to the gift of the lightning gods.  The runes tell Inaxx that in order for Innara to use the gift of lightning, Inaxx must sacrifice an heir to repay for taking the life of Surra’s heir.  However, the rogues fail to notice that the lightning is coalescing into a shape high in the spire.  It seems the gods have unleashed mirrors of all of the rogues desires.

Lightning begins striking the floor around the rogues, the claps of thunder echo throughout the enclosed chamber, forcing the rogues to cover their ears from the painful booms.  A ball of lighting lands in front of Little Bird and takes the shape of the memory of the murder of Little Bird’s family and destruction of her hometown.  Tendrils of electricity reach towards Little Bird as she fears that her memories are inaccurate.  The energy forms into an image of the Baron as he reaches into Little Bird’s mind and fills her head with all the pain of despair and death.  Little Bird bursts into a huge pyre of flame and she screams as she attacks an unseen foe. She launches a massive fireball into the wall of the spire, stopping the lighting and extinguishing all the flames.  The rogues find themselves in darkness and silence.

In the darkness, doors crack open, backlit by an eerie blue glow. Four doors and four rogues, one for each of them.  Then a fifth door appears, this one backlit like the red embers of flame.  From this door emerges a stream of a thousand crows.  Sanjo sees silhouette of a tall man in one of the doors but Sanjo’s smells a familiar scent of herbs and his instincts tell him that this is his former lover, Alloran.  Sanjo steps towards the door with a smile on his face and gently touches the shadow.  The shadow returns the embrace but quietly slips a blade between Sanjo’s ribs, killing him.

Inaxx ponders which door to pass through when he sees Surra through one of the portals and realizes that it is his way home.  But he refuses to leave without the gift of lightning for Innara.  Instead of heading home through the door, he grabs Innara by the hand and heads upward towards the top of the spire.  Surra enters the spire and gives chase to Inaxx and Innara.

Cleave hears the sounds of an army through one of the doors.  A figure of lightning emerges from this door and approaches Cleave.  Cleave recognizes this figure as his legendary father, Benedict.  Benedict tells Cleave will never leave the shadow of the Benedict name.  Cleave draws swords and enters combat with this figure.  Light and swords clash as the duel rages until Cleave stands victorious.  The sounds of the army retreat as Cleave has made a name for himself.

At the top of the spire, Inaxx lays Innara on the floor and orders the gods of lightning to give her the gift.  Lightning strikes Innara and she is cloaked in energy.  Innara knows that Inaxx made the foul deal to sacrifice their child and is angry at him.  Inaxx knows it will take a long time to gain her forgiveness but they are immortal know and time means nothing.