Hero Quest, episode eighteen
Your Brother Made Whole
Character Sheet
Race: elf
Class: bard
Background: scholar/street urchin
The hall trembles. Fire licks the walls. The floor cracks and the roof crumbles. The hall’s so hot. You’re wreathed in sweat. You hold the face towards your brother’s body but he makes no move to take it.
The king growls and a violent shudder rocks the hall. His gauntleted hand emerges from the mound of rubble, groping and grasping. Then more rubble falls away and his shoulder emerges, then his faceless flame-wreathed head.
You curse under your breath and step towards your brother’s body, face held out. He makes no move, so you plaster the face on his head.
The skin of the face contorts, wrapping around his head of its own accord. He staggers back with a muffled grunt, grabbing and pulling at it, fighting against its embrace. He groans. The face twists with effort and groans as well. The spectre hangs in the air, watching the struggle.
They’re fighting, but why? Shouldn’t your brother’s body welcome the reunion with his face?
Behind you, the king is half-free from the rubble. Another piece of rubble falls from the ceiling.
“We have to go!” You cry. But they struggle on, heedless of your words.
You reach for the body but he shrugs you off. Then an idea occurs to you. Harmony…
You begin to sing.
The struggle subsides. The body stills, head cocked. The face is intent, listening. A block of flaming masonry hits the ground beside you, spraying you with shards of burning rock. You stumble, but maintain your tune.
The body taps his foot and hums in harmony with your song. A moment later, the face joins in. The humming of face and body melt together into a single tune. Then the spectre descends on them and for a second they’re shrouded in spectral light.
Then the light fades and before you stands an elf bearing an uncanny likeness to you and the rest of your kin. He blinks, disorientated, and stumbles. You catch him and he slumps against you.
“Wha? Where? What dreams I’ve had…” he murmurs in a daze.
“Brother?” You whisper. “Are you—“
The king’s roar echoes through the hall.
You glance back. He’s free of the rubble. His armour glows with molten light.
He charges and as he does so the crumbling hall collapses behind him in an avalanche of flaming stone.
Next episode - 26/02/25
Thank you for joining me on this adventure.
It’s time we skedaddle!