The Battle at Fellrock

The Battle at Fellrock was the battle that ended The Black. The queen parasite gathered all of its infected troops in an attempt to defeat the Esparran forces that had come to destroy it. Relzrureos, infected by the queen and at this point with no sentience of his own left, met his end at the hands of Vance, Tydrom, Brilledille, Alvaerelle, and the Heroes of Fellrock. The parasite fled inside the meteor itself, but was pried out with the help of Kezias, who had been fighting infected in The Under along with Lucina. The queen parasite impaled Tydrom before attempting to flee, but was just barely caught by the party, and put into a dormant state indefinitely.

The Weeks Prior
The Heroes of Fellrock discovered an infected Relzrureos basking atop the meteor while on a quest from Tydrom to look into destroying said meteor. Not long after, Kezias discovered an army of infected troops in the cavern beneath the crater and informed the party. When Tydrom learned about all of this, he reached out to the other districts, requesting any available troops to help destroy these forces before they grew any further. He would send Vance to Nordrake- south of Fellrock, and he would remain in Bristol- east of Fellrock. One week after the call for help, the accumulated troops in both towns would head to the crater for the final battle.

The Battle
Coordinating via sending stones, the two teams charged in at once, flanking Relzrureos. As he noticed the approaching forces, he reared up on his hind legs, standing 20 feet tall, and let out a vicious roar like rusty metal scraping against itself. He jumped, and with a few flaps of his wings flew several dozen feet up into the air. He extended his legs and plummeted downwards, crashing into the center of the crater, where the meteor once rested. His stomp echoed loudly in and back out of the chamber beneath him, and summoned a cloud of dust even bigger than him. After a few moments, infected beasts of various shapes and sizes came pouring up out of the newly opened hole. Relzrureos flew back up into the air, where he hovered. It is now known that he was using a high-pitched sound to control his troops and call for more at this time.

The Esparran troops then defeated the first huge rush of enemies. Relzrureos’ wings were shredded by Vance, rendering him unable to fly. He took in a mighty breath, and Vance yelled for Tydrom, Brilledille, and Alvaerelle to get back. Vance ran directly towards his foe, leaping up towards the dragon's face just as he released a mighty torrent of deadly poison from his mouth. Vance thrusted his shield at Relzrureos' head, and a barrier of light appeared around the shield- effectively extending its size several times. Vance planted himself and pressed against the poison blast, deflecting it away from his allies.

Tydrom and Brilledille were then approached by an infected buffalo minotaur, and promptly turned to slay it. While they were distracted, a worg jumped at Vance’s back. In midair a spear flew into the beast and knocked it from its path. Corbin Rider had been keeping an eye on Vance, aware of his condition. Corbin then blasted an offensive spell of some kind out of a spellstone, which finished off the worg. Brilledille grabbed one leg of her giant foe, and then Tydrom the other. They nodded at each other with grins on their faces, and then in near-perfect synchrony they suplexed the beast. They jumped up and clashed elbows in celebration.

The Heroes of Fellrock narrowly avoid a barrage of spines from an infected manticore, thanks to a warning from Gilthur. They are then flanked by the beast and another buffalo minotaur. Using what they've learned while battling infected in the past, the party makes fairly quick work of the beasts, which fall down with thunderous, wet thuds. The battlefield had at this point thinned greatly. Gilthur and Aloro now lied on the ground, motionless. Brywennis screamed and angrily cut down infected creatures in a fit of rage. Vance had now fallen to his hands and knees, and was breathing heavily and deliberately. He clutched his chest, and Corbin stood vigilantly beside him to protect him. Alvaerelle worked with other healers to try and save fallen soldiers, including several from Ellery. She sent a healer over to the party, noticing their wounds.

Tydrom and Brilledille were holding off Relzrureos, who seemed to be badly injured by this point. He looked upwards and let out another awful, piercing roar. Suddenly the remaining infected monstrosities all turned towards Relzrureos and rushed in his direction. Grey, fleshy wings extended out of Relzrureos' sides, just in front of his original wings, which at this point were broken and dangling. He leaped up into the air with a mighty flap of his new wings, and landed next to the nearest crowd of warriors, stomping down on a few on them. He beat his wings, sending several more to the ground. Tydrom and Brilledille, now rejoined by Alvaerelle, began fending off the summoned troops. Relzrureos, having incapacitated or killed all the soldiers of the first group he approached, set his sights on The Heroes of Fellrock. He leaped into the air, launching himself towards them.

The party began whittling away at the dragon, delivering the mightiest blows and spells that they could muster. Enra was run through by one of the parasite's piercing tendrils, which knocked her unconscious. Mars ran up and collected her, before thunderously teleporting away with a new spell. Walnut was on the receiving end of a brutal claw slash, also falling unconscious. Ivan and Mars continued to assault the beast as Enra miraculously fought her way back to consciousness own her own. An arrow fired by a hidden rogue flew into one of the dragon's eyes and out the other, rendering him blind and unable to fight.

Relzrureos let out another loud roar, but this one was more of a pained shriek than a display of power. In a final act of defiance, he grabbed Ivan in one of his talons and Walnut in the other. He began feverishly beating his wings to gain altitude as quickly as possible. Brilledille called out for Ivan to catch, and tossed a spellstone his way. He just barely managed to catch it while being rocked in the dragon's clutches. The mighty grasp of the talons was enough to squeeze the life out of the unconscious Walnut. Relzrureos continued to gain altitude, blood and black liquid flowing from his many wounds. Ivan and others with projectiles continued to attack the beast until finally it was eviscerated by Ivan's shortsword.

Relzrureos fell from the sky, plummeting lifelessly down towards what used to be Fellrock. The visual was similar to the very event that set all of this in motion in the first place. Ivan barely managed to crawl out from under the falling corpse to avoid being crushed. The spellstone Brilledille had tossed him was Featherfall, which allowed him to land safely. The few warriors that still stood on the field of battle watched as Relzrureos the black dragon smashed into the earth. His battered body went to pieces and a splash of blood and dark fluids reached fifteen feet into the air.

Infected creatures continued to appear from the forest, being drawn to area by the queen parasite's high-frequency cries. The remaining troops fought them off as they approached. From Relzrureos' body something like a black turtle with tentacles for limbs darted away and towards the meteor in an instant. The creature leaped into the air and flipped so that its underside entered the hole on the side of the meteor, and the shell on its back fit perfectly into the hole and sealed it shut.

Tydrom, Brilledille, and Ivan tried with all their might to pry the meteor open, but they were unable to budge it. A silence fell on the field for a moment, and some fighting could be heard down in the hole at the bottom of the crater. Lucina then levitated herself and Kezias up out of the hole that Relzrureos had stomped. They had finished off the last of the beasts below, and appeared to be wounded. Kezias was at least well enough to help the dwarven trio pry open the meteor. Ivan tossed in his remaining bomb, and then the meteor was instead held shut by the four warriors, as a muted- but still extremely loud- explosion went off within.

The shell fell down and dangled loosely, but was still connected to the inside of the meteor by some charred, fleshy tendrils which appeared to be dead. Kezias fell back onto the ground, trying to catch his breath. Tydrom initiated another elbow bump from Brilledille and this time Ivan as well. He began to congratulate the group, but his speech was suddenly stopped as a spike erupted from his chest and sprayed blood onto his dwarven allies. He slowly turned his head to the battered, charred, just-barely-alive parasite that had impaled him. He grabbed the tentacle and feebly said "got.. you.. now.." The parasite darted away, but Tydrom jerked the tendril to pull it back. Unfortunately, the tendril ripped out of the parasite and it continued its escape. Tydrom died standing there, with Brilledille helping to keep him upright.

The queen parasite was extremely fast as it fled, but then time itself stopped. Brilledille stood mid sob. Kezias seemed to have passed out at this point. Lucina explained that Lux, with Kezias' help, made sure that The Heroes of Fellrock would be here and have everything they needed to finish this. She told them to hurry and devise their plan while she was holding time. Enra turned into a calleron horse, which she had learned earlier that day was the fastest breed. The party combined Alvaerelle's special Darkness Spellstone with Karven's Anchor-Root Arrow and began their pursuit of the parasite. After a short chase the parasite leaped off of a cliff towards a lake below, leaving the party no choice but to fire immediately. The shot swayed slightly off course, but a sudden breeze corrected it. The impaled and defeated queen parasite fell and sank to the bottom of the lake, unable to heal so long as Alvaerelle lives.

The Aftermath
The parasite, which some know as The Vavith, has been inactive since The Battle at Fellrock. All parasites within infected creatures were left alive, but completely dormant. It is believed most of them have been eliminated by now, but hunters comb the lands to burn any which remain. No new infections have been reported. "The Black," as the collection of parasite-related events starting and ending in Fellrock have been dubbed, is over. Every surviving warrior who wasn’t an employed Esparran guard was paid 1,000 gold and given free room, food, medical treatment, and weapon/armor repairs in Bristol for the following week.

A few days after the battle, a memorial service was held in Bristol for those who were lost. Jesshann allowed many of the fallen warriors to deliver some final words before they headed off into the afterlife. The warriors mostly agreed that Esparrus should not focus on mourning, but on celebrating instead. Few wish for death, but if it must come, then saving your kingdom and loved ones from a grisly end is about as good a trade as you can hope to get. Walnut does not speak, but his story is reflected upon. His tribe and family were killed by the parasite, and as luck would have it, he ended up with The Heroes of Fellrock. In the end, he avenged his family. He played his role in winning the final battle. And after everything that happened, the party isn't so sure it was luck that brought him to them after all.

Tydrom spoke last. He paid his respects to all the guards of Esparrus who fought in the final battle- and to those who protected the people while the others were away. He offered condolences to those dealing with loss. He outlined a plan for moving forward with Bristol, where Vance and Vavith will work together to get things back on track- if Vance is alright with it. He let everyone know that he doesn't regret a thing about his life, or that it ended in such a glorious fight. Part of his final speech was about The Heroes of Fellrock:

“A group of fledgling adventurers were in Fellrock for its last days. They cleaned out its guard tower, slayed a dangerous beast in a nearby cave, and even helped some of the townsfolk with personal issues as well. They gave the town a sense of safety and helped it turn over a new leaf. They were the Heroes of Fellrock. If they had stayed one more night, they would not be alive today.

But they didn't. They came to Bristol just in time. They warned me about what happened, and helped us to defeat the first infected beasts that attacked. Now many of you have probably heard of some of the trouble they got into. I’m not going to get into specifics, but know that there are two sides to the story, and that I turned them loose myself. They were there in the final battle. They were the ones who landed the final attacks on Relzrureos- and on the queen parasite as well. No one in the battle did any less than was required of them, don’t get me wrong, but these adventurers are heroes just like the rest of us.”

When the ceremony concluded, Tydrom was buried beneath a memorial that tops the Zema Mountain. A golden statue is being constructed that will adorn the top of it, honoring him forever. The party buried Walnut in the forest outside of Ellery, where he had lived almost all of his life. Vance and Vavith headed into Tydrom's old office to have a meeting about how to proceed. Corbin thanks the party for everything they've done, and tells them that he never lost faith in them.

The following day Vance and Vavith called a town meeting. The gist of what they explained is that the two of them would work together for the next month to figure out how everything should work in Tydrom’s absence. After that Vance will retire to live his remaining time in peace, with his partner. The two were pleased to make one final announcement: work would begin the following day on rebuilding the town of Fellrock. A monument with the name of every single warrior who fought in the battle will sit at the town’s center. Those who were lost will be marked as such. The reverse side of the monument will include the name of every citizen of Fellrock who was lost when the meteor fell. The new town will be named Thuradin.

Vance then invited The Heroes of Fellrock to be official guards of Thuradin, but they declined. He expected as much, and told them the offer would stand so long as he did. Ivan decided to take his earnings and his experience and head back home to Ulfgar, where he would pursue his dream of opening his own smithy and armor shop. Mars would retire to Nordrake, where she would help elderly dragonborn Noah run her general store. Enra would head to Gharvale, following a lead she had picked up in Under-Bristol. The heroes' odd and dangerous journey had come to an end.

..for now at least.