Isidore woke with a start, only to find that he wasn’t ihe Great Hall of the Duke of Yeston and instead was in a void of some kind. A very fortable one, he had to admit. He also noticed that he no longer felt like he was being watched, as if he was in ahe Old Gods couldn’t peer into. Although ingly he could hear very faint sn, almost silent but still present. The horrible noise awakened a sense of primordial fear in him, as if he knew something of immense power was making those noises.

  To distract himself, he looked down and saw that he had been ying on some exquisite colored bs and very fortable cushions. Then noticed a man, or at least what he assumed was one, sin enormous hat hid his facial features.

  He asked the newer a question. “Tell me, son, do you know how to leave this pce?”

  The question fused Isidore and, as if to crify, he looked around and saw that he was still, in fact, in a room in an endless void. “I don’t see a.” He told the man.

  “Very well then.” Then, as if out of thin air, an instrument appeared in the man’s hands.

  He started pying a melody, but Isidore cut him off by asking. “Where are we? I o get out of here.”

  “I do not know. Only he knows.” The man said as he tried to start his melody again.

  Only for Isidore to cut him off again. “Him?”

  “The dreamer. You’ll uand one day, son.”

  “Well, I find him a him to send me back?”

  With a deadly serious tohe man responded. “Absolutely not. Should he wake, there shall be Worlds no more.”

  “Then what I do to get out?” Isidore asked, frustrated.

  “Calm yourself, son. Just sit back down and listen to this melody.” As he said this, the man plucked the first notes of his melody and Isidore stayed silent, allowing him to tinue. He tinued, and the man pyed his melody. Something about stirred something deep in Isidore’s heart, as if it had unlocked something deep inside him. Simir to the feeli after the Old Gods the wine and bread, it was like he had gained a new uanding and power. He then drifted off to sleep again and through his half-closed eyes, he could see that the man smiled.With a start, Isidore pushed himself off the cold stones of the Duke of Yeston’s great hall and caught the st part of the Duke’s decration. “I am Vekdarr the Spirit of Treacherous Ambition!” The spirit kept the Duke’s physical body, only; it seemed to have gotten stronger and more resistant to damage. Then another bst of magical energy rippled across the room. Thetle began as the party’s mages ureams of fire at the spirit, who let the fire spread over his body without a rea. The spirit then fired the fire back at the mages, who dodged and rolled to the side.

  Seeing an opportunity, Aurea, Euthalia, and Isidore charged the spirit with their ons and, in sequetacked. Vekdarr summoned a sword created from the mana in the air and blocked all the strikes. He then threw the three of them back across the room. Instead of blindly charging again, Isidore closed his eyes and focused. Again, he could make out the soft music of bat this time, though it was clearer and with the dreamseeker’s melody from earlier, it was more plete. Not a finished symphony, but the music was clearer.

  Isidore breathed in and then with the other two attacked again. This time Tempano joihem as he appeared and disappeared into the darkness, attag and distrag the spirit with gng blows. Even though his bde barely broke the spirit’s skin, it still distracted it long enough for the other three to get close and hack at it with their bdes. Isidore focused a a weakness in the spirit and sliced down on its arm. As if severing the very mana that made up the spirit, its arm flew off, taking its sword with it.

  The spirit, shocked, tried to summon another sword, only to be cut off by elemental bsts from Heraculitus and Ildefonso. Aurea took advantage of the moment to lunge forward aedly stab the spirit in the chest. She focused on one area aually broke through the skin. The spirit then threw her backwards ahalia charged the spirit, thrusting her sword through the spirit, causing it to bleed heavily as it retreated.

  The spirit backed up against the wall, only for Isidore to leap forward and ssh at the spirit’s chest, causing it to fall. However, as he got closer to finish it, the spirit lunged forward, knog Isidore onto the floor as the spirit towered over him. Another sword materialized in the spirit’s hands. Isidore closed his eyes and shut out all the surrounding distras. The shouts of his party members, the burning furniture, and even the ever present ughter and watg by the Old Gods. Instead, he let the symphony guide his as with the dreamseeker’s melody, giving him strength. His hands instinctively reached for his scimitar and closed around it as he entered a trancelike state.

  As the spirit sliced downwards toward Isidore, he moved like lightning first into a kneeling position and then dashing forwards. He visualized a oint and sshed through, slig apart the individual pieana that made up the spirit’s body. As he looked behind him after dashing, he saw the spirit cut in half. It wasn’t dead though and with its upper body; it turo the party, exg. “This isn’t the end! I’ll have my vengean all of you!” Then it disappeared into thin air.

  All the members of the party slumped down onto the ground in the destroyed room, exhausted after the battle. Aurea, in particur, looked at Isidore with wonder. “How did you do that?”

  Isidore didn't know how to expin it now that he was out of his trancelike state, so he just shrugged and said as much. “I don’t know. One moment I was on the ground and the moment I was here.”

  Euthalia was the first to get up and ask. “More importantly, what did we just fight? It clearly wasn’t the Duke.”

  Heraculitus answered. “If that thing was telling the truth, he must have gotten possessed by that spirit. But how could he have gotten one of those in here?”

  “It had to have been those Malgold people the mayor told us about,” Ildefonso said.

  “Whatever it is, we should get out of this room before we end up burned.” Isidore said, gesturing at the fire raging oher side of the room.

  “Agreed, e on.” Aurea said, standing up.

  So the rest of the party followed her out of the room. In order to find answers, the party then moved around the upper floors of the castle. Eventually, they found the bedchambers of the Duke. They naturally turhe pce upside down trying to find information with them, eventually finding a locked chest. Isidore quickly picked the lo the chest and ope. Inside were a stack of dots and a journal. He took out the journal first and flipped to the end. As he did this, Aurea and Ildefonso each took half of the dots, with Ildefonso mostly skimming through the pany information.

  The journal was surprising, as the Duke had written,

  “Those fools, they think they have the upper-hand on me just because they have more power. They’ll see that they’re sorely mistaken. Malgold, the old fool, thinks he has me in his grasp, all because I let him have a research team here. That so-called Demon King too thinks he’s made me into a puppet with his soldiers he sent to my domain. No, they’re all wrong with all that I’ve gathered here and with the spirit the fools brought, I’ll bee strohan them all.”Isidore quickly shared what he found, and Ildefonso also shared what he found in the dots. “It looks like from these dots the Malgold researchers were trying to look iending somebody’s life using the mana from a spirit.”

  “Well, that expins the spirit, but what about the demons?” Aurea asked.

  “It seems like the Duke made some deal with the Demon King to get soldiers for something.” Isidore said.

  Then, almost as if ohe party saw a demon warrior appear at the doorway, only to vanish. They pursued it as it fled dowairs and into the basement of the castle. There they came, face to face, with a group of six demons. Leading them was a rger demon dressed in heavy armor who had a anding aura.

  “Well, look who came to die.” The demon captain said. Then his demons charged while he observed the heroes fight.

  Each member of the party faced off against one demon each. The demon fag Isidore raised his axe and swung at Isidore, attempting to decapitate him in one swing. Isidore easily dodged and, with a flourish of his bde, he cut the demon’s arm, causing him to drop his axe. Isidore followed that up by bringing his bde down on the demon’s back with all his strength, killing the demon.

  Aurea also dealt with her demon quickly, with her stantly moving around it, leading it to swing its sword wildly. She ducked low and then leaped upwards with her daggers, embedding them into the demon’s chest and neck. Euthalia, meanwhile, directly traded blows with another demon as she deftly moved her shield to blod ter any strikes the demon attempted. After one of those blocks, she smmed her shield into the demon’s head, stunning it, then with a single slice she cut off its head. Heraculitus and Ildefonso both dealt with the two demons fag them the same way, using their magic to stun and then elimihe demons. Tempano, meanwhile, did the same as he always did and hid in the darkness until an opportunity preseself. And he dashed out of his cover and first immobilized the demon before killing it.

  With the demon’s underlings taken care of, he finally spoke to the party again. “It seems like you are strohan you look. Though I suppose I should’ve expected that from the hero’s party. No matter, once I defeat you and present your heads to the Demon King, I’ll finally take my pce among his generals.” With that, he revealed two blood red bdes and charged the party.

  Aurea, Euthalia, and Isidore made up the frontline of the party as he attacked them first. With blinding speed, he fought each of them at once. As Isidore and Aurea both charged him, he ducked, causing them to almost stab each other. The demon burst upwards, almost killing both of them before Tempano appeared, sshing across the front of the demon’s armor, throwing him off his target. Thehalia sshed at him, letting Aurea and Isidore reposition themselves. Heraculitus started ting a spell, then he fired a burst of energy at the demon, causing it to fall to the ground. Ildefonso then fired a burst of fmes at the demon, followed by a lightning bolt. The lightning and fire bination stuhe demon, who fell to the ground.

  The party carefully approached the demon and, as they did, he leaped back up, sshing in all dires. Isidore dodged it, Euthalia blocked it with her shield, however, Aurea wasn’t able to ao the ground with a rge cut on her shoulder. For a sed, the other two looked bad Aurea clutg her shoulder with a look of pain on her face. Theurned back to the demon, who was again attag. This time, they were prepared for his tricks a him stantly on his guard by timing their attacks.

  Both of them worked in harmony, each striking immediately after the other with brief intermissions while Tempano or Ildefonso struck the demon with their own powers. Finally, the demon’s defenses had weakened so much that Isidore saening. He dashed forward and sliced through the oint in the demon’s armor. Euthalia followed by thrusting and stabbing through the demon’s chest, finally killing it.

  The two of them turheir attention to Aurea who was now busy being healed by Heraculitus. As his fmes danced over the wound, the skin rapidly healed itself as muscle reformed and new skio cover it. Within a minute of this, Aurea could stand again. She then had the rest of the party search the area so that they could find out what exactly was going on.

  Eventually they heard Ildefonso call for them and so they gathered where he was. He then showed them the various pieces of paper he found. The most important thing they found there was the approximate dires to the area the Malgold researchers had made their base and the location of an encampment of demons. With this knowledge, the party was ready to leave the castle. However, they then notioises ing from a locked room nearby. Assuming the worst, they prepared for another battle aered.

  Instead of a battle, though, they found a group of people who the demons and spirit were keeping hostage. Naturally, the heroes then helped those people return to the town. With their friends and family returo them, the people of the town gave their thanks to the heroes. The heroes also essentially put Alous in charge of the duchy sihe Duke was now dead. They mostly just wanted him to stabilize the area and prevent anymore chaos while they dealt with the demon problem. So once again, the heroes set out this time to deal with the threats fag the Duchy of Yeston.