The Chronicles Of [DAD]
The Elona Campaign
Part 2: Seeds of Deception
As the officers made their way off the large galleon, there was a commotion in the distance.
A large armored escort made their own way towards the group of passengers. The leader of
the escort was a tall spindly man draped in loose robes the shade of the cosmos. His dark
skin seemed to blend into the hem of his robes. “I understand that there is a man here by
the name of Dj Paul if I am not mistaken?” boomed a voice edged with acid that seemed to well
inside the thin man, his face unreadable from within the depths of the hood that shaded his
entire head. The well bronzed man known as Uncle Noteeth stepped forward.
“If you have come to arrest him, I warn you now that you will have to fight your way through
us to reach him. I will not just hand over my very good friend to people who intend to harm
him,” came his defiant voice as his arm gripped the haft of his axe.
“Arrest him? I do not know what you have heard about our hospitality here in Istan, but I
assure you that is not how we treat heroes here,” was the chuckled response of the spindly
man. Laughter welled from inside the hood, “I take it my brother has not mentioned anything
about this to you has he? Ah that is just like him.”
“Your brother? He never mentioned that he had a brother, and why are you not here to arrest
him? He told me that he was exiled and considered a wanted man in Elona,” Uncle Noteeth stated.
“That figures; he always was secretive. Now may I please see him?” asked the man who now
seemed to be overcome with joy.
“Who is this man that claims to be my brother?” came a thunderous voice from the back of the
assembled members of D.A.D. A tall dark skinned man garbed in exquisite spiky purple armor
made his way towards the front. In a swift motion he embraced the spindly man in a fierce hug.
“Is that my little brother? I hardly recognize you.”
“I should hope not, you fool. It has been almost 10 years since last we met and I like to think
that I have grown over that stretch of time,” was the ecstatic reply.
“Enough! What the hell is going on here Dj? You tell me you are a wanted man in Elona, and now
that we get here we find that you are received as a hero. By your brother no less.” Uncle’s
voice was edged with anger.
“You are right, my friend. But know that I did not lie to you entirely though. I am a wanted man
in the lands of Elona, but not in the province of Istan. I lied to you in order to see if you
would stand by me in a time of great darkness; for that is exactly what we face. Oh and by the
way, this in my less charming brother Eko Fresh, and by the looks of it he has taken the
profession of a dervish,” was the response that Dj Paul gave.
“Hmmm. I must say that you have shown true wisdom today. I will admit that I didn’t expect such
wisdom to come from you, as of now I shall view you in a different light. Now, if you would
please tell me more about these dervishes as you called them,” Uncle began.
That night a great feast was held in the halls of Istan in honor of the heroes who graced the
Istanian’s presence. Many stories and numerous tankards of ale were shared that night.
“So you see the dervishes are not the disciples of one god but of all five gods. We feel that
they all hold an equal power and place in the world, and through our faith, we draw power from
them all. Do not be fooled; for it is a long and arduous path to be a Dervish. It is not a
discipline that is taken lightly,” Eko Fresh explained
“But how do you avoid injury? I have seen your armor, and it appears to be nothing more than a
simple black robe.” Uncle inquired
“So it would seem, but our armor has been blessed by the five gods. We also draw power to
withstand attacks through our belief in the gods, they are also our armor.” Eko replied
“That is simply amazing. So are you Dj’s only brother?”
“I sometimes wish that were true, but alas it is not. We have roughly 8 brothers that we know
of,” Eko stated in a joking tone.
“…and then Frank who was still drinking began to heal us with his magic, while still managing to
hold a flask of firewater in his hand. He was shouting something like, ‘Beware not to spill my
holy firewater or I will have to kill you.’ Then there was Serra who was fending off attacks
from all sides with her sword, meanwhile grasping a bottle of rice wine. In the background we
had Natalya yelling at us all to stop acting like a group of drunken sods and fight properly.
While all this was going on Malus felt it necessary to zing arrows by my head …” Dj told an
enraptured Eko Freezy. Across from Dj Paul sat the famous drunkards Little Frank and Serra who
tossed back ale after ale. Natalya just sat and smirked as Dj recounted their past battles.
“And what about that girl over there?” asked an excited Eko Freezy
“Oh her, well she is a not so shabby necromancer. But the problem is that she has a tendency to
draw the attention of a lot of enemies and cause us all sorts of problems.” Dj commented on his
good friend Jaxx Sanzz. He added in a hushed tone, “And if you ask me she hates me.” During this
time Eko Fresh and Uncle Noteeth were still deep in conversation.
“Who is that young man down there? He hasn’t touched his food or drink all night, and I don’t
think I’ve seen him say a word.” Uncle asked.
“That is my eldest brother Cory; he is a necromancer by trade. But I am willing to bet that you
didn’t know that he and Dj are twins.” At this information Uncle was shocked. “Ah I can tell what
you’re thinking; they look nothing alike. Well it is true. Dj got the good looks and strength;
Cory got the brains and wit. You know that they haven’t seen each other in 10 years. They had a
falling out and harsh words were exchanged.” The tall lanky man known as Cory walked slowly towards
his brother. The tattoos that covered his face were an odd hue of silver against his dark skin. As he
drew near his twin he took a deep breath.
He leaned close to his brother’s ear and whispered, “I am sorry for everything I said in the past. I
just want you to know that I never truly meant any of it; I hope that you can forgive me.” Cory slowly
began to move on when there was a swift flash accompanied by the twang of a bowstring.
“That’s for General Kahyet’s death you Istani dogs,” came a shout from the rafters. Dj noticed that his
twin grasped an arrow shaft that protruded from his chest; blood slowly trickled down his torso.
