Changes (For Alamondar)
He noted that hesitation, that tenseness. Alamondar stood across from her, perfectly at ease, body language disarming. He laughed, and it was an evil sound, one that seemed to hang in the air after he was finished.
Still smiling, he continued. “But of course you can’t. You’re an aasimar. You’re a feather head that follows a weak, pathetic God that holds you back, keeping you from becoming what you could be.”
While he was speaking, he remained curiously still, not quite completely relaxed…and a charge was growing in the air, nearly imperceptible as his silenced and stilled lightning bolt was being readied…
Almost. Almost she held firm, marking the distance to him and where he’d thrown his dagger. She could hurl the scythe at him, and that would give her enough time to get to a weapon she was permitted to use…
But then he said it, that dear nickname Seidon had given her, and white-hot rage flared within her, burning away all her thoughts, all her hesitations. With an almost bestial cry, she threw herself at him, scythe swinging with a skill that might have been lethal if there had been any strength behind it.
Huh. Well, that got her attention…Alamondar didn’t have any time to reflict on that further, as the woman was coming in hard and fast….that is, she would be if she weren’t in such a sorry shape…
He brought up his arm, hand out stretched with a cruel smile on his face. From that hand, just before Fiantha’s scythe touched him, a lightning bolt slammed into the Aasimar, sending her flying back and tumbling from the impact. Feather head. I said feather head, and she tried to go beserk. Still, he remained, smiling, watching the injured Fiantha with malevolent ruby eyes. “Come now…is that all, feather head?”
Fiantha cried out as the lightning lanced into her, shoving her back from the drow, sending her face-first to the ground - but as soon as she landed, she was struggling upright again, blood flowing from her lip where she’d bitten it. She gripped the scythe, using it as a lever to get back to her feet.
Then she threw herself at him again, her face set in a furious snarl. He had to be silenced, had to pay, had to die-
Alamondar stepped back as she attacked again, dodging just in time, playing with her, teasing her as he made it seem that she was just missing her. After observing that first, wild swing, he realized that the Aasimar simply couldn’t follow through on her attacks very well.
So he dodged the first and second swing, letting her play out her rage a bit. Then, after dodging a third, massive swing that threatened to leave her overextended and out of balance, he darted in a crouch, leading with an elbow smash to her gut to force her air out. Rather than straightening out, he spun, sweeping her feet from under her and sending her crashing to the ground again.
As she fell and he straightened out, he hopped back, chanting another lightning bolt spell as quickly as he dared, knowing she would attempt to get up again. He raised his arm again and grinned as he spat out the last word and another barrage of lightning leapt from his hand-
The scythe was so heavy - her limbs were weak and aching - but still Fiantha kept up her attack. She had a scythe, the drow was just there and if she could only land one solid hit, it would be over and she could crawl home if necessary, free, she'd never see him again, never hear that hateful voice sneering her husband's name for her -
He knocked the air from her lungs, her feet out from underneath her, and Fiantha gasped like a stranded fish, ignoring the pain, as she tried to get enough breath to stand again. The drow was chanting, and she knew what that meant, she just had to be quicker...
Fiantha threw herself to one side as the lightning arced out, hoping wildly she'd guessed correctly -
















