Chapter Text
POV: 3rd
As she walked through the corridor of living wood, she sighed. Whatever her goddess had planned for her was most likely her end. The hollowed hallway within the tree glowed with the gentle light from bioluminescent branched leaves that hung from the ceiling like proud chandeliers. It wouldn’t be much longer now till an opening would form in the dense walls of smooth inner wood and reveal a portal to her first home, the realm of Airth.
But instead the silent walk was cut off by the voice of a sweet otherworldly female voice, “Alice.” The cleric stopped in her tracks as Eloviel, the supposed worlds’ tree, spoke to her, “Yes, ma’am?” There was a moment of silence as Alice just stared at the walls of her surroundings, enough that she considered how weird it is to talk to something/someone while currently inside of them. Was this technically vore?
But instead of a verbal answer a branch grew out of the walls of the tree and delivered an envelope. She gently opened it with a sigh. It was a quest form written by… Eloviel? Alice squinted, “Hmmmm…. Is this necessary?” But the tree didn’t answer, so she just had to keep reading.
After Alice was done, she frowned, “Seriously, ma’am? Look, if this were any other day, I would take this quest, but I am kind of busy… And I mean it too.” Haven, the realm in which she was living in for the past few years, was a strange place. A realm ruled over gently by a gargantuan magic tree who only asks in return that, when she delivers you a quest, you take it. The quests were always, at the very minimum, possible to finish and, most of the time, with other people your skill level. And Alice, like many of those adventurers brought in from outside, performed said quests. But lately for months she had not. And Alice seemed to miss the normal ones meant for her level every time she was in the mood to actually do so. So if it were a few days ago, she would have said yes, no questions asked. But now… She sighed, “Why ask me as I am traveling home? You know I am being summoned by my goddess, right?”
But the tree didn’t answer, instead it pushed the quest paper closer. Alice reread it, shaking her head. Solo quests, in Haven, were normally personal ones; quests where adventurers asked Eloviel to take them to a certain stop or the nearest location to hunt and find a certain beast. So to have a solo quest written by the bringer of heroes herself (a rarity to itself) was… borderline unheard of or straight up a first. Alice looked down at the document:
Leader of Salvation
Dear adventurer. I need a favor from you.
A great darkness stirs in the corners of the realms, a cult stirs in the shadows, murmuring praises to a Dark God long thought banished. The Absolute, they called it—a force of tyranny that bends goblins, monsters, and even mortals to its will. Deep in the Forgotten Realms, the cult starts its campaign of death, that is where you must go.
A path stretches before you, marked by peril and choice. Though in most timelines the destined heroes are destined to succeed, this timeline, I sense, they will course for failure. Help guide and lead these destined heroes to their duty; help them through their burdens and secrets. Travel with them through the roads twisted with deceit, power, and the whispers of something far greater than merely wretched mind flayers and their feeding. Hero, please go there and rid the realms of this blight before they taint everything, it's future plans to reach even as far as Haven. Cross blades with tyrants, outwit schemers, and perhaps… Just perhaps… Rewrite your own fate.
Though be warned, this could be just as much your salvation as it could be another chain to bind you. The gods watch, the realm trembles, and the end of all things may yet rest in your hands. You best get going, there's no time to waste. The future of the realms is counting on you.
- Eloviel of Haven
Reward: Gold, a guaranteed loot hoard, experience, glory
Alice questioned, “But why me, why not call up a team for this. Though I’ve been an adventurer for a few years, we both know that I am not the most social and experienced leader. This sounds like they need a kind and gentle hand, a true warrior… So why me?” Eloviel spoke firmly, “I need someone who is willing to fight for the lives of many at the potential cost of their own lif-” Alice shouted over the tree, “Then I refuse, my life is not mine to give and not in that way! There are many more kinder souls in Haven, ask them.”
The tree was silent for a moment, “You would let countless worlds die?” Alice shook her head, “No, I am just calling your bluff that it needs to be me… This is a pretty generic sounding one. And I feel like you just added ‘ rewrite your own fate ’ stuff as a way to pray on my nervousness for what my goddess has planned for me. Now unless you have a quest that only I can do… That it has to be me… I would like to continue traveling home.”
Eloviel didn’t answer verbally once more, instead she took the quest paper away. Alice just huffed as she moved forward. But then another branch grew out of the wall and delivered another envelope. The young woman was less than impressed, “I thought I told you-” But this time she was cut off, “You said, unless I had a quest that only you could do… That it had to be you… to not interrupt you. Well.. I do have one, though this one brings much shame…”
The young woman was at least interested now, “Okay…” She gently opened the new envelope and with each word, her defiant look flaked away:
Save A Fallen Star
Dear adventurer, the one who hears the silent tears. I need a favor from you. One that requires you and only you of all my champions.
Hope withers and hunger festers in the night, for the chains of an ancient cruelty grow ever tighter. A soul, bound in sired in undeath, walks the edge of a fate not yet sealed. This Fettered Light treads a path of torment, his strings pulled by a dark master most foul—a warden of a prison unseen. A wicked ritual nears its climax and should it come to pass, the soul of the captive shall be devoured, a voice forever lost, along with many others.
But fate does not speak in certainties, nor does it demand silence from those who would defy the ordained. You, O traveler of strange roads and child of sorrow, are summoned to stand against the shroud of despair. The ritual has not yet been carved into the bones of reality. There is still time to shatter the cycle.
Seek the lair of the beast, a palace of decadence and grand spectacle, where laughter rings hollow and pleasure masks the wails of the damned. There, beneath the weight of centuries, the captive’s chains may yet be broken, but know this: this is no mere tyrant. He is an artist of agony whose cruelty knows neither mercy nor regret. To face him is to challenge a villain, bloated with his own self-importance, surrounded by an unholy host of the damned—undead, thralls bound to his will, and wretched echoes of the souls he has consumed. Yet, in defiance, there lies salvation of many.
Will you take up this burden? The answer must be yours alone, for once the die is cast, there is no retreat, no respite—only the choice to fight or to let the night claim one more soul.
Choose swiftly. The hour of reckoning approaches and the abyss does not wait. He is counting on you.
- Eloviel of Haven, the bringer of heroes
Reward: Gold, a guaranteed loot hoard, experience, his gratitude
Alice looked at the paper, with the tilt of her head, “He’s a vampire spawn?” The tree responded emotionlessly, “Correct?” The young woman nodded slowly, “So why is this quest something that brings you shame?” Eloviel was quiet for a moment, “Because I received this prayer 200 years ago, I had no power to do anything about it until recent years, yet still I had to wait…”
Alice frowned, “This sounds like a dangerous mission for one person…” The tree responded, “I was going to send you with others, but I just couldn’t find anyone who would not simply wish to eradicate the Star along with his siblings… You know as well as I do that most would not value the life of the undead.” The young woman sighed as Eloviel continued, “I am only asking you now because once you return home to do her bidding… You will never be able to return to Haven again… This quest is simply my last favor I ask of you before you depart from me forever…”
Alice knew the tree spoke the truth, it had to be her… She reread the quest and sighed, she knew what she had to do. Perhaps her goddess would forgive her. It was just one more mission then Alice’s life was Lolth’s forever. Besides it would assure Eloviel would not meddle further. She went to accept the quest… But instead she buried down her heart and shouted, “You know what?! NO!”
The tree was silent for a moment, “You would let someone who has none to save them die?” Alice shook her head, “I am sorry… I have to look out for myself…” Lolth would surely be displeased if she went off to do something unnecessary like this.
The walls then shook with anger as the tree shouted, “ THEN YOU ARE NOT WORTH SAVING! You are truly wicked! ” Alice trembled from the quake, but not before letting her emotions get the better of her, “Who are you to judge me! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’VE BEEN THROUGH!”
“But I know what you will do and so I must stop you myself. Begone creature, suffer were creatures of his making belong or redeem yourself and prove you are no longer a threat to all life,” Eloviel spoke firmly as branches bloomed from within her, chasing down the now panicked Alice that was trying to dodge. But she was no rogue, eventually she was caught like a spider in a bigger spider's web, “LET ME GO, YOU BITCH!”
But the tree did not respond as she simply opened a portal in her walls and forced the girl through into the mists .