Whilst Magizor found his newfound purpose, and Roderick was always a stalwart beacon of self-confident killing chivalry, Darkshadow and Clary were burdened by their own problems.
Darkshadow was dealing with problems of allignment and Clary was troubled by the sudden unresponsiveness of her Game Master.
Darkshadow’s thoughts were anything but consistent, and that brought great suffering to him. He didn’t remember who was the original, himself or Lighshadow. If any one of them even was the original. And if Darkshadow was the original, perhaps the accursed daggers he wore to not become Lighshadow again, made him into someone else entirely anyway. Were his gods just so indecisive that they couldn’t let him keep one personality. In fact, he joined this quest to rid himself of his curse, but what if he Darkshadow was part of that curse. Did he cherish freedom, chaos and anarchy, or was he a creature of a code. Was he a man of altruism, or was he only in it for profit. Judging by his skills as a scoundrel, one would think that that could give some advice, but “the other one” was more of a minstrel, and maybe his roguishness was a product of the daggers. This all made Darkshadow have a headache, one that wouldn’t go away, and one that would become much worse after each transformation into “the other one”. He thought that perhaps the cleric would help him, but she only really cared after herself just like the other two, but unlike them, she tried to hide it with flirtation and talks about her great Game Master. That’s what Darkshadow thought of his companions, and he didn’t like any of them, but he didn’t really like anyone, including himself, so there was not really a difference there.
And he was still sceptical about all the damned lit torches in the hallways. No matter what Clary said, he didn’t believe that the Game Master would be helping them, he was more likely to suddenly crush them with rocks so that everyone would die.
It didn’t help matters that some semblance of “the other one” remained in his mind after the last transformation and was more vocal than usual.
“I am you, and you are me. But we aren’t really. Isn’t that amazing. Could we say hi to Clary, It’s been some time since I’ve seen her delicate lips. Gods, you are soooo boring, no wonder that the gods like it better when I am in charge. Why don’t we stab Magizor in the back, I have never seen elven blood, do you think it’s green, since they like trees so much? Have you checked for traps? We should check for traps, traps are baaaaad. But we have Clary and I’m sure she can fudge rolls or something, as she is the Game Master’s cleric right? But don’t you think the Game Master is somehow more cold to her today? Do you think they broke up? I’m sure it’s about all the munchkin homebrew he let her have so she would play.”
Darkshadow had no idea what the moron in his head was talking about, and that made it easier to ignore. But Lightshadow wouldn’t stop and would continue his antics with lightning speed.
“He must never take hold of this body again, I couldn’t stand the embarrassment.” thought Darkshadow to himself, and he was suddenly not sure about wanting to be cured.
The inner fight of personalities was however suddenly brought to a close as Darkshadow became overwhelmed by a tingling sensation of impending danger, and using his skills of uncanny evasion he merely avoided a small scale explosion of a nearby torch.
Whilst others were caught unawares and tried to put out the flame that suddenly enveloped them, Darkshadow saw the silhouette of a small winged creature in the fire, and in the blink of an eye a dagger was flying in its direction. It was an impeccable throw, but unfortunately the creature was already away, and Darkshadow saw another explosion near a torch some 60 feet away.
He knew it. He knew that no deity would light torches in abandoned dungeons, he knew it and nobody believed him. As usual.
But the taste of arrogant superiority turned bitter in his mouth, for he despised bragging and he loathed mocking; especially in a time of danger.
Clary was trying to heal the burns of her companions, but as she suspected, her powers were not granted to her in her time of repentance before the Game Master. Roderick started assaulting the torch, and Magizor, hid behind the nearest corner.
“What a bunch we are.” Darkshadow sighed and he rushed towards the creature.
Following it was not difficult, one just had to follow the explosions, but his speed was lacking.
He caught a few glimpses of the small creature, and it was some strange flying fire toad, and Darkshadow was starting to hate it.
It was toying with him, if it wanted, it could have easily escaped him, but it was sometimes taunting him and doing something Darkshadow assumed to be a laugh. Darkshadow hated mockery and bragging, especially if it was turned against him.
The utter humiliation came when after minutes of chasing, he ran into his group, winded and angry for being led in circles like an utter fool, and as if it was not enough, he got a dose of fiery spit right into his face as he stopped and tried to catch his breath.
The others haven’t even noticed he was gone, Clary was shedding fake tears and begging the Game Master for her powers, Roderick managed to bravely destroy the evil torch to its entirety, and five mirror images of Magizor were still hiding in the corner.
The fire frog was leaving them alone for now, but Darkshadow knew it was still somewhere around laughing at them.
The others started talking and discussing what to do, but Darkshadow didn’t hear them, for he had a conversation of his own to attend to.
“Give me the wheel! Give me the Wheel! I can deal with that thing.” Shouted Lightshadow from inside his head
“Shut up!” Darkshadow responded, gritting his teeth.
“That thing is a joyful and mischievous prankster just like me, and we know how good you are at getting rid of me. But I know how we can take care of this.”
“Sure, I’ll give you the body and I will have to watch as you ruin everything I’ve ever tried to accomplish, again.”
“Hey, don’t sell me short like that, I just thought that your life was boring and I tried to spice it up a bit, but this adventuring was my idea as much as yours, we’re in this business together.”
“Why should I trust you again, you are a lying manipulative senseless licentious maniac, how do I know you are not trying to get rid of me yourself.”
“You know I’m not, we are both different sides of the same coin, we are both parts of the same whole.”
Darkshadow remained silent
“All right, keep your grudges, but are you really going to let these guys down?” Said Lightshadow, and Darkshadow looked at his companions.
First was Clary, Darkshadow thought of how she exploited her deity for more powers, and how instead of aiding others during the fight with the giant spider she tried to gain the entire glory by herself and slay the monster using just her munchkin powers. But on the other hand she was the one who gave him back his daggers and the only one who was sympathetic to his condition and was nice to both his personalities.
Roderick, a knight who mistakes his bloodthirst for valour and his ignorance for chivalry. But somehow Darkshadow grew somehow fond of him. He seemed to value his friends and his bravery and devotion couldn’t be questioned.
Magizor; thinking about it, Darkshadow hated practically everything about Magizor, and were it not for their last conversation, he wouldn’t find any redeeming qualities about him. He was arrogant, pompous, self-indulgent, egotistic. But seeing the man underneath, Magizor realized this was all a shield, a shield millennia in the making, but hidden deep underneath was a very insecure and wounded man, whose cynicism came from how others had treated him. This didn’t apologize his behaviour, but it turned Darkshadow’s hate into pity.
He despised them all, they were a group of heavily flawed individuals who could never work as a team, but he also despised himself, and he could not think of a better group to be a part of.
And so Darkshadow’s hair and features began to change and soon he was Darkshadow no more, but for the first time, he didn’t regret the transformation.
