As a transition between adventures, I wrote solo adventures for each of our party members. This was for Orson Keir, our human fighter, who in the previous adventure, had been kidnapped and revealed to have been a part of an elite mercenary team working for the King of Neverwinter.

Following the events of what happened with the Rainbow Six, you find your feelings of guilt to be overwhelming whenever you’re around the rest of the party. Even going to taverns doesn’t create the same release it once did. Now you only really find solace in solitude. Lunan and Arlyss have asked you about it, but you always brush them off, saying you’re fine.

One day on one of your solitary walks about the city, you find yourself down an unfamiliar alleyway. You turn back, but the way doesn’t seem familiar either. How did you get here? Where is here? You can hear voices down the way that sound like they’re walking away from you. More voices from the windows above you and behind you. Now the sound seems to swirl around with no singular origin. It’s louder now. You put your hands over your ears, it’s so deafening. The noise makes your knees buckle and you fall to the ground, the pain in your mind excruciating.

Then it’s gone. You open your eyes and you’re in an orchard. You sit up and you see your mother tending to one of the trees. There’s a dense fog on the edges of your vision and you can’t see much further than she and the tree. Through the fog you see a single goblin running toward her. You try to call out to her but you have no voice. You reach for your sword but see your hands are gone. You scream with all your might, but no sound comes out.

The goblin grabs your mother and pins her to the tree. She screams and fights against it,but can’t break free. She sees you and her eyes go wide. She calls out to you, “ORSON! ORSON, please save me!” You try to run to her but you can’t move. You look down and your feet are concrete posts stuck in the ground. You can’t move, you can’t speak, and you couldn’t fight if you wanted to. You scream out again silently and reach for your mother, pulling in vain against your grounded legs.

The goblin punches and beats your mother until she no longer tries to get up. It grabs her hair in one hand, sword in the other and steps to the side so you can see her fully. She looks directly at you and says, “Why didn’t you save me, Orson? Why weren’t you strong enough to protect me? Why couldn’t Rorhen have been our son instead of you?” The goblin swings its sword and chops off her head. The sound of the sword hitting the tree deafens you and you close your eyes.

When you open them, you are in the middle of a battle. All around you orc, goblins, and ghasts are killing unarmed people left and right. You look down and are no longer encased in concrete and in your hands are your sword and shield. What do you do?

“I attack whatever is nearest to me!”

As your blade strikes true to the nearest creature, it falls to the ground with a scream completely alien to it. You look down as it reaches up and pulls off its face to reveal Pip, the inn keeper’s boy. He looks up to you crying and clutches his wound. Footsteps behind you make you turn and raise your shield as White from the Rainbow Six attacks you. What do you do?

“I stab him?!”

Your attack hits its mark and White spits up blood. As it runs down its chin, its face melts away to reveal a little girl around eight years old. “Why?” she cries. “Why aren’t you protecting us?” She falls dead at your feet, now transformed entirely into a young girl in a pink dress. You hear a roar behind you and turn just in time to see a hobgoblin charging you with a sword raised overhead to strike. What do you do?

“I tried to defend myself, but doing non-lethal damage.”

You throw a punch and it hits its mark, but with far more power than it should, shattering the hobgoblin’s jaw. It turns to face you, holding its jaw in one hand. It drops to its knees and looks down. When it looks back up, bursts into flames and a child’s voice cries out, “They’ve trusted you and you’ve lied to them! Why would you keep that from your friends?” The flames intensify and the entire body is consumed. You stumbled backward, confused and terrified as everyone – friend and foe – on the battlefield turns and looks at you in unison. They begin to chant in a language you don’t understand. One by one, they drop their weapons and point a single finger at you. The chanting continues and intensifies. They each take one step toward you. Then another. Then another.

What do you do?

“I don’t know! I try to defend myself?!”

They’re on you now, grabbing at your clothes and extremities. As each of them touch you, they become a different color. Red. Orange, Yellow, Green. Blue. Indigo, Violet. Over and over as they rip the weapons from your hands, tear off your clothes, peel away your flesh. You feel all of it and none of it. The chanting is unbearable. You scream out in pain and fear.

You awaken with a start, startling passers-by on the street. You are lying next to a building near an alleyway. You’re filthy, your clothes are tattered, and any valuables you had on you when you left are gone. You look around but no one is really paying you any attention. This is a large city after all and a passed out drunk in the gutter is nothing new to them. You try to stand but your head feels like a bucket of rocks. Slowly you get to a seated position against the wall and look around to see where you are. You’re across the street from the castle. You don’t know how you got here or how long you’ve been.

“It’s difficult to remember sometimes why we do the things we do,” you hear a voice say nearby. You search around and find a tiny cloaked creature walking with a cane about 10 feet to your left. You cannot see their face because of their hood. “Why we start on journeys, why we go down certain paths. It can be very confusing once you’re in the thick of it. Wouldn’t you agree, Orson Keir?”

“Who are you? What just happened?”

“You will know my name in time,” croaks the voice beneath the hood. “Until then, stay the course, young man. Defend the weak, exercise caution, and above all – “ the creature is now directly in front of you and reaches out to touch your face. You can see now it is a very, very old goblin woman. As she touches your cheek, she says, “Keep no secrets.”

She continues on her way, leaving you alone once again. You eventually stand and head off in whatever direction you choose.