The Unlikely Paladin’s Sacrifice

How a nature bound paladin repent the sins of his oathbreaking brothers with his life.


1

Argos was a green dragonborn paladin of Bahamut in training, but lacked devotion in his studies compared to the other acolytes. Books of old teachings and moral bored him, although his heart was pure and his intent good. Instead, he prefered to make up his own stories, and made his way into peoples heart by sharing his fictional adventures with great enthusiasm. Always wondering when he himself would get the chance to join an epic story.
A druid, Thresh, took him under his wing, and taking the more practical aproach to Argos's paladin teachings, an Oath of the Ancient was taken, Argos now just as much a paladin as his student siblings.

But something was wrong. When he returned to visit civilisation he and his mentor found his fellow students murdered, and a selected few missing in action.
They travaled far and wide, gathering clues and allies everywhere where Argos's smile could reach, until they eventualy splitted up. Thresh on a mysterious mission to the west and Argos continuing the search, joining an adventuring group who promised to help him in Baldurs Gate. It was there he found his first real sign of catching up in months.

A trio of dragonborn students had fallen behind the main group, and gotten trapped in a basement hiding from the local guard. When Argos questioned them they confirmed his deepest fears; desperate to destroy the injust caste back home they plotted to overthrow Bahamuts hold of the city, and bring Tiamat to rule in his stead. Their leader, Vignaar, was a black dragonborn whom been the closest to a brother Argos had ever known.

Hearing this, Argos and his friends stormed after the main group who had traveled south for Cloakwood. They realised quickly upon arrival that something was terribly wrong with the forest. The nature, to which Argos had sworn his alliance, was corrupted by necromantic ooze, draining the woods from all life.

Traveling through Cloakwood they witnessed Vignaars cruelty first hand: beasts and druids alike had been scattered and murdered in his footstep. Even so, Argos's heart ached for his former comrades, giving a found fallen dragonborn the ceremonial burial worthy of their formost warriors: clensed in fire, then sealed away in ice.

The local druid circle guided them to their sacred halls, from which Vignaar had forced them. Surrounding the entrence lay the Pool of the Ancestors whom grown resentfull against the circle after the halls where lost, forbidding any druid to enter. Argos and the group pushed through, dreading what they would meet on the inside.

Fighting their way through, they finally entered the central chamber, catching Vignaar conspiring with drows and summoning their armies through large portals. Any doubt Argos had felt before was wached away seing this turned version of his lost brother, demonic wings spreading from his back and a sour smile curling his lips. They clashed in epic battle, Vignaar slaming Argos against the ceiling, Argos breaking free and forcing them both hard against the stone floor with the power of natures wrath behind him. With his dying breath, Vignaars claws dug deep in Argos leg, cursing him to the point that he barely stayed conscious.
"It's too late" Vignaar gurgled.
"It's never too late" Argos smiled as he drove his sword through Vignaars chest.

The battle was won and the portals closed. But the pain caused by the dragonborns pileging was not forgotten by the forest. In an attempt to apeace the ancestors, a ritual was conjured – demanding the sacrifice of the druids leader and swallowing her whole in a secret chamber under the pools bed. Argos and a friend dived after her, and while the others took care of the druidic leader Argos found himself drawn towards the bottom, the nature claiming him to pay the price of the damage done by his fellow dragonborns. Failing to draw his last breath, smiling towards his friend coming for his rescue, he realized his fate.
A giant oak bursted through the surface in his stead, bearing with it the last warm wind of autum and a powerfull blast that restored the forest from it's corrupted state. It carried his voice:
"Take care of each other" he begged his friends, left standing in the gigantuan trees shadow.
"At least I got my big adventure."

[zombify_post]


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