The Eberron Saga

"I have a job for you."

Scorch wipes the dirty mouth of habbat upon hearing the voice, rises from the silk cushion, and for a moment becomes engulfed in flames as he spins through the air in a spiral shape. Seconds later, that same shape emerges outside Scorch's chambers, materializing within one of the various training fields of the City of Bronze.

"Our father no longer has patience for defective genasi. This is your chance to prove yourself useful," explains Burst, the hobgoblin genasi, in his usual impeccable posture and armor.

Scorch flips him off with his left hand while slowly putting on a magical ring.

"You are tasked with escorting Bang and exchanging her for an artifact with a devil," continues Burst, while Scorch, uninterested, removes a speck of habbat from his clothes. "Both Bang and the artifact are extremely volatile, which is why our father demanded the exchange to take place in a neutral location: Eberron."

"So they've given up on us, and now we're bargaining chips?" Scorch mocks the disregard with which the genasi are treated. Bang, the goliath genasi, was troublesome, but this new information leaves Scorch concerned about his own future in Fernia.

"Father can no longer be embarrassed by the failure of the Scarlet Brotherhood. The same will happen to you if you don't start behaving," reinforces the hobgoblin. "A nightmare with a carriage will be waiting for you at the city gate, with Bang ready for the journey. You leave in 3 hours."

Scorch takes the time to gather his equipment and inform Etch and Kindle, his closest siblings, where he will be going.

"Be careful, bro," warns Kindle, the small gnome genasi. "I heard that the last time they tried to get rid of Bang, she beat up Blast and about five efreeti!"

"If what Burst said is true," starts Etch, the dwarf genasi, in a serious tone, "you really need to be careful. I won't be able to clean up your mess if you go there alone."

"Relax," Scorch tries to calm his siblings, appearing unconcerned about the mission. "I'll go to Eberron, grab the stuff, enjoy some Eberron meat, and be back soon. It won't take more than two or three hours."

Time passes, and Scorch finds the carriage at the city gates. The City of Bronze has an anti-teleportation field that prevents foreign invasions, especially from the djinn of the Plane of Air. To travel between planes, Scorch finds an efreeti about 200 meters from the city walls, and the genie, for a hefty price, teleports him to the specified location written on a note given by Burst.

Scorch appears in a grassy field, far from any signs of civilization. "Uhm... excited about the change?" Scorch tries to break the silence with his sister, who has surely never spoken to him, but there is no response. "I mean, considering the way they treat you, maybe the Nine Hells won't be so bad, right?" Scorch continues, but his sister, chained at the legs, arms, and neck, inside a cage, doesn't even look away, as if she sees an enemy miles ahead.

The silence persists for a few more minutes until something finally catches Bang's attention: a portal emerges a few meters from the carriage. The sound of chains precedes its appearance. The abomination seems to bend to fit through the portal. Tall and visibly athletic despite the various chains covering its body, the devil holds a small chest between its hands, slowly uncoiling a series of chains from it. "Here, all yours," Scorch gestures, pointing to the cage. "Is that the artifact?"

The chain devil seems to pause for a second. A few seconds later, it finishes uncoiling the box, which slowly opens to reveal a small, shining red stone inside.

Scorch takes a step toward the devil but is interrupted by a massive fiery explosion, silencing the nightmare's whinny. For the first time in his life, Scorch feels the sensation of being burned by fire. After a few seconds on the ground with a ringing in his ears, Scorch gets up but can't see anything beyond the dust and smoke. Scorch runs in the vague direction of the carriage but finds nothing. He keeps running until he finally emerges from the dust cloud, with no signs of life around. He bends over, hands on his knees, to catch his breath, and when he turns around, the dust is subtly blown away by a breeze, revealing that the carriage, the horse, the devil, and, most importantly, his sister are no longer there. "This is going to be hard to explain..." he murmurs.