Reign Of Winter - A D&D Adventure

Prolouge

Tall, dark green and brown. Sticks, twigs, thorns. Ripping pulling, scratching. A canopy blocking out the sunlight, far above. Pressing down,  soffocating.

She scrambled through the trees in a mad dash, the stones and twigs ripping at the bottom of her feet and her long white dress. Golden hair whipped around her face, and got caught on a branch. She whirled around to tug it free, and tripped over her dress, throwing her into the earthen floor.

Thoughts flew around in her head, overflowing, great waves crashing around the inside of her skull, a barrage, pummeling, pounding, screaming, trying to get out, out, outoutOUT!

Stillness.

An impression fluttered in front of her consciousness, a face... that face... what he said couldn't be true... her parents would never do that, they WOULDN'T.

Deyenna, Elven Princess of the Kingdom Elytria, stumbled to her feet. In a daze, she took a step forward, one, two, one two... she had to get out... she had to... one... two... one... two...

The sun blinded her, and Deyenna looked up as she stepped out of the forest and onto the palace grounds.
A gasp, and a gardener stepped over to her. "Princess Deyenna, are you all right?" A flock of servents surrounded her, all chattering excitedly.

The palace... she was a princess. She could hear her mother's voice in the back of her mind, it would never do for a princess to be seen like this. Her mother... Deyenna straightened her back, forgetting the pain in her feet, and pushed through the crowd of worried gardeners toward the palace steps.

At the top, the butler, Darin, looked at her with concern. "Your Highness..-"

Deyenna looked him firmly in the eye, her bearing cold, and regal. "Open the door, Darin."

Darin's eyes widened, and he snapped up, perfect posture, the perfect servent. "Yes, your Highness." He bowed deeply, and opened the door for her entrance. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Deyenna realized he had never acted this way with her, he had always been her friend, not a servant. But then again, I guess I've always been his friend, not his princess.

Deyenna swept through the grand hall, people parting before her in waves, silent, staring. Conversations died as she reached the doors on the other side of the hallway, Elven warriors in magnificent, imposing golden armor on either side. They looked for a moment as if they were about to object, but the words died on their lips and they parted just like the rest of them. Deyenna hardly paused as the doors swung open before her at her push, the greatest architecture in the world giving away before her at a touch.

They swung open into a large room. The previous room, the Grand Hall of the palace of Elytria, the most powerful Elven Kingdom of the world, was dwarfed by the splendor of this, the throne room of Dalinar and Emeryth Dragonsworn. Covering the entire wall opposite her was their family crest, a twisted golden dragon. Her parents, the king and queen sat on their raised thrones, built so they could look down on all who came to them, to remind them all of their place, underneath the emperors of the world. And kneeling before them- a covered figure in a dark hood.

The moment Deyenna burst in the figure sprang up and whipped around. The surprised face of an old man stared out- almost. The black vortexes the creature had in place of eyes. Upon seeing Deyenna, widened. He turned back to the King and Queen, screaming in Draconian. "You said no one else would know of this!"

Emeryth stood up, carefully, the look of shock come from seeing her second youngest daughter burst into her throne room covered in dirt, dress torn, was already banished. Without taking her eyes off of Deyenna's face, she replied, "we will discuss this later, Cryzxen, leave." After shooting the Queen a look of pure loathing, the creature vanished.