Serenn stood facing the spearwoman. He gripped his sword in one hand and held his leather whip loosely coiled in the other and he sized up the opponent that was keeping him from entering the temple ruin. Faced with a live guard, he began to doubt the truth of the information he received about this ruin being abandoned. He made a mental note to visit Saina once again when this was all over. The slim tiefling had her on raw size, but the spear gave her a distinct advantage. “Best to keep to the whip until I can get inside of her guard,” he thought to himself as they stared at each other, each daring the other to move first. And it happened. A barely perceptible twitch from Serenn’s arm set the whip out ahead of him. He was way too far away for it to actually strike his foe, but he hoped the sharp crack it would produce in the air would be enough to startle her and give him an edge.
The spearwoman charged towards him, covering the distance at a fair clip. He stepped aside from her charge, turning the spear tip with his blade and spun around, lashing out with the whip while she was off balance from the missed charge. The leather wrapped around the middle of the spear’s haft and he pulled with all of the strength he possessed and was rewarded with the weapon being ripped out of his opponent’s hand and hitting the ground several feet away. “Perhaps this won’t be so difficult after all,” he thought. And then in a split second the air around the spear grew fuzzy and the weapon vanished, instantly appearing in his opponent’s hands again.
“Neat trick,” Serenn grunted. The spearwoman dropped into a ready stance, her expression unchanged since the beginning of the combat. He backed away from a few probing thrusts of the spear. He beat another away with his sword and lashed out again with the whip, but the woman easily rolled away from it. Serenn continued to back away, putting some distance between him and the woman. If she could call the weapon to her hand, taking it away from her wasn’t going to be the answer. He would have to put her on the ground and deliver the final blow while she was stunned. And to do that he needed to coax her into another charge to put her off balance again. He snapped the air in front of him with his whip again while he continued to retreat, putting several dozen feet in between them.
As if someone was reading his thoughts, the spearwoman began to close the distance, but pulled the spear back over her shoulder as she did. After a few quick steps forward she let the weapon fly in Serenn’s direction. The tiefling could tell that it was a poorly aimed throw as it left her hand. It would pass harmlessly over his shoulder without him having to even move. He readied himself to rush the spearwoman while she was temporarily disarmed. He pushed off with his back foot as the spear passed well over his shoulder. Then the woman smiled.
The air around her grew fuzzy, the same as it did around her spear. And then the woman’s foot made contact with Serenn’s shoulder. She had called herself to the weapon! The woman hit the ground behind the off-balance tiefling and swept out with the haft of her spear, tangling Serenn’s legs up and putting him on the ground, the breath leaving his chest. She closed the distance before he could recover and put the butt of her spear under his chin.
“This temple is under the protection of the Ardent Sisters. You have no business here. You will be allowed one chance to leave. Do not test our mercy – you will not be shown any if you return.” Without a further word she turned around and walked back to the stone arch while the young tiefling worked on recovering his breath.
The Ardent Sisters are a secretive order of exclusively female warrior monks drawn from various races. Not much is known about the specifics of their order, but their battle prowess is spoken of in hushed whispers. Trained in several styles of unarmed combat, their main focus is on mastery of the spear. To this end, they carry a weapon that they are magically bonded with that allows them to either call the weapon to their hand or call themselves to the weapon. Documented encounters with these warriors suggest that they place stock in places of historic significance – ruins and other ancient places, but they are not forthcoming in what they seek to find within them, insisting on absolute secrecy and privacy. The only common thread between these sites is that they seem to have some connection to magical forces, whether currently or deep in the past. They offer intruders one chance to turn around with a nonlethal show of force. If their warnings are not heeded, that show of force becomes lethal, thanks in part to their unique abilities. Several arcane scholars have experimented with trying to recreate whatever enchantment bonds them with their weapons but so far have not been able to.
Now that we’ve introduced the Ardent Sisters and their unique abilities, next week we’ll take a look at using them in your DND 5E game including stat blocks and possibly at what could happen should a PC get their hands on one of their weapons (either by joining the order or through battlefield spoils).
Ben Erickson
