Benedict tried his best to kill Nyneve the second he spotted her, but upon reflection he should have waited and been certain of delivering a single killing blow. As it was, he wounded her with his spear, but she fled quickly beyond his ability to follow. The moment lost and his hand played, he decided it was time for him to take a longer view.
“We must leave now!” Benedict shouted at Grim over the sounds of battle.
“About time!” Grim shouted back, actually wanting to have left some time ago. He looks around to see if Zymaan is coming too, but in fact he sees that Zymaan has just fired a bolt of light at Benedict. Before Grim can decide which side he’s on, he and Benedict are gone, not in a flash of light but rather a collapsing of light into darkness.
——-
When Grim opens his eyes, he is in a strange place indeed.
[See comic book to be shown at games night]
The mere being in this place opens Grim’s mind to the endless wonders of the world. A place as different as this was not previously within his ability to conceive.
It is a dark and terrible place full of torment and sorrow. Grim becomes darker just for being in this place.
Anybody who has not visited this place cannot truly understand how different it is. Any such person cannot truly understand the dangers that lurk there.
“Welcome to the Courts of Chaos,” Benedict announces.
Grim is at first speechless. He feels like he is visiting a layer of hell. Maybe he is.
What follows is a confusing mess of alien experiences that are significantly complicated by the fact that Grim does not speak whatever throat noises pass for speech around here.
Benedict takes him to see an angry devil-looking creature who bargains with Benedict for a long time in that guttural speech.
Although he does not understand it at the time, Grim later learns that the negotiation was for Benedict to obtain forgiveness for past transgressions, permission to stay in this realm, and protection from Morgan should he seek retribution after they kill his daughter. In exchange, Benedict and Grim will give information confirming that Morgan Deckeon and Alandra de Winter had a child together despite the previous belief that this was not possible, and information and support for a coordinated attack on this offspring at her current location.
When the terms are agreed, Benedict tells Grim that as part of the agreement the devil-looking creature will test Grim over the next forty days as preparations are made for the attack, to determine whether Grim has the potential to become real, or whether he must remain a creature of shadow for all his days. And before Grim can even make sense of what is happening, Benedict is gone and Grim’s fate is sealed.
——-
What follows is a nightmare of hellish events passed off as training but at least on some level is really just more of the torment and sorrow that is this place. Still, there can be no doubt that during this time Grim acquires new and exotic skills.
[Insert private discussion between DMA and Grim. Lots of cool rewards for selling out your friends.]
——-
By the end of his training, Grim’s loyalties have been completely realigned with the interests of the ones who trained him. And as a final act of initiation into their ranks, a certain job must be done.
“Make sure you separate Janaar and Proxen from the group,” Grim tells them. “They are good fighters. You won’t want them near the main action if you can avoid it…”
“And Ash has a secret magical card of Alandra de Winter that you’re going to want. I’ll try to pick-pocket it off him if I can, but otherwise we can grab it off his corpse…”
When attack day comes, Grim feels ready. He is part of the first phase. He and his compatriots are responsible for setting up gateways like the githyanki used outside Bale Keep to transport their armies in. Except now they know that Alandra de Winter has shut off the Psionic well in the realm to be invaded. They have already adapted.
Grim feels bad that Nyneve has to die. He didn’t realize before how much of an abomination she is.
He visits the Hellhounds and hopes they catch her quickly and end things fast.
When the Salamander Commanders are ready, they roll out.
“Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire,” one of Grim’s new friends says. “Dragon fire will only make this crew stronger.”
“Hold back the reserve,” is the last thing Grim hears before he makes the jump.