B.T.V. -- Session 02 Epilogue: A Miracle by the Lesser Sea

Asher Zi had witnessed a miracle. He could describe it as nothing less than that. His friend—it was presumptive to consider himself a friend of such a power—his comrade Selidor of Law, or now perhaps better called Selidor Barimen, had wrought such a change in the world of Axildusk that had been inconceivable, even, as far as he knew, to the Gods themselves. Perhaps the Jenoine could duplicate the feat. No one else he knew of. And he feared that others might come forward, in this time of tumult and change, with similar capabilities that were not so friendly towards the humans of this world.


Asher had thought Selidor had been deranged, seeking out a portraitist to paint his beloved Lyra’s picture for him to cherish, and seemingly placing that above all other priorities. But know, Asher understood, such a potency afford such eccentricities while also shaping their world to the picture in their mind, rather than trying to conform to reality as it was.


He continued to wonder why Selidor and his cousin Finndo even bothered with him. Asher knew he had capabilities other humans did not, but he was still human, with all that entailed. Finndo and Selidor, and the others of their family they had brought forth in the miracle by the Lesser Sea of Amorphia, were less human even than the Draegerans. Draegerans, at least, had a limit to their lifespans, so they understood something of mortality. These Barimens had no such destiny with death and, as a result, viewed their world through their own indecipherable lens, rather than the eyes of humans.


We mortals must seem like only flickering shadows to them, Asher thought. Bamboo kept his own counsel.


Selidor, while remote, seemed genuinely concerned for Asher, which was why the Easterner stayed by the Law Lord’s side. Finndo made an effort, but Asher was less certain of him, though he had showed a great deal of goodwill toward the human. Asher worried that rapport might dwindle or disappear with the restoration of the Barimen family.


Asher couldn’t be certain. He was human, and subject to human reactions and emotions. His own view might also be biased. A short life might bring short-sightedness with it. Bamboo sat up, seeming to have an opinion to voice, but then settled back down on the ground. Asher could swear, however, that his familiar raised an ironic eyebrow.



Events had started abnormally enough, with Asher determined to return Selidor to Finndo, to try to deal with the Law Lord’s fervent ardor for Lyra. This seemed more an adolescent’s first crush than romantic love in many ways.


“Are you really one to judge, Master?” Bamboo asked.


Asher shrugged. “I am no master of romance, as I suspect Finndo can be when he chooses. A drifter’s life leads only to chance encounters, soon ended. But I remember that first crush, and how overwhelming it seemed at the time. Of course, I was 12 at the time.”


Bamboo offered, “From what Selidor has said, master, he had little time to pursue love while buried in his studies. He’s like a cub first entering the world, surprised by everything he finds, surprised by all.”


Asher squinted at Bamboo, who raised innocent eyes up toward him.


Asher and Selidor has just left the art gallery in Silkshore, where the Law Lord had found an artist he thought worth of painting his sweetheart. Asher had steered him toward the bridge to Crowsfoot, not wanting to return to Colleridge via Yarddocks again and risk running into Firehand’s Jheregs again.


They had encountered a Jhereg woman they had first met on the night the Dragon Lord Calcitrant had sent them on a gauntlet through the city to test their abilities. She, like her sister, had been on the island of Silkshore.


Selidor, knowing Asher was growing concerned for Noxster, the Jhereg who had started out as his slayer and turned into something else, and asked about her whereabouts.


The Silkshore Jhereg didn’t know, though she had heard of Noxster. “I have enough trouble with my own sister,” the Jhereg said, referring to the other woman who patrolled Silkshore on behalf of their Dragon/Jhereg Lord Calcitrant.


They see an airship passing overhead, and the Jhereg points out it flies the flag of a Dragon royal prince. Only princes and princesses were allowed flags.


“You don’t see my walking around with a Jhereg flag, do you? Only the royal houses have flags.”


She confirmed Firehand had offered a reward to anyone who detained them so he could speak with them.


Just as she starts to say more about royal Dragon flags, Elric el’Nibone contacted the pair psychically. The Melnibonean tells them they should meet him on the bridge to Crowsfoot and, cutting short their conversation with the Jhereg, they proceeded there.


Selidor greeted Elric as 'Emperor Imminent'.


“More imminent than you think,” Elric replied, remarking on the gathering of Dragon families with aspirations to the Imperial throne within Adhrilanka.


“Are you prepared for the ascension?” Selidor asked.


“It is somewhat premature,” Elric admitted. He had not had time to gather forces to back his own claim to the throne.


He had visited the Empress, he continued, who had made known she planned to abdicate.


Asher was surprised at that. He wasn’t aware of any Emperor or Empress abdicating, only dying or killed at the change of the Cycle.


He asked the Easterners—though Asher no longer thought of Selidor that way, but as something else, though he had no word for it—to be ready if he needed help and, more immediately, to act as his bodyguards as he went to the Hall of the Dragon at the Imperial Palace to learn more about the various potential claimants for the throne. Selidor and Asher agree, the latter happy to have someone with them who might deter Firehand’s Jheregs, which turns out to be the case.


As they pass through the north end of Charhollow, Elric makes note of a shop catering to the needs of sorcerers. They are also approached by a Draegeran claiming to be an Alchemancer, and additionally to have an associate who dealt in weapons. Asher suspected that meant Morganti blades, and asked a question alluding to that without mentioning that word. The Draegeran took exception to speaking to an Easterner, and Elric mollified him, in the process leading to comments from the Alchemancer leading Asher to believe he meant precisely Morganti weapons.


Elric suggests taking a gondola to Whitecrown, and Asher, pausing for a moment to think of the maps he had studied before coming to Adhrilanka, led them northward, through a market that grew busy with calls for the Dragon Lord to buy something from them, the stall owners sensing a wealth potential patron, though what use Elric might have for fresh vegetables seemed obscure to Asher. He led them to a dock, and luckily an empty gondola was passing.


He called it over, and they boarded the craft, which bore them to the Royal Dock at Whitecrown. They see a ship further down the dock, flying Dragon pennants, which Elric pretended represented the e’Lanya lineage of Aeglesnakt.


Selidor asked about the number of Dragon lineages in total, and Elric estimated a half dozen or so.


Banners, he noted, the small continent to the north of Adhrilanka, was unusual in that marriage there was forbidden, and advancement was based solely on merit, not birth.


They enter the Palace and, travelling through great halls, corridors, stairways, ramps, courtyards and pools, among others, they found the Halls of the 17 Houses of Draegera. Elric is respectfully greeted by two guards at the entry to the Hall of the Dragon, and, after telling them his desire, a librarian appears to take him within. Elric goes in without Selidor and Asher, and the last regretted that, since he had not anticipated such a separation, that he could speak, read and write the secret language of the Dragons. Probably for the best, he concludes.


The guards, after some minor harassment of Selidor and Asher, told them they could go below to find food, or stay nearby in an antechamber. Asher, being hungry, suggests the former, and they find a large dining hall containing an inordinate number of Dragon warriors. The soldiers, who wear black and a second colour, according to the lord they serve, sit and demand service, not realizing that the Teckla provide only a buffet.


Asher and Selidor obtain some food and find a remote table to sit at, meaning they couldn’t overhear any of the conversation amongst the Dragons, nor be subject to their taunts. Asher worried an incident within the walls of the Palace would be disastrous, even if the Dragons didn’t all join forces to deal with impudent Easterners who didn’t know their place.


Instead, they observe, the Dragons seem to have their own acrimonies between their groups, though when trouble stirred, a calming hand always appeared before any real trouble could start.


Then, as Selidor and Asher finish their food, a Dragon enters, but this one has some sort of decanting that leaves his form blurry. This one, Faffigre e’Mendar (though that name wasn’t known to the Law Lord or the Easterner) spoke to a table of seven Dragons dressed in black and violet. Four hurry off with the newcomer, and the remaining three eat their food much more quickly than before.


The pair returns to the antechamber to the Hall of the Dragon, and while waiting see a (Dusken Trooper) figure clad in heavy armour enter, his eyes glowing red. Asher is puzzled, for such armour usually magnifies hostile decanting, and has been mostly abandoned for that reason. The armour appears metal, not some substitute, such as Asher’s magical armour made from Black Plasm.


The trooper walks up to the two guards, and stands before them. The guards exchange concerned looks, but the newcomer moves to one side and seems content to stare into the wall, as if he can somehow see through it.


Precisely 22 minutes later, he is joined by Baron Forever of the e’Lanya lineage, who carries no weapons.


Asher leans over to Selidor and remarks in a whisper, “One should be frightened of a Dragon with a sword, and terrified of one without a weapon.”


The Baron, after a brief exchange with Selidor and Asher, approaches the guards and seeks entry to the library, which is granted, but as the armoured trooper makes to follow, they cross their blades, barring his path, and the Baron tells him to continue to await without.


Elric returns 35 minutes later—being in the Palace, Asher constantly checks the Imperial clock, worried the longer they were there the more likely they were to attract unwanted attention, and they depart the Palace. Elric, hearing of the Baron, notes the latter is the son of Duke Nevermore of the e’Lanya lineage, of Aeglesnakt.


As they exit the Palace, they find Finndo waiting in the huge square outside. He had not joined them because access was restricted to certain members of the House of the Dragon, he explains. Then he hands Elric a scroll case and the Melnibonean returns to the Palace, feeling opening it in the open air was inadvisable.


Finndo, as they wait, explains that the Empress has indicated her intention to abdicate her throne to the House of the Dragon, leading to the gathering of leading members in Adhrilanka.


Two Dragon soldiers approach and order what they think are three Easterners to clear the way for a coming procession. Asher, raised in this society, moves 10 feet away, and then a further 10 at their direction. Selidor is reluctant to move more than a step or so, and argues with the Dragons about the need to do so. Finally, at Finndo’s suggestion, Selidor relents and they join Asher.


The procession is of a short, seemingly young Draegeran woman, at least two inches under six feet in height, (Taemcone e’Kieron) and her pale, pale escort, (Kozikigh ‘Olaan) wearing shining armour seemingly made at least partly of seashells and using his sword as a walking stick. Asher finds this very un-Dragonish behaviour, then notes seems more a prop than an actual weapons. Kozikigh makes a comment of some kind to the young lady as they pass Finndo, Selidor and Asher, seemingly surprised to find “Easterners” who did not grovel. Elric, emerging from the Palace, bows to the two, who return the courtesy.


“It is indeed an invitation, to a parlay of sorts,” Elric says of the scroll he had received from Finndo. He wasn’t sure when it would begin, since Dragons were still arriving for it, but he elected to remain at the Palace.


As the remaining three walk back through Brightstone to Charterhall, where Asher plans to track down a Drifter he has heard of attempting to capture there ghosts, intending to offer his assistance, Selidor and Finndo speak of their family, how they will restore the other members to life on Axildusk, and where they will make their new home. Much of it is indecipherable to Asher, but seemed to him to come down to the possibility of Selidor claiming Amber’s Jewel of Judgment from his father Gerard, who had possession of it, and sacrificing it through his power of Law to reclaim their family and erect a new home.


Finndo suggested the Lost City might be a good site, with its proximity to Adhrilanka and Asher’s ability to clear away lingering ghosts that might pose a danger. Finndo goes further, offering a free “headquarters” for a time for other Drifters, so they might assist in the enterprise.


Asher suggests that is a good plan, though he adds he cannot be sure the highly individualistic Drifters, given much to wandering, would agree.


Selidor, however, wishes a “more human” site. He inquires of Banners.


Finndo pretends he is more interested in the “Enclipse,” which Asher has seen on maps of Axildusk, but knows little more of it, since it is in the midst of an ocean north of Adhrilanka.


What they decide, though, is that with the help of the Lord of Law Quelch, Selidor would “deal with this Lesser Sea of Chaos” and raise an island to serve as the new home of his family.


Asher would have raised doubts about this plan, but his two companions seemed unconcerned.


Selidor determines he wishes to proceed immediately. This foils Asher’s plans to find Noxster and help his fellow Drifter, but he can hardly put his own personal desires above that of the two cousins, and that if they succeed, there should be at least one native witness to this deed of outsiders. Selidor, too, feels that is important, and Asher suggested an airship would provide the quickest travel short of teleportation.


“I am impressed that you are ready, and I am fearful you are ready,” Finndo confides to Selidor as they stand on Derrick Street.


Asher guides them to the Dockyards, where hiring an airship turns out to be much less expensive then he feared. Because of the Dragons journeying to the capital, idle airships were eager for work to supplement their incomes, especially with a relatively short journey to make.


Along the way, a common spectre appears, which would usually cause trouble on an airship, but Asher captures the ghost and confines it to a Pentaglobe, his last vacant one.


They arrive near the Lesser Sea and the airship drops them well away from the shore. They approach the reddish waters, and Finndo suggests he and Asher should stand back, and they do so.


Selidor determines to first summon Quelch, a member of the Council of the Lords of Law, which he had promised to do at the Lesser Sea. He proceeded to do so, and the black-armoured figure appears, his helm covering his face.


“You have done well, Selidor,” Quelch compliments his fellow Law Lord on his arrival, “But this is not the body of water I asked you to bring me to.”


“There is an ulterior motive,” Selidor confesses. “This is the site that has been chosen for my other family. Those of Amber.”


He had promised, too, to restore them, and wished the process “would be lawfully blessed.”


“You have influence over this family, then?” Quelch questions.


“I am the son of the King.”


This seems sufficient for Quelch, as far as Asher can determine. Quelch holds out his weapon, which takes the form of a harpoon, and points it out over the Sea. The waters become agitated, and the landscape takes on an unnatural appearance, as if sand dunes had become stone. A figure that seems to Asher a combination of crab and man emerges, then resolves into a creature with many arms and legs.


Selidor draws forth the Great Weapon Massartu, and Quelch observes the wisdom in that.


Selidor, for the first time, attempts to connect to the blade and communicate with it, and hears a voice that directs him, “Take the fight to the creature of Chaos.”


Obeying, the Law Lord slides down the dune to confront the advancing monster. Selidor strikes, and the creature is discomfited, immediately beginning a new transformation, though not before striking a powerful blow to the Law Lord.


He manages to hit the creature again, and it misses before it finally locks into place, having taken a more angular form.


The reddish water has now transformed to black, the common colour of seas and oceans on Axildusk, and Asher realizes with astoundment that this is no longer a sea of Chaos or Amorphia, but simply an inland sea. He had never contemplated the possibility of such a change, and the only word he can think of to describe that is a “miracle,” though he is uncertain even a God could have managed the same task. Perhaps a Jenoine, but no other, and Asher becomes uncomfortably aware that Selidor and Finndo, who he had already labelled great powers, were even more than that, with powers the native Easterner could not begin to gauge.


Quelch, meanwhile, compliments Selidor on his accomplishment.


“You have reminded the creature of its origin,” the Lord of Law said. “You have restored it.”


Selidor declared, “Then it is near this bank and this place I will try to bring forth my relations.”


“There is much about this world that needs seeing to by you,” Quelch commented.


“I should inform you that Lucifer is loose upon this world as well.”


“Will you raise land on this sea, which will need a new name?” Quelch asked. Then, he referred to the Enclipse, which is what the Draegerans described as the Furnace, but was a source of energy.


“There is another heavenly body, which is the Eye,” Quelch continued, adding it was like a moon, but rose only one night a month, and set back into the oceans it emerged from.


The Eye caused tides, Asher knew, as Quelch gave that information to Selidor.


“You must determine if it will do so for this Sea,” Quelch said. “You are its creator, and it will be your first task as a Lord of Law. One must deal with the small before one moves to the mighty.”


“To be distinctive, let this body not be affected by the Eye,” Selidor declared. And it was not.


Selidor then announced his plan to raise an island in what he renamed the Barimen Sea, and a causeway leading to it.


Quelch departed, saying, “I will move on upon the world. It will feel the touch of my harpoon.”


Asher frowned. That sounded…ominous.


Finndo, rejoining Asher, commented, “To think our friend if related to such.”


Asher did not correct Finndo, but now understood why Selidor would regard him as a comrade. How could such a power have mere friends?


Selidor then spoke again to his blade. “Massartu, the job is done.”


The Great Weapon replied, “Much needs undoing. This is a start.


“This Sphinx of Law will remain as a sign of what is beyond,” Massartu added, meaning the stone creature with its leonine head.


“I will make it known as such,” Selidor promised. He then spoke in a strange tongue, but then translated the name as “Spirit God of the Earth Remembered.”


Asher approaches and, hiding his trepidation, used his martial skills to administer a healing hand, relieving Selidor of some of the wounds he had sustained.


Then, Selidor used his Ziggurat form to contact his father.


“You have awakened me, and I had just begun to Slumber,” Gerard greeted his son.


When Selidor asked for the Jewel, the King continued, “Ah. You’ve been talking to Finndo. I will sent it to you through your power of sorcery.”


Within moments, Selidor grasped the chain from which depended the Jewel.


Gerard instructed, “You must not risk atunement, but you must learn it’s nature.”


Selidor found that out by connecting to the Jewel with his Portal Armour, covered as it was with Pattern-like engravings. Doing so cost him some effort, and he had to strive to reach his goal. Then, summoning forth the Splinter that was the Horn of the Unicorn, he touched it to the Jewel, which was consumed in a great surge of energy as Selidor’s relations began to emerge from the Sea.


“My brothers. My sisters. They come,” Finndo proclaimed.


They were led by Fiona, of striking red hair, a green dress and a knife, who was followed by Julian, who appeared much older than his siblings with his white beard and weathered face, and he wore a greatsword on his back.


Caine was a rakish figure, wearing gray boots, white trousers and a brocaded coat, a scarf around his neck, and Osric was more plainly dressed, in grey. Neither carried an obvious weapon.


Blaise wore his hair long, tied and draping down the front of each shoulder, with an odd necklace around his neck, and Deirdre was garbed in heavier armour, and carried a great sword and an intent expression on her face.


Benedict wore a surcoat of gray and white, and carried a sword that he seemed to know the length of, as Draegerans might say, and Corwin, the most amiable looking, wore a white shirt and a cloak worn swept back, but with the black hood up. By his side was a sabre, and Asher sensed it was akin to a Great Weapon. He heard a slight wind whisper, Greyswandir.


Eric had dark hair and wore leather armour, with crossed shortswords on his back, and Lewella was a blonde in chain armour, under which was a white shirt.


Florimel wore a metal breastplate and was blonde as well, unlike Deidre who was dark of hair, and Random came as well, wearing an ornate greatcoat.


Finally came Gerard, who appeared more regal than Asher had seen him before.


“My boy,” Gerard greeted Selidor, who responded, “Your Highness.”


“You may keep the chain,” Gerard said of what remained after the Jewel had been consumed, and Selidor took the Splinter of the Unicorn’s Horn, the size of a short sword, and attached it. Somehow, the Splinter was then of pendant size, fitting easily under Selidor’s jacket.


“I think I can speak for us all when I say it is good to be back,” Gerard rumbled. He didn’t really rumble, but Asher couldn’t help but think of him as having that sort of voice. “Thank you for the new coat,” Random told Selidor. “You have dressed me somewhat like a king.”


The name of two missing family members then come up—Brand, the son of Oberon, as well as Oberon, the former king of Amber.


“To me, they represent divisions of the old world,” Selidor explained to his family. “There can be no divisions. We must be one.”


The family members then spoke to each other, as might happen in such a reunion, and Selidor’s stepsisters take an interest in their relation’s love life, and in particular his relationship with Lyra, which they pretend they can help along.


Selidor displays the moonstone necklace he intends as a gift to his beloved and Fiona, taking it her hands, returns it, the stone now burning with an internal fire. Benedict declares, “We must learn what is the situation we find ourselves in. I will need spies.”


Selidor, who Asher suspects is glad of a diversion from talk of Lyra, then introduces his Eastern comrade.


When Asher explains the place of humans in the world of Axildusk, Benedict replies, “Ah. So that is why we are required.”


“What of us women?” Lewella demanded. “Will we have a place in this world, or will be set aside, as before?”


Asher is surprised by this. Say what you will of Draegerans, they recognized few differences beyond the obvious between men and women.


Gerard assured the women that they would not be set aside.


Somehow, and Asher isn’t sure how, the conversation comes back to the fate of the Jewel.


“It has been returned to Anachaos,” Gerard informed them. “It was its eye.”


Later, after the family had determined Osric should undertake the building of roads to and ports at nearby coastlines, Finndo had a few last words for Selidor.


“We have done great work here tonight, and I lay the blame somewhat at your feet.”


Asher sympathized with the sentiment, though he did not say so, as he set out to hunt for food with Julian, Finndo and Osric.

Transcription by R.Perry