Session 38

The Fading Light

Date: Wednesday, 11th of November, 2020
Attending Players: Ashara, Embra, Ish'Mael, Victalyassa
Time 3.25 Hours (Total: 120.25 Hours)

Game Time 14th of Sowmeadow, 5:30 AM
To
14th of Sowmeadow, 6:00 AM
Game Locations:
Watcher's Quarter of Orvadah

Stepping through the portal, Haliveks left behind the force bubble that kept him from aiding his research partner. Though it did not affect him that Jalvik died, he mourned the loss of their precious research. Jolvik was in the prime of his embodiment, he was able to calculate beyond any mortal and was yet to feel the sickness of an overly powerful mind.

Now the research was to start over.

Stepping towards the large desk that separated his entrance from the greater library of this plane, he examined the stoic being before him. Unnaturally still, the divine entity reach one of it's many arms through a single miniature portal before it. Haliveks couldn't see within it, but knew what is represented. This was his new assignment for his lord. He was to pay back the price of consuming the mind of one that Oroval favored. Failure would see his fate much like this servant.

"Query for Subject; Was prior research conductive with positive internal settings?"

"Yes," Haliveks responded. He did enjoy the work.

"Query for Subject; Would continual effort on duplicated effort continue positive settings?"

"Yes," he would enjoy continuing the same line of work.

"Command for Subject; Join Candidate Object Kodor on the Material Plane. Destination; Rimvalkast - Tanaviak - Norva Dominion - Norva. Warning for Subject; Novel Divinity Threat; Subjects of [Entity Unknown] have engaged in violent aggression against Kodor. Exercise Caution."

The being handed a simple scroll to Haliveks with one arm and produced a small bag with another. It would provide everything needed by Haliveks and inform Kodor everything he needed. Haliveks nodded, turned back towards the entryway he just existed, and walked towards the newly opening portal to his next assignment.

As the door opens, they see the room laid barren before them. The room filled with ethereal fog and a statue hovering in the middle, two figures by a circular desk, one in the center turns toward them, "I've been waiting for you."
"Oroval has told me you come to destroy my research, for what purpose is the destruction of research?"
"Gavathrak demands your destruction!" exclaims Ashara. This causes the party to bicker amongst themselves about their goal here, but they are quickly interrupted by Jolvik, the green misshapen elf with a large robust head, the embodied of Oroval.
"Silence! If destruction is what you seek then go to the desert, leave my research alone."
"Destruction of you and all that you are is my goa-" Begins Ashara before a small black sphere is thrown from behind Ashara and into the center of the room. It erupts on impact and blows Jolvik back, creating a sphere that traps the mind flayer inside. Ish Ma'el runs into the room, saying "I can't believe that worked!" and steps toward the left side of the room to prep for battle.
Ashara, stunned from the act by Ish Ma'el composes herself and moves into the room. She focuses on a rune above her hand, a flaming rune that she has never done before, and sends the rune up into the air. It is quickly engulfed in a large ball of fire that lands near Jolvik in the center of his round table. Flame erupts in a massive 20 ft radius explosion that obliterates the table and much of the work is in flames. The flames die down quickly and Jolvik is left in the center, barely hurt, yelling, "You attempt to destroy my knowledge!!" Ashara runs in, Katana up and a flame in her eye to meet him.
The mind flayer attempts to move as much as he can in the bubble as Yula moves in to the room into position opposite of Ish Ma'el. Jolvik lifts into the air and a blue aura engulfs his head, he stares at Ashara with a fury and a blue beam fires out of his hand toward her. NAT 1! However, as his hand whips back, it touches against some flames still burning on the table, jolting him in pain as his laser misses Ashara and hits the brazier by her, sending it up into the air and seconds later they begin to float in the air.
Victalyassa sprints into the room, her legs fully extended and battleaxe gleaming in the mystical fog around her. She pulls her arm up to swing at Jolvik, NAT 1!, but she is burnt by one of the floating coals and is hurt by it, but she quickly recovers, albeit blinded by the surrounding ashes. All of her senses are so hyperfocused, so she misses another swing and chooses to reorient herself in position rather than run back. Embra runs into the room too, arming her crossbow with a wooden bolt and firing it as soon as she has time to into Jolvik's ribs. He pulls it out and a wavering energy goes over his head; his eyes glowing and a loud "HOW DARE YOU!" echoes in the heroes minds as a wave of psychic energy spreads out from him. As it strikes over everyone, the effects wash over Ish Ma'el, Yula, and Ashara feel a tingling sensation that goes away quickly, but it is Embra and Victalyassa who become blinded and slowed respectively.
Ashara rebounds and rushes up to swing at Jolvik, but he levitates back up into the table before coming back toward her. Her first strike misses, so she pulls back angrily and NAT 1! Jolvik pulsates away, pulling energy from the room and striking it at Ashara. She feels the entire world become slow in her mind, feeling herself slow to move and react; now matching Vic's effect. She slowly turns and as slow as possible begins to say: "Victalyassa, when you are done hitting this guy, look away!"
Ish Ma'el observes his team falling apart and runs toward the bubble Mind Flayer, "Move!" he yells, kicking it up into the air out of the way. Because of the surrounding sphere, he only weighs 1 pound and is easily sent flying up and over Jolvik to the back of the room. He then empowers his energy, "Lightning Bolt!" sending a white bolt of lightning into Jolvik. Ashara observes as Jolvik snaps his head and absorbs the lightning bolt into a white tornado of energy in front of him. Ish Ma'el looks in awe and stands in the center of the room. The mind flayer levitates the bubble up and out of the charred table and moves away from the battle.
Yula runs up and stabs her tooth blade into Jolvik, right into the opening that Embra created earlier with her crossbow bolt. He lifts into the air and attempts to move away, getting stabbed once again by Yula. He looks down at her, forming magic into his hand and casting a thin bolt of white energy at her. Her body twists and contorts as she shrinks down to a physical toad on the ground. He turns to Ashara with a sneer and warns into her mind that "if you do not desist, then you will be next!"
Victalyassa sprints up to Jolvik's new position as fast as she can, though she is limited severely by the dizziness of the psychic wave, and strikes him with her battleaxe, using the force of the blow to pull her offhand into a stunning strike which limps his body only momentarily before he uses a legendary resistance to regain control of his nerves again. Jolvik begins to warp the room around the players, though in their mind only, to which Victalyassa instantly pukes from already being dizzy. However, she feels better immediately after. Embra, blinded in the back of the room pulls her rapier out and reaches out to the pilla by her, leaning up against it to try and gain her footing. She focuses herself, eventually being able to see the warping in the room and the location of her friends.
Everyone in the room sees as two tendrils enter the room from the back wall, one which goes into Jolvik's mind and seems to reinvigorate him. A few more tendrils come out from the walls, seemingly, and attempt to strike at each hero but miss all but Ish Ma'el, who couldn't gain his footing in time. He is struck in the gut before the tendrils all dissipate. The intensity of the wavering also ends and as each of the heroes blink their eyes, they find themselves in other locations.
Ish Ma'el opens his eyes and sees that he is in Ashara's body, he looks down at the Katana and up at Jolvik. He quickly runs up to strike Jolvik but cannot control the runed blade, it seems to fight him and he misses both swings wildly. Victalyassa opens her eyes and sees that she is now in Ish Ma'el body. Due to Ish Ma'els innate magic, she can feel the crackling energy in his hands and runs up to punch Jolvik. From hearing him say it over and over, she says "Bzzt!" as it connects but cannot control the energy. She experiences how slow and sober he is, how weak and small he is, and the attack barely connects, clearly not damaging Jolvik.
Jolvik laughs at the party's confusion and pulls back, raising his arm up slamming down a wave of psychic energy. He appears behind the party members close to him as a large thunderous boom slams out at them. The thunderous boom overwhelms Ashara, Ish Mael, and Victalyassa's bodies. Embra, inside Vic, exclaims "Fuck!" before looking down to see her form. She runs after Jolvik and gives him a couple punches NAT 20! and it connects with a vicious force as Embra is not used to Vic's speed. She makes another quick strike and is amazed as it strikes again and again. Jolvik wails in pain before moving out of the way. Ashara opens her eyes to see from Embra's point of view, she rotates the wrist of the hand holding her rapier. She grips the rapier with both hands as she would her Katana, ducking down to sneak as Embra would and whacks the back of Jolvik with a violent force as he backs up into her position.
The world wavers as Jolvik screams out and the world around the heroes dissolves into a starry field. They find themselves floating in an ethereal nothingness. Jolvik grabs at his head, and he bends down, pulling up with a roar of psychic energy again. Some of his wounds heal as the party's minds feel a cool washing effect. Embra shakes her head and .
Ashara, now returned to her own body like everyone else, finds herself floating in space. Ashara's Katana glows red with her rage rune as she finds her body bloodied. She can't move with her legs, so she releases her banshee wail and unleashes her Necrotic strike. She grabs onto Ish Ma'el and propels herself forward with the momentum. It sends Ish Ma'el flying back into the back wall as she swings into the wall on the far other side. Kicking off that wall, she aims herself toward the Final Fight statues floating in the center of the room and uses the momentum to grab the statues arm, swinging around and striking her blade into Jolvik for excessive necrotic damage. Ish Ma'el kicks off of his wall and flies toward a now severely damaged Jolvik, sending three magic missiles in front of him "Bang, Bang, Bang!".
The three bolts of energy strike Jolvik with enough force to end his life, releasing the psychic grasp over the heroes and returning them to the room. An enraged Mind Flayer looks on from his bubbled trap and bides his time to make his assault on the heroes. Victalyassa, Embra, and Ish Ma'el heal themselves with potions of healing in the time they have before the bubble inevitably pops, in 30 seconds. Ashara grabs Joviks body and flies him out of the room, bringing Yula over as well and telling her to do whatever she must while they handle the Mind Flayer. Ashara flies back to position and the heroes prepare themselves for battle; Ish Ma'el preparing another lightning bolt.
As the bubble subside, the mind flayer looks to the door where Jovic was taken and opens a portal to another dimension, flying through it before the bubble fully pops. Ish Ma'el pulls back on his lightning bolt, grabbing his hat and throwing it down. Ashara screams in rage but composes herself and explains that he didn't want to fight them after what he saw happen to Jolvik, she explains that if he escaped, they should conclude their business and leave. Ish Ma'el asks Ashara to destroy the statue, and she flies up and with her immense rage and strength, she grabs the floating statue and slams it down into the ground. The statue shatters and debris flies all around the room. Embra and vic both catch the leather bracers and feel the godly power of the items. They discuss the power with Ish Ma'el, Vic warning that she will need another Keg if this turns south, they hand them to Ish Ma'el.
Amidst the destruction of the statue, over the ground where the embodied fell before her, and while still holding onto her Necrotic shroud Ashara prays to Gavathrak. Ish Ma'el is the only one that witnesses Ashara bend down and pray, watching as Vic and Embra get a zoned appearance in their face, bodies relaxing unnaturally. From their perspective, they see the world around them change, a shift into night as the world darkens. A spot around Ashara holds a bit of light, hearing her muffle something but an intense strength overwhelms. From the corners of their eyes a massive shape appears as Ashara feels Gavathraks essence and face manifest. "Well done my child, you made me so very proud. Do you seek now a small boon?" says Gavathrak.
"Yes," says Ashara, "I have accomplished a feat beyond my wildest dreams. Something I have wanted for so long."
Ashara's guardian intervenes and says, "Are you sure?"
"Present yourself to me" he says again.
"You don't have to do this" says the guardian.
Time seems to stop for Ashara.
Gavathrak walks forward, loud footsteps boom with each step, he puts his skeletal hand under her chin and lifts her head up. Ashara can see an undead black dragon, HER undead black dragon from her past, she witnesses it breathe its final breath and collapse down into the ground. It collapses into a plume of black smoke which lifts and flies over Ashara's body
Victalyassa slams her rum down and goes on a rant. "If you expect me to ever go on a god adventure..." Embra also finishes her rum and gives chase to Vic.
Ish Ma'el grabs his stone book out of his bag and walks over to find the body of Jolvik with Yula over the top of him. After some light conversation, he tries to slam Yula with the stone book as she has just finished taking the heart out of Jolviks body. The swing hits her shoulder, and she bounces back to the wall. She quickly gets up, pulling her dagger and placing it to his neck, "what the fuck was that, you and I have no reason to fight. What is the meaning of this?"
"Give me the heart," says Ish Ma'el.
"I will leave here tonight with this, what is it to you?"
Ashara, left in the room to watch the entire act, she decides to walk by both of them. She walks to the far end of the hallway that the two of them are in, she walks into the silent room and closes the door behind him, closing the door behind her. Her intent to not betray Gavathrak by killing Yula, but not to save Ish Ma'el for his recent streak of evil deeds which has compromised her multiple times.
"Even your companions abandon you, stop this now"
"I don't trust you." Ish Ma'el misty steps to the far end of the hallway and quickens a lightning bolt, empowering it and sending it full power to Yula's back. She screams out in hot pain and reacts with a hellish rebuke that blasts Ish Ma'el out the door into the silent room. Ashara is knocked to the side as Ish Ma'el flies out and lands on his back with flames flickering across his body. Yula jumps out of the hallway on top of Ish Ma'els body, and she doesn't stop Yula as she stabs into his chest, gut, and finally eye, screaming in silence "THIS IS FOR KILLING MY FAMILY!"
Ish Ma'el lays in a pool of his own blood, his burning body, as Yula gets up, looks at Ashara, who still doesn't react, and then sprints out of the room. She runs down the long hall and up the stairs. She sprints past a walking Vic and Embra. Victalyassa spots the lightning scorch mark on her back and can tell that something very bad has happened as she is not followed. Vic looks to Embra and unspoken, Embra runs back down the stairs while Vic goes to catch Yula.
Ashara looks down and kneels by his body. He lays dying, still able to see Ashara with his good eye, hand to his own throat to staunch the bleeding, his other hand fumbling around to find his potion of healing. Ashara puts her hand on his chest and presses down to feel his still beating heart, seeing if he will pull through. Should he pull through, she would use her healing hands to bring him back and seal his wound. Should he die, he dies.
Victalyassa catches up to Yula at the door and grabs her, pulling her to the wall. "What have you done?" Yula doesn't answer but magic swirls around her as she stares at the door. Vic moves to slap her but misses as Yula snaps her head down and out of the way. Vic let her lapels go and lets Yula unlock the door and escape, wrestling with herself as she let Yula leave. Embra sprints down the stairs, exhausting all her will power to make it to Ish Ma'els side. Only seconds later, Ish Ma'els heart stops and with Embra to witness, Ashara casts her healing hands which heals his wounds, but cannot bring him back from the dead. Ish Ma'els blood pools into Ashara's hand indent in his chest, and he lies dead.
In another plane where the gods can commune with the mortals a voice whispers across the cosmos: "Ish Ma'el, I can bring you back to seek your revenge, for a price..."