Session 39

A Vow of Vengeance

Date: Wednesday, 18th of November, 2020
Attending Players: Ashara, Embra, Ish'Mael, Victalyassa
Time 3 Hours (Total: 123.25 Hours)

Game Time 14th of Sowmeadow, 6:00 AM
To
14th of Sowmeadow, 7:00 AM
Game Locations:
Watcher's Quarter of Orvadah

"Hello? Is anyone out there? I think our library is being robbed. Is anyone there? Someone get the guards please!"

The man slid down, taking a deep sigh as he took a moment. He hadn't heard anything for several minutes, but he knew it would be hours before anyone even came in. It was a great library, quite busy most days, but even still, it was a library, and few people came in that weren't on a single-minded mission.

"I need help!" he yelled aloud. He had hoped the running that had gone by a few minutes ago might have been a guard, but he recognized the feminine voices as some of the group that locked him in here to begin with. They had left now, but no one has since come in.

He knew he should be thankful. His life was spared, where this group of fiends could just as easily have killed him, but it was still a ruin of a day, and the sun had barely come up, if it was up at all. He wasn't actually sure how long he had been in the room.

"Worst of this I suppose is that it proves father right. There really is nothing good that comes of scrolls and books."

Ashara and Embra stood over the corpse of Ish Ma'el as Victalyassa runs down the stairs of the temple to get to her friends. Embra asks what happens but it is in silence. She grabs Ish Ma'els collar to pull him out of the silent room, she gets about 6 inches before Ashara grabs his feet and helps carry him out into the hallway closest to Victalyassa. "What happened Ashara?" she says as she begins to inspect his body.
"He's dead Embra."
"I left you alone for 2 seconds!" she exclaims.
"I'll tell you the story when Vic is here."
Victalyassa runs down the stairs and finds Ish Ma'els body. She is given some time to react. Ashara tells the story of what happened to Ish Ma'el and Kal confirms her story. Vic and Embra confront Ashara, but she holds her confidence that his death was his own. Vic finishes her bottle of rum and throws the bottle to the wall. Embra punches Ish's arm and sits there in the silence. Deep inside Ashara, however, she wrestles back tears and defends that Embra and Vic should never trust them, but they should respect her. Ashara takes the lead, suggesting one of them take his bag and the other take Kal.
Ashara's healing had been enough to stop his bleeding, sealing his wounds, and dousing the fire. Embra takes his bag and Vic takes Kal, securing it to her waist. Ashara takes Ish Ma'els hat and dons it on her own head before picking up his body in her non-sword arm and walking out of the temple. As they walk out, Ashara's guardian says: "Even the followers of Gavathrak have friends. I suspect even Yula. Careful that you don't burn the small bridges you have."
"I burn everything I touch Guardian."
A voice from the closet upstairs as they walk out the lobby says, "hello?, I have been locked in here for quite some time" it was the voice of the secretary man from the entrance. The party questions if they should let him out and Ashara coldly says no before leaving. Embra echoes that sentiment but with much more care before they leave.
Passersbys in the street give odd looks to Ashara as she carries Ish Ma'els dead body, assuming him to be a drunk friend being carried home from a bar. The party navigates to a small dark alley to drop his body and make the call to Drosko to explain what had happened and ask for guidance. Embra fishes the vocal stone orb out of Ish Ma'els bag, now lacking any heads or other disgusting things, and she makes the call. Ashara leans against the side of a wall and stares down at Ish Ma'el, "the fool" she whispers to herself.
"Ashara, Ish Ma'el, is that you, what in the bloody hell is going on?"
"It's Embra"
"Oh tell me they weren't arrested again?"
"No, worse. Ish Ma'el is dead."
"But you guys are a team? what happened?" Embra explains what she was told to Drosko.
"I can't hold his hand everywhere he goes!" she exclaims at the end.
"We shouldn't stand on ceremony over him for much longer, we should look to the future." says Ashara.
"You would like that wouldn't you?" says Victalyassa.
"I would."
"Well," begins Drosko, "you are in Orvadah, there may be a dark approach to bring him back if the holy approach of a cleric of Yurona or Tilvana was too much. On the black market, there is all manner of things that may be done."
"Well perhaps Bom will grant him back to us. He did complete a task for her recently. Why don't one of you just ask her politely?"
"I want nothing to do with your god stuff" says Victalyassa.
"I'll do it." says Embra, "It's worth a try."
"Then let us go to the nearest temple and you can do as much." Says Ashara.
"Well I know you guys have completed a task for Silisia. I can put the money you earned in a bank and you can take it out and use it as needed. When you are done, either with ish Ma'el or without, you should head to Benira at the behest of General Threev to determine if the King of Benira is under the control of the cult as he suspects." says Drosko. Victalyassa reminds the party about the task she found out about and Drosko ends the call after his guiding words, "if you need a day to mourn, do what you need to."
After the call ends, the party collects Ish Ma'el and asks Kal what he would like. He says he would like a new body or provide him with some way of transferring his sentience to a way he can have life once more. The party agrees that is a worthy cause and take him with them into the temple of the gods in Orvadah. Not only do they find a temple specifically dedicated to Bom, they find it is also a bar in the front. A tavern with a shrine to Bom would be more apt of a description.
The party enters the decadent dark lounge, a place where the barmaid comes to you and not the other way around. No one dances in this holy place but many men lie drunk on the floor. On the far end of the wall is a large shrine, larger than many other the party has seen before. Victalyassa navigates herself to get some drink while Ashara and Embra carry Ish Ma'el to the foot of the shrine. The shrine itself has one hand closed and another to be statue version of narcotics which are being offered to those that come to Bom. Empty bottles and drunk men lie around the base. Ashara places him down as a nearby drunk says, "I've been where your buddy is."
"Not yet," says Ashara. A pull of supernatural force is felt by Embra and Ashara, the presence of the god at the shrine. Ashara decides to stand back and away, still feeling the presence of Bom but not wanting to take the attention away from Embra; she wants to stand resolute against this enemy but understands there is a time and place for such actions.
Embra walks up to the statue and says "Oh great one, please bring our friend back. He is a true follower of yours and is in your need" After a tie of quiet, a wavering effect in the air radiates out of the statue, overcoming Embra and even Ashara, yet they hold strong against the feeling. For a moment, they feel the desire to seek out pleasure, for Ashara, to pull out her sword and cut down her enemies, and for Embra to engage in something naughty.
"And what makes you think that Bom and Ish Ma'el would want that" says a voice in Embra's ear; Bom.
"Well he worshiped you and loved you," replies Embra.
"And what does he offer me?"
Embra lists off some fickle things that Ish Ma'el owns before the voice says: "well, let's ask him ourselves."
Far off, Ish Ma'el finds himself completely submerged. He opens his eyes to see an infinite pool of blue around him as bubbles fly upward. He panics and swims in the direction of the bubble, but the water begins to feel thicker and tendrils rise up around him, tendrils of ink. They wrap around him, and he hears the sound of teeth echoing in the distance. Beneath him, a shark with a massive mouth chomping over and over is coming for him. The mouth opens wide, the eye on the edge looks familiar and a familiar blue eye can be seen over the teeth. Before the teeth grab him, he is pulled up out of the water by vines and in front of him, on a coral throne, is the manifestation of Bom. She is lounged back comfortably, examining a gilded mask in her hand.
"Why Ish Ma'el, you seem to have failed quite miserably at the task I asked you to complete." she says.
Ish Ma'el attempts to bow. "A momentary setback to be sure. I was not expecting Gavathraks minion to survive the blast from my lightning."
"I couldn't quite see everything happening, my brothers embodied made it difficult to examine the area. Did you manage to get the bracers at least?" He nods.
"I also witnessed the Gavathrakian agent, Yula, taking the embodied heart. Not to mention the absolute betrayal as Ashara watched me die in agony."
"I was curious as to why youre companion did not bring you back? But you failed to give me the show I asked. TO FIGHT CAPTAIN VAK AND NOT DIE LIKE THE MISERABLE CUR THAT YOU ARE! But I am nothing but fair, do you desire to still kill Captain Vak?"
"It is my sole reason! I would pay any price and do anything to do so, 1000 times I would."
"A wonderful answer Ish Ma'el. There are many ways for the mortal soul to return. A lot of Dark magic and Powerful magic, I can feel you struggle to get back to your body. I can give you that push you need, to put your soul back into your body. If I do this for you, it will only be for a little while. Would you like this?"
"I'll take the chance to complete my vendetta rather than sit in this failure."
"You have 6 months to slay the three things which have caused you such pain. You must kill the one that took your past, Vak, and kill the one that took your present, Yula, and the one that took your presence, the darkness within. That final one will be for you to figure out. If you don't complete these three tasks in the next 4 months, your body will take everything I would LOVE to do to it."
The room quivers as she says the final bit before she reminds him the details. The vines are brought closer as he is contemplating the decision. "If you stay dead now, you will have to guess the fate yourself here in my afterlife. But if you complete these tasks for me, your body will dissolve as the task is complete and you will be brought to me for punishment or the rest you so desperately need. You have until the 14th of Withertree and it is all or none. Choose."
Ish Ma'el tries to find any work around that he could, but Bom cuts down every attempt that he has. "I will take your offer but if I do it in half the time I want to be fully resurrected."
"No."
"Then I'll take the deal!"
"Well," she begins, she takes up the gilded mask with a spike where his left eye should be, "may you be ever the revanant." She stabs the mask into his face and his body burns as it is brought away from her beach.
Embra stands in silence as she awaits a response from Bom. Soon, Ish Ma'el awakes screaming from his burns and his missing left eye. Many expletives come from his mouth as Embra lets out a smile and runs to his side. Ashara takes off his hat and walks over to Ish Ma'el angrily. "You killed me, you bitch!" he yells as he sees her.
Ashara and him go back and forth about the specifics of his death, and she throws his hat back at him. Victalyassa runs to the shrine while he is trying to explain his new task. "I would like Kal back." he says finally after taking account of all his belongings.
After Victalyassa hands Kal back to Ish Ma'el, he puts him back on his belt and stands up. "So you're undead?"
"I will try to explain this, Bom in her infinite grace has brought me back to kill the three individuals I mentioned."
Ashara reaches her hand out to help Ish Ma'el up after they go back and forth again about betrayal and owning one another. Begrudgingly, he grabs her hand and accepts her help getting up. Ish Ma'el explains that Captain Vak is a notorious pirate which has threatened the land for a while, and he offers these riches to Vic and Embra. Vak is also favored by Bom and wants an epic battle between the two of them and Ashara, in her anger at Ish Ma'el, is happy to have them have at it soon.
Vic notices that as they were making a scene, the bar had been cleared out. Ashara explains that they should heal themselves and prepare for battle, but they do not heed her warning. The party decides to get a drink but Ashara looks around. Before they all move on, three otherworldly beings appear in the bar and tell the party to hand over the divine artifacts from the temple. Ish Ma'el jokingly explains he is not in a good mood and wants to wait until later. The beings explain they are representatives of the guardians and recognize the heroes as pawns in the games of the Embodied.
Ashara stands between the party and the guardians with her Katana drawn. "We worked hard to retrieve these, and we will not be handing them over."
"Yeah, no thank you!" says Embra more politely.
"Then if it is your decision, we will leave you and tell you that you meddle in affairs beyond your comprehension." They step back into the shadows and fad out.
Ish ma'el turns and asks what the group knows about guardians and Ashara explains them in the way Gavathrak explained them to her: dark beings that seek to destroy mortals and destroy the Embodied.