Session 41
My Maker or Meet Your Maker
Date: Wednesday, 8th of December, 2020
Attending Players: Ashara, Embra, Ish'Mael, Victalyassa
Time 3.5 Hours (Total: 131.5 Hours)
Game Time 15th of Sowmeadow, 9:00 AM
To
15th of Sowmeadow, 11:00 AM
Game Locations:
Watcher's Quarters, Greater Ward, and "Hers", of Orvadah
Attending Players: Ashara, Embra, Ish'Mael, Victalyassa
Time 3.5 Hours (Total: 131.5 Hours)
Game Time 15th of Sowmeadow, 9:00 AM
To
15th of Sowmeadow, 11:00 AM
Game Locations:
Watcher's Quarters, Greater Ward, and "Hers", of Orvadah
Darleene slowly regained consciousness as the world around her took form from a dull haze to her familiar room. Her head thrummed from the back and her eyes pulsed from the inner pain. As she shifted to sit up, her right palm suddenly pricked in pain, a light metallic tingle sounding as she pulled her hand up.15th of Sowmeadow, 9 am. A bit of a chill still lingers in the air around the Viper House, inside is a nice toasty and warm feeling; murder does that to a party. No alarms are risen, yet. Ashara had left the party to get upstairs with Darlene, hoping to find some war, not peace, now that her blade run moist from the blood of the priest. "We have to get out of here, we can't just keep killing people," said Embra in a hushed whisper to Vic. "We killed their top steed!" "Let's get out of here then," says Vic, "Ashara knows the risks and can handle herself." "You're right, let's jump out a window." Embra says in a manner that indicates she isn't joking. Not that it took much convincing for Victalyassa, she sees a stuck window nearby in the hallway, and she slowly hovers to the ground, using her slow fall. Forgetting she was still on the first floor, she was only about 3 feet off the ground when she activated her Ki to stop her from hitting the ground with force. Embra runs and jumps out the window as well, activating a smoke bomb as she does. Ish Ma'el stares in awe at the event. He walks out into the main lobby area, seeing Ashara talk to Darlene at the top of the stairs. He walks out the front door. "Right this way," says Darlene, putting out her hand for Ashara to grasp. Ashara grasps it hard, looking forward to blowing off steam. This does not make Darlene flinch, instead she grips hard, and they head to find Darlene's room. Ish Ma'el meets up with Embra and Vic in the alleyway as they are brushing glass off their clothes. "Now you've been seen leaving the crime scene Ish," says Vic. "This isn't a crime scene, that was a legal assassination. Another cultist is out of the run and all we have to worry about now is the cultist reprisal... and an angry god," retorts Ish Ma'el. "Also, hopefully Ashara doesn't use her sword to penetrate that woman (add it to the Pun Counter!). "Well if Ashara is getting her rump on, we should get our RUM on!" says Embra and Vic in near unison as they leave for the nearest bar. Ashara and Darlene stand in the room alone, Darlene looking for details about what is going down where Ashara is not looking to talk. Darlene is caught off guard as Ashara rushes forward and tackles her to the ground. Darlene goes to throw her legs around Ashara and pull her back, but Ashara is used to this kind of thing. Ashara grabs her legs, flipping Darlene up and throwing her above her head. Darlene tries to grab Ashara's head to drop her to the floor, but Ashara throws her down to the ground, making a massive THUMP on the floor that knocks Darlene out. Ashara gets on her knees and verifies she still has a pulse before depositing a blow dart from her nearby pouch into Darlene's hand as payment. She kisses her hand, getting up and clothing herself before walking into the hallway and exiting the brothel. Vic, Ish Ma'el, and Embra find themselves in a bar called The Crooked Gator. Vic is starting the morning strong, getting "Lazy Hawk Whiskey's from the bar. A smooth earthy tone, lacking the burn expected of most whiskeys in Orvadah. Ashara arrives shortly after to hear Ish Ma'el speaking doom and gloom for his new position. Ashara readies the party to leave after declaring her victory and Ish searches through his pocket trying to remember the sky port. He pulls out a small slip of paper and declares that they need to go to the Watchers Quarters where a sky port can be found, and they can secure the passage given to him from the Prince of Orvadah. The party leaves the bar and heads out, an easy journey from point to point. Passing through the dark alleys of Orvadah, they are greeted by the gothic towers of the sky port. Several sky ships, running off various elemental engines can be seen. They walk up the significant number of stairs to where the ships are being set up. Arriving at the top, a watched gateway where a gentleman catches their eye waves them over. A small gnome with large glasses asks: "are you hear for travel or cargo?" "There should be a small skiff here for Ish Ma'el, we are a bit behind schedule" says Ish Ma'el. The gnome gets a small form out and says, "well yes, you are a whole DAY behind. But it says here that we have the ship, the "Skypaw," to be provided to you with no crew. It is small so if you have any sailing knowledge, it should be easy to pilot." He looks over all 4 of the party members and gives a shrug before leaving to find the dock. He comes back with a younger human male. "Young Thomas here will take you to the dock, you have a one-month dock hold. If you come back after that date, you will have to pay a docking fee. The prince has covered all expenses up to that point for you." He hands documents to Ish Ma'el who swiftly places them in his bag and walks away. Young Thomas excitedly walks with the party, talking about how much he would love to fly on a ship like theirs. Ish Ma'el quickly gives him double his monthly wage, 2 marks, and tells him that he works for him now. Thomas goes to tell his previous employers but Ashara stops him, saying he owes nobody anything and to start his new life now. Eventually the party arrives at the small air cog, the "Skypaw." Thomas excitedly tells that he has never been on one of the ships but explains that it used to be a small cargo ship that can land nearly anywhere large enough but is nearly unusable in a battle. Stepping aboard, Ish Ma'el takes command, being back at the helm of his own ship, sending the party to check out the deck while Thomas goes with him to see if it is "Air Worthy." Ashara rolls her eyes at Ish Ma'el before walking off to a nearby southern door, she opens it up and walks inside to witness two people in the back of their cabin. Ashara yells out for the party, seemingly annoyed that there are stowaways that need to be cleared out. They get up from the benches they are sitting on near the massive back window and look toward Ish Ma'el and Ashara. "Looks like you are trying to leave Orvadah Ish Ma'el without seeing the Tzarina Mother," says one of the thugs. "Can you remind me what you mean, I was dead..." says Ish Ma'el. The rest of the party roll their eyes as they arrive in the back of the ship. "Oh, the crime lord right?" "She is the unrecognized queen of Orvadah. And you need to meet with her at Dimkar Theater in the District "Hers" before you leave the city," says the other thug. "Are these men bullying you Ish Ma'el?" says Ashara gripping the hilt of her Katana. "No, no. It is all part of the plan. We will have Thomas here ready our provisions while we go address this woman" he says. The two thugs had already left while the two of them were talking. Vic sighs at the prospect of having to work with them, saying "so now we work with crime lords and NOW Ashara doesn't kill people." "The option is open Vic, let us see this one through." "Maybe they can help us with the cultists," says Embra. "As long as they aren't working with them..." ends Ashara walking off to go explore the rest of the ship; the party does the same. Ashara moves into the captain room while everyone else goes below deck to look at the storage and crew rooms. Ish Ma'el comes up and argues for the room, but Ashara assures him that any debt she has to him was settled when she took his body to Baums statue instead of leaving him to the worms in the temple. Ish Ma'el steps out of the room and the party meet in the central top deck. Embra takes the room with two beds and throws one of the beds out, claiming the room for herself. Vic takes the two beds in her room and puts them together, claiming she'll need them for her size. Thomas is instructed to go tell his family he is leaving and is interrupted by a non-caring Ish Ma'el when he tries to explain his personal family situation. Embra gives Thomas 2 marks and tells him he works for her, and he can now leave. "Well I tricked you to give him that money," says Ish Ma'el. Embra rolls her eyes, and they shift the conversation to mother. "Let's just make it civil, a quick in and out," says Embra. "Right, but when it doesn't work that way, just be prepared to fight our way out," says Ashara, "a woman sends thugs, she tends to use them." "I want to send something to my family," says Vic, "while everyone is getting set up I am going to go to the courier I noticed on the sky port to do so." When she arrives she is asked if she wants to pay 2 pips for standard shipping or 5 marks for the express. She remarks on how much that would be for Thomas but notes that it is relatively nothing for her. She pays for the express and sends another 10 High Marks, totaling 65 High Marks that she has sent since the adventure started (the other send off being what she had Drosko send when they were in Valtaska the second time). She also asks if the postal gentleman, a young Tinix creature with 4 arms (normal to their species), about the Mother. "I assume you mean business with her? Probably on behalf of the horned one you walk with contemplating how she will kill everyone?" says the Tinix. "Well I don't know her personally, but she is quite bloodthirsty with a soft spot. A nurturing type, earning her name. If I was you, and you have to interact with her, I would tread carefully... but..." The Tinix's feathers ruffle as it shutters, releasing a calming aura about him which is noted by Vic. "Just be careful and get out of that world as soon as you can. I'll get this letter to your family." Vic tosses the Tinix another Mark and leaves with the rest of the party to Dimkar Theater. During the travel, Vic explains Mother's nature to the party: "So the Tinix there stated that she is cut-throat gang leader BUT with a soft spot. We can use that nurturing side to our advantage when things start to look south." "Are you suggesting we hold up an orphanage?" asks Ish Ma'el. "No, she wants you to suck on her nipple." says Ashara, jokingly but with a serious face. "No, no,... gods, no!" says Vic, "just play soft and innocent Ish Ma'el if things start looking bad." She pulls out her rum and takes a swig, hoping it's not their last as they approach "Hers." The sun begins to reach the center of the sky as the party arrives at Dimkar Theater, hearing the music being played inside, sounding oddly like a ballroom party. The inside of the theater is dimly lit with candles, but it is disorientingly dark inside. One individual, a formal thug, walks up to the party at they enter the building. He ushers them to the back stairs, telling them they can go themselves; so they do. When they arrive up the stairs, a woman ushers them into a curtained balcony. As the curtain opens, they are greeted by the Mother. Ish Ma'el takes off his hat and stands behind her, seated at the edge of the balcony overlooking the theater, as introductions are made. "It has come to my understanding you are working for the High Crown. You are hunting a cult?" she begins. Ish Ma'el explains that they have killed a few of their Sayers already, and that they are quite talented at the job. Mother leans forward, looking out into the theater, "Have you come across the Sayer Siena?" she says. The party explains how she got away during that fight, talking horrible things about her. "Well that is my daughter," says Mother. Ashara sighs and begins to stretch. "Wait, so what you want us to save her from the cult I hope?" asks Vic. "Luckily for you," begins Mother, "I do. If you can save her from the snake oil salesmen that are the cultists, then you will be lucratively paid: 500 High Marks. If she is brought back dead, then you will be joining her unless you bring her back in a manner that can be resurrected, then you will gain 100 High Marks for the job." "Well if we bring her back alive," says Vic, "can you take care of the cultists here in the city?" "I have already been and it seems you have snuffed out the rest. Do we have a deal?" "No, no deals." states Ashara. "If we do, we do, but I will make no promises that will result in getting hunted down after we kill her." "We will do our best." says Embra, "is what Ashara here means." "You know how Gavathrak followers are" says Ish Ma'el, "can you provide us with a means to keep her alive such as a poison or other, I assume she is a mortal?" He takes a moment to visually ascertain her state of being and finds: "Yes," says Mother, "she is a mortal. She would succumb to sleeping droughts as anyone else would. Please unharmed if you can. So we have an arrangement then?" Ashara argues against making the deal but Vic tries to carry her out, seemingly the rest of the party believes this to be for the better. Ashara's guardian says to her: "I wonder if Seina ran to the cult to escape this "mother". Which is worse? Death or a life under this one." Ashara smiles, knowing that she fully intends to kill Sienna herself. As Ashara is pulled out and down the stairs, the Mother threatens Embra and Ish Ma'el that if Sienna dies by Ashara's hand, she will hunt down the rest of the party. She shoos them away and Embra struggles with the idea of Ashara being threatened. She felt that it was "bitchy" for her to say such a thing to her with the idea being that the party is helping them out, so threatening them is just bad business. The party head out of the theater together. When they have cleared some distance, Ashara explains what her guardian said to her about bringing Sienna to her mother and that she will be killing Sienna when the opportunity arises, saying, "Her god pulled her out of my grasp before, that will not happen again. We do not need more information or care what this woman wants, you're fools if you try to stop me." They walk the rest of the way in silence and arrive at the ship, seeing Thomas excitedly waiting for their return. He reports for duty to Embra and an annoyed Ish Ma'el walks by. The ship can go about 124 miles per day if non-stop, Benira is 250 miles away; assuming a competent pilot, they should be able to make it in 2-3 days. The ship leaves the dock as Ish Ma'el takes the helm, he spends the first few hours explaining his callouts to the rest of the party in the event of emergency. The ship is equipped with tubes that can reach into each room specifically or give an all call. Ashara goes into her cabin and rests on the bed, trying to tune out the drab speak that comes from the tube, probably filled with nonsense anyways, she thinks. She spends the day looking into the great axe, trailing the runes across it with her fingers for a good hour, knowing that she is on the edge of cracking the knowledge behind the rune. The small bits she doesn't know could be the difference between adding it to her power base or destroying her weapon completely. Exhausted, she takes a step back and goes to meet with Victalyassa. Victalyassa had been outside on the deck, looking down immersed in all the moving things as this is her first time ever flying. She spits off the ship to watch is as far as she can, but enjoying the wind in her hair, relaxing. Ashara approaches Vic and asks her about their status. Vic and Ashara explain how this is their first time, how Ashara hates the forests that are below, and how Ashara no longer feels any light feelings or happy thought after the temple experience with Gavathrak. She assures Vic that she will probably do something bad, but that she has respect enough for Vic, though it may not be returned, that she hopes it isn't held against her. Ashara then walks off and goes to the nearby mounted ballista to learn how to control them should they come into battle. Embra meets with Ish Ma'el to ask about his undeath and what this means for him; she then asks's him about Tortluga and why it mattered so much to him. She had only remembered that it led to the burning of three bars and an Embodied temple. He explains that "it was supposed to be a simple job to transport some tortlugans. We went to meet the contact in the bar and it turns out a false lead was planted by the individual we were supposed to kidnap. One thing led to another and it felt like we burned half the city. The fighting spread throughout the entire city and it ended with me saving Ashara from plummeting to her death. I thought that it would be returned as I lie bleeding out on that temple, but instead she watched me flop around like a flounder." "Yet you still work with her?" she says. "She has her redeeming qualities," he says as he stares off into the distance of the screens ahead of him, single-eyed. Embra and Ish Ma'el can watch as sand begins to fall on the deck of the ship. Ish Ma'el calls for BATTLESTATIONS as Embra runs into Ashara's cabin. Ashara and Victalyassa see the yellow-tinted clouds as sand begins to fall on the deck. The sand gets in Vic's eyes, and she begins to scream in terror as the world turns dark. Ashara, distracted by the sand falling down as she looks over the side of the ship, doesn't respond quicker than Embra who runs out to pour water over her eyes from her flask. Vic is crawling away and making it difficult for Embra to help but Ashara runs over, grabbing Vic with her Healing Hands and helping Embra get the sand out of her eyes. Fifteen minutes later, the sandstorm fades's away. Ashara goes into the command cabin and works with Ish Ma'el to mark the location on the map where the sand storm was. Here, with real life stepping in, the session ends.
"Bom's daughters, what happened?" She reached down and grabbed the needle, her hazy memory trying to connect it to what happened before she passed out.
She recalled the strange woman who paid for her services, then realizing only as they stripped down that she meant to engage in the fringe Dol'Yapi Wrestling. It was a bit of a blur, but she recalled starting poorly and then failing to gain any ground against the deceptively strong woman.
After a few moments, she shook herself up, grabbed her clothes and touched herself up once more, trying to compose herself as much as possible. While she had a few hours before she was officially on call, she had to look presentable while in the house, because she was technically always available while there.
Finishing up her makeup, she turned toward the door and stepped out. The familiar murmur of the building greeted her, as the few individuals in the lobby chatted with the lunch crowd. Lunch was always the best, the patrons usually just sought and ear to listen or someone beautiful to talk them up for their afternoon duties. Since Darleene wasn't needed there though, she decided to see how her friend was doing.
The woman that knocked Darleene out had visited with The Geomancer before coming up. Four to one would have been quite unfair, but he could handle them she was sure. Turning down the stairs, took in the warm scent of the kitchens mixing with the chilled damp scent from outside. When she rounded the corner to the hallway that led to The Geomancer, she caught herself a moment at the unusual sign of the hall window being open. Tsking whatever girl had opened it, she walked up to it and closed it, stopping the damp breeze from moving in.
"Honey, may I come in?" Darleene knocked on the door. No answer. She took a step back and looked over the door frame. She read the small aura that hovered above the door. Red for a client, yellow for out, and green for available. The aura was green.
"Dugak? You asleep hon?" Darleene opened the door. The dim room was illuminated only by a few candles, obscuring the bed from where she was, but she saw no lump where he would have been. "You in here?"
She shrugged and stepped in. He probably just stepped to the dunghall or the kitchens. He wouldn't mind if she-
The massive dark form laid on its side in the middle of the ground. Darleene knew immediatly what had happened. The dark stain in the back, the slick pool congealed around his body. She knew.
"No, no, no, no, no! Dugak! Dugak! Please, by Their Seats and the Laws, don't be true!"
Her tears were already on the ground as she fell to her knees at his side. She grabbed his massive form, lifting him up to her with little effort, curling his peaceful, rigid form to her. "Dugak...Dugak..."
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