Session 55

Realization of New Strengths

Date: Wednesday, 9 June, 2021
Attending Players: Ashara, Embra, Ish'Mael, Victalyassa
Time 3.25 Hours (Total: 182 Hours)

Game Time 21st of Sowmeadow, 6:00 PM
To
21st of Sowmeadow, 6:00 PM
Game Locations:
Southwest of Valtaska in an airship.

Kiddrasaldo checked the altimeter again as he gazed out at the sandstorm blowing in from the west. There had been a couple now in this flight, and more of them have been blowing through the peninsula over the last few months. He rarely flew to the western edge of the country, but the desert must have gotten much worse recently. The Expanding Wastes clearly doing as their namesake implies.

The Wind-Reader shifted suddenly, the ship giving the light bounce of turbulence as the air rocked. Kiddrasaldo had it under control, it didn't even register as a concern to him. The passenger dressed as a sky-buccaneer, the worst looking of the group, wandered toward the front. Inwardly, Kiddrasaldo cringed at the thought of conversation, he loved flying, he did not love passengers. These private charters were the best because the passengers didn't talk to him.

The man raised a hand, and with a twirl of his finger and the snap of his fingers, the Wind-Reader suddenly snapped forward once more. The storm in the distance didn't appear to change direction, but the local weather was not in their favor.

"Impr...err...hmm," Kiddrasaldo started to speak but let the words fall off. He glanced at the man, who didn't even seem to acknowledge there was anyone else at the helm. All the better for Kiddralsdo.

The semi-elf woman walked up to his other side, making his fur tingle with agitation, but she seemed to be looking to talk to her companion. He looked down and pretended to busy himself by checking the instruments he knew were all running normal.

"I love the view from the sky, but I'm sure you've seen it a million times by now Ish Ma'el," Kiddrasaldo sighed with relief internally as the woman spoke to the man. He let his gaze fall dead ahead again, and sank back into his own inner peace, letting them ignore him as he ignored them.

Aboard the vessel from Nolo Vook, Ish Ma'el tells Victalyassa and Embra that they have to search the queen. "I am trying to not be an undead monster about this..." he says.
"You are exactly the opposite," replies Embra.
"Also, we can't say our names around her until we take care of her ears." says Vic.
"Perfect. Bind, gag, and deafen her." he replies. They talk over what top do about her for a while.
"You know, I could always end her suffering." states Ashara.
"No!" says the rest of the party in near unison.
"She may have information, pillow talk?" retorts Ish Ma'el.
Ashara sharpens her blade and shrugs. The party look around the ship as it takes off from the dock. It's near midnight and the weather is cold, though it warms ever slightly as the engines power the ship away from Enderfaso. They are bound for Valtaska together, and Ish Ma'el, as the now defunct pilot, is the only one somewhat aware of the actual amount of time it would take to make the journey; about 2 days by his reckoning.
Victalyassa goes off to find some liquor, but Ish Ma'el stops her and suggests the party takes turn watching over the queen. Vic and Embra take turns blaming Ish Ma'el for the kidnapping, while he spends time explaining that the money value for the queen could buy them anything they want. "I like dirty money," says Embra, "but this stinks of shit."
Ish Ma'el resigns that he will take a meditative rest and minimize his time sleeping to make sure that he has the most time watching her. Vic and Embra compromise that they will let her "not die" but not to expect much more. Ashara continues to add that she can hang the queen over the side, so she can defecate, but offers no real other solutions... or care, likely.
The party finds an area to find some well-deserved rest. Victalyassa angles two of the large chairs on the inner deck where they stand together to make a bed for herself and then brings a lot of the alcohol to make a perfect location built just for her. She begins drinking, more than she had in a long time, possibly even getting drunk. Ish Ma'el finishes restraining the queen and finds a nice recliner nearby for himself to tip his hat down. Embra moves to a nearby location to Victalyassa's bench and finds herself a nice chair to recline in.
Ashara moves to the back table where Kivini is already sleeping and plants her Katana in the floorboard ahead of her, still gripping the hilt. She stares at Kivini, thinking about how badly she wants to follow her desires, but decides some well deserved rest should exist for her too. She barely blinks before she wakes the next morning.
As everyone is waking up, Ish Ma'el chooses to wait before bringing up anyone to watch the queen other than himself. Kivini pops his snot bubble, waking him up in the hard wooden chair. "That was an oddly comfortable sleep," he says to Ashara, "better than the prison mats, for sure."
Ashara glares at him. "Enjoy it while it lasts," she says, menacingly, "the chair I mean, we'll only be on the ship for a few days." Her tone changed drastically for the final statement, but she quickly gets up and walks away without another word. Kivini shrugs and walks off to where the breakfast has been laid out.
Embra also goes to the breakfast, which they have titled "Intercontinental breakfast" to the dismay of the pilot. She notices that Kivini is racking up several plates of food. "So how is our escapee," she says to him, "other than hungry?"
"Just great!" he exclaims, "I went from field rations to prison rations and now this. You know, I have no idea why I was imprisoned to be honest. They just kept me there and kept saying they would kill my brother if I try to escape."
Ashara watches from a nearby pillar, hiding in plain sight she imagined, but something about his story didn't make sense. He is holding back some information, but by the way he holds himself, it appears more that he doesn't know if he trusts the party yet, despite breaking him out.
"Well," begins Embra, "keep comfy and keep out of prison!" She tips her coffee just a bit at him and walks over to her seat by Victalyassa.
Victalyassa is in a stupor, a single bottle of liquor balances dangerously close to her mouth, swaying in the wind of the airship, nearly slipping into her mouth. She stays asleep as Ashara glances over. Ashara heads over to make herself some food, finding herself to be more paranoid than normal and only grabbing enough that the poison wouldn't kill her.
The queen wakes up, breathing into the bag over her head that Ish Ma'el lovingly put over her head. She is bind, bound, blindfolded, ears stuffed, and a bag over her head. She shifts slightly in her chair and then begins to struggle. Ish Ma'el uses the Message cantrip to speak to her, banking that he can get to her. He points at her and whispers: "Remain calm, you are captured and en route to Valtaska to see the High King. Nod if you understand me."
Initially, the queen jumps in her chair and then nods her head when the Message finishes.
"You are under guard, will be given food and permitted to use the restroom, snap your fingers to indicate that you need to do so." She does.
"Snap once for food, twice for water, and three times for the bathroom." She snaps three times.
He explains that he will lead her to the bathroom shortly, warning her that she will be killed if she tries anything. He then leaves to find the restroom after she nods her head. "The queen needs the restroom, I am escorting her there now, be alert," he says to the party lounging nearby. He cuffs her arm and leads her downstairs to the lower level bathroom. He leads her to the toilet, and it takes her a while to use the restroom, seeming to contemplate some type of escape but ultimately deciding it isn't the time. She is brought back to the chair and tied up once again.
Ish Ma'el approaches Embra and pulls the king's lockbox out of his bag. "I found this in the kings chambers, I want to know what is in it. I will give it to you, if you THREE watch her for me to sleep." He makes sure to include that the group should watch her so Ashara isn't left alone with her.
"I'll give it a go," says Embra, tingling her fingers back and forth and staring at the box, looking for ways to solve the puzzle in her head. Ish Ma'el leaves almost immediately, looking for a spot to "pass out" as he does.
Embra puts her lock picks into the keyhole and pops the box open before Ish Ma'el even hits his deep rest cycle. She takes some time to look inside the box before sharing with the group its contents. "Oooh, an unusual magic gem, I should sell that," she says bluntly.
This is enough to perk up both Victalyassa and Ish Ma'el. "Ugh..." he groans, "I imagine it fits in this." He brandishes the magical wand which he found long ago. "It may for a fee," says Embra, holding the gem in a pincer grip and smiling as though she actually knows.
"Damn," he says, seeing that it seems to fit perfectly into the slot. He begrudgingly offers her 5 High Marks for the Sky Topaz, as it is determined to be. She barters for more, gaining 10 from him.
Embra looks deeper into the box, finding two spell scrolls. She also rifles through two potions and a small ring, but she is entranced by the scrolls and choose to learn more about them. She ultimately decides to throw one of the scrolls, discovering them to be 2 Scrolls of Augury, to Ashara, which bumps her bluntly. "Be careful, Embra," she says coldly. Embra hardly notices, staring at the ring and planting it on her finger, learning it to be a Ring of Lesser Spell Storing. She then lifts the two potions up and sees they are Potions of Heroism, pocketing them both.
Victalyassa gives Embra a look and then realizes that Ashara got a gift, but she did not. She makes several remarks about it before Embra gives her one of the Potions of Heroism. Vic realizes that her complaints were a bit much and passes a fancy bottle of wine to Embra as a trade. Ish Ma'el steps off to the side and casts a Lightning Bolt spell into the Sky Topaz before finally, actually, resting.
Ashara finds time during the day to step to Victalyassa, who is drinking and lounging about. She harasses Vic for training, asking if she knows anything about the conversation Ashara and Embra had the day prior, but finding out that Embra hadn't talked about it. Vic demonstrates running as Ashara says she wants to be faster, but ultimately Ashara cheats, using magic to enhance herself. She then enhances Victalyassa and shows her the power of Ashara's magics.
Ashara then goads Vic into a fight, shoving her and finally pulling out her Katana, threatening to cut her. Vic concedes as Ashara throws her weapon into the air, lodging it into the wood of the ships shell. She strikes at vic twice, but Vic redirects her strikes against the wall. Ashara plays dirty again with magic, chaining Vic down and finally being able to strike her. Vic strikes into Ashara with a ferocity that magically radiates out of her fist, coming down on Ashara like a comet. The magic damage cuts into her deep, more than physically, but spiritually. Other than the fact that her guardian actually responds and says how much she felt the pain too, Ashara notices that Victalyassa cheated.
Victalyassa met her on a magical level and to Ashara, that was playing dirty, though she had done the exact same several times. She exclaims that Victalyassa had cheated and played dirt, but more than that: "You ARE dirty, stupid, and weak. I see you writing letters off to the side and know that you are sending them off to the people which make you a dirty, weak fool."
Victalyassa defends that her family is what makes her strong, and that she has a duty to protect and fight for them. Ashara explains that the opposite is more true, Ashara has the burden of not having anyone and that is what makes her stronger than everyone. Vic makes mention that the party has become Ashara's family, and that burden only exists in Ashara's mind because she wants it to. Ashara thinks over what was said to her, having never considering it before. She insults Victalyassa more, hoping to keep Vic off-guard, so the subject is dropped. They share a few more words before Ashara walks away, moving to the helm of the ship. Victalyassa grunts as Ashara walks away, but she drops the feeling quickly, instead replacing anger for a bit of sadness. Ultimately, Vic begins to think she understands why Ashara is such... an evil person.
The pilot notices that the ship is getting into rough weather, observing that there is sand this far east. He makes some remarks to Ashara, but she utterly rejects his attempts. Ish Ma'el hears the sand beating on the window and gets up to grab himself a spot of tea. He walks up to the window and makes a hand gesture to the window, activating his new Storm Guide ability that pulls and pushes at the wind all around the ship, having it encircle the ship instead of touching it directly. The sand spins around in a bubble around the ship as Ish Ma'el concentrates.
Ashara runs over to the window in awe, but sees that it is Ish Ma'els doing and rolls her eyes in disgust. She, once again, turns to find a better place to be alone, finding that sitting by the Queen would be the one person that can't possibly turn to talk to her or gain magic powers. She takes time to pray in her head. She reaches out to her Guardian and tells her not to intervene as she prays to Gavathrak, cutting the guardian off before it can speak. She prays to Gavathrak for guidance, asking what she should do with her "prey so close," she wonders why she feels so torn between doing and not doing.
Victalyassa also heard the pattering on the window, before Ish Ma'el scattered it, and she walks to a nearby window where Kivini is to observe. "Impressive friends you have," he says, "though the sands are definitely a bad omen." She explains that events like this oddly often happen enough to where she no longer fears the ominous nature of it.
Vic lifts Kal's head to the window, so he can also see out before turning him to explain their current events. Kivini looks on intrigued, though cautious. He tries to study Kal with his eyes, up and down, but attempts to not make it awkward. "What, you want to make out with him?" says Vic, bluntly, as she can see what he is doing.
While sitting at dinner later, Victalyassa explains that she found a letter that she wanted to share. It includes information about a person named Okri, possibly a shape-shifter or person that is communicating with the King in another form, and the movement of forces. The more important part was that it mentioned releasing Al-shiva, something that the forces of the North, likely the Valtaskan forces, would be able to destroy. "This is probably not something that we want to be released," she ends with.
"That's the name of the horrifying creature we bumped into in hell," says Embra, "I remember the name bouncing around in my head as we spotted it." The party sits in silence and finish their food, thinking over what they had learned before initiating only small talk as they each found a spot to sleep.
Some time the next day, Embra approaches the helm where Ish Ma'el sits looking for more weather anomalies. She makes a quick remark about being well-travelled, and he takes the bait. He asks if she travelled much, and she explains the good times she had before the adventure party. Ish Ma'el explains that he was in the military when young, hoping to hunt Captain Vak. Embra asks if he treated his troops like he treated the Bobs. He explains that the bobs and his crew were treated fairly, and he had no control over Cetus, the destroyer, killing his crew, though he did bring them there. "They know what they signed up for," he states, solemnly.
Embra expresses some empathy and asks if he travelled much, but Ish Ma'el explains that he is just truly always running. Running to and from revenge constantly. All in all, it brought him to death, and now he runs from undeath, with a way to kill Yula, Vak, and the "Darkness within." Finally, he wants to find a way out of Baum's plan for his death, knowing he will need to do the first three before trying for the last. Ish Ma'el is morose and lamenting on his lot in life. He desires freedom, but if feels he is constantly bound to the wheel. "Well, we may not run with you all the way there, with you being decaying around for the next 6 months. That can really weigh down on someone...
"In 6 months, if you are still alive, we can all take a vacation to Emska, sipping wine on the beach, which you can finally taste." He sits in the idea that she presented, before he begins to talk about cooked Sea Turtles and other decadent things he can't wait to experience. Embra suggests that everyone can come, even Drosko, before she turns and walks back into the ship.
Valtaska sits on the horizon, though they move ever slowly towards it. The party enjoys their personal time, relaxing, but Ashara spends time working. She places the dragon tooth, her two large eggs, and the kings' copper scale mail armor in front of her and begin drawing what she wants the armor to be scaled down to make it fit her style and proficiencies. Embra walks over and looks down at the drawing, expecting to see stick figures or other simple shapes, but instead she sees a work of art that nearly mimics reality in quality.
A large explosion rips into the back of the ship as it nearly reaches the Valtaskan border. The sudden destruction, shake and crack of the wood around each of them send the party into a frenzy. Smoke fills the area and effects are quickly gathered as the shi begins to descend to its inevitable rough landing.