Session 2 - 21st of Lowsun, 987 AGW

General Summary

Journey to Waypoint

Welcome back, brother of the Light! Were you able to find the Eyebright... Oh... What happened? Walter!? Get a cot prepared with clean sheets!

Back at the Temple to Lyrana - Goddess of Light, Orin preserves Fitz's body and offers her condolences. Being a priestess of a small temple in a small town, she is unable to perform something as rare or magically taxing as a resurrection. Instead, she offers suggestions to the party. They may have more luck in a larger city, such as Ardstead two days to the North. She warns them however that even if they find someone capable, it will likely cost them a great deal, either monetarily or in favors. Another option would be speaking with the mysterious priestesses at the Sanctum of the Departed, Temple to Iona - Goddess of Death, for although their ways are strange and often misunderstood it is thought that they may some power over life and death.
That night the party rests in the temple before paying a visit to the mayor to seek help in their journey to bring back their friend. Although Tybalt was ordered to assist the mayor, Elyse is very grateful to the group for having rescued and returned the missing boy, Dorian. She gives them a letter containing her seal for them to present upon arrival to Ardstead (if Waypoint doesn't work out), in the hopes that being in good graces with the daughter of the Duke will grant them some political pull. They are also granted use of a carriage in order to transport Fitz's body.
Affairs in order, the party sets out on the road north towards Waypoint. They pass a few patrolling guards but are not questioned. It is nightfall by the time they arrive.

An Afterlife Lesson

Fitz wakes up in the Blessed Fields of Elysium, surrounded by wildflowers and brilliantly colored blue butterflies. He hears a voice behind him and turns to see his old master hovering over a rock in meditation, eyes closed. Faezys is an elderly gold Dragonborn, and she found Fitz during his urchin days and showed him a new path. Before she died she told Fitz to find and protect Violla.

You remember what I told you, yes? You cannot protect her... if you are dead! You MUST be more careful Fitz. Do not be so quick to throw your life away. Violla is important, yes... but you have worth too! There is no cowardice in a strategic retreat! The wise monk lets the enemy think they are backing off... defeated... allows them to become distracted... then comes back with few quick well-placed jabs right where they are weakest!

After giving him a lecture for joining her in the afterlife far too soon, she teaches him the lesson she was never able to give before her death: the Way of the Sun Soul.

Now... prepare yourself... for your LAST lesson! You and your new friends have a light inside. A light that might make all the difference someday. I will teach you how to harness yours in the style of the monk. I will teach you the discipline of the Sun Soul.

Faezys and her apprentice spar for quite some time, as Fitz begins to master the ability to dodge in and out of a melee and attack from a safe distance.

Sanctum of the Departed

Welcome to this Sanctum of the Departed. Do you require funereal or counseling services? Perhaps a lingering spirit that needs help convincing to move on?

The party is unsettled at the way the priestesses here, all with milk-white eyes, seem to see right into them. Blind, having given up their normal vision to open up a second Sight, they are able to see into the "in between," a realm between the material plane and those beyond. They can see souls, both living and departed, including those souls that have refused to move on. Souls of the living are but a dim glow, while the dead shimmer brightly in a kaleidoscope of colors without the shield of a material body to contain them.
Violla remains silent, still at a loss for words at the death of her friend, so Tybalt and Verian answer the priestess who greeted them by showing her Fitz's body and asking if there is anything they can do for him.

I am very sorry. We cannot give his soul a voice. It has already departed for the beyond. Perhaps it would be prudent to begin planning a ceremony for his passing. We offer a variety of services to accommodate different cultures and customs. Would you like to see our selection of caskets, pyre woods, and oils, or incense?

Bringing souls back is not within their power. It would upset the balance between life and death, so is against the teachings of their Goddess. Instead, she offers a possible means for contacting Iona, though unsure whether She will even help or what She would ask for in return.
In small, single doses of the same Draught which opened their second Sight, the party could separate from their material selves for a time and be able to see and speak with Spirits - perhaps even the Goddess Iona herself if they are under the effects of the Draught of Living Death while witnessing an instant of death. One of the benefits of their second Sight is the ability to sense impending deaths, and Iona personally Reaps every willing and worthy soul.

Do not be tempted to alter the course of events. The Goddess would not be pleased.

Everyone in the party decides to take the Draught, their bodies remaining safe behind in the temple as they "soul walk" through the in-between towards an impending death.

Resurrection of Fitz

The death occurs in the alley between apartment rooms, temporary housing for the more wealthy traveling merchants in Waypoint. Four leather garbed men with masks over their eyes are arguing about a failed robbery, blaming each other. Their dim soul lights flicker an angry red, and a shadow begins to loom over the scene in the in-between. As the argument escalates, one of the men runs through another with a sword. They all scatter, leaving the body behind.
As the light of the body flickers out like a candle, the shadow coalesces into an elderly woman's form hunched over a walking stick. She holds out a hand towards the body as the light of the man's soul escapes the body and reforms before the woman. Eye's wide with a wistful smile, he puts his hand in hers.

Grandma? Is it time to go home now?

She smiles and pulls him close, as if to embrace him, before noticing the party. Namely, Violla and her shimmering wings that seem to sprout now from her free soul. The Goddess cocks her head to the side with a smile, as she hugs the soul while it breaks into tiny sparkles of light that float up and away. She then approaches each party member in turn, appearing as a loved one from their past or present.
To Tybalt she reforms into the shape of his Dragonborn father, dressed in military uniform with his Field Marshall ranking displayed:

You... you have seen much death, son. You will see much more before the end. But if you have the courage to face it, perhaps I won't see you or your friends again for many years.

To Verian, in the form of his mentor, who is wearing plate armor, a shield on one arm displaying Lyrana's sun, moon and stars. The pack on his back is weighed down with books, scrolls, shovels, and other archaeological dig gear:

Do not stray from your goal, my student. The path is long, but will not be in vain. And you cannot travel it alone.

To Violla, whom she seems to have saved for last despite it being her who caught the Goddesses attentions, she reforms into the shape of the mysterious guide from her dreams.

And you... you don't even know what you are, do you? But it is not my place to tell you. Understanding will blossom with time.

Cryptic messages given, the group explain their purpose for seeking her out. She agrees to resurrect Fitz on one condition - one of them must become beholden to completing an unknown task for her in the future in order to maintain the balance. Violla, still stunned at Iona's words, seems at a loss for words and doesn't respond. Tybalt steps forward and agrees to take on the burden. With a nod, the Goddess of Death fades away as her final words appear to float on the air: "It is done."
Following the silver cords to their bodies, the party make their way back to the temple and awake to find Fitz gasping his first breath of air since the night before...

Report Date

03 Mar 2019

Primary Location

Waypoint

Experience

None.

Items Gained

Scroll of introduction addressed to Duke Rys Thawe, sealed with the Thawe seal. (Tybalt)

Coin Earned

None.

Related Quest

Beholden to Iona