Act III: The Olden Days and the Next Generation
Scene v: The Grandmaster Election
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Present Party: Athena, Nytra, and Sylyeras.
Setting: The city of Jarna, capital of the kingdom of Saspar.
In the morning, after Eldath had come to Sylyeras in a dream, he asked Athena for help cutting his hair. Although the new haircut confused Harry for a moment, since his mind was still unwell and his perceptions of what was real weren't great, Sylyeras managed to calm him. They showed him some of the hair that had been cut. Harry kept it with him and played with it, twisting it in his fingers. Athena offered to braid it for him to keep, which he accepted. He seemed very happy with this.
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| Harry Human, Death Cleric of Bhaal Lieutenant of The Dusk, Leader of the Bloodied (Art by AnnaHelme on DeviantArt) |
From Athena's Commune, in answer to those two questions, Kelemvor replied that yes, Kycius was alive, and that Harry knew Thea would have to be kept alive if he left.
Lastly, Athena had been told by Kelemvor that he would be seeing her soon during her last Commune. This time, she asked, "Will I see you within the month?"
Kelemvor replied, "Certainly, but you need not be afraid."
With this information, it was decided that the longer Harry stayed with the party, the more danger he was in. The Dusk were here, they knew about Harry's past with Syl, they knew Syl was here, and Harry had already been speaking to them with Sending to try and cover his tracks.
Sylyeras had met one person who'd escaped The Dusk when he was traveling in Midtia with Venus and Boris. He was tiefling named Eros, and nowadays he was an adventurer who owned a bar in Midtia called "Three of a Kind." He contacted him with Sending, and found out that he was actually in Jarna on a supply run. They made plans to meet up at a secure location, but Athena went instead, in case The Dusk were looking for Syl and so Syl could stay with Harry.
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| Eros Tiefling, Assassin Former member of The Dusk (Art by Yvonne Chung on Art Station) |
Athena explained that they had someone from The Dusk with them who wanted out, and she wanted to know how he'd done it.
He claimed that he'd run as far and as fast as he could, but that wasn't all. "True Polymorph. I knew that they'd be able to find me if they saw me. I met someone powerful, and she pitied me. So she turned me into a tiefling. I used to be a dragonborn."
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| Hephaestus Tiefling, Life Cleric of Lathandar (Art made by me, using Heroforge) |
"If you're traveling with Finn Lihtaur, like Sylyeras is, then he could get you to her. It was his old adventuring friend, Helena Cassius."
They also asked if he could come and take a look at the injuries he'd sustained. They needed to know how he'd gotten them. Athena brought up who it was they were trying to help, and Eros's whole attitude changed.
Now, he was suddenly yelling, claiming that Harry had been an absolute psychopath. He'd hurt so many people, and if they found him, they couldn't trust him.
Athena explained that Harry and Sylyeras had grown up together. Syl had managed to pull Harry out of his brainwashing. She brought up the fact that Harry could hear whistling.
Eros softened. "He... He hears the whistles?"
"Yes. What is that? Do you know?"
"It's... how they'd control us. We learned to respond to certain signals from whistles, like dogs. It's... part of their brainwashing process. They hurt him like they hurt us..."
Even after coming to this realization, Eros still didn't feel comfortable seeing Harry. It had been so long; he wanted to distance himself from The Dusk as much as possible. He didn't want to be found out.
Athena asked Eros about Kycius and Thea. Eros didn't know Thea, but he'd heard of Kycius. He was also a member of The Dusk, but he went missing a little less than five years ago now. Eros recalled looking for him and fighting him once, but never again. He'd never been recaptured. All he knew was that he'd gone on a mission, never came back, and last he'd heard, The Dusk had found him kidnapping clerics.
"Clerics?" Athena checked. "Of what faith?"
"I'm not sure," Eros sighed. "But I know Kycius is a hell of a poisoner too. Nothing like Aloth, but he knows his way around some of the deadliest stuff in the world."
Athena, armed with this information, returned to Sylyeras and Harry to explain what she'd found. True Polymorph was looking like a possibility, but Harry didn't want that. He needed to make sure Thea would recognize him, for whatever reason. Harry attempted to Scry on Kycius, and was successful. Not only that, he learned where he was. He claimed Kycius was in Zenika, the island nation to the southeast, and that he would need a boat. Sylyeras wanted to take him, but Harry insisted that he shouldn't. It was too dangerous for them to be associated with each other right now.
Sylyeras, frustrated, stormed out of the room. Harry joined him a little later. Both of them wanted what they wanted out of love for the other. They found a kind of compromise, where Sylyeras's ship would take Harry to Zenika, and Harry had to keep up with Sylyeras as best as he could.
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| Symbol of Bhaal Lord of Murder (Credited to Wizards of the Coast) |
"For the record," Harry added, "I... didn't leave you and join a cult. I was technically in it when you knew me, I just didn't know it yet. It was... not long after you told me you loved Ariel, I went out by myself. I was upset. Jealous - my jealousy is my worst characteristic, I think... Anyway, I saw this guy who was in a fight with this girl and she was screaming for help, so I went over and I killed the guy. She ran away, and I took all this guy's stuff... including a symbol. And I didn't know what it meant, I just thought I'd sell it. Then, I met Bhaal for the first time, and he told me I could be important. He told me that I didn't need you or her or anyone, and I was so angry and heartbroken that I believed him." He shrugged. "I was seventeen. I didn't know anything about what I was getting into."
"What else did you do? Where does Thea come into this?"
Harry looked at his hands, and then shook his head. He looked afraid, ashamed. Tears welled up in his eyes. "I can't... I just can't. Not to you, not now that I've just gotten you back..."
~~~~~
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| Pharius Veladorn Drow, War Mage Wizard Odette's father and Candidate for Grandmaster (Art by Shinyno on Tumblr) |
Pharius arrived for dinner, as the party had discussed before. His girlfriend Minnie was with him this time, and seemed cheerful as ever. Athena was particularly surprised by this, knowing that she'd just recently learned Athena's daughter, Odette, was also Pharius's daughter.
They wanted to teach Pharius new spells, considering he was a wizard and could learn new ones to use in his fight. Nytra also made him a scroll of Heat Metal. Scrolls were allowed in the tournament; the only rule was that no participant could kill their opponent. This spell would be particularly useful in Pharius's first match, given that he was up against an artificer. Athena and Sylyeras also taught Pharius a few spells, including the all-important Sending. With cultists around, it would be important for them to know he was safe.
Curious to see Pharius's strength and with Pharius eager to train, Sylyeras offered a sparring match. While the two of them were actually pretty fairly matched, Pharius did manage to win, and Athena made sure both of them got healed up.
That night, Sylyeras received another dream from Eldath, where she spoke to him in a poem. (The poem is actually already up! Click here!)
Additionally, knowing that Harry would likely be leaving soon, Nytra left a gift for him and Sylyeras outside their door. It was a sack of coins with a note, insisting that they use it however they needed to, even for more supplies for Greater Restoration.
On the note, there was a second message in small print: "Say hi to Cthulhu for me."
Outside of game, the players learned that Nytra had overheard Sylyeras talking to Finn about being possessed. What would she do with this information? That's still yet to be seen.
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ART LINKS:
https://www.deviantart.com/annahelme/art/Rikko-858753094
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/rR0BE2
https://shinyno.tumblr.com/post/168555192674/commission-for-stelera-of-their-dd-oc-cropped
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