Tombs of Scoria: Episode 80

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== Synopsis ==
Tyrael and Imrik enter Velthara's Pseudoplane of Air and are met with a maelstrom of acid rain. They survive, but the Boots of Springing and Striding, Amulet of Recall, and Bracers of Shocking Grasp are destroyed in the process. As Tyreal and Imrik are pulled through the rift, they experience visions of past and future. Anton has a crisis of faith. Tyrael, Imrik, and Anton finally reunite and return home, but it appears a significant amount of time has passed in their absence. 
==Recap==
===Surviving Velthara's Pseudoplane of Air===
Standing before the entrance to Velthara’s Pseudoplane of Air, Tyrael McGary activates the planar manipulator. With a blink, flash and loud bang, Tyrael, Imrik, and Imprik (the Imp) arrive in the Pseudoplane of Velthara. The Brothers are nearly thrown apart on arrival, but Tyrael manages to hold on to Imrik and Imprik barely manages to cling on to Imrik. They arrive in a horrific maelstrom of acid rain.
Off in the distance, the Brothers can see a bright orange light, but are violently thrown around by the winds.
Imrik, Tyrael and Imprik vs Acid rain
* Imrik and Imprik save and suffer 4 damage from the acid rain. Tyrael fails to save and suffers 8. Tyrael’s Boots of Springing and Striding are caught directly within the acid rain, and are destroyed in the storm. 
* Imrik switches to the Ring of Spellstoring as the Brothers shout and struggle to hang onto each other in the whipping winds. 
* Tyrael and Imrpik save. Imrik fails to save. The Amulet of Recall is destroyed in the acid rain. 
* Imrik polymorphs into a pegasus. Tyrael uses the magic rope to bind the two of them. Tyrael manages to jockey into a stable riding position. Imprik continues to suffer from the acid rain. 
* Imrik continues to struggle against the maelstrom’s winds and fails to align with the rift. Imprik fails to save.
* Tyrael fails to save, but the Girdle of Giant Strength survives. Tyrael shelters Imprik within the bag of holding. 
* Tyrael and Imrik save. Imrik continues to be buffeted by the acid maelstrom and is unable align himself with the rift. 
* Tyrael and Imrik fail to save. The Bracers of Shocking Grasp are destroyed in the acid rain. Imrik is finally able to right himself and aligns with the centrifugal force of the maelstrom. 
* Tyrael and Imrik save. Tyrael activates the planar manipulator and they travel through the rift.
== Visions in the Rift ==
Within the rift, Tyrael and Imrik find themselves in a space between where no laws of physics or reality apply, and each begin re-experiencing past memories, not unlike the reliving of memories the dead go through as they pass into the afterlife. 
=== Memories of Childhood ===
Imrik remembers being a young child at wizard school. Anton would come to the school and make up some excuse that Imrik had to leave. The two of them would hang out walking through the streets of the city. Tyrael remembers being around bazaars and black markets in the trade of foreign goods as he learned the ways of the rogue from his uncle. Tyrael would steal masks he and Anton could wear, so that Anton could play without feeling outcast. Tyrael and Imrik begin experiencing a time they felt safe and together as three brothers. Imrik remembers his father fondly, listening to his tales from the front. 
Tyrael and Imrik then begin experiencing moments that defined who Anton was to then. Imrik remembers struggling in wizard school and being bullied for it. Anton would show up and scare off and beat up anyone giving Imrik a hard time: to Imrik, Anton was a defender, a protector. Tyrael remembers Anton as a strange loner, a “mouse talker” who would keep to himself and talk to rats and other animals. 
=== The Early Days ===
Tyrael and Imrik fall further into the rift. They begin seeing the early days of their quest, charged with the mission to save the kingdom from Scoria. Tyrael sees the first few missions they want on in their carriage. He remembers fondly those days they were finally on their own, building their family name without being under the thumb and derision of Drekis’s nobility. 
Imrik, still a drunkard at the time, was happy to finally have a greater purpose. While his memories are hazy, he remembers feeling fondly towards those early days, like a summer as a 19 year old, where he cannot remember much, but knows he had a good time. 
=== Becoming Dragonslayers ===
Tyrael then remembers the dinner heist. He remembers their heist with pride: using items they gained with their own efforts to steal magical items from other nobles without being caught. Imrik remembers charming an architect's daughter to learn the location of a tomb, but grave robbing mundane wedding rings beforehand from the wrong graveyard. Imrik felt the first pangs of responsibility, feeling the need to take charge of the morality of the brothers. 
Tyrael remembers going through Azoron’s lair and slaying Azoron. The Brothers proved their might and were finally known to the world and hailed as dragonslayers. Tyrael then regrets going to Roxsis. There, Anton found the Amulet of Velthara. Tyrael wonders if things would have been different had Anton never found the Amulet. Imrik remembers triple critically striking a black dragon in a swamp, slaying it nearly single-handily. He was no longer just Imrik the wizard, but Imrik the warrior. Formerly a screwup, Imrik finally felt he was finally a force to be reckoned with on the level of his brothers, and perhaps one that would become unstoppable given more time. 
Over time, Tyrael came to regard Anton as a capable warrior, but still relatively innocent, still much of the same mouse talker Anton used to be as a boy. Imrik came to see Anton as a hard faced fighter who needed some saving at first, but that Anton slowly turned into something else entirely as his connection to Velthara grew. 
=== Visions of Betrayal ===
Tyrael is overcome with the vision of betrayal he saw in Glacia, where the Queen moved to have Tyrael brought to the royal baths and stripped and killed after slaying Scoria. Imrik is overcome with the feeling that people like The Queen and Arc Sombar are not nearly the people he once regarded them as being, with The Queen and Arc Sombar not having his best interests at heart. Imrik realizes that he defended them because of how strongly Anton came out against them, but now, with Anton gone, he realizes Anton had more of a point than he initially thought. Ostensibly, the Brothers were kept out of major decisions regarding the war so as to keep them as a secret weapon for later, but the Brothers wonder how they are truly viewed by the generals of Drekis and The Queen. 
Tyrael, at first happy to have been given the mission to slay Scoria, eventually turned to paranoia and fear. Tyrael realizes his feelings regarding the nobility of Drekis are now that of contempt. They are not even schemers or plotters, just inept and silly. Tyrael feels a level of disgust for himself, where he jumped like a dog at the opportunity to scout Mistryan movements on the eastern shore of Bon' Theris. The mission was such a cakewalk for him, and done within less than a day, that he realizes he tried so hard to impress people who were so far beneath him. The Brothers have traveled more planes than potentially any living human in existence; slayed the Firewyrm on its native plane; slayed dragons; befriended dragons; made deals with dragons; and even tossed coins at an invading red dragon and told it to “fuck off” which it did. 
Tyrael remembers how insulting it once was that they were given flowers symbolizing their cowardice by those girls, and by contrast, it was effortless to marry The Queen’s daughter, become King of Mistrya- that all these things are simply there for the taking, the Brothers need only reach out and seize it. Not once have they been stopped by the maliciousness of others, only their own ineptitude or lack of ambition. 
Imrik realizes that possibly because of Anton’s antisocial tendencies, Anton was more easily able to see through The Queen. Imrik feels that The Queen is only at her position by circumstance of her birth and not because of any talent or ability. Tyrael also begins to regard Anton as being inspirational, someone who reached out and grabbed power: Anton found a deity, became one of the most powerful clerics in the land, and is now setting up an multi-continental cult. 
=== Visions of Power ===
Imrik feels a commitment to slaying Scoria once they return. He sees how devastating a cost the vanity project of Xorathis exacted from the Brothers. He remains unsure of what he will do in the future. Perhaps he could be Tyrael’s archwizard. 
Tyrael views Scoria as representing something very positive for the McGarys. In the chaos she introduced, the McGarys were able to go on a meteoric rise in power and connections. Tyrael reasons that the moment before Scoria dies will be the greatest amount of leverage the McGarys will ever have over Arcadia, thus, it is incumbent upon him to secure his family’s future before the deed is done. Tyrael is committed to being a hands-on leader of Mistrya. He resolves to personally put down rebellions with great speed and with his own hands. As the future King of Mistrya, Tyrael is willing to grant mercy to anyone who will stand down as Drekis makes the final push, and will bury anyone else who opposed him after the fact. 
Tyrael realizes that with Shine and his two Brothers, no one, not even The Queen is capable of exerting any authority over him, which cannot be the case if The Queen is to be Empress. It cannot be by his goodwill alone that Vuularia Wikk is Empress, and Drekis cannot allow King Alex Guilder to be simply replaced by a magically endowed warrior king with another dragon at his back. At this point, with civil war seeming inevitable should Scoria fall, Tyrael realizes how little he cares for Imrik and Anton beyond their ability to enforce his rule (though he does place tremendous trust in their hands to do so); the kingdom; and even the McGary name; he cares only for himself. 
Imrik fears for an uncertain future and wants to see Scoria fall quickly. Tyrael wants to take his time before the final push. 
=== Anton Alone ===
Anton finds himself alone in nothingness. He sustains himself with magical sustenance. He can still feel his connection to Velthara but she does not reach out. Anton feels abandoned. He feels it would be nothing for Velthara to save him, and that she does not, is abandonment. 
Anton recalls first choosing Velthara so that he could take vengeance on his father for burning and disfiguring him. Anton realizes that he has been given tremendous power, and that he has done comparatively little to enact vengeance in return. Anton thinks about things to live for: his brothers, killing the clerics in the capital for slighting him, and so on. Anton decides he will hold on for 100 days before ending it all.
Anton is overcome with guilt, how he had to let Tennes go once Tennes had outlived his usefulness, feeling now he is little more than the Tennes of Velthara. Antron realizes that family has been what is most important to him, and he regrets wanting to kill his father. He remembers how proud their father was of them as dragonslayers. He realizes he chose the wrong deity, but he could not have known his error in hindsight. Anton begins praying to Nerual. 
Anton contemplates throwing away the Amulet of Velthara, but decides not to. Over the course of 40-50 servings of shortribs, Anton manages to hold onto his spear, knowing it is the tool he needs to help his brothers slay Scoria. 
==Three Brothers ==
 
Tyrael and Imrik arrive through the rift. Anton begins weeping and sobbing as the Brothers reunite. Anton tells his brothers that Velthara wants him to leave Arcadia and his family forever once Scoria is slain. Tyrael activates the planar manipulator and the Brothers awaken somewhere in the mountains of Bravo. 
Imrik, fearing potential time dilation, uses the Crystal Ball and scries on the teleportation room in their home in Wikkthronrarenta. The room appears dusty, and filled with cobwebs. Imrik is unable to scry outside the home. Concerned that much time has passed in their absence, Tyrael drinks a Potion of Clairvoyance and scrys on the market of Wikkthonrarenta. He sees huddled masses crowded into a tent city, in what was once the bustling market. Drekis flags still fly.
Imrik teleports the Brothers back home and they arrive 10 feet higher than intended, but are otherwise unscathed. Anton attempts to use the Amulet of Velthara to detect Scoria. 
Category:Tombs of Scoria Episodes