Ashra Shrugged

==Season Ten, Season Finale==
Preceded by: Season Ten, Episode Ten: Sirius Business
Followed by: Season Eleven
This party's story continues in Season Twelve, Nemesis of Tomorrow.
==Summary==
::Sending to Ethan Dragonslayer: Mutiny, got suspended, then probation till I'm not crazy. Started acting like my brother. I want a hug. And a pony. A live pony?
: The party fits in some more shopping before they're ready to go. Leilah sells the Pelorite heavy mace and buys luckstones for everyone in the party. Aether gets a loan from Cicero to buy a Spider Cloak so she can fulfill her dream of acceptance to the cult of a spider goddess. Ashra picks up a handy haversack, and Eleven gets his recovery mode. The party picks up some sarasin leaves to use as knockout poison if necessary.
: Aether finds her cult of the spider goddess and undergoes the initiation. They put her against a statue and have her bitten by poisonous spiders, but their venom feels only warm and welcoming to her. She embraces her new religion and decides to look for a giant spider egg to raise herself a mount.
: Kruglor and Aether will need papers. Aether forges her own, while Kruglor goes to the Goneril embassy to get copies of his papers which are updated to show his age. The man at the front refuses to let Kruglor into the embassy without papers, however. Not even to get his papers. Kruglor reaches into his pocket: "What's this? Oh, it's not papers." He throws his die across the room.
: He disappears and reappears in a familiar world of glass. He sees a giant roulette wheel spin before him then stop on red two. Behind him Boccob tells him to spin the wheel. He does so, and when he is returned to the embassy, his potions have become potions of Heal.
: He gets his papers without much of a fuss, as Goneril doesn't really care when he was born. He waves them at the first official as he leaves.
: After much deliberation, purchasing, and planning, the party is ready for the final approach. Avimeus is easily welcomed aboard with Aether on his arm. Leilah boards without a fuss as well. Kruglor's papers amuse the guard a bit as they list his age as "OLD", but he gets aboard as well. Cicero runs into a problem, however: he is dressed as a young woman and has papers as such, but his ticket is in Tyro's name. They refuse to let "her" aboard without Tyro. Avimeus comes back and uses his first class status to grab Cicero as another of his bitches; Eleven follows as her luggage.
: Once the party is inside, they go to Leilah's balcony room and open the window. Cicero prestidigitates Eleven shiny and he stands outside to draw Ashra's attention. Ashra reads the scroll of polymorph, turns into a sparrow, and starts flying towards Eleven. A guard sees her but writes her off as a bird; however, an old dwarf with a musket yells "Pull!" Aether quickly distracts him so that Ashra can fly into the room without getting shot. Aether learns that the dwarf is a cleric of Pelor from Malagassy going down to see his cousin. She gets his room number, 107.
: The party regroups in one of the hotel rooms to plan their next move. Aether checks for bugs at Ashra's request; Ashra searches for anything interesting left in the room and finds nothing. She does find an extra consciousness in the room, however; it is gruff, uneducated, tough and masculine.
: Aether, Cicero, and Avimeus decide to go up and gamble a bit to get their bearings. Kruglor and Eleven follow as bodyguards. Leilah follows on her own, and Ashra stays behind to hide.
: The casino floor has Futurium stifling magic, but magic is permitted on the stage. Wobo, a Tobo tribute act, is playing. Cicero's disguise is hosed by the magic suppression, so Aether buys some makeup and other accessories at the ship's store, then fixes up Cicero with a mundane cute girl disguise back at the hotel room. Leilah sits down to drink, look around, and try to guess where the suppression fields are centered. She can't figure it out, though.
: The large group, together again after Cicero's transformation, sees a group of half-giants who Avi identifies as bodyguards. They also spot Coriander Highrun sipping vodka at a table. Avi walks over and introduces himself. Coriander is glad to see him, or at least willing to pretend to be so, and invites him to dinner the next day with the captain and a new chair of inspectors. Avimeus also manages to get a tour of the ship promised for the next morning.
: Coriander leaves them with the tip that a nearby table is hot. Avimeus decides to play Double Dragon Ante against the man at that table. He is drunk, rich, and not very smart, so with some deck-stacking help from Aether, Avi eventually cleans up.
: Meanwhile, Ashra sits in the hotel room alone working on the Comentarii puzzle. She senses that the consciousness has returned and checks the room with the mirror. The same redheaded man who she saw on her scry in Malagassy is standing in the corner. She puts away the book and the mirror, then stares at the corner and tells him she sees what he did there.
: He takes off his invisibility cloak and asks what Ashra is doing there. She returns the question; neither answers. He asks if she is the same illithid who passed through Nyasa's Reach, and she says yes; he asks if she is the famous illithid from the North who is not with Grax, and she says yes. He tells her his daughter has great faith in her. She asks if she knows his daughter, and he replies that he should think so. He then asks how Leilah is holding up.
: As she answers that Leilah is a bit stressed with the state of affairs but will pull through, she realizes who she's talking to. Ashra adds that she has great faith in his daughter as well. He asks if Ashra knows about bubble prisons; when she replies yes, he tells her there are some about 250 miles north of Port Nyasa. When the Sirius passes by, it will displace enough water to allow a prisoner to swim free. He tells her to tell Leilah to be careful, then tells her that Leilah should be on the deck at midnight facing starboard. She'll know where to stand, he says. Then he tells her not to tell anyone he was there, and disappears.
: When the party regroups in the evening, Ashra passes this information on to Leilah, though she does not say who told her. Leilah goes alone at 11:45.
: A neogi spelljammer lands on the airship landing pad at midnight. A group of humanoids carrying a palanquin passes into the ship. Their heads are tattooed with the modified Cuthbert symbol Leilah dreamed about long ago, but with three dots each in the top and bottom of the cross, and the order reversed. Leilah waits for them to pass and then follows quietly.
: They pass in front of the room where the party is staying; Ashra asks Eleven and Kruglor to create a distraction, then makes herself invisible. The two argue for a moment about who will distract who where, then Eleven barrels through the door and knocks the cart away from the thralls carrying it. It breaks open and out bursts a neogi. He is very small compared to the others the party has seen. Kruglor immediately makes the excuse that Eleven is malfunctioning; Eleven obediently spasms on the ground. The neogi attempts to buy Eleven for an insultingly small amount of bombs; Kruglor is tempted until Eleven gets up, seizes him, and runs down the hall away with him. Ashra tails the neogi down the hall, as does Leilah. Ashra looks at the minds and sees that the bearers are thralls and the neogi has a maddeningly plural consciousness like that of the Scarlet Brotherhood.
: Leilah makes noise by accident, and a bugbear blocks her path and sends her back to her room. Ashra waits for the bugbear to step aside and then slips by and down the hall, but by that time the bearers have gone either left or right and she cannot tell which. She guesses left and follows the hall to the locked engine room, then heads back. On the way, she hears two sailors coming and recasts invisibility with the rod of silence. As they pass her by, one sailor asks the other if the "zero space accommodations" will hold because the "bubble" is getting large. The other reassures him that it will hold. Ashra realizes this likely refers to some manner of extradimensional storage; instability is likely because it is temporary (like a rope trick) or perhaps suffering divine interference.
: Ashra goes down the other corridor and sees that it leads to the kitchen. She then returns and reports back.
: Leilah goes down to the public holy scrying pool, which is deserted so late at night. She scries on the neogi, defeats his attempt to scry back, and sees him in a lavish hotel room eating raw meat. He has three Masks of Destiny on the table: Moradin, Olidamarra, and Yondalla, as well as a pimp hand covered in rings around his neck.
: The party decides to buff Aether up so she can sneak after the neogi. Leilah and Ashra donate a few spells to her, and Ashra sets up to scry on her in a mirror Cicero was carrying so that the party can follow along.
: Aether sneaks out and checks around for secret doors. When she gets closer to where Ashra followed the neogi, she hears the clicking sound of an umber hulk speaking. Since Leilah gave her a cast of Tongues, she understands that it is expressing worries about stability. She would have to open the door to get nearer to it.
: Another umber hulk emerges, and she follows. She watches two sailors use a double key system to gain entrance to engineering. The umber hulk goes in. On a table in the center is a large paper thin trapdoor filled with glowing orange light. The umber hulk goes away, and Aether goes in.
: The running woman from the mountain appears and punches Aether hard, nearly knocking her out. She looks up at the scry and asks for help. Ashra Dimension Doors herself, Leilah, and Cicero into the room, then shouts "We're with Hannibal!"
: This does not have the desired effect. The woman easily knocks Aether unconscious and goes for Leilah; failing that, she runs off and Dimension Doors away.
: Leilah wants to leave; Ashra wants to investigate the trapdoor further. Leilah heals Aether, and Ashra identifies the trapdoor as a dimensional portal. It looks the same in the mirror. Aether, now awake, also really wants to head back to the room; Ashra wants a few more minutes.
: Then a large umber hulk rises out of the port. Ashra tries to charm it and it easily ignores the psionics; the others want to leave, but Ashra insists on staying. She says that she alone can stay while the others DDoor back; from what she's heard of umber hulks they should be an easy challenge for her.
: The others are beginning to voice their objections when the umber hulk sends Ashra to the ground unconscious with three powerful swipes of its claws. Her timerage is unable to protect her, and she begins to bleed out. Leilah creates a fire seed and passes it on to Aether, but warns her not to throw it yet because the splash damage would kill Ashra. Cicero grabs Ashra, sinking a blow from the umber hulk, and drags her to safety before Aether throws it. Leilah looks over at the bleeding Ashra and casts Virtue, waking her up. Ashra grumbles about how she could've helped while the others attack the hulk.
: Then one of them notices the whorls on the creature. They indicate its age. This thing is very, very old, and very, very terrible. Underequipped and unprepared as they are, the party will have a damn hard time taking it. Leilah grabs everyone and DDoors them back.
: Ashra, about to start bleeding again, asks Leilah to heal her. She does not know why Leilah cast Virtue instead of a cure spell, and worries that Leilah means to force her to beg for healing or die. Leilah is surprised Ashra thinks so little of her, and heals Ashra to full while grumbling. Aether is very angry about Ashra's decision to remain; Ashra does not care, and goes to bed.
: Aether wants to go back out sneaking to reexamine a keypad door she saw. Leilah suggests that Ashra has Goggles of Minute Seeing which would help her in analyzing the keys. Aether starts screaming Ashra's name, and Ashra wakes up, mutters something about trying to go to sleep, and rolls over. As Aether keeps screaming her name and yelling at her, she pretends to be asleep.
: Aether sneaks up to where Ashra lies and tries to steal her goggles; Ashra barely catches her and screams at her. Aether says that she's just taking them to use because Ashra wouldn't let her use them, and Ashra says that is not okay. Ashra screams that she is the party leader and must be obeyed; Aether says she doesn't care, and Ashra screams at her to get the fuck out of the company if she won't obey authority.
: Guards have been searching the room opposite, and one is drawn by the noise. Cicero Dimension Doors Aether and Ashra into Avi's room, leaving Leilah to show the guards around her room alone. Aether and Cicero lie down to sleep on Avi's guest beds; Ashra Dimension Doors back to Leilah's room, takes the other bed than Leilah's, casts Alarm around it, and sleeps.
: The party regroups in the morning, and Avi takes female!Cicero and Aether to meet Coriander for a tour of the ship. It is a metal ship, very fancy and expensive, second to few (Avi owns some of the few, apparently.)
: He takes them to steerage, as Aether expressed an interest in the elementals. They are huge things, spinning so fast they look like pure blue energy. Each is held by three magical golden bracers, as well as a backup protection system. Gears transform this energy into every kind of energy the ship needs. There are two kinds of controls: the magical "tight" controls on the bridge, which run on a modified Mage Hand, and backup physical controls connecting to an actual wheel, also on the bridge. The physical wheel has not seen use in years. There are many safeguards to keep from losing control, and it's possible to pilot from steerage, too. It takes eight engineers to stop all the turbines for an all stop. This would disconnect the water elemental apparatus from the gears, and thus not risk setting anything free. The guards are relatively inexperienced because it is so hard to gain access to steerage.
: With a swipe of an orange stone, Coriander opens a path between a landing pad and steerage; the landing pad holds the spelljammer from the night before. Another secret door leads to the kitchen. At Aether's request Coriander then takes them to the bridge, where they meet five skilled crewmembers and check out the awesome setup.
: After the tour, they confirm their appointment for dinner at seven and rejoin the rest of the party. Leilah says it's time to deal with the elephant in the room. After confirming that the party has not used its bracelet of Mount, they agree.
: Aether proposes that she does not consider Ashra to be a competent leader. Ashra sits and listens as Aether explains that Ashra's unilateral action in the umber hulk room endangered everyone, and that her refusal to lend the goggles was counterproductive.
: Leilah seconds the motion, staring into space. Ashra turns and stares at her in shock and betrayal. Leilah has been concerned about Ashra's competence for some time, since she started running off after her brothers. She contends that Ashra is breaking up under the stress of her position and is not a competent CEO.
: Cicero walks over, sits next to Ashra, and hands her half a sandwich.
: Ashra says in her own defense that Aether has no right to Ashra's possessions, and that yelling at her for attempting to steal from her person was a comparatively moderate response. Furthermore, she had no idea that the umber hulk was so powerful, and had led the party into what she believed to be a manageable situation. Both the theft and the decision are violations by the company charter, but small enough that they are generally overlooked or greeted only with a reprimand.
: Leilah continues that she believes Ashra should be suspended from her position as CEO. Ashra begins to arrange her possessions in preparation to planeshift away if things go poorly. She remembers the mutiny against Baudin, long ago, and is saddened but not entirely surprised that the same is being done to her. It's a little harder for her to ragequit the Prime; she'll lose everything in the planeshift and arrive on Mechanus naked and near helpless when her brothers find her. She tells Leilah she will have to go, however, if the party cannot come to terms that her pride can stand.
: Cicero thirds the motion. He explains that he respects Ashra as a leader but does not think she is currently capable of executing her duties. For that reason, he suggests, control should be given for the time being to one of the other officers until Ashra is competent to resume her post. Someone observes that it is, in effect, martial law.
: Ashra takes out her leaflet and reads softly, "...that at all times before when such a measures passed the people had been seceding, or the city on fire, or the temples or eminences of the city were possessed by some terrible creature. That nothing of this kind was attempted now, nor even thought of: that no law was promulgated, no intrigue with the people going forward, no secession made; he exhorted them to defend from the malice of his enemies the reputation and honor..." The puzzle of the Comentarii is no clearer to her than it was when she sat throwing it at the wall earlier in the day, but the meaning of it feels clear and true to her now. Despite Grax's contradictory and tortuous writing, she sees their situations as perfectly parallel. Her own diction grows more formal and more intricate, leaving her habitual casual speech for a more traditional Illithid Common. She quotes small snatches of the wording from CdBP throughout the rest of the debate, though the others in the room fail to recognize it.
: Leilah matches her formality, though not her quoting. She suggests that Ashra step down in favor of her, for a suspension lasting a certain period of time. Ashra tells her that if she cannot come to terms with the party, she will planeshift away. She cannot trust her life to those who do not trust her, given the risks she runs as an enemy of Nyasa and Revolutionary Baldur. She explains that she is "naturally apprehensive of their demand that she lay down her power in the face of those who would assassinate her."
: Leilah calls her on it. Ashra had been ready to planeshift, but Leilah waits just long enough that Ashra is beginning to realize how certain her death will be if she leaves, and that she might be able to compromise. Ashra offers to step down for a couple of days as long as Cicero, not Leilah, is her successor. Leilah refuses, saying that Ashra should not have the right to choose her own successor. Ashra offers a slow, tortuous apology for endangering the party, though she insists she never knowingly did so. Everyone blows it off, despite it being the third time in her life Ashra has offered an apology.
: Leilah says that Ashra overstepped her authority in overruling her on matters of tactics. Ashra explains that as CTO herself, she had deferred to Ethan as CEO even on tactical matters, and so she thought that was the proper hierarchy. If Leilah insists on the autonomy the charter reserves her, Ashra says she will respect that.
: Leilah asks Ashra why she stayed in the umber hulk room; Ashra explains that it was Leilah's father who gave her the message to give Leilah, and thus that she suspects this may be involved with Anahita's imprisonment. The thing she admired most about Leilah was her filial piety; she wanted to help her find her mother. Leilah looks at this cynically and thinks Ashra was only trying to buy her favor. Ashra says Leilah can see her as an illithid manipulator or as a person offering friendship, as she chooses.
: Ashra asks that the fellow party members understand that she is already working very hard by the ways of her race to take into account everyone's views when most illithids would simply rule by domination. As she tries to respect the party's free will she asks that they respect her pride, and allow her to retain her dignity. She wishes to prove she is capable of her job.
: Leilah will not accept this. She wants Ashra to step down until and unless the others see fit to return her to power. Ashra refuses to cede her place permanently. She offers to step down temporarily in favor of Cicero; Leilah again says Ashra should not have the right to decide.
: Ashra explains that she has few things left in life, and lives because her pride remains somewhat intact. Leilah, who had been Ashra's friend, has betrayed her in her view by seconding the motion to challenge her office. Ashra asks that she not be forced to step down in the favor of the woman spearheading the efforts against her. She also points out that Cicero is more likely to take into account the desires and needs of others, while Leilah thinks of the party purely in terms of their tactical capabilities. Cicero chimes in that he is actually an experienced military commander, and that Leilah would maintain her tactical authority in any case. His credentials established, the party accepts this request.
: Leilah says that Ashra has cracked under the stress of leadership and Xenteroth's mindrape. She accuses her of inconsistency in her willingness to pursue anything that seems to follow her mother's wishes. She suggests that Ashra step down until she is returned to her normal one Sanity Point.
: Ashra protests that this will take months of Restoration, and that it would effectively shut her out of her position for months. She makes the counter-offer that she accept a short suspension and then a probation of longer term. Her probation would allow her to carry out her duties, but with Leilah and Cicero each able to overrule her at will.
: Leilah demands Ashra come up with time frames; Ashra says that Leilah can do so. Leilah suggests that Ashra should be subject to overrule during probation by either two officers or an officer and two party members. Ashra does not trust non-officers to be objective in their use of the overrule, and counter-offers that she should be subject to overrule by either other officer, but that party members should be required to convince an officer. The two settle that Ashra should be suspended for the next two sessions/missions, and that after that she should be on probation until she has returned to one permanent Sanity Point and the officers agree she is fit to lead the party. Leilah suggests that Ashra's regaining of her office should not be automatic, but that an election should be held at that point; Ashra says that is one concession she cannot make. She knows she will not win a popularity contest, though she still believes herself the most competent.
: Leilah concedes that, but asks Ashra to swear she will not use her regained power to seek reprisals against Leilah. Ashra promises not to be corrupt, but says that her forgiveness will have to be earned and not demanded.
: The final terms offered are these: Ashra will accept suspension for two sessions/missions, during which she will act as a normal party member. While she is stripped of her officer status she will not have to meet the standards set for officers. During this time Cicero will temporarily act as both CEO and CFO. After this time has passed, Ashra will take a probationary period during which her decisions can be vetoed by either Leilah or Cicero. If the two other officers disagree on whether Ashra's decision should stand, a vote will be taken among the entire party, including Ashra. If this comes to a tie, the final vote will be Vishnu's. The party will fund the material components for Restoration, which Leilah will cast on Ashra weekly until she returns to one Sanity Point. When Ashra's comparative sanity is thus restored, if both officers agree Ashra is fit to resume her post, she will return to the office of CEO with a blank slate. Should she again suffer damage to her mind while in the office of CEO, she will not be relieved of her post again unless the party again decides she is unable to handle her responsibilities in her current state.
: Ashra accepts, and the party votes unanimously to suspend her. "I wish I had some legions in winter quarters." She asks that since she has been punished for her transgression the party also consider Aether's stealing. Aether explains that she steals for a living and Leilah gave her the idea anyway, and she didn't mean to keep it forever. Ashra explains that it is not about the permanent ownership of the item so much as Aether's presumption that she was allowed to use Ashra's possessions without permission.
: Cicero proposes a fine of half the item's value to Aether, and a quarter of its value from Leilah for suggesting it and Cicero for not stopping it. This fine goes into the party coffers. All three accept.
: Ashra thanks the party for their consideration. She hands the peacock feather in her hat to Cicero, then goes off to spend the rest of the day in solemn and whiny prayer to Ethan Dragonslayer.
: Avi and Aether meet with the neogi and, after some haggling, purchase a spider egg for Aether. She squeals.
: New leadership determined, the party still has ahead of it the rescue of Vishnu and the mysterious bubble prisoner. Soon it will be time for dinner with the drug lord...
Season Ten Complete.
Category: Episodes
Category: Season Ten Episodes