Ep. 65 The Lost Mark

## Watch

The Lost Mark | Khyber Shards #65 | D&D 5e Actual Play

—Erandis

The Deathguard are out to destroy Esri. The rest of the Stryke Force rally behind him, but hard as they try, they can't protect him from the righteously determined elves. When he dies, Esri is sent to an upside-down world where he meets Erandis Vol. She shares some background about his mark, and sends him back to the land of the living.

## Synopsis

The Deathguard has drawn on Esri. Shade shoots an arrow at them. Remembrance forms in Ari's hand, and he warns them off. However, the elf is too dedicated to his mission to be swayed, and so Ari shoots him. The elf teleports next to Esri and slashes at him.

*"The line of Vol shall end!"
—Deathguard 0:11:17*

The other elves move in and attack Esri, causing a horrendous amount of damage. Esri summons his spores and hits back, and gives himself some healing. Pog grabs the elf by the back of the neck and pours necrotic energy into him.

With only the thought to get them away from Esri, Shade casts Thunderwave at them; Pog is caught in the blast. Ari begs them to stop again, to no effect. The Deathguard is not at all swayed, and unwilling to spare someone who summons the power of Mabar.

*"Your earnestness has come up against the force of his fanaticism."
—Philip 0:26:07*

The elves are relentless in their attack on Esri. As one of them moves in, Pog cleaves one down with Fury's Edge. One of the soldiers drives his spear straight through Esri's chest, ending his life. In a rage Pog swings at the remaining elves. Shade shoots the Deathguard across the clearing with a lightning bolt, and he lies burnt up against a tree.

With all their enemies gone, the party tends to Esri. Shade tries healing him, but nothing happens. She screams out at the sphinx to fix this. Ari tries contacting Thora, but it doesn't go through.

### Esri's death

When the last blow hits, Esri's world turns upside-down. The trees are a bone-white color, and all the buildings built up and around them are silvery and ghostly. Sitting in a gazebo is an elven woman. She turns and says hello. Esri introduces himself, and realizes he doesn't feel the presence of Noshaeran. Esri asks her if she's dead, and she says yes and no. She's been around for a long time and she understands how to walk between the spaces. Esri is here because this is a joining of worlds. He asks if he's stuck, and Erandis thinks about it; she thinks he might be a trap from the Deathguard. It's happened before. They've killed her eighty-three times. She considers sending him back, but thinks maybe he doesn't want to—if someone had asked her, she might have said no. Her name is Erandis, but the Deathguard was very careful to remove her from the history books. For many thousands of years her family bore the Mark of Death, and it allowed them to become very potent magic users.

The Draconic Prophecy said Esri would be here in this moment, and here he is. Her grandfather invented the ability to create spirit idols, like Jalaer Alorenthi inhabits. He was a prominent leader of his city. She is on Eberron, though there she doesn't look like this. There, she hasn't gotten here, yet. On Eberron, she is a desiccated corpse. In the Last Siege, her mother did this as a means of escape. She's living in her own corpse. After her people were driven out, other people came to live here. If he meets her, he might have to convince her. She is coldly angry.

She wants Esri to find his family, to see if they have marks like him.

He asks to go back—but wants to scare his friends with his resurrection. Erandis tells him to seek out Miravella Uruvai if he needs help. She's an agent of Erandis's.

She wraps her hands around Esri's. She looks up into his eyes and light flares down her mark, through her hands, into Esri's.

### Esri comes back

Esri's body jerks in Pog's lap. Light runs down the marks in his arms as he lifts out of his lap, out into the air, arms spread. Light is blazing all around him, from his eyes, from his fingers, searing everything with brightness…

*"Behold, I, Esri, Last Prince of Vol, have returned to take over my dominion!"
—Esri 1:14:13*

…and he falls to the ground. His mark has grown. The sound brings Shade out of where she had been screaming, and she hug-tackles-heals him.

## Spells

* **Ari**
	+ Eldritch Blast 0:06:54
* **Esri**
	+ Healing Word on himself0:15:41
* **Pog**
	+ Inflict Wounds 0:17:08
* **Shade**
	+ Cure Wounds on Esri (it doesn't work)0:34:39
	+ Lightning Bolt 0:33:22
	+ Thunderwave 0:20:42
* **Deathguard**
	+ Misty Step

## Quotes

"I'm glad Wilkins died."
*—Casey 0:00:01*

"If they're dead, it doesn't matter if they like us!"
*—Casey 0:02:30*

"Your earnestness has come up against the force of his fanaticism."
*—Philip 0:26:07*

"You have a very large collection of round things on your desk, R.A."
*—Philip 1:18:12*

## Trivia

* Today's episode is brought to you by Cassalanter Fine Wines. The Finest wines from Sharn, now available in Stormreach! Cassalanter, for your decanter.
* Casey does the recap.
* Erandis Vol features on the thumbnail for this episode.