MOTHER OF GOD

Aster Dewlight

Tony Rigatoni

Bitterblue

Non-Brigade Members:

Sliver

Tara Dewlight

**MOTHER OF GOD** was a Brigade oneshot following Alexander Thunderpouch and several of his guild allies as they ventured to prove his worth to wield the powerful greatsword he "found" during Hook, Line, & Sinker. Ephraim led the group to the temple where he had proved his worth when he was still alive. The party ventured through the entryway of the temple and began the "trials" section of the temple, but unfortunately had to stop before completion due to time constraints.

## Character Developments

* First appearances for:
	+ Player Characters
		- Sliver
		- Tara Dewlight
	+ Both new PCs joined the Brigade

## Prompt

"Yo! This is Thunderpouch, the mighty sorcerer warrior who has recently joined this mighty organization of people who rush out to save the day. I've already saved the world once, and my twice cursed blood of thunder and flame has attracted the attention of some mighty entity that has bestowed a sacred blade of vengeance!”

`Thunderpouch says this whilst holding his greatsword aloft. Unfortunately, it's heavy in his hands, and it waivers.`

"Fortunately, this powerful force has requested that I prove my worth in a trial to gain the martial strength to wield this weapon for justice, glory, and apparently plants and stuff! Of course, a device that enables me to begin this mighty journey is merely a stopgap before my true power awakens, and I no longer need its aid, however... unfortunately... the weapon is too heavy for my hands. It humbles me to admit, even the legendary hero, the premiere storm mage, Alexander Thunderpouch has a long way to go. But, thanks to this great place, and all of you wonderful people, I know the path forward to greatness! And a temple exists to prove ourselves! It's somewhere! It's dangerous! It'll be fun! So, who's with me?"

## Entry #1

Ephraim led the assembled party to the temple, explaining along the way that this was a trial to prove the worth of the people assembled. When he mentioned that this was a temple to Tephra, Aster Dewlight grew highly concerned, but Alexander Thunderpouch assured him that he wasn't going to be evil and told Aster to pull him by the ear and make him stop if Thunderpouch became evil. With that in mind, Aster agreed to go. Thunderpouch was clearly not entirely aware of what he was getting into and didn't seem to have a solid grasp on the doctrines of Tephra other than that she valued passion, freedom, and innovation. Bitterblue remarked that she wanted to see how much trouble they could get into.

Once they arrived, Ephraim left them. They struggled to open the entry door until ***boom boom*** someone Knock'd the door open. Inside there was a brief couple of scuffles with hornets, but Thunderpouch killed one swarm while everyone else handled the other. Thunderpouch found an amulet called the Evoker's Exchange which allowed him to swap the damage type of his spells between fire and lightning.

After some exploration of the temple, the party found many traps and only triggered a couple. The party also immediately split up.

Thunderpouch and Aster quickly found themselves facing off with a spirit that held a black orb the size of a baseball. The spirit spits poison.

Bitterblue and Tony Rigatoni found a room full of dangerous-looking vines with a green orb the size of a baseball. Bitterblue's Mage Hand grazed a vine on its way to grab the orb and exploded. The room filled with spores of some kind.

Sliver found a door that required four orbs the size of baseball to open, and then spoke with some drakes who ended up not actually being smart enough to speak.

Tara Dewlight found a room full of ruined old weapons, except for two, which animated and knocked her out.

The session ended there due to time constraints.

## Entry #2

### **Team 1**

Aster distracted the spirit, who immediately conjured two orbs to along with the massive gemstone, which floated in a circle, spinning around him. Unable to tell the difference between them, Thunderpouch let loose a pair of Eldritch Blasts, one of which pierced the illusion of an orb, and the other of which knocked the gem out of the air. Thunderpouch quickly ran over and collected the gemstone.

Meanwhile, Sliver discovered Tara's unconscious form, and moved to rescue her, only to be beset upon by the two weapons which had defeated Tara. Using his sand magic, and his Bladesong, he defeated the weapons. Upon their defeat, Aster and Thunderpouch arrived on the scene, accidentally setting off a trap that Bitterblue had attempted to disarm previously. Two large red ogre creatures attacked Aster and Thunderpouch, but Thunderpouch ended up being knocked back and broke the magic sigil that was powering them, causing them to vanish. As they left, Aster claimed one of the two now-non-animated weapons.

Reunited with 4 of the 6 people, the bulk of the party moved to take a quick respite in the hot springs and found that they were magical in nature and gave them the same benefit that they would have had if they had rested for a full hour. Feeling invigorated, the continued on.

The main group found a room with a fountain containing 3 large clear/white eggs, 4 medium green, 3 small blue gems. On top of the pedestal, there was a switch. Aster pressed it and was badly shocked by some unseen force, which yelled "WRONG" at us; one can only assume the voice came from an ugly orange being with fake, wispy yellow hair.

After some attempts to figure out what was supposed to happen, Thunderpouch gave up and went to guard the hallway while Aster guarded the main room. When Sliver started to realize that placing the gemstones inside of chests that were in two different rooms caused the candles in those rooms to brighten, Thunderpouch returned and revealed that he is actually pretty good at math. Working together, Sliver and Thunderpouch determined that the large white gemstones were worth 5 units of light, while the green ones were worth 2 and the blue ones were worth 1.

By putting two white gemstones, one green, and one blue in one chest, that chest totaled 13 units. The rest went into the other chest and totaled 13 as well. Upon Aster pressing the switch, the door to continue on opened and a blue gemstone the size of a baseball fell from the ceiling. They continued on until they found a room full of spider eggs. Thunderpouch took one look at the room and said "Nope." and then blew the entire room up with a fireball. After that the party continued on until they ran into Team 2.

### **Team 2**

Bitterblue used Magehand once again, and this time they were able to get the green gemstone. However, doing so caused the way they had come from to be blocked, and revealed a path forward. On the other side of the path forward they ran into a large green ooze-like snake elemental. Instead of fighting what appeared to be an overwhelming battle, they ran past them.

Beyond the snake, there was a room covered in frost. On their side, there were egg-sized bobs of snow and spoons to carry the blobs. On the opposite side, there were pedestals to hold the blobs. Rather than risk slipping with the eggs, Bitterblue used Magehand once again and carried the eggs over. While she did so, the snake started to ooze under the door, however, Toni quickly came up with a plan to stuff magically created handkerchiefs under the door to prevent the ooze from getting through. Once Bitterblue finished, the blobs collapsed into themselves to form a white gemstone the size of a baseball.

Past that room, Bitterblue and Toni ran into a room with two red ogres and two steel dragons. This is where they ran into Team 1.

### **United at last!**

Working together, the party defeated the creatures and moved to the large door where the gemstones fit. They took an hour break to recover, and then put the gemstones into the door, which then opened to reveal a powerful draconic monk. The powerful monk battled for a while until Aster put him into a headlock and the party beat him up. He was pleased with the party's performance, and announced that they had done well enough to complete the final trial.

He rewarded Thunderpouch with part of his sash, which transformed into a headband; the Orange Headband of Tephra's Strength. This headband granted Thunderpouch a Strength of 21, enabling him to finally wield the mighty Holy Avenger he had been carrying.

Bitterblue took a Jade Steel Talisman, Sliver took the Ivory Iron Wandblade, Aster took the Sapphire Gauntlets, Tara took Onyx Bow, and Toni took the Flame Metal Fauld. The party then left the temple and returned home.

## Gallery

Oneshot header. Lilgreenfox & CrabmaliqueDoodles drawn during the oneshot. LilgreenfoxA doodle of Alexander Thunderpouch. Lilgreenfox