Ash and Smoke

"**Ash and Smoke**" (2x08) is the eighth episode of Memory=Null Season 2, in which revenge is had, redemptions are received, and purpose is given.

## Synopsis

Emberlin gets up off the floor and, spotting a flame hovering above one of the pedestals, goes over to it and introduces himself. As he does so, his mind is filled with a cacophony of whispers, causing him to fall backwards. After yelling angrily at the flame, he walks out of the vault, and everyone confusedly escorts him back up to the main hall. Glassjaw calms everyone down and, slowly, everything begins to return to normal.

Emberlin chats with Glassjaw and asks him if he knows a wizard named Dave that he could get things identified by. Glassjaw says he knows a ‘Daniel’, but that the guild also has a wizard they contract with. Deciding to go with the contracted wizard and simply call him ‘Dave’ the whole time, Emberlin gets directions from the receptionist, and the group makes their way to the Shellfish and Moreau. Inside, the bookshelves are covered in cats. A pale, masculine elf emerges from the bookshelves and introduces himself as Floyd Willow. At the guild rate of 1 gp, Emberlin has him inspect Torrent’s tumbler, the ring from Morek’s temple, and the axe. He identifies the ring as a Ruby Ring of Shield, and the tumbler as a mundane glass, though it is finely crafted and other-planar. When he gets to the axe, he casts the spell three times, eventually revealing that, while it has no magical abilities at the moment, there is some power stored away inside that he can’t identify.

They briefly commiserate over similar encounters with Duke “The Duke” Duke before heading out to track down Amber and Tarrabah. The guild directs them to the Oni’s Rest, and the group discusses the plan for the future, which includes tracking down the Duke and possibly lighting him on fire. At the Oni’s Rest, they don’t see Amber or Tarrabah downstairs, though a small group of individuals is playing music in a corner. Emberlin inquires with the bartender, and he heads upstairs to get them. A few minutes pass as Emberlin enjoys a drink before his attention is caught by the group in the corner - they are singing a song about the Queen of Embers, and how she blew up an island. As they wrap up, Amber comes down, and informs him that they had written a song about them as a thank you.

Emberlin proposes working together on Duke’s impending comeuppance. Amber agrees, so the group gets a room for the night and decide to plan in the morning when Tarrabah is more rested. Emberlin then talks to Sharsu for a bit about the gods and lower lords, and Sharsu explains that he still doesn’t understand how he broke his oath to Orophel. Emberlin suggests the possibility of the Queen becoming his new patron. He says he’ll sleep on it, and they spend the rest of the evening drinking with the stormbreakers.

The next morning, Emberlin drunkenly awakens to a velkrest sitting in his open window. Downstairs, he finds Tarrabah eating breakfast, and Amber stumbles down about half an hour later. Emberlin proposes paying the stormbreakers to play the song they wrote about the Queen around the city, and pays the Oni’s Rest a platinum to cover all their lodgings for the foreseeable future. He spreads the word to several other stormbreakers, who immediately leave to begin performing, and then starts asking Emberlin for other stories about the Queen so they can write more songs. After a few hours of storytelling, they begin their planning, and eventually settle on Amber luring the Duke to a vault on the outskirts of the city, as Tarrabah knows somebody with access to one who owes him a favor.

Amber leaves in search of the Duke while everyone else follows Tarrabah to a building near the dome wall. Tarrabah heads in to talk with his friend while everyone else waits “inconspicuously” nearby. About ten minutes later, a man emerges and casually wanders away, and Tarrabah ushers the group inside and down a hidden spiral staircase to the vault deep below. They decide to wait on the other side of the door for the Duke to enter before shutting it behind him. Emberlin kills time by telling more stories about the Queen until they hear the sound of the wall above being pushed open again, and the sound of the Duke complaining as they descend.

The Duke soon strolls into the room, followed by Amber, and the door quickly shuts behind him. The Duke’s demeanor quickly changes as he turns around and sees who is waiting for him. Now nervously trying to maintain his facade, the Duke begins to slowly back away as Emberlin informs him of the fate of the tabaxi children and his woefully under informed mission. However, Emberlin quickly grows tired of toying with him and plunges the room into darkness, leading the Duke to let out a very shrill shriek, stumble back, and begin panic-offering money. Emberliln begins using thaumaturgy to make his eyes glow as he slowly moves forward through the darkness. He then pulls out the dagger labeled “dealbreaker” and shoves it into the Duke, before reaching out and casting Burning Hands on him. He shrieks, and then goes limp.

They strip the jewelry from him, and while most of it seems to be fake, his necklace appears to be genuine gold. Further investigation reveals it to be a Medallion of Bluff. Emberlin happily gives it to Amber, but pinches the keys to his house for himself. They finish by stripping him before Hex flings Toothy into his chest. The scene that ensues is so graphic that they all turn away and wait outside the vault for over half an hour until the grinding and crunching sounds die down. When they reenter, all that remains is a slight blood stain and a much heavier Toothy.

Amber and Tarrabah head back to the Oni’s Rest while the rest make their way to the Duke’s house. They immediately spot it, being the extremely gaudy structure that it is, and let themselves in. The inside is just as gaudy as the outside, and a table to the side of the front door is covered with overdue notices. They begin searching for a vault and anything of interest, and Emberlin starts in his office. He finds a large amount of papers and research related to the lower lords and begins to pack them all up for later reading. Sharsu finds the kitchen and raids the wine stock, while Hex discovers a trap door beneath a rug in the living room.

Although it is locked, they find the key on his key ring, and Emberlin begins making his way down the ladder inside. As he puts his weight on the first rung, a set of spikes spring out and stab him in the leg. Managing not to scream, he lights up the rest of the shaft and spots several more traps on the way down. At the bottom is a short hallway with a vault door at the end, with a very obvious sigil on the wall. Confident in his trap spotting, he takes a step forward and is immediately engulfed in flames. Now stabbed and singed, he reaches the door, and then realizes that the sigil he saw was the sigil which would deactivate the fire.

Unfortunately, the key ring doesn’t contain the key for the vault, so the three of them spend almost an hour prying the door open. Inside are three pedestals. The first contains an intricate, platinum ring with an organic red crystal set in it. On the second rests a chain whip, almost identical to the ones held by the statues in Morek’s temple. The third pedestal contains a giant black tome with a rune-locked latch across it. They take all three items, and teach Toothy to replicate the whip. Back upstairs, Emberlin gathers the overdue notices together while Sharsu leaves a trail of alcohol throughout the house. They then light the notices on fire, lock up the house, and make their way out the back door. As they make their way back towards the Oni’s Rest, they begin to hear bells in the distance as the Duke’s house goes up in flames.

Back at the Oni’s Rest, the place is packed as the songs about the Queen of Embers spread throughout the city. Heading up to his room, Emberlin begins to look over the tome. However, not wanting to mess with it too much, he decides to start looking over the Duke’s notes. He just finishes laying all the loose sheets out on the floor when a voice from the corner says “Heh. That’s a lot of reading.” Casually sitting in the corner is a disheveled humanoid fellow dressed in rags. Emberlin, not wanting to freak out, calmly continues sorting papers and strikes up a conversation. He introduces himself as Sal'gth'uul, Keeper of the Void, and says...

***Author's note:** You know what? I'm too tired to even attempt to summarize a conversation with an interdimensional madman right now. I'll write this part up later (hopefully). For now, just go watch that part of the VOD. It's 12 minutes long. It starts at 4:43:30. Just go watch it. It'll be better that way. I'm going to bed now.*

Looking at the piles of papers, and then at the interdimensional bottle of wine, Emberlin quietly packs the papers back into their box, screams into the sky, and then heads back downstairs with bottle in hand. He meets back up with Sharsu, offers him a drink of the interdimensional wine and tells him about his latest visitor. They once again spend the rest of the night getting drunk with the bards, though he does overhear news that the tortle paladins have started moving islands around.

The next morning, Emberlin rouses Hex, and the two head downstairs to wait for Sharsu. However, as they exit into the hallway, they find themselves in the throne room. Emberlin gives an exasperated shout before realizing that the Queen and her archangel are standing in front of them. The archangel orders them to approach, and as they do, the Queen welcomes them. She congratulates Emberlin for his work in spreading her name for generations to come, and reminds him of her order at his awakening: that when she calls, he will answer and do as she bids. She says that now is that time.

She explains that she silenced the others so she could listen and find “any of the others”. She has found at least one, and orders Emberlin to the Greenspires, where he is to begin waking the old gods. Emberlin asks who the old gods are, and she explains that when she ascended and claimed godhood, she stepped into a mantle long abandoned, and that there are others like her. She says to ask about ancient rites and rituals, and he will find what he’s looking for. She then turns to Hex, and tells him to use the potential, the blood of dragons, that is in him.

Emberlin then asks about Torrent’s comment that he had met only two gods, and whether he spoke the truth. She says that he may be right, but not in the way that he thinks. Emberlin then tells her about Sharu and the offer he made him, and asks that, if he should accept, that she be kind to him. She asks if he would like to bring Sharsu here now, and on Emberlin’s agreement, the archangel waves his hand, and a very confused Sharsu appears.The Queen then asks Emberlin to make his case for his friend.

“Sharsu is a great warrior- a great warrior who sees the heart of things. Obeying not the rules of man, but the core tenants and the heart of those he serves. When everyone around him chose to follow a path of conquest, and maybe even greed, he stood up. When the many did wrong, he chose to do what was right. I have not met a truer person than him. I feel for that he was punished. I wish to do right by him. I mean, hell, he’s helped our cause more than anyone. As I told you, he’s been a great friend, and I wish to do right by him.”

She takes a few steps forward towards Sharus and says “Sharsu. Pirate turned paladin. You did unspeakable things, and then found your conscience. If I offer to you, would you follow my tenants? Would you be my paladin? Would you go where I bid? Would you do what I ask? Would you be the first of the Forged?” He takes a minute to think, and then says “I followed what I was told was right. I followed the truth; was good and just, and I have done terrible wrongs, which is now how I know what is wrong, and what is right. From what I’m told, you are the goddess of fire and rage and rebirth. I have fire and rage in me beyond measure, and if you accept me, this will be my third rebirth. So yes. I do.”

The Queen whips her hand out and a fiery sword appears in it. She takes it and places the blade on the crack in his shell. As he winces, the crack is seared shut. “Arise, Sharsu. High paladin of the Queen of Embers, first of the Forged.” she says as she steps back. As her wings extend, she says “You have my kin to awaken”. She then pauses for a moment, steps back towards Sharsu, and grabs the symbol of Orphel around his neck. After a moment, she releases it, which now appears like the ever-warm coal Emberlin has.

With a final look at each of them in turn, she says “There is a war coming. You have your mission. You have your faith. You have your fire. Now go.” With that, the room fades, and Emberlin and Hex are back in the hallway. Sharus bursts out of his room, and turns around to reveal the crack on his shell welded shut. Emberlin jumps on his back in an attempt to hug him as Hex stares down at his hands. The two of them notice and ask what’s wrong. Hex looks up, smirks, and says “something’s changed.”