Brave New World • Chapter 07

## Ash & Half-Truths

Prev Chapter
Next Chapter

### Court of Endless Muses*(9th of Venn, 4E 776)*

Below decks, while in the middle of a conversation with Oondak, Finn is abruptly whisked away by his patron, Cerredwen, to the Court of Endless Muses within the fey realms. The court appears to be in the middle of preparing for a party, and amidst the chaos Cerredwen informs Finn that he is to play at the upcoming Confluence Ball, a grand event for which many important figures will be in attendance, including Queen Titania and Lord Oberon. Though Finn attempts to inform Cerredwen of the events he was going through, the latter says he is far too busy to listen and has Finn scramble to put in a written report atop a large stack of parchments just before he is taken back to the material plane.

"*The rumours are, both Titania and Oberon are going to be in attendance. Apparently, they have something to discuss. In person! Imagine that! The Lord of Glass and the Winter Queen herself. In my very own court! It's unheard of. Of course they're both bringing quite an entourage...which is why everything must be perfect! I expect you to put on a special performance. One of a kind. Don't disappoint me now Hector.*"
 ― Cerredwen, the Song of Morning

### Elsewhere*(9th of Venn, 4E 776)*

While the group rests that night, Ironstrong-4 attempts to power down and remember what he could about his past self's experience with demons, but is pulled into an audience with the Ashmaiden when he enters stasis. The goddess admonishes him for hhis recklessness with the so-called marionette, but admits that his actions have proven useful in revealing more of the plot at hand.

"*These marionettes. These puppets without strings. When you first described them, I thought they were simply eyes. Silent watchers, hidden from my view. Passive enough to not draw my attention. Hidden amongst the noise. Until what you did made them stir. Now, the tapestry around you sings a new melody. Half-familiar. Subtle still, almost imperceptible, but it is there. The music has changed. And for a brief moment, just before the tear in reality opened, it was in harmony. Beautiful harmony. It sang. It is rare. It is so rare, that the melodies align. So many creatures. So many different songs, and so rarely do they sing in perfect unison. It has given me some insight. When I became aware of it, this new melody that follows you, that briefly aligned the harmonies as one, I began searching for it elsewhere.*"
 ― The Ashmaiden

She shows him an image of Ygdren, formed of the threads of fate that bind its people. Amongst the threads, he sees pinpricks of red and black that swell momentarily then diminish and disappear. Little occurrences of the same resonance that he had caused, happening all over the globe. He notes in particular that the lights were lessened in and around Edraxis, and almost not present at all near the Desolation.

Next, the Ashmaiden shows him also the planes beyond the material, where the pinpricks of light also flared. Here, a very noticeable scar pierces through the threads, which the goddess explains is the Endless Athenaeum, where Lionel had disappeared.

"*This is the Endless Atheneum. This is where your friend disappeared. I have not heard from Rhelik in some time. He is prone to long bouts of isolation amidst his books, but...this feels different. There is almost certainly more information there. Information this hidden enemy may have accidentally let slip. It is imperative that we find it.*"
 ― The Ashmaiden

Before Ironstrong-4 has much time to comment, the conversation is interrupted, as the Ashmaiden senses an incursion upon her realm and dismisses him with haste. She leaves him only with a warning to be careful and thread with caution, since there was still so much they did not know.

### Haley Isle*(10th of Venn, 4E 776)*

When he returns from his talk, Ironstrong-4 ventures below decks to retrieve Lionel's old notebook from Evendur's room, spending the rest of the night poring through Lionel's notes about the Library and discovering things about the botched ritual that Lionel had attempted before his expulsion from the Iron Academy.

When Evendur wakes, after a brief panic when he realises that someone had taken something from his room while he was asleep, he and Ironstrong-4 discuss the notes in Lionel's notebook, but cannot speak much before they handle the matter of the marionettes watching them. WIth the rest of the group, they decide to put an end to the matter in the same way they had yesterday, and venture off the ship and outside of town to an empty spot of Haley Isle where they could potentially cause less damage.

Here, Yuli attempts to cast the same wards against scrying on Evendur, which this time work only momentarily before the spectre disappears. Concerned by the change in behaviour, they attempt to ward Ironstrong-4 as they had done the previous day, but now things go very differently. They all see, for the blink of an eye, the five marionettes that pursued Ironstrong-4 appear floating in the sky, evenly spaced from each other. Then reality seemed to shimmer and go ajar for a second, before things reset and they note that their actions from the last few minutes had seemingly been completely undone.

Increasingly worried by these developments, Yuli tries again, with the same result. After the second shift in reality, she notices a marionette of her own, watching from the shadows of a nearby copse of trees. When she approaches, the marionette reacts differently than it had for the others, lifting both hands outward towards her as if pleading. In moments, more marionettes appear from the shadows of the treeline, each with its hands lifted towards Yuli, who is growing more and more panicked. When he looks out of the trees, Ironstrong-4 also sees the same five marionettes that had been pursuing him just out of sight now standing out in the open at the base of the hill, with their hands outstretched towards them.

Hoping to sever whatever connection had been clearly established, Oondak banishes Yuli to a harmless corner of the Earthmaven's realm, only for her to find herself completely surrounded by dozens and dozens of the marionettes, all with their hands outstretched, all pleading to her paralysed form. When she returns, terrified, she decides there was only one way to resolve this, and reaches out to take the first marionette's hands.

The others watch on, as all the marionettes they can see disappear, and Yuli collapses comatose to the ground with grey-ashen skin and blank eyes.

### The Garden*(???)*

In a dream-like haze Yuli watches the world around her break apart into fractal fragments of glass, a curtain peeling away to reveal a garden around her. A sky of soft blue, empty of stars, suns, and moon casts daylight down upon a vast field of flowers. Blossoms of red and blossoms of white. Biliions and billions. There are no rocks or trees, no insects or birds. Just the flowers.

She watches the flowers cycle in a strange pattern. Some, seemingly at random, wither and die, causing empty earth around them to spring to life with other blossoms, that then wither and die themselves leading to the original flower to sometimes regrow. The pattern repeats, over and over and over, causing rippling swirls that flow and cycle all around her. When she takes a step, crushing a flower beneath her heel, the pattern momentarily changes, but only for a brief second. Within moments, it has restored itself to the same pattern it was before. She continues to walk, and with each step the pattern changes for a split second then resets.

For hours it seems, Yuli walks through the empty fields of flowers, seeing no sign of life, until at last she spots a singular figure amidst the flowers. Still a bit distant, but visible, standing unmoving and straight-backed turned away from her. She approaches cautiously, and the figure turns, revealing a woman dressed in simple clothes. For Yuli, it is as though looking in an aged mirror, for the woman standing in front of her shares a striking resemblance with her, albeit a few decades older. The woman smiles, and when she speaks, it is as though a thousand voices speak in unison.

"*You made it. We have waited for a long time. We have watched. We have heard your cries for help. Soon, we will answer.*"
 ― The Stranger in the Garden

Somewhat shell-shocked by what was happening around her, Yuli attempts to ask questions of this woman, only for her to reach out a warm hand and gently cup her cheek, smiling an eerie smile the entire time.

"*Be not afraid. We are your salvation.*"
 ― The Stranger in the Garden

### Haley Isle*(10th of Venn, 4E 776)*

Dragged back from wherever she was in the interim by Evendur casting a dome of magic to block any arcane connections, Yuli wakes with a startled gasp as though she had been abruptly woken from a dream. After recovering her senses, and looking around to note that all the marionettes had disappeared, she explains to the rest what she had seen.

Ironstrong-4 in particular is curious about the Garden, having seen it before in his delirium following the events that had left him fractured. He believes it may be connected to his long lost brother, as well as to the larger plot at hand that he had been shown by the Ashmaiden. The group discusses the possibilities of venturing to the Endless Athenaeum and finding where Lionel had disappeared, in the hopes of finding more answers.

For the time being, unable to do so just yet, they return to the ship where Eddie has prepared the crew for them to set sail. Saying their final goodbyes to Sandpoint, they set off in the early evening to continue their journey east across the ocean.

That night, still reeling from the events of the day, Yuli has another nightmare. Familiar in some ways, still the same ship adrift in a black sea, but in place of the corpses floating above the water are now thousands of red and black spectres, with their hand outstretched towards her, calling out to her.

"*Warbringer. Warbringer. We are your salvation.*"
 ― The Spectres

### Vastenean Ocean*(11th of Venn, 4E 776)*

The next morning, with the ship sailing at full pace eastward towards Anchorage, the crew sets about their respective tasks, happy for some normalcy. This is immediately disrupted by a visit from Balthamos, who pops up on the aft deck to inspect the charred scars the demonic rift had left on the wood.

After the party convinces him to step downstairs and stop freaking out the sailors, he has a chat with them about how their "little stunt" had caused a great deal of interest from a number of parties, particularly in Oblivion. He also expresses an immediate revulsion at the sight of Finn, and attempts several times to hide him from sight or get him to leave.

"*You put on quite the light show! There's easier ways to get my attention you know...but I must say, you've really upped the value of my investment. Everyone's talking about it! Everyone wants a little piece of the pie. Oh, but you know what they say, the early devil gets the worm.*"
 ― Balthamos

The group exchanges some information with Balthamos, learning very little that they didn't already know. Eventually, after a bout of insults between Finn and the devil, Balthamos leaves, though not before reminding them that they were on a timer, at the end of which he was owed a relic or three souls.

### Vastenean Ocean*(13th of Venn, 4E 776)*

Over the course of the next few days, the crew settles into a routine of shipboard chores mixed with downtime. They pass into a light storm, which slows their progress somewhat, but they resolve to keep the ship sailing overnight to stay on schedule.

Finn spends the time interviewing various members of the group and preparing for his upcoming performance on the Spring Confluence, while Oondak takes some time to commune with the Earthmaven, trying to ask some relevant questions and discover what he could about what came next.

On the evening of the 13th, Eddie approaches Ironstrong-4 about a concern of his. Apparently, a few sailors had mysteriously gone missing over the past couple of days, all of them at night. Sensing foul play, Ironstrong-4 sets about trying to decipher the mystery that night, with the help of a few other party members.

They discover some oddities around the ship: scratch marks on the mast that looked worryingly like fingernails, signs of a scuffle in the crow's nest where at least two sailors had disappeared, and even a slimy footprint in the swill of the crew quarters. It's towards the end of the night that they find another sailor missing, down below in the orlop deck, and the sailor that was on guard with him dead with vicious wounds severing his cheeks up to his ears, like an extended smile.

Increasingly concerned by their findings, the group attempts to catch the culprit, but to no avail. They surmise that the creature may be a hag of some sort, with Finn informing them that the fey creatures were notoriously cruel and capable of weird magicks that frustrated many conventional means of entrapment. With first light getting near, and unable to find the creature they were hunting, the crew goes to rest, hoping to make a more succesful attempt the day after.

### Vastenean Ocean*(14th of Venn, 4E 776)*

The following day is a quiet one. With the storms of the last half week passing into light showers of rain, the crew spends the day going about their officer tasks and resting. Evendur finds evidence of more scratch marks across the ship, some of which are much older than a few days, which suggests that the creature they are hunting may have been aboard for a while. Oondak questions the dead corpse of the sailor they found the previous night and discovers some descriptive details of the culprit, namely that it was a woman that froze the sailor with fear and killed him. This further cements their belief that the creature is a hag.

That evening, they hold a burial at sea for the sailor they found and the sailors that had been lost since the start of their journey. With some encouragement from Gaeldrim, the crew's morale improves somewhat. During the speech, Evendur and Ironstrong-4 take some time to look around the crew to find if the hag was disguised as a sailor, but find nothing. Similarly, Yuli and Jendora search the crew quarters, but find no signs of foul play.

Before going to bed, the party agrees a watch schedule for the night, hoping to be well prepared and catch the murderess red-handed. Things unfortunately become complicated, when many of those asleep (Evendur, Jendora, and Gaeldrim) have a vivid dream where they are part of a crowd of the same specters that had already encountered, gathered around the ascending form of what appears to be Yuli. They watch her rise into the air, with a raging maelstrom in the clouds above, the sea boiling beneath, and insects bursting from the earth to surround her in a swarm. They also watch the air around her turn into a veil of red and black silk, that drapes itself across her entire form, as the crowd of specters begins to chant in a million different tongues.

"*Blessed are the bringers of change.
Blessed are the heralds of salvation.
Blessed are the bringers of war.
In their blood, the Truth is written.*"
 ― Spectres in the Dream

In the meantime, Yuli has a very different night. In place of the usual nightmare, she finds herself floating in a calm ocean, with no spectres or corpses to haunt her. She hears singing, and feels gentle fingers caress her face. A crooning lullaby fills her thoughts.

"*Poor little bird, just learning to fly.
Fell out of the nest. Made mother cry.
Flew to a garden for the truth she craved,
They promised the bird it would never be enslaved.
So why would mother weep,
To see her children saved?*"
 ― The Sea Hag's Lullaby

Yuli comes slowly to consciousness, to realise that the voice she is hearing and the hand against her cheek are those of the very same hag they were hunting. In a panic, she sets off a thunderous blast, just as above on deck Oondak and Finn see a wave of mist descending upon the ship. Chaos erupts below decks, with several of the group succumbing to the hag's deadly gaze, while above decks the ship comes under assault by a duo of massive undead crabs. Ultimately, the crabs are destroyed, and the hag is driven off, taunting Yuli the whole way.

"*Don't you want to know the truth, little bird? All you have to do is reach out. All you have to do is ask the question.*"
 ― The Sea Hag

Though the battle is won, the crew is troubled. It turns out that the members of the party were not the only ones to have the dream of Yuli's ascension. All those that were asleep had the same vision, and many now cast worried glances in Yuli's direction. With worries of mutiny, the group makes plans to assuage the crew's fears the following morning, and go to lick their wounds and rest for the remainder of the night. Yuli has trouble sleeping, the same three phrases echoing around her head.

"*Reach out. Seek the truth. Ask the question.*"
 ― The Sea Hag

### Vastenean Ocean*(15th of Venn, 4E 776)*

The next morning, the group sets about trying to repair the damage done to the crew's morale, since many of the sailors had the same dream of Yuli ascendant and tensions were high. Evendur and Oondak speak out to the gathered crew and convince them that nothing was actually wrong with Yuli, and that the hag was simply trying to divide them. Though the crew is not fully convinced, they seem appeased for the time being by Oondak's display of detection spells on Yuli, claiming that he had found no corruption or ill magic.

Oondak however remains troubled, because he *did* find something when inspecting Yuli: a seeming mark or blip on her essence that indicates some connection or corruption by something untoward. He keeps this information to himself for the time being.

Over the course of the rest of the day, Finn continues planning his performance and convinces Evendur to contact Calisca in a bid to have her join the performance. To Evendur's dismay, Calisca seems unable to respond to his sending, sounding muffled as though gagged. Finn attempts to get Cerredwen to locate her, and they discover that she was aboard a ship that was heading south, not east. Frantically, Evendur sends word to Balthamos, promising to provide him with a juicy payment if he helped. The devil promises to visit in the next few days, as he was currently indisposed.

In the meantime, Jendora recieves a package from Tick and Tuck with additional bullets for her rifle, as requested. From the parcel also springs a strange mechanical spider-like insect with four legs, similar to the ones they had seen back in the workshop. It immediately scurries away and disappears into the bowels of the ship. Later, Finn and Gaeldrim spot it committing suicide by jumping of the railing of the ship and exploding underwater. They choose not to question the strange sight.

That night, Yuli is unable to sleep. Whether it's the knowledge that the nightmares will visit once again, or the creeping temptation of the hag's words to her, she tosses and turns and shifts in her hammock, unable to find any rest. Just before midnight, a glow of moonlight seeps through the cracks of the galley door, and Yuli, recognising the colouration, gets out of bed to investigate. When she emerges into the corridor, she sees at the far end the familiar ghostly figure of Ynalthed, and reality shifts around her until she finds herself standing on the same mirror-like surface of water as before, the two hands of black crystal jutting out in front of her, palms outstretched and facing upward.

"*You are troubled. I can sense your temptation. You bear my mark. Knowledge is to you what gold is to many others. You cannot help but wish to know.*"
 ― Ynalthed

Ynalthed speaks to Yuli, assuring her that she was still with her, but that she was now heading into the territory of the one that pursued her, and Ynalthed would be unable to visit or provide much more assistance. She claims that the nightmares are "her" gaze upon Yuli, and that she could not spare her of them. Yuli would have to endure.

"*My aid is not always obvious, but be assured I have given you all the tools necessary to succeed. You will not fail me. Do as I ask. Find the desolation. Find the key. Then, I can bring you peace.*"
 ― Ynalthed

She leaves Yuli with one parting piece of wisdom, telling her that knowledge was not good or evil, merely a tool to be used in the application of good or evil. In that vein, reaching out, asking the question, whatever it may be, could only provide knowledge that may be vital in the journey ahead.

"*Sometimes, the only way out is forward.*"
 ― Ynalthed

During their watch, Yuli shares the information from Ynalthed's vision with Gaeldrim, saying that she had made the decision to pursue the offered knowledge by attempting to reach out that very evening. Gaeldrim expresses his concern, saying that it was a dangerous road to go down that could potentially lead to further corruption, but Yuli re-iterates the words spoken to her last night: knowledge was not evil by nature, she would simply have to find the line herself and not cross it. Nobody else could make that decision for her. Gaeldrim respects her decision, stating that he would stay by her side regardless, for as long as he could.

### Vastenean Ocean*(16th of Venn, 4E 776)*

Just before first light, Yuli and Gaeldrim find a strange metallic cluster of tiny bronze eggs on the railing of the ship. While inspecting it, they accidentally cause the eggs to burst, releasing a dozen or so tiny metallic spider insects, like miniature versions of the one that had come with Jendora's package from Tick and Tuck. In something of a panic, they rush downstairs to wake the others.

While discussing the development, everyone begins to note trails of these spiders, far more than a dozen, carrying little bits and pieces of material through the woodwork of the ship. They attempt to pick up and inspect a couple, only to realise that the creatures immediately exploded in a little burst of fire and sparks once detained.

"*UH-OH. UH-OH. UH-OH. THREE. TWO. ONE.*"
 ― Tiny Mechanical Spider

They also discover that the spiders appeared to be gathering all the little scraps of material beneath Jendora's bed, much to her dismay. They send a message to Tick and Tuck, who inform them that the spiders were "pets", and not to worry. This does not assuage the group's fears in the slightest. They inform Ellie of the development, and she initially pulls out detonators to blow the ship, but Gaeldrim convinces her to perhaps instead create some kind of mechanical contraption to hunt the creatures. She sets off to create a bomb lizard.

Deciding there was little to do about the spiders for the time being, the group tries to go about their business as usual. Jendora abandons her cabin for the time being, and moves into the infirmary. When she checks on the spiders that evening, she discovers they have constructed a doll-like facsimile of her from scraps of cloth and metal, labelled "Jundo". They were now arranged in ranks, dormant, beneath her bed. Though concerned about the weird doll, it seems harmless, so she leaves it alone.

Once it grows dark that night, the group gathers in the infirmary, where Oondak informs the others of what he had actually found when inspecting Yuli the previous day. At this point, Yuli reveals her talk with Ynalthed to the rest, and declares her intention to follow her advice and pursue the truth the hag had promised, making the same argument as she had with Gaeldrim.

The others are uncertain, but eventually agree, though they decide it was best for Yuli to not attempt to reach out alone. After some argument, it is decided that Gaeldrim and Evendur would attempt to go with her via the planar projection she was going to try. The decision leaves some in the group disgruntled, since they feel it was taken without proper consideration by the duo of leaders, and perhaps for selfish reasons. Regardless, the three settle in the middle of the infirmary and cast out their minds, led by Yuli, and within moments are unconscious.

### The Garden*(???)*

Evendur, Yuli, and Gaeldrim appear as expected in the Garden. They see no sign of each other, finding themselves alone. Evendur and Gaeldrim, their first time in this place, begin to walk, travelling as Yuli had for hours on end with no sign of progress, until each of them sees ahead of them a distant figure, turned away from them. When they approach, the figure turns, and smiles. Evendur sees his mother, Saheila, to his shock. Gaeldrim sees his father, Dyalic, and is also surprised. They have no time to speak however, for the vision rips itself away from around them and they fall back to reality.

In the meantime, Yuli appears where she had last left this place, in front of the stranger that took the shape of her mother. Here, she asks the question that has been burning in her mind for days: "What is the Truth?". And the stranger answers.

"*The Ask and the Answer. Let us show you.*"
 ― The Stranger in the Garden

### Vastenean Ocean*(16th of Venn, 4E 776)*

Evendur, Yuli, and Gaeldrim wake back on the ship at roughly the same time, each shaken by their respective experiences. They share what they saw with the rest of the group, surmising that they each saw a different person and always someone closely related to them. Yuli also suspects that the story that was being told to her was not complete, and she would need to return to find out more.

Dropping the matter for now, Finn and Gaeldrim go to keep watch. Here, Finn confronts Gaeldrim about how he and Evendur handled the matter of deciding who would go with Yuli. Finn suggests that Gaeldrim may have been biased in his decision, and that he had not made much effort to explain his reasoning other than stating he was the leader and using that to end the argument.

Gaeldrim initially takes affront to this, leaving Finn uncertain about his future with the group, since he now suspects that Gaeldrim and Evendur did not have the interests of the group at heart, but rather their own. They go on seperate patrols, and Felren appears to Gaeldrim to tell him that Finn was speaking wisely. He reiterates that a true leader could no longer make decisions purely for his own benefit, because those that followed him were now a part of him as well.

Realising some error in his ways, Gaeldrim apologises to Finn and later to Oondak, but the former says that apologies without improvement meant little. When Finn wakes Oondak for the next watch, he tells him of his realisation about Gaeldrim and Evendur leadership, and also states that he may leave the group when they arrive at Anchorage, since it was becoming clear their paths would diverge sooner rather than later. When Oondak asks what he means, Finn reveals that he is really Hector von Dusken, born of Radenian nobility, and that his road took him to Radenstadt to rescue his beloved.

Later that same night, Jendora confronts Evendur about similar things to Finn, claiming that the two leaders had not earned sufficient respect to take the sort of dictatorial decisions they had. Evendur confesses that he knows little about how to lead, but that he *was* trying to improve, and that Gaeldrim was doing the same. Jendora does not seem convinced by this, and states that she too was considering leaving the group after what had happened, since she did not want to end up bowing to another dictator like her father.

### Vastenean Ocean*(17th of Venn, 4E 776)*

While new troubles plague the ship and its crew, Ironstrong-4 has been unwittingly powered down in sentry mode since the encounter with the hag. During this time, he is pulled away to another audience with the Ashmaiden. He finds her seemingly wounded, the calm and poise she has always presented replaced by a pained expression. Through some sort of wound in her side, some part of her essence appears to be unravelling, like fraying cloth.

She explains that creatures from the Slip had broken into her realm and struck at the centre of her divinity. She claims to have been distracted, and did not notice the incursion until it was too late. The creatures were destroyed, but she was damaged. She mentions as well that there was an increasing rate of such incursions, especially since the slipgates of Oblivion had been closed. However, when Ironstrong-4 asks what they can do to fix this, she waves his concerns away, claiming that he had other tasks to focus on.

Ironstrong-4 explains their progress thus far, and discusses Yuli and Oondak's journey to the Desolation and its seeming growing importance. The Ashmaiden is frustrated, noting that there are far too many questions and that things were moving too quickly. An army of undead in Wyldcrown, movement beneath the earth, and horrors in the depth of the ocean.

"*And somehow, despite all these moving pieces on a scale beyond either of us, our enemy has yet to truly reveal themselves. There is far too much we do not know. I cannot help but wonder if these machinations, obvious as they are, are a feint. A ploy, to keep our attention divided. But for what purpose? And can we afford to ignore them even if they are?*"
 ― The Ashmaiden

"*I am not a gambler. It is not my way to believe in chance. But now...when the tapestry is woven by another, I am blind and deaf. So I must trust to chance, I think. There is no other way. If what you have told me is true, your journey to the Ruins of the First City is of great importance. I cannot risk your failure.*"
 ― The Ashmaiden

The Ashmaiden offers Ironstrong-4 the opportunity to expedite the process, using some means of travel she calls "the ashenways" to travel magically across the ocean to her temple in Varlesans. In exchange, however, Ironstrong-4 would need to devote himself fully to her, removing fully his chance to ever be revived should he fall.

"*But know this. If you accept, you will pass fully into my service. Should you fall, you will not cheat death again. Your souls, fragmented as they are, will join with mine the very moment you die. That is the price.*"
 ― The Ashmaiden

Ironstrong-4 considers the offer briefly, before accepting under the condition that the Ashmaiden help him remain eternal should he survive the end of this journey to the Desolation and the trials beyond. The goddess accepts, though she warns him that immortality was not such an easy thing, and that there were always consequences.

"*I was like you once. Perhaps not entirely as you are, but...mortal. Afraid. Stubborn. I grew weary of mankind, and sought to surpass them. To become eternal. Immortal. Existing for all time. It was only later that I understood what that meant. The burden I must now carry. If you wish to carry with me I will not stop you. But there is always a price. There are consequences even to godhood, and many times in such matters the price is not one that we ourselves pay.*"
 ― The Ashmaiden

When Ironstrong-4 returns to consciousness, he finds it to be two days later, and he finds the crew in their fracturing state. He sets about trying to repair the damage, facilitating conversations between various members of the group in the hopes of reaching a solution to the question of leadership. This takes much of the day, and leads to very little progress, until Jendora and Gaeldrim decide to put aside their differences and try again.

Meanwhile, Evendur recieves the expected visit from Balthamos, and though he tries to back out of making a deal, he is cornered into signing another contract nonetheless. Balthamos promises to return Calisca to safety in whatever state he finds her as expediently as possible, and in exchange Evendur tells him about the spectres and their abilties to rewrite fate. After Balthamos leaves, Evendur confesses to Ironstrong-4 what he had done, and the latter chides him for doing so without consulting the group.

At the end of the day, sensing the continuing dysfunctionality of the group and the tightening chains of Balthamos and his deals, Ironstrong-4, Oondak, and Finn discuss the option of leaving the rest to their devices and using the expedited way offered by the Ashmaiden to go to Varlesans. They convince Yuli to come with them as well. She is initially uncertain, but is slowly convinced it is the better course of action

### The Garden*(???)*

Before acting upon their decision, with the day growing late, they decide to visit the Garden again, this time with Oondak and Ironstrong-4 in tow. Unlike Evendur and Gaeldrim, Ironstrong-4's visit to the strange domain leads to a conversation with the Stranger that resides there, though the conversation leads to more questions than answers. Yuli's experience continues where the previous one left off, learning further about the game of possibilities that was being shown to her.

Oondak, who was hoping to reach the Garden with the others, is instead scooped away by a hand of green and gold, and returns to a familiar place he had seen before in his dreams in Tyrenter. Here, he witnesses a vision or memory of a conversation between three gods: the Earthmaven, the Allfather, and the Sovereign, that reveals some of the ongoing trouble in the divine realms.

### Vastenean Ocean*(17th of Venn, 4E 776)*

While the trio below deck is asleep, a storm approaches rapidly from the east, and before long the ship has sailed straight into it. Within moments, all sight of calmer waters is gone. The storm is all there is. Flashes of lightning illuminate the gloom, slamming into the water, sending up sprays of steam, all around them. Streaks of electricity dance through the broiling clouds above you: storm spirits revelling in the sheer fury and raw strength of the tempest.

And amidst all that, the sky comes alight as a thunderous flash roars through the clouds, illuminating a shape in the heavens. A figure the size of the sky, shifting and changing with the storm, crackling with electricity, swinging the outline of a great sword of raging cloud outlined in lightning in a wide sweeping arc. The ocean rises unnaturally to meet it. What at first seems to be titanic waves become a massive spout of water, whipping like the body of a snake, that slam into the sword of clouds with a crash of steam and water, both disintegrating in an explosion of sea spray and sparks.

They realise that this wasn't a storm. It was a battle, and they were collateral damage. Eddie calls all hands on deck, and Finn scrambles to wake Yuli, Oondak, and Ironstrong-4. He succeeds in waking everyone except Oondak, who remains unconscious glowing green and gold. Ironstrong-4 stays behind to try and wake him, while the rest rush to the deck to stave off the onslaught of storm spirits descending from the storm. An abyssal hydra rises from the depths to battle a leviathan of cloud and lightning that descends with them, and the ship is caught in the middle.

It takes Ironstrong-4 a few moments to succesfully wake Oondak, who continues to glow even after waking. By the time they reach the deck, the ship is caught in the leviathan's maelstrom and is slowly being pulled apart. The Stormherald continues to battle the ocean, oblivious to the damage he is doing to everything on its surface. Jendora is swept off the deck by the storm waves, and Evendur leaps after her, transforming into a whale. Finn and Ironstrong-4 go overboard as well, and are swept away by the currents into the chaos.

It is at this point, struggling to fend off the storm spirits, and beset by the worsening storm, Yuli is suddenly assault mentally by the Queen that dwelled within the depths, and in that moment of weakness loses control of her mind. She is imprisoned in a vision of the abyssal depths, surrounded by thousands of purple eyes that close down upon her. She struggles to break free of the mental vice, while Oondak strives to hold off the now murderous body of Yuli, acting on the volition of something other than herself, all on his own.

Things appear dire, and in the worsening odds of the battle Ironstrong-4 calls upon the Ashmaiden to pull himself, Finn, Oondak, and Yuli to the Ashenways and to safety. She attempts to do so, but realises that Yuli was not in control of herself. Ironstrong-4 tells her to wait until she was free, knowing that Yuli was the key to the Garden's secrets. He and Evendur manage to teleport back onto the ship, and find everything falling apart.

Yuli, too wounded to continue her mental struggle, loses control completely. She ascends from the deck, eyes burning purple, and a flurry of skewers erupt from her Crystalthorn Wreath to plunge into the party members that remained on deck, dragging them up into the sky with her. Try as they might, they find themselves unable to break free. Yuli, desperately, tries to regain control, pushing back inch by inch against the Queen's onslaught. But it seems too slow, and all appears hopeless.

It is at this point that Oondak, in one last act of desperation, succesfully calls upon the divine intervention of the Earthmaven, who appears in the air with him. The storm freezes in place. Time slows. And the goddess, after warning them to look away, takes to her divine form, unleashing a burst of light so powerful it illuminates through flesh and bone. When they reopen their eyes, the storm has been completely swept away, and with it the influence that had the last vestiges of a grip upon Yuli's mind.

They are returned safely back to the ship on warm currents of air, and here, at last, the Ashmaiden does as Ironstrong-4 had asked. Before the crew's eyes, four of the group turn into fragments of ash and are whisked away on the wind, leaving behind Evendur, Gaeldrim, and Jendora to pursue their own paths, while the rest are taken to the Ashenways.

### The Ashenways*(???)*

"*It's a strange sensation, to feel yourself come apart. Like dust carried away on the wind, your bodies turn into ash that scatters within moments, and your soul and essence is carried by invisible strings into the ether. It becomes disorienting. You begin to lose a sense of self, becoming less and less who you were and more and more a part of the streams of arcana around you that are pulling you along. You cannot see, or hear, or taste, or feel, but there is some strange awareness of what is around you. A vibration that waxes and wanes like the melody of a song. And you feel yourself getting lost in that song, as though you were drowning, fading, disappearing, until...you wake.*"
 ― The Storyteller

They find themselves in an eerie landscape, where all the colour seems to have faded into whites and greys. They themselves have been drained of colour, except for the faintly glowing strands of silver that emanate out from each of them. Their voices are soft, faint, and echoing. Drawn out like slow motion, travelling as vibrations on the strings that bind them to each of their companions like vibrato on a violin.

At the moment, they are standing on a floating shard of rock, amidst a path of similarly drifting pieces of a ruined paved road, leading to an old archway, where sticking out like a sore thumb is the only spot of colour in this place. A flat undulating sheet of pale blue, like the surface of a pond, filling the archway as though it were a door. An aspect of the Ashmaiden waits nearby, a temporary form made of ash. She tells them that her assistance here would be limited to keeping the ways open, and warns them to go quickly and to stay quiet, because drawing too much attention could prove disastrous.

"*The ways are not for the faint of heart. Gather your strength. You will find no rest in this place. Now go. I shall see you on the far side.*"
 ― The Ashmaiden

The aspect of the Ashmaiden fades into ash, and the remaining four members of the group gather together and begin to cross this alien landscape. Hopping from one floating stone platform to the next in the low gravity, it takes them some time to safely get to the doorway in this eerily silent terrain. Their footfalls and movements make no sound, and they can only hear the faint, echoing noises of distant voices: whispering, or talking, or crying.

Once they reach the archway, they steel themselves and walk through, feeling a brief rush of frigid air and static before emerging into a completely different landscape: the thick undergrowth of a jungle, drained of colour and with not a single sign of life. The archway they crossed disappears behind them as soon as they cross through it, and they realise there is no way back. They must go forward.

Still tired, battered and bruised, they nonetheless begin the trek down the jungle path, unsure of where it would lead them. Despite hours of travel, they note that their exhaustion does not worsen, but nor does it improve. They eventually come to a set of ruins in a clearing, a crumbled staircase and other fragments of stone, leading to a doorway that looks like the entrance to a temple, where they once again see a similar rippling sheet of blue.

While attempting to figure out a way to get to it, they note that they were not alone. Shambling amidst the ruins, they see other humanoid creatures, walking slowly and dragging their feet, making no noise in the complete silence of this place. Curious, Oondak attempts to use his divine senses to ascertain what these creatures could be, but in doing so attracts their attention, and jarringly the silence is broken by loud shrieking moans as these creatures begin to congregate towards them with crooked, disjointed hands outstretched. Involuntarily, in a moment of panic at the sudden confrontation, they huddle together and step back, and find themselves in the looming shadow of something far worse.

"*A shadow falls over you. You turn, to see, rolling over the land behind you a wall of ink-black darkness. A deep black that stands out from the greys and whites that surround you. It's strange and unsettling, because something that large, something that looming, churning and violent...every instinct in your head says that it should be loud. roaring. Like a wave or a storm. Instead, against all sensibility, it is dead silent.

Until you lay eyes upon it. Instantly, you hear slamming against your skull an assault of screams, laughter, cackling, crying, and you see agonised faces in the abyss, hands forming out of the shadow and reaching painfully out as though trying to escape, but they can't, so they try again and again and again. The ground at the edges of the black is coming apart. The grasping hands scrabbling at stone and dirt, tearing it away into the black. This strange dreamscape you are in is fragmenting, fraying at the edges in the wake of this abyssal wave that crawls every so slowly across the land behind you, coming inexorably closer. And you feel hopeless. Helpless. Whatever optimism is within you, your dreams and beliefs, are ripped away in the face of this, unutterable, frenzied, delirium.*"
 ― The Storyteller

Forced to run, and under a frenzied assault by the horrifying creatures they acidentally alerted, the group begins to fight their way towards the doorway, all the time with the wall of hands bearing down upon them. In doing so, they run into a duo of bedraggled strangers, Dieterich and Aurora, who later reveal they had been lost in the ways for nearly 5 months. Together, they fend off the creatures assaulting the group and manage to escape through the doorway, finding themselves next in a pitch black underground tunnel.

They start to walk down the tunnel almost immediately, despite their growing exhaustion, the fear of the wall of hands catching up with them again outweighing the toil of the day. They begin to realise, being told as much also by Dieterich and Aurora, that resting for an extended period in this place would be impossible. After conversing with their two new companions, they learn various things about the nature of the Ashenways. Dieterich and Aurora tell them that they have been trapped here without food or water, starving and dehydrated but unable to die, and that they could slowly feel themselves turning into those same creatures they had just fought.

Deciding to talk later about each other's reasons for being in this place, the group carries on down the tunnel, with growing curiosity about its nature. The hexagonal shape and material of the stone appears reminiscent of the same ruins they had found beneath the ruined chapel in Edraxis, which peaks many of the group's interest. Ironstrong-4 determines it to be some sort of transport tunnel, perhaps for transferring goods, but cannot figure out how exactly it ended up in the Ashenways.

After hours of walking, they come to a blockage. Ahead, the tunnel comes to a dead stop, ending at a wall that, oddly, seems like it was jammed into this tunnel, rather than a natural part of it. It is made of the same material of the tunnel walls, and is also hexagonal in shape, but is ringed with six braces of a golden material that seperate it by a few millimetres from the walls of the tunnel.

Through investigation, they surmise the blockage to be some nature of magical lifting device, and that the golden braces were the means for it to move up and down this tunnel. They also discover that the blockage is one wall of a hollow chamber, a lift of some nature, inside of which is a pedestal with a similar cylindrical device to the one that Evendur and Jendora had found on Haley Isle. The chamber is decorated with murals depicting strange, alien landscapes: cliffs made of circular pillars, vast oceans with colossal trees rising from their depths, and a flying city with completely different architecture than any they've seen. It is also occupied by a strange skeleton, which draws in particular Yuli's attention.

"*The skeleton, like everything else here, is completely alien. It's vaguely humanoid, with a long thin frame that seems almost stretched out. In particular, the structure and appearance of the bone is odd. Instead of the sort you're used to, distinct, segmented pieces of bone joined together at joints, this skeleton almost looks like intertwining vines that form humanoid-shaped lattice. Each part of the skeleton almost looks like it grows from a centrepoint outward, like roots seeking water, tangling together to create the foundation of a body. There is no apparent skull or ribcage, or any of the usual body parts that you're familiar with.

Those of you proficient in medicine realise that, despite the bone-like appearance, this structure actually resembles more of a nervous system. It has the same spreading fractal shape that infuses your own bodies, except seemingly made of some sort of crystalline, bony material.*"
 ― The Storyteller

Upon closer inspection of the corpse, Yuli realises that the bone is actually the exact same material as the crystalthorn embedded into her own neck. In fact, she can see the same exactly arrowhead shaped piece of bone in the same relative place on the creature's body, from which burst a tangle of the same tentacle like growths. Curious, she reaches out to touch the skeleton, and with a jolt of static her vision briefly shifts.

"*You stand on a beach. A small crescent of sand that curls left and right of you between cliffs of ballast grey stone, and the sand is dark and black, wet beneath your bare feet, that sink ever so slightly into it. Before you is an ocean, but an ocean unlike any you have ever seen. The water is pale green, translucent, flecked with waves of foaming gold, glistening with little specks of bronze. It smells strange too, like sulfur and volcanic rock, mingled with brine. Rust brown clouds hang in the heavens above, dotted and scattered through a sky turning red, and amidst the clouds is a single dot of sunlight. A tired, dying star, fading, gasping its last breaths. An unconscionable sorrow comes over you. A deep sense of loss. Nostalgia, even. Memories of long lost home. Then the vision fades, and you're standing again in that small enclosed chamber.*"
 ― The Storyteller

The flash of memory lasts less than a second, and when Yuli returns to herself she shares with the others what just happened. They discuss the possibility of this corpse and the surrounding architecture originating from a different plane of existence, which would explain the wildly alien landscapes that Yuli saw, and the fact that there was only one sun in the memory.

With mention of different planes, Oondak finally takes the time to explain to the others what had been shown to him by the Earthmaven before they sailed into the storm. He describes the conversation he witnessed, and tells the others of the revelation that the Sovereign was the Allfather's brother, at which point the emblem on Aurora's (a cleric of the Allfather) chest begins to flare with heat.

Realising this was not the place to be discussing such things, the group hasten to leave, noticing the once more approaching wall of hands creeping down the tunnel towards them. They press the cylindrical tube into the pedestal, opening a doorway on the side of the chamber, and rush through, taking the skeleton they had found with them.

They step out into a massive vaulted room, that looks akin to a cathedral. A domed ceiling towers far above, and a long aisle leads away from the circular chamber they emerge in towards an 80-foot tall stone doorway, carved with a tentacled skull. In the centre of this space is a massive sarcophagus, which bears a plaque written in Radenian, to Hector's increasingly panicked surprise.

"*Here waits the Red Duke of Marenhof for the end of damnation. He demanded victory where others would not.*"
 ― Sarcophagus Plaque

Horrified, Hector reveals to the others that the Red Duke of Marenhof was an infamous figure in Radenian history, a vampire lord of House von Emreis that wished to bring all of Radenstadt under the control of the vampire families. In his efforts to do so, he managed to ensnare and thrall a number of illithids, which he led on a conquest so brutal that it turned even others of his own family against him.

Though the stories fail to mention his end, the presence of the sarcophagus seems to suggest he was entrapped here, and further investigation of the room shows hundreds of enchantments lining the chamber and the sarcophagus, including a particularly powerful enchantment bound to four braziers spaced evenly around the room, that when lit revealed spectral chains in shades of obsidian black and gold tethered to the corners of the sarcophagus.

Despite the danger, seeing no other way out, the group open the sarcophagus and find the desanguinated body of the Red Duke inside, kept in stasis by the variety of enchantments surrounding him. They pilfer some artefacts from his body, a shadowy cape and a bandolier of seven small metallic bells, which they surmise to likely be attuned to different planes of existence. Aware that desanguinated vampires were still in posession of their active senses, Hector disguises himself as Lady Bella von Dusken, making a point to specify her title while they are looting the sarcophagus.

By this time, Dieterich, who is keeping an eye on the giant stone door of the chamber, notices inky black fingers beginning to seep through the stone, and urges the others to hurry. In a rush, without the time to make a better plan, Ironstrong-4 rings one of the seven bells they had recovered, which was adorned with black and gold lines of metal.

The bell rings true and clear, and within a moment, the air before them begins to fold into a tiny pinprick, before expanding into a dark doorway through which steps an impossibly handsome man, dressed regally with a jagged, horned crown atop his head. Oondak recognises him quickly, for he had seen him already in the vision showed to him by the Earthmaven just before the storm: the Sovereign, in the flesh.

Appearing almost human, but with an aura of casual power that sets everyone on edge, the god stalks down the aisle, demanding to know what they were doing here and how they had even gotten into this prison, which apparently he had built himself. Not daring to lie, the group reveals they were following the ways with guidance from the Ashmaiden, which the Sovereign seems particularly amused by.

"*Oh I see...sending the living through the Ashenways* again*. Heh. She never learns, does she?*"
 ― The Sovereign

He appears to recognise Oondak's scent, and quickly realises from where, noting that it was unlike Rualla to use spies. While inspecting the sarcophagus' enchantments, he also notes that Hector bore an infernal seal, one that did not stem from a contract. Hector is surprised by this, but immediately suspects Balthamos, and says as much. The Sovereign takes that information, and destroys the seal, calling it "cheating". He also destroys the black and gold bell that Ironstrong-4 had rang before leaving, kicking the group back out of the prison and to where they were supposed to be.

"*Cling to your gods while you can, little ones. They'll toss you aside soon enough. When that happens, come crawling back to me. I'll put you to good use.*"
 ― The Sovereign

After a violent wrench, the group stumbles out onto a broken bridge in a superheated chamber. Some distance below is a layer of bubbling lava, its surface swarming with strange volcanic snails that appear to be idly making small magical spheres of flame from the molten rock. On the far side is a sealed door with three keyholes, alongside which is a mould and smelting pot for casting metal.

The group determines they need to ignite the forge and find the three necessary pieces of metal for making the different keys, but in attempting to do so they accidentally anger the snails when they touch one of of the balls of flame. With the snails lobbing exploding globs of lava onto the bridge, showering them in fiery shrapnel, the group hurries to cast the three keys before they are killed. Thanks to some fey trickery from Hector, who manages to charm half the snails into thinking him a mate, and cooperation from the rest in retrieving the scattered metal bars and smelting them appropriately, they unlock the door and rush through before the fiery onslaught overwhelms them.

They emerge on a barren rock pathway, steeply climbing upward as though on a mountainside. The sides of the path fall away sharply into darkness, but the path is otherwise empty of any particular features. They take a short break to regroup and recover, discussing what had just happened and their talk with [the Sovereign]] while resting.

Not wishing to spend too long in this place, they press on after an hour, following the climb steeply upward. After several hours of walking, they begin to hear a drumbeat up ahead, and some investigation reveals it to be a strange procession: a train of dull, ghostly shades, being guarded and led by humanoid creatures in ice white plate and spears tipped with frost. Before they can debate what to do, the ashen figure of the Ashmaiden appears, radiating fury.

"*YOU MUST STOP THEM. NOW. THEY ARE STEALING SOULS.*"
 ― The Ashmaiden

Seeing little choice, the group mounts a frontal assault on the convoy, managing to fight their way through the guards, who act in perfect unison and burst into icy shards when killed. Though they lose several of the remaining shades, they manage to rescue several others, who only seem to respond to Ironstrong-4. With the inky black wall of hands in close pursuit, they rush through the doorway, shepherding the shades with them.

Upon arriving at their next destination, a fragmented landscape of floating isles similar to when they had first entered this place, the shades continue to cluster around Ironstrong-4, reaching hands out to touch him. He allows them to do so, and notes that they brighten slightly upon doing so, and then wander away, continuing their journey to the afterlife.

"*The exit is near. Hurry! The path will not hold for much longer.*"
 ― The Ashmaiden

With the rescued shades scattering, the group turns their attention to the final leg of their arduous journey. Up ahead, they see a sphere of rippling blue, their exit, around which is wrapped a horrifying creature with a dozen arms bursting out of its headless torso, and long barbed tails whipping around instead of legs.

Battered, tired, and worn, but seeing the end in sight, the group attacks the creature in the hopes of drawing it away from the portal that was their exit. The creature, angered, attacks them in a frenzy, and the group scrambles to pass through its clutches and leave. Dieterich and Oondak bring up the rear of the desperate escape, making it out together only by the skin of their teeth, and at last the group leaves behind the Ashenways and are pulled away to their destination: Varlesans and the new world.

Prev Chapter
Next Chapter