Blasphemy

"**Blasphemy**" (2x09) is the ninth episode of Memory=Null Season 2, in which things that once lay sleeping are awakened.

## Synopsis

Making their way down to the bar, the three begin discussing their immediate plans. After ordering, Emberlin impatiently runs upstairs and starts banging on Amber’s door and yelling “adventure!”. A few moments later, a tired Amber appears at the door wrapped in a sheet. Emberlin excitedly invites her to come with them to the Greenspires. She agrees, but tells him to go order her breakfast and a lot of water. Back downstairs, Emberlin and Sharsu begin chatting before being interrupted by a tabaxi. They inquire if they are Emberlin Burns, and hand over a business card reading “Astri Tabatha - Professional Boomssassin. When you need an enemy dead, and send a message to anyone.”

When he heard one of the Stormbreaker’s songs about the Queen cracking an island, he figured it would be a good idea to have a word with the herald of the new fire god, what with his business being fire based. Emberlin tells him a few things about the Queen, and he explains how his business works. Using a failed experiment by a wizard which grants a few seconds of fire immunity, he infiltrates places and then casts a fireball point blank at his target. Emberlin, singularly impressed, asks if he would like a blessing from the Queen. He places his hand on Astri’s shoulder and asks the Queen to look upon his actions and decide whether he be worthy. On finishing, however, he realizes that this is something Sharsu should do, being the new High Paladin. Sharsu, stands up and places his mace on Astri’s shoulder. He mutters something as an ember sheen travels down his arm, through the mace, and over Astri, causing him to shudder. He glances down and sees that his gauntlet, which had been depleted from a job earlier, has been recharged.

Hex borrows some paper off of Emberlin and begins sketching something as Amber finally emerges from upstairs. She recognizes Astri from a ball in Fearanndreh the previous winter where he had a job. Astri asks where they are off to, and upon hearing they are heading to Greenspires, asks if he might travel with them. Emberlin agrees, and waves payment in lieu of a possible favour later. The group splits up to do some errands before meeting at the ship later.

Emberlin glances over at Hex and sees him drawing some kind of large fist weapon for Toothy before heading off to the Golden Wake. There, everyone is still recovering from some commotion. Inside, Mina and Glassjaw are talking over a body. Mina informs him that the Az Otho have learned she’s infected, and are now sending assassins after her. Emberlin offers to clean up the mess before stripping the body. He has a tarp brought over to hide the carnage before having Hex place Toothy underneath. After about twenty minutes of horrified stares, the sounds stop and the tarp stops moving. Hex retrieves Toothy from the blood stain that remains and then walks over to the bar as the sea of people part to give him room. Glassjaw goes over to Hex and presents him a Golden Wake medallion, officially making him a member.

Emberlin talks to Mina about the Dogs of War before asking Glassjaw for another wizard to identify things. This time, he points Emberlin to The Bloody Fang. The tired, drunk, and bloody individual behind the counter identifies the ring from the Duke’s vault as a Ring of Possession, which allows demons to take over whoever’s wearing it. She also identifies the whip from the vault. Heading back to the Golden Wake, he picks up Hex, and the two of them pick up some supplies before heading up to the ship. Once everyone has assembled, they take off and set course south-east towards Greenspires.

On the second day of travel, they begin to hear the sound of cannons in the distance. Sharu, recognizing the cannons, goes wide-eyed and tells Emberlin to fly faster. A roar follows as a giant ship descends out of the clouds above them, followed by a giant flying leviathan. Emberlin drops the ship down to the water as the ship and leviathan come careening towards them. Sharu identifies it as the “Blasphemous”, the pirate ship that the rest of the pirates don’t mess with.

Trying to outrun it, Emberlin gets a brief glimpse of the deck as it skims the water. The vast majority of the crew are gnolls, with one massive gnoll staring down the leviathan with his cloak billowing behind him. Astri asks if he should attack either of them. Emberlin decides to distract the leviathan and has Hex take over piloting. He gives a quick prayer to the Queen before preparing himself at the front of the ship. He notices that Hex is flying oddly, and realizes that he is following a Velkus flying in front of them. Emberlin jumps off the front as the tether system snaps onto him. As Hex flies the ship overtop the leviathan, Emberlin releases a torrent of fire across it as Astri unloads all the charges from his gauntlet, unleashing a hail of fireballs at it.

With the leviathan now focused on them, the Blasphemous begins to turn away. Emberlin retracts himself back to the deck as Hex begins winding the ship through a series of pillars jutting out of the sea. Emberlin directs Hex to head down towards the water again, where Emberlin begins to heat the water behind them. A cloud of steam forms, and Hex steers the ship up into the sky. The sounds of stone pillars cracking rises up from below them as Hex takes them up into the clouds before shutting off the engines. They sit there silently for half an hour, listening to the roars of the angry leviathan before they hear it moving off into the distance. Once they feel confident it has moved off, they begin to move slowly in the opposite direction before bolting at full speed away from it.

They sail on through the night , and only truly feel safe once the sun appears. The voyage takes a few more days, during which Emberlin asks Amber what she knows about Greenspires. She explains that it is an island covered in forest. Legend has it that a powerful druid willed the trees to grow as the waters came so that everyone might survive. The population is primarily tabaxi, and they have no standing army, instead opting to hire out for their defence. It is also where she trained to be a bard.

The night before they arrive at Greenspires, Hex relieves Emberlin, and he heads to the cabin to sleep. He suddenly feels a hand on his shoulder, and looks up to see the face of the Archangel. “She believes it is time” he says, and gestures towards the cabin door. Standing up, Emberlin straightens himself out, and then steps through. Before him lies the charred remains of a person. Linked to it with an ethereal chain is the mortal form of the Queen, staring down at her own body. To her right, the voice of Jopha says “It is time, child.” She looks over towards him and says “I assume you are the Vanguard of Woe?” “Yes”, he says. “I’m afraid it’s time to go.”

“No”, she says definitively. Jopha replies “Child, I’ve heard that response numerous times. It’s normal to be in denial of one’s own mortality-”, but is cut off as the Queen reaches out and lifts him up by the throat. “I said, no” she says. “I did not come all this way and do all of this to be killed here. I have killed one godling; do not make me kill a second.” Underneath his hood, Jopha’s eyes flash with a brief look of panic as he reaches for her chain. In response, she throws him back with an explosion from her hand. As he sits up, he says “How?”. She grabs her own chain and says “This is what tethers me, then?” as the chains begin to melt, break, and begin to float around her. “These are what tie me to my mortal coil. I will do with them what I will” she says as the chains begin to embed into her dress, forming the glowing metal elements of her dress.

Jopha stands up and asks “Who are you that you can do this?”. Her dress ignites in flame and goes from charred black to bright red as four fiery wings spread out from her back. She says “I am Idrith. I am the Keeper of the First Flame, the last of the Sisters of Ash. The first of the Order of Givata. Seeker of the Slumbering. The Demon of Tynlu. The Slayer of Morek. I am the Queen of Embers.” The entire area is engulfed in flames as she looks down at the remnants of her body, and then back at Jopha. “Tell your kin I am coming, and I will wake them. I will wake them all. Now, it was not their intent, but I owe somebody my thanks for killing me, and helping me escape your grasp; and I believe, for that, I owe them a favour. I will be visiting your realm to claim something from you. Until then, do not try and contact anyone. Do not try to interfere with my plans. For I can tell now I have taken up the mantle of the old gods, and if you try to interfere with me, I will come for you and all of your kin- you sister, your mother, all of them. I am the Queen of Embers. I am the goddess of fire and rage and rebirth. Go.” With a thrust of her hand, Jopha is flung back into the flames, as Emberlin sits up in his bunk.

Poking his head out of the cabin, everyone is still going about their business, seeming to have not seen what he saw. Emberlin goes back to his bunk, pulls out his tome, and writes in the front “Dedicated to Idrith, Queen of Embers”. Unable to return to sleep, he sits in the cabin and contemplates what he’s learned until the morning, when he relieves Hex at the helm. Hex, recognizing something is different, asks what happened. Emberlin tells him he had a vision, but says he tell him and Sharsu another time. Hex checks to make sure everyone is asleep, and then asks a favour. He asks if they can find another fighting pit when they reach Greenspires so that he can test something. Emberlin promises to find one, and Hex goes and curls up to sleep with Toothy in mimic form cuddles around his neck.

A few hours later, Emberlin spots an area of green and heads towards it. As they get closer, it grows from a speck to a massive island of green, formed by massive trees hundreds of meters tall rising up out of the water. Walkways and buildings, and even land stretch between and throughout the treetops, filled with countless individuals going about their daily business. They soon dock at one of the many docks scattered throughout the trees. They obtain some local knowledge from the owner, including some directions to the temples of an older religion that is still practiced. They sample the local foods on the way to the local Golden Wake, where they get rooms for the night. Astri heads off to a consultation, while Amber heads off to her old bard college to spread some stories. Emberlin “quietly” obtains directions to a fighting pit from the bartender, and he and Hex make their way there.

Arriving at the Treasure’s Deep, they find an old wooden ship which has been lifted up into the tree canopy by the trees themselves. Inside, they sample the drinks before being directed by the bartender down to the cargo hold. There, they find a cage fight going on in what was once the brig. Emberlin spots Hex the one gold entrance fee, and places a two gold bet on him as well. Hex finishes his drink while several other matches finish up before he steps into the pit along with a full-grown orc named Jawbreaker. As he enters, he brings out Toothy, who expands to cover his arms in two gauntlets made of flesh and teeth and chitin.

The match begins, and Hex’s eyes fill with a quiet rage. He jabs at Jawbreaker and lets loose a glob of acid, which the orc dodges and returns with a brutal slash across his chest; however, Hex takes it like it’s nothing. Hex returns with an uppercut to his stomach, throwing him off balance and allowing Hex to dodge the orc’s next swing. He follows it with another punch to the jaw as Jawbreaker retaliates with another slash, which once again leaves Hex unfazed. Angrily, Jawbreaker screams “who the fuck are you!?” Hex grabs him by the collar and yells “blood of dragons!” before breathing a gout of fire at him, burning across his face as he falls backwards and collapses. Hex screams in victory and sprints out of the cell to give Emberlin a hug. The organizer confusedly declares Hex the victor and pays out Hex’s and Emberlin’s winnings. The two then quickly exit the bar to avoid the very disgruntled individuals who lost a lot of money, and eventually come across another tavern called the Tutall Tavern where they celebrate Hex’s victory.

Later, they head back to the Golden Wake where they meet up with Sharsu and tell him about the fight. At Emberlin’s suggestion, they get a room for the night and begin preparing to all commune with the Queen. They all begin to focus on the fire in the center of the room, until eventually, the room fades into darkness. As the Queen steps into the light, Emberlin stands up and bows. Emberlin asks her whether the vision he had of her ascension was for others as well, or just for him. She thinks for a moment, and then leaves the choice up to him. Related, he asks who it was she told Jopha she would reclaim from him. She smirks, and answers that it was him. He also informs her that Jopha broke her instructions to not interfere, but she chuckles and says that he actually hasn’t. The individual who appeared to him was not actually Jopha, but someone pretending to be him.

Next, he requests a title for Hex, as Emberlin is her herald, and Sharsu her high paladin. She says that he already has one, but invites him forward, kneels and places her hand over his heart, and gives him the title of “champion”. Emberlin also passes on the sentiments of Ardim Nackle, and thanks her for giving everything Ardim gave to her to him. Finally, he asks why she chose him as her herald, but she smirks and says it’s not yet time for him to know that. With that, she advises that Emberlin tone down the fire when meeting the old god, and to hell them she sent him; and as the darkness fades, she repeats her order to go forth and wake the old gods.

Back in the room, Sharsu asks for the bottle of interdimensional wine. He then pulls the cloth that was wrapped around his cask off, and wraps it around the bottle. The three of them then spend the rest of the night drinking, and don’t wake up until noon the next day. Amber eventually arrives, and being informed of their state, sends a cask of water up to their room. Later they meet her at a kabob place nearby, where Amber voices her displeasure at not being included in the drinking session, and threatens bagpipe music if they ever do it again.

She then informs them that while they were getting drunk without her, she was doing research. She found some people who practice a very old religion, and a ritual which involves taking drugs and getting set adrift on a raft. Not wanting to delay, they set off towards the lower layers of the Greenspires. She leads them to a small floating hut down by the water. Amber says that this is one of the old druids, and that if anyone is going to have the information needed, it’s them, as they are very old.

Emberlin knocks, and a very old firbolg answers the door. Emberlin gets straight to the point, and says they are here to commune with the old gods. She invites them in and has them sit down while she prepares and summons some of her sisters to help. Emberlin asks if she can tell them about the old gods, but she smiles and says it’s not her place; if the old gods want you to know about them, they will tell you. She continues her preparations, but soon stops and turns towards Emberlin. She leans over and sniffs him, before saying “you are the alter of Givata”. Emberlin asks about them, and she informs him that Givata was one of the first fire elementals. He presses her for more information, but once again, she says that it’s not her place to tell.

About fifteen minutes pass of her crushing and mixing various herbs before the door opens and eight more firbolgs enter and begin helping. They eventually finish and gesture for the four of them to follow them out back. There they find a small dock with several canoes. They each sit down in one, and bowls full of the mixture are lit on fire and given to them. As they begin to deeply breathe in the smoke, the firbolgs untie the canoes. “Let the tide take you. If they want to see you, and you want to see them, you will have an audience. Good luck.”

Emberlin lies down and continues breathing deeply as his body begins to feel floaty. The current takes them along, weaving throughout the massive roots of the trees, until their paths begin to diverge. Emberlin inadvertently closes his eyes and takes a few more breaths before opening his eyes. Everything is much darker, and everyone else is gone. Suddenly, stars appear in front of the canopy of trees high above him, and the sound of footsteps wading through water reaches his ears. Lifting his head to look around, he spots a bunch of coral surrounding what he believes to be a tree, until the tree and the coral start moving and take a step. His eyes drift higher, revealing legs covered in coral, leading up to a massive deer-like creature covered in coral and bark and moss which is slowly wading through the water, eating leaves as it goes.

After a moment, it stops eating, turns, and looks at Emberlin, its eyes appearing as burning white stars. Emberlin waves and calls out to it. Its booming voice echoes through his mind, telling him to use his thoughts, and asking who he is. Emberlin introduces himself, and explains that he is here from the Queen of Embers. He says that he is here to wake the old gods, and asks if they are one of them. It says it is, and then apologies, as it has been a long time since anyone has ever talked to them. “What is a god”, it says, “but the most powerful thing in this realm?” Emberlin reiterates that he’s here to wake them, and it recognizes that it is time. They comment on how they enjoyed the quiet, but that they can feel the chaos that the others are causing. It is not a natural caos, but one born out of attempted control.

At this point, it has leaned down extremely close to the canoe, its burning eyes emanating a calm and enduring feeling. They look left and right at Emberlin’s companions, who are now there next to him, sitting petrified in their canoes (except for Hex, who simply smiles and waves at them). “Like many who do this ritual, they are all here constantly and never. You and that one are... different. Do you truly wish to waken us? The start of the awakening of us, the old gods?” Emberlin says “I do. I really do. I probably should ask you and the rest your names first, but I do.” “Names.” it responds. “You mortals are so obsessed with names. Most of us do not have names- we just exist. We are power. Force. We are eternal. You want to name things rather than figure out their essence. What they are. Who they were. Who they will be. Well then, if she wishes to wake us, let us wake. But there is a cost. You are the child. The child of them. You and your fellows. We need but a single drop of blood, and your faith that we exist. Will you give that?”

Emberlin looks over at Hex who has already slashed their palm and are now bleeding into the water. Sharsu looks over at Emberlin, gives a sigh, and says “why not?”, while Amber just looks confused. Emberlin unsheathes Good Faith and slices his thumb. Sharsu pricks his thumb with his warpick as a single drop falls into the water. Amber looks over at Emberlin, sighs, and says “if nothing else, it will be a hell of a story”, and pricks her thumb. “You have our blood, and you have our belief. Awaken gods of old, for Idrith, the Queen of Embers, wishes it so.” says Emberlin. The old god replies “The new Queen of Embers, Idrith. First of her name wishes it so. Then it shall be. Greenspires shall grow, more than they did before. I, the god of nature, will make nature rise. So be it.” They turn and start walking into the distance, fading into a mist as they go, before rushing away through the trees.

The world begins to fade back into existence around them as they float towards a dock with a bored individual reading on it. He spots them and , surprised, calls out several others to help retrieve the boats. They explain that they’re only here because they’re paid, and that this is the first time anyone has ever emerged from the other side of the ritual in a while; they are even more shocked when Emberlin says they spoke to the old gods. Suddenly, the trees around them groan and start moving and growing. “Yeah. That might be us. Sorry?” says Emberlin, as he notices a velkus sitting on a branch nearby. “What did you do?” they ask, as they run off to tell people what has happened. The archangel stands nearby, gives a nod to Emberlin, and raises a glass, as the group takes a drink from the glasses they are now holding. “And so it begins”, he says.