15. Regret is a Rat

5th Sypheros, 998 YK

Tamara does the recap, giving Nerysdeth Soranath an advance on their least developed theme
Damien's player is missing today
We have a brief cutscene, showing what happened with The Kind after they left the fort. Written below.
They sit in awkward silence on the carriage ride back to Vedykar. Once they get on the train back to Sharn, they have a chat about what happened.
Nerys doesn't feel good about what went down in there. They're pretty new to this adventuring thing, is that what it's always like?
"This was fucked" - Ruckus
They all agree with that sentiment. Nerys wonders what they could've done differently.
Yashira says they might've managed it with less bloodshed, but the construct wasn't their fault. It was already down there, and it would've activated regardless, eventually.
The biggest problem now is that they've stolen this artifact from the Karrnathi military. What does Nigel want with these artifacts?
Nerys says he's a professor or something right? What does he want with these things?
Are we the bad guys?
Ruckus says everywhere they've been, they destroyed something or made things worse. They led gnolls to the Shining Valley, people died who wouldn't have if they hadn't been there.
Nerys doesn't agree about the Thelanis adventure. Ruckus points out they stole a cultural relic of the goblins. They stole the hoarfrost flower from Icewhite Island, causing the ruins to collapse. They had to wait in so many queues in Daanvi, and that sucked so hard.
And now this? They've fucked over so many people at Fort Bones.
Nerys thinks Lhara would check clients to make sure they aren't shady? Clifftop are meant to be the good guys, right?
Regardless, they don't like how this adventure went, or what they had to do to succeed. Nerys thought they were heroes before this.
Yashira thinks they're all jumping to conclusions, they're feeling bad and spiralling without concrete answers. She wants to talk to Lhara, and then to Nigel, and sus out what went wrong here, and why they're doing all this. They can't change what's happened, so it's best to try and keep their heads screwed on and sort out the consequences and feelings.
Nerys asks if they think Nigel is bad? Ruckus doesn't want to jump to conclusions yet.
"What do we do if he's bad?"
Ruckus says they'll have to cross that bridge when they come to it. If they refuse the jobs, he'll just hire someone else to do it, as he's already done once before.
But they can decide how they proceed with future missions, what the acceptable risks are. They all agree on that.
Except Charlie, who's been staring out the window and hasn't said anything for ages. He hasn't been listening to the conversation, he's too in his own head.
Yashira addresses him directly. She apologises if he felt they had to follow through with what happened, and that she pushed him to do so despite his obvious conflict. "We're all feeling unsure about the actions we took today"
Yashira floats the possibility of returning the Queen of Night to The Kind if they don't like Nigel's answers. They don't have to hand it over.
Charlie says he left something behind in Fort Bones. He left a note for the Kind, telling him to look him in Sharn.
Yashira lets out the most Yashira "ah" she's ever ah'd
That's...fine
Did he give them his address?
"No I'm not that stupid, fuck"
Charlie explains the contents of the note, requesting that the Kind meet him at the Blood of Vol shrine in Sharn
Ban says "it's okay, sweetheart", which makes me want to cry
They'll go to the meeting too, and support him. Yashira asks, hypothetically, what they do if the Kind means Charlie harm? Will he defend himself?
Charlie is hoping it won't come to that. He doesn't have a plan for if it goes to shit
Ban doesn't think he needs to worry about it right now, "try to be Kind to yourself"
Yashira "yeah I agree, but if you fail to plan you plan to fail"
Read the room, Yashira
She does
They have a few days at least before they need to worry about that
Charlie then says he needs to apologise to Luca Syara. Nerys asks why?
"I dragged her all the way to Fort Bones to save me, and maybe for nothing"
Yashira asks if that's who she heard Charlie talking to, when they were running? That was Luca?
Huh
Charlie doesn't know who he'd be without Luca, she's supported everything he's done. He doesn't want to lose her.
Yashira says that if Luca came to support him, to save him, in that situation, she's not going to leave him. Even if she got hurt. She doesn't think he needs to worry about that.
Ban agrees, Luca's chill like that
Charlie's just feeling rattled, everything feels like shit. Nerys comments that they're still covered in shit, so that isn't helping
Ruckus says it feels right that they be covered in shit right now
Nerys says this is when the heroes pick themselves up and rise to the challenge! Charlie snaps at them, "this is real life, this isn't a storybook"
Oooooooo
Nerys, dejected, apologises
Damien's been uncharacteristically quiet
Yashira tries to cheer up Nerys, and says that stories sometimes give them the courage and motivation to be different people, they're powerful things. It's not silly to fall back on them when you're feeling down
Charlie says that any other day, he'd feel the same, and he wouldn't have made such a comment. He's feeling empty right now, he's sorry
It's all very emotional
Ban tells them it's okay to not feel great, they'll be okay
Charlie ponders whether it's the artifact, actually...
Yashira asks if it's safe to keep it on his person, actually? Do they need to take it in turns to carry it?
Ban offers. Charlie doesn't know that he wants anyone else to feel like he currently feels
Ruckus comments that he's treating it like some kind of atonement. Got 'em
He gets the chess piece out, and asks someone else to hold it, but give it back if it makes them feel bad
Ban takes the piece, and colour drains from his world as a hungry gnawing sensation takes over his insides. Charlie starts to feel better, and asks how Ban is feeling?
Ban lies, and says he feels fine, but they others aren't convinced. They see the colour drain from his face!
Nerys suggests just putting it on the ground or in a backpack or something
Yashira suggests two people could hold it at once? See if it lessens the burden?
They sandwich the artifact between Ban and Yashira's hands, whilst Ban is saying "no it's fine really"
God this thing sucks. Yashira experiences the same symptoms, gradually taking over. She looks at Ban, and then to her own hand and sees her skin going ashen. Maybe it's helping a bit but the artifact is too potent.
Maybe they can all hold hands and feel miserable together.
Ruckus puts his hand on it as well, and the existential angst takes over.
Ruckus says he's felt worse, he had some "wormshine" recently and that was bad!
They all put their hand on the artifact (including Damien). Chloe does his voice lines
All for one, and one for all!
Nerys comments that no wonder Alinda Dorn was grumpy, if she had this on her almost all the time. Goodness gracious.
They decide to turn one of their backpacks into the "sadpack" and take turns carrying it.
They also decide not to tell Nigel they have it until they get their answers.
They put it in Ruckus' bag, hoping that all of the metal scrap will absorb some of the necrotic radiation emitting from it
Nerys asks if they go straight to Nigel, or whether they stop at the guild first? They're concerned Nigel will kill them
Charlie says he's not gonna be killed by someone named fucking Nigel
They're all snapping at each other, the Queen of Night is having an impact
They decide to speak to Lhara first
In the evening, while they're getting ready for bed, Nerys asks Ban for a cookie, and then puts it under Charlie's door
Ban is prepared, he has his Depression Cookies supplies. He gives Nerys 5 cookies
He has no icing though, it doesn't store well. Nerys wanted to write "sorry" on them :(
The cookie makes Charlie smile, which he hasn't done for a while. He makes a mental note to do something nice for Nerys

7th Sypheros, 998 YK

They go to speak to Lhara, who's in the guildhall tavern. She sees how serious they all look and takes them to her office.
Ban has the sadpack right now
Lhara sits down and asks them what's up?
Nerys asks if there's any kind of background check for clients?
Lhara explains that there is, and they don't take jobs that they don't agree with. What happened?
Nerys says they had to do something bad on their recent job, and they're worried that Nigel might be bad. What is he doing with the artifacts?
Lhara calls back to their first mission, when Nigel gave them the pitch, and confirms he's a professor at Morgrave University. He has a full academic history.
Ban says he's concerned that when they take these artifacts, they're leaving things worse than they were.
Lhara says, as representatives of the guild, they should be taking steps to mitigate harm and ensure they aren't leaving things worse than they found them. Do they have specifics on where they think that has happened?
Charlie says people died on their most recent job, people who didn't need to. Them taking the artifact led to a machine that killed people. How much death is acceptable?
Lhara says, ideally, none. They killed people?
Well, no, but their actions lead to the release of a construct that did, so it's their fault.
They didn't try to stop it?
They did, but they couldn't
Lhara seems uncomfortable, and explains that this doesn't sound like a moral failing, they had no way of knowing that would happen. They tried to minimise the damage, they just failed.
They mention it didn't help that this happened while the Valenar were attacking
Lhara blows air through her teeth, and says they still didn't know it would happen. Does anything tie the events to the guild?
They say no. Charlie looks guilty.
Lhara pounces on that, and asks what happened. He explains he left a note, but it only ties to him and no one else. If they need to, they can disavow him.
Lhara says they aren't in the habit of abandoning their staff.
Lhara says that it seems like they deem this mission a failure. Did they retrieve the artifact?
Charlie says yes
Ruckus says they want to be clear on things before they hand it over, though
So they want to speak to Nigel. Okay.
Nerys says they wanted to speak to her first in case he has them killed
Lhara laughs, what are they expecting him to do? He's a twinky little professor
Lhara asks what their plan is if they aren't satisfied with his answers
Not give it to him?
Mhmm. They probably can't take it back, they'll get arrested
Nerys asks if they have a secure vault or something?
Lhara looks directly at Ban, and asks who has it right now? "You feeling okay, Ban?"
"Super"
She partially sees through it, but he successfully hides how bad it is
Lhara asks, directly, if the artifact is dangerous?
Charlie tells her that he overheard a conversation that indicated it would eventually kill whoever is carrying it. It saps life.
They'd really feel better if they knew Nigel had a way to safely store it.
Lhara says they could maybe work something out with House Kundarak, but she wants to limit how many people know they have it. It's a bit too hot
She asks if they're ready to talk to Nigel? She can contact him
She sends word, and they go get some lunch while they wait. They take the artifact with them.
Nerys is carrying the sadpack when they return. It saps the whimsy from their bells, it's irredeemable.
Nigel's writing when they come in, but he speaks immediately and asks what's going on?
Yashira says she's hoping he could answer some questions about his research.
She asks a fairly loaded question about what she thinks his research is, and he explains that manifest zones are not very well understood, but they're valuable. Sharn exists within two! The zones allow for things that would be impossible otherwise. Imagine if they could make an Irian zone specifically for a hospital, that would be revolutionary. Similarly, some zones are harmful, like Mabar zones. Imagine if they could blunt those!
Yashira is concerned about the objects they've taken, aren't they going to impact the manifest zones? Nigel doesn't believe so, he thinks the zones power the artifacts, not the other way around. In theory, their removal won't have impacted the zones at all.
Though Yashira thinks they've weakened Fort Bones by taking the Queen of Night.
Charlie pays attention to what Nigel is saying, and compares it to his own understanding to determine whether he thinks Nigel is right and knows what he's doing. Nigel does seem to know what he's doing, but Charlie thinks he's being a bit optimistic, jumping the gun a bit. The idyllic future he describes is a way off.
Charlie asks how Nigel is going to store this object? It's dangerous
Nigel asks how it's dangerous? It was hard to get information on it
Charlie explains
Nigel says Morgrave has facilities to store dangerous artifacts, people bring cursed shit back from Xen'drik all the time. Do they know how much exposure is dangerous?
Charlie says the Kind was concerned about the long term exposure of Captain Dorn, but it didn't seem too immediate
Nigel says he'll ensure everybody who interacts with it will be informed of the risk.
Charlie says if he hears that health and safety regulations aren't being followed, he will not be a happy bunny.
Noted
Nigel asks if they actually have it?
This is the time if anyone has any doubts, to voice them
Yashira doesn't think he's malicious, but he's playing with powerful forces. There's risk
They are satisfied though
Nerys appears to be zoning out, so one of the others gets it out of the sadpack and hands it to Nigel
"Oh...this sucks"
He puts it down and gets some gloves. They don't help.
He's gonna go put it behind some shielding. He asks if they need anything else, and then skedaddles. Lhara will pay them.
Lhara pays them, yay! There would've been an additional reward if they'd implicated the Valenar, but they didn't. Morality is its own reward!

Nerys' Childhood Friend?

Some time later, a rat approaches Nerys and Yashira, and Zae's voice comes out of it. It gives them an address in Callestan, takes them to use a specific lift, at midnight.
Obviously, they're going
They have a chat about who to involve in this. Yashira is happy to continue with just them, but should they involve the others?
Nerys thinks they should tell the others what they're doing. They're pretty nervous, and they have a fear of something happening to them and nobody knowing about it.
Yashira is worried that they can't involve others, because the Tarkanan's were pretty unhappy about them looking into them. As she's saying this, she writes a note and shows it to Nerys, saying they'll tell the others. She's being smart, Zae is always watching!
Yashira drafts a note for the others, telling them what they're doing and where.
"Hey, don't read this aloud, rats are listening. We're looking into something for Nerys, we've been given instructed. They have spies that control rats, they're listening. If we're not back by X, go to Y"
It sounds insane.
They go to Callestan, and Yashira notes an unusual number of herons about. That's weird.
They follow the instructions, meeting Bal, who takes them to a secluded alleyway where Zae and a dwarf are waiting for them. The dwarf is weird.
The dwarf is named Brom Tarkanan. He steps forward and examines Nerys, but he apologises as he doesn't know them. He asks if they know him?
Nerys touches his face, trying to imagine his face without the mutations, but they don't think it's Razgon Soldorak. They don't know him.
Nerys says he has pretty eyes though. He grins with many species teeth, and says no one has ever said anything nice about his appearance.
Nerys apologises for being sad that he's not who they thought he was. He apologises too, he was hoping they knew each other, he doesn't remember much from before he manifested his mark.
Maybe they can be friends anyway
Nerys hugs him, and he hugs her back with the arm of an ogre.
Yashira asks if his mark is what lead to his appearance?
He looks up at her, and she almost flinches at his face.
Bal says that Brom has the most powerful mark he's ever seen. Brom explains that he can regenerate from any harm, but stuff don't come back right. He got hit in the head once, and his brain didn't come back the same. He hopes he was kind, before.
Nerys is confident he was
Yashira comments that this is a dead end in the investigation, do they know of anyone of Razgon's description?
They don't, but comment he's likely not in the upper city. He'd have a similar problem to Brom walking the streets.
Yashira asks if there's anything they can do for Brom, to help control the regeneration? It can't be pleasant
Zae tells a story about Brom losing his heart once, and her grandfather had to repeatedly do surgery on him until he grew back a heart that was big enough to actually circulate his blood. He was unconscious until he grew the right one back. If they had a way to control it, they'd jump on it.
Yashira will look into it using her resources.
Nerys gets a story of the Mror Holds from their book, of how their stories change based on where you are, who's the good guys and who's the bad. There's a prince who falls asleep at the end, but ends on a hopeful note. The prince was betrayed, still sleeping somewhere, waiting to be woken when dwarven kind needs them. They hand this story to Brom.
"I can't say who you are, I don't know you, but your accent seems to be Mror. I want you to have this, to remind you of your people. If you forget, you can just read it again."
It's a beautiful moment, but one that Tamara thinks constitutes an Abandon moment for their Talespinner theme. They move away, a bit, from their selfish desire to collect stories for themselves. People are more than that. They also remove the Sleeping Prince from their repertoire.
Even though Brom isn't Razgon, Nerys still feels a connection to him. She wants to be friends.
They stay and talk for a while, which washes away some of Yashira's prejudices about Aberrants. Maybe...the Houses are wrong about them?
They're just people, though! With full inner lives and problems. This is transformative for Yashira, she does what she does to protect the people of Sharn, and that includes the Aberrants.
This constitutes a Milestone for one of her themes

Be Kind to Yourself

Charlie makes his way to Grauwand, without telling anyone else. That's the only Blood of Vol shrine in Sharn.
He doesn't know where that shrine is though, and he's not Karrnathi. Grauwand is an insular community, and events during the war have alienated them.
He has to ask around, and but eventually he gets someone to tell him where to go, and he heads over to the Hazal family estate. Lan Hazal is tending to it when he arrives.
He shakily introduces himself, and explains that he met someone in Karrnath and gave them instructions to meet him here. He's very flustered, and asks if he needs to provide alms or something?
Lan tells him to calm down, they don't need donations. He needs help?
Charlie, flustered, talks to himself and uses his real name. Lan asks if that's his name, and he says "No no, for all intents and purposes, it's TT!"
Got it, TT
Lan asks what the instructions he gave were? What should he be looking out for?
Charlie explains, and says that he needs to explain something, to apologise for something.
So he wants to right a wrong. Okay. Lan asks what he should say if this person arrives, where can he find Charlie, or contact him?
Fuck, Charlie hadn't thought about that. Maybe magic?
Lan says he can cast Sending, but he needs his real name for that.
Sigh
Charlie gives it, though he's already said it. He apologises, he's normally more put together than this
Lan asks if he needs help, clearly whatever is going on is eating him up
He explains that he did something wrong, and it's caused a crisis of morality. What does he do?
Lan asks if he can actually fix the problem? Charlie says he can't, he doesn't think
Lan says okay, if he can't fix the problem, can he reframe it? Was it actually as bad as he thinks?
Charlie isn't sure, it's definitely bad, but not maybe not the worst. He's just tired of disappointing people.
Lan explains that the comforting thing there is that, he can make that choice. He can do better next time, make the choice that is better for others, even if not for himself.
Charlie says he doesn't want to keep screwing people over. Lan says "well then, don't. Make the hard choice"
Charlie gets out his money, all of it. He says he could buy so much with this, but is there any way it could help Lan's community? Is he being stupid?
Lan says he's not in need, and he looks after his people, and the broader followers of his faith. If Charlie wants to help, there are no end to those suffering in Sharn.
Charlie is so confused. Lan's been so nice to him, he needs to give him something. Lan asks him to make better choices, and suggests he come back next Zol and attend the Sacrament of Blood. No pressure to participate, just come and watch.
Charlie feels relieved. He'll do that.
A few days later, Charlie returns to attend the Sacrament.
He watches the communal bloodletting, and then the consuming of that blood. It spooks him a bit, but he hears Lan's words on how it signifies the community being a greater whole, and it softens his feelings towards it.
When it's done, and the people are mingling, Lan comes over and asks Charlie how he's doing?
He says not great, but better.
Lan tells him to get a little pastry and come with him, he has something for him
Lan takes Charlie to his office, and hands him a package, along with a letter. The envelope says "TT - Read Before Opening Package"
The text of the letter is below. Charlie is a little bit devastated. He puts the letter away, and opens the package.
The cardboard box contains a smaller, nicer box made of a dark coloured wood, lined with red velvet. Contained within is the skeleton of a rat, the first thing that Charlie reanimated. He starts to tear up, which is really awkward for Lan who had no idea he'd been sent a dead rat.
He's a trooper though, ol' Lan.
Charlie reanimates the skeleton, though at his level of expertise this requires constant effort on his part. He has it move around a bit, acting like a rat, before he lets the magic fade and puts it back into the box.
Lan asks if he's okay. He doesn't know, but he thinks this is okay.
Charlie asks if they do the Sacrament every week? Lan confirms they do, several times in the day infact. His house isn't big enough for everyone to do it at once.
Charlie thanks him, says he'll see him next week, and skedaddles with the box.
Charlie goes back to the others to tell them that they don't need to worry, The Kind isn't going to come after them. Also, he has a rat.
Nerys asks what the rat's name is?
Charlie hasn't gotten that far. Maybe Warren?

Prologue

The Kind steps back into his office, a light sheen of blood-sweat across his forehead from the exertion of reasserting control of the Cadaver Collector. He gets a cloth out from under his desk and wipes it away, before freezing as his eyes lock on a small piece of paper on the floor by the door.

He walks over and picks it up, immediately unfolding and reading it.

"I'm so sorry, this was never meant to happen. BoV shrine Sharn ask for TT - Nathan"

He sighs, a deep and weary sigh that can only come from age and too much experience. He mutters to himself, "what have you gotten into?", as he steps back out into the Sanctum and looks around.

He then walks shakily over to the fireplace, and tosses the paper into it. He stands there for some time, watching it burn away, until his reverie is disturbed by Captain Dorn.

"It's gone" she says, anger trembling under her usually calm voice.

"What is?" asks The Kind

"The Queen of Night. It's gone."

The Kind stares into the fire for several seconds before he answers. "I see. The elves?"

"Didn't breach the wall, as far as we know. The sewer grate in the Wash was blown open, though, and the elves do use bombs. The new recruits are missing too, as well as several of the Minister's retinue."

"You suspect its connected? They were working with the elves?"

"I don't know, but I plan to find out."

Brom Tarkanan

As you step off of the lift in Callestan, you notice a cloaked and hooded figure nearby, tall and skinny. Bal waits until most of the other occupants have exited the lift before he approaches you, and asks you to follow him.

He leads you through the streets of Callestan to a secluded alleyway. Zae is sat on a crate, kicking her legs like a bored child, with only three visible rats surrounding her. Standing in the middle of the alleyway is another cloaked and hooded figure, this one short and stout like a dwarf ,or a teapot.

That last bit sounded like a joke, but there is something off about the dwarf's stature. The right side of his cloak is higher than the left, and it seems to be hiding some enormous bulge that must be coming from their shoulder. They have a long black beard, but they also keep their hood low over their face until you get close.

Bal stops a few feet away from the dwarf. "Brom, this is Nerys. They're looking for their friend, a dwarf they lost with some…abnormalities. Do they remind you of anything?"

Brom, the dwarf, steps forward and lifts their head so they can get a better look at you. They're a little bit taller than you, so you can see more of their face than the others as they do so. Brom is hardly recognisable as a dwarf, his eyes are mismatched, like the description you gave, but they don't even look like the eyes of a dwarf. His left eye is the yellow eye of some kind of reptile, and the skin around the socket is feathered with green scales. Despite his mismatched appearance, he seems a jolly fellow and he gives you a smile, revealing a set of teeth that would baffle Eberron's best dentists. It's like the teeth of 3 or 4 different species were implanted into the mouth of one dwarf, all different sizes and fighting for the limited space. Now that you're closer, you can see that his right arm is horrifically oversized, as if somebody had grafted the arm of an ogre onto the dwarf, and his left arm looks like the arm of a lizardfolk or dragonborn.

His voice is pleasantly deep, with just a twinge of a Mror accent. He seems a little bit disappointed when he speaks. "Ach, I'm sorry. I don't remember you Nerys. Do you recognise my face?"

Nerys does not, even without all of the mutations his facial structure isn't recognisable. Brom is not Razgon.

"I don't remember much from before I manifested my mark. It was worth a try"

The Kind's Letter

Nathan,

I'm sorry I couldn't deliver this in person, but I am unable to leave my post at Fort Bones. I don't know what situation you've found yourself in, I regret that I couldn't help. If you'd told me what was going on, I would have tried to find a way.

I would love to tell you to come back, that it would be okay, but I don't believe that. Captain Dorn is on the war path, and I don't think you'd even get a trial. It's unfortunate how things go sometimes.

You were a joy to teach, for the short time we had together. I believe, if you wanted to, you could go far with the art of necromancy. In fact, I believe you could achieve much with any field of magic you chose to study, provided it could hold your interest.

I've sent a package along with this letter. I hope it arrives safely and in good condition, but for reasons that will be obvious when you open it, I couldn't exactly specify what it was.

It is my hope that events conspire to cross our paths again.

Regretfully,

The Kind