Session 63
Date: 2024-09-07
Edmeera’s Assassin
Section titled “Edmeera’s Assassin”The assassin moved with lethal grace, her eyes gleaming like molten gold, cold and hungry. Yunivik, draped in dark robes, her ash-black wings trailing like shadows, advanced with a singular, deadly intent. Her voice, a venomous hiss, echoed through the corridors:
“I am here for one purpose. To find and kill the one who failed Edmeera and the one who sleeps with the Cindari whore. Sirius and Preslynn have been marked for death and will taste my blade.”
She didn’t waste time. With a flick of her wrist, the door to Peach and Orianna’s quarters exploded inward. But Sirius wasn’t there. The room was empty, save for the aftermath of splintered wood and Yunivik’s growing frustration.
Zaelira, the dark elf in charge of the Valiant’s aether chamber, had inadvertently misled Yunivik when Yunivik, under the guise of Gaute Stonefist, asked her where Sirius slept while passing in one of the ship’s hallways. For now, that meant Sirius and Preslynn were safe. Yunivik’s sharp eyes narrowed, and with a snarl she dashed away from the group, racing around the circular hallway, hunting.
Orianna, Peach, Aydriann, and Mack chased after her. Their steps echoed in the round corridor, but it was Aydriann who acted first. He hurled blades at the fiend, steel whistling through the air as he sought to slow her down. For a heartbeat it seemed to work, as Yunivik paused, turning. Then the air thickened. Aydriann’s vision swam as an unseen force slammed into him, sending him crashing to the floor, wracked with an internal agony that nearly claimed his life. Only a last-second twist saved him from a death as sudden as it was final.
Mack raised her arm and unleashed a full-powered laser blast that seared into Yunivik’s form, radiant energy crackling along her robes. The fiend staggered, but barely. With a vicious gesture she lashed out, sending a wave of invisible force toward Mack. The warrior grunted, winded, but stood her ground…barely.
Orianna charged, her greatsword gleaming in the dim light of the ship. With fury in her heart she swung, aiming to force the fiend into combat. Peach followed, fists moving in a blur, each strike seeking to stun, to end this nightmare before it grew worse. But Yunivik, in all her dark power, shrugged off the blows.
Desperation flickered in Yunivik’s eyes. Her time in this realm was running thin. Edmeera, the goddess of pain, demanded results. With renewed speed she broke free of the group’s assault and darted toward Ember and Aydriann’s quarters. The thought struck them all at once…what if Sirius was with Preslynn and Venoxyin? What if Yunivik reached them first?
They couldn’t let that happen.
Orianna planted herself in Yunivik’s path as the fiend made for the door. But Yunivik’s power was too great. A pulse of force sent Orianna stumbling, gasping in pain. Yunivik reached the door and raised her hand to it. The door shattered as the fiend blasted it apart, revealing Sirius standing firm amid the debris. Behind him, Preslynn and Venoxyin huddled together, fear etched into their faces.
Yunivik smiled as she drew a short blade. Dark ichor dripped from its edge, and Mack’s breath caught in her throat. She remembered Adelaide, remembered the wound that had killed her…poisoned with Necrovoid, the venom that severs a soul’s tether to this world and makes resurrection impossible.
“Orianna!” Mack’s shout rang out. “It’s Necrovoid!”
The moment sharpened, every breath drawn in urgency. Peach lunged first, followed by Orianna, both warriors hurling themselves at the fiend with everything they had left. Orianna, with her blade blazing, smote the fiend with the wrathful lightning of Xanthos, the fallen divine. Her greatsword cleaved through Yunivik’s form, and the fiend screamed…her body unraveling into a cloud of black soot, a final echo of her death.
And then, silence.
Orianna and Peach fell to their knees beside Sirius, wrapping him in a fierce embrace, holding on as if to banish the terror that still lingered like smoke. The threat was gone, but the fear…the fear of what could have been…remained.
Aydriann and Mack shared a glance. This battle was over. But the future? That was a different story altogether, one that promised only darker days ahead.
Jester’s Curse
Section titled “Jester’s Curse”The Forbidden Section of the Runespire’s vast library stood apart from the world, a mirror to an archive hidden from existence itself. The architecture was a blend of the enigmatic and the ornate, vaulted ceilings stretching upward to a glass dome. In this section, sun and clouds were projected above.
Dax and Rondahl stood before an indexing station, its surface covered in glowing runes that shifted and changed as they searched. Rondahl had been tasked with researching curses and the mysterious Fungar, a challenge that had thus far proved daunting. Suddenly his eyes lit up with excitement.
“I think I’ve found something!” Rondahl exclaimed, stuttering slightly as he leaped toward a spiral staircase that wound to the second floor. “Find yourself a seat at the table, Dax. I’ll be back shortly.”
As Dax settled into an ornately carved chair, minutes later Rondahl returned with a leather-bound volume clutched in his hands. Its title, embossed in fading gold leaf, read The Jester’s Curse.
With reverence, Rondahl placed the book upon a golden tray. His hand remained atop the cover as he intoned, without stutter, “For this I give to you, binding you to this place until its return.”
As Rondahl lifted his hand, Dax felt a subtle shift in the air around him, as if invisible threads had woven themselves into his very being. Despite this new tether, Dax’s curiosity won out. He opened the book and dove into an account of three entities bound as one…a historical tale that promised to shed light on the mysterious Fungar and events long past.
Velleyanna’s Betrayal
Section titled “Velleyanna’s Betrayal”The library’s silence was as thick as the stone walls of Luxin Castle, broken only by the drip and patter of rain against the glass dome far above. Ember watched Patricia warily. The woman paused at the foot of a spiral staircase.
“Wait here,” Patricia said humbly, her voice carrying a melancholy note. She gestured toward a dark wood chair carved with archaic runes. Before it stood a table large enough for a small council, though only two chairs flanked its length. At its center sat a golden tray, wrought by the finest crafters.
Ember hesitated, weighing her options as carefully as a cutpurse eyes a Luxin’s coin purse. In the end caution won out, and she took her seat.
When Patricia returned, she carried a tome bound in black leather fashioned from dragon hide. Its title read Gray Blood and the God Killer. Patricia placed her pale hand atop the cover and spoke words that carried the weight of ancient magic: “For this I give to you, binding you to this place until its return.” The air grew cold, and the rain’s tempo increased to a furious drumbeat.
As Ember delved into the book’s pages, she found herself transported to a time nearly a millennium past. The saga of Sypha Ignis and Velleyanna unfolded before her, a tale of betrayal as bitter as any sung in the taverns across Fornova.
It was Velleyanna’s account that made Ember pause. Her gaze snapped to Patricia, suspicion flaring. “You’re her daughter,” Ember asked.
Patricia nodded, her façade crumbling. “I’ve worn many faces, lived many lives,” she admitted. “All to escape the shadow of my mother’s choice. The lore and history of this world paint a dark picture of her. I would have been shown no kindness.”
“How?” Ember asked, cautious and ready.
“A bargain,” Patricia replied, her voice heavy with centuries of memory. “Struck with Jaz to safeguard me from Edmeera’s wrath. Immortality was the price… and the curse. I was to stay here waiting for you to come. Jaz said I should appear as a Cindari. Each time it was necessary I would change my name and my history along with my appearance.”
“Is this what you look like?” Ember asked.
“No,” Patricia said.
Before Ember’s eyes Patricia’s glamour fell away. The woman who stood before her now bore scars…an eye clouded brown and useless, skin marred by burns.
Rage ignited within Ember, her tattoos flaring to life with an orange glow. “Edmeera will pay,” she snarled, shaking, her voice a promise of vengeance.
As the fury subsided, leaving embers in its wake, Ember began to think of what she needed to do. “Are there other tomes here? About Sypha Ignis?”
Patricia nodded. That was all the answer Ember needed.