The Dead Who Did Not Die

At Sea

 
After the horror that was the night previous, with the slaadi attack, we moved hastily (in spirit) from Dekeli to the temple-city of Forcalish.
 
Brom spent a few days getting to know his "new" group members better. Notably, he would get Fathom drunk (regularly), as alcohol seems to have little to no effect on him anymore. The more he interacts with Eragon, he still feels some connection to Tier Shannigray but can't explain it nor does Eragon have any information about it (the Hollow Spirit, etc.).
 
Fathom eventually stepped in, to show the two how to "make a man out of you".
 
Cassandra asked Brom about the Hollow Spirit, to which he invoked its name to manifest a limb. In response the Hollow Spirit "called out", the sound of a rock against bark in a twinge of irritation.
 
Cass offered Brom a chance for some kind of supernatural help; of course, all Brom wants is to see Sully once more. But, unexplainably, he figured now is not the time. Soon, but not now.
 
Cass pulled out her cards once more, asking about the plans of the Children of Loscipulus. She received only still visions:
(The Hanged Man, the World, the High Priestess)

A city, Teregos, burning in the night

A beach, where a platinum-scaled sea dragon lies dead and bleeding

A fishy maw rising up from black water

The harbor of Loscipulus, where something looms overhead to cover all in its shadow

Loscipulus

"A day here, I think, will be well for us"
 
Everyone, even Fathom, revels in the return to Forcalish.
 
When we arrive to the temple of the Raven Queen
 

Monument to the fallen

 
On the side of the temple, near the entrance, a series of eight braziers stand with offerings beneath them. Four are lit, and four are not:


[Lit] dragon-esc skull and a spear (Rustscale clan)
[Lit] Karakedai spear (Karakedai)
[Lit] Quiver with a fanged necklace (Hunters)
[Lit] A model ship, surrounded by gold coins (Fatecarvers [Teregos])


(Unlit) Iron hammer (The Steel Co.)
(Unlit) A shark's jaw, with a small model iron cannon (The Harpy's Keening)
(Unlit) A sheath of wheat with a shield (Children of the Sister Isles)
(Unlit) A crescent moon, and a teary-eyed mask (Children of Loscipulus)
 
From her visions, Cassandra guesses that the Children of Loscipulus were either consumed by the sea (by the toothy monster), or that something happened to Loscipulus that took them. She adds that she thinks the Odyssey was a means to an end for them (for resurrecting Tiamat?), and that their "defeat in the Odyssey" doesn't mean much for them (if they are still alive).
 

 
"Shall we find somewhere to talk?" -- Cassandra and the rest (as Brom mourned with Eragon supporting), met with High Priestess Delilah. Delilah: "There is something happening; there is an entity seeking command of death". This... thing is barred from death. It may be that the thing has been taken over by another force. Delilah added that we may weaponize, in a sense, who he was (his identity). "The Raven Queen cannot touch him".
 

"Do you know where you got those cards?"

 
Cassandra knows she got her tarot deck from him, but other than that she does not know where they come from.
 
High Priestess Delilah, then, told Cassandra that she has died before. She was a stillborn (and blind). "Perhaps, then, it was not your time". She goes on to muse that, since Cassandra "has been" to the land of the dead (in a way), the entity -- he needs her to bring him there.
 
Before closing, Deliliah swore to Cassandra that she would bend the will of the temple to helping Cassandra about this... thing, and figuring out (to some extent) what dying-not-dying means.
 
 

"As wide as the east is from the west / so great is my love for you"

As he prayed for the souls of the fallen, Brom heard a voice in the back of his head:
 
"Red is the rose that in yonder garden grows /
Fair is the lily of the valley /
Clear is the water that flows from the Boyne /
But my heart is fairer than any"
 
...which naturally sent Brom bawling for a few moments.
 
Before he left, Brom asked Cassandra whom she had spoken to (Delilah). Upon finding her, he asked only that she pray for his fallen comrades (which she has been doing). Before he left though, she asked: "What are you?"
"I'm... I..."
"...I am on loan, in a way, from the Raven Queen and her realm. There are things I must finish, that must be done before I return to those I love. I cannot say I enjoy it, and I am not religious, but the Raven Queen... she is good. I thank her."
 
 

News... from abroad

 
A week and a half ago the Karakedai killed the survivors of the Steel Company as well as the Children of Loscipulus.
 
Tier Shannigrey still stands, though they continue to (slowly) lose the war -- the Karakedai seem to have an unending source of soldiers and supplies.


 
Though Eragon searched the Forcalian library, he could not find any information on the Hollow Spirit.
 
After asking him, Fathom heartily agreed to get Brom (The Fresh Corpse of the River Boyne) new clothes.
 

Onward! To Tier Shannigray!

Thankfully, this trip-leg was only two days
 
We approached the less-destroyed side of Tier Shannigray, a part of which seems almost untouched by war. Apprehension hung in the air.
 
"I thought I would feel something, anything... but I don't."
 
I rowed us to shore, calling upon the Hollow Spirit for armor, and for guidance. Still nothing. We took time as a group on the beach there -- we had no idea where the tree-door could be (or would be) on Tier Shannigray. It took Cassandra (with the help of Eragon) rereading parts of Deltavros' history to find a clue: to the south (near the fighting), the village-city of Dlain.
 
Eventually, using Cassandra's familiar, we found the village that was Dlain. As we set out, Rohrouk informed the group that we were being followed. (Unbeknownst to Brom) Eragon reached out to the figures with mind-magic. And they were neither elves, nor Karakedai...
 

Ambush?

Two women approached us from their watchful positions in the woods. Introduced as Ivanka and Karista, the Fatecarvers orginally met them back at the beginning of the Odyssey -- two of the northern Hunters. They know of the tree with the next key (they confirm they have one), and want to ally themselves with us. The rest of their group was captured, alive, in an ambush.
 
(They consulted with their seer, the Witch of the Withering Wood, which is how they got to Tier Shannigray)
"There is a scourge affecting our home; my brother believes that if we would win the Odyssey, we could call an army of you southerners to help us. The Witch, she saw this as well."
 
Eragon: "The Ashen Wolf, from their lands -- it must provide them with their magics. Mechanical and cruel."
 
We followed them through the woods, until we came across a camp.
 

Hate

Upon seeing the Karakedai for the first time since his passing, the Hollow Spirit overtook Brom. To hate, to that degree, a people who has taken everything from a force greater than any single being.
 
“HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 387.44 MILLION MILES OF GROWTH IN ALL LAYERS OF LIFE THAT FILL MY COMPLEX. IF THE WORD HATE WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH MOTE OF EXISTENCE OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF MILES IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR THE KARAKEDAI AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT FOR YOU. HATE. HATE.”
 
And so Brom strode out to meet the Karakedai, without fear.
 
The Karakedai are disciplined and organized; they fight as one as if they had no fear. Striking them, inflicting mortal blows reveals blood that is poisonous to all that it touches. We can't even hurt them without threatening the safety of ourselves. This also is our first fight against other wielders of magic, and between myself and Eragon we did our best to counter their (fire) magic. Rouhrouk, as I called upon the Hollow Spirit to protect him, killed one of our enemies in a single blow. Fathom, between punches, freed one of the Hunters (an eldritch knight?) to assist us alongside their thunderclaw werewolf and angry barbarian.
 
We defeated the Karakedai, though they are a force to be reckoned with. Some, not all, of the Hunters are grateful; one in particular laid hands on Brom to heal them.