The Odyssey of The Burning Man and The Sovereign of Sun and Sacrifice

Life, Milestone

Time passes and The Path of Nightshade continues the humanitarian efforts in Rockshire. Alcath receives a visit from Boldrei and an audience with Dol Arrah. After the meeting, he decides to leave Rockshire and continue down the path alone.

Bobushio wants to unite Rockshire under Gilly, continue bringing Benedict under his kingdom, and become a Hrothstorian.   Thuniel wants to find out who put the hit on her family and find her dad. Zips helps out by pulling strings and favors and is able to get all three families looking for that information.   Moz goes into scholar mode and starts collecting information. She learns a lot about Gilly’s brother Barret Flintmantle , an apprentice blacksmith. His mom was a courtesan, and he had no idea of his lineage. His mother died years ago, and he was just a hard-working kid and would have been a very skilled blacksmith in The Bulettes Chain.   Alcath pursues his religion growing closer to Boldrei, and is a cleric and helps the people of Rockshire.   Two months and four days pass and Alcath starts feeling the presence of Boldrei more in his life. With his acts, he feels the power grow closer to him and his abilities are strengthened. One day, while walking among the people, he sees the Baker’s Street Irregulars and realizes that more miracles are happening around him, and he is the catalyst.   He has learned that deities cannot influence things unless someone who has sufficient faith is around. He sees it in Hrothbert, he sees what the Demogorgon did, and he sees it in himself. He sees a familiar little old lady walking along the street.   Alcath approaches her and asks if he can help her. She says he has already helped her, but she’d appreciate if he could escort her to the churchagogue around the corner. He takes her there. The churchagogue is empty, but a fire springs to life in the fireplace. She says she wants to share something with him.   “We’ve been watching what you’ve been doing. Before, your actions were so chaotic that we didn’t know whose side you were on. Even if you’re not on our side now, for your service, you deserve some answers.” She invites him to spend the night in the churchagogue by the fire, then disappears. He does what she said, and falls asleep quickly.   In his dream, he first is surrounded by hazy darkness. Then he sees a small fire, and as he draws near, he feels the warmth of Boldrei around him. Around the fire is a sleeping copper dragon. She exposes a nest of eggs momentarily in the mists. She then says he should talk to her cohort and she can arrange that meeting if Alcath wants, and he agrees.   Light pierces the gloom. A red dragon, one form of Dol Arrah, appears. She apologizes for what he has gone through. Boldrei disappears, leaving Alcath and Dol Arrah alone. She says that people have done terrible things in her name, but she doesn’t condone them. She asks what happened to him because it was beyond what she could see veiled by darkness.   Alcath says he was going to follow Dol Arrah, but he found a book he couldn’t read and brought it to the Abbot who read it. A couple years later, when Alcath turned eighteen, his father anointed him with oils, and they went out to greet the dawn, then the Abbot set Alcath on fire. Most of the temple and his parents were there, and they were going to tie him down and make sure he was finished off. Alcath escaped, went back years later, took the book and learned to read Celestial from it, and found the ritual detailed in there. The book was called the “Book of Dol Arrah”.   Dol Arrah asks if he thinks that is what she stands for. She reminds him how gods have power to influence and see things based on the faith of people in them. She cannot see within the monastery where Alcath was raised. None of the Nine can because the belief the people there have is not of this world, and they don’t believe in the Nine. She calls it a black hole, the faith they have is not of me.   She reassures him that the ritual was not something she would condone. Her temple windows face East, but at the monastery all the eastern windows are covered. She doesn’t like permanent fixtures like altars. She has done what investigating she can at the Monastery of the Radiant Sun. She was prepared for Alcath to try to kill her right here, and she would have allowed the attempt if he needed that. She has not seen his parents since that day, but she did see them that day. Something happened to remove them from her sight. She cannot see that Abbot either. Currently, there is another Abbot that she can see from time to time.   The same thing happened with his mentor Shamino.   Alcath says he should be dead, because Alcath buried him. She says, as far as she can tell, whatever they do might bring someone back, but not as what they were. They’d come back as something alien. She saw him for a moment after he passed, but he’s gone and his spirit is not Dolurrh - The Realm of the Dead or has pass on beyond. She says it scares the Nine that they don’t see the souls of the people who die as part of the monastery.   The Nine will help him with a boon if he wants to try to figure out what’s going on. It’s his choice, though, what course to pursue.   Alcath says his agreement with Boldrei was that he would hold off trying to kill Dol Arrah until he had more information. She puts her hand on him and on the back of his amulet is inscribed a symbol of a lighthouse and she tells him to ask if there’s anything the Nine can do for him.   Despite having accepted the quest, Alcath is not thrilled with Dol Arrah.   Alcath comes back to The Path of Nightshade and tells us that he had a vision, but it was better than before. Alcath tells them he feels drawn to go figure out more things about his faith. He says he’ll be leaving in a couple of days.   Alcath gives Bobushio a pot of paint, Nolzur’s Marvelous Pigments. Alcath gives Thuniel his rapier, Winter’s Dark Bite. We say our goodbyes and Bobushio makes sure that Alcath knows that he can reach out to us whenever.