Session 12 – It's Omen's Tavern Now
General Summary
This Tavern's On Fire
Yenush, having woken up from the heat and smoke, decides the most important thing to do is get dressed. Afterwards, he jumps out the window, clambering down the side of the tavern before busting in through another window on the first floor. He immediately notices two patrons asleep at the table, multiple empty bottles next to them. Meanwhile, Teagan wakes up with a sense that something is terribly wrong. After yelling for Milo to get up, he charges towards the tavern. There's an odd surge of adrenaline that courses through him. It's similar to the surge of adrenaline a parent might get when their child is in danger. He quickly arrives outside the burning tavern. The rest of the group wake up to hear vague commotion and see smoke rising and flame flickering in the distance.
Yenush wakes up one of the drunken idiots and yells at him to get his buddy and GTFO. He then begins to navigate through the fire, dodging pockets of fire that swell up around him. Teagan charges into the building with nothing but a pair of boxer briefs and an odd pull that directs him straight forward. Arkyn, having woken up with Sayah, vortex warps and launches himself towards the tavern. Cadence, after hearing the alarm from the Acolytes, begins making her way across the central "square" of Legacy. Milo, still a bit hungover from all the shots, begins heading to the tavern. Aiaoue runs through the casino, disrupting the smooth jazz as she yells about a fire. Ademar, despite lethargically lounging, does look more alert as she runs through.
Yenush continues to charge through the tavern, spotting the silhouette of a figure on the ground near the burning kitchen floor. Teagan doesn't care if everything is on fire as he charges straight forward through the flame. Man, what a shame Jin's 5 feet away. Then Yenush remembers he can do more on his turn and moves Jin within 5 feet of Teagan. Now with bartender secured, Teagan moves towards a nearby window. Aiaoue casts entangle to curb the spread of the fire as Arkyn moves in and begins chilling patches of the sprawling fire. Milo arrives on scene and decides that now is the perfect time for an interview. As he attempts to help the Sinner's Choice impromptu fire brigade, he locates Ademar and begins to pepper him with questions. Ademar doesn't appear particularly interested.
Yenush moves upstairs and begins to bang on every door, rousing some drunk patrons that made it to bed. When he's checked every room, he uses his boots to unbar his door, grabs the plate Aiaoue gave him, and then jumps out the window again. Teagan, jumps through a window on the floor below. Jin is missing some of his jewelry and clearly took a hit to the face when he passed out. As Teagan attempts to wake Jin up, he suddenly feels incredibly tired... Giving into the feeling, Teagan passes out. Right before he does so, Teagan sees Jin sit up and mutter an exasperated "what the fuck". Yenush arrives to the scene of Jin and two drunk patrons desperately trying to move Teagan. Wait, how are you awake? Why is Teagan asleep? Jin doesn't know, he JUST woke up. As Jin tries to wake Teagan up, Jin freezes and passes out... and Teagan wakes up. After sending the two drunk men off with Jin, Teagan and Yenush move to join the fire brigade.
Arkyn and Aiaoue, with back-up support from Cadence, continue to fight back the fire as the smoke worsens around them. Aiaoue shields herself and Arkyn with elementalism and recasts Entangle to block the entrance to the flame-consumed kitchen. Arkyn causes another patch of the fire to chill out before the smoke turns suffocating. Aiaoue makes it out, holding her breath. Arkyn manages to free himself from his rubble-based constraints, barely making it out of the smoke-filled tavern before he suffocated. Meanwhile, Milo makes another go at questioning Ademar. Accidents happen all the time in Legacy... but that new escort is particularly disruptive. Ademar has a near perfect poker face as he supervises, but Milo notes that the moment Yenush shows up, Ademar's attention shifts.
Eventually, the fire is put out and... the stove is turned off. Cadence uses Detect Magic on the remains of the kitchen to locate what remains of Jin's jewelry (mostly his enchanted pieces). With everything settled – for now – everyone heads back to bed. Teagan has the best sleep of his life.
Cleaning Up the Ashes
In the morning, Arkyn wakes up next to Sayah who lethargically goes about starting work in the fields, dispersing the birds for the day. Arkyn spends his time there, helping about. Every now and then, Sayah will pass by. She seems fully aware that Arkyn is not perceptive and is keen to take advantage of that. Meanwhile, Aiaoue heads to the tavern and offers to help the rebuilding effort by restoring some of the charred wood. The carpenters and masons are more than happy to have someone who can repurpose materials. As she works, she brings all the workers into a working song in honor of Omen who said to be nice to the Varoonans this one time cause they helped.
Everyone else heads to the Ohn'Lee Clinic. Before they get there, Milo lets Yenush know that Ademar's attention immediately went to Yenush when he arrived on scene. Yenush cringes and mentions that's a problem he'll save for later. Inside the clinic, Evandra is up and on her feet helping Viren attend to the now sober, slightly crispy patrons of the tavern and one very disgruntled Jin, who is (by a miracle) awake. Yenush moves to the most crispy patron of the clinic and offers his assistance; not with the healing, but the "do you need a glass of water" kind of help. Viren is oddly dismissive, only half paying attention to the conversation as his attention seems focused on the very full clinic. Evandra thanks the group for saving her, offering them a flower-laden cloak. She has been trying to use fungus to reinforce the soil and facilitate some plant growth. She was in the middle of an experiment when an MWD broke... after that, she doesn't remember much. She passed out pretty quick. Milo recognizes Evandra's marks as those of a Lady of Life. At the mention of the Festival of Flowers, Evandra mentions that she plans to have a smaller version here with whatever flowers she can muster.
Cadence returns Jin's jewelry who thanks her and mentions that he'll have to swing by Eight. So what happened man? Jin, with surprisingly perfect recall, mentions that he was cleaning his jewelry while making himself some food and smoking. He stepped away for one second to get a drink. Apparently that was enough. He's been meaning to have the arcane runes on the stove touched up... he should have done that sooner. Ugh, he lost so much good alcohol. Teagan places a hand on Jin's shoulder in reassurance. Teagan is suddenly transported to somewhere dark. He is content and all is peaceful. The gate is secure for now. There is the sound of writing from nearby. All is well. All is at peace. Snapping out of it, Jin looks confused.
Teagan asks Jin about a gate. Did you see anything about that? Does a gate mean anything to you? Jin mentions that when he sleeps, he often feels he is working. There is a queue of people – or not quite people – beyond a gate. And he writes... and writes... countless names, none of which he recognizes. After listening to Jin, Teagan recalls the phrase "gates of the death scribe", but that is a title not ascribed to Ah'Shal. Jin might be cursed of a death god! Wait WHAT? But I haven't pissed off Ah'Shal. Nah, not Ah'Shal, a Jalasaran death god. Cadence mentions that she's ALSO afflicted by a Jalasarn death goddess! Jin has a lightbulb moment. Is that who he saw at the tavern? He suddenly felt the need to restrain and so he knocked Cadence out. She didn't look herself... thinner and almost sickly. Yenush really wishes everyone would be quieter about the "afflicted by a god part". As Yenush moves over to make sure the god conversation is done, Jin calls Yenush out on having "nothing wrong with him".
Milo and Teagan realize that they know very little about Jin. What did you do before this? Jin is defensive and waves off the question. He's a bartender and that's what matters. Milo and Teagan both notice that Jin shifts, but Cadence clocks that he does so to hide a crest attached to his boots. Later, once attention is diverted from him, Jin rips the crest off his boots and offers them (Boots of Elvenkind) as thanks for rescuing him from the inferno. He spends the rest of the afternoon squinting in the direction of his tavern as he listens to the vague swell of a shanty being sung.
Once Viren has less on his plate, Yenush inquires about that bed he needs fixed. So how did this get broken? I don't know! Yenush suspects that Viren isn't quite being truthful, but it's a relatively easy fix. Viren asks what Yenush likes to do in his free time; Yenush likes milk, justice, and tinkering. At one point, he thought he'd be a blacksmith, but that never really caught fire, ya know? Yenush turns the question back at Viren, who draws in his free time. Pulling out a tome of a sketchbook, Viren tries to flip past images in the front. There are very detailed anatomically drawings of what seem to potentially be Viren... diagnosing and treating himself. Viren talks about how he's noticed certain miasma-induced syptoms are tied to some organs, but the sample size is a bit low for any strong conclusions. Yenush listens to Viren's rant before asking who Viren's most important people are. Obviously, his sister Omarosa, and Aiaoue has been a good friend. Viren mentions that Yenush has been nice before switching to Syrio.
Meanwhile, Teagan and Milo briefly talk about Teagan's armored lady. She has spoken to Teagan while Milo's soldier hasn't said a word. Khalil and Cadence suspect Milo is haunted by a god of war, though Teagan's seems to be at least connected to a god of death.
Aiaoue decides to ensure that this tavern is infused with the love and power of Omen so she begins to carve stealthily placed Omen iconagraphy. In the fields, Arkyn tells Sayah to fail as he Vortex Warps her directly to him. He's been thinking (you have?). Arkyn would like to be hers and for Sayah to be his, whatever that means. Sure. Why does that feel like you're just going along with it? Sayah pulls Arkyn down by the chin: Yes. Okay well, I should probably go see my friends. Should I come back? Of course, Sayah needs her blanket.
Arkyn immediately heads to Mistress Eight right as Cadence is also going there. Cadence mentions that she's been a bit stir crazy with being stuck in one place; would Eight be willing to teach her jewelry? Eight agrees, though mentions that Cadence will not be able to master all facets of Eight's skillset. Arkyn asks if Eight could do the curse suppression thing because he'd like to touch Sayah. Eight is sympathetic to a lover's plight and, after collecting rings from the statue and blood from Arkyn, she informs him to return tomorrow. She is uncertain how well the rings will work or for how long, as she has not yet experimented. Meanwhile, Yenush waits outside of Sinner's Choice, intercepting Omarosa, who is... per usual... a bitch. However, she does soften ever so slightly when Yenush explains what he is doing for Viren. Omarosa does agree to assist. She'll need a day to enchant it as Yenush wishes.
The tavern isn't quite the same, but everyone converges at the tavern per usual except Yenush who scurries off to begin working on a project for Viren. Teagan and Milo immediately explain to Arkyn the rule set for being in a relationship. Marriage is next buddy, so be ready for that. That cloak of yours? It's hers now. If you give her a piece of clothing, it's hers and don't expect it back. If she says she's not hungry, still get her food. And always get extra of YOUR food because she will eat some of yours. She's always right (Arkyn knew that one). Teagan and Milo leave the tavern feeling like they've done well. Aiaoue shows Cadence all the Omens she's been carving around the tavern; when he finds this one, he's going to HATE it! Cadence finds a spot to carve a little moon. She goes to draw a skull, but instead carves a set of sprawling roots.
Arkyn returns to Sayah. Oh, having regrets? Arkyn explains that he now knows the rules... but what if they get her a cloak instead? Sayah assures Arkyn she doesn't intend to steal his cloak. The trio of birds arrive and Tiek demands cheese. Sayah mentions that she trained the birds to speak and they are little manipulators. Now that they know Arkyn will listen to them, they'll pester him if they desire. As Sayah bundles herself in what is now her cloak and becomes the big spoon, Arkyn decides that this is the perfect time to tell her that he got rings made so he can touch her.
The Iron Arrow's Graceful Return
In the morning, Yenush works on his arts and crafts project, Aiaoue picks up embroidery projects form Delilah and checks in on Viren, Cadence goes to learn potion making from Viren, and Teagan goes mining – using that multiattack for extra mining efficiency (and Jeff notices). And then a train horn cuts through the background noise of Legacy. Cadence, Aiaoue, and Yenush immediately drop what they're doing to run towards the Loading Deck. Yenush tries to linger amidst the gathering crowd, but Aiaoue – having locatd his gun – picks him out from the crowd.
The Iron Arrow crashes as gracefully as possible into the side of the Loading Deck, sparking and releasing smoke and sparks as she grinds to a halt. From the front car, a grime and soot-covered Yuan-Ti emerges, looking exhuasted. He moves quickly across the Iron Arrow's carcass to where the metal sparks and hisses. A moment later, a golden dragonborn and a human woman emerge from the wreckage of the train. Aiaoue moves immediately towards the Yuan-Ti with the attempt to help. Arkyn offers to vortex warp an approaching Ironborn who declines as he is unwiling to part with his construct. Arkyn isntead Vortex warps closer. Cadence begins to run towards the gold dragonborn, yelling for Aria. The gold dragonborn looks as if she is about to answer when the human woman diverts her attention.
Human: What gives YOU the right? You abandoned them! Fucking LEFT them. Dragonborn: ... Human: You old dragonborn bitch. Dragonborn: ...Be silent. Human: Be silent? Be SILENT? They were good people! By The One, you can't see one inch beyond your bullshit, inflated pride–"
The human woman chokes and spits blood as she is impaled and lifted upon the dragonborn's rust-covered blade, which erupts in a burst of radiant flame. A scream echoes as the light intensifies, blinding everyone nearby. The smell of singed and burning flesh drifts as silence settles. When the light fades to a tolerable level... the human woman is nothing but ash and the dragonborn now stands with a blade of radiant fire, all rust and grim purged from her form. A ring of radiant, glowing metal forms the shape of a sun. When she speaks, a deeper, more masculine voice echoes hers.
Bring forth your unholy. Blasphemous heretics against The One's design. Comply... or be purged in holy flame.
The Dragonborn's gaze shifts to Eight and to the Church of the Void.
Milk and Justice
What's hers is hers; what's yours... is also hers.
Report Date
01 Nov 2024
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Related Characters
Sending from Auntie
The message is preceded by a decent pause and then a heavy, controlled sigh.One step forward, two steps back. A decision contemplated while intoxicated is unworthy of consideration. Moderation, Arkyn. Unless you are drinking for two.
The Aspect
- Teagan – Your rage bubbles up within you; a desire for vengeance rises to the forefront of your mind.
- Cadence – The light appalls you. Disgust bubbles up in your throat like bile. It irritates and repulses you.
- Aiaoue – Apprehension floods through you. This is his battlefield, not yours. Your heart sinks.
- Arkyn – Your disdain rises. The light aggressive and putrid. Yet is quickly mellows to sorrow and then nothing at all.
- Milo – You feel like you might vomit. Fear, panic, and anxiety run rampant through you before a practiced resolve blankets them.
- Yenush – Your rage bubbles up within you. Justice has been abused. YOu have a desire to rip and tear with claws you do not have.
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