Echoes of the Dragon's Heart

Oh, how peaceful my time was, away from this plane. With my memories becoming clearer, I thought it would do me well to record them. Lest I ever fall once more. After being brought to the City of Pathways, the Kingdom of Ielna (ee-el-na) and Grevtrea. The walk there was shy of conversation, despite my efforts, of which i gave up on a short way in. In a weird way, the things I was concerned previously with offered no pressure within this time. Perhaps I should’ve been more scared, or more insistent on going back to my friends. It all just felt so irrelevant at that point.

Incalcuable time passed as I waited to be seen. As it was explained to me, there were three judges that I needed to meet with to decide my fate.

Malvrov - The judge of deeds

(Malv-rov)

K'algrengor - The judge of hearts

(K-al-gren-gor)

Valreonna - The judge of minds

(Val-ree-oh-na)

I stood before them as they began deliberations about which path I should be led down.

Agnivari - The road to the hells

(Ag-nee-var-ee)

Tsunar - The road to heavens

(Hard T "T-su-nar)

Zoladi - The road of complacency 

(Zo-la-di)

From my understandings mortal-side, as well as some descriptions given to me while proceedings began, Agnivari would be where I serve a demon prince who would claim my soul after my arrival. Admittedly, this is my least desired outcome. The paths themselves are virtually the same in terms of appearance, but knowing what lies down them is the closest I could get to my emotions at the time. The closest I could get to fear, or even wonder! Because Tsunar would lead me to the realm of the heavens, in which I would serve some kind of “light” god and I would be welcomed into their realm. I have many questions about this path, though questions were not necessarily permitted at that time. In my own current reflections, I think Zoladi would be safest. It would lead me to a realm of waiting, something of a purgatory where souls wait even further for their destiny. 

As these three giant, spectral beings sat, their true emotions (if they even exist) were hidden behind grand Jade masks. One of joy, one of sadness, and one of indifference. In the middle of this proceeding though, this is where a flash of light entered the picture, and I was ripped from the court. A pain indescribable overtook me to every fiver of my being, as if my very soul was being boiled. Images of what could only be a celestial war came whizzing past me, or me past them, and at points, it felt as if I merged with some of the ghostly images, if only for a moment. When the heat and the chaos subsided, I felt the conflicting feeling of a cold floor on my skin.The smell of a fire crept into my nose and the sound of my friends’s voices rang muffled with my head, along with another foreign voice. In an odd way, it sounded like an old friend as well. But in my right mind, I know I have never met this woman before. The witch of the west. I got to take a good look at her as Naoki helped me up from the floor. She was adorned with four arms and a toothy grin, and with as much effort as it takes for a child to destroy, she took a large sheet of skin and created. It was a notebook, one that looked eerily similar to mine. We didn’t spend much time in there though, not enough for me to gather myself and ask questions to her. So we took our leave.

Together we came to Turiess and entered “The Wily Tadpole”, an inn that I assume they had visited before they came and retrieved me. When we were finally safe within the loft above the rest of the main floor, I got some more details about what had transpired since I had fallen. About their journey to this city and about the sacrifices they had to do in order to bring me back. The tension in the air was palpable when they informed me about the fate of Valerie’s heart. That they had to put it inside of Thalia. When I heard it, I had a twinge of anger, perhaps it should’ve been more? But after my experiences and what I saw, I just do not have the heart to force Valerie to go through that. In the deepest recesses of my mind, I know that she has unfinished business, personally and professionally. Matters that, if her soul had not been utterly destroyed, would be enough to bring her back without intervention. Oh, here I go again. Reminiscing on something that could never happen. 

As we discussed these matters as a team, our conversation was cut short by the presence of some hooded figures. They had a certain… aura about them. One that commanded attention, or at the very least, respect. I personally chose to stay within the loft, as a i was admittedly quite weary from everything that had transpired until now. This gave me the perfect angle to watch as Sanasha and Percy began their secret mission of sorts. Sanasha, bold and brash as ever, decided to approach them directly. Even from where I sat, I could hear her attempts at flattery and flirting, as well as riddling these few men to test their interest. Percy chose to do something more subtle, as he went to the barkeep and prodded his mind. The conflict between Sanasha and three men reaches a climax when the tortoise man, not minding the volume of his words, tells her to fuck off. Percy’s attempts to move Sanasha back to us are in vain and honestly quite humorous. We learn upon their return that they are members of the Jade Monastery, and Percy asks quite shyly if Rozaad would take the lead on this and find out what they’re talking about. Intrusive? Correct. Rewarding? Also correct. Upon Rozaad’s arrival. We learn that one gives credence to the idea that a rift to the hells may be opened nearby. They claim that they mustn't rush their mission to stop this from happening, as it is dire.

My plan was admittedly quite clumsy and poorly thought out. I suggested that we just talk about some of the things that we have experienced and some of the mysteries that we are trying to solve, but in earshot of them. If their current mission aligns with some of our unsolved situations, I thought they wouldn’t be able to help themselves but to ask. And how wrong I was. Obnoxiously, we went down as a group and began our plan, talking boisterously about world-ending business in the hopes that they would notice. The human at the bar did in fact notice, and decided to promptly return to his group before they all together left the very tavern we were all in. We decide to give chase, though quietly, with Percy casting Pass Without a Trace as we filtered out of the Inn. Given time, we found them. Or rather, they found us, trapping us within an alleyway and surrounding us on either side. We learned their names at this point; Iosuno the dragonborn, Sianei the tortle, and Androsh the human.

Despite the fact that it doesn’t seem our problems are related, they did offer us a fascinating challenge. In place of them going and taking care of this demon summoning, they offered for us to go and complete it for them. The reward, which would basically be a letter of recommendation, would allow us partial access to the Qurydell archives to maybe get out of the contract without having to destroy the very thing that protects so many innocents. I took the offer without much feedback from the group. I truly believe that the answers to many of our quarrels lie within the libraries. 

Completing this task was easier than I anticipated. Firstly, we were given the name of the informant, Lierness Spawnbottom. His abode was easy enough to find, and an exhausted mother opened the door. Vicky Spawnbottom. To her, we must’ve seemed like law enforcement or something. However, smooth as ever, Rozaad took the lead, letting her know that her lovely son had turned in a job application! And we are just following up on said application. Worked like a charm. A nervous, rather dorky amphibian came to the door, and after some prodding and bribing, he admitted that he did “snitch” on his friend, but only out of concern! The one we were looking for was Grazu, who luckily lived just around the block.

To say the interaction went smoothly would be a lie. Percy was given the task of distracting Grazu’s mother, a chain-smoking trashy frog-woman, and he did so by attempting to inform her about his saviour Torra, and all the great things the God could offer to her as well! She was…not interested. I can’t really say I blame her…. After this, Percy decided to just walk into her house, since Rozaad was in the back trying to just sneak in. Overall the stealth approach was just not successful. At one point Grazu came up from the basement, saw the unfolding chaos, and ran back down, howling about how he could not be stopped and his power was just too immense. As we followed him down, we came to see this summoning circle, made crudely and shakily. It did happen to work, which I admit surprised me, but when the demon was summoned by his angsty teenage hands, we saw that a threat was no longer imminent with him.

See, he had summoned a Quazit. A tiny, imp-like creature with no more power than to brew a cup of tea. Sanasha slayed the gnat quickly and turned her attention to the hooligan at play.

We did several different interactions of trying to scare him straight, but the winning one was with Rozaad. It seemed that he most got through to the kid, I wonder if that’s simply because he too was a hooligan at such a young age. 

In order to assure that he didn’t try this again, we took the scroll that he used to summon the little demon, and returned it to the monks at the inn. They seemed quite pleased that they didn’t have to dirty their hands, although the news that he was nothing more than an amateur summoner seemed to tickle them. From there we got our letter of recommendation, and we decided to rest before taking leave the next morning.

At this point I finally got to meet my dragonelle, who they told me fit my personality. I named him Mort, after Mortis. Despite it’s striking purple color, it seemed a bit sickly, perhaps even developing cataracts, but it flew great!  I’m glad that we had the goggles and necessary equipment already, otherwise I could see the trip over to Qydrell to be quite turbulent. Our landing in this City of Diamonds was accompanied by a stable fee for our mounts, as we used that time with the stablemaster to inquire the location of different libraries, including the one of the Jade Monastery. Contras, ever sly, seems to be taking opportunities to remind us that this path will not end well for us. We’ll see about that. We would have the best luck here in terms of getting as much information as possible to prevent having to do what we have agreed to do.

I will continue to record what we find in this city and beyond, as it seems that we will be treading where very few have in just a short amount of time. Angering Gods and Demons alike… Aren’t we talented?