The Forty-Sixth Session

As the armies of Myth Novra began to ship out to the northern border, the Sentinels are surprised to see an incoming delivery from their mining company, along with a letter from the manager about some hefty profits. The gear was distributed to the departing soldiers, and the remaining ore immediately brought to the forge for Kronlim to begin working on. In the business, Hanolin found them to give them healing potions, and Fish found them to ask if they could find him a Troll heart. He needed one for an invention, and thought it was rude that the stocks didn't have one.

They then found Treg, who despite not knowing a specific location for one, they still brought as a guard, with Yief giving his commanding officer a pardon that simply read "Because I said so." A combination of tracking and Shag casting Locate Creature eventually brought them to the ruins of a monastery on a hill in the woods. Shag climbed through a small hole in the wall, moving to lift the stone bar keeping the doors shut. When he was too weak to lift it, he cast Knock, and when he opened the doors, lied and convinced his team that he did it as a feat of strength, and the loud sound of the knock spell was just the bar hitting the ground.

They entered, seeing a mostly empty room with marble floors and walls, all covered in dust and very worn. Skylights were covered in vines and brush, but would have acted as a large sundial if uncovered based on the shape they were carved in. Yief recognized a number of the murals and carvings in the wall, depicting great legends of previous ages. They all converged on a basin at the far end of the room, which was filled with a shimmering, very clear water, starkly so in comparison to the layer of dust on everything else there. Finding a jug that was equally clean in a divot in the basin over some words in Rhond, Shag sensed magic coming from the water and the jug, and cast Dispel Magic on the water. Yief drank from the jug, and the water was extremely refreshing. Deciding against taking it incase the magic would cause a negative effect, he put it back. At this point, Shag could feel the troll he was tracking getting closer, and they snuck outside. Shag then saw three trolls foraging on the steps to the monastery, and cast Hypnotic Pattern to temporarily immobilize them. Aoth then cast Firestorm, badly injuring 2 of them and stopping their healing, while Halrek blinked next to the third and disemboweled it. Yief then slid down the banister of the steps, jumping off the landing and crushing the head of the biggest troll, carrying his momentum to jump off the next landing and bring his hammer down on the second troll, using a flurry of strikes to kill it. He then took out Yondu's Spirit, imbued it with Searing Smite, and threw it at the head of the one Halrek had disemboweled, killing it and stopping its regeneration.

Shag then went up to the now headless troll as it was the only one with an unburnt body, and used his Eldritch Blast to create a blade of energy around his hand to remove the troll's heart, which was still beating despite it being dead. Treg was furiously taking notes of the combat he just witnessed, learning a great deal. Shag then teleported them all back to Fish's workshop in Myth Novra, where he was waiting with his hand outstretched, seemingly hitting the end of a countdown, implying he knew exactly when they'd return. He took the heart, thanked them, and immediately got to work with intense focus, having Nul assist him.

When they went back to the War Hall, they were surprised to see a large gathering. Vissella, Rainn, Daev, Pryym, Levi, Himari, and Dugg Juu'di all saw around the table, joining the council. Word had gotten out and they had come to help. Pryym hugged Halrek, to which he didn't know what to say. They discussed what the plan moving forward would be, and the Sentinels had an idea to use the Shadowborn blood magic against them. They would learn the ritual to create a bloodstone, and use Shadowborn soldiers in the ritual, and use the stone to send them back to the Obsidian Isles. No one on the council knew anything of blood magic, as it was considered a forbidden practice, only embraced by the Shadowborn. Melarra said if there was anywhere that may have books on it, it would be Lyria, but due to its taboo nature, it may only exist in buried and lost places.

The group found Hanolin, who was uncomfortable with the idea of using blood magic. He said if there was a tome, it would be in the Crystal Athenaeum in Sinaîtré, but due to it being the capitol it was likely immensely heavily guarded, and probably a suicide mission to go there. They made a plan to go anyway, and either find a tome, or find a Shadowborn warlock and capture them.

Pryym then found Halrek, and asked what he planned to do when all this was over if they survived. When he said he didn't know and had only been taking it one day at a time, going from one fight to the next, she said he should think about what he really wants, so if the worst happens, he has something to keep fighting for instead of giving in to the end. She asked who he really was under the hood, and said he was more than the cold killer he'd become, and she'd like to get to know him, as she didn't take him being the last of her kin lightly.

While preparing, Halrek had Yief forge him a new suit of mythril armor, which he then painted Vantablack and enchanted with Blur. Aoth also had a suit of mythril armor made, which he enchanted with Beacon of Hope. Kronlim delivered the Balrog horn canoe to Yief. Yief made himself a pair of grills for his lower teeth, which he engraved "YIEF" on, and got Vissella to tattoo "D Bief" on the inside of his lip. This prompted a lot of laughter and cheer from the crowd, which had been more dreary prior. While this was happening, Aoth was going through the bag of holding, seeing what they had amassed. When they asked Fish if he wanted their medusa head, he somehow already had it in his arms as he said he did. Melarra helped identify the scythe and spear they had taken from the Shadowborn generals, discovering they were imbued with negative energy and could only be held by someone evil-aligned. They decided to cleanse the scythe, Caput Mortuum, with a holy ritual that would be carried out by Aoth, Yief, Sarra, and Samblar.

The four each held the arm of the weapon, all immediately feeling the burning sensation of the scythe rejecting their grasp. They all began praying to their patrons, and pouring their energy into the weapon. The golden glow of their divine channeling began to blend with a red aura the scythe began to give off, as the two energies began to battle for dominance. Yief, still inexperienced in the use of divine energy, found it hard to overcome the evil, and held on through sheer strength through the pain. As he began to doubt himself, Shag began throat singing in a ritualistic manner, inspiring him. Halrek, the intended recipient of the purified weapon, gripped Vicious and began to whisper to the energy seeping off the scythe. He spoke of wielding it, conquering death, and becoming its master. His blurred black form became a terrifying image, and caused the energy of the scythe to weaken, giving Yief an opportunity to successfully pour his divine energy in. As they all wrestled with the cursed weapon, they were ultimately successful, as the last of the red aura faded, and they could hear a low, whispered echo of a demonic voice screaming, and fading to nothing. Halrek then grasped the arm of the scythe, and suddenly realized he could see through the eyes in the blade. The extension to his visual range was disorienting, as well as seeing himself from another's perspective, but he soon got used to it. The ones who performed the ritual all retired, exhausted by the process.

Once Aoth and Vissella were alone in their room, she offered to give him the traditional tattoos of the Draconian coming of age, that represent the bloodline connection to their totem dragon. He accepted, and when she asked where he would want them, he decided to go through with an action he had been barred from completing due to guilt. He removed the Nulbuster, commenting how his arm was lost protecting the children who would be the hope of Draconia, and that he accepted that he could use that arm to protect the rest of his people. He cast regeneration, and regrew his left arm. He said having the tattoos on the arm he used to protect the boys would be an honor. Vissella began the work, a long and meticulous process. She told him of her time as an orphaned child, finding a mentor who gave her her tattoos, which she was honored by as it's typically done by family and she thought she would have to wait until she could afford to find a needleworker. She then told him of how she joined the Bloodsail Fleet, and rose its ranks until a fateful encounter that ended with her taking control of the fleet. She remarked how once she was accepted as a Pirate King, she was so deep in her new life that she'd forgotten her love for her home, until he walked into her room with Darkwind and Applaudicus, and would change her whole life.

When they finally finished the process, he had fractal tattoos resembling snow, white dragon scales, and ice dragon breath from his left shoulder, down his arm, and onto his hand and fingers. For the first time, he channeled his ice control down his left arm, healing the swelling and pain. “To see a Draconian wearing their totem’s mark in battle, is to see the ferocity of the dragon itself.” she told him.