Full of Grace (2COT13)

Part of Saga: The Coming of Twilight
- Part of Season 2: A Time For Discovery (2COT)
  - Part of Episode 4: The Riddle of the Covenant (2COT1)

Session took place on 10/13/2010.

Story

Session begins on 4 Ches 1381.

Act 1: It Ends In Tears

====Scene One: Chateau Raynar====

The party journeys to Chateau Raynar to let him know about the plot. Yaphyll is there. She takes them "back" to the past, as projections only, to see the formation of the Covenant.

====Scene Two: The Oath is Sworn====

In the guild hall, Radduk is counseling Vasilisa. He is trying to get her to reconsider taking the oath, that this is a matter for those with little to lose. She's practically a child, as it were. She insists.

They witness the swearing of the oath, the inscribing of the symbols. Those in attendance on that day:

====Scene Three: An Historic Love====

Yaphyll takes them 15 years into the future. Vasilisa is older now, and a more commanding presence. The scene goes as follows:

Vasilisa and Aznar burst into the guild hall bearing a wounded man. He is near death. Yhelbruna is away, says the now visibly older Radduk, who tends to him. He sees a mark that shocks him.
"This man is Vremyonni," he exclaims, reeling back. "He should not be here. If he must die, he must die, but it is forbidden to leave the Motherland. He should never have been removed." He washes his hands of the matter, despite Vasilisa's screams to the contrary.
Wilhelmina, now a motherly age, comes to the rescue. "That man," she sneers, "of all the hypocrisy. Nythra! Attend me." She uses her witchy ways, aided by the young witch Nythra (behind her mask), to restore the man to life. "Who are you?" she asks in Rashemi.
The man cringes to see the array of masks, blathering in the northern tongue, making symbols and refusing to make eye contact. Vasilisa simply embraces and soothes him.
"Don't loom over him like that, for pity's sake! The man was almost killed by the witches!" To this, Wilhelmina arches an eyebrow. Nythra recedes.
"What's your name, boy?" she asks, removing her mask.
"V...Valik, wise one. I am Uksar Valik. I am...I was...Vremyonni. And I...I disgraced myself..."
"He was found worshipping at the Temple of the Grasses," Vasilisa explains. "And for that," she glares accusingly at Wilhelmina, "he was to be put to death! For worshipping the Goddess!"
"Rules are rules, child," she counsels, waving off Vasilisa's stare of daggers. "Do not be so quick to dismiss your own heritage. Perhaps their reaction was...exaggerated..."
"Damn your rules, and damn your masks!" She storms off, carrying Valik along with her. Wilhelmina grins, and speaks to no one in particular: "Ah, the young. So trusting. So willing to believe the best in people."
"He's not one of us," says Radduk from the shadows. "He has no regard for traditions. No respect for the wise."
"And were you any different, my old master?" She cooes, gliding away.

====Scene Four: Murder Most Foul====

Yaphyll returns them to their own time. They reflect for a bit, but then...gasp! Horrible news from Thay!

In the "Safe Room" at the Guild Hall, Nythra had been meditating. Somehow, the wards were bypassed, and the murderer reached her, unawares, and defenseless. She lies dead, her body seemingly drained of life.

Ani flies off the handle. She tracks down Valik with some of his effects in the vaults, and takes to the skies. The trip isn't too far...a fallen shrine to Shar lies amidst the rubble on Thaymount.

It's literally a fallen cathedral, lying askew, broken, and slanted. The altar does not glow with Shar's light, but lies flat and empty in the void. Valik, it seems, has taken to guiding a small flock of wayward cultists. They recede in terror as Ani bursts in, blazing with dark energy.

Valik stands to face her. "So. Your master was right. It shall all end...in tears!" He brandishes his holy symbol at her, but there is no power behind it. Ani absorbs his feeble magic easily, and turns it on him.

She lords her dark magic over him, even as his weak, old body flails uselessly with the pain. "You...deserve...worse...than death. You...have violated...everything...sacred...everything pure. You are a stain. You are black...and twisted...and everything about you...is wrong!"

She tears him apart with her magic. Through his screams, he cries out to the Goddess, who does not deliver him.

The party arrives too late to stop her. The whole place is burning with witchfire, consuming the very stone, and the many corpses inside.

Ani is shaking, from some deep inner conflict. She seems almost confused at her uprising of emotion. "It's...it's over..." she breathes, then collapses into tears.

Oddly, she has claimed Valik's holy symbol.

Act 2: The True Monster

====Scene One: Safety====

The party retreats to Citadel Thay, where Ani will be safe inside Zahl's wards. Radduk and Yaphyll recuse themselves from the situation, as clearly the murderer must be one of the two of them.

====Scene Two: A Funeral====

Days pass. The party hasn't spoken much, but they've reconvened for a funeral: Nythra's.

A long-time resident of Eltabbar, and an ally of the Empress, she is given a state funeral, and interred in the state cemetary at Memorial Park. Few are in attendance--as few knew her--but the Empress herself is there, along with her privy council. It's a silent affair, but much is told through glances.

Natasha makes meaningful eye contact with Raithen. She smiles cautiously at him.
Keket sticks out in her white gown, the norm for a burial service. She clutches a thick golden ankh. She cries, but not for Nythra. Ani won't meet her eyes.
Ani stares at the body, clutching the symbol, and seems almost to be grinning behind her feathered mask.

====Scene Three: Coming Down====

Keket relaxes in the bath. Raynar comes to her, dressed only in a loincloth-like towel. He massages her shoulders, rubbing oil into her tired muscles, as she relaxes in her golden bath.

In his Citadel quarters, Raithen is packing his bags. Just as he's turning to leave, everything all cleaned out, he sees someone in the doorway he didn't expect: Zahl. She says nothing, only handing him a letter. It's from Natasha.

In the park, Talrendis gives his private respects to the fallen at the memorial. He looks at the Thayan names alongside Nythra's, and tears well in his eyes. He salutes the witch, and turns to walk away. Standing beside a nearby tree is Inwen, who gives him a knowing look, and a shoulder to cry on.

Radduk stands over an unmarked grave, in the Rashemi countryside, a shovel by his side.

In her tower, Ani finishes turning down all the lights, unstoking the fires, and letting it all fall into cold darkness.

====Scene Four: Passion====

Raithen reads the letter from Natasha:

"Dearest Raithen,

I know you have lived a storied life, and I can only begin to imagine the depths of pain and the heights of passion you've experienced in the past. Though you have touched my heart, I lay no claim to yours. I only ask this.

If truly you must move on, at least come to me once more. Our time was short, and I would cherish our memory, with no regrets. I await your reply at sundown today.

Ever yours,

-Natasha"

The letter is signed with her arcane mark.

Raithen arrives at Manor von Durzig, finding only clues and notes. A string of rose petals guides his way to the stairs. White candles burn on the banister. A chilled bottle of wine on a platter stands ready. He brings it up.

He finds her in the bath, lying in repose. The water is red with petals. Her eyes are closed, her head arched back, as if in relaxation.

The red water has covered the ground, staining it with blood.

Within an hour, the whole party is there. Ani is coldly investigating the blood, determining through her magic that it is entirely Natasha's. She extricates the body from the water, and examines the corpse.

The murder was done with surgical precision. She was cut with no ordinary blade, but a physick's scalpel. Her spirit was trapped--she reveals the tell-tale symbols on the walls, ceiling, and floor--and was taken away, that she might not be returned to life.

Eventually, one clue leads to another. She blames Radduk.

And he is there.

Act 3: The Prophecy Fulfilled

====Scene One: The Battle====

Radduk: "Well done, child. You have truly progressed into something I...never thought possible. My first impression of you was that you were weak, timid...a pale reflection of your mother. But my, how you've grown. How you've learned...from our...many bad examples. Would that I...had had a chance...to teach you properly. I have always had my regrets...that unlike your sister, I could not show you...a father's love."

"It ends for you tonight. And so ends a legacy of misery...of betrayal...a legacy that cost the Covenant...and so many lives!"

Of the party, he inquires, "You would have them die for you? For this? So be it! Death is no obstacle to me!"

The battle ensues. Raithen joins Radduk when he realizes the truth, and Ani is defeated. To expel the spirit, Radduk slays her. The spirit emerges, attempting to possess him, but he gets the better of it...until it fools him into thinking it retreated, then manages to possess him.

But Yaphyll was ready. She arrives, bearing the Mark of the Unicorn, using its light to drive away the spirit and free Radduk. The spirit flees, this time for good, but Radduk remains unconscious.

As Keket nurses Ani back to health, Yaphyll tells all.

The true killer is still on the loose, and had stolen Ani's body. It was with this body that he/she framed Radduk for Natasha's murder, likely in a string of killings including Valik and Nythra.
Radduk is a good guy; he knew what was up. He knew who the true murderer was, but she herself doesn't know. Only that the true murderer is "One who always walked in the shadow of the great ones, whisper in their ear, a hand at their backs."

The party retreats to Keket's temple.

====Scene Two: Together Again====

Ani awakens in the Ivory Tower, a room within the Birds of Paradise. The place has been cleaned out and made sanct. The girls are praying for her. She is reunited with Keket.

The party reconvenes for a feast at the orphanage. Ani has been stricken dumb, and is clearly scarred. Yaphyll promises to recover Natasha's soul.

Ani awakens in the middle of the night from a horrible nightmare. Yaphyll decides that the time has come to show her how it all ends.

====Scene Three: A Sacred Oath====

Once again, the ritual is conducted to see the events of the past:

In 1355, the Covenant convened in the Guild Hall, only the senior-most members privy to the new development. In attendance:

Radduk
Yaphyll
Nythra (standing in for Yhelbruna)
Wilhelmina
Piotr von Durzig
Aznar Thrul

Radduk: "Years ago, we learned of the terrible prophecy...of the death of our Goddess. A time of Shadows is coming. A time when the world shall be in great need of the Art...and it shall be lacking."

"But our Goddess is wise. She shall come to our world. She shall make her Countenance shine upon her chosen ones. And into the fertile womb of the Bearers, she shall seed...her Chosen. Those who will lead us into a new age. A better age."

"For years, we have endeavored to learn the identity of these Bearers, that we may find them, and protect them, to safeguard the scions of the Goddess, until they are ready to claim their birthright. And now...now the time has come to reveal the fruits of our labors. We have found them."

Yaphyll: "We have cross-referenced hundreds of sources. Omens and portents have coincided in many places. We have determined that their number shall be: seven. And though we know not all the names of the Bearers, we have what we need to determine their identities, to ensure that the Goddess' will comes to pass, and to keep their issue safe, and far from the eyes of our enemies."

Wilhelmina: "Given the sensitive nature of this information, I must insist that before any of us may learn the identities of the Bearers, we must swear, unto the death of our Art, our very souls, that the knowledge should not ever--EVER--leave this circle. Even to be shared among the others of our order. Only the Bearers themselves may know, and only if we deem it appropriate."

There is silent concurrence.

Radduk: "Very well then. Yaphyll. Conduct the ritual. Let us peer through the currents of time. Let us learn who it is who gives herself to our blessed Goddess."

Yaphyll pulls out a crystall ball and begins channeling. They gaze into the orb, and gasp.

Radduk: "No. No!"

====Scene Four: For Duty and Deity====

Fast forward to 1358.

Vasilisa is pregnant. Radduk is with her, and they're arguing.

Vasilisa: "Father! I have accepted my duty to the Goddess! Why can't you?"

Radduk: "Because it should have been-" he catches himself. "Because it should never have been him. Don't you see? He has somehow learned the forbidden knowledge, and seeks to gain power through your womb-"

Vasilisa: "Father, enough! You may never love him as I do. But trust me. Trust your daughter! I would give my life, my child, a thousand times to the Goddess. I feel her will working inside me. And I am not afraid."

Radduk just steams. The scene is interrupted by the arrival of a richly-dressed witch. Vasilisa's face lights up.

Vasilisa: "Mother!" She runs to embrace her.

Yhelbruna: "It is time, my daughter. The Circle is prepared. Do you feel her?"

Vasilisa nods. She looks to her father with tears. "Father," she pleads. "Won't you be there with me? It will be...so beautiful."

He only glares.

Yhelbruna guides her daughter away. "Let us go now, my daughter. The Goddess cannot wait."

They leave. Radduk leaves.

And the invisible stalker appears. Valik has been listening in. And he's not alone. Someone is with him. Someone dressed as a witch, but all in black, with a strange, twisted mask.

Valik: "The Goddess...has forsaken me," he breathes, absently clutching his holy symbol. "She would rob me of my love. The one light in my life."

Witch: "So you see. It is as I warned you. The Hathran have conspired to make this happen. It is not the Goddess' child, as well you know. She is yours. Your daughter, and your wife, should be yours. But the witches will take them from you. They will use your daughter as a source of power. The circumstances of her birth will be a symbol to many who believe false prophecies. Their reign will continue for centuries...all based on a lie."

Valik: "I won't let them do it. She's my daughter. Thrice be damned! My love! How she throws herself onto the flames!"

Witch: "You know what you must do. You know what power they wield. And you know so much more about the Goddess now. So much they wouldn't teach you. You are ready, my student."

Valik steels himself, clutching the symbol of the dark Goddess. "I am ready."

====Scene Five: The Place of Prophecy====

Flash forward a few days. The scene: a sacred grove in Rashemen. Snow falls gently. Dozens of Hathran stand guard. But darkness falls around them. They arm themselves with magic.

A horrible shriek fills the sky. A black dragon swoops down, bearing a rider cloaked in black. He lands, and hellish death ensues.

His power is immense. He is more than a man. He clearly has the strength of a greater circle behind him, one greater and steeped in darker magicks than even the circle arrayed in Vasilisa's defense.

As he cuts them down, he shouts out for his love. He cannot find her amidst the masked witches...they all look alike.

At one point, they surround him in a circle, absorbing his magic across their numbers, but he overpowers even that powerful defense. He takes them down, but cannot leave the circle; he was trapped in a symbol. His borrowed magic begins to fade, and more witches descend upon him.

And the Black Witches arrive to finish the job. Unveiling their true nature, they walked among the Hathran. The cries of betrayal are sharp and pained, more so than any of the physical torment Valik inflicted. Though he cheers them on, they turn to him, to silence his knowledge of their plans, and to punish him for daring to strike down the Wychlaran, to wield the power of the Goddess.

Vasilisa falls, she among the Hathran, disguised as one of their order. The bundle she held falls from her hands, and cries emit from it. The Black Witches turn to the sound.

Vasilisa seethes through the pain, standing. She calls upon the Goddess, allowing the witches' magic to slay her, and unleashing a death curse upon them, causing them to fear this place, to forget why they'd come, and never to return.

She lies back down on the ground, caressing her child. "Be well. Beloved."

And Vasilisa breathes her last.

But the child is not abandoned. She is taken up by Wilhelmina, who takes her far, far away from the groves of Rashemen.

Out of the stream of time, Ani kneels on the ground, in tears, clutching uselessly at the form of her mother.

Rewards

Defeating Radduk: 5,000 xp each (new total: 122,000 xp, level 16)
- GP debt: 70 gp

Mark of the Unicorn

This orihalcum pendant bears the a modified symbol of Devina, the Maiden aspect of the Goddess. It once belonged to Vasilisa Radov, Anastasia's mother. Yaphyll retrieved it from storage in the Covenant Guild Hall, in order to use its power to free Anastasia from possession by an unknown spiritual entity who was using her body as a platform for the attempted murder of all Covenant members and their surviving scions.

It has the following abilities:

Item Type: Amulet
Patronus Light: 3/day, immediate, emanation 5, 1 round; you emanate brilliant white light. Evil creatures are repelled, and must flee to the extent of range; they may take no action while inside. The spells of evil creatures deflect off the edge of this effect. Neither you nor allies may use hostile abilities while inside this effect; doing so will end it.
Expecto Patronum: Daily, immediate; you summon a Patronus, an incarnation of hope, joy, and love, to defend you and your allies. It takes the form of a specific animal of significant meaning (in Ani's case: a unicorn). It emanates Patronus Light constantly.
- Each round the Patronus remains, you suffer 1 point of Strain.
- For 1 point of Strain, you may cause the Patronus to remove any effects barring dimensional travel from you or your allies, then teleport you to a safe location within 1 mile/level. This ends the summoning.

Disc of Night

This adamantium disc is a holy symbol dedicated to Yaga, the Crone aspect of the Goddess. It used to belong to Uksar Valik, who received it from Wilhelmina Petrovna; recently, it was claimed by Anastasia, after she vanquished him in magical combat.