Episode 25: Broken Faith

"'Br'aad and Taxi look for an Exorcist, Velrisa looks for repentance, and Sylnan has some issues.'"

Episode Events
After the rough events of the previous episode, the party arrives in Vileta at dawn. Everyone disembarks, minus the captain, Cedric, who remained on board to unload cargo. Sylnan, Hilltree, Mountain, and Chirp all head towards the inn, Taxi and Br'aad search for a church that can assist in curse removal, meanwhile Velrisa searches for the church of Wee Jas.

The perspective follows Sylnan and Mountain first. Sylnan is notably wanting to be left alone, his mannerisms displaying as such. After both party members enter their rooms, perspective switches.

Following Br'aad and Taxi, they discuss their plans. Br'aad tells Taxi that he suspects Sylnan's curse is getting worse, and wants to remove it. They plan to attempt to find an Arcanist, someone with arcane knowledge, who can aid in lifting the curse. They get hopelessly lost, and attempt to seek directions from village residents. Noticing the apprehension from villagers at Taxi's appearance, Br'aad uses major illusion to disguise Taxi in a human version, which fails mildly. Despite the disastrous appearance of Taxi inside a human illusion, they manage to arrive at the home of a villager, who said their father may be able to assist or direct them.

This man, whose name is Ardith, tells them that the church of Wee Jas has been abandoned, but there they should be able to find Akar The First, who should be able to assist them in the curse removal. Ardith informs them of an herb called the Atheory root that they can gather and bring back in case they are unable to locate Akar, of which will help Ardith use the arcane web with less strain. He sends them on their way with a smoke cloud that directs them to the abandoned church of Wee Jas.

Meanwhile, Velrisa finds the church, noticing the run down architecture and abandoned graveyard. She wanders the graveyard in search of people, and finds a gravestone for Lambert Weaver, whose tombstone is newer than the rest. Walking around the building, Velrisa finds a shattered window, of which she crawls through. Investigating inside the musty church building, Velrisa notices that she is not alone. An abnormally tall robed man stands in the aisle way, with pale white skin and red eyes. He knows of Velrisa and the events of season 2 episode 16, Rules Of Nature, and tells her that Wee Jas is angry with her.

The man gives her a task for her repentance. He shows her a place of darkness, one outside of the astral plane, where there is a tower. Atop that tower is a green platform the size of a city. In the center of this platform, he shows her an hour glass, one where instead of sand, there are souls inside. He tells her this artifact is in the possession of Nyrule, Wee Jas's rival. Nyrule is known as 'The Reaper', and is the deity of chaos, murder, and evil. He instructs her to destroy this hour glass, giving her a purple gem necklace that will give her access to the shown realm when there is enough arcanic energy around.

This conversation is cut short by Br'aad and Taxi, who begin to kick open the blocked doors of the church. They do so successfully. Inside, they call for Akar, who presents himself, and it is discovered that this was the same man Velrisa spoke to moments prior. It is noted that Akar's left side of his face is completely bone. Akar confirms that he can remove the curse, but demands a large payment to do so. Taxi watches as Br'aad attempts to approach Akar, but falls to his knees, staring silently at Akar, his eyes fully white.

From Br'aad's perspective, the world flashes white as he attempts to approach, and appears back at the dock in the Great King's Wharf, 3 years prior to taking the pact with Ob'nockshai. He begins to lose the memories of Taxi, Velrisa, and Mountain, and all that has occurred during the campaign. He sees Sylnan and Katherine approaching him. Things begin normally, but as Br'aad gets a bad feeling, he finds himself on a different road than the one he was walking, in front of the orphanage. As he and Sylnan continue walking back to the abandoned factory, he hears a scream, and appears in front of the orphanage once more. He runs down a path, when he hears a woman scream, and he sees The Barber stabbing a woman in an alley. Br'aad sprints away, hearing heavy stomping from all directions as he runs. As Br'aad approaches the factory, The Barber appears on the path in front of him. Sprinting the opposite direction, the road only leads towards the orphanage.

As Br'aad presses his hands on the doors of the orphanage, the white light flashes again, and Br'aad finds himself at a barn, in Goldcrest. Br'aad feels himself fill with hunger and anger, he sees a herd of cows. He realizes that this a memory, and he forces himself out of it, back into reality. Angry, Br'aad uses his Wand of Wonder, which backfires into him, and a bright white light shoots out, blinding everyone but Br'aad. Akar has vanished.

The blind Taxi is pulled away by Br'aad to chase Akar, while the blinded Velrisa follows behind. No longer blinded, they all descend into the basement. The room is empty except for a single open coffin. Inside, there is a female's body. Unable to locate Akar, they investigate the coffin. While doing so, they are attacked out of thin air, and Akar reappears. Akar uses his leverage of Wee Jas against Velrisa, forcing her to defend him. Angry once more, Br'aad casts his Wand of Wonder again, and a bolt of lightning fires through Velrisa and into Akar.

(Trigger Warning: Brief mention of Child Abuse. Skip underlined words if this may upset you.)

Akar retaliates, sending Br'aad back into a memory illusion once more. He sees a 12 year old Sylnan in front of him as well as Brendan. The room seems familiar to Br'aad, and realizes Brendan's anger as Sylnan stands between them, trying to protect Br'aad. Brendan lifts Br'aad off the ground, fist balled, ready to punch.