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C1 Ep. 33 Eberron Reduced 3
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On this Eberron Reduced Eric and Philip take a trip to the “other side”. Find out what waits in the great beyond for citizens of Eberron!
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Transcript
Contemplation on Death and Dreams
00:00:03
Speaker
To die. To sleep. To sleep. A chance to dream. Aye, there's the rub. For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause.
00:00:37
Speaker
D20 radio, your game is rolling. Wake up.
Eric Meets the Hooded Figure
00:00:59
Speaker
Eric, wake up. Who? Who is it? You open your eyes. And as you say these words, and you see a somewhat familiar figure standing over you.
00:01:22
Speaker
The hooded figure that handed you curse bringer back in the cogs a long time ago now stands over you. He is standing amongst a gray sky surrounded by dead trees. And it's almost as if wisps of shadow
00:01:49
Speaker
float away off of these trees torn by a wind that you can't feel. The hooded figure extends a hand to help you up. I take the hand and stand and look around myself.
Eric's Death and the Plane of the Dead
00:02:15
Speaker
Is it likely that it clicks with me what's happened?
00:02:19
Speaker
You probably have a pretty good idea. You, amongst the grayness and just the drab landscape, you do see a scene frozen in time of a older man standing in a rather defensive position.
00:02:42
Speaker
the silhouette of a half orc standing amongst them with what looks like draconic scrawling all over his form and a changeling leaning very aggressively into the face of the older man with a finger to his chest. On the ground near them, you see your body.
00:03:12
Speaker
Philip wants to know not entirely sure what the or the speed at which dollar affects you. Do I do I still recognize these people? You do. But they do not look with the exception of Sam. They don't look like you knew them in life. What's different?
00:03:38
Speaker
Well, Dex is in his changeling form, which I think you may have glimpsed one time. Yeah. But then, Theradak, it's like he is the outline of a half-orc, but all you can see is just glowing, draconic script all over his body. Okay.
00:04:04
Speaker
We don't have much time. We have to find a way back. I'm... I'm dead. I died. Yes. The poison. I ate the... I ate the plant. Yes, you foolish...
00:04:30
Speaker
Foolish man, you ate belladonna to try and stave off a minor curse and got yourself killed. Well, I suppose it worked. Well, yes, you are no longer infected with lycanthropy, so great job there, Beric. Yes. Listen. But why am I here?
00:05:01
Speaker
I wait. This is the here, the plane of the dead. This is where you go. Beric looks a little bit. A little bit crestfallen. Beric, I OK. I was told all souls pass through Dolar. Before they pass on to the real afterlife,
00:05:31
Speaker
So, in your case, presumably, your soul would have joined with the Silver Flame. I'm not entirely sure. I've never been here before either.
The Pact and Eric's Trapped Soul
00:05:43
Speaker
So thank you for that.
00:05:49
Speaker
Who are you? Well, I know that I look a bit different, but I am still a co-springer, my dear boy. I'm not quite so raspy, but something... What do you look like a person now? Based on what I know, Dolor allows you to appear as you truly are.
00:06:18
Speaker
I don't have a true form because as I've told you, I am merely part of a whole. So if I am part of something that's humanoid, I would probably look like a big toe. And I don't think that's really for our purpose here. Um, or an arm or maybe a heart. I don't know. I, I just know that we need to get back.
00:06:49
Speaker
I'm sorry. I don't know what you think you're going to do, but I can tell you that none of them have the capacity to do that. He says, looking at the group. They are still frozen in time. Yeah, but point gesturing towards them. None of those there have the capacity to do that.
00:07:15
Speaker
Well, then it is up to us. Um, dollar is a plane like any other. You've gone to planes before yourself. You know that it's possible to move between planes.
00:07:35
Speaker
I've no wish to be a ghost friend. Well, that's, that's where your friendship or whatever you may call it with me may come in handy because I, part of the pact with me is that your soul can't pass on. Like I said, you would have joined with the flame, but you can't.
00:08:04
Speaker
And that's because of you. Well, it's because of the deal. It's the way that these sort of things work. It's not something I wrote into the contract, but you are, for some reason, the last person that can fulfill the pact.
00:08:21
Speaker
unless you have a child, in which case bugger off and die. But in until different here, I, I'm, it's not, I, I don't know. I feel a little revitalized being here. Perhaps a part of the greater whole was also existing here and being
00:08:45
Speaker
here has joined me with it. I feel revitalized and that's wonderful. Um, but because you're the last one that can fulfill the agreement that was made with me, you, your soul can't move on. And I'm setting the sense I don't know for certain.
00:09:17
Speaker
That's terrible. I'm like I said, that's just the way making a promise to a being like myself. It just comes with the territory. I didn't make any promise. I know. But somebody did and they promised on your behalf. I acknowledge that's a
00:09:46
Speaker
pretty bad thing to do. But I can't do anything about it. Isn't the pact with you? Yes. So couldn't you let me out of it? Well, like I said, I'm a part of a whole and I get the sense that if I let you out of the deal,
00:10:15
Speaker
I no longer exist, and I've grown to like you, Beric. I like your moxie, but I'm not willing to un-write my own existence for your comfort. We have important work to do. We have to save the world, as it were. And I think we need to keep going.
00:10:47
Speaker
keep going where towards the the in the to stop the darkness to take like Beric was feeling literal oh look we escape I'm a soul first off this is all rot
00:11:16
Speaker
I should be in the Flame. I should be... I should be gone. Well, if... if you want to join with the Flame, Beric, then we have to... finish the fight. And how can we do that from here? Well, we have to go find a haunted house or something. I don't know. Some place that's coterminous with Dolor and Eberron that we can pass through. And then... I'm a ghost.
Eric's Dual Existence and Purpose
00:11:43
Speaker
And I don't know what you are, if you're so, cause aren't you right there. Look at your hands, Eric. I look at my hands. See how they are corporeal. You can't see through them. You are not a soul trapped in Dolor. You are here. But aren't I there? Well, now we're getting into some pretty heady conversation, but you are physically in Dolor.
00:12:14
Speaker
But aren't I also physically in Eberron? Well, the flesh and bone that once made you up is still in Eberron, but that's not me anymore. Well, I mean, you're not in that body. I mean, I have a new body. I have a different body here. Yes. Where did it come from? I think your soul manifested it because of the pact with me.
00:12:42
Speaker
You, like I said, your soul cannot pass on. Your soul can be trapped here for eternity. And once again, Beric, I like your moxie, but I would really like our relationship to come to an end at some point and not for us to be going back and forth for eternity. So I'm dead.
00:13:09
Speaker
Yes. And we're in Dohler. The plane of the dead, yes. Right. And I'm stuck because somewhere in the past, some member of my line made a deal on behalf of all its
00:13:39
Speaker
all his descendants or her descendants or whatever it was. And that's someone in my father's line, I assume. I believe so. So my options are go back to probably fate, whatever. And
00:14:10
Speaker
or be trapped here forever. Eternally. Just stuck. Beric. Think back on your life. Think back on the training that you've had and the situations you've been thrown into. You are on the front lines of a war to determine the fate of Eberron itself.
00:14:35
Speaker
Genuinely think fate? Deans that you die in the jungle from eating a plant? No, I decided that. Okay, so defy your own stupid actions. Don't bring fate into it. We have another chance. How? Well, I was hoping you had some good ideas.
00:15:05
Speaker
Give me a do you have dice in front of you? Yeah, give me a perception check 21
00:15:18
Speaker
You see over the shoulder of the hooded figure standing in front of you, you see a figure walking and it stops and looks through the parting of the trees down the path at you and it kind of perks up and cocks its head. Is it in any way familiar?
00:15:40
Speaker
Um, you're a bit far away and it's lost a bit of its form being in Dolor. So you can't quite, like you can't recognize a person or for lack of a better way to put it. Okay. But it is a humanoid figure shining bathed in light essentially. Okay. I look around.
00:16:05
Speaker
What does the place I'm in look like other than gray sky and shadowy trees? I mean, it, it looks like the Zendrick jungle, except the trees are dead. The ground is barren. Like, but I have known to expect that. No. Okay. Well, ah, the place has geography.
00:16:35
Speaker
We can ask for directions. Who would we ask, Barrick? There's someone over there. What? And Kurt Springer looks over his shoulder. Oh. Barrick starts walking towards the person, the form that goes, whatever. Once you get within about 15 feet, you recognize the figure as the cleric that was infected with lycanthropy.
00:17:06
Speaker
I remember you. You're not dead. Or you weren't dead a minute ago. It appears that I am now. I take it you didn't find the wolfsbane. Well, our scout brought me something and I ate it and here I am. I think I was killed.
00:17:34
Speaker
But my memory is fading. I I think I remember feeling an absence of something near my throat. And then here I am.
The Silver Flame and Renewed Purpose
00:17:56
Speaker
That's troubling.
00:18:00
Speaker
I don't see how I was a lycanthrope and now I can already feel the warmth of the flame within me. And you see that he's beginning to glow brighter as you talk to him. Who is your friend? Did he die too? No, he's just stuck with me or I'm with him or something.
00:18:33
Speaker
Ah. It doesn't seem I've... died all the way or something. I seem to still have a body. So... Well, do you... Do you follow the flame, friend? Oh yes. All my life. Me too. And I...
00:18:56
Speaker
and he kind of looks up past the tree line and for a moment you see it almost looks like the color returns to his face and the sun is shining down on him and he looks back at you and smiles and says you will find your reward one day and you see his form
00:19:24
Speaker
almost come apart into flame and light. And it begins to soar up through the sky towards what you can now see a column of silver flame has opened up in the sky to accept his soul. Eric just watches. Just, you know. Eric. What?
00:19:56
Speaker
I know that right now you are not the biggest fan of me or what binds us together. But if you want that one day, then you have to renew your purpose. Were you supposed to happen if I killed this buddy?
00:20:22
Speaker
I don't know. And it's troubling to me that you would suggest such a thing. Um... I mean, we're in Dolor, so... Maybe another one would appear? Or... The world might explode. I don't know if anybody's ever committed suicide in Dolor before Beric. Give me another perception check.
00:20:54
Speaker
10 or I guess my passive so 15 as you were Berwick I I'm not supposed to be here I know that probably that line has been uttered in this plane more times than any living being could count even if they started at one the moment they were born but I'm
00:21:22
Speaker
My presence will not go unnoticed. I'm sorry, am I inconveniencing you? No, I'm saying that you might be in danger.
Threats in Dolor and Eric's Predicament
00:21:32
Speaker
From what? I'm saying that I might be inconveniencing you. From one of the thousand of horrifying things that live in Dolor. That will what? Kill me? Imprison you, trap your soul for eternity. I mean, at least we can move around now. But imagine being flayed for the rest of your time here.
00:21:52
Speaker
Does that sound better or worse? Well, not better, I suppose. Thank you. Well, as you haven't suggested a way out, wandering around here waiting to be eaten by something doesn't sound a lot better than suicide.
00:22:12
Speaker
Well, like you said, this place has geography. We came here from Stormreach. I've heard plenty of tales about haunted houses in Stormreach, so what better place to start than there? I mean, you want to walk back to whatever's at Stormreach in Duller to Shadowfell Stormreach.
00:22:37
Speaker
to potentially find an area that is coterminous with Eberron. Yes, that's what I'm suggesting. And you think we can just step through? I don't know, Beric, but if unless you have a better idea, then I don't know why you're being so contentious. Well, I didn't think suicide was that bad of an idea. Oh my god, you are the worst parts of your fat habits. Which ones? What? Which god?
00:23:03
Speaker
I hope to bugger off. You are the worst part of each of your parents. And I'm stu... Can we please go? Well, I don't have anything better to do at the moment. Wonderful. For eternity, it would seem. Must you be so gloomy all the time? It's not a joke. Well, I mean...
00:23:31
Speaker
Yes, you died, but the keeper didn't get your soul. Yet. Well, he doesn't live here. He tries to get souls when they're transitioning. Well, I suppose I'm safe from that. There's a plus. Look on the bright side. There isn't a bright side. We're in duller. We just saw a giant flame in the sky. Yeah, that wasn't duller.
00:24:02
Speaker
Let's go. Um, okay. At this moment, you, you and curse bring your turn to start on the trail. And as you turn, you see standing about four inches away from you, a ghostly face that is pale white.
00:24:26
Speaker
lacking any sort of real lips, just barren teeth and hollow eye sockets staring at you, breathing heavily. Eric jumps back and just muscle reflex tries to summon curse bringer into his hands.
00:24:45
Speaker
Okay. The hooded figure disappears. Oh, and the hood that was covering it kind of shoots to your hand and forms into a ghostly looking version of curse bringer. Like against your corporeal hand, it seems somewhat insubstantial. Barak is surprised and therefore does not immediately attack the ghost.
00:25:12
Speaker
It stares at you, and now that you can see more than its face, it is a slender body covered in pale white, taut skin with shadows ebbing around it. And it simply, it does not make a move to attack you. It just raises its arm, extending a finger at you, and opens its hideous, larger-than-normal mouth
00:25:42
Speaker
And you hear. OK. But it doesn't. It's not threatening me. I'm giving you a moment to think about what you would like to do. OK. What am I wearing now?
00:26:12
Speaker
A mirror of what you were wearing before, except your amulet is not around your neck. Interesting. It's very interesting. OK. You see a shadowy glaive begin to form in the other hand of this creature standing before you. I. I cast create bonfire under its feet.
00:26:43
Speaker
Nothing happens. Oh, like the bonfire doesn't appear. Yes. Then I will cut at it with Cursebringer, I guess. Go ahead and give me a roll. 15. You swing Cursebringer at the figure and Cursebringer passes through
00:27:11
Speaker
seemingly not making contact with the figure before you. At this point, Cursebringer flies out of your hand again and reforms into the hooded figure. Beric?
00:27:26
Speaker
You may wield me, but allow the untapped power that I wield to assist us in returning back. And he swirls his hands around and you see him uttering some incantation and he gestures at the figure and nothing happens. Drat. Run. And the hooded figure turns and begins to move away.
00:27:58
Speaker
Eric genuinely thinks for a moment, or what, and then follows Cursebringer because there's not really anything better to do. You hear the noise again behind you of the horrifying scream that I will not put other people through again.
00:28:23
Speaker
You then... Go ahead. What exactly are we running from? What's it going to do? That's a sorrow sworn. It will capture your soul and do horrible things to it. A sorrow sworn? Yes. What does that mean? It's a demon. Oh. I guess I could have just said that. Sorry.
00:28:49
Speaker
in the middle of its second horrifying scream, you don't hear it taper off like it did before, it just stops in the middle of it. But then you begin to hear other similar screams around you. And you hear hoofbeats coming up behind you. Is it Uncle Benjen? No.
00:29:21
Speaker
Uh, bear looks behind because that's what you do even though it's a really bad idea while running. You see a very large, not larger than normal, but a large black steed bearing down on you.
00:29:40
Speaker
with a figure riding on it with a black cloak flying in the wind behind it and they're wearing a helmet that covers their face so you don't really get a good sense and you're obviously running so you don't get a whole lot of the details. Sure. Do you continue to look behind you or do you glance up front again?
00:30:02
Speaker
I will turn back and try to put on speed, having no real sure of how fast can I run in the Shadowfell. Once you turn back around, you see another sorrow sworn has appeared on the trail before you. And as it begins to open its mouth to let out a scream, a spear appears through it, having flown over your shoulder. And the thing crumples to the ground. And the hoofbeats are less rapid now.
00:30:33
Speaker
Stop. Why not? Beric stops. In the name of my queen, who are you? Beric turns around. Beric really? And...
00:30:54
Speaker
the figure immediately gets down off their horse. I didn't know that Diller had a queen. Now that you get a better look, you see that the helmet that this figure is wearing, the faceplate is in the shape of a raven's face.
00:31:16
Speaker
Another person in a burn mask. Can't trust him. You know what? Eric is, is, is in the sort of like. Heady. Oh, I can't die. And I hate this. And this is all horrible sort of humorless sarcasm that he gets. Let me guess the black crow. What? All right.
00:31:46
Speaker
Sorry. Your queen who... I didn't know the... I didn't know the dollar had a queen. I... I don't know much about here. Who are you?
Reunion with Eric's Mother
00:31:59
Speaker
Why did you kill that thing? And... Beric. It... That's what... Yes? You recognize the voice when this figure says your name.
00:32:11
Speaker
Uh, the figure removes her helmet and you see the albeit much younger face of your mother. And she just goes to hug you. But Eric just collapses into her. My, my, my diet.
00:32:42
Speaker
I know. Why are you here? You should be gone by now. Why do you have a body? Well, I think it's the same reason you do, that gentleman that's standing over your shoulder. Who did this to us?
00:33:14
Speaker
Somebody that you, me, your father never met, but I think, I think it's going to be okay. How can it be okay?
00:33:46
Speaker
Beric, I'm... I'm a soldier here. I... I command the Queen's armies. I'm doing what I was good at in life. And... I... I'm so sorry. I... I was selfish.
00:34:17
Speaker
the things I did, the compromises I made to try and win the war. After I died and found myself here, I watched you for a long time and seeing the way that you were spoken to, the way that you were treated because of my actions, I had to stop.
00:34:47
Speaker
I'm so sorry. And I never thought I would get to say that to you. I don't know. I'm sorry. It's not your fault. You're a hero.
00:35:15
Speaker
You have to say that. You're my son. I really didn't understand the price. I didn't know either. Your father didn't know. He tried to stop it. He did. And in a way, inadvertently, he stopped it for his line.
00:35:46
Speaker
because I took it from him. I... You took... What do you mean you took what? I... Took the pact? I felt like the power could help us win the war. I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I was going to be a hero.
00:36:14
Speaker
And so I took the burden from your father. And I thought that maybe I could I could finish the fight before I died and spare you this fate. And I'm I failed you.
00:36:50
Speaker
been trying to understand you ever since you died. I know. I'm sure the journal wasn't much help. It was better than nothing. Most people didn't have that.
00:37:20
Speaker
soldier, but for who? For whom? I, none of us know her name. She simply goes by the raven. And I think that we have more in common with her than, than you may think.
00:37:47
Speaker
I don't know, I have had a very bad run of luck with people using bird names. Oh, yes, I saw the bit about the red owl. Dreadful. But this one is good, I promise. We protect people on their way to
00:38:18
Speaker
What have is beyond here for them? You, you have encountered some of the, the enemies already. Um, we, we help them and.
00:38:38
Speaker
Now that you're starting to get into more logistical questions and your mind is clearing over everything that's just happened, you notice that you recognize her. This is definitely your mother, but she looks a lot more like you now. Her skin has turned ashen. Her hair is black.
00:38:59
Speaker
Um, she's a bit more gaunt, not sickly, just. Yeah, just more gaunt. Um, there, there's been some changes to her because of her time here. Um, I, I don't understand though. Why, why is he here? I don't know who he is. I've gotten.
00:39:30
Speaker
but almost nothing useful out of him, frankly. Well, that makes two of us. I, my time with him was less than productive on the information front, but then again, information was your father's passion. I, he was a tool that I felt like I could use and I foolishly didn't ask enough questions. What do we do? Well,
00:40:00
Speaker
I think the best thing to do right now is to take you back to the queen. Because if there's anything to be done about the pact still being attached to you and manifesting here, then I have to think that she's the best person to have answers.
00:40:31
Speaker
No, Barrick, I, for my, what feels like centuries here, I, I don't have many answers for you. I, I wish I did, but nevermind. Let's go. Yeah. Yeah. All right.
00:41:02
Speaker
Um, so the three of you begin walking. Um, your mother is leading her horse. Um, is the horse real? It's there. Yeah. Um, because I can't help myself. How is there a horse here? Um, well,
00:41:30
Speaker
there are shadowy mirrorings of the things on Eberron. And so you will occasionally see an animal that looks familiar, but is a little different. This horse is rather large and does not tire, does not require food or water. It can run for days and never get tired. Um,
00:41:59
Speaker
It's that it's rare. Only the most significant of creatures are reflected here. I see. So the whole, cold place, it's a it's a reflection I've ever on. In a way, yes. It's
00:42:26
Speaker
There are representations of things in Eberron, but like I said, only the most perfect of a particular thing is actually here. This horse is the perfect horse.
00:42:47
Speaker
Whereas you might see buildings that have crumbled and or these trees which have withered and died. But there are places where there is a tree that is alive that is the most perfect tree that you could ever see. So most of it's like, like if I was sitting in a cave staring at the back of the wall and there was light behind me, I could see the shadows, but not really the forms of the real thing. That's an interesting way of putting it, yes.
00:43:18
Speaker
Write that down. It's a good idea. So like I said, I eventually hit a point where it both became too painful and seemed somewhat inappropriate to watch your every move from this side of the curtain. And she just kind of gets this smirk on her face as she kind of looks at you through the side of her eye.
00:43:47
Speaker
Any grandchildren? No. No, uh, no girl. Well, that's fine. I didn't find your father until I was a few years older than you. Did you ever meet him? He's not here. No. No, I never did.
00:44:22
Speaker
I found out he's... What's called an... Wait, did Beric learn the word Umbrigen? I think so. Yeah. I found out he's what's called an Umbrigen, but that's... He once ended up in Syria, in Serania.
00:44:45
Speaker
And the angels there were not happy about it. And we're not happy about my passage through. Wait a moment. The angels told you that your father was there? They told me one like me was there and that he carried, or the same power was in him. And they didn't mention the fierce brunette by his side? No. They seemed to only focus on things they didn't like very much.
00:45:15
Speaker
They didn't like me very much. They liked Dex less. Who's Dex? He's a changeling. Ah. Well, most of them- He's also a werebear. Hmm. I suppose I was a wereboar for a moment. Oh. Oh. That's how I ended up here.
00:45:44
Speaker
Our guide had a suggested cure. I suppose it worked. Well, good to see that you still have your sense of humor. So it's been a while since I've been there.
00:46:08
Speaker
What's the world like? What's happening? What brought you to Zendrick? We had to run red owls, uh, hate a theory with Narn. Uh, after we arrested her, uh, she accused us of being rogue agents. And for whatever reason, I don't really understand the King. King went along with it. Uh,
00:46:40
Speaker
Something's not right. Something's, you know, rotten in the state of Breland. I must tell you that your father had to get out after I died, took a new wife and she killed me. And I need you to go avenge my death.
00:47:12
Speaker
Yeah, it's gonna play out Hamlet. Dex and I guess Booyah can be Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Well, you know that British politics was always my favorite thing to get involved with. Well,
00:47:42
Speaker
what all the rich folk say, give me a sword and an orc coming at me, instead of a friendly smile from an Andarian. As you walk along, you notice that the trees stop before you see just flat earth covered in snow. The trees have stopped. Still, everything has a wash of gray and just
00:48:12
Speaker
dullness over it. And Eurek turns to you. This is the realm of the Queen's court.
Approaching the Queen's Court
00:48:25
Speaker
We are getting close to where she keeps her most trusted allies with her. She can be a bit stubborn, for lack of a better term.
00:48:42
Speaker
So, maybe best to keep your, your cynical charm at bay a little bit, save you, anger her. I understand. At this point, you hear, Beric, forgive me, but
00:49:05
Speaker
How is this getting us closer back to the material plane? I understand that this has been a wonderful reunion, but we have to get back. Well, your plan was to walk back to Shadowstorm Ridge and look for a haunted house and hope that we can just step through it.
00:49:34
Speaker
which you admittedly don't know if we can do. Whoever this being is, is more powerful than me and you, or at least whatever you're a part of, or whatever part of, whatever you're a part of, you are. So perhaps she'll be more helpful than wandering around the streets looking for an exit
00:50:04
Speaker
Fine. It doesn't seem any less likely to work. Continuing to follow your mother, you find a break in the snow that has some stairs leading down into the earth.
00:50:33
Speaker
She's just down here. She has been here far longer than I have, or most people in her court have. And so she's lost touch a bit with what it means to be human. And
00:51:04
Speaker
I don't know how this meeting will go. Because based on conversations I've had with her, she has some level of attachment with whatever fuels Cursebringer. We all do. All of us are here. Is she part of the pact?
00:51:34
Speaker
I believe so. Based on talking with others here, we all come from walks of lives or families that have had a pact.
00:51:54
Speaker
with a creature that we don't firmly understand. And it's not the same. We're not all related. We're not all part of the same bloodline. I'm sure that perhaps some of your father's ancestors are somewhere out there, but we are all anchored here for a reason.
00:52:24
Speaker
We, the Queen has a term for us that she uses. It's old draconic for anchored soul. It's Shaddakai. But
00:52:45
Speaker
She's been here a very long time and this is her realm that she has taken by force to a certain extent. So when we go down there, her expectation is that I am her general and you are an outsider.
00:53:14
Speaker
I am going to do my best to guide the conversation in a positive way. But I don't know what would happen to both of us if I lashed out at her for words that she spoke to you. I understand. Just remember, I am your mother and I love you. And I know all of this is in the service of
00:53:46
Speaker
making this world a better place. And she takes your hands and squeezes them and gives you a quick kiss on the forehead. Squeeze her hands back. Let's go. Follow her down. So there are torches leading your way down, but they seem to just cast
00:54:13
Speaker
twilight almost. They don't burn bright, but enough to stave off the darkness.
00:54:26
Speaker
you, as you go further down, it opens up into kind of a great hall. And you see figures standing around that have a similar complexion as your mother of this ashen skin, gaunt face, dark hair, you act. It's the first time you've been in a room with people that look very similar to you. And
00:54:55
Speaker
A Curspringer continues to travel with you in his hooded form. People are looking at you with an odd glance, but more people stare at Curspringer, you can see.
00:55:19
Speaker
Um, once you reach the end of the great hall, there's some large double doors and your mother reaches out and opens one and swings it open. And you see before you a, a throne.
00:55:35
Speaker
with the engraving of a raven on it. And there are actually, probably by your quick estimation, at least a dozen ravens, a few on the back of the throne and just perched around the room, staring down at you. And you see a woman sitting on the throne.
00:55:59
Speaker
who looks much like you, ashen skin, raven hair, and she's wearing ornate robes that seem to be woven from both shadow and light with images of ravens and
00:56:21
Speaker
You see some images of Reapers on it as well. A few sites here and there, but the images seem to
00:56:32
Speaker
transform into other images. The lines move to create new new pictures as time passes as you approach the throne. And hear your mother say, my queen, I have found a new soul who has been bound here. And she kneels before the raven. I follow a few paces behind your
00:57:03
Speaker
and stop when she stops, staying a little behind her, and when she kneels, I will do the same. Good to see that you know the proper customs. We've had some barbarians come down here that were unaware of how to handle themselves in courtly situations. You may rise.
00:57:33
Speaker
Do so. As soon as I'm on my feet, I bow straight and say, my mother trained me well. Oh, Yurik, this is your son. Interesting. What is your name? I'm Eric Rowan, my lady.
00:57:59
Speaker
Well, Matt Berwick, who is your companion? To be perfectly truthful, ma'am, I don't know the answer to that question. He has called himself a curse bringer. In life, I knew him as a sword and as a voice. It is only on arriving here that I've seen him take
00:58:29
Speaker
a form that would be called humanoid. As you speak, you see the Queen shift from her very relaxed position on her throne to leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, intently listening to what you're saying. It is my understanding that he is, at least this is what he has told me, that he is a part of a greater being.
00:59:00
Speaker
And that somewhere in the deeps of the time, a member of my family bound all of my blood to some form of pact with this being. And as a part of that pact, I cannot pass on to my own end.
00:59:29
Speaker
until the pact is fulfilled. But beyond that, I cannot answer your question. A smile creeps across her face. So you're the last of your line as well. It would seem so.
00:59:57
Speaker
Nobody, since I've been here, has had that fate to be the final heir to their pact, to bring it with them here
01:00:19
Speaker
It's interesting, Beric. You have the capacity to wield more power here if you knew how. You see, and she smiles and her cloak that she's wearing lifts off of her and swirls through the air and forms next to her in a figure that looks alarmingly like Cursebringer.
01:00:50
Speaker
I was the last of my line as well. Then you know what am I bound to, my lady? What holds me here? What am I in a pact with? Well, if I may.
01:01:18
Speaker
If your, um, your peace speaks the same as mine, then I have been led to believe that it is part of the silver flame and that these are merely shards that have been pulled away from it. Um,
01:01:47
Speaker
Mine spoke to me at a very young age, telling me that it was a part of the silver flame. And I believed and I gave in to the power and... Are you from Thrain, Beric? I am from Breland, but I am a follower of the silver flame. Ah.
01:02:15
Speaker
Well, then if I were to ask you the question of what would be done to somebody claiming to have the flame speak to them and they would not the speaker? I suppose that the answer would differ from time to time, but in
The Queen's Offer and Eric's Decision
01:02:45
Speaker
in more intolerant times. I am from intolerant times. I'm sorry, say that again. I am from intolerant times. Then at worst, it might burn her. Well,
01:03:06
Speaker
my time was intolerant but not as they would say undignified and they felt that petrification would be a cleaner means so here I am that's terrible it was but looking at
01:03:34
Speaker
where I am now, and where you are now, and what I believe our combined purpose could be, it may have been worth it. We're all trapped here, Beric. We have made the best of our time here, but many souls wish to move on. I know that your mother
01:04:04
Speaker
is a wonderful general and a wonderful servant, but I can tell that she's tired. She would like to move on, and I would love to let them, but I don't have that power. The powers that be enthrain when they chose to
01:04:31
Speaker
do what they did to me were smarter than I think they even knew. Me being the last of my pact affords me the opportunity to return just as it will you. But I cannot because I don't have a body to return to.
01:04:59
Speaker
If I were to attempt to, I would be entering stone. So, Beric, I suppose what I'm trying to say is, the soul of your mother and thousands like her,
01:05:25
Speaker
rest on us getting you back to Eberron and you figuring out whatever this pact was that we all found ourselves in and completing it. I believe that if what my piece of the whole that goes by Soul Reaper
01:05:53
Speaker
If what he's to be believed, then finishing the pact will free the souls that are trapped here. And I can help you in that endeavor, but I cannot return to Eberron as long as my body remains petrified.
01:06:24
Speaker
So we need to see about getting you back. There is a way that I believe we can harness the magic to provide you with enough power to return to your mortal form. But
01:06:57
Speaker
your pact and mine would need to join. I don't know what that would mean. Well, what is the name of your sword as he appeared? Cursebringer. I don't know why they all wish to sound so ominous. It does. It is troubling.
01:07:27
Speaker
He's troubling that something that claims to be a part of the flame would select names like this. Enemy would seem fairer and all that. If we join Soul Reaper, who stands here, to my left, say hello Soul Reaper. Hello.
01:07:58
Speaker
If we join Soul Reaper and Cursebringer, their essence together here, and bind ourselves together, then perhaps that would be enough to return you to your form and give you the opportunity to finish this for all of us.
01:08:28
Speaker
My lady, what will that do to you? I will remain here. Um, I'm not giving up my pact, obviously. Just the, the form that it takes. Our pact would be, our purpose would join into one. Tell me.
01:08:48
Speaker
Berwick of Breland. What purpose was your curse bringer pushing you towards when you were alive? Well, it seems extremely concerned with the fact that there have been a number of incursions into the material plane from my bar. There's been
01:09:18
Speaker
and my companions about several several encounters with a lich attempting to push himself through a planar gate from a bar and he's been thwarted at all occasions but it seems to be happening more often we were looking in zendric for
01:09:50
Speaker
objects with very ancient power that were in some way or another bound to the silver flame or infused with the silver flame in order to fight back the shadows, to drive them back and bind them perhaps or increase the thickness of the barrier between our planes. I don't exactly know. We had an idea of the
01:10:20
Speaker
of something that might be a tool in the process, but we truly don't know what the end game would look like. My divine purpose that I preached during my time before
01:10:50
Speaker
I was... well, we've already gone over that. Soul Reaper had told me that there were powerful figures within the church that had become... the phrasing that he used was tarnished. They were no longer pure.
01:11:20
Speaker
and that we must extract them from the church. Not through violence, not something so barbaric as that, but just speak the truth of the church and spread the light to every corner of Eberron. And in that way, we may keep any enemies of the flame at bay.
01:11:51
Speaker
So it seems that those these artifacts that you search for may be capable of carrying the flame with them to our corners of the earth, to our corners of Eberron. So I believe that our purposes can be joined into one if it sounds
01:12:21
Speaker
Otherwise to you, please speak up now. It's more of a plan than we had. Beric, I'm not going to lie to you. You would be an asset here. The fact that you are the last of your line and you still carry your pact with you here in Dolor.
01:12:50
Speaker
means that you could become as powerful as me in this realm. So, if you wish to stay here with your mother, I will allow that. I'm not going to force this on you. It is your choice.
01:13:19
Speaker
And you could be a well-loved and renowned member of my court. But you would watch from afar. That is the curse that me, your mother, and all of us here have to deal with.
01:13:47
Speaker
as I sat here on my throne and watched the lycanthropic purge happen. And it broke my heart because it was wrong.
01:14:13
Speaker
But I do serve the purpose of ushering those souls that are lost onto their final resting place and defending them from the keeper. If that's how you would like to spend eternity, that door is open to you.
01:14:40
Speaker
If you feel that your time on Eberron is not done, then the only option I have to offer to you is to join your power with mine, bind yourself to me, and finish this.
01:15:11
Speaker
There is an appeal to life here, to a purpose. I'll be honest, I haven't felt a purpose in a long time. And the chance to be with my mother again is not one easily passed upon.
01:15:44
Speaker
that if all my ancestors, all those who have borne this before me, are trapped here, unable to move on, unable to reach the fate for which they are distant, it seems to me it would be the height of selfishness
01:16:16
Speaker
for me to refuse to go back. And if it's true that the power that I carry is the only power that has a hope of preventing another catastrophe, another morning, another, I don't know, an endless night,
01:16:50
Speaker
then the tenants of the flame would demand that I go back, that I protect the innocent. I don't hear what it will do to me if
01:17:22
Speaker
Joining with you gives me the chance to free the souls of my ancestors trapped here. Then I will do it. Your wisdom and your courage would do your mother proud.
01:17:54
Speaker
walk with me, Beric. And she gets up and the shadowy form standing next to her reforms into her robe and it resumes its magical property again. And she looks at Cursebringer. You have more power in this relationship than you may realize.
01:18:25
Speaker
It's going to be cold while we're going. Put on a cloak. Do I have one? Just reach out and grab him. And Cursebringer is kind of shifting a little bit, like unsure of what's going on.
01:18:51
Speaker
imag visualizes curse bringer as a cloak. Do you reach out like she suggested as well? Or do you just envision? Sure, I. I'm used to casting spells that have a. A gesture component and so I. Concentrate and I reach out and I. Visualize curse bringer as a cloak. Which is not black.
01:19:22
Speaker
Well, you get it part right because he forms into this very thick formal war coat that is navy blue. I don't know. It'll work. But you notice that the clasps on it are in the shape of raven's heads.
01:19:46
Speaker
And she leads you in gestures to your mother to stay. She began to take a couple steps behind you all.
01:19:59
Speaker
Um, and you walk back out into the, the frozen wasteland, but you notice this time walking with, with the Raven that it's, it feels cold. You, you can feel, and it, it may be a welcome sensation. You haven't felt much of anything physically since you've been here. Um, and she says there,
01:20:29
Speaker
There are things happening as we speak. Your, your friends are very dedicated to your memory. As is your father. Um, they, against all odds, managed to find him. Um, thanks to your half brother.
01:20:59
Speaker
Um, but no, no, not my father's son, my father's son. Yes. No, my mother's. No, he, and she's leading you walking back through the jungle, um, further south from where you came past the frozen wasteland.
01:21:26
Speaker
talking this whole time and you notice that you all are, you're simply walking but the landscape is moving by you very quickly. Your father returned here after his time in Corvair with your mother and he wanted to be rid of his pact and your mother freely took it from him.
01:21:53
Speaker
That is the only way that these things can pass from person to person is through a willing and knowing exchange. Your mother knew exactly what she was doing. At least she knew everything she wanted to know. But your father returned here devastated after your mother became
01:22:20
Speaker
embroiled in the war effort, winning the day for Breland, and both your father and her lost their focus on what the pact was about. Your father wanted to know too much, and your mother simply saw a tool to be used.
01:22:45
Speaker
and so he came back here free of what he considered a curse but never stopped missing your mother never stopped wondering how you were and familial duties demanded that he take a wife continue the line but
01:23:15
Speaker
He may be white of hair and black of skin, but your father doesn't seem like much of a drow to me or to his fellow drow. Um, anyway, he has been trying to find a way to bring your mother back, which it seems as though fate has led him down this road to this very moment.
01:23:44
Speaker
because he's got it half right. You see, Beric, when a person dies, for a brief moment, a flicker of a flame, a portal is opened $2 for their soul to pass through. I have found that it's a two-way portal.
01:24:14
Speaker
When somebody dies, it is possible for someone to escape from here into Eberron.
01:24:24
Speaker
And I've done this on rare occasions to send some of my anchored souls into Eberron to assist those attempting to complete the pact. Quite a few joined your mother in one of her great battles. As the hordes of Drowam fell, the other monsters were terrified as
01:24:50
Speaker
ashen-skinned humans rose from their corpses. But once we do this, once we combine our power and join ourselves together, you will have this power. If you need, if you find yourself in a fight,
01:25:15
Speaker
When you cut an enemy down, you can call forth one of your allies from here in Dolor, one of my subjects. A Shaddakai will join you for a time. They cannot last long on the plane. Their soul is always drawn back here, but for a time, they will aid you if you need them. This is a boon that I grant to you.
01:25:49
Speaker
Um... I... I don't know what I am, Beric. Some call me Queen, others call me God. But... I still, I guess in some ways, see myself as that scared little girl in Thrain, trying to help people.
01:26:14
Speaker
My lady, do you know where your body is? Yes, it is locked away in a place forgotten by time, um, in a prison node as the Dreadhold. Once again, very ominous, ominous names. Um, they, they locked my body away there so that nobody could tinker with it. They're convinced that I was an agent of evil, that I was a heretic, that I was seeking to dismantle the church.
01:26:48
Speaker
If we found you, if we undid the spell, you wouldn't be trapped. That's true. I could return. I don't know if I would.
01:27:08
Speaker
Eric, my power here, my capacity to help people is far greater than anything I ever had in Eberron. I, I usher those lost souls on to their final resting place. And for me, I can think of no greater, no greater purpose.
01:27:38
Speaker
But if you need me, if you reach the end of this road and see nothing but darkness there, if you were to restore my body, then I would help. I would return for a time. But
01:28:15
Speaker
Um, through this talking, you, you now realize you see yourself emerging. You didn't even really notice that you were in the midst of a torrential storm, but rather than rain and lightning, it's almost as if it's a negative image of drops of shadow swirling about and flashes of darkness rain down over you.
01:28:31
Speaker
My place is here.
Origins and Resolution of the Pact
01:28:39
Speaker
And you see a large spire.
01:28:44
Speaker
with a huge glowing crystal sticking out of it. The superstitious type think that the Cabalrin elves tinkered too much with dark magic, and that Sibiras himself sent this dragon shard down to destroy them.
01:29:16
Speaker
Are you familiar with the Cabalan elves, Beric? Uh, unless it was in the journal, Philip assumes not, would I? No, not, not, not anything consequential that Beric would go. Ah, yes. They through my studies and talking with lost souls that I've encountered, um, I believe the pact begins here.
01:29:42
Speaker
with the Cabalrin. They found something, some powerful being that they communed with and made a pact with to give them immense power. Some claim that it was a dragon. Some claim that it was a very powerful coatl.
01:30:12
Speaker
Um, the, the tellings are different. Um, but whatever fuels us, gives us our power. It begins here. Sadly, I don't think it ends here though. That would be too simple.
01:30:49
Speaker
So... I... I understand what you're... offering me, but... How do I find out what the pact is? How do I find out how to end it? I mean...
01:31:12
Speaker
Um, when we join our two packs together, um, that will make our two pieces closer to the whole. And once again, based on what Soul Reaper has told me, that is the key to unlocking more information is to find others with the pact and
01:31:42
Speaker
join with them, take their pact from them. Like I said, if you are willing recipients and they willingly give it, then you can take their pact from them. You can take this burden from them. If they are unwilling though, then I'm not sure how you get that from them.
01:32:13
Speaker
But I don't think this will be the last time that we speak, Beric. With our packs being joined, I believe that even once you leave me here, I may still be able to get a message to you. Chris Springer spoke once of a place where he was forged and where
01:32:38
Speaker
If I took him, he might, he might know more. He could be reformed. He could be made more whole and might know more. Is that this place? That is this place. This is where your father, um, took on his form of the pact. It fell to him from his grandfather, actually skipped over your grandfather. Um,
01:33:07
Speaker
But because it was freshly made, he was able to choose the form in which it took. You sadly inherited the pact from your mother. And because it was not her pact, nor was it yours, you did not have the opportunity to forge it in an image that you would prefer.
01:33:37
Speaker
if all goes as planned, which I don't know about you, but things going as I plan them, it's a wonderful surprise when that happens. But you should be afforded the opportunity, if you so wish, to reform Cursebringer into something a little bit less gloomy. And you kind of feel your jacket tighten on you a little bit.
01:34:07
Speaker
but I believe the events are starting if you wish to go in. Can I say goodbye? Yes. In fact, oh,
01:34:33
Speaker
my soft heart. And she waves her hand. And it seems like a rift opens up and your mother steps through. And she says, Oh, I'll give you a moment. And she steps through the portal away and leaves you and your mother alone.
01:35:07
Speaker
I'm sorry to be going. I'm not. I'm so proud of you. And a lesser man would have chosen to stay. But
01:35:35
Speaker
You are everything that I could have hoped you would be. I am glad that you have risen above my folly and made a name for yourself. I'll be hit.
01:36:01
Speaker
Right now I know it doesn't seem like people knowing your name is the best thing, but I know that people will celebrate our family because of you and you alone. And there is
01:36:29
Speaker
No better legacy for a mother to leave her son.
01:36:57
Speaker
Plaid, I ate some poison. See, lycanthropy isn't all that bad. Well, let's not go, let's not go overboard. Beric, I...
01:37:20
Speaker
I was never very good at following the rules and listening to those smarter than me. And mother's honesty here, neither were you. I, uh, run away from seminary. I know. Yeah.
01:37:48
Speaker
That was the right choice for you. And I don't begrudge you that. I don't begrudge you any of the choices you've made, including eating poison. But at some point, Beric, you have to, you have to begin to accept help.
01:38:17
Speaker
I know that you are a very, very smart boy and you're brave and you're charming. And I know that you have some wonderful people around you, but
01:38:42
Speaker
At some point, you'll have to stop asking questions and begin to accept answers. You ran away from seminary, but you never lost your faith. So please don't ever lose that. I won't.
01:39:12
Speaker
Goodbye, Beric. Bye, Mom. And she squeezes your hands again and kisses you on the forehead. And the portal reopens and the Raven Queen steps out and places a hand on Yurik's shoulder. It's time. And Yurik
01:39:44
Speaker
bows her head and very slowly lets go of your hands as she turns to leave. Well, Beric, it's time. I'm ready. And she leads you through a
01:40:13
Speaker
a small cave that leads to some stairs and you descend into the earth.
01:40:20
Speaker
And when you emerge, you see a scene before you that is happening. It's not frozen in time, but still shadows whisk off the figures.
Eric's Return to Eberron
01:40:33
Speaker
Everything is washed in gray. As you see, rather startingly, your body strapped to this large crystal in the middle of the room,
01:40:47
Speaker
And you see Beric and Theradac rushing around. Dex. Oh yeah. Dex and Theradac rushing around, preparing something. You see a very stern looking drow that you recognize standing nearby watching. And you see a figure strapped down to a table in front of your body.
01:41:19
Speaker
You can't hear what's happening in the scene. The words are muted at best. They're trying to save you, Beric. And they will succeed in opening a portal to Dolor.
01:41:43
Speaker
But we must push through the rest of the way using your power. Most souls cannot make the journey even with a portal available to them. That's why this boon that you will have will be able to draw them forth, like extending a hand through the portal to pull them through.
01:42:10
Speaker
So this is it. I, I'm not entirely sure what's involved in this ritual, to be perfectly honest with you. Um, your father. Oh, that's your father. Um, kind of starts, but doesn't, can't think of anything to say in response to that. Sorry. That was a bit glib of me, that revelation. I apologize. Um, but.
01:42:40
Speaker
He's quite mad, you know, by drow standards. They view him as a man with his head in the clouds, relying on magic and understanding the way it works rather than just using it as a tool, as a weapon. Your mother is more drow than your father ever was. Just know that, like I said,
01:43:05
Speaker
If you truly believe that you'll need me, then as long as the vessel with which I can enter is reformed, I will be there for you, Beric. And if you need any of my agents to aid you, they will be there ready and willing. I suppose this is it. I feel like we just got to know each other.
01:43:36
Speaker
But do you have any further questions for me before you set out on this most noble of quests? Well, only several hundred, I'm sure. But I suppose
01:43:59
Speaker
How do we do this? As soon as you ask that question, you hear a loud ripping sound as if very thick fabric being torn asunder. As you look back to the scene. And see. A. The fabric of the plane of everyone being torn open.
01:44:27
Speaker
And you see the lich that you recognize come through the portal, and shadows begin to flow through. And the raven turns to you with just this stunned look on her face. He's like, Beric, we must do this now. Take off your cloak. I'd take off the coat.
01:44:53
Speaker
and she takes hers off and lays them on each other. The power begins to pulse and
01:45:10
Speaker
go ahead, you start to see color return to the scene in front of you. Like, Dolar is becoming coterminous in this moment with Eberron. And she says, Eric, form Curspringer.
01:45:25
Speaker
I do. I reach out. You see your coat begin to form into the sword, but it wraps itself in the Raven Queen's cloak as it forms in your hand. She looks at you and says,
01:45:46
Speaker
This is going to hurt. And you feel Curspringer pull on you as your form in Dolor goes flying through the air. And in a moment you realize that you are flying into your own chest as Curspringer plunges into your body.
01:46:09
Speaker
And after a moment, your eyes open and you see the chaos happening before you with the portal to my bar open. Dex is down there shouting questions at you as you're trying to catch your breath. And then after a moment, there's a large explosion of light. And then silence and calm as
01:46:36
Speaker
Everyone notices the shadows are gone and then everyone looks to you. End of episode.
01:46:52
Speaker
All right. Thank you. All right. Well, thank you all so much for listening to this very long Eberron reduced, um, Eberron extended maybe. I know. Yeah. I can't think of a good R. Yeah.
01:47:08
Speaker
But we would just like to thank Kevin McLeod for the use of his music. You can find it all over at Incompetech.com. You can connect with us through all the social medias, thegeekpantheon.com, Facebook, thegeekpantheon, Twitter, Instagram.
01:47:24
Speaker
Thank you all so much for your support and the activity on the Facebook group. We love seeing the discussions there. And yeah, Philip, anything you would like to say to the people? I'm feeling really awkward about how emotional I got during this episode.
01:47:48
Speaker
me too, a little bit. So, um, please just, even if you think it's silly, please don't say anything on the Facebook group. Um, but yeah. Um, well, thank you all so much for listening. Once again, I am your dungeon master, Eric, and we'll see you next time.