Sorrow’s Return
15th of Eleint Cont.
Chapter 1: Return to Riverport: Early Evening
We stagger through the portal into the storage room at the Lady Luck. Our faces reflect our grief. Cirilli clinging to Atalaya. Vasilya’s face is ashen and Joan’s face reflects rage and grief. Nevil calls Curran from the archway of the storage room where we have emerged.
Curran meets us and takes in our distress and that of the other team and the missing members. He is told that Sorrow sacrificed himself to destroy the artifact and that Kelson and Shalandra are missing. That they seemed to have been transported through the portal before it was destroyed.
Nevil asks Curran “Do you know anyone who can do advanced clerical services, that is resurrections?” He says that he is a cleric of Tamora and that he is capable of that. Asks if there is a quiet place for us to talk. Curran takes us into a corner of the main room, near the door. It is currently unoccupied. Seraphina hangs back a bit, positioning herself so that she she is able to watch for anyone approaching the doorway from outside.
Nevil asks about costs for him to do a resurrection ritual for Sorrow. He says that a 500 gp diamond is needed for the spell but he offers to do the casting of it. Atalaya says that we have gems in the bank here in Riverport and that if there isn’t one of that quality, there should be enough there for us to buy one of that quality. We asked what was needed for the ritual besides the diamond and if we need to take Sorrow’s body to a temple, Curran explains that we need a caster, the body, the components of the ritual (that is the 500 gp diamond), and the person’s spirit to be willing to be called back. He is willing to perform the ritual anywhere we are comfortable and that has privacy. We want to do it at the Green Goblin in one of the rooms we have bespoke there.
We discuss what to do with Sorrow’s body for the night. Curran offers his cooler. Nevil, Joan and Boz don’t like that suggestion saying that is the last place Sorrow would want to be, Eventually it is decided to put him into the tavern’s cooler to help preserve his body until the ritual. Nevil plans to guard the cooler door and bring him to the Green Goblin in the morning to prepare the body. Joan and Boz stay with her, one on either side of Nevil outside the door.
Atalaya says that she is going to take Cirilli back to the Green Goblin and will stay there with her. Inman says that he will join us. He has some letters that he wants to write. Boz gives her a hug as she leaves.
Chapter 2: The Wake
Nevil asks Curran for a bottle of liquor. Curran asks her what she would like. Nevil replies, “Chef’s choice.” Curran says that he has some good whiskey. Nevil and Joan immediately agree to this suggestion. Curran brings them the bottle of whiskey which the three drink, although Nevil takes some time to pray first. Joan gets drunk. Joan eventually mumbles, “He was her worst student.”
Nevil: “Sorrow was?”
Joan: “Yes.”
Nevil: “How do you know?”
Joan: “She told him. I was her second (worst student).”
Nevil asks Joan if she has seen Sorrow’s new tattoo. When Joan shakes her head, Nevil says that she should take a look. Joan says that she can’t. Nevil explains the design. (On his shoulder, an inkwell, parchment and intricate writing quill over a College of Love.)”
They continue to talk. Joan is very upset.
Nevil: “You know, even if this doesn’t work, we have other options.” ….
They continue to talk. Joan is surprised when Nevil explains that Sorrow has (or maybe had) a little angel in him from his ancestry.
“You know what the Master said about worrying.”
Joan is getting liquored up.
Boz: “Why did I not know (what Sorrow was going to do)?”
Nevil: “He knows we would have tried to stop it.”
Boz: “I should have known.”
(Boz continues to beat himself up over not anticipating what Sorrow had planned to do. Nevil tries to insert some perspective and clarity.)
Nevil: “I think he knew since Candlekeep.”
Boz: “I feel like I should have known.”
…
…
Boz: “It’s not a price I would ever be willing to pay…”
Nevil: “And then I can make terrible puns about having him up in a meat freezer.”
Chapter 3: At the Green Goblin
Atalaya, Cirilli, Seraphina and Inman arrive at the Green Goblin. Aristotle and the staff there are distressed to hear about Sorrow. We get some drinks and take a bottle of wine upstairs to our rooms. Cirilli is allowed wine and then watered wine or juice. Inman talks with them for a while and then begins working on writing letters to the War Wizards. Eventually Vasilya makes his way back to the Green Goblin and he and Atalaya move into the smaller of the two rooms to sleep.
While Atalaya is trancing Joan returns briefly and then leaves again. Cirilli brings her blankets into Atalaya’s room and lays them down across the doorway and spends the rest of the night there.
16th of Eleint
See Cut Scene “Sorrow is Dead”
Chapter 4: The Next Morning; Visit to the Bank
Some time after Atalaya and Cirilli leave the Green Goblin Nevil performs a ritualistic casting of Gentle Repose on Sorrow’s body, and places his body back into the bag of holding and returns him to the Green Goblin. The staff are obviously preparing the tavern for a wake for Sorrow. Nevil reacts negatively to that, telling him that this isn’t the time for that. Not until there is no hope of his return. Aristotle is apologetic, saying that they just wanted to honor Sorrow.
Vasilya is awake when Nevil makes her way upstairs. They place Sorrow’s body into the bed in the smaller room that he and Atalaya had been using. Nevil cleans him and they dress and lay him out in preparation for the resurrection ritual.
Atalaya and Cirilli have returned to the inn during this time. We eat a bit of breakfast, but coffee is the preferred breakfast item for most of the party.
After eating and reclaiming her bag of holding, Atalaya with Vasilya and Inman make their way across town to the building which is part of the Waterdeep Bank. Cirilli does not accompany them. She prefers to stay with Nevil and Sorrow at the Green Goblin. Joan has not returned and has not been seen since Cirilli noticed her slipping out of the Green Goblin during the night.
When Atalaya arrives at the Sword Coast Trader’s Bank building (SW section of town, located about a block from the Duke’s residence) the group enters and Atalaya asks to have access to the items the bank is holding for us. The teller explains that she must verify Atalaya’s identity. She has Atalaya place her hand on a stone tablet that is placed on the counter. The stone flares. The teller smiles and becomes more helpful. She takes the party into a small side room which Atalaya now realizes is a pocket room similar to those in Candlekeep. Inside the room the teller provides Atalaya with their stored treasure chests. They search through the gems chest for diamonds and pull out what they find. One of the gems seems to be a very nice large stone. Atalaya pockets it and asks the teller if she knows where we can get some gems appraised here in Riverport.
The teller says that they have someone here at the bank who can do that. She leaves the room and after a few minutes returns with an elderly dwarf man who is introduced as Master Folkey (sp). Atalaya greets him and asks him if he will appraise the gem she had placed in her pocket, pulling it out to hand to him. He takes, pulls out his jeweler's hoop and examines the diamond. When he is done he looks up at Atalaya and tells her that this is a nice diamond and that it is worth 350 gp. Atalaya’s breath catches a bit in disappointment. Then she turns to the other smaller diamonds and asks what they are worth. He values them at 400 gp. (Total of 750 gp for all the diamonds.)
Atalaya asks if there is a store or place of business here in Riverport that could sell us a diamond worth 500 gp. Master Folkey says that he can trade us a 500 gp diamond for our large diamond plus an additional 300 gp worth of diamonds. Atalaya stares at him for a moment as she does some mental math. Thirty percent seems like a high price, but then she thinks about Sorrow lying so still on the bed and Vaz’s and Joan’s grief and agrees to the appraiser’s price, not having the ability to bargain with him right now. We return the remaining diamonds to the holding chest with the other gems and give the chest to the teller for storage.
Inman mails his letters to the War Wizards.
Chapter 5: Finding Joan
Leaving the bank we make our way over to the Lucky Lady in search of Curran. We find him at The Lady Luck. The building smells of breakfast. Those inside are blurry eyed. We head over to Curran and the Riverport members of last night’s mission. They have been up all night trying to determine what has happened to Kelson and Shalendra. We make our way to Curran. He seats us at a table and returns with breakfast foods that he places on the table in front of us, not asking if we want anything. There is coffee! Atalaya gives him the diamond and asks him if this will do. Curran examines it and says that he thinks it will be fine. He asks when we want to perform the ritual. He offers to arrive at the Green Goblin in two hours. Atalaya thinks about that, looks at the others and asks them about Joan. Atalaya says that Joan will want to be there. She tells Curran that they need to find Joan and sets the time for the ritual to be in about 3 hours.
Vasilya is asked if he can locate Joan. He makes use of his psychic abilities to locate her. He goes into a trance for a bit and then returns to us. “Joan is in jail,” he proclaims. He turns to Inman and asks Inman to help get her out of there.
Inman asks how much trouble she has gotten herself into. He also asks which jail she is in.
Vasilya responds that there is only one jail in Riverport.
Inman says, “Let me see if I can get her reminded into his custody and get her off with some community service.
We head over to the jail. When we enter the watch room, we see a nice looking dragonborn sitting at the desk. Atalaya does a doubletake and then greets Will. She asks him if he is working in Riverport now. Will says that he rotates between here and Salt Marsh. It’s a bit embarrassing for all of us, but we arrange Joan’s release. The fines are 50 gp to the constabulary and an additional 25 gp to repay damages to the the tavern where the brawl occurred. Will explains that there was a big fight. He doesn’t know who started it, but there was a lot of damage. …
We wait as he gets Joan released. Her face is bruised and busted up. She says something about wanting Sorrow to see her like this. Will leaves to get her weapons. Joan says, “I didn’t start the fight.” … “Fun is relative, all things considered…” Will hands her weapons to her.
We walk out of the jailhouse. Joan walks a few steps past the front gate, turns and vomits into the bushes. Using her sleeve, she wipes her chin. “Alright.”
Joan follows us to the Green Goblin. There is some, minimal, conversation on the way back.
We head upstairs to wait for Curran.
Chapter 6: Sorrow’s Resurrection Ritual
When he comes, Curran sets up for the ritual. He places lit candles around the room, lights incense, and whispers prayers and chants to himself. Then he closes his hands and reaches out his hands over Sorrow’s body. He places a hand on Sorrow’s head and whispers some more words. Then he opens his eyes and stands back and asks who among us wants to help to call him back. He tells us that we should tells Sorrow why he should return to us.
We look around at each other, uncertain. Then Atalaya pulls out her sketchbook and starts pulling out pages that have images of Sorrow on them. She starts placing them around Sorrow’s body as she explains each picture and why it shows how much he is needed, wanted and loved. There are pictures from their travels together and of the time spent on shipboard. Pictures of him performing in the Green Goblin, of his teaching Cirilli to play the recorder, of him sitting at the common table on the Hond Ebrath enjoying a meal with all of us, of one of his rapier practice fights with Nevil, of him cooking with Cirilli and “stealing” a piece of coal to eat, of his sitting in her mother’s house and playing his fiddle while her sister listens, of him leaning against the ship’s railings looking a sunset and talking with Vasilya, and finally she places one in which he and Atalaya are playing together on the deck of the Hond Ebrath with the survivors of the Tamarid sleeping around them. This page she places on his chest and holds it there as she finishes her plea for him to return to us because he is needed and loved and because his family needs him.
It is quiet for a moment as Atalaya finishes. Then, Vasilya falls on his knees beside Sorrow, grabs Sorrow’s hand and says, “Brother you can’t leave me. I’ve lost so much… You are my Kompania… I don’t know how you hid this from me. I can’t let you go… I’m just begging you, come back to us.” When he finishes talking, he leans forward and kisses Sorrow on the forehead.
Nevil then approaches Sorrow. She has her prayer cloth wrapped around her hands. She centers herself and “has a religious moment” keeping her prayers to herself. Then she says, “Sorrow, we know why, at least we think we do. It was noble, but your work is not done here. … This family… need you to guide Cirilli into adulthood…”
Joan comes over next and looks lost, her eyes are so red from her night of drinking and from her crying. She sits on the edge of the bed and opens her mouth to speak. But she just can’t get anything out. Her hand reaches out and brushes back Sorrow’s hair from his forehead. She kisses his hand and tries again to speak but can’t. Finally she gets out, “Come back.” She shuffles back to where she had been watching.
Cirilli pulls her recorder out of her belt and walks over to the bed, her eyes focused on Sorrow. She starts playing. Badly. Very badly. The notes screech and clash as she makes her way through one of the songs Sorrow has been teaching her. One that she is fully able to play with good breath control and by memory. Atalaya stares at her during this performance. When she finishes the song she glares at him, stealing her voice as she says, “You promised me. You promised me. You said you would come back. You said you would teach me how to play this recorder. You haven’t finished teaching me. … …” She continues berating him for leaving her and not keeping his promises to her. Tears streaming down her face as she scolds him. “I need you,” she finishes in a plaintive wail, collapsing beside him.
Finally Seraphina approaches, her hand resting on Cirilli’s shoulder. “You are not done boy. …” And she moves back.
As Seraphina returns to her position in the semicircle, we hear a very faint breath from Sorrow. Everyone’s eyes are drawn to his body as we each pray in our own ways for his return. Atalaya clasps Cirilli’s and Vaz’s hands as we hear the faint movement of breath once again from his body. And then again there is a faint gasp and a slight movement of his chest. Slowly we see color flow into his face as his breathing picks up.
Nevil breaths out a joyful “Praise Eldath!” Joan slides down the wall and lowered her face into her arms, her body shaking with emotion. Nevil leans over Sorrow, whispering to him “Be still brother,” as she casts a healing aura over him, (providing him 41 points of healing). Sorrow appears to be sleeping.
Atalaya and Cirilli cluster around Vasilya, holding him as he takes in Sorrow’s shallow but steady breathing.
Nevil orders room service for the family. Aristotle asks her what happened. Nevil replies that he is back. And then she breaks down and finally cries, now that only Aristotle can see her tears. Aristotle gives her some ale.
Bluebell hearing Nevil makes her way into the kitchen and asks, “Did it work? Is he back?”
Nevil says, “It did. He is.” Bluebell sits down and cries. When she begins to pull herself together, Nevil asks her to “Please, will you later tonight bring some pieces of coal dripped with bacon grease to Sorrow and some of your stinkiest crab wine.”
Bluebell looks confused. “We don’t have that.”.
Nevil replies that she should just bring an assortment of stinky food items, like stinky cheese. Bluebell still looks confused. “It’s a tiefling thing,” Nevil explains and Bluebell nods in understanding.
Nevil goes back upstairs and sleeps on the floor of the room until Sorrow wakes up again. The rest of us takes turns quietly watching him while he sleeps.
17th of Eleint
Chapter 7: The Next Day
In the wee hours of the morning Sorrow opens his eyes and looks around. He sees that Atalaya, Cirilli, Vasilya and Joan are awake and sitting quietly in the room watching him. (Atalaya is sketching the Sorrow as he sleeps.) Nevil is sleeping lightly on the floor by his bed.
When he opens his eyes those who are awake notice that there is a light silver gleam in them, but he has actual pupils. They also notice a little bit of silver in his hair near his ears. He “starts” in bed, and then looks around the room. This wakes up Nevil.
Nevil props herself up, looks up at him and says, “You did it.”
Still looking around the room, Sorrow questions, “I’m in the Goblin?”
Nevil nods. “Yeah, and it worked.”
Sorrow nods to himself. “Good.”
Nevil adds, “And you are a little shite and everyone is mad at you.”
….
Sorrow closes his eyes and goes back to sleep. Nevil remains resting on the floor by Sorrow. The rest of us, once we are sure that Sorrow is sleeping again, make our way to the other room and bed down for what is left of the night.
Morning comes. People slowly wake up to the smell of coffee.
Atalaya comes out of her trance and readies herself for the day. Then she goes downstairs and finds Maria. She asks for food to be sent to the room and to extend their stay for a week. She asks how much that will be, and promises to get the coin for her.
Maria and Aristotle demur, saying payment isn’t needed. (Atalaya quietly resolves to be sure to leave them something when we are actually ready to leave.)
Maria gets a breakfast ready for them and gets help bringing everything upstairs to the waiting thankful watchers.
This day is spent quietly in the Green Goblin, working on tasks as they monitor Sorrow. (Atalaya works on fletching arrows, and gets Cirilli to work on that with her. Sketching. Etc.)
At some point, once Sorrow looks a little stronger, Inman asks him, “When did you figure it out?”
Sorrow replies, “Sprig was helping me. He brought some information. I kept it from you… I knew our family patron was a fallen angel…”
Inman: …
Sorrow: “I bought an item, but I knew it didn’t have a soul… When I saw the handprint I knew…” He pauses. “I didn’t know if you could bring me back or not…”
Inman:
Sorrow: “The Eye is gone?”
Inman: “Yup.”
Sorrow: “For sure?”
Inman: “Yup. You should have seen the souls…”
Sorrow: “I did.”
Inman asks about Kelson and Shalendra. Sorrow doesn’t know what happened to them.
At some point Sorrow is offered a mirror.
“Is it bad?” he asks.
Inman brings him a mirror and shows him his face. Sorrow kind of smiles. “I have eyes,” he says in wonder.
Inman replies, “You had eyes.”
Sorrow continues looking in the mirror. “I have eyes. They look normal.” Inman bites back a “No they don’t.” Sorrow continues. I have grey hair.” He looks some more. “I can live with that.”
Cirilli climbs into the bed and curls up with him.
18th of Eleint
At some point during the day Vasilya says, “There is the matter of Kelson and Shalendra.” His comment is acknowledged and at some point several party members get themselves ready to head over to the Lucky Lady to see what is happening there and hoping that the two missing party members have been found and brought home.
Atalaya and Nevil head over to the Lucky Lady. Curran meets them and asks how Sorrow is doing. We tell him as he leads us to where the others of his group are seated.
We ask what the news is regarding Kelson and Shalendra. We are told that they are in Thay. That they were able to send a few messages but now they can’t be reached. It appears that they are stuck in a Thayian fortress, trying to find a portal to get out of there.
Nevil looks at Atalaya and says, “We can make a hell of a distraction. I don’t know what we can do to help, but we can make a big distraction.”
Curran says that the Thayian stronghold is a very big place. He adds that the fortress can be accessed.
We discuss this. Atalaya questions the ability to get there. She thought they had closed the portal. Curran explains that there are other portals, we just closed the biggest one, the one they used for transferring large contingents of people and materials.
Nevil tries to convince Atalaya that Eldath would want her to go to Thay and cause a disturbance. That this would be the peaceful and pacific way to go forward and to assist with the return of Kelson and Shalendra. Atalaya isn’t convinced of this, but does agree that given appropriate circumstances and assistance, that Kelson and Shalendra need to be retrieved before the Thayian get their hands on them. But she isn’t willing to do this without more help and for the boys, (i.e. Boz and Inman at least, to be part of this.) She doesn’t want Cirilli anywhere near this mission, expressing hope that she can be convinced to stay back and take care of Sorrow. Maybe with with help of Seraphina and Joan. Although Atalaya is concerned that Joan may go off on another bender if left without supervision. She is trying to weigh whether it would be better for Joan to bring her along and let her get some licks in on the Thayian for Sorrow or whether she would be left with Sorrow in Riverport if we decide to participate in the rescue mission.
We head back to the Green Goblin to talk this over with the others.
When she sees them, Nevil asks, “So boys, going a little stir crazy?”
Sorrow is bundled in an upright sitting position on the bed, an empty plate with char marks on it sits on the bedside table next to him. Seeing Nevil, he asks, “Why are you all blue?”
Boz says, “He saw a giant snail going past the door earlier. Is that normal?”
Nevil performs a quick Channel Divinity to check Sorrow. She decides that he is not any more “evil” than he normally reads to her.
Inman? Nevil? Say that they have heard that it is sometimes possible in those who are brought back from death that sometimes those people aren’t quite right. That something in their brain doesn’t “fire right.”
Nevil continues, “Only time will tell.”
Joan hands Atalaya 75 gold pieces to repay the group for her jail release.
Nevil talks to Joan (with the Boys overhearing) about dropping off the “Beholder” in the gatehouse.
…. With everyone in the conversation we start talking about taking Avalon someplace where we can place him as a guard with instructions to kill anyone who is bald with tattoos on their heads, deciding that is the best description we can give him for identifying the Thayians, but allowing Kelson, Shalendra and any who go to rescue them to get past whatever portal we place him act.
From Inman we learn that the Thayian vault complex is a very big place. He says that it is a training ground, staging area, holding tank and headquarters and more all in one. He’s not sure exactly where it is, but he is sure that it is BIG.
Nevil asks Inman to talk to the War Wizards regarding our going to the Thayian fortress. “Can we get a couple pardons for doing that?”
Inman: “Maybe we should talk to the Duke.”
Nevil? “Why???....” She clearly wants nothing to do with the Duke.
Inman says something about getting a Royal Pardon. Inman looks at Nevil with fond amusement. “I’ll go alone to talk to them.”
Game Ends
