The Captain had not been seen since Bloodbrand's deathblow had sent him back to town. He had immediately left, he had to see it for himself. With no intention to touch the sword this time he left to where Keg had hidden it to see if it was still there. To see what tonight had meant.
"You wouldn't like what's down there," comes a voice from behind the captain. Thalenir floats down to the ground a few paces back, cringing at the hollow wind as he passes through the veil. He drops a small pendulum into his pouch and steps up next to Murphy, gazing out into the void.
"Believe me. I've been there. There are places mortals aren't meant to go. Even being close to it wears on the mind. You'll start to see things. Even worse, you'll start to believe them. But there's no truth to be had here. Nor solace. Nor redemption. Nothing is what the void is, and nothing is what you will find."
Thalenir blinks as if snapping out of a trance and puts a hand on the captain's shoulder. "Come. I'll gate us back to the Shady Corner and buy you a drink. You look like you could use one."
A small form can be seen half-walking, half skipping toward the pair with a large hat pulled down over her ears against the winds of the verge. The gnomeling drew even with them just as the Empyrean said something about a gate and a drink from somewhere. A town must be somewhere around then. Kollista scurried forward, nearly tripping over the hem of her robe and tugged on the empyrean's sleeve, "'Scuse me, mister. Did my ears decieves me, or dids you indicate that there's a town around here somewheres?"
She gave a cheery wave to the other man that the mage had been talking to, "Hi there!"
From somewhere within the treelinee around the area, the familiar Uordeq Shaman comes out, catching his tabard on the branch of a bush which requries him to tug and tug before the bush finally releases him, causing him to stumble and fall for several long paces before he finally regains his footing somewhere close to thalenir, the captain, and the newcomer wizard.
Blisdons eyes turn towards the captain as the Shaman tried to prepare himself a humorous one liner, but his stern concentration disconcerted Blisdon, causing him to follow the captains eyes to a certainly menacing and dangerous sword that laid out in the road.
"You know....I coulda' sworn I've seen saw this sword before. Why's everybody just standin' here lookin' at it anyways? " Blisdon says as he leans down and fiercely glares at the nefarious looking blade.
"You, my sharp and sketchy looking friend...look like you've gotchyerself' a story to tell..." Blisdon says as he gathers himself for a spiritual communion, taking his index and center finger from his right hand and slowly runs the pair scarefully down the curved edges of the mysterious blade. [commune spirit]
For the first time since he had settled into place the Captain snapped to his feet, grabbed Blisdon by the front of his tunic and slammed him against a nearby tree. Murphy Belle drew his musket and bore it into the uordeq temple before cocking his head loosening his grip and finally letting go walking back to his spot and sitting back down without a word.
"No." the captain said with the resolve of a drunken blaggard that had been without for long enough to feel strong again. "Nothing but my death awaits me in that town. Petty beings with grudges to settle over the bringer of the latest disater." The captain sighs heavily. "I cannot return until i have the strength to fight, the power to win, and the courage to face the people i have wronged." The captain glances at the sword whose presense he has just know become aware off. "I don't know how long the sword has been here or what purpose it may serve but i intend to find out. Now leave or stay it is your choice."
A chilling wind howls as it wraps over the edge of the verge from deep within the void. The cold cuts deep and leave behind an uneasy feeling as if you've been touched by something that should not be there.
(Anyone who noticed the altercation between Blisdon and the Captain sees nothing by the two men. The sword is not visable to anyone but the those two, and after the Captain returns to sitting its spectral image fades for even them.)
Tugging at the brim of her hat out of nervous habit, Kollista squeaks a little at the altercation between the strange Deki and the gun toting, pirate-looking human. She had released her grip on the sleeve of the Empyrean to turn and follow the sight when an equally odd feathered fellow arrived as well. She shivered against the cold hollow wind and tugged at brim of the large witch's hat on her head once more. Looking to the feathered fellow she giggled and squeaked out, "Yes, yes you certainly have, whoever you might be, mister."
Straightening her robe she scurried over to the deki and the pirate. She looked up, studying them for a moment before reaching out to give a firm tug on each of their shirt sleeves in a very child-like manner. "Hey! Scuse me misters, but if there is a town 'round here somewhere and you all just isn't batty, I thinks you should put that gun away and we should go. Yes yes, the verge isn't a fun place to be! Fighting away from the mean nasty winds would be much betters, yes, yes, yes."
The Captain pulls his blade from his side and swings it very close to the gnome's face - without averting his gaze from whatever it is that seems to be holding his attention - in what turns out to be a simple pointing direction towards towards town. "For all i know you aren't even real but should you be that eager to go to the town its that way, start walking."
Thalenir smiles sadly at the captain's actions. He steps back through the veil, draws a key from his belt, and begins incanting.
"Keepers of the gate. Walls upon the horizon. Curtains of birth and death, the vaulted heavens and the world below. Open the secret path, the passage of leagues, the journey of a single step. My words are the key. The door stands before me. Heed my call and open the gate. Thrice I command thee. The way is open. The way is open. The way is open." The air before him shimmers and parts, revealing the familiar sight of the Shady Corner.
Thalenir turns to address the others. "This way will lead you to Jastrey, madam gnome. As for you, Captain, you are fleeing from your mistake. Where you flee to, madness, despair, or death, makes no difference. None will give you solace. Only by facing your mistake can you hope to correct it."
Thalenir turns and walks through the portal. His voice carries back through, echoing unnaturally in the air. "Horizon be your home, Murphy Belle." The portal remains open behind him.
The Empyrean Silver Dragoran looks up as the portal opens into Jastery and sees Thalenir and a gnome. As she scans the other side, her gaze passes by the Shaman and jerks to the Cptain Murphy Belle. Captain Belle... who had forsaken her oaths of service. Who had brashly barreled towards his own goals and left the crew in the dark.
Her dazed and vacant eyes snapped off of the Captain as she attempted to steel herself. She had been betrayed and cast aside.... She was alone... Her lifeless gaze passed by the portal once more before she stalked closer to the tavern. She was in no shape to confront the Captain. Her mind was wracked with pain. ...Would she ever be able to find her sire now? Would anything she had hoped to accomplish come to pass?
Kollista didn't so much as flinch as the blade passed within inches of her face. Instead she stood strangely relaxed and still, only tilting her head to the side and smiling altering to a nearly cold one. Her voice took on a mildly different quality, less childish when she answered, "I am quite real, I assure you."
She turned back to the wizard who addressed the strange piratey man as Captain Belle. Her child-like air returning she skipped toward the portal that the Empyrean said would lead her to a place called Jastrey. "Thanks mister!" She called out as he went through before the rest. A few moments later, stumbling over the hem of her robe again, she followed through the portal.
Her eyes lighted on a rather gumpy looking Empyrean woman and she wondered if she had stumbled on a settlement of the so-called star-touched humans. She'd never met much outside of Dwarves and other Gnomes, so the thought intrigued her. This one, though, didn't seem like she would be much for talking. That being noted, Kollista instead skipped past her to what she assumed was the town tavern. At least that's what it looked to be, and she was rather thirsty afterall.
After everyone but his Ixifar crewmate who would no doubt be quietly guarding until the captain decided to leave had left the Empyrean began chopping down trees with his boarding axe and with a few alterations to the wood and a few extra parts he had brought a long with him the captain fashioned a sturdy wooden wall directly in front of the portal (This would take some time and anyone seeing this who wants to step through can) fashioning it so at one of its side out of reach from the portal a piece can be pulled to make the logs quickly fall.
"I am not a particularly violent Shaman" snarled Blisdon as his wide and crazed eyes met the Captains "But if you continue to take certain liberties with my body, I will see myself justified in doing the same unto you." Blisdon said with a snort of disdain as he removed the empyreans hands from himself and pushing himself from the tree he was pushed against.
The Uordeq quietly brushed his tabard off, cleaning it of debris and dirt as he readjusted his appearance before loudly taking a deep inhale of the air around him, taking in the many scents and elements that carried themselves on the breeze.
"Damn pirates, Always muckin' about....I coulda swore I saw a sword around here...musta' been a sign..." mumbled Blisdon quietly to himself, his eyes unfocused as he stared off into the distance. His feet quietly carrying the shaman as blisdon began to disappear into the treeline, the occasional loud sniff and grunt being heard in the darkness of the forest as if he were some sort of bizarrely comical tracking dog.
It was a quiet for a long while after the shaman had left, and no sounds could be heard save for the maddening winds of the void blowing. Before a voice broke through the winds, bland and solid, as the smell of brimstone tingled the captain's nostrils. "Problems?" Asked the tall, blackclad woman, having materialized beside the man in utter silence, staining at the void beside him with her arms clasped behind her.
"Then you've heard?" The Captain said without looking at the new addition to the ragtag group that had shown out to speak with him. "Akon, you said before that if i went after it you'd kill me. So if you're going to cut my throat or throw me into the void then make it quick. But i can't promise you the Ixifar back there won't try to smash you with that hammer whether i tell him not to or not." At these last few words the Captain looked up from the work in his lap and pondered a few things.
Upon hearing his Captain's words the Ixifar gripped his hammer tightly raising it just off the ground. He had long abandoned the personality of the Mayor for the military silence of the Mercenary. Though the shift wasn't intention. Ross watched carefully waiting for the events to unfold.
Akon chuckled darkly. "Lad, if I'd wanted you dead, I wouldn't be having this conversation with you. You'd be a corpse, or an addition to the belt at my side. I have no interest in ending you."
"I did however, warn you of the blade. What do you think now? It seems you got your wish...." She casually raised an amused brow over at the man, seeming aware of the other's change in stance, but not at all worried about it.
"You could say I learned a lesson." Belle said sternly. "Though perhaps not the one i should...whether or not I am ever in possession of the sword even if i must see it destroyed or buried forever..." The Captain lowered his head and a tear could just barely be seen falling to the ground. And then glanced back into the infinite space stretched out before him. "I will rid this planet of Bloodbrand."
Akon's amused smirk softened into an understanding smile, one of the few times the woman appeared somewhat soft. She moved closer to the Captain and placed a gentle long slender palm on his shoulder, gripping it lightly. "Then you have a companion in your task, Belle, for it was I that last silenced Bloodbrand and swayed our town away from following its desires." She glanced at him looking at the void. "But, if you are sincere in this cause, then you must return to Jastrey and face what you have done. We all make mistakes, it's how we right them and learn from then, and the actions which follow that matter. This place, the void, will only make you mad. If you choose to stay longer, then I shall call you liar, for a mad man will never accomplish the task you seek."
Akon's hand slipped from his shoulder and walked towards the wall he had built, looking back at him. "So....what will it be?"
"I guess you have a poi-"
The Captain gasped and tried to clear his eyes of the form that now stood before him. Where Akon had once stood gesturing towards the portal now stood the long dead pirate captain Atrius Bloodbrand.
"Go back, Captain Belle, you'll never be strong enough to defeat me. You're weak, you're a craven, and you'll never have what it takes to weild bloodtide. You just don't have that killer instinct, do you?"
"I'll end you, you waterlogged bag o' bones!" The Captain shouted as he charged at what he saw as the dead pirate captain sword in hand.
As she was charged towards, the woman didn't seem in the least bit concerned. Her stoic face scarce but raised a brow as the woman's form utterly disintegrated in front of the charging Captain. His blade tip met nothing but blackish purple smoke as Akon's form materialized again behind him. "Captain Bell, you're hallucinating...that's what you get for choosing to take an afternoon stroll along the void....snap yourself out of it before I must do the honors...." She waited patiently to see if he would come to his senses, arms folded lightly behind her back. "Remember your ship, Captain Belle...-your- ship, your crew, they are what anchor you to your own existence and sanity. Remember, and take charge of your wandering mind....remember...."
"Belle you're weak, and this stroll along the edge will not change that. Remember your ship Captain Belle, your crew?" Atrius mocked his voice now coming from behind the captain. "In time they will all be under my command and you as well foolish mortal."
Belle dropped his sword and pulled his gun from his side aiming it at Akon/Atrius.
(Note from Thad: I have removed a portion of this post. Combat actions by PCs are not allowed in the forums.)
"BE STILL." Akon's voice boomed from the slender framed woman, a harshly vocalized command, the words almost seeming to cary with them a weight beyond their own. The warlock's hair raised slightly with a purplish static that lingered among her robes, dark energies rising and falling with the call of her voice. "Calm yourself...." She said quieter, but no less dark. "It is I, Akon Nivarian before you. Come to your senses human..." She snarled, not seeming at all phased by the gun aimed at her face, burning eyes becoming more heated as she waited for the captain to regain his mental footing.
Akon watched as the poor man faded from conciousness. She inhaled deeply and let out a muted sigh as the air escaped her lungs. She took a glance to the man's seeming body guard, then moved towards the fallen captain, bending knee to wrap the man's shoulders over her own, and hefting herself up again, dragging the man back towards the portal where it stood. She kicked the contraption the captain had placed and watched as the log wall he had built released and fell wayward. She then stepped through the portal carrying the man back to town.
Finding the box and the magics containing the sword gone the captain was frightened but not surprised. Dropping his bottle it shattered as he began his trek to the edge of the shard
Later...
The howling winds of the verge at the edge of the void make it difficult to concentrate at first, but as the captain settles into the calm of meditation and focuses on his practice he thinks he is starting to be able to ignore them, at least a little.