Tag Archives: Zrithak

Black Blades, Betrayal and Beyond

Posted on by
3

Shortly after Ca’armine and Alexis finish discussing the words of Ness Brightleaf, or at least the river of souls and the soul of Zrithak that refused to sleep, Rask approaches Ca’armine, head bowed penitently.

“Ca’armine, I did not wish to respond and further distance us from Alexis’ inquiry, but I do want to respond to your questions.”

“I am no longer curious about Zrithak. Yes, his malice was evident from the moment we laid eyes on him. I suspected something was… unique about the wretch, and I hope the Blade of the Betrayers would capture his soul. I see how misguided and dangerous that was now.”

Rask pauses to see if Ca’armine has any thoughts or questions. He clearly has second point to make though and does not wait long.

“I was also called the Black Blade Ca’armine. Malice isn’t strange or scary to me like it should be I guess… Ursil gave me the sword when he was still King Adelfrid’s First General. He called it the Blade of the Betrayers…”

Rask clearly has mixed and troubling emotions around Ursil and Rasks own journey away from King Adelfrid’s forces as he takes a breath.

“I trust you Ca’armine, I cannot begin to express to you how grateful I am for you ridding me of Zrithak. What I thought would be a strange interrogation turned into a horrible… I wasn’t fully in control of myself Ca’armine, it was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced.”

Rask pauses and takes a deep breath.

“The Blade of the Betrayers was made by elves to reap souls. It holds many souls, all reduced to a black screaming rage. I never heard them before I took Zrithak’s soul with the sword. Not in anyway I can point to at least. To be honest, I also hoped to learn more about the sword from… well yeah… Now, without the sword, I don’t feel as full of rage. I am not the Black Blade of Aegir anymore, and I don’t want to be that ever again.”

Rask looks down briefly.

“But Ca’arm… I was angry and bitter before I was given the Blade. And I’m still angry. I’m still bitter. I still want to make everyone who was part of Thater being destroyed pay…”

Rask looks Ca’armine in the eyes, sad but resigned.

“And I am still a killer. The Blade was given to me as an award after my hundredth confirmed kill. I have no idea how many men I’ve killed since…. The Blade strengthened my rage as much as it strengthened my sword arm, but it did not… possess me the same way Zrithak did.”

“It is dangerous, and needs to be dealt with. I trust to you to decide how best it should be dealt with, but I want to you to understand that without Zrithak, it did not have a will of it’s own that I ever felt.”

Rask takes a deep apprehensive breath, glances down for a moment and back to the Priest.

A River Of Lost Souls Ahead

Posted on by
3

Zrithrak has been driven from Rask. Alexis has exclaimed that Hood had come to claim the spirit while holding a fly in his hands. Since those moments the group has gathered their things and barely started toward Ghanil again. Packs shifted, gear checked, the wagon creaking along. Alexis addresses the group.

“I keep circling back to that soothsayer—Ness Brightleaf.” He waves absently, not toward anywhere in particular, just back into memory.

“Something like: ‘Ahead of me, a river of lost souls. Some spirits refuse to sleep. The voices of the dead yearn for rest. Their whispers bring dark tidings.’” He shrugs, not claiming perfect recall. “Or close enough.”

The copper coin keeps running over his knuckles as his gaze sweeps the line of travelers, pausing a fraction longer on Ca’armine. “Zrithrak fits—soul that wouldn’t sleep. But did he ever want rest? Or was he holding on?”

He gives the priest space, then presses on.

“I still think of that dwarven spirit in Dura-Intun. The one who spoke of Kobos. He was restless. Wanted Hood’s gate, wanted peace. And that city of the dead? That’s different. They’re bound by the Endless Hunger. Won’t let them rest. Zrithrak wasn’t bound like that.”

The coin flashes once, drops into his palm. “So what kept him?”

With Horn And Canyon Can a Sending Make?

Posted on by
2

It’s the day after their second night watching Tarkus Vell’s warehouse. The camp sits on the ragged edge of Ghanil, tents pitched close but without order. To the west, the Westlands stretch out under a clear sky.

Ethelred keeps his watch, cloth in hand, working over the wooden spyglass. The fittings look sturdier than when they first bought it, the grain smoother, edges tighter, as though time and use had only sharpened it.

Alexis stirs, props himself up, voice low.
“Evening, Red.”

…

“Dreams again,” Alexis says. “Running corridors that turned back on themselves. Always ending where I began. A woman’s pleading voice all the while.”

…

“Red, I’ve been excited for you to finish the scrolls and take your new craft to the next level…” his voice falters, just for a breath, as if there’s more he wants to say — something personal. He pushes on. “…but I need you in the here-and-now too. So much I want to say to so many people.”

He starts counting on his fingers.
“About Zrithrak. The howling winds. The undead on the edge of Ghanil. The Spider of Ilceros. And more.”

He ticks them off the way Ethelred does his inventory: precise.

“We need a way to get word out. A way to send messages over distances. I don’t know when we’ll see another proper town.”

A breath. Then another matter.
“And there’s Verisimus, always watching through his pool. Gustav managed to blunt it for a while, but…” Alexis shrugs “We need cover from Verisimus. Something that moves with us.”

Alexis quietly pushes out of his bedroll. The red jasper at his neck catches the daylight, burning faintly.

The Forest Fortress From the Grasslands

Posted on by
2

The group is about 10 days out from Ghanil and two days since driving Zrithrak out of Rask. Ethelred is in the back of the wagon studying, Rask is riding his horse, and Gustav and Alexis are leading the cart horses.

“Have you heard anything from the grove up north?” Alexis asks

“It’s been months since we were up there and you were pretty worried about it dying of the flame.”

Alexis keeps walking with Gustav, waiting for his friend to answer in his own time.

Ca’armine seeks Gustav’s Vow

Posted on by
2

Ca’armine, moving through the group as we walk along, pulls Gustav aside for a word.

“My friend, we have a problem.  I need your help to solve it—though we may both perish in the attempt.

Rask has a cursed sword, and his increasing disquiet—even with the sword out of reach—tells me he may be hosting an evil soul.  Perhaps Zrithak is joined with him.

I am asking him to give me his swords, to fight with batons only for now, but this is a stop-gap.  If the evil inside him concludes he must move against the party—and Red heard him say as much in his sleep!—there will be serious trouble, mainly for me as the keeper of the Black Blade.

Please keep close to me and be ready to defend me if he tries to take the sword from me?

In my prayers it has become clear to me that the sword, and perhaps the evil soul, are avid to destroy us all.  If Rask is under the thrall of these evils, he is the most dangerous foe we have faced together, and we will need to be resolute.

In Raiden’s name I charge you—NONE OF US may wield the black blade even one more time, and he that attempts it, must be stopped, even if his death is the only way.  Will you accept this charge?”

Soul Pusher

Posted on by
3

The group has started moving away from the tower of Ilceros’ spymaster. They have already crossed the bridge, but the traveling has barely started. The group is going slowly due to the slow speed of the wagon, especially over the broken ground.

Alexis falls into step beside Ca’armine, tone easy but deliberate.

“Priest,” he says with a half-smile. “That move you pulled with Zrithak—what was that? Looked like you and Rask had it rehearsed. The way the soul flowed from the body to the blade… clean, seamless. Almost too smooth to be an accident.”

Not Just an Arm

Posted on by
2

Ethelred on watch hears some of Rask’s utterances, seeming to be open to turning on the group.

A night later while Rask sleeps Ethelred chooses to awaken Alexis and Ca’armine. Taking great pains to make little noise. He signals them each individually to be quite and to move away from the group. The three move out of vocal range, but can still see the sleeping Rask (and Gustav).

Whispering and keeping a solid eye on Rask as he sleeps…

“Gentleman, I am worried about Rask. I have heard disturbing utterances from his own lips last night. He seems to be pondering, relishing?, attacking us.There is something not right with Rask.

If we are to pursue taking the fight to Bandesingh we must all be aligned. We do not know enough about Bandesingh. Bandesingh might be able to effect Rask in a way that would leave his even more vulnerable to the soul that seems trapped with in him.

I have racked my brain for things that I might be able to do to help free Rask, but the magics that posses him are beyond my understanding.

Do we need the skull that was involved in the ‘ritual’ that Rask performed to take the soul into this sword?

Car’armine might you have some healing, or turning that could help?

Alexis what light might your goddess shed onto this situation?

It would seem that combining the powers of Ave and Raiden might prove to be a challenging knowing some of the history of them. But maybe that is an option?”

Red looks between his companions, a clear expression of concern is upon him.

The Little Death that Brings Complete Obliteration

Posted on by
6

Rask moans in in his sleep…

“No… not Gus…”

“…Ca’armine…”

Sad moans shift to flat mutterings…

“… exis… join the horde… sword…”

“… ‘thelred is the weakest…”

“Two swords… the only real threat…”

“.. ‘us… at a distance…”

And finally, grim determination.

“Break the bow… cut Red down… then the Priests…”

The Hobgoblin of Little Minds

Posted on by
4

Rask approaches Alexis as the group prepares to follow the hobgoblins tracks into the grasslands.

“Boss, I’m not going to be able to use a sword, given what happened to Ca’armine this morning…”

Rask pauses, and looks apologetically at the priest, then the Ethelred and Gustav.

“I think Zrithak has… influence over my sword arm… I’m pretty sure he was one of the escaped chained creatures connected to that crypt in Sutheron, and somehow his soul is… more aware? stronger? than the others trapped in… my sword.”

“I’m concerned simply destroying the sword will free the all the souls trapped there, including Zrithak. My preference would be to force him out of my body and back into the sword somehow and eventually to turn the sword over to the Hoodites.”

“In the meantime, I’m afraid I need to fight with just my hands, and perhaps a bow.”

Rask In the Morning

Posted on by
Reply

In the morning before departing from the camp where the barghest battle occurred, Rask does his usual set of sword exercises, including the new flat-of-the-blade less lethal techniques. Rask starts with a plain longsword, and before he can do anything else, he tosses the plain longsword into the woods with abandon and starts his exercises with the Black Blade.