22 Cuersaar 837
When Pandora wakes, she looks like a drow to all eyes but her own. Deciding that this is a decision she has to stick with, she casts Detect Evil and Good to get a sense of her aura and if it matches Rumis’ aura, and how Orpheus feels to her magic. Orpheus, for the first time since he felt off appears to be a normal cat. The crown Rodreck placed on her head feels like a type of desecration, and it seems to “waft” evil down on her as she wears it. Strengthening her resolve, she steps out to let the party witness what her new look is.
Paige notices Pandora now looks like a drow, and asks her why she’s now purple. After some questioning, Pandora tells her that the crown restored her powers. Paige questions the wisdom of making deals with unknown entities, and Pandora says that a known entity didn’t work out so she might as well switch it up. Paige remarks that they’ll deal with it if it becomes an issue, and that she hopes it works out for her.
Paige makes some progress on developing an antidote for the memory potion, learning its effects last for one month and will not have any repeatable effects until that month is up (that is, if she takes the potion again before the month is up, it will have no effect). She also learns that elder brain fluid is one of the ingredients, which she finds particularly notable. Rumis sits with her throughout the day, letting her bounce ideas off of him and discuss potential solutions to the problem.
Rodreck reads them all a poem he wrote the day prior (Queens & Mothers), and Pandora does not find it favorable.
After dinner, Pandora calls the group together and offers to answer questions about the day prior honestly, under the condition that they help her with something she states they shouldn’t have a moral issue with. Paige, of course, takes issue with what essentially amounts to a verbal contract without visible terms and conditions, and bickering ensues.
“I, yesterday was dramatic. I think everyone has some questions. I will answer them on one condition.” And if no one protests that, she’s going to say, “I need a favor. It’s not going to harm anyone that you care about. It’s not illegal and it’s not immoral. So I shouldn’t see any complications with it, but I require it nonetheless.”
Page squints.
Pandora primarily directs her next statement at Aida, “It’s mostly going to cost some effort from Aida, but it won’t be a terrible amount. And I will explain in a bit.”
A very clearly exhausted Aida, who did not sleep well after her severance of her connection with Ioun, gestures to Pandora, indicating she should continue.
Pandora straightens her shoulders. “Well, I will explain after your questions. So I will answer anything honestly about what happened yesterday. And I won’t speak in riddles.”
“I kind of want to know what the condition is first,” Paige remarks.
Pandora, with a hint of impatience, repeats herself, “It won’t harm anyone you care about. It’s not illegal, and it’s not immoral. It will make more sense in the context.”
“The thing that’s bothering me, and I know you want to be dramatic right now, is the fact that you don’t want to share it with us until after we have effectively signed the contract. So if we protest, you can get angry at us.”
“I have a truth potion. If you want me to take it, I will do that. And I will answer honestly that this is not something you should disagree with. It shouldn’t go against any of your morals.”
Paige, suspicious, asks, “Then why won’t you just tell us?”
“Because it will derail the conversation in a way I don’t want to approach it yet. We can approach it after you’ve asked your questions.”
“I’ll hear you out, Pandora,” Rumis remarks.
As Paige puts her head in her hands, Pandora remarks, “And I will say that this is the only opportunity you have to get an honest answer out of me.”
Paige, tiredly, says, “You know what? Fine. I’ll, I’ll play. Oh, oh god. Can you just…Rather than me asking like individual questions for, to get this information, can you just like run down everything that happened the other day, the day that I lost, from your perspective? I need that information.”
- Pandora summarizes what she recalls of what Paige forgot, and uses Detect Evil and Good to show Paige Rumis’ bond to Torog. Paige notes that this matches the bullet points Aida offered, before her attention turns to the crown on Pandora’s head.
“Actually, no, it’s not the only question I have. What the fuck is on your head?”
Pandora sighs. “Rodreck asked his mask-“
“Rodreck?!“
“Rodreck asked his mask for something to return my power, and this is what the mask gave.”
“Oh my god.”
“I don’t think I’m going to be able to draw power from the Raven Queen anytime soon, so. Necessary evil.”
“Okay, okay. Have we identified that? I have not identified it. I don’t know if Aida has.”
“I know what it does, and I know what it can do. I don’t know where it is from or the history of it.”
“Cool. Next question. Can you take it off?”
Pandora tries to take it off.
It, uh, it comes off, but there, it resists like it’s stuck. Uh, and you feel a sharp pain that gets worse the longer and harder that you pull on it. And when it finally lets go, um, it kind of comes off with this kind of sucking noise, as if you were pulling a tooth out of a socket. Like, uh, and you have small wounds in your head where it had started to grow into your skull.
So I think I’ll hold the crown, and I think Pandora also looks like - the technical terms for it is she’s no longer in the summer season as an Eladrin, she’s now in her winter season. So all the like, seasonal effects of winter are happening around her. She also looks a lot paler and more muted, as she’s just holding this crown - and I’m assuming her head’s bleeding to some extent - and she’s just like, “Well, I can take it off.”
“That, uh, okay, well, if you can take it off. That’s cool. Um, from the way it’s grown into your skull, though, you might not be able to take it off if you wear it for too long.”
Paige also notices that it looks like the crown is trying to fuse itself into her skull, “My suggestion for you is don’t wear that thing for too long, or else you won’t be able to take it off. Even with, like, remove curse, it’s not, I don’t know if it’s, it might be cursed, but it’s not fused to you like it’s cursed, which is very common with curses. And, uh, it will, we would need to carve it out of your skull, if you wear it for too long, and that will be painful.”
Rumis remarks, “You know, maybe she should be careful with that, uh, crown of thorns.”Pandora would, like, look at the crown, and kind of, like, pat the wounds on her head. And I think she’d just say, “How many clerics do you know that have been abandoned by their deity, their object of power, their object of worship?”
“I don’t know,” Paige replies. “I don’t know a lot of clerics.”
“If the price of power is a crown that fuses into my head, then maybe it’s just a price I have to pay.”
Paige, as she’s feeling the crown on Pandora’s head, notices how cold Pandora feels in contrast to how hot she normally runs. She quirks a brow, realizing something about Pandora has changed. “Don’t do anything drastic. The last thing you want is to do something you regret.”
“I don’t really do regret, so I’m not too worried.”
- Paige turns her questions to memory potions, and asks if it is something Pandora encountered in the Myriad. She remarks that mind magics are rare, the whole organization isn’t as magical as she’d been working to bring it to, but that it was something higher ups were rumored to use. Rodreck points out their use of Alyxian, and Paige gets the idea to substitute essence of aboleth for elder brain fluid.
Pandora takes a breath, and forces herself to relax. “So, the favor. Now, I need you to hear me out thoroughly and not overreact, but I need to die.” And I think she pauses for a moment, like, waiting for the, like, questions.
Did you put the crown back on?
So as she’s putting the crown back on, she’s like, “Yeah, I think I need to die.”
“Oh my fucking god,” Paige remarks.
“Not permanently, mind you,” Pandora continues, ignoring Paige’s muttering. “Um, more of a temporary thing. I… the Raven Queen was very sparse on details during our little communion, and I would like to have some questions answered. I know that one way of getting a deity’s attention is a blood sacrifice, and what better than the blood of a former Chosen, you know? Plus, being dead might be the only way I have access to her domain.”
“Oh my god,” Paige reiterates. “Yeah, no, the crown made you insane. The crown actually made you think stupid ideas are great ideas.”
“It’s not insanity. I have a scroll of Revivify, and I know Aida is capable of casting Gentle Repose. If you require me to pay you for the spell components, I’m more than happy to do so. You won’t have to expend more than a single spell slot, and most of the heavy work will be done by me. I can even ask her about Rumis while I’m there, since we’ve established through Torag that she’s somehow involved in your memory loss, whether it be as orchestrator or as arbitrator.”
“This is also- this is assuming so much about how the afterlife and the Raven Queen work.”
“Could we just throw you off the ship?” Rodreck questions.
Pandora considers it. “That could work. That- although it might be difficult to do Gentle Repose and then Revivify. You’d need more powerful resurrection, because last time I died it took a reincarnation spell, and we don’t exactly have Dione on file anymore.”
“And you have poisons,” Rodreck remarks. “We could always do that.”
“Yeah,” Paige says, incredulously. “Yeah, let’s just make this- let’s just kill Pandora in a vio- in a very violent way.”
“You don’t have to kill me, you just have to bring me back to life,” Pandora points out. “I can kill myself.”
“Pandora, this is assuming so much about what will happen when you die. You are probably the most credible person here about, like, the afterlife and death, but you’re not the most credible person in the behaviors of, uh- A god of death.”
“I’m aware. But here’s the thing, Paige. The first time I died, I went to purgatory or whatever. It wasn’t hell, it wasn’t the upper planes, it was just a blank plane with a lot of nothing. And the Raven Queen spoke to me. I don’t know what I did to offend her, but she still wants me on this mission, otherwise she would have struck me dead or taken my soul. So my death should be enough to draw her attention, not to mention I was tethered to her for a long time and I should be able to theoretically follow the broken tether or draw on it to some extent. Besides, the only real risk is my soul wandering a bit too far and then me never coming back.”
“Yeah, and that’s a bad thing.”
“But we need answers, because I understand that my methods are controversial, to say the least, but the Raven Queen did put us in a rough spot by weakening me, and I need to understand why. If we can’t rely on this backing of the Raven Queen, then this mission just got a lot more difficult, regardless of whether or not I’m her chosen. It’s logical for you to understand just as much as I need closure.”
“I…Like, okay. I recognize that ultimately, even if we get nothing out of this, there’s nothing really lost if we bring you back to life, right? But that is also not considering, hey, there could be some kind of bar on your soul because you just made a pact with a fucking something or other. Some kind of spider god. It could be fucking Lolth.”
“Listen, I am used to being entertainment for gods. I don’t think whatever I made whatever with will want me dead this soon, and I think they should let me through. There might be another price attached, but there always is. I think it’s important to our mission that we learn what the Raven Queen is thinking to whatever extent I can discern it. Besides, if she intends Rumus as her chosen, we might as well learn it now. Maybe you’ll get the fine print.”
- Paige points out that Rumis could ask, if he’s intended as the Raven Queen’s next chosen, but Pandora remarks that she won’t answer even if he is. Paige asks why she thinks she’ll get an answer if Rumis won’t, and Pandora says that she’s got a talent for pissing people off, and angry people talk. Rodreck offers methods of death as a form of support, and Pandora insists that this is something she needs to do and her death would be on her head alone if anything goes wrong. Pandora also points out their precarious position, as only three prime deities are in favor of their mission, and it is possible the Betrayer Gods might combat them in some way or another, alongside a literal planet eater.
“Do the math, Paige. Out of the Prime Deities, we have, what, three helping us? It might have just gone down to two. Against Predathos and potentially all the Betrayer Gods.”
“You know, that is a good point. I don’t know what you did to piss off the Raven Queen. But I feel like you’ve done a lot, just in general, and she still was cool with you being a champion.”
Pandora nods “She saw me for what I was, but at some point it stopped being enough, and I need to know what the tipping point was. For my own sake, if nothing else. I…it’s easier to process this in-“ And I think I gesture to the alterations in my form. “-It’s not as passionate. It doesn’t feel as recent. I don’t want to be compromised should something come up later. It’s just more ammunition for our enemies to potentially use against us. And I’m not always rational. And I can’t promise I won’t react if I learn something I could have learned now later.”
“I am voting to not be a part of this. I don’t have to be. I’m not going to.”
- Pandora states she only needs Aida’s assistance for a Gentle Repose and Revify, and Paige asks how Aida feels about this. Aida states she’ll help, and that it is worth a shot. Paige remarks that this is stupid, and she doesn’t like it.
“I’m going to voice that I don’t like this and I think it’s stupid.”
“You also don’t believe in divine magic or you believe in it, but you don’t use it. You aren’t it.”
“I know it exists. I don’t like this. I don’t like the gods.”
“Some of us don’t have a choice, Paige.”
“Do you?”
“Not if I want to be on an equal playing field.”
Paige squints at that.
“What the fuck do you think I am without the Raven Queen, Paige? I’m a rogue. I stab things. Someone throws a fireball at me, I burn. The same as anyone else. Divine magic’s the only magic I have access to, so it’s the one I have to cling to. We all make sacrifices. You just don’t have to make yours to gods.”
Paige is looking you up and down. “All right. I don’t want any part of it.”
“If you don’t like her crown, this is a good opportunity that she might not need it,” Rodreck points out.
“That’s also true. If you can make up.”
“Make up with the Raven Queen? After she discarded me? Like I was nothing?”
“Yeah, I don’t know.”
“There is no reunion that’s going to be possible. I told you already. Deities don’t forgive. They reward, and they punish. And then they forget.”
- Pandora asks if anyone else is protesting her idea, and no one does. Paige reasserts her desire to stay out of this, thinking it is a bad idea, and Pandora suggests she think of the bright side.
“Paige, think of it this way. You might get rid of me after this. Wouldn’t that be pleasant?”
Paige leaves without saying anything, and Aida points out that going to a Raven Queen temple might help Pandora connect. Pandora dislikes the idea of encountering fellow worshippers who might be smug over her fall from grace, but Rodreck points out it is more important to commune with the Raven Queen, and Pandora shouldn’t worry about the other clerics.
Pandora secures the cooperation of Rodreck, Aida, and Rumis for her ritual, and Jon offers no opinion as he doesn’t feel he has much experience or advice to offer with his own circumstances. When she doesn’t see her old armor anywhere in Rumis’ possession, she sets her shoulders and goes to her tent alone.