All This And Heaven Too - 22/11/2022 - A Kavel Perspective

Daring Heights - Around Town

Little Timor, my golden faced lion tamarin, has come a long way. He’s such a clever little monkey. He’s learned so many commands. When I take him for walks on my shoulder he recognises people I’ve introduced him to. He recognises places too. I’ll say, “let’s go to the market”, and then on our walks, he’ll jump from my shoulder and traverse rooftops, but I don’t worry about him disappearing, he ends up at the market, but just takes a monkey path there. He’s also getting really good with his heavy club and kettlebell drills too.

Me and the little man ran into comrade Velania on our errands. Apparently aasimar are supposed to have guardian angels to help guide them in their abilities, because they are a human-angel mixture and as such don’t tend to understand their angel side well. Velania’s guardian stopped showing up for Velania when she got to the Dawnlands a couple of years ago. Je’Sathriel, i.e. The Jackal, who is a chief angel for Selȗne, was able to track down Velania’s guardian, who is a lower ranked angel in the same order. Velania said she didn’t want to be alone when she confronted her guardian angel, for a conversation. I said of course I would come along, and so did several other, very familiar comrades.


Fort Ettin - 20m Walk North

Practically the whole crew from my first time in Phlegethos was there. This was the time we followed the river Azellah to a fight with five sexy-looking fiends who we had all previously encountered on the material plane. We did this mission to rescue Rholor, the High Diviner of the Temple of Selȗne. Two of my comrades (Marto and Zola) had previously done the nasty with two of the sexy fiends. So, that made killing the fiends a little more complicated and very personal. We/they did the job though.

Marto, however, was not here today. He was the hardest to reach in New Hillborrow, I guessed. We did have Pipper though, my lizardfolk artificer friend. She now has a ‘Pipette’, a tiny mechanical servant - that’s new.

Silvia and Sorrel were here; my human, recently-brought-back-from-the-dead friend, and my human, silent assassin sister - who is quite the moonmaiden devotee herself. Silvia is less dragon patron, more dawn devotee now - that’s still new.

I last saw Zola, my drow duel-wielding badass friend, during an adventure to stop the Loviatar memory loss situation. I last saw Velania during a similar mission. Zola was wearing a half mask on the left side of her face - that was definitely new.

We all met up in the Training Yard of Fort Ettin. Everytime one of them arrived who Timor was familiar with, I’d say their name and tell Timor to run up to them and ask for a hug. When I told him to go to Zola, and pointed at her, he seemed confused as if I couldn’t be pointing at Zola.

We headed out. I left Timor with Uncle Kruger. As we walked to meet Je’Sathriel, I asked Sorrel if she knew about Zola’s half mask. Sorrel recollected that she may have had that half-mask on when she bought a magic wand off of Zola. ‘May have had’? This was not very perceptive of my sister - and she is the look-out up in the Crow’s Nest when I’m captain of The Legacy.

When asked, Zola explained her recent battle in Bloody Creek, which actually left her without an arm too, as well as a scar on her face and a missing eye. The arm was back though. It didn’t make any sense to me why the eye wasn’t back as well. But, Silvia started saying something about not judging changed appearances, especially since Zola doesn’t seem to think it has a big negative impact on her fighting. It still didn’t make any sense to me. But speaking of body changes, Silvia’s breastplate was bigger than expected around the boobs. I couldn’t tell if this was due to padding from a thick gambeson underneath, so I asked Sorrel about this. But, not with words; with hand gestures. I motioned two handfuls of breasts by my chest and then pointed at Silvia. Sorrel nodded.

Velania, looking a bit nervous, thanked everyone for being here, as we waited for Je’ Sathriel to arrive. Pipette was handing out cupcakes from a hamper to everyone, just as an angel shaped impact hit the ground in front of us.


Je’Sathriel aka The Jackal

Je’Sathriel made a helluva entrance. The impact of his landing and spreading of his wings pushed everyone back. Pipette and the hamper of cupcakes were bowled over. Time froze too, so actually, though Pipette was bowled over, they were frozen mid flight. It was not a good look. I’m certain I look much better when propelling myself around with my flight legs.

While time was frozen, I had a little chat with The Jackal. Rholor, it seems, still wasn’t quite ready to come back, if he was coming back. I told the Jackal that given the group we had here, I was concerned that the reason Velania’s guardian had gone AWOL was because they got it in, and it was now awkward (I did more explanatory hand gestures too; one finger inserted into a hole made with the opposite hand’s index finger and thumb). The Jackal said that wasn’t it. He also mentioned that the guardian is Velania’s 16th generational grandfather. So, it’s really good they didn’t do it.

Time unfroze right after my catch-up with The Jackal. But as time unfroze, The Jackal wasn’t in front of me. It looked like he was stepping out of a hug with Zola. The Jackal said that Velania’s guardian angel, Sachraël was hiding in a celestial demi-plane. He also said he wasn’t allowed to come with us - then a familiar argument ensued between everyone and The Jackal, after Sorrel made a comment about how typical this was of The Jackal.

Once the argument ended, The Jackal had us all hold hands, as light emitted from his outstretched palms as he faced us whilst casting the plane travelling spell. The light got brighter and brighter, and then we were somewhere else.


Celestial Demiplane

We were surrounded by fog. But, we could see the blue and gold, decorated tiles on the floor, and could hear string music off in the distance. Tiny balls of golden light swirled around above us, lighting the environment. We walked towards the sound of the music.

After a few steps, the fog broke, and we came across a lounge. Before us were three fine carpets on the richly tiled floor. A pile of gold and gems were heaped in a pile nearby. A table with a stack of books and an assortment of fruit stood next to a chaise longue on the largest carpet. On the chaise longue, was a very angelic looking man with similar white hair to Velania. But, on account of him being an angel, I suppose this was why he did not actually look 16 generations older than her. We had found Velania’s great grandfather and guardian angel, Sachraël.

“Ah fuck!” Sachraël said in response to Velania announcing her and our presence. The mists suddenly moved in and obscured our vision. When the mist cleared; the gold, the carpets, the table and chaise longue were all gone. Sachraël had vanished, too.

However, despite the absent furnishings and guardian, the room was not clear. Before us now were five waist high pillars with five different objects on each one.


The Five Pillars of Distraction

The five individual objects on each of the pillars were; a greatsword, a crystal orb, a massive sapphire, a necklace of prayer beads, and a single, delicate, blue and turquoise flower. This seemed to be a puzzle, and if we didn’t solve it, we weren’t going anywhere. Why? Because a little outside of the perimeter that these five pillars formed, the mist was impenetrable.

Velania felt that these objects were familiar to her, in that they represented an aspect of Selȗne; the sword; might, the sphere; the moon, the sapphire; wealth, the prayer beads; religion, and the flower; beauty. I walked over to the sword, which represented might. I knew this was a magical puzzle, so I checked in with my more knowledgeable magic comrades, “okay if I grab the sword?” I got the all clear. The blade was embedded in the pillar. I grabbed the hilt, and radiant energy coursed through; me, the other objects and each of my comrades. I had to shake my head a few times to recover from the weird effect. It actually took me a few seconds to remember why I was here. When I looked back at the sword, I wasn’t holding it anymore.

Pipper said she saw glyphs appear when the radiant energy appeared. She felt these objects all had to be touched in a certain order. Velania added that this was a stalling tactic, so her guardian could put some distance between himself and us. It also seemed to Velania that the task required that we touch the items in order in which they appear in stories about the moonmaiden. Velania touched the prayer beads, and to our delight, there was no pulse of radiant energy. However, Velania was stuck in that spot.

Pipper got out a little notebook and started to make notes. She too was affected like me with the slight memory loss. So, smart decision with the notebook. Sorrel then touched the flower and the radiant charge went through us again, and I had the funniest feeling of recognising everyone, but not knowing why we were here. I consulted with my comrades who had experience with The Pain With No Name, TPWNN. I asked Velania and Zola if this was more Loviatar memory loss bullshit. But, they reassured me that chapter was dealt with.

Velania touched the beads again, to restart the sequence. It was agreed I’d try the sword (at that point I thought this was the first attempt at touching the sword, but whatever) and once again a radiant charge travelled through us. This time I was okay. I felt my resistance to this psychic nonsense was getting better.

Zola tried the orb next - radiant pulse.

We finally determined that the first two items in sequence were, prayer beads (Velania), sapphire (Pipper). Silvia then touched the crystal ball…

“Hello. I am Kavel.” I had stopped recognising the people around me. My psychic resistance had, in fact, not improved. Nor did Pipper’s from the look of confusion on her face. Luckily though, she was taking notes, and regardless of whether she remembered what she wrote, her note taking reassuringly was giving as the correct order to follow every time we made another error in the sequence. Slowly, but forgetfully, we were in fact making progress. Silvia, with alarm, began making her own notes with her dagger on the tiles in front of her feet.

In the forgetful state I was in, I thought it was strange, but nice, of two of these moonmaiden devotees to cast divine magic protection on me.

We had to have had the sequence figured out.

Prayer beads (Velania), sapphire (Pipper), flower (Sorrel). Then…

“Could you grab your sword, Kavel?” Velania asked me. At the time, I was quite happy to see that the greatsword in the pillar was mine. It looked nice. So, I grabbed it straight away, and my hand was fused to the object, just like my comrades’ hand was fused to theirs. Then Silvia touched the crystal orb and the mist enveloped us whole again.

The mist spread out away from us. The pillars and items were gone. We were back in Sachraël’s lounge. But, despite our success, I didn’t have a clue; why I was there, who all these people were, and what even was my name?


Memory Loss Getting Too Common for Ka..Kavin?

Ka… my name began with a ‘Kah’ sound. The drow lady was threatening the angel man on the chaise longue. A human lady came up to me and was convinced that me and her were related. It seemed unlikely given that she was human and I was clearly a half-giant. We had matching scars though, apparently from a ritual. I also had a black and a white stone in my breast pocket that she knew about, and claimed to have given me. Also, she had these finely carved clubs that she said I made for her. When I inspected the clubs, there was a signature on them, ‘Kavel Castiron - Iron Strong Company’. “Nice strong name,” I thought to myself. The human woman had earned my trust to cast a spell she wanted to cast from her magical prayer beads - plus she was tiny, so I reasoned there was no way she could harm me, if it was a trap. She let the magic contained within the bead do its work. As I looked down at her holding the bead, I took a look at the crystal-stone bracelet I had on my right forearm. It looked very out of place. I wondered what that was doing on my large, very impressive body. But then, radiant energy washed over my head, and my memories came rushing back to me. I thanked my sister, who I now remembered as my sister. I’m glad I didn’t think it was a trap, and we didn’t fight. She would have vanished in a flash of mist and shot me with a lightning arrow followed up by three other arrows, before I had a chance to grapple her and slam her body repeatedly through the fancy tiles below.

“See! He’s perfectly fine! You don’t need to test your smite theory,” Sachraël was saying to Zola, “bye!” But before he could walk off into the mist, Velania stopped him.

…

The relatives conversed while the rest of us stood silent in support for Velania.

…

Perhaps an undesirable answer was the best result Velania was going to get from the situation? Sachraël, it seems, has not coped well with outliving several generations of his own relatives. He claims he has gotten bored, but I suspect even if this were true, it’s probably the investment of commitment and joy that will end in him witnessing another passing that he’s tired with, or ‘bored’ with. He has over valued the grieve of continual death above the joy of continual new life and experience. Velania’s plea to help him fell on deaf ears. Perhaps at some later time, he could renew his relationship with her? But, it wasn’t going to happen that day, or in the foreseeable future. Velania herself said she wouldn’t let grief stop her from experiencing joys. She even said she looks forward to falling in love again. I don’t know if Velania needs help with her angel side. But, from her words, she seems to be moving forward all by herself, which is good.


We Get To See The Manager

It was as if the fabric of existence shook. There was the sound of a heavy base rumbling, and pressure from all around, as the sky above us cracked, and from the cracked sky, there was a flash of pure moonlight that shone down onto the ground before us. This was an immense, magical power. But, it felt strangely reassuring for all its might.

The shining light eventually solidified into the shape of a female humanoid, a bit taller than me. Sachraël fell to his knees. Before us was an avatar of Selȗne, and she walked towards Velania. The moonmaiden said she would take care of Velania’s guardian angel, who was not fulfilling his role very well, and offered Velania a new guardian. In addition, when Sachraël was in a better place, he would be sent to Velania, so Velania need not worry about him, while she carried on doing her work.

Selȗne and Sachraël vanished. The demiplane began to fall apart. We had to shake Velania out of a haze, but once alert again, Velania casted a spell that returned us back to a small chapel in the Temple of Selȗne in Daring Heights.


Daring Heights - Temple and Nearby Home

We all gave Velania a good hug to show her our support and love for her.

I was glad to have my memories back. Fortunately it was not like the Loviatar situation where those memories were completely removed. Silvia seemed a little frustrated, and was standing close to me. I think it was to do with whatever chat she had with The Jackal (unlike her new boobs, I gathered her new divine skills were not developing as expected). Silvia’s mood picked up though, when she invited us back to her home for food!

We got some food and drink in, which Silvia prepared beautifully. The shelving I put up in the kitchen is being used well, and Silvia loves them. The food was delicious! It’s a small home though, so for everyone to fit in, I sat with my arse out of the window. Not a problem for a mountain boy - I don’t mind the cold. Velania asked about Nathalie. I told her she was coming to see me in a few days.

Near the end of the evening, there was a knock on the door for Velania. It was an angel by the name of General Andromeda - Velania’s new guardian angel.


Errands

I went back home to see the boys in the Dwarven Quarter. I told them about the adventure. I said to Archie, my human wizard friend, that his human longevity project should have a cap on it, since one example I’d seen of someone over 800 years old was not good. He took it under advisement. Mendal, my dwarven ‘cleric’ friend said dwarves probably got it right having lifespans of around 350 years.

But, perhaps the worst thing about Sachraël’s situation, as far as I was concerned, is that he’s lived sixteen lifetimes and not spent it getting stronger. He’s had 16 generations to make the most significant gains he could have ever made. In four generations, he could have become as strong as thicc race beings like half-giants - like me. Think how strong I could be with all that time on my hands? Chaise longues are weak. Don’t use them.

Later, I went to pick up Timor from Kruger. As he climbed up my right arm to get to my shoulder, he put his feet on the damphenite bracelet for purchase. I am looking forward to introducing Nathalie to Timor, and teaching my little friend to recognise her face. Now that I think about it, I would hate to forget her face again, even if it was only for a minute.