Water of Life Update
Recall that the characters had decided to pursue Thwarting the Waters of Lethe. Hank read up on that spell from the Mutus Liber, and realized that he needed to create a solution from the Feather of Ma'at's Scales (a ticket stub, in his case) and pour it into the literal Waters of Lethe. That meant going to the River of Death.
The pack stepped into the Shadow with Renate's help (Marty immediately achieved a milestone for entering the Shadow). They went to the lake and she flew out over it using her Shadow Wings fetish. The lake-spirit, an immense dragon-like creature, scooped up the Prometheans and asked them why they wanted to swim to the River of Death. They told it about the Pilgrimage, and it made them swear never to let the Uratha find out what was at the bottom of the Shadow-rivers, else all water-spirits everywhere would hate them. They swore, and he dropped them into the lake.
Swimming to the bottom of a bottomless lake ain't easy. It was only with Jesus' help (and Many Hands Make Light Work) that they all made it safely. Al actually opted out of the teamwork roll to help Nathan, his creation, and in so doing achieved his final milestone.
At the bottom, Hank used the Key to the Underworld (the key that had once opened Bob Gantz' cell) and brought them through to the River of Death. The River ate away everything they wore or carried, except Hank's chains, Jesus' Azothic Object (a medicine bag he made out of the buckshot that killed him back in Boston), and Hank's other tools for the ritual. They avoided getting the waters in their mouths (even a little trickle numbed them), and Hank used his copy of The Art of War to guide them to a little tributary. There, he took a cupful of the Waters of Lethe, mixed in his solution, and by the Light of the New Awakening, drank it.
He collapsed. He remembered...climbing. He was in a deep pit, somewhere rocky. He climbed out, and was in a mountainous, sandy region. He walked on, and he met men who wrapped him in chains, inscribed a word on his forehead, and sold him to the Egyptians.
Further back, before he fell, he remembers herding goats. He remembers falling, dying, and then climbing.
He's never died before. He's never created another Promethean. He has no memory, not every a vague flicker, of his Creator. As far as he knows, he just...stood up. But here's the really interesting bit - those chains, which are indeed magical, did more than just bind him to his masters. They also locked down his humour as melancholic, effectively binding him as a Golem. Without them, he might just shift to a different humour. He was interested in trying that, but he couldn't take the chains off.
Jesus wanted to find this "tower" that they'd heard of, so they started walking. Eventually, the river narrowed, and small, sparse trees grew on the banks. There, the Prometheans found a murder of crows perched there. Marty mentioned that this probably wasn't really a bunch of crows. The crows answered that he was right.
The crows wouldn't give their/its name, but told the throng that is wasn't a spirit, but rather a Shartha. Marty's grasp of First Tongue wasn't good enough to translate that, but the crow said that it basically meant "one being, many bodies." It said that it had been murdered, drowned, in fact, but that it was here because of how it had died. It wanted to get back to the lands of the living, and offered the throng a deal - it would take them to the Watchtower of the Lead Coin (which was where they were going, they thought) if they would give it the "spark of life" it needed to escape death.
Pyros, it turned out, was enough of the spark. The characters agreed, and the crows picked them up and flew them in the other direction. Turns out that this Watchtower thingie was downstream from where they were, not upstream - upstream led to a vast wasteland, nothing but black earth forever (or so the crow said).
After flying a while, they came to an immense iron wall. The river had eaten through it, and something lurked in the tunnel, blocking entry from outside (but not to those who could fly, it seems). The wall had the look of something constructed, as though a section of the lands of the dead had been deliberately sectioned off by someone.
Inside, the characters saw crypts everywhere. Marty activated Ephemeral Flesh and noted that nothing had a spirit - dirt was just dirt, stone was just stone. They started walking toward the tower, and a creature, all blackness and death, approached and lifted Marty up by his chest. It then cocked its head and listened to some voice only it could hear, and set him down. It told them to continue on, but not to mark the Watchtower, as that would mean they would have to stay.
Along the way, they came to a crossroads. A man hung in a gibbet, a noose made of flesh around his neck. He begged the characters for help. Marty, Julia and Hank refused outright. Al asked him what he'd done, and he responded that he'd tried to steal diamonds from the crypt behind them. Al asked how long he'd been here, and he said that last he remembered, it was 2005 (so not long). Al decided he could wait a little longer, though Al's creation, Nathan, expressed some doubts about leaving a man in chains. Jesus deliberated a while, and then marked him with Firebrand and freed him (so he could find him later). The man said his name was Todd Forsyth, and thanked Jesus for his help. He picked up a handful of dust and created clothes for Jesus - here, he said, everything was diamonds, so he was foolish for trying to take them.
Todd continued on, but Marty wanted to stop and rest for a while - he wanted to see if they'd make a Wasteland here. They didn't (because, Jesus theorized, nothing really changes here). The characters saw echoes of previous Awakenings (c'mon, you know where they are), and finally walked on, reaching the base of the tower. There was a great archway leading under the tower, and there they found Todd, forcing two stone bars together. Every time he'd get them together, though, they'd slide apart.
Hank offered up his chains, but they wouldn't come off. He asked Todd to remove them, and Todd, still bitter that the others had walked away and left him, literally, hanging, asked why Jesus was the only one to help him. Hank said, "He's always been the better man. I know that." Todd, having just been humbled himself, accepted that, and turned one link of the chains into diamonds, which Hank kept. He locked the chains around the bars, forced them together, and with a great grinding of gears, a door opened.
The walls behind the doors were not walls at all, but water held back by some force. Todd wet his hands and drew something in the dirt, and then stepped into the water. It rushed out and nearly swept the characters away, but they held fast. Moments later, the crows showed up and flew them to the top of the tower. There, they saw a pedestal, with one lead coin.
Marty reached for it, but Nathan stopped him. Around the coin were markings - apparently, the coin wasn't just lead, but the Platonic ideal of lead, far too heavy to pick up. Marty noted that there was a character on it, and this letter symbolized the concept of payment for afterlife.
The crows offered to fly the characters home, but Marty asked to stay a bit. He's thinking about marking the tower, you see. Here in Stygia, there's no Pilgrimage, but no Disquiet, no Wasteland and no pressure. But there's also no spirits and no forward motion. Hank, too, was a bit in crisis: Without his chains, his disfigurements had changed. Instead of mud, it was the swirling void around him, and he felt that he could shift his humour to anything, not just melancholic, but that it would probably solidify afterwards.
What to do?
The pack stepped into the Shadow with Renate's help (Marty immediately achieved a milestone for entering the Shadow). They went to the lake and she flew out over it using her Shadow Wings fetish. The lake-spirit, an immense dragon-like creature, scooped up the Prometheans and asked them why they wanted to swim to the River of Death. They told it about the Pilgrimage, and it made them swear never to let the Uratha find out what was at the bottom of the Shadow-rivers, else all water-spirits everywhere would hate them. They swore, and he dropped them into the lake.
Swimming to the bottom of a bottomless lake ain't easy. It was only with Jesus' help (and Many Hands Make Light Work) that they all made it safely. Al actually opted out of the teamwork roll to help Nathan, his creation, and in so doing achieved his final milestone.
At the bottom, Hank used the Key to the Underworld (the key that had once opened Bob Gantz' cell) and brought them through to the River of Death. The River ate away everything they wore or carried, except Hank's chains, Jesus' Azothic Object (a medicine bag he made out of the buckshot that killed him back in Boston), and Hank's other tools for the ritual. They avoided getting the waters in their mouths (even a little trickle numbed them), and Hank used his copy of The Art of War to guide them to a little tributary. There, he took a cupful of the Waters of Lethe, mixed in his solution, and by the Light of the New Awakening, drank it.
He collapsed. He remembered...climbing. He was in a deep pit, somewhere rocky. He climbed out, and was in a mountainous, sandy region. He walked on, and he met men who wrapped him in chains, inscribed a word on his forehead, and sold him to the Egyptians.
Further back, before he fell, he remembers herding goats. He remembers falling, dying, and then climbing.
He's never died before. He's never created another Promethean. He has no memory, not every a vague flicker, of his Creator. As far as he knows, he just...stood up. But here's the really interesting bit - those chains, which are indeed magical, did more than just bind him to his masters. They also locked down his humour as melancholic, effectively binding him as a Golem. Without them, he might just shift to a different humour. He was interested in trying that, but he couldn't take the chains off.
Jesus wanted to find this "tower" that they'd heard of, so they started walking. Eventually, the river narrowed, and small, sparse trees grew on the banks. There, the Prometheans found a murder of crows perched there. Marty mentioned that this probably wasn't really a bunch of crows. The crows answered that he was right.
The crows wouldn't give their/its name, but told the throng that is wasn't a spirit, but rather a Shartha. Marty's grasp of First Tongue wasn't good enough to translate that, but the crow said that it basically meant "one being, many bodies." It said that it had been murdered, drowned, in fact, but that it was here because of how it had died. It wanted to get back to the lands of the living, and offered the throng a deal - it would take them to the Watchtower of the Lead Coin (which was where they were going, they thought) if they would give it the "spark of life" it needed to escape death.
Pyros, it turned out, was enough of the spark. The characters agreed, and the crows picked them up and flew them in the other direction. Turns out that this Watchtower thingie was downstream from where they were, not upstream - upstream led to a vast wasteland, nothing but black earth forever (or so the crow said).
After flying a while, they came to an immense iron wall. The river had eaten through it, and something lurked in the tunnel, blocking entry from outside (but not to those who could fly, it seems). The wall had the look of something constructed, as though a section of the lands of the dead had been deliberately sectioned off by someone.
Inside, the characters saw crypts everywhere. Marty activated Ephemeral Flesh and noted that nothing had a spirit - dirt was just dirt, stone was just stone. They started walking toward the tower, and a creature, all blackness and death, approached and lifted Marty up by his chest. It then cocked its head and listened to some voice only it could hear, and set him down. It told them to continue on, but not to mark the Watchtower, as that would mean they would have to stay.
Along the way, they came to a crossroads. A man hung in a gibbet, a noose made of flesh around his neck. He begged the characters for help. Marty, Julia and Hank refused outright. Al asked him what he'd done, and he responded that he'd tried to steal diamonds from the crypt behind them. Al asked how long he'd been here, and he said that last he remembered, it was 2005 (so not long). Al decided he could wait a little longer, though Al's creation, Nathan, expressed some doubts about leaving a man in chains. Jesus deliberated a while, and then marked him with Firebrand and freed him (so he could find him later). The man said his name was Todd Forsyth, and thanked Jesus for his help. He picked up a handful of dust and created clothes for Jesus - here, he said, everything was diamonds, so he was foolish for trying to take them.
Todd continued on, but Marty wanted to stop and rest for a while - he wanted to see if they'd make a Wasteland here. They didn't (because, Jesus theorized, nothing really changes here). The characters saw echoes of previous Awakenings (c'mon, you know where they are), and finally walked on, reaching the base of the tower. There was a great archway leading under the tower, and there they found Todd, forcing two stone bars together. Every time he'd get them together, though, they'd slide apart.
Hank offered up his chains, but they wouldn't come off. He asked Todd to remove them, and Todd, still bitter that the others had walked away and left him, literally, hanging, asked why Jesus was the only one to help him. Hank said, "He's always been the better man. I know that." Todd, having just been humbled himself, accepted that, and turned one link of the chains into diamonds, which Hank kept. He locked the chains around the bars, forced them together, and with a great grinding of gears, a door opened.
The walls behind the doors were not walls at all, but water held back by some force. Todd wet his hands and drew something in the dirt, and then stepped into the water. It rushed out and nearly swept the characters away, but they held fast. Moments later, the crows showed up and flew them to the top of the tower. There, they saw a pedestal, with one lead coin.
Marty reached for it, but Nathan stopped him. Around the coin were markings - apparently, the coin wasn't just lead, but the Platonic ideal of lead, far too heavy to pick up. Marty noted that there was a character on it, and this letter symbolized the concept of payment for afterlife.
The crows offered to fly the characters home, but Marty asked to stay a bit. He's thinking about marking the tower, you see. Here in Stygia, there's no Pilgrimage, but no Disquiet, no Wasteland and no pressure. But there's also no spirits and no forward motion. Hank, too, was a bit in crisis: Without his chains, his disfigurements had changed. Instead of mud, it was the swirling void around him, and he felt that he could shift his humour to anything, not just melancholic, but that it would probably solidify afterwards.
What to do?