Session Recording Part 1:
Session Recording Part 2:
Master Judgment’s Justice
“Look at this point, I don’t care what you do,” Bright Star insisted. “I’m going to bed.” The newly minted team all nodded. It was late, and they had been arguing for hours. They agreed to meet downstairs, and most departed. Everyone except Rube who shut the door behind the group.
“So...here we are together...alone…” Rube smiled.
Regina sighed, “You’re very cute, but I am very tired.” Rube’s shoulders sagged just slightly. He left the room. A cute little waitress came running up toward him.
“Sir, I have something for you. It came two days ago, but it’s addressed to you.”
The note simply read: Odarr=Master Judgment. Save Blackwater Hollow without M.
Gil, Achmed, and Rube stretched, yawned, and made their awkward excuses to each other before heading off to bed. Upon entering the rooms, straw stuffed mattresses, pillows, and woolen blankets invited them to sleep for the night. Gil opened the little window on the far end of the room to feel the jungle air. Achmed smoothed the little net around his bed, determined not to be eaten by mosquitoes on this occasion.
Still in the hallway, Rariga slapped Emi on the back and said, “Well, let’s get you caught up then.” The two friends went downstairs to the bar and traded stories about defeating the undead and curing the plague while waiting for Meira to return.
Meira went directly to her room and began writing a note addressed to both Emi and herself. She dropped the disguise before slipping out the window. Finding purchase on the vines that crept up the old stone building, she climbed down without difficulty. As soon as her feet hit the ground she was on her way to Elmav. He nodded at her ruined dress and handed her the brand new outfit he had purchased that afternoon. They discussed the carriage issue and what Meira had learned.
Suddenly Rariga, Emi, and Rube heard a loud crash, the shattering of glass, and tumbling coming from the second floor of the inn. Whatever the cause of the noise, it was a very loud ruckus.
Rube bolted to the window but could find no evidence that the noise had come from outside. It must be coming from one of the rooms. He forced himself not to run as he followed the sounds to room 213.
Rariga and Emi sprinted up the stairs to the second floor, but Rariga reached the door first. Without even trying the handle, she gave the door one swift kick. It split in two and flew off the hinges in two different directions and fell into the room.
A black swirling vortex had appeared in the wall with small shadows trying to crawl their way out. In the center, there was a black spikey creature with glowing blue eyes. A strange hum seemed to emanate from the creature.
The room itself was destroyed. Splinters of wood from the bed frame mixed with the white fluff that had been shredded from the mattress strewn all over the floor. More alarmingly, blood spattered the wall and floor in such wild patterns it was nearly impossible to determine the direction of the attack.
Rariga ignored the state of the room. She ran directly up to the wall to grab at the creature, but her hands slipped right through it. Before anyone else could act, the portal closed.
The three solars stood in breathless silence as thick, sticky air from the smashed window flowed into the room. Glass lined the inside where just hours earlier, Regina had stood explaining her concerns regarding Final Moon Slumber.
Inky black residue smattered the wall and various other places, mixed with the blood. Rariga took out a vial and filled it up. Smelling it before turning the vial back and forth to check its viscosity, she knew without examining it further that it was ectoplasm. It looks like someone was taken while fighting this thing. Right in front of the wall where the portal had been, there was a higher concentration of blood with footprints leading toward the wall. “She was probably pulled into the portal,” Emi said. “Well, we gotta go get her. Let’s wake up the others and go to Master Judgment right now. Because she’s not dead yet, but time is of the essence.”
“Well, we don’t know where he is!” Rube insisted.
“I have it on proper authority that he’s really difficult to find,” Rariga hedged.
“All the more reason we need to wake them up now, and get moving.”
“Should we? Or should we get a good night’s sleep for the morning?” Rube suggested.
Emi shot him a withering glare, “Oh, so you want her to die?”
“Is it that urgent?” he tried again.
“Why don’t we try an experiment? I’ll drain the same amount of blood from you, and we’ll see how long you last”
“Alright fine, let’s go wake the others,” Rube relented. He started knocking on the individual hotel rooms. Rariga rolled her eyes and began filling other vials of ectoplasm.
Rube knocked on Gil’s room. The swordsman cracked open the door. “Emi says we gotta move.”
Gil nodded and began gathering his belongings.
Outside, Meira approached the hotel. Seeing the broken window on the corner room, she began to run quickly back to the hotel. She paused at the front desk to tell the innkeeper, “I believe you have an Emi staying here. I need to speak with her immediately.” The man shrugged and gave a room number, and Meira rushed up the stairs.
In the meantime, Emi knocked on the door of the old woman she knew to be the Golden Wood Nymph. There was no answer. Upon opening the door, there was no sign of life in the room. Instead, she found a sealed envelope addressed to Emi and Meira.
“Oh, Emi!” Meira greeted her friend with more joy than she felt.
“Are you just now getting back? Did you run into trouble?” Emi was alarmed.
“No, it just took a while,” Meira shrugged, “You know how these go.”
Emi sighed and explained everything that had happened concluding with “You missed all of it, but now we have this letter. And we need to find Regina because she doesn’t have much time. She lost a lot of blood.”
“Well, if you actually want to see how much blood, just go check out Room 213,” Rube offered coming upon the two ladies.
“And who is this?” Meira looked the man up and down.
“This is--”
“Cabra, Rubra Cabra.”
“I-It’s lovely to meet you, sir,” Meira stammered, thrown off by Rube’s change in treatment of her.
“And you.”
She shook her head. Appearances, she thought. “He’s very well-dressed,” Meira said.
“Well thank you so much!” He began eyeing Meira more carefully.
“He had a star,” Emi offered.
“Does he look at everyone like that?”
Emi sighed, “Yes.”
“Only women,” Achmed said through a yawn as he came coming out his room.
“Oh! You’re still here!” Meira said.
“Oh gods! Please don’t hurt me!” Achmed whined. He had been dragged unceremoniously from bed and was barely conscious.
“Why in the world would I hurt you?”
“I’m so sorry I blew up your carriage.”
“I told you before that it doesn’t matter. I meant it.”
“Well, where to, Emi?” Rube asked.
“You know who this Master Judgment is, right?”
Gil nodded.
“Do you know where he is?”
He shook his head. Regina? Gil wrote on his slab.
“Uh...Missing. Exclamation point!”
“Oh! Is this a game?” Meira asked. “What fun!”
Rube looked at Meira in confusion, “You know that he doesn’t speak, right?”
Emi smiled, “You remember Gil, right?”
“Oh yes,” Meira answered. “Yes, yes. It’s lovely to see you again.”
Rube got a light in his eyes and dashed downstairs to Phil. “Phil, do you know a Master Judgment?”
The expression on Phil’s face went a little pale, and Rube knew immediately his new friend was holding something back. “Why are you looking for Master Judgment?”
“There’s a bit of a mystery that has evolved over the last hour. There’s a bit of a mess in room 213.”
“Wait, there’s a mess?”
“Yeah. Really pretty blonde gal is kind of blood and gore all over the room.” Phil’s color went completely white, “And the last conversation we had, we agreed to go find Master Judgment.”
Phil put down the cleanest cup in the inn and took off his apron. “Give me a moment.” He disappeared behind the door. When Phil returned he had changed clothes. He was wearing a white gi with a black sash.
“Oh wait a second, are all my dots connecting the way I think they’re connecting?” Rube asked.
“I will take you to Master Judgment” Phil nodded.
“Just give me a second,” Rube asked and dashed back up the stairs. “Problem solved guys. This way, please.”
Meira ducked into one of the rooms and returned with a white bathrobe which she handed to Achmed.
“Oh yeah,” Achmed said.
“Why do you need a bathrobe?” Rube asked.
“Because my clothes are dirty, and she doesn’t like my clothes,” Achmed shrugged and put on the robe. He did not bother tying it, but he was more covered.
“You don’t have a second set of clothes?” Rube asked.
“I didn’t think it would be a problem,” Achmed muttered.
“Who doesn’t have a second set of clothes?” Rube said aloud.
Meira nodded at Rube, and they glanced at each other with mutual understanding.
Rariga stared at Rube, “How the hell did you solve this already?”
“Well sometimes luck is just on your side. You know Phil downstairs? Well, you just have to come see,” Rube said.
Gil smiled at Emi brightly and went downstairs.
Phil and two other people have donned gis: the janitor and waitress had joined him. Rube winked at the waitress, and she winked back.
“Is this the front for the school then?” Emi asked.
Phil bowed deeply, “Yes. Usually we use bar fights to determine who goes, but since Regina is missing, and Master Judgment sent her to find you for him. I will take you.”
“Wait, so is Phil your real name?” Rube asked.
“Yes. I am Phil Screaming Goat.”
Meira gasped, “Is that why you named your inn the Scheming Note?”
“That’s Screaming Goat,” Phil corrected.
“Isn’t that what I said?” Meira laughed.
“Yes. That’s why I named it that,” Phil sighed.
Rube pulled Achmed aside, looking Meira up and down, “She’s not very bright is she?”
“But she has Daddy’s money,” Achmed replied.
“Interesting,” Rube almost whispered. Another blonde. Well, when luck is on your side, my friend...
Phil and his compatriots led the group toward the edge of town where the stone wall was. They passed stone shrine after stone shrine after stone shrine. Some were clearly updated regularly. Some had been forgotten for so long it was nearly impossible to discern for whom the shrine had been offered. Passing the hill of shrines, Phil led them past the shrine area toward the outer walls. Winding behind two dilapidated buildings, the party found themselves in an open courtyard shaped like a perfect square nestled between four buildings with vines and canopies and pillars. Rube and Gil smiled to themselves. It was obvious that this is a well-hidden training ground.
“Pretty,” Emi breathed. It was not obvious to her. In fact, everyone else saw nothing but a lovely courtyard.
Phil walked toward the center of the courtyard where he pushed on a rock. The rock started to turn before descending into the earth. A lock somewhere popped, and a dark tunnel rumbled into view. It led down into the earth beneath.
“This way,” Phil said. Everyone followed down without a word into the darkness, the only sound the crunch of their feet on the dirt path. Smells of ancient death and dust filled their nostrils, and still no one spoke until Phil paused for a moment. “These are the ancient catacombs,” he said.
“But you never clean them,” said Meira.
“It’s kind of hard to clean them,” Phil explained.
Emi cleared her throat, “Please tell me this isn’t another plague catacomb.”
“No. These have been here since long before the city.”
“Wha...what...what. So you built your city on top of dead people?” She shot a meaningful glance at Meira.
“To be fair, we didn’t know about it at the time. This was hundreds of years ago.”
Emi shot Meira another look. “What? What is it? You keep looking at me as if you want me to understand something. What?” Meira asked.
Emi shook her head.
A faint melody reached Meira, Emi, and Rube. Almost blending with the wind, the solemn song whispered through every corner of the catacombs. Humming through each grave and hall, it seemed to promise lasting peace to all those who heard it.
“Anyone else hear that?” Emi asked.
“It’s pretty,” Meira sighed.
Phil smiled, “You guys hear the song. It’s the song of Final Moon Slumber. It’s the god who keeps the dead from rising.”
Rube said, “Oh well where the heck has he been then?”
Phil smiled again, “You’ll find out soon. If you notice you can barely hear the song. We have to be careful now. The song used to be much louder.”
They continued on until they came to a beautiful and grand chamber lined with gold and treasures. There was a sarcophagus in the center with four suits of armor standing around the outside of it. A line of salt crossed the doorway.
“Do you put pepper on the other door then?” Meira asked.
“No,” Emi explained, “That keeps those in there. In case the god whose singing?” She glanced at Meira, unsure whether she heard the song. Meira nodded. “If he stops singing that keeps those dead in there.”
“So, that particular undead is a nasty one,” Rube said.
“So, he’s a bad one,” Meira reiterated.
What? Salt room? Gil asked.
“It’s ok, Gil,” Emi said, “I’ll explain it to you later.”
Emi saw the other problem. There was a shrine of bones situated on the far side of the room. A chill ran up her spine. She felt that it did not want her to look at it.
“Uh, Rariga? Do you know anything about altars of bone?”
Rariga, Gil, and Meira piled into the doorway. “What?”
“There!” Emi pointed.
They all saw it. The skull shrine surrounding by bones.
“They need a new interior decorator. That doesn’t fit at all.”
Bad? Gil wrote on the tablet.
“I feel like it’s bad,” Emi said.
“Of course it’s bad! It totally clashes!” Meira insisted.
“Let’s worry about this after seeing Master Judgment,” Rube suggested.
“Yes, let’s put a pin in it,” Emi said.
They continued through the tunnels until they opened up into a great hall. Eight giant stone men lined the outside of a training ground, and a green-robed man bowed slightly to Phil as he entered. Phil returned the gesture and said, “Master Judgment, I have brought Rubra Cabra and his friends.”
The small band all turned to the man in the gi, expecting a response, but instead the nearest giant stone man knelt before Phil and asked, “Where is Regina?”
“So you are Master Judgment! Who are you?” Meira asked the man standing before the living statue.
“I am Frank Ram Horn, first fist of justice.This is Master Judgment the first sword of justice. He is a god here.”
Everyone bowed out of respect except for two people. Rariga simply inclined her head, but Achmed threw himself on the floor. “Now this is how you end up dirty,” Meira cautioned.
“To answer your question,” Rariga spoke, “some creatures of darkness took her and there’s the bastard’s remains.” She pulled out a vial of ectoplasm. “Spiny things. Couldn’t even touch them. I should’ve been able to will them into existence.”
Rube broke in, “And Emi is a medical professional, she said she doesn’t have a lot of time.”
Emi said, “She was injured and spirited away. We are hoping you can help us because she’s lost a lot of blood, and I’m afraid she doesn’t have long. Can you do anything?”
“I prefer to keep the song of Final Moon Slumber playing since that is what keeps the undead at bay.”
“Speaking of that,” Emi ventured, “Did you know that there’s an altar of bone in one of the rooms back there?”
“What?”
“Any idea what it’s for? Or how long it’s been there?”
“Unfortunately, the only who could tell you that is Final Moon Slumber.”
“So we can’t interrupt him while he’s singing,” Emi said.
“That’s not the problem. Would you like to see what the problem is?”
“Oh gods, there are more problems,” Meira breathed. “Yes, you want to show us
the problem, and we have no objection to seeing it,” she said loudly.
“Stay here,” the god told Phil and company. “This way,” he led the group to a grand door large enough for him to pass. He brought them to the heart of the manse. The room was empty but for a glowing gem surrounded by a white burning fire. In the center of the fire a pale white man in a beautiful black robe embroidered with silver filagree floated. His robes had been burnt through, and his silver alabaster skin was still burning.
“So how long has the god been burning there?” Emi asked
“This is Final Moon Slumber. The energy of the hearthroom is keeping him alive.”
“What happened to him?”
“About a month ago this happened, and since the undead have beset us”
Rariga said, “Well, I want to know what this is because this is impressive.”
Emi took a moment to look at the symptoms, “It looks like a poison,” she whispered. Magical, aggravated wound, she thought.
“He made his way back using a certain trick we spirits know. Unfortunately he collapsed as soon as he arrived. It started as just the wound on his chest, but it is spreading. He is losing this battle.”
Emi asked, “So he’s draining the manse?”
“He will not run out the energy of the hearth, but it will not sustain him forever. There is a legend that long ago, Luna visited the ancient city of Kartariesh. When she left a flower bloomed where she departed. When it bloomed on the first moon, Final Moon Slumber was born. I have been trying to get Regina to go, but every time she steps foot outside the city, something attacks, and she is not able to continue.”
“Why her?” Meira asked.
“That’s a good question. She calls it the Black Beast. I believe reuniting the god and the flower will heal him.”
“What if it doesn’t?” Emi asked.
“Then we have a problem,” the god replied, “But legends seem to be what he have to hold to. After all, otherwise, you wouldn’t be here.”
“Legends?” Meira asked.
“Yes, legends. Unconquered Sun, Luna. Things no one seems to remember any more, golden shining heroes, those chosen…”
“Is someone here legendary?” Meira asked. Rube’s chest puffed up. “Other than in their own mind,” she added. He breathed out.
“So somewhere out there?” Rube asked.
“In the lost city of Kartariesh,” the god continued.
“Which is?”
“We believe it is in the North.”
“Do you have an expedient way for us to get there?” Meira asked.
“Head north out of the city. You’re going to have to find the Old Road. Then find the old man who watches the road. You take the road to the king of monkeys, and then the Great Tolin guards the city. Or at least,” he pulled out a scroll and said, “that’s what this scroll says.”
A young boy ran forward. “Good sir,” Meira asked, “who is that young urchin over there?”
“You mean Gingersnap?”
“Is that his name?”
“Yes. Gingersnap! Come on over here.”
The boy ran forward. “What do you do here, Gingersnap?” she asked.
“Snap ginger,” the boy replied.
“Yes, he snaps ginger and makes tea.”
“Are you a master tea maker, Gingersnap?” Meira asked. The boy nodded. “And are you quick on your feet?”
“He is,” said Phil. “He makes tea and learns the ancient art of martial arts. Do you know the way?” The boy nodded.
He took off running, and the group had to dart after him to keep up. In no time, they were again in front of the ornate crypt with the bone altar.
“Do you see the bone altar?” Emi asked the boy. He shook his head. Everyone tried to show the boy. Everyone, that is, except Achmed. The mortal slipped past the group of Exalts. He scrambled his way toward the sarcophagus and climbed on top of it. Suddenly all eyes were on the young mortal as the four armors advanced themselves into a ready position.
Rariga launched herself into the fray, pushing the mortal out of the way and blocking his body with her own. In the same moment, Meira reached into the crypt and drew back an ornate sword.
Emi paused to dig through her bag to find the salt. It was just enough. She pulled together a few small handfuls.
The suits turned to attack Rariga. They slammed their swords down on her, but she caught the blade with her hands. They began bleeding and bruising immediately, but she held firm.
Gil darted into the room and hit one of the suits in the back. Pushing hard to knock the being off balance, Gil knocked the head off. The entire suit of armor collapsed to the ground.
Gingersnap yelled, “You got to work at it, guys!” Everyone felt motivated to protect the mortal and small child.
Rube grabbed a sceptre and moved toward one of the suits of armor.
Achmed tried to throw a bomb to the other side of the sarcophagus. The bomb blasted into two of the armor, which rattled but did not fall. It nearly hit Rariga, Rube, and Gil in the process.
Gil launched himself upward, ran across the top of the sarcophagus and launched himself at one of the suits. Another head popped off, and another suit fell.
Meira ran into the room. Grabbing Achmed by the hand, Meira redirected him to the shrine. “Bomb that,” she instructed as she pointed to the bone shrine. He nodded.
Emi started throwing salt on Rube and Rariga. She then placed a line of salt between Meira and Achmed and the guards where they stood before the bone shrine.
Rariga had lost patience. She turned her attention to the suits. She began punching them repeatedly in the head, face, and stomach. Another suit collapsed to the ground.
One of the suits raised his sword and brought it down in a slashing motion, but Rube just moved two steps out of the way.
“Just like poppin’ daisies back home” Rube laughed and began swinging the sceptre toward the nearest suit of armor. The armor flew backward against a pillar but did not collapse. Rube brought his sceptre back and struck the armor a second time. The chest caved in and the shoulders flew off the armor. The visor of the helmet flipped up revealing a skeleton.
Rariga sighed and hit the armor one last time in the gut. The armor collapsed crushing into a wall.
Emi asked, “How do you do that without breaking your hand because that’s pretty awesome?”
“Born that way,” Rariga shrugged.
Gil began composing a haiku. “Rest in peace perturbed spirits” was one line he planned on using.
Achmed placed a bomb on the bone shrine. Meira and Emi moved back out of the room. Achmed ran out of the room. A few moments later a loud popped reached everyone’s ears. Pieces of bone flew everywhere. In the midst of the explosion, a purple distortion swirled around the altar and dissipated. Might be an altar, Emi thought. The altar was still slightly together, but there was no creepy aura from it any longer. Emi took a sword from one of the armors and began cutting through the remains of the altar.
Meira checked that the salt line through the doorway was still intact. Gingersnap was gone.
They began to notice that Final Moon Slumber’s song was just slightly louder than it had been. “Who built an altar of bone here?” Rube mused.
“I’m going to need a day or two to make some more bombs,” Achmed asked.
Emi looked distressed, “She’s probably dead,” she muttered. Meira felt the distress of this fill her. She shook her head to shake off the feeling.
Achmed made his way toward the market. It would open soon.
Gil made his way to a library to begin researching Kartariesh.
Meira visited Elmav briefly to request two favors: to deliver a letter she had written and to research portals to the underworld. She returned to the inn and collapsed into bed.