Ichor and Agony

1. Undying Love For Lysa Inn

A/N: Party comp for the Solitude arc: Saito, Emeric, Mithril and Crest

The Realm of Solitude. No one had any idea what this place would be like. They were here to potentially ally with its ruler, the Lysa. The blue skies shifted into an intense starlit purple, signalling the change into the god’s domain. Everything was purple, in fact. The grass, the pavement. 

Souls roamed the streets of Solitude. Those who die return as echoes of themselves, and death does not seem to be permanent. A rare sight of peace amidst the chaos of war that spreads throughout the continent of Valdania. 

The party's guide, Duncan, sang as he rode the carriage into the new realm. Soft voices seem to sing from the wandering souls, calling for the soul of the deceased they know to be in the carriage. The poisoned corpse of Brunwulf Snowfell, felled by a dagger that shot from the mouth of a deceased bandit.

You might be inclined to believe this to be a wondrous wonderland in this mystical land. But then Duncan described this place:

"The Lysa lets them experience this peace. They were once slaves— thieves— and all manners of lowly beings. Then the Lysa gave them salvation. The Lysa became their saviour; the Lysa became their god. The Lysa takes care of their souls, and now they roam within their planes of Solitude. You can think of this realm as a separate world from the outside. We know what gods are.”

The Lysa believed that no mortal words could bear right to their name and created their own title: the Lysa. The Lysa offered shelter from the outside world, peace and food, asking no tithe or offering in return. All revere them and Duncan quickly shut down any conversations regarding their capability of keeping the people of Solitude safe from corruption. 

Undying Love for Lysa Inn was a place as strange as the god it was named after. Upon trying to get a room for the night, the innkeeper asked if the party wanted a life-sized figurine of the Lysa to watch them sleep at night for an additional 5 gold. Obviously, that's a no. There were also no keys to any of the rooms. They operated on a trust system where even some of the doors were removed. 

Safe to say, Emeric and Crest were so far suspicious of the Lysa. Mithril had gone with Duncan to give a proper burial. Saito had faith that things would work out. (There's also a mysterious fifth party member who's a rogue but he rolled so well on Stealth, he doesn't show up for 90% of the sessions so we're skipping him) 

Mithril returned, though somehow it was Brunwulf following him to the inn. Brunwulf now had one purple eye and was somehow resurrected by a necromantic ritual Duncan had performed… by falling into Brunwulf’s grave. It was strange, but so was everything in this godforsaken realm. 

Night passes over Solitude and the party wakes up from their rest. Except Crest, who doesn't need to sleep. The calm of the inn swiftly ended as— can I skip this part? Random shadow-men or something broke into the inn and they were pretty easily dealt with and… 

“You’ve attracted some strange men, my dears,” the soft voice of a woman utters, almost whispering. “Tell you what, such violence does not occur in Solitude.”

(“Her name is so sh*t, man,” Mett said, which honestly I don't care because her name is the only thing that makes her not feel like one of my 2018 Wattpad OCs) 

“I am Princess Poppy Telvir,” the woman said after a little back and forth.”

“What are you the princess of?” Saito asked. 

“What do you think?”

“These nuts?”

Mithril butted in, “Ahhh, my friend means that he doesn't really know how royalty operates y’see?”

Poppy admitted to having nothing to do with the shadow-men, instead just visiting to see our competence. The shadow-men appears to be darkness that has always seeped into Solitude from the Void, dreaded other-realm that technically Ichor and Agony has seen but that's a story for another day. 

“Your friend there, the one that's sitting,” Poppy pointed at Brunwulf. “Why is he not dead?” (my gods, you can’t ask people why they aren't dead, Poppy) 

Mithril recounted what happened back at Brunwulf’s burial. Duncan stabbed himself with a dark dagger before falling into the grave. It was a soul-binding ritual, Poppy elaborated, that is usually done to attach a person's soul to their weapon and resurrection is heresy in these parts. And of all people, Duncan had sacrificed himself for a ‘measly reason’. Screaming began on everyone's end as panic spread throughout most of the group. 

Brunwulf yelled, "HOW DO I GET HIM OUT HOW DO I GET HIM OUT HOW DO I GET HIM OUT” 

"Sounds a bit gay. A man binding his soul to another man,” Saito commented.

Emeric entered the main hall with a book, watching half of the party scream with some new stranger and he had no idea what was happening. (Player was late to session) 

Poppy reintroduced herself. She is Princess Poppy Telvir of Solitude, and she really f*cking likes trespassing; especially on castles. And it just so happens that Sir Duncan has a castle of his own. 

I’m too lazy to continue transcribing this part. Just witness:

(Oh no, I'm falling back into my stupid Wattpad ways. Whatever, this is going on Wattpad anyway.) 

Saito, upon finding out Duncan used to be king, asked Brunwulf to transfer all rights to Duncan’s possession to us. In a confused Daze, Brunwulf simply answered, “I, uh… do that.”

“Welp, ladies and gentlemen, looks like we own a castle now,” said Emeric, amidst Poppy’s screams. 

Finally, we were told of the real reason Poppy intended to meet us. She wanted us to kill the Lysa. Thankfully, half of us were already on board. We close the session riding away to Duncan’s castle, intending to explore that next session. 

A/N: That's a wrap for this one. It's been so long since I've written something so this is probably sh*t and not super fun to read but I just really love talking about this campaign. Until I think of a real fanfic plot, I shall simply show y’all the things that happened.