Faith of the Faithless

"Faith of the Faithless" (2x07) is the seventh episode of Memory=Null Season 2, in which nothing is ever as it seems.

Synopsis
They decide to track down Duke “The Duke” Duke and make their way to the street corner Roran directed them to. There, they immediately spot Duke: an immaculately groomed individual dressed in ostentatious, brightly colored clothing and wearing an obviously large coin purse. He is currently talking at a nearby halfling who keeps trying to extricate himself from the “conversation”. He eventually succeeds in walking away, at which point Duke begins forcibly beginning conversations with other passersby- generally about himself. Emberlin watches amusedly as this happens to multiple people before approaching him. Stoking the fires of his ego, Emberlin asks if he might have a moment of his time, and Duke guides them to a nearby cafe. Both Duke and Sharsu ask for the wine list (despite the early hour), and they get down to business. Emberlin first inquires after general knowledge of the Nasile, and Duke explains that there are three main lords who commonly battle amongst each other for power and the following of other demons, that they might eventually gain complete power and wage war against the gods. These lords are Morek, Lord of Darkness; Torrent, Lord of Pain; and Foradir, Lord of Treason. He says that Morek is rumored to be the one responsible for the death of the child of the two great dragons. Emberlin asks about Tynlu, and while the name does sound familiar, he can’t remember specifics about it without consulting his notes. He knows it’s not one of the major isles, and thinks it may be one of the vanishing isles, or a place in the underdark, which cannot currently be accessed as its denizens sealed it when the world flooded. Emberlin also asks if there is any opposition between individual gods and nasile (one god being directly opposed to one nasile), or are they simply two sides of a growing conflict. Duke says there are many theories as to the nature of the nasile, but that his personal theory is that the nasile are also children of Orophel that she cast out, and that this war is them simply trying have revenge on her. The general belief is that the gods are simply trying to keep the nasile in check so that the world does not fall into chaos and die. Finally, Emberlin inquires after his sources, as the Duke brags to have gained all his information without ever once speaking to one of the nasile. He explains that he often hires members of the Golden Wake to go to temples of the nasile as they appear to bring back what they can find. He recently sent a tabaxi named Marine Moonwalker out to an island at the center of a massive storm, which required the hiring of a stormbreaker, but they have yet to come back and is worried that his money has been wasted. The Duke pulls out a very ostentatious pocket watch, and declares that he is late and must go. He pulls out his coin pouch and puts ten gold on the table before wishing them luck and leaving. The waiter walks over and asks if they are trying to pull something, as the gold is actually painted rocks. Emberlin, not wanting to be on the hook for the one gold bill, casts darkness, grabs Sharsu and Hex, and dashes out of the cafe. They make their way to the Golden Wake and inquire after Marine’s group. The woman at the front desk confirms that they have been gone long enough that it is time to send a rescue party. Emberlin volunteers the group, and is told that someone else was inquiring after them as well. She waves a human named Amber over, who says that her brother was part of the missing group. She, like her brother, is a stormbreaker, and is ready to go, having her bagpipes, shortsword and crossbow already with her. While the front desk goes to get the details of the previous group’s mission, Hex goes off to feed Toothy while Sharsu goes to stock up on alcohol. Emberlin takes a moment with Mina to start the process of getting Hex made a member of the Guild before stocking up on supplies and heading to the ship. Once everyone is onboard, they start making their way west. The journey takes several days, during which Emberlin takes the opportunity to begin teaching Hex to pilot the ship. It takes some convincing, and Hex is very nervous due to previous bad experiences, but by the third day, he’s starting to get a handle on it. The storm finally comes into view near the end of the third day, but due to the lateness of the hour, they decide to rest and pass through in the morning. They rotate watches throughout the night to make sure the storm doesn’t move and come upon them unawares, and despite a few less than effective watches, the storm stays put. In the morning, they brace themselves to cut through the storm. Amber ties herself to the center of the ship and prepares her bagpipes. Emberlin takes the helm and begins heading towards the storm. As Amber begins playing, the air around the ship starts to swirl until a bubble is formed around them, keeping the wind and the rain at bay. Once the bubble is fully formed, Emberlin opens up the throttle and, at full speed, plunges into the storm. Outside, hail and lightning strike the outside of the bubble as debris and dead sky whales fly past. Soon, however, they break through the storm into the eye, and Amber lets the bubble dissipate. In the center of the eye floats a singular island with a small cathedral on it. The other group’s ship is moored nearby, but appears to be deserted. Emberlin sets down near it and they all make their way towards the entrance to the temple. The doors are partially open, and around them are runes which speak of the temple’s dedication to Morek. As he pushes the doors further open and begins to enter, Emberlin can hear the gentle chuckle of the Queen in the back of his mind. Inside, the temple appears to have been deserted for a long time, though there are signs of the previous party. From a stairway in the back corner, the distant sound of a cello drifts up, which Amber recognizes as her brother. Standing at the top of the stairs, Emberlin gives a quick prayer to the Queen before instructing Amber to begin playing her bagpipes when he signals her. Amber prepares herself, and Emberlin shouts down, “My name is Emberlin Burns, herald to the Queen of Embers, and we have come to save. The. Day!”. With that, Amber begins playing as the four of them head down the stairs. Below, they find themselves in a crypt. At the far end, a dragonborn is slumped against the wall, playing his cello and creating a bubble of protection around himself and the two companions lying next to him in pools of blood. At the edge of the bubble, staring unmoving at him, stands an unholy, undead creature, waiting for the bubble to fail. The creature, hearing the commotion behind it, turns and lets out a terrifying shriek as it begins to cast spells at the group. Emberlin and Hex manage to destroy the creature, though the battle is not without its complications. Sharsu, being perpetually drunk, is rendered nearly useless due to not being able to hit the creature with his war pick, and his ability to cast spells is impacted due to Orophel’s denouncement of him, though he does manage to cast a few spells with significant effort. Amber, meanwhile, spends the entire battle confusedly playing the bagpipes for no reason, because Emberlin thinks it’s awesome. With the creature destroyed, Amber’s brother stops playing and slumps against the wall, exhausted. Amber rushes over to him while Emberlin checks on the other two, who at this point are dead. Sharus heals up the brother while Emberlin, wanting to finish up and get out as quickly as possible, asks what they were sent here to do. The brother points to the stone box he was sitting on, and says that they had carved it out of the altar on the floor above by cutting in from below. While Amber helps her brother on to the ship, the rest bring the box and the two bodies (a silver-haired tabaxi and a dwarf) up and load them on board. Emberlin quickly rifles through the crypts and finds a few platinum pieces, as well as a ruby ring before heading up to the surface. There he prepares to destroy the temple, and asks the Queen’s assistance in helping him burn it to the ground. As he prays, he begins to feel the Queen’s hand gently guiding his, and as he finishes, he clenches his fist and brings it down. A tornado of fire forms in the sky above the temple and slams into it, melting the structure and shattering the island. As it burns, he hears the Queen whisper to him “I killed him. It seems only fitting that you destroy his temple.” As the island continues to burn and explode, they head back towards the wall of the storm at full speed as both Amber and her brother play in harmony, protecting them from the wind and the rain and the dead whale carcasses. Once out of the storm, Tarrabah (Amber’s brother) heads to the cabin to sleep, as he has been playing non-stop for three days. The next day, Emberlin asks Tarrabah about the mission. He says the Duke wanted any scrolls, books, tomes, and related items from the temple. The dwarf had tried to open the altar from above and had his hand burned and obliterated. When they pulled the box from beneath, the creature appeared and killed the tabaxi, who was in fact three tabaxi orphans in a trenchcoat. They were surprisingly skilled and could have the element of surprise if they split up, which is why he let them come along. He says he feels responsible for their deaths now, though he is going to have a talk with the Duke, which may very well result in his death. The next day they arrive back at Tajemma. Amber and Tarrabah leave to go “speak” with the Duke, while everyone else prepares to take the box to the Golden Wake to be dealt with. As they begin to walk towards the hall, Emberlin begins to hear a thumping coming from the box, which soon turns into a physical sensation which travels up through his arm. They quicken their pace and make it to the guild hall, which is fairly sparse at the moment due to all the additional islands appearing. The front desk clerk, seeing what they have just brought in, stands up and calls all hands on deck as people begin to clear out an area in the center of the room. As Emberlin gives a quick explanation of what they have, she snaps her fingers, and the doors to the hall close. Glassjaw and Mina arrive and Emberlin gets ready to open the box, but the clerk tells him to wait. A moment later, the crowd parts as an aasimar in robes and a white wooden face mask approaches. They introduce themselves as Gleam, and order anyone who needs to leave on immediate business to leave now, as they are going to seal the Golden Wake. Once a few individuals have left, they begin to chant and cast a spell before slamming their hand into the floor. A series of runes extend across the floor and the walls, protecting the entire hall. Gleam orders everyone to arms, as Emberlin pries the lid open with his ax. With a crack, the lock breaks, and as Emberlin looks up, he realizes nobody is moving. As he gets closer to the box, Emberlin feels waves of hot arcane energy emanating from it. From behind him, he hears two sets of footprints approaching. Turning, he sees a masked figure, garbed in white with glowing skin, and another with skin like bark and eyes of constantly writhing vines. They introduce themselves as Katib, Chariot of the Sun, and Aman, Warden of Trees. Emberlin guesses that they are here about the box, but Katib says that, while not unimportant, it is not their concern; they are here to speak to Emberlin. The destruction of Morek’s temple has intrigued them, as he seems to wield his Queen’s power at will. Emberlin counters that he doesn’t presume to wield her power, but has only asked her on special occasions where it would benefit others. Katib points out that she has answered almost every time. Aman says that the Queen wields specific power, and asks if Emberlin knows what his god’s domain is. He says he doesn’t. Suddenly, Katib is directly behind him and says that she is the god of fire, rage and rebirth. These are what she chose for herself, unlike everyone else, who was given their domain. Emberlin explains that he is simply her herald. He understands very little of the gods, and is in no position to be a general or a leader. Aman looks at him with a look of amusement and understanding, followed by one of confusion and concern. Emberlin suddenly realizes that Hex is awake, though unmoving and frozen in fear. Emberlin doesn’t react, not wanting to give him away, and asks the two gods how he can help them, as he’s helped a few other gods before, and something about him allows the gods to communicate with him. At this, Katib says “Seem to be able to? You’ve cut us off! You’re the only one we can talk to. Your Queen has strangle holded us, so we can only talk to you!” After a “don’t hurt the messenger” from Emberlin, he continues “Would that I could. I am the god of light, and I wish I could burn you; but, you are the herald of the Queen of Embers. You-” He abruptly stops, and they both take a step back. A presence appears behind him, and Hex’s eyes, who he is currently facing, go wide. Turning around, he sees the Queen of Embers in full glory, wings spread, standing behind him. Katib and Aman look at Emberlin, scoff, and then disappear into the crowd. The Queen sighs, and says “Prepare. The truth is coming”, before fading into the crowd herself. Emberlin turns back to Hex and asks if he’s okay as time begins to return to normal. With Gleam still maintaining their spell, Emberlin winds up with the axe, and then kicks the lid off the box. Inside rests a charred, ember-filled heart. Emberlin creeps up to it and pokes it with his axe before reaching in and touching it with his hand. It is incredibly hot, even with his natural tiefling resistance, and glimpses of fire creep into his mind. Appearing to be in no immediate danger, Gleam drops the spell and approaches the heart to begin identifying it. As the identification completes, they gasp and take a step back, before announcing that it is the heart of one of the first fire elementals. Confident nothing is going to happen, Emberlin closes the box back up, and Gleam recommends the heart be put in the vault. They also recommend that Emberlin and Hex carry the box there, which Emberlin finds very suspicious. Glassjaw picks out several hunters to escort them and, along with Mina, Gleam and Sharsu, all go with Emberlin and Hex to the vault. As they walk, a very nervous Mina breaks rank to go whisper to Glassjaw, which makes Emberlin even more suspicious. Faking a charlie horse to stop the march for a moment, he takes the opportunity to talk to Mina who, though she’s still trying to get acclimated to the current structure of the guild, thinks everyone is simply trying to keep the heart safe. He asks Gleam whether they are intending to seal him and Hex in the vault as well so he can get a read on their intentions, and gets the sense that while they don’t want to, they will if necessary. Emberlin, though feeling comfortable enough to continue, whispers to Hex that if things go bad, he should get out and not worry about him. However, Hex refuses, saying that if Emberlin is in danger, they will fight and share his fate. Continuing deeper and deeper below the hall, they finally arrive at a massive stone door guarded by four guards. With a gesture from Gleam, they begin opening the doors as several large sigils appear and shatter. Once the door is open enough, everyone enters the vault with Gleam leading the line. Inside are an assortment of artifacts on top of a series of pillars, one of which Gleam motions to put the box on top of. As they step back, Gleam steps forward and casts a spell, anchoring the box to the pillar. With that, they thank Emberlin for his help and extend their hand. Emberlin, still not trusting them, suggests they save formalities until they are back at the bar. Emberlin waits for a response, but soon realizes that, once again, nobody is moving. After a long sigh, he hears an unfamiliar voice from behind say “I understand your exasperation, child, but I believe we need to have words.” Turning around, he sees a ten foot tall being, garbed in elegant black robes, and with a crystal black skull. He introduces himself as Torrent, Lord of Pain, currently vying for the lord of the Nasile. Before the conversation goes too far, he summons two chairs and drinks for each of them. He begins talking about the deities Emberlin has met, and then claims that, other than himself, Emberlin has only talked to two gods. Seeing Emberlin’s confusion, he says that “they are much better at that game than I even expected. This will be fun.” He then says that he’ll check back in soon, but that until then, he should trust nothing and question who he serves and who the gods claim they are. And with that, he stands up as the chairs sink back into the ground and walks into the shadows, leaving Emberlin sitting on the floor with his drink. Everyone unfreezes and notices Emberlin sitting there, as Hex goes “Oh no. It happened again, didn’t it?”