Oshuamp - Episode 11: Frailty of the Innocent

Recap
The statute of Sabrina quakes against the lid of the podium as Ethir and Yahlumlo tell Buck to remove Madeleine from the scene. Engravings on the base of the stone appear, forming the names of the Sisters of Sorrow, and the infernal script of Woe cracks and falls as rubble onto the stone floor. Along the back wall of the Cathedral, Ethir notices a mosaic of the city of Oshaump from an elevated perspective that has been gashed and damaged. Beneath the mosaic are a group of large skeletons in rusted armor, brandishing cracked polearms.

Ethir hurries over, collects a pair of skulls, some additional bones, and finds bags with items amidst their belongings. Ritora carries Nesgrim away from the Cathedral, and Buck picks up Madeleine and rushes after them. Ethir and Yahlumlo notice that below the infernal script of the signatures of the Sisters, an Elvish script appears and recites the message of a harrowing poetic ode to Mother Misery. As he concludes the poem, the Statute begins to break away from the lid of podium, and the two gather the remains of Amber and run to the entrance of the Cathedral.

Despite the fear of the slow approaching animated Statute, Ethir performs his ritual on the skull of Amber, and speaks to her spirit. She confesses that she is afraid someone is looking for her, and that Isabel promised to hide her to keep her safe. When Ethir asks her the year, she tells him that it is 8,052 A.R., and is confused as to why he would question it. He gathers his brazier inside his vision and attempts to perform the ritual within it, but she becomes terrified at the presence of a “spirit guide”. She grabs something that Ethir is unable to see, and offers it to Ethir, who refuses it – when he does, she turns it towards herself, claiming it is the Gift that she was given, and plunges it into her chest, falling in front of him to the ground. He attempts to touch whatever it was that she used on herself, and recoils at the touch of a chilling metal that resonates through his arm.

Back in the Chapel of the Orphanage, Nesgrim stabilizes and returns to consciousness. Buck heals him, as does Ritora, and they watch as Madeleine stares at the shattered window of Sabrina. She confesses she is exhausted and heads to bed. Buck and Ethir flee from the approaching echoes of the Statue as it marches towards them, and join their friends in the Chapel. They close the doorway in the statue of Ostador, and decide to get Nesgrim help by visiting Corrin.

As they leave the Orphanage, they see Madeleine standing in the snow, searching through the framework of one of the burnt homes. She claims that Karoyln is calling to her, that she is her new partner, and must join her in rest. Ethir and Yahlumlo recall that this is the area where Corrin said he heard a conversation from one of the Sisters and the infernal script of “Grief.” They offer to get her some of the tea from Desielle and lead her to the Pawnman.

Clark bargains with them for “protection” for Madeleine, and accepts their payment in exchange for hiding her in his cellar below his storage room. They tell him that they found Corrin and that he wanted to apologize to Clark, who accepts it somberly, announcing that he knows it was never the Doctor’s fault. Yahlumlo offers an additional gold to care for an extra day for Madeleine in case they are not able to return to collect her tomorrow. They exit the Pawnman and head to the Westgate.

They meet a rather wiry young guard who formerly was an entertainer in Endamar before coming to Oshuamp, who attempts to perform her juggling act in exchange for coin. In their rush, they refused and instead request to return, but she becomes insulted and dismissive, hurrying them along. At the Westgate’s other end, they encounter an elderly drunken guard who is quite forgetful and idiotic, and delays them quite a bit. He agrees to meet Buck at midnight at Growlers for a drink, and then sits in the snow with his back against the wall, struggling with the lever.

They arrive at Corrin’s, briefly laughing at Marybelle’s efforts to redecorate, and inform him of all their discoveries, including the poem, and names of all the Sisters of Sorrow. He offers his assistance to save Nesgrim, and buries him in the dirt and instructs Ritora to place some of the maggots on his wound, as they will consume the necrotic flesh, and prevent the spread. Ethir retrieves the head of Amber from his bag, and shows it to him. He once more uses his ritual to speak to her form again, and she appears in a grave panic.

Corrin is dismayed at the fate of Amber, and tells them that she was an orphan who was cared for by his wife, Madeleine, and Isabel. She was a kind child, and knew nothing of her true family. When they tell him more of the Sisters, they confess that his wife, Karoyln, is Sister Grief, and, knowing her location, he apologizes and goes to retrieve her. He asks that they look after Marybelle for him.

Before going to sleep, Ethir distributes the bags to Yahlumlo, who passes them out to the party, discovering their magic items inside. Ethir uses his ritual once more to witness the memories of the enlarged skulls he had taken from the Cathedral, and is horrified to see the enormous figures of Orcs, in beleaguered, exhausted states, clutching gold in their hands. As they drop it, they repeat the phrase, “Oshuai Wampu”.

They rest successfully for the night, but are awoken suddenly in the early hours of the morning as Corrin crashes through the door, clutching a deep puncture wound near his sternum, and a trio of gashes on his face. Ritora and Ethir leap to his aid and hold him upright, asking him what happened. He sputters out that they are coming, and that he is so sorry for failing them.

He goes limp in their arms.