Asher's Story S2E2

 

 

 "Is There Anything You Wouldn't Do For Family?"

 

  After taking revenge for his grandmother's abduction by curving a "V" in Barlo's face, Asher and his assistant Prewitt take a rest in the henchman's girlfriend's filthy apartment and devise a plan to travel to South Side to find the warehouse that houses Blaze's safe haven. While the gnome searches online for some sort of intel on the warehouse, our hero contacts Glyphs & Grains Leather Co. for a lead on something that could fly him over the chaos of the storms aftermath. Time is of the essence, and not knowing what the pryomancer and wife of Zalazar wants from Asher, beyond retribution for her husband's death, the half-elf bounty hunter must assume his kin is still alive and in need of rescuing.

 

Asher's finds that the leather company's sister store in Old Town sells all sorts of magical items and has a very expensive cloak of flying for sale. The two make a stop to the shop, in quick time, and learn that the instructions to use the cloak are intuitive once the owner dons the garment. 

Asher's flies to the warehouse alone. 

The intersection where the building is located has been hit hard by the storm. Two ether lamps are out, casting shadows all over the street. 

The bounty hunter lands in darkness, but is spotted by two Ember Blade sentries. 

 

Thinking quickly, Asher uses the Tempest Fugit Watch, originally give to him by The Veil Society, and circumvents the guards, making his way into "Aberrent Artifacts", one of Zalazar's companies. 

Running inside he finds a magical door, standing all alone in the center of the full warehouse, and uses the glass key Barlo gave him to unlock it. And none-to-soon, since the gang member are now free of their stasis and in pursuit of the half-elf.

Quick as he can, Asher enters the safe house, finding himself in an opulent hall, lit with a violet hue.

 

It's quiet. Too quiet.

 

A search of rooms begins...

 

Unfortunately, a guard is found, who yells out to others unseen before engaging Asher and spraying him with fire shooting out from her hands. But the bounty hunter is no push-over, and guns down the pyromaniac. 

The safe house has been alerted, commotion is heard by our hero a hallway over, and soon Asher is confronted by another Ember Blade. But the alarming part is that of a female voice, Blaze's, that can be heard nearby. Mocking. Laughing. 

As Asher fights off the last henchman, the fire scarred faerie creates a rolling ball of fire that burns at our hero, licking him with flames that are slowing wearing his defense down. In a flurry of gunshots, from both his enchanted pistols, one of which has explosive rounds in it, Asher bloodies Blaze, forcing her to use a Dimension Door gadget to escape.

Prioritizing Verity's rescue, Asher decided to forgo going after Blaze to continue searching for his grandmother, and soon finds her. Unconscious.

Thankfully for the bounty hunter's magical training, he is able to heal Verity, and soon she wakes. Barely able to move but enough that her grandson can assist her to the entrance of the pocket dimension safe house.

Assuming that guards are standing, waiting, outside the magical door, Asher throws a grenade, that he got from Onso the bomber, out into the warehouse. 

He waits a moment...

Ready to escape with his kin, Asher opens the door and finds the two guards alive but burnt and splayed out on the floor. He takes advantage of their prone positions and usher Verity out of the magical portal. But she is slowed by her trauma and soon the Ember Blade sentries are upon them, dousing the two with Burning Hands. Damaging Asher but gravely wounding his grandmother.

Shots ring out as Asher downs the wounded gang members. But Verity is dying. 

 

Haste is needed.

Asher flies her to aid, after messaging Prewitt to contact the nearest hospital and his family. And once there, all that can be done is done while another nurse attends to Asher's own wounds.

The news is worse than expected. Verity has died, and due to her rebellious youth, when she had died once during a violent protest, she can not be revived.

Asher is crushed, and with his assistant, while his father deals with the details of Verity's funeral, returns to his apartment to rest.

Exhausted, Asher sleeps the sleep of the dead. 

But while doing so, his phone is pinged, by Prewitt most likely (who has gone home to check on her own family).

He couldn't be more wrong.

Asher wakes to find an unusual voice mail from Atha, the A.I. he squared-off with inside the Manaforge Mechanica lab weeks earlier. It seems that the sentient artificial intelligence wants Asher to deliver something to the Clockwork Oracle, deep in the belly of Æther City.

 

A buzzing goes off. Someone is at Asher's stoop. A courier.

 

The package delivered is plain box, once opened, up in Asher's apartment, is an item of metal and crystal that he has never seen before.

Fortunately, the Veil Society hacker, Nix, has seen this odd item before. It's a Soul Shard. Sort of a magical Thumb Drive used to transfer the essence of a construct.

This must be a joke...