Dead things should stay dead, Brask says firmly. On the other hand, you get to kill the scumbag twice. We're attacking, right? he asks Effort, though he's already picking up the pace to get them to the ship as quick as possible.

"Is that wise?  Perhaps we should question him first before attempting to defeat him again." Kurama replied between rows, doing his best to keep up with the minotaur's renewed pace.

Effort says nothing for a while, her teeth clenched.  After a moment, she shakes her head minutely at Brask.   "He may not be the Namar that I know.  That I killed," she adds with emphasis, and a sneer.  "If there is another him, in this place, then there may be another of each of us, unknown to us.  Would you kill your doppelganger if you met him?  I am not happy to see Namar's wretched face.  But I will hear what he has to say, and decide for myself afterwards if he deserves death.  Again."

Despite needing to course correct a few times after drifting slightly to the left (thanks to Brask), eventually you're close enough that Namar notices you and stands up in his boat. His shoulders slump, looking somewhat defeated, as he curiously tries to get a closer look at you. Squinting, his eyes widen and he begins to shake his head once your two boats are only a few dozen yards away from each other.

"You lot look familiar," he calls out. "Followed me to hell then?"

Effort smiles coldly in return.  "I'm only returning the favor.  You made my life hell, so I don't see why your death should be any different.  How did you end up here, and alive, Namar?" she calls out sharply.

"Just lucky, I guess," he jokes with a stone face, waving his arm toward the vast gray sea. "Been floating here for...days? Weeks? Don't have much sense of time anymore. Thought I'd be dead from hunger by now, but..."

He looks off, thinking far longer than Effort would have expected him capable. The two boats rock back and forth for a moment.

"I think maybe I'm still alive so I could have somehow...don't know how, but somehow, run into you again. To ask you to forgive me for all the terrible shit I done." He continues looking off, careful not to catch anyone's glare.

Brask grins at Effort, raises his hand to his neck and draws it across, thumb out in a slicing gesture.  He attempt to hide his action from this Namar guy:  Sleight of Hand or Stealth, it's the same +1 modifier:  15

Perception: 1

Namar doesn't seem to notice, or at least doesn't let on if he does. 

Effort stares for a moment pure disbelief, before considering his words.

Insight + guidance:  6 + 2

(reaction to follow that terrible roll XD)

You can't get a great read on him, and the circumstances here aren't helping much. He certainly would never seem to be the type to ask for forgiveness, but he also doesn't seem to be hiding any ulterior motives.

(OOC: Sorry for any delays for the next few days. I'm on vacation and have spotty to no internet service most days!!)

Kurama, after pondering for a moment and seeing his friend's reactions, spoke up, "Perhaps we were brought here as well for a similar redemptive purpose.  With that being said, perhaps you can help us now...  We are on a mission of grave importance at the moment that we can not fail.  Have you come across anyone - or any place - since you found yourself here?"

He raises an eyebrow. "There's places to be found? I've been floating on this forsaken thing for...well, like I said. Don't know. But I ain't seen nobody else out here other than you lot."

This time he locks eyes with Effort's rather than avoid them. "Well then, what do you say? Second chances and all that?"

Brask makes a gesture of stabbing someone with a dagger through the heart, and then twisting the blade cruelly, grinning as he does so.

Effort crosses her arms and sends a brief, exasperated glare towards Brask, before refocusing on Namar.   "Do you know what you are asking?" she bites out curtly.  "Do you know how you got here?  How you came to return to the living, floating aimlessly in this ocean for more time than you can recall?  Are you even truly alive?"  Her tail lashes behind her.  Every part of her is in agreement with Brask, that Namar should pay for his crimes with his life.  Her fingers twitch, itching to bring him down once again, in his unusual moment of unguarded openess.

But.  But.

Her eyes narrow, calculating.  See every side of the story, and choose the most advantageous one to your own position.  That was what had kept her alive so far.  They sought a Sister.  Effort knew she would face a challenge.  And here, conveniently, was a Namar who couldn't possibly be alive and couldn't recall anything about the passage of time.  All signs pointed to this logically being a part of the final Sister's challenge.

Was it an attempt to change her nature?  To reveal her true self?  Effort stifled a wry smile.  She might have been ruled by emotions, once.  They still raged within her from time to time... looking at Namar's ugly face was one very good example.  But there was a greater mission.  She had a larger goal.  And to reach it, she had to pass whatever this thing before her was challenging her with.

She wasn't sure what Namar was expecting.  "Forgiveness?"  She couldn't hide the scoff on her face as she answered.  "It's far too late for that.  Too many people died.  I died.  Do you expect some naiive, bright-eyed waif to swallow up whatever you are trying to sell me, now that you are in desperate measures?  You killed that girl a long time ago, and you must rightly live with the consequences of your own creation.  I will never, ever forgive you for what you did.  It would be the same as accepting my own death at your hands, and I for one have never been suicidal."   

She lets out a long, slow breath.  "Still, I am a creature of logic, first and foremost.  Killing you again would bring me no advantage.  Forgiveness?  You no longer exist in my world, and your clan is destroyed.  I have other challenges, other enemies to spend my time and effort on.  You... you are not worthy.  You are nothing to me any longer but a ghost of the past, and I refuse to be mired in it.  I have already found my revenge.  Seek forgiveness from the generation beyond ours, the ones who will never know of the pain and suffering you brought between our peoples.  If you worry that I will stand in their way, then I give you my word.  Neither I nor those under my power will seek any further retribution against you or your clan. 

But your time has passed.  Allow your ego to release that death grip it has on your own importance, for your time here is done."

Turning her head slightly, she eyes Brask.  "You know, you can punch him if you like.  That's your own prerogative.  I'd suggest you refrain from killing him for the sport of it, though.  Let him suffer on his own out here."

Back from vacation!  Should be back to regular posting... once I get over jetlag xp 

Kurama listened as Effort spoke with Namar, keeping quiet and deciding not to comment or intrude quite yet in the personal matter between the two.  When she later quipped to Brask, Kurama added on afterwards, "Perhaps you are right in one regard.  We should probably discern if he is actually here, or if we are speaking to some sort of illusion or ghost..."  Taking out one a couple dart, Kurama will launch one multiple in the direction of Namar to see what happened.

Attack: Hit 9 (miss I'm assuming)

Extra Attack: Hit 22/ Damage (if necessary) 3 Piercing

He listens patiently to Effort, not betraying any feelings one way or another. After she's finished, Namar looks down at his feet, then pulls the hood back up over his head as he turns back to peer out over the gray water. 

 Kurama, after considering things, tosses a dart toward Namar. It sails toward the back of his head, but he inexplicably shifts to his right and lets the dart splash into the ocean a few feet away. The second dart seems even more on target, but a split second before it strikes, the dart pauses. Shaking slightly as it is somehow suspended in mid-air, Namar turns. "That won't be necessary."

His deep, grunting voice changes. It becomes a raspy, feminine voice. You watch as the boat fades out of your vision, and as Namar's figure changes into a taller, more slender shape. It floats above the water, turning slowly and deliberately. The hood slumps back, revealing a woman with blue-gray hair flowing down to her ankles. It sways gently as it catches a breeze off the water. Even from a distance you can see her piercing blue eyes looking toward you, with a long, thin nose and pale skin. 

"You're a smart girl," she turns to Effort. "That fire inside of you may burn a little too hot - be careful to stoke the flames gently, lest they consume you. Fire is an unpredictable beast, and difficult to control, particularly if there is enough kindling for it to feast upon."

At this point any trace of Namar's illusion has vanished. The Sister floats forward toward your small boat. As she does, the sky directly above her opens up ever-so-slightly. For the first time in longer than you care to remember, a ray of sunshine beams through the gray clouds, bathing her in golden light. She gets close enough to allow the sunshine to spill into your boat.

"Mercy was not required of you," she continues. "Only that you quell your need for unending vengeance. I hope that as you journey onward you continue to realize just how important that is - for yourself, for your friends, and for these worlds in peril. Now, I believe you are here for this..."

She extends her hand outward, palm facing up. A moment later, a light appears a few inches above it. Glowing brightly, it floats slowly over to the boat.

Effort holds her hand out, receiving the gem with a slight nod towards the Sister.   "We thank you for this boon.  Though if I might be so bold to ask... do you have any idea of how we might be able to return, to continue our quest, now that we have collected the shards here, in the lower planes?  We must ascend, and perhaps fight the heavens themselves, if we are to stop this evil.  I confess I've little idea of how to accomplish that from this place... let alone how to return to land from where we are now."

The fragment's glow subsides a bit and settles gently into Effort's hand. You can all feel its power pulse as it connects in some way to the other fragments you've collected. Everyone, gain an inspiration.

"If you have no unfinished business here, there seems no reason you should not return to your own plane of existence," the Sister considers this for a moment. "I have no reach into the other places you may need to go - certainly not the heavens - but the veil between this world and yours is thin enough that I can send you back to it. In the past, I may have asked you for a specific place..."

She trails off for a brief moment. "...but with the ebb and flow of magic here, and without my fragment, I will be transporting you to some unknown location. You must be capable, as you've made it this far against all odds, but I thought you should be aware of this. I have no knowledge of where you will end up."

Brask restrains himself from approaching the fool to punch him. This is Effort's show.  When the Sister appears, he mutters low under his breath Of course, but lets Effort take the lead again.

However, when the Sister speaks of returning them somewhere near home, he does pipe up: Hey, lady, um, Sister, I guess, we got an injured goblin here. Can you do anything to help him, before you, like, send us on our way with your magicky stuff?  He indicates the wounded Pip, lying nearby.  I'll happily pay you all the coin I have for your services, he adds mischeviously.

She ever-so-slightly raises an eyebrow at your last remark, but decides to leave it unaddressed. Looking down at Pip's wounds, she presses a pair of fingers into his tender side. He lets out a slight grunt but is still hanging between sleep and unconsciousness. Lifting up his bloody tunic, the Sister traces an outline around the wound before holding her palm over it. She presses down, Pip grunting again, and holds it there. You all feel a pulse of energy as a brief light flashes out from the wound. The Sister backs away, examining her work. Pip is still bloodied, and there is evidence of the injury running up his midsection, but the gory hole has seemingly closed up.

"He'll still need a bit of rest, but that should ensure he does not die from these wounds." She cocks her head, examining the goblin. "Few things surprise me, but this one surviving with you all up to this point is...quite remarkable."

With the Sister at the edge of your boat, you get the full exposure of the sun's few rays. It's like nothing you've ever felt before, washing you in warmth and comfort after an endless barrage of rain, clouds, and conflict. 

"Are you ready?" She asks calmly, as if she was not about to send you hurling from one plane of existence to another.