Recaps
January 09th
Coming back from no DND December, we rejoined after Vespera's speech, where Vespera had given an ultimatum to the Aegurian federation, cooperate or be colonized. You protected the Ashir's consulate and other officials during their meeting, and then thoroughly investigated the surroundings, finding that a skilled spellweaver had managed to devise a spell specifically made to counteract the effects of the invulnerability wall that the whole place seemed constructed on top of. You reported back to Vespera, who seemed to suspect that someone very powerful was potentially at the origin of such a spell. She gave you the rundown of the different guests and what to expect at the dinner tonight, and Sylril was set up as the bait for a potential assassination attempt. Meanwhile, team hemlock inspected the premises before the actual event, trying to figure out if there was something already set up there. You found that a part of the shimmering tainted glass window at the top of the ballroom on the second floor of the palace had a piece of it slightly altered or replaced with an imitation. You mended it into place but otherwise left it there. The dinner went well at the start, but was eventually interrupted by an assassination attempt, as predicted by Vespera. Arrows flew in through the small hole in the glass window, shattering the mended floating piece of glass that you had mended. The arrows created a hole through Sylril's chest, but the rest of the guests unharmed thanks to a time stop spell from Vespera. She took a moment to think about what the plan here actually was, and Meg also came to the same realization she did that this was most likely a pin on Vespera. The guests being magic-less because of the special bracers they were all required to wear throughout the event, they are all more or less defenseless. On top of that, the existence of the books and the body of the planewalker being unknown or at the hands of the order as far as the consulate knows, there aren't many plausible reasons for why Vespera would need to leave instead of defending or protecting her precious followers and fellow politicians of the empire. Meaning she was stuck in this room to defend her herd, the order's play was probably somewhere else. The somewhere else you all surmised to be the last tome of the books of genesis, the tome of war. She sent you off to defend it while she dealt with the pin that was the portal opening up through the guest's feet as it seemed that the ballroom floor itself had been transformed into a portal similar to the one you had dealt with in the annex a few hours earlier.
You ran off to Vespera's apartment with a scroll of planeshifting and Elwyn at your side, where you bumped into some invisible unwelcome guests, who you promptly stabbed and reeled into your planeshift spell with you. On the other side of the spell, you found Lucius with two new recruits into the order, and fought them immediately. Meg went to run off and find what else was here, as you find yourself on a tiny planet with a small house resembling the residence you were in when you drafted your first contract with Vespera on the Wyvernpeak islands. You fought Lucius valiantly, Elwyn coming in clutch multiple times throughout the fight saving you from perma death. Meg found the book of genesis on the other side of the fight while Lucius absorbed the bodies of the new recruits in an attempt to heal his mortal form before Sylril slayed him while he was healing. Laying dead on the ground, you found and looted some similar vials of the green liquid he had injected into himself earlier in the fight, as well as some spell components worth 500 gold. Besides that, you immediately started peering into the tome, seeing that it started as a manual on how to use war in a political sense, then delved into specifics about how exactly war could be waged, for what purposes, and how it could be won. The book concludes with many schematics and drawings showing specific weapons. You found some pages to be ripped from the book itself, indicating that someone had made it here right before you, and had managed to dip just before you caught them...
November 13th
We started off the session with Vespera's speech. She proclaimed that as the newly elected consul of the empire, she promises to deal with the rising dangers of the Order of the Black Sun, who she accuses of being hidden amongst the Aegurian federation and residing on Aegurian land. She also accused the order of potentially developing a weapon of mass destruction from the corpse of the planewalker that they stole, which, as far as you know is not the case. She then offered a public ultimatum to the Aegurian continent. Cooperate in eradicating the order, and accept trade terms for the newly found third aetherate on their grounds, zygonite, or risk facing war. She seemed to imply that there was no other way forward, and challenges anyone to stand in her way. And with that, dismissed the invitees for lunch. During lunch time you fooled around a bit on the palace premises, inspecting the surroundings best as you could but got into some trouble after doing some pretty suspicious shit, which you got bailed out for by Vespera noticing. After some time inspecting the area but not really finding anything too substantial the meeting begins, and you teleported into the maze of the Emperor's palace meeting room. A moving labyrinth with magical walls, ceilings and floors, seemingly almost fully hermetically sealed from the outside and complex to navigate on the outside. Yet, inside this maze you found a small wooden device with a portal attached to it, spewing out skeletons into the maze. With some time and smart thinking about how to use and counteract the portal itself, you managed to deal with the skeleton problem without too much issue, only tapping slightly into your hp and resources. A little bit later, the meeting seemed to conclude positively and Vespera walked out, noticing your presence. She closed the portal instantly but seemed a bit perplexed as to how the portal got here, and why it was here. She mentioned not understanding the objective of such an item, as it was relatively easy to deal with but a relative investment. Was it a test? A distraction? Who is it intended to distract and why? How did they get in or out of this place without anyone noticing? She ordered you to inspect the building and the premises to see if any traces were left by the intruders, and to report back to her apartment when you were done, to proceed to the Sylril swap.
October 16th
Almost a month ago, we left off when you reached Avendor. The session started with Hemlock visiting a temple of Vero, and enjoying your newfound liberty in the capital of the empire. Hemlock also used his powers to recall some information about the tome of war that he scanned previously. He recalls the introduction to the book, and the general premise being that war, like any other tool, like agriculture, tools, and medecine, was a way to expand and sustain a civilization. Hemlock also borrowed a book of ancient draconic from the academy library. In the meantime, Sylril went to the church of Mila, and challenged a paladin of hers to combat. Bor also decided to test his newfound magical strength with the club he bought last session.
That was all of your preparations, and you went to Vespera's to get the items that you requested. You've got a teleporting coin,
October 4th
Just a bunch of shopping, customizations, travelling to Avendor and finally the details of the mission, protect Vespera at all costs!
September 27th
Coming back from our two month break, we resumed in the Eloran mining outpost, where your troop said your goodbyes to miners and staff there. Meg left behind a description and drawing of Lucius to make sure that the remaining residents wouldn't encounter him blind. You had a night of drinking with the residents, and the next morning you left for a few days of travel by carriage to Kimbar. On the way, you met Edwin and Ladril, staff on the carriage with you. You chatted with them a little bit on the way, and as you were arriving to Kimbar, Edwin gave you a little bit more background on Kimbar and it's nickname, the iron lung. Once you arrived, you started understanding why Kimbar was regarded as an industrial city now. You escorted the silver to one of the kilns processing the silver ore, before you met with Vespera. She showed you the way to her residence, a maximalistic gothic three story tall house in the center of Kimbar's old town. You went up to her office where she awarded you your gold for your mission, with a little bonus on top, a total of 1500 gold pieces. Then, she presented you with a decision. You were free to go, to leave her employment, and she said she wouldn't chase you. She put on the table lockets that represented your aetheric fingerprint, a signature made of your magic essence, that verifies your identity as a newly appointed member of the academy. In order for her to confirm your determination and employment, she asked Meg to execute the mayor of Afeer, one of the first people the original troupe of adventurers in this campaign met, who had apparently leaked the location of the Tripal stone. Meg ruthlessly murdered him after some deliberation, using minor illusion to show the mayor images of his happy mother and grandchildren as she slits her throat. Vespera seemed amused at this, and accepted your actions as proof of your loyalty. She then proceeded to explain her plan a bit further, boiling down to the fact that as time has passed, more and more people seem capable of casting spells. Her belief is that magic is a power that cannot be culled, but needs to be controlled, led with an iron fist, and she is that fist. Accepting your new boss, she also gave you directions for your next mission. Her inauguration would be in two weeks in Avendor, and you were to protect her at the inauguration. You have two weeks until then to do pretty much whatever you want.
July 25th
As our last session before our break, we resumed with Sylril appearing out of the dying flames of Bor's expiring transformation into a lion, and with Hemlock and Meg at the mercy of the Order of the black sun operative, Lucius Aemon. He interrogated you, where you managed to deceive your way into a relaitvely peaceful solution, he tied you up and left an operative to look after you and keep you binded while he went about his business, tending to his wounds, injecting himself with some kind of green solution, and taking back his tripal shard from Hemlock. As he left, Bor snuck his way back into the cave as a spider, which Meg recognized. As he was moving away, Bor informed Sylril of the situation, and you devised a plan. Hold person, being at the center of it. The operative did indeed fail, and you did a solid chunk of damage in two turns, before she started running away. To prevent her from fully running away, Bor transformed into a horse and went into pursuit. Hemlock managed to hop on the horse still fully tied, got freed, and shot the last arrow needed to kill the operative, exploding her into a bloody mist, and bringing down this part of the cave system with her. Vespera contacted you, thanking you for discovering her mole, and complimenting your resolve to not snitch her out. She promised a bonus would be given if you still succeeded in your mission of bringing down the Behir and body-guarding the silver package back to Kimbar.
With this entrance to the Behir's lair caved off, you decided to use the last 4 hours of the Bormobile left to go around the mountain of the Eloran cave system, and back to the outpost. You rested for a night. During the night, Sylril was once again privy to a dream. He was transported back into this white abyss of a world, with an alter with a bird of fire immortalized on top of it, who awoke once the sword in the pit of the alter was pulled. Sylril experimented a bit more, before realizing the bowl was most likely awaiting some kind of liquid. He sliced his hand first, letting his palm flow crimson into the altar, peaking the interest of the bird, and widening the opening at the bottom of the altar. Realizing he needed to spill more blood, Sylril widened the gash in his hand, and the altar was hungry still. Sylril made the decision to slice his own neck above the altar, and it greedily swallowed his head whole. Sylril regained consciousness as a dismembered head, on top of a mountain of bones and skulls, face to face with a gigantic woman, who held a battleaxe in her left hand, and the bird of fire in her right. Her right breast completely cut off, and watterfalling blood, while her heart was constantly ablaze underneath her white toga. Her crimson red hair seeminlgy shaped a crown above her head, before falling onto her back. Sylril met Mila, and talked with her for a bit before she asked him a question, what is the purpose of your life she asked. Grabbing Sylril's dismembered skull, she listened carefully, the bird of fire pecking Sylril's eyes as he spoke. Ultimately, she deemed his answer unsuccesful, and chopped his skull into clean halves, waking him up. He nevertheless felt slightly more powerful as he woke up.
Picking back up in the morning, you set out to recruit some miners to help you in the task of re-excavating an entrance into the behir's lair. With some bardic inspiration and some coin, you managed to convince a handful of them to help you out on your task. As you descended back to where you were but two session ago, one of the miners you recruited rolled a natural twenty, hearing the Behir tunneling through the half collapsed mine shaft. You immediately ordered them to run away, which they gladly did. You fought the behir in this narrow mine shaft, and Meg immediately dropped to zero hit points, but she came back to life with a crucial spell, hold monster, who successfuly held the monster for two turns, enabling you to start pumping damage into it. You also noticed a scar on its forehead, and as you damaged it more and more, it seemed like there was something embedded under the scar. As you battled, Lucius came back and started disrupting the fight, bringing Meg down once more and liberating the Behir. Bor transformed Sylril into a T-Rex, making him strong enought to attempt to pull the device from the Behir's forehead. Sylril succeeded, freeing the behir of the spell that was controlling him, and leaving you against Lucius. Sylril sprinted to continue the fight against Lucius, and he immediately started teleporting. You grappled him, healed the Behir to hopefully have him fight at your side (which he did), and you pummeled lucius but he survived and escaped. In thanks, the behir seemed neutral to you, and granted you some gifts, as well as let you name him. He seemed content to stay in his lair for the time being, and we left the session there.
July 13th
Starting back in the mines of Eloran, you managed to escape with some fried clothes from the Behir. Meg in an odd attempt to prove her loyalty to the Behir managed to figure out that the Behir was being controlled in some way or form. You assumed that whoever was doing the controlling was most likely nearby, so exploring the cave under the Behir's snout was probably the best option. You managed to do so relatively gracefully, and found a tunnel that had been dug through the mountain into the cave that you are currently in, with the Behir. Hemlock made an attempt at communicating with the Behir by writing in blue fluorescent poop, which did not work and only covered him in poop. You snuck up onto a pair of Order of the Black Sun operatives, and overheard them talk about a ask to be completed the next day. You recognized Lucius' voice as the commanding voice in the conversation. and quickly disposed of them. You stole their stuff, and layed out a trap for Lucius if he came back. As you went to sleep, the sending stone that you had stolen started vibrating, and you quickly answered disguised as one of the operatives. You attempted at tricking Lucius into coming to your rescue, but instead he saw through your deception.
He arrived with some extra staff, and immediately started trying to apprehend you. You fought back, and in the heat of the battle you exploded Dareej into bits using the liselos dusted arrows. The fight was drawn out, close but eventually you fell short. Bor managed to barely escape by the skin of his teeth, Meg and Hemlock were caught and apprehended by the operatives and Lucius. Lucius pieced Dareej's corpse back into a relative meat-like pile and covered it with a blanked before turning towards the both of you and started talking with you. We left the session there.
June 28th
We started the session back on the abandoned village of the Wyvernpeak islands, as Vespera left you with some modicum of privacy for you to discuss your options. After much deliberation, you decided to co-operate with Vespera for the time being. Vespera came back, informed you that she was aware of your deal with Sylril, and told you she would be fine with her being challenged if they waited for her to conquer the rest of Vostera first. She slid you some temporary contracts from across the table that specified an NDA-stlye agreement to secrecy, and she reminded you that she was always looking. You signed your names in ink and quill, binding you to her completely administrative contract. She gave you a scroll of teleportation and a new directive, to eradicate the pests of the mines of Eloran and securely deliver the package of silver to the nearby city of Kimbar. She notified you somebody would be waiting for you at you arrival to guide you through the mines.
You accepted your mission, and soon after your talk teleported out of the Wyvernpeak islands and landed in the wet, cold mud of the Eloran mines outpost. Meeting you there on arrival, you met Bor, (Colby's character) a dwarven man that is a specialist at the caves and was given the same directives. You chatted for a bit in the outpost's tavern over some ale and grub, before settling in for the night.
Another dream came to Sylril in his sleep, where he was situated in a plane of magma. He sunk into the magma, seeing his own body dissolve and boil before coming back to an altar. The altar represented a bird of fire, with a wingspan so long it seemed to stretch a full 360 degrees in Sylril's vision. A bowl with a longsword lodged into the center of it was at the bottom of the altar. Sylril succeeded at a strength check, pulling the sword out of the altar. The bird's marble white cracked, revealing a live bird of fire. It flew to Sylril's shoulder and looked at him expectantly. Sylril attempted to swing the new found sword around, nothing happened in particular. As Sylril peered over the bowl. It seemed to grow larger, revealing a slot in the bottom of the bowl where the sword once was. Sylril attempted to dive himself in the bowl, who spat him out. He attempted to slot the sword back into its place, and that caused a spurt of blood to jet from the altar, but otherwise only made him wake up in a sweat.
Heading out to your mission in the morning, you climbed up the muddy roads of the mining outpost side by side some late miners before arriving to the entrance of the mines, where Rob and his employee chatted for a bit about the current state of the infestation before letting you in. You dove deep into the mines before arriving to a section that had partly collapsed. You braved on through the choke, and landed into a part of the mine that was clear, but soon found yourselves under attack by three Bulettes. The fight was close, but a few well placed critical arrows by Hemlock punched through the armor of the bulettes and bled them dry. Bor fell, but was saved by a healing potion. You dove deeper into the caves, and found that one side of a fork in the mine shaft had a strange grumbling noise come out of it on occasion, and an electric energy filled the moist airs of the cave. After a short rest, you pressed forward, and found yourselves at the mouth of a gigantic cave, that Bor was not aware of. Unable to see further than 60 feet in the pitch black darkness of the cave, Bor threw a mote of fire down the cave to see what could be percieved. It flew down 400 or so meters before disturbing a monstrous, 12-legged gigantic dragon like worm, a behir. The behirimmediately distrubed and notified of your presence lasered Bor down with its lightning breath, who you promptly rescued with another potion of health, before he disappeared into the nearby rock of the mine shaft. You all started fleeing, and we ended the session there.
June 14th
You were transported to an abandoned island near the Wyvernpeak Islands. The small, dilapidated village bore marks of a conflict long past, centuries before. As you explored, you discovered the village was populated by the peaceful ghosts of its former inhabitants. On the first night, Sylril revoked his fealty to the Sunmother, leaving him godless.
Over the next few days, Meg and Hemlock began deciphering the ninth tome of Genesis, the Tome of War, which had recently fallen into your hands. Meanwhile, Sylril explored the village alone and came across a final resting place with a sword atop it. When he pulled the sword from the tomb, he was confronted by an undead fighter and mage. The battle was intense, and in its final moments, the lifeless animated corpse exploded, taking Sylril down with it. After failing two death saving throws in a row, Hemlock barely missed throwing a health potion to him. Tristan then rolled Sylril's last death saving throw. Fortunately, with RNGesus on his side, a natural 20 saved Sylril as he grasped a mote of unending flames in his subconscious dying mind. Sylril survived but was afflicted with small licks of flames appearing from the tips of his ears.
You asked around about this strange effect, including consulting Elwyn, who promised to investigate but didn't know the cause. Sylril had another dream about the mote of fire. You then discussed your strategy for meeting with Vespera the next day and decided that hearing her out was probably the best option. You discovered that the book you had been reading was written in extremely old Draconic and was essentially a manual of warfare, detailing plans and schematics for creating weapons and describing tactical maneuvers, some of which Hemlock recognized from his time in the army. However, you didn't fully understand everything due to the language's complexity, the topic's difficulty, and your limited timeframe. As a precaution, you chose to "upload" the book to Vero's collective mind to easily retrieve the memory if needed.
When it was time to meet Vespera, she teleported to the house where you were staying. During your discussion, she revealed that Aylin Ashir, the Planewalker, was her mother. However, you had mixed feelings about this claim, as it is commonly known that the daughter of the Planewalker is Nola Ashir, the first empress and founder of the Ashir Empire and the Academy Arcanum. Vespera shared some of her backstory, explaining that she had stayed in this village for a few centuries after Aylin's death, building a community and caring for its inhabitants. She mentioned taking on a disciple named Talin (the ghost Sylril had fought days before). Talin went rogue, supposedly due to power hunger, and unleashed destruction upon the village. Vespera had to stop and kill him, burying him on the northern hill of the island with a sword in his grave while the other villagers fled for their lives.
Vespera offered you all significant power, extended lifespans, or money to join her cause. She laid out your options and enticed you to join her mission of conquering the world, claiming it was for the greater good and part of Aylin's plan. She left you to discuss, and as you considered your options, we ended the session there.
June 1st
After a month long break, we are back together, with Tristan at our table once more. We resumed at the beaches of Tephia, where Hemlock and Meg decided to take Vespera's offer and steal the corpse of the planewalker and the ninth tome of genesis. After some added discussion about the exact terms of your deal, and with some extra scrolls and the robes of the order of the black sun, you were teleported to a small fishing village called Fither. You thought about your choices once more before deciding that the best plan, was no plan. You sprinted off into the sea, running across water before encountering the permanently illuminated Sundown Monastery. You managed to sneak into the building unnoticed, by everyone but Sylril, Tristan's character. A half elven solist, he seemed to be more than willing to help you in your quest to find the tomb and rob it. After some added shenanigans, you made your way through the monastery and quietly murdered your way through the church. Eventually, you managed to steal the tome of genesis, and quickly made your way underground to find the tomb of the planewalker guarded by a silver dragon by the name of Cyrell. Hemlock quickly realized that this was the same dragon Namix, the brass dragon you had met earlier in your campaign, mentioned when talking about how he had a constant supply of ice in the middle of the desert.
Thanks partly to the added familiarity, you had a peaceful conversation with Cyrell and convinced her to form a pact with you. You were to, in your lifetime, attempt to kill Vespera or die trying, and return the tomb of the planewalker or die a premature death. You accepted, on the condition that rather than die from cosmic erasure, you die fighting Cyrell and Namix themselves instead. She accepted. With the pact made, you used the scroll Vespera gave you to teleport out of the monastery, before we ended the session there.
April 19th
Last time we met, you started off by discussing a meeting Lucina was going to have with her brother Lucius. You devised a plan in case things went wrong, and had her meet her brother at the beach. Lucius gave her the rundown of the main goals of the order, but could not give more information without having her enroll and take an oath. He gave you a day to think about it. When you came back to the beach hut on Tephia, you discussed further before being interrupted by Raoul coming back with Jone's kid as well as Magnus, Meg's little brother. After some time to catch up and chit-chat, you were once again interrupted by a building inspector who turned out to be Vespera Argent in disguise. She claims to have followed Raoul to your hut, and wanted to make a deal. With parliamentary elections happening in a month or so, she wanted to assure victory by putting national security into the public eye even further, which has been at the crux of her campaign. You are to rob the ninth tome of genesis and the planewalker's corpse from the sundown monastery, situated on an island on the west coast of Eloran. She would then blame the crimes you committed onto the Order, giving the parliament good reason to commit to a government with a stronger focus on defense, take control over the empire's parliament, pardon you for your crimes and make you free once you completed your mission. She gave you a day to think about it. You took some time to discuss your decision further. That night Lucina contacted Lua once more, and found out that the leader of the Order is named Zeke Ashir, a direct descendent of the Ashirs. She also made it clear the members of the order were heretics to be cleansed. The next day, you refused Lucius's offer, as it would take a pact that you were not willing to take. He seemed angry but understanding, as instead you gave him further information about the remaining books of genesis, but lying about the ninth tome, which you successfully hid from him. As you hugged him goodbye, Lua insisted you kill him were he stood, but you kept your calm and told him your goodbyes. We ended the session there, with your decision about whether to take Vespera's deal or not still hanging.
April 5th
Last time we played, you had just arrived in Onarx to try and find a solution to Hemlock's coma. Hemlock had some visions where he met Vero once more, and was asked what truths he was seeking. Lucina and meg disguised themselves, and went for a visit to the church of vero. You had a seance with Emir, who enlightened you on your options. You traded some secrets for an elixir of truth, that would supposedly help Hemlock become a truthseer if he wished to become one. After your seance, you decided to go for some shopping, and headed to Tony's, a shop specially made for hunters and huntresses looking to upgrade their gear. Terry Dodson, an employee at Tony's helped you find all the gear you desired and was truly a model employee. You wrote a nice review after tricking him into selling you gear at a discount, left and rejoined with Hemlock after a short trip across the Leife seas. You administered Hemlock the truth elixir as soon as you came back. Hemlock was informed of the choice given to him by Vero, and after asking a bunch more questions decided to become a truthseer. An eye sprouted in the middle of his forehead, he was returned to his previous wisdom, and he was granted the ability to have true vision once per day. Lucina was contacted by Lucius, telling her that he had some news for her and that he was going to pick her up tomorrow. Lucina prayed to Lua before going to bed, and was met with a cold and unsatisfied deity.
March 22nd
From Tephia, you headed out into the jungle to find the cave you encountered earlier in your travels with an altar to Vero. You read some books, practiced the flute, and Meg visited her younger brother Magnus in his dreams. After a few days of peaceful travel, you arrived at the cave, where Lucina got caught by a trap, starting the fall of the cave. The trap also caused you to be noticed by a necromancer goblin that was in the cave as you walked in. You immediately started fighting him, as he summoned some skeletons that you dealt with thanks to Lua's edge mostly. Once you actually got a hold of him through the rocks and the smoke, he called forth his 'ultimate creation', a modified Aboleth. The worm mind controlled Hemlock, who shot an arrow through Lucina's stomach, before all of you started taking big chunks of damage forcing you to retreat to the other side of the cave. Thanks to some healing, faerie fires, and Lucina's channel divinity, you stayed alive and managed to eventually wear the Aboleth down and finish him with one last arrow. As the cave was starting to crumble, you quickly went for the altar, and started asking questions. You got the locations of all of the tomes of genesis, of Khava, confirmed that Hemlock's mother was alive, and figured that Vespera was the one that murdered Hemlock's father.
As the cave threatened to bury you, you took your hand away from the altar, with Lucina's spell keeping you alive once more. You fled from the altar, successfully dodging the falling rocks. Once out of dodge, you realized that Hemlock was in a state of madness, reducing his wisdom to one. Realizing this is a situation you needed to remedy immediately, you started asking for solutions. You pleaded with Lua, who answered you that Hemlock would need to atone with Vero. Figuring some of Vero's clerics may be of help, you charted a boat to Onarx, left Hemlock back at your safe base and we stopped the session there.
March 1st
You found out more about the happenings at the underbelly. You fought Raoul as he blamed you for the downfall of The Underbelly as an organization. After you defeated him, he acquiesced and answered any questions you had to the best of his ability. After a night of drinking and partying, Meg also threatened him and intimidated him into bringing his brother back. He once again agreed. The day after, he gave you some gifts, including a box containing a note, a magical flute, and three spell scrolls. You burned the soft spot down and left for Tephia. You also learned that Hemlock's mother was still alive.
February Friday 9th and Monday 12th
With some new trinkets in hand, you traveled all the way back to Titanfall. You stopped by Aria's lake, and with some new spells and the possibility of diving to the bottom with the masks of arcane breathing, you were able to peek into what sat at the bottom of Aria's lake. It turns out, some fish people seem to be having somewhat of a perpetual party at the bottom of this lake. Meg successfully courted one of the fish people, Lucina seemed to attract their anger as splitting their lake in half probably wasn't very nice to them. Hemlock finally managed to pet some of the deer. You then moved on from Aria's forest, where you left Cheetoh behind. Wearing the masks, you ventured into titanfall's desert. You crossed paths with the skeleton you had seen before and stashed his skull into your bag of holding before moving on. You managed to sneak by all of the watchtower's spotlights and got into the first watchtower where you brutally murdered four guards with protective clothing above their leather armor. One of your spells accidentally set off some arcane effect that shone the spotlights onto you. You decided to maneuver through the towers to another tower while reinforcements where sent to yours, and successfully managed to sneak into another turret, instantly killing one of the guards and intimidating the second one into helping you sneak into the facillity.
You successfully snuck into the facility after stabbing Tim for good measure. After you had entered, Jone, one of the guards changing, noticed something odd about Meg's appearance and you promptly stabbed her, then accidentally turned her into a cat. You kept going into the facility where you dropped off Tim at the infirmary, where he tried to get a bit more money out of you but you managed to intimidate him into just taking it and leaving. With an almost dead human turned into a cat still in your hands, you snuck into the living quarters of the researchers and found Leia Rosenthorne. The slightly chubby woman with a karen cut with black hair and a high bridged nose took a bit of time to warm up to you but you eventually started talking about Titanfall and its secrets. She also warned you about the possibility of retribution against the Underbelly if things were to go south. Before too long, Vixal Blund came to check back into the living quarters, and noticed you in Leia's quarters because of a bad stealth check. He knocked the door down as he called for reinforcements and his hair fell off his head. You fought him for a few rounds before managing to escape to the underbelly soft spot. You tried to find Khava, but failed to do locate her. You also had with you Jone, the guard who you convicned this was Santa's workplace. The day after, she realized this was a lie and you tried to console her but she seemed very upset. You called Elwyn, trying to gain some more information and a safe spot for Leia. You were informed that he was also on the run at the moment as things have started to get heated in Aegur as well. You tried to sneak into the Soft Spot on the off-chance you might find someone to talk to, but instead were greeted with Raoul Ragimund seemingly waiting for you to arrive.
February Friday 2nd
After some careful investigation of the new security around Adenville, you went out to explore a little and learned that there was a speech heeded by general Argent tomorrow next to the now damaged academy building. You took this as an invitation to dive into the academy building. After some very interesting shenanigans with the librarian that was currently guarding the entrance to library itself, you managed to steal a bunch of books, including some from the restricted section. She did find you out after some bad checks, and you decided that the best way out was to brute force your way out since you were all invisible and couldn't find each other at this point anymore. Hemlock jumped out of the window, followed by Meg. The librarian tried to hold you back, but karma's a bitch and off a natural twenty, you nearly missed her brain with an arrow and she fled, calling for reinforcements. The reinforcements arrived while Hemlock and Meg were escaping, Hemlock chugged a potion of fire breathing and used it to mold the iron bars of the academy fence as well as instantly carbonize two guards that were on your tail. Lucina took this as an opportunity to sneak into the basement of the academy. After some very lucky rolls, you managed to steal a significant amount of things off from the basement, figured that they were probably transporting things to the titanfall site. On your way out, you were spotted by Vespera but she seemingly let you go.
You snuck back into town hoping to get more information about Titanfall amongst other things from both the academy building and Lucina's parents. With some creative uses of flying and pass without a trace, you hopped over the city walls mario style and snuck into the local cemetary once more. You had to make some shenanigans happen with disguise self this time, buying out some guards and then trying to scare off some teenagers on their first date, which you did eventually manage to do but maybe not as smoothly as you had hoped. After realizing that there was nowhere to hide two full corpses in, you made the decision to simply decapitate the Lucina's parents and stuff the severed heads into your bags. You reconsecrated their graves and you split up for a moment letting Lucina have a moment at the silver moon church while you investigated the academy building. You found the building to be completely destroyed on one side, and tried to investigate into it but decided against it after a you caught the attention of some staff and students inside. You took the time to sneak back out and we ended the session there.
January 15th 2024
You set out to adventure into Titanfall before realizing that the corrupted ground you stood on was draining you, making you sick, some more than others. Lucina called out to Lua for answers, where you learned that the very fabric of magic was corrupted here by something appearing as a small statue in a foetal position in the middle of the crater. You decided to scout out the edge of the crater. You found out that the crater seemed to be covered in illusory magic. You went back to the edge of the forest to find Cheetoh before finding your way back to Aria's lake, healing yourself and having Hemlock once again fail to pet the local wildlife. Walking all the way back to Adenville, you called Elwyn and he gave you some information about terrorist attacks happening in Adenville, as well as some information about the effects of Titanfall's mysterious sickness. You decided to send off Meg to the town and send a message to Dareej, who you correctly suspected of being part of the Order of the Black Sun. You met up with her and an unexpected guest, Lucius Aemon, who seems to be a part of this organization. While Lucina caught up with Lucius, Meg got caught by the peacekeepers guarding the gate, apparently wanted now, and got out suspiciously easily. Lucius and Dareej split, seemingly called by something before disappearing. You went to rest, and we ended the session there.
December 11th
With the knowledge that Lucina's brother Leucis knew of your whereabouts and was possibly looking for you, you decided that you needed to leave town in a hurry. You quickly contacted Adam for one last discussion. You talked about the possibility and the implications of the parenticide of the Aemons one on one. While you had this discussion, Meg chose to do some errands before leaving.
After saying your goodbyes to Adam, you decided to steal and pillage some of the nearby crops and fruit trees for a little extra food for your trip accross the Arian forest. You got caught in doing so, and brought yourself the anger of an old lady.
As you head out through the Arian woods, after your first night, the body of Vannan disappeared leaving behind Lua's Edge. During your travel, you encountered a troll singing nearby, you encountered some fruits that rendered you invisible, and a lake that was rumored to be the place where Aria serenaded Layla. You bathed and healed as Hemlock unsuccesfully attemped to befriend the local fauna.
Shortly after, you failed to pass hidden from a group of bounty hunters that was aware of your presence and bounty. Hemlock came close to falling, but you were able to clutch up and made them run away instead.
After a few more days of travel, you exhausted your rations and came close to the edge of the forest. A mysterious purple rain befell the forest, leaving an odd purple chalky residue. You felt the sensation of being intensely watched intensify, despite not finding anyone or anything watching you.
December 7th
You started off the session with you guys figuring out a way to get rid of the stolen boat you were on, the rolling thunder. You contacted Elwyn and figured that he could probably find a way to sell it, and you were right. After a while you did indeed manage to sell it off for 25000 gold total.
You also came into contact with Adam Fawcett, the head of the silver moon church in Adenville. You managed to convince him to come out of town to help you find a cure for Pork’s affliction. He was able to help you out and Pork became Hemlock once again. He also informed Lucina that her parents were dead.
Meanwhile, Vannan started having some visions of spiders. Wanting to know more about the demise of the Aemon family, you snuck back into the ashy city. You cashed out your cheque, got hit on by the banker and headed out to do a bit of grave robbing. With the graves of the Aemon family unearthed, you learned the culprit of the fire that killed Lucina’s parents was Leucis, Lucina’s own brother. You took some time to absorb this information as you explored the Aemon home.
We had to cut the session off, so we time-skipped a bit to the next night. That night, Vannan decided his fate in front of The Fateweaver. He decided to go down fighting, and challenged Lua’s champion. He failed in the end, and took one last dip into the void before disappearing and leaving behind Lua’s Edge with a message for all of you, “Praise Lua”.
November 26th
You set off in the afternoon and figured out a way to get out of Vloren and into Adenville without getting noticed. You used an older man named Pork, aka Hemlock, to scout out your options. You ended up finding the rolling thunder, a ship filled with cargo, including silver and gold trinkets and a variety of natural materials. The ship also included an enslaved thunder elemental named Bob.
You met Meg, Robyn’s character, an Arakocra bard. You released Bob from his enslavement with a very high roll on disenchant magic from Lucina, at which point a fight broke out and Ben instantly died. Rukain /Rupal was paralyzed from an arrow from Hemlock and got pummeled to death by Bob. They both rolled natural 20s on their death saving throws, which means they healed to one hp, and while you were talking to Bob, they teleported out of the boat.
Despite this, when Bob flew away, he spotted them in the water and instantly murdered them before floating off. You then managed to navigate your way close to Adenville before we ended the session there a tad early.
November 12th
With some new gear under your belt, you set out to continue your adventure into the desert. You named your Tressym Cheetoh and have yet to decide for a party name. You made a few encounters that you mostly avoided until you reached a gigantic pile of reflective gold that was the property of Namix, a young brass dragon that has fashioned himself a pile of gold into a hostel.
At the hostel, you read a plaque that heeded a warning, which you found out was located at Titanfall. After a relaxing evening, you found yourselves at a crossroads on how to proceed forward, and you opted to trade in the Tripal stone that was in your possession in exchange for an expedited flight to the edge of the desert.
You got a call from Elwyn, who communicated some new information about the stone, notably that it seemed as if the stone wasn’t nullifying magic; instead, it was transferring it in some way. You exchanged some more information before heading into town, discovering that you are indeed wanted by the academy at this point.
You talked with some members of the silver moon church to find out more about whether the effects of Hemlock’s aging were reversible. You decided to take a boat to Adenville, found a deal thanks to Vannan.
October 21th
You spent your first night in the cave. Hemlock had a nightmare of a house burning down in flames, where he perceived his parents as well as a couple of people, including one shorter man and one taller woman.
The next day, you managed to find a portal that connects to the other side of the mountain chain. The password, activated by a riddle, took a while to accomplish, but eventually, with a little help, you managed to solve it. This granted you access to the other side of the Kaan mountains and saved three days of travel.
Once on the other side, you found a tressym that was wounded and fought an air elemental. Lucina also had a dream, which you were not privy to hearing. The next morning, you found a strange thread emanating from the stone in the direction that you were heading, towards the west. It faded in a few minutes as the sunrise glowed a strange purple.
The next day, you found an oasis that ended up being an illusion. The illusion was cast by an undead corpse inside a casket buried underneath it. The ghost begged you to free it from this plane as it was bound to its duty to protect a weapon from being stolen. You took a long rest, and as you woke up, the tripal stone shot several flame strikes from it at regular intervals before you casted create water around it, cooling down the stone and being eventually absorbed into the stone. This stopped the activity in the stone.
You ended up murdering the ghost by using your newfound sword, Lua’s Edge. With a beam of light and a huge critical strike, he dissipated with a thank you. You talked with Elwyn about the events, and he said he would look into the stone’s activities.
