Session 1: Landfall 2, Electric Boogaloo. Report

General Summary

It has been twenty years since the defeat of the Kainga, at the hand of four brave adventurers, and the world has been thrust into chaos ever since. Years have passed, and it has been declared that though the actions of the heroes were indeed heroic, that these were dark times indeed. Maps have to be re-written, spells rediscovered, faith explored, and numerous wars and smaller conflicts have broken out worldwide.
Each of you have hopped onto a boat, the Handmaiden, in order to find something more to do with your life, and each of you came aboard at different locations throughout eastern Ekklisia. The Handmaiden was not a passenger vessel, instead, it was a trade vessel that hammocks have been nailed into place poorly enough that your backs scrape along filled wine barrels, ready to be traded on the handmaidens trip back to Frauglafer.
Passing through the Dragon Straight, the water between Rynasen and the mysterious country of Kuraudosukurēpā, a sudden storm brewed, causing massive damage to the ship. The quartermaster, knowing what was going to happen, tied each of you to an empty barrel, and filled it with your equipment and telling you all to stay safe. That was the last thing you remember from that terrible storm only last night. Today is Poviot 12/625, and the beginning of an extraordinary adventure.
Eleanor Primrose awakens first. As she awakens, she sees small bits and pieces of debris on the graveled shoreline. Nothing concrete, but rope holding her and her barrel together is nearly snapped off from the strain it went through the night before. In fact, that knot was so poorly tied that the strain from it tightening across your chest made you pass out from being choked. Its a miracle that you survived in the first place.
Eleanor pushes herself off the gravel to get herself up, standing up straight her form is made visible to any fellow survivors. Her seemingly impossibly pale skin likely the first thing to be noticed, her snow white hair fairly short and choppy, her figure and silhouette is one of an otherwise fairly fit looking individual, standing at about 5ft9, dressed like a wanderer with just a bit of armor. Her dark rose colored eyes dart around the beach as she sort of seems to take in her situation, and once she seems satisfied she begins doing some stretching. "Not the worst spot to land" she mutters to herself
Along the shore, you can see a broken mast with a torn sail towards the south. To the north along the same shore, a small speck of rubbish and a life boat with a hole where the oar would have been. To the east is a cliffside, nearly 40 feet tall above the waterline, with a scattering of trees that you can see just above that. Not too far away, Eleanore spots three barrels, one laying on its side with a platinum blonde leather-clad lady laying atop it, tangled in ropes.
Ragia Raflesia is the second to awaken. Being fearful of the harsh storm, she hid herself in the wine barrel alongside her other gear. It was instead her head slamming into the barrel itself that caused her to get knocked out.
Ragia groans in the dark confined space as she wakes up, rapidly noticing the wooden texture and popping the lid open. Her golden kobold nose pokes out from the edge and draconic eyes squint at the sunlight. rapidly she adjusts her headscarf and plops out of the barrel. The 2'4" kobold is barely visible under her layers of clothes and her head scarf, the only clue of her ancestry being the golden glints sometime shining through the gaps.
Gaining purchase of her surroundings, Ragia more obviously notices Naomi, giving off a comfortable sounding sigh as she snoozes away, her wet platinum blonde hair a mess over her face. She's quietly gigglin' to herself in her dreams, before being suddenly awoken by Ragia. She groans in pain as she slowly opens her turquoise eyes "W-what the fudge happened...?"
Noticing the others Eleanor waves to Ragia, "Oooh another person!.." she squints, "TWO other persons!" she approaches the pair as Naomi starts to awaken. Eleanor snirks as she approaches, having heard Naomi's usage of fudge. "Two alive so far, I like those numbers!" "Hoi there, you okay miss?" says Ragia.
Naomi sits up, studded leather armor covering her now raggedy wet clothin' underneath. She lifts up a well-made staff with the symbol of Rhamnasia embedded in a ring on the tip, in pure silver. Her voice is quiet and meek as she asks "U-uuh. I'm not still dreaming right? Where am I?...A-also can I get out of this bondage, please..." she blushes as she refers to the ropes she's tangled in. Ragia gets to work and starts tearing the ropes apart with her teeth.
Naomi raises an eyebrow at the lil' Kobold trying their hardest and looks up to the other survivor"Are you...Gonna let them do this by themselves?"
"Sorry? OH you two need help? Sure thing!" Eleanor says before kneeling down and trying to help, "Hmn, maybe a sword would help"
Before Eleanor starts to help, the ropes practically dissolve after about a minute of Ragia's gnawing. It looks like they were old, and the kobold can taste the ancient dust from them on her tongue. to which Ragia spits and claws at her tongue trying to get the taste out.
Naomi groans some more from the aches and pains of surviving this crash as she slowly stands and tries to wipe herself clean, before hefting her holy-symbol tipped quarterstaff with a grunt of effort.
"Wow okay that works!" She chuckles and stands back up, "Well now.." she walks towards more of the wreckage to look around some more.
Ragia looks around for some clues in the landscape. "Anyone know where we landed?" she asks.
Naomi looks to the new associate, then back towards the eccentric survivor walking away. "W-where are you going?"
Eleanor turns around on a heel and begins walking backwards, looking around her and, with a smile, she shrugs. "I don't really know!"
Naomi tilts her head "O-okay..." a little shook from the situation still, she bends at the knee to look eye to eye with the Kobold "Why hello! Thank you for assisting with the ropes from earlier. My name is Nahemah, but you can call me Naomi. And you are?" she says, sticking a dainty hand out for the Kobold to shake.
Ragia holds her hand and shakes it. "i'm Ragia Raflesia, but you can call me Ragia."
The two of them walk off to follow Eleanor.
As Eleanor reaches the wreck of the Handmaiden, the ship you paid for passage on. The ship was broken to near unrecognizability if it were not for the nameplate that ended up directly next to the massive hole portside, and the familiar figurehead of the upper body of a naked woman holding up two tankards in triumph. Inside of the ship, you can see that it is an absolute mess, with barrels and tables and chairs thrown about everywhere. Interestingly, a few barrels have chairs perfectly upright next to them, forming several sets of suitable tables. Towards the front of the handmaiden, several planks and a long table have thrashed about, trapping two barrels behind them. Before the barrels is a a tankard and a cloth, curiously placed to look like someone was sitting there recently. Even more recent is just behind the makeshift bar, a floofy reddish orange tail swishes back and forth against the wreckage of the ship.
Eleanor grumbles, "Can't eat a fox..." she pauses.. "Or can I?..." she stands still in the wreckage for a moment in thought, it doesn't last long though as she thinks out loud with a "Bar might have liquor though and that's easier to get!" and she begins rummaging through the ships wrecked bits. After a light bit of searching, and ignoring the tail behind the bar, she scours the ship, looking for something to drink, and finds a tankard filled with a wine looking liquid. She takes a swig to taste it, and finds that it is in fact a mixture of blood and salt water.
Eleanor pauses and hums, "Hm... not worth it." she holds onto the cup and looks into it though, "Wonder how so much blood got in here... honestly impressive find still." she says before pouring the mixture on the ground.
At this point, the other two join Eleanor in the Handmaiden. Ragia speaking up, "Hey, you been finding anything interesting in there?" She says before spotting the tail swishing behind the bar.
"Like an entire liter of blood that wasn't wine!" says Eleanor.
"E-excuse me?! Blood??? Is there anyone harmed" Naomi panics as she rushes over to where Eleanor is, getting ready to cast a spell.
Just before Naomi does however, Ragia approaches the swishing tail, and grabs onto it, pulling it.
Ayame, cries out in pain and jumps up, swinging at the grabby hand with a metal pipe. Ayame stands at just over 5 feet tall, with pale skin and dark black hair, accompanied by a lighter reddish blonde tail and ears, as if one of the two is dyed. Her kimono covers most of her body, with long flowing sleeves and a long dress that reaches just above the ground, she is wearing traditional Kurado styled sandals and Holding a long pipe that is lightly emitting smoke from its tip, with her long hair being held back by a red ribbon. The pipe that she just swung seems to be covered in a light dew and has a few pieces shattered, the pieces being held together by strands of glowing magic.
Ragia lets go, flailing in fear away from the pipe. "AAH! A two legged fox!"
Nehemah also gets startled, looking at Ayame, "I-it IS a two legged fox! I didn't know those existed!" she says both surprised and intrigued, as if Ayame isnt right there.
"Oh that's not a fox, that's another survivor.. woman.. Hi!" Eleanor says.
Ayame pouts, smoothing out her tail with her hands "H-Hello, and no I'm not a survivor...I live here."
"Hoi, sorry for the pull, I though I caught dinner." says Ragia. "You live here? How long has this wreck been here?"
Eleanor squints, looking at Ayame, "Oh, I'm sorry."
"Eh?" says Ayame. "Uhm... I don't know, I just got here."
"But you said you live here!" says Eleanor.
"Did you set up the salvage into tables?" says Ragia.
Naomi tilts her head. "You lived in this dump of a ship?" she says shocked, but quickly covers her mouth, embarassed.
Ayame just sighs and shakes her head.
Eleanor rubs her chin, "So you live here... but not... here. WAIT!" She holds her arms out as though she's telling everyone to stop or hush, she looks Ayame directly in the eyes with a very serious expression "Do you have food"
"Uhm...yeah my town is a few hours back down the road"
Naomi looks about the ship during this conversation and mutters a few magical words.
Eleanor meanwhile gasps and fist pumps, "Food will be so much better than salty blood! But... wait, why're you all the way out here then?"
"Uuhm, to find you three I believe." says Ayame
"Hmm." says Eleanor, "Well that's weird."
"How did you know we were here? last thing I remember we were in the middle of the sea." Says the kobold.
Ayame smiles "If the three of you follow me to my village ill explain."
Eleanor steps away from the wreckage, "Oh, okay that sounds fine to me!"
Ayame nods her head "Perfect" and begins to walk off the beach and back to the treeline, with Ragia following along behind her.
Eleanor jots up next to Ayame, "So where are we exactly? Like in relation to uhmmm.. countries and stuff" she says rubbing her head, "I don't exactly know maps very well"
Nahema holds her staff before her, the holy symbol glowing as she finishes the verbal component of her spell, releasing her hands to search her pouch for something, her staff standing on its own.
Ayame, hearing and feeling the magical commotion, turns and watches the display.
"Aha!" cries out Nahema as she takes a bone out of her pouch and throws it out in front of her. "Come out Rufus, I need your help again!" she says as a glimmering gold golden retriver manifests from nothing and catches the bone. His Tail wags as Naomi speaks to him politely.
"Heya Rufus. Could you sniff out for any other survivors? I'll scritch your belly later in return!" Rufus nods his head and starts to sniff, while Nahema grabs her staff.
Ayame, watching this progress, takes a drag from her long pipe watching the display, her tail swaying slightly.
Eleanor turns around and spots the dog, exciting screeching, "Oh my goodness! Is that pup MAGICAL?!"
"Yup! He's Celestial" says Naomi triumphantly.
Eleanor kneels down to be eye level with the dog, "I don't know what kinda dog can be that cute!"
After a few long moments of sniffing, Rufus paws at Naomi dropping the bone and looking up to her, his eyes drooping. Naomi knows this to mean that his task has failed... He smells no survivors.
Naomi leans down and scritches behind his ears for a few moments "It's okay Rufus, you tried. It's not your fault?" Rufus licks her hand in response and dissipates back into nothingness. "Well... It seems only we made it, then."
Ayame nods, "I was unable to find anyone before you awoke."
Naomi blushes, realizing she made all that fuss for nothing. "O-oh... that's unfortunate..."
Ragia looks to Ayame "how did you not notice the two giants tied to barrels?"
Eleanor looks where the dog was for a second then stands up, "Magic is so strange.." she hums with a hand on her hip, "shall we continue then? This isn't exactly the survival situation I thought we were in but food would still be nice. Also civilization before dark I assume for you folks sounds nice."
Ayame nods "Indeed."
"O-oh!" mentions Naomi, "I should mention that I can create us some food through the Blessings of my Goddess, if need be."
Ayame resumes her walk, shaking her head. "No need, I am sure their will be a delicious dinner tonight at the shrine"
Eleanor however gasps, leaving Ayames side and zipping up to Naomi, "YOU CAN MAKE FOOD?! That's cheatin right?"
Naomi squeaks, "N-no?"
"That's Great!" says Eleanor, her eyes sparkling as she looks at the cleric.
Naomi giggles before looking to Ayame. "Delicious food you said, yeah? That's good...I wouldn't want to eat the bland food my Goddess' Blessing makes..."
Eleanor palms the underside of her chin and she continues walking, "Boy what I'd have done for free food back home" she lets out a sigh, "I'm not picky either but I suppose is the fox lookin lady here is offering to treat us I won't say no!"
With that, the party follows Ayame, back to the town. Ragia saying little, and going with the flow overall.

---

It is about two hours of walking from the graveled shore the party had gathered at, to Shiori Villiage. The forest seems to open up in front of the group to show a small town, nestled in the hillsides overlooking a bay of water. A groups of houses and small shops made of dark timber inset by off-white walls line along and away from the shoreline. A dock lines along the shoreline towards the east, curving slightly towards the north with a handful of fishing boats coming and going, along with numerous fisherman loading and unloading cargo on the docks. A packed dirt road leads down the center of the town, with smaller paths going off to the sides to various houses and smaller streets. At the end of the main road is a small path that seems to wind its way farther into the hillsides next to the forest.
Ayame describes the town, talking idly as they go throughout before reaching the end of the main road to the winding path. "The shrine is just 20 minutes this way."
"So, like, shrine as in holy place or something? Like a statue shrine?" says Eleanor.
"So it's not in the village?" says Ragia.
Ayame thinks about this for a moment. "A holy place and... well... yeah I suppose, but the shrine is close enough"
Eleanor puts her hands up over her head to form a peak as they continue, "Like, with a roof over our heads?"
Naomi stands up straighter, trying to prove herself as an envoy for her goddess from this point on.
"Ah...yes of course, I along with a few others live their full time, we have guest quarters" says Ayame.
"Oh!" Says Eleanor "A shrine that's like.. a building? That's fancy!"
"Thank you so much for your hospitality, Miss Ayame."
Ayame giggles a little and smiles "Its really no trouble"
A set of three wooden buildings in a "U" shape around a courtyard marks out the shrine, each decorated with soft paintings or glyphs, Paper lanterns that also light up the courtyard, and a small firepit in the dead center of the buildings. The building in the back middle of the U is the most ornate with a minimalist carving into a plank of wood and a bronze tray sitting before it with numerous small trinkets. The entrance of the shrine is a pair of wooden beams flanked by stone statues of two foxes sitting on their hind legs. In between them, a lone woman sweeps the doorstep. Only in her 40s, she is older than the party, but upon seeing them, her sweeping stops and she smiles to the approaching group. "Welcome home. Did you find your answers?" she says to Ayame, looking at the other three adventurers.
Ayame smiles and nods, "Yes, I believe I did."
The old woman bows to the party. "Welcome. I am Akari Tanaka. The regent of Shiori Village. We are happy to have you here."
Eleanor gasps and points to Ayame, "Like this Shiori??"
Akari chuckles, "The one in the same." she says before motioning for the party to enter the shrine. "Her father is Shiori, the villages spiritual guardian. Here, we give thanks to his protection, and give guidance to his daughter, so that she may one day lead our village into a golden age of prosperity."
Ayame can't help but blush at this.
Eleanor squints at Ayame's ears, "Those are pretty canine.... That dog.. Naomi summoned wasn't much a protector though so I don't think that's right"
"So is Ayame a spirit too? Like the dog Naomi summoned?" says Ragia.
Akari leans down and pats Ragia's head. "Oh, I suppose you don't quite understand the full faith. All creatures, all living things, and all life are spirits. They move around and through us all the time without you ever realizing they are there, always watching. The only difference between us and the spirits is that we live only in this world... When we pass, we move on to the next, become a spirit, or become another of this world, and improve the spirits within us."
"That sounds complicated alright" says Ragia.
"It isn't that complicated" says Ayame, "It just takes time to remember it all."
"I gotta admit I didn't really follow the necromancy courses at school, so I'm a little rubbish at the afterlife stuff" says the kobold.
Eleanor tries to take all that info in for a moment "Pretty broad spanning but I think I get it." she looks to Ayame, "I dunno about the... cute lil' kobold and golden retriever lady here but I was just hoping to get some food and be on my way again soon."
"We can definitely get you some food, although I was hoping you would stay...at least the night" says Ayame.
Akari smiles, looking back up to Eleanor, "Well, we do have a dinner coming up fairly soon, we just wern't sure how many we were feeding until you arrived. Dinner shall be within the hour but... You should think about staying the night outsider. Fogurogu is dangerous at night, even for soldiers of Gabo. Since you are an honored guest, we will ensure your stay for the night is comfortable... Unless you wish to stay at the docks instead." she chuckles. The smell of sizzling meat now permeates the area.
"I had no idea you were offerin the night!" Says Eleanor, "I'll at least stick around for that! I'm just a bit of a wanderer, places to go, nowhere to be and such."
The other adventurers agreed, and within the hour, dinner was in fact set, with the party at the head of a table, being given plates with a lamb chop, a seaweed salad, a few fruits, a mug of wine that smells oddly familiar, a thin knife and a single copper coin.
Alongside the party, 6 others eat with them on their own tables, eating the same food other than the chop, instead, they have a fish steak.
Eleanore holds up the coin, "This.... Isn't a cookie." she says before looking to Ayame. "I thought I'd owe you money, not the other way around."
"Ah, it is custom to thank the shrine for the meal you have received, so simply offer it to the plate when done eating." Ayame responds.
Ragia sniffs at the wine before looking to Akari, who sat closest to her. "Isn't that the wine that was on our ship ? does it usually dock here to sell ?"
Akari finishes off a bite of fruit before responding. "Anything that lands on the shores of Kuraudosukurēpā becomes property of that land. We saw a barrel on our shores and collected it this morning"
Accepting this answer, the party proceeds to eat, Ayame's tail swaying in joy at the unique meal she has received two days in a row.
As each of the shrine maidens finishes their meal, they take the coin to the central carving at the back of the shrine, leaving the coin on the bronze plate. As the party members finish their lamb, the bone is taken to a small washing basin, where the bone is scrubbed down before being ceremoniously placed at that persons plate, next to the thin knife.
"One part of our custom, once you are done eating, is that we perform a bone reading ritual for those who plan to go on any sort of journey. They ask a question to the bones, in a form of carving symbols on the bones, and we set them in the flame until they crack. Once they crack, a studied reader can give them an answer." says Akari, picking up her coin and bringing it to the offering platter.
"I'm too unpredictable, even the diviner at my school couldn't plan for my hijinks" says Ragia smugly.
"Destiny might not be written in stone, but it can be glanced upon by bone." Akari says in a tone befitting a childrens rhyme.
Eleanor scratches her head. "I don't really know where I'm going after this, still don't know where I am relative to everything else so no questions other than that here"
"Well. One thing I do know is that you can't stay here. Kuraudosukurēpā is very against outsiders, and you would need to travel to Gug-oeja to prevent yourself from being put in prison camps. It is not exactly a safe journey during the night either, so if you were to leave, you would want to leave at dawn." says Akari.
Eleanor groans and leans back on her hands, "Ugh, more running, well thanks for the advice there, though I'm not sure where this Gugoja or wherever is"
"If I was going to place that specific journey down... It is a long one, taking four days to get to the river, and another two to get to the city." says Akari.
"And uhm..." Pipes up Ayame, "I belive I will be coming with you."
Eleanor turns to Ayame, "You will?"
"Well, a guide will be helpful in these unknown lands." says Ragia.
Akari nods. "This is her destiny. She needs to find the components, and on her own forge The Blade of the Fox, the Shiori blade. Yet, these components are not within the town, and she must travel to find them."
"Oh. I suppose if you want to go together to this place that's fine" says Eleanor.
Ayame smiles and nods, "Good."
"Fox blade huh?" says Ragia, "I bet it's fluffy."
Naomi speaks up after a long silence. "Is there anything I could do for you? I could create some Holy Water for you if need be?"
Akari turns to Naomi, and gives her a slight nod. "Ayame is the villiages next best hope for growth for the next hundred years. If you could simply guarantee her the ability to travel alongside you, that is all the help we would need."
"Of course! I would be honored to!" says Naomi before whispering, "And I needed something to do really..." to herself.
Ayame covers her mouth with her hand, giggling quietly to herself before taking a puff from her pipe.
Eleanor hums, "I might split once we get there, but I suppose we four all need to get over to this place for our safety anyways so we're going the same way."
"I never had the chance to say so, but it's quite nice to meet you Eleanor." Naomi says, sticking out her hand to shake Eleanor's.
Having finished carving symbols onto the bone Ragia carves symbols of wealth, a dragon, and magic upon its surface. Eleanore carves a rough aproximation of herself into the bone. "Not sure what else to look into more."
Ragia moves up to Akari with the bone, and Akari takes the bone from Ragia, before standing up and taking the bone from Eleanor. "Looking into ones self is where all great heroes start." she says before tossing the bones into the fire.
Eleanor chuckles, "Aw that's very nice of you to say, as mentioned I'm just a wanderer mam, so just checking into where the wind takes me and such."
Ayame looks flustered as she tries carving symbols into her bone.
Akari nods to Eleanor before turning to Naomi. "Do not worry about the quality of your work, only the meaning behind it." she says as there is a loud crack from the fire.
She takes a pair of tongs that were sitting beside the fire, pulling out a bone. Ragia Raflesia 's specifically.
"Hmm. You have a crack through wealth from left to right. I sense poor fortune in your future. Be careful on the next person you would give money too, as it could come back to haunt you."
Not long after, as the sun is starting to set, another crack is heard in the fire, and the tongs are produced again to retrieve Eleanor Primrose 's bone.
"There is a crack from the top to the left side of your head... You have suffered a grave injury, but your journey will allow you to heal. It could also mean coming to terms with ones self and finding peace." she says palming the second bone. "I hope you find that peace."
Eleanor rubs her chin, "I do have a lot of scars... but good to know."
She looks to Ayame. "I did just do a reading on you yesterday, so I will assume that you are fine without one today."
Ayame smiles, nodding to Akari, "Yes I am, thank you."
Akari looks at the sun, the night now upon the party before nodding. "It is getting late..." she says looking to Naomi. "If you would prefer, we can do a bone reading before you leave at dawn, in the meantime, I must get things ready for your journey tomorrow." She looks to Ayame. "Did you wish for one of the other maidens to take care of your duties tonight? It is within your right to do so as you need your rest."
Naomi nods, "Sounds good to me!"
"Yes that would be appreciated" Ayame says with a smile.
"Very well then. I shall prepare your rooms, and ensure you awake in the morning for your journey." Akari smiles, bowing to the four of them out of respect, before leaving them to their own devices.

Rewards Granted

Ayame Shiori gained Gug-oeja Trade Pass.
Ragia Raflesiaand Eleanor Primrose Dusk gained a Bone Reading each.