Session Ten: A mist opportunity

General Summary

Recovering     Malak, Mia and Vence are nursing Filthy Orcs. Silmer is on high alert at one of the windows.   April is asking Carey about what’s been going on and says she was spotted by an old friend, Dan. Carey explains that April’s father and Jenny are hiding at her home. If Dan saw April, he might have alerted them. Nesza is shaking and mumbling to himself. Something is clearly wrong with him.   Corvus talks with the tied up Sicklemen. He apologises for the unnecessary bloodshed, pointedly looking at Nesza (whose seemly careless shots when certain Sicklemen were swayed to not attack caused Sicklemen lives to be lost). He says he doesn’t know why Nesza acted like this because he’s usually the most level headed and perceptive of the group.   One Sickleman looks at Nesza shaking. Knowing that Nesza was a soldier too as he showed his Soldier’s Mark earlier, he mentions to Corvus that, yes Nesza’s not OK. War does strange things to people.     The First Vial   Before any further conversations take place, Nesza hears glass break upstairs. He alerts the group and Mia joins him rushing up the stairs. He and Mia run into a misty substance on the upstairs landing. Beyond it, they see a fourth door that wasn’t there previously. They see a grinning hooded figure standing in the door. Behind him, they can just about make out a room with stone pillars and glowing runes on the ground. The hooded figure closes the door.   Mia and Nesza, having learnt from their previous encounter with this mist, are able to quickly make work of it without being affected. Mia casts Gust of Wind and moved the substance into the large room, closing the door. Nesza calls down to the group, explaining what happened.   Corvus cuts the Sicklemen loose, saying they are being tossed aside by their leaders. They would be affected by the Sporing too. April jumps behind the bar to protect Carey. Silmer breaks open a window to see if he can spot anything outside.     Almost a Goner   Malak opens the front door, checks for any hostiles and then marches outside (with the intention of shooting open the window of the large room upstairs). Unfortunately, three bolts are shot his way as he walks out. Two hit the mark and Malak is out cold   Vence casts a Minor Illusion of a metal box around the knocked out Malak and heals him. This triggers two hooded figures to emerge. One Commands Vence to get out of the tavern, the other attempts Sacred Flame but Vence saves.   Malak is luckily revived and is able to shoot a hole through the large room window. The mist from the wind blows out from Mia’s Gust. Vence manages to get back to safety.   Meanwhile, Nesza checked for hostiles from another window, spotting a few more Sicklemen Captains and also three figures who don’t seem to belong to them. One he recognizes as Jenny. He signals to her through a a bird call.   Mia is rather pissed off with this whole situation, zapping the two hooded figures. She KOs the one. The other drops a vial, then runs and hides behind a building. The vial creates the same misty substance as before and the substance from the room lowers down and mixes with this new batch, speeding up the spread of the mist.     Regroup   Malak yeets back into the tavern just before the mist gets to him, slamming the door behind him and slumping to the floor.   Silmer fortifies the window he broke by making a wind wall. April casts Longstrider on Carey to ensure that she can move faster if she needs to run for it. April also ensures there are dandelions on the counter.   From upstairs, Mia attacks the other hooded figure with a snow storm, downing him too. Nesza signals Jenny to approach.   Vence puts blue label wine on the table, telling everyone to take a swig. Corvus does so, and then marches outside into the swelling fog (much to everyone, except Malak’s, alarm). It doesn’t affect him. Malak follows closely behind.     Through the Fog   Outside, they are not being attacked. It seems like the Sicklemen are running away. Corvus checks the bodies of the two hooded figures. Both are elves. One had a vile on him.   Mia comes downstairs and suggests to envelope everyone in a wall of wind in order to walk through the fog unaffected. The group consider for a moment, but suggest she keep it as a back up plan seeing that the wine seems to make them immune to the effects of the Sporing’s fog.   Mia reveals she has her own wine. Nesza grabs the wine out of Mia’s hand and runs to the door, realising Jenny might be heading into the fog. There is a quick scuffle between Nesza and Mia as she hasn’t had a sip yet. Nesza finally lets her have a drink and he heads out.   Mia follows, dramatically.   Carey reveals she has some red label wine under the counter. So one by one people have some wine and then file out. Vence has managed to also have the Sicklemen and Captain Small Fry drink some so no harm will befall them.   Almost everyone gets out… except April seems to be lagging behind. It turns out she is experimenting with the fogs effects ON HERSELF by not drinking the wine and only ingesting a dandelion. She remains unaffected in the fog.   The Sicklemen and Captain Small Fry gone in another direction when they get outside.     The Three Figures   Meanwhile, Corvus emerges on the other side of the fog and bumps into the three figures. He introduces himself and explains the situation to Jenny, Ethan and Dan.   Malak emerges too but actually goes back into the fog when he realises April was lagging behind. He calls out to her and she follows his voice out of the fog and into the arms of her dad.   Jenny is surprised to meet Nesza there. But they greet each other warmly as Wardens of the Woods. She explains that in the last two weeks, the Sicklemen have swollen in numbers and have upgraded their arms. Some also have animals that are capable of surveillance. Certain locals have disappeared while others have turned coat to join the Sicklemen. She therefore doesn’t know which houses in Windshire are safe and which are being watched.   She also doesn’t know much about the hooded figures other than that they stay in the Town Hall.   Nesza asks Jenny what the situation is on the island. She says that she needs to go there once every month to ensure that everything is OK. She has been using the trips with Ethan‘s scheduled Windshire and Lyrander combo crew to achieve that. Her last trip was two weeks ago so she’ll need to sort a trip out again soon.   As they walk to find a place to rest, it becomes clear that certain party members are furious with Nesza as they feel his arrow was what caused a possible destruction of the entire town. Nesza tries to explain to Silmer that something is very wrong with him. He doesn’t understand why he shot that arrow. It’s one of the reasons why he considers himself broken. Silmer explains that at least no one in the group died. If he needs tips on clearing his mind, Silmer could help.   Corvus then mentions, yes the party survived. But many others lost their lives and more will be lost in the mist as a result. Both Mia and Malak did nearly die.   Vence is looking at his wounds irritably. Nesza tries to heal him but Vence pointedly ducks out. Malak manages to sneakily heal him as he passes by though.   Meanwhile, Cissa touches base with Malak again. She asks for a status update as Corvus hasn’t put the bracelet back on and she expects the worst. Malak tells her what happened and also that the Mai Yasha wine (both blue and red label) is a repellent against the Sporing fog.   Cissa mentions that Wrogar is sending forces to Windshire and that they will be there within a day’s time. Malak passes this information onto the group.   Corvus puts the bracelet on. He feels Jurian’s pulse start slow and then speed up. Not long after he gets a headful of “WHAT WERE YOU THIKING?!” from Cissa. She says that “his puppy” nearly had a heart attack because of his actions and is in trouble with Wrogar now as well.   The group settle down for a long rest in a clearing that Nesza discovered. That’s where the session ends.