Session 97: You got some 'splanin to do! Report

General Summary

With the fighting ended, Bastion asked if any of the others could see invisible or Ethereal things. Jeeves acknowledged he could, but that there was nothing in the area to see. Bastion explained he could see an aura around Roisin that appeared to be some sort of puppetmaster with a rack and strings attached to the princess. The group discussed this for a bit, but came to no firm conclusion, except that it might be related to "the" puppetmaster associated with Alathius, a sort of aura or nimbus that indicated interest or influence, but not real presence or control. Jeeves, as often happens, blurted out about The Puppetmaster, and this caused Bastion to ask who or what that might be. Roy explained that it is a powerful and unnatural being that influences others; a creature they intended to face, but not something they could handle currently. Bastion considered this creature, and recalled, but did not speak of, the ancient stories of his own people wherein certain among the Warborn had their independent will excised and replaced with external control by use of a mystical collar; effectively making these living creatures into soulless constructs. Roisin grabbed some clothes from her purse to replace the ones destroyed, and Jeeves grabbed his spare clothes at the same time, for when his size returned to normal (for him).

Bastion decided to explore the remainder of the keep alone, owing to his invisibility, and report back if there were any additional dangers. Jeeves mentioned he could see into the second floor and saw a construct standing in a room alone, so only the tower need be explored. Boris gave Bastion a gift of luck before he left, and Bastion climbed the stairs up to the tower entrance atop the walls above. Entering the tower, Bastion observed a common defensive setup with stairs down from here, and a walled cylinder likely containing the staircase leading up from the bottom. Eventually, Bastion arrived at the Noble Apartments at the top floor, the entire level filled with a few inches of fresh blood covering the floor, and arcane and profane symbols in blood inscribed all around the walls, apparently preparations for some sort of ritual. Climbing the ladder Bastion reached the roof, itself covered with another inch of blood, with a small empty wooden cage. Satisfied no visible dangers remained, Bastion flew back down to his new companions and described the environs.

At this, Bastion exclaimed "Augh!", then walked up to Roisin, silent and still invisible, and slammed an arcane fist into the small princess twice. Roy tried sending a bolt of fire at Bastion, but missed. Roisin ordered Boris to attack, but the priest declined, expecting that his hammer would not work. Roisin ran away, putting Jeeves between herself and Bastion; Bastion punched her again as she ran. Bastion then used magic to accelerate himself, flew around the others to get close to Roisin, then grabbed Roisin and flew about 20 feet in the air. Boris activated a magic lantern to see, and rushed down the stairs a bit. Jeeves stood up and grappled Roisin as well, his massive hand enfolding the small princess, while his other hand delivered a shocking grasp at Bastion, but missed. Roy called forth Jonas, who promptly expanded to an Ankylosaurus. Roisin managed to wriggle out of Bastion's iron grip, ending up enfolded in Jeeves' hand. Bastion used a divine boon to enhance his attack, and pummeled Roisin, killing her by breaking her neck. Bastion then flew upward, leaving the range of vision for both Jeeves and Boris. Jeeves walked over and gently laid Roisin's still form beside Boris, with a brief check, Jeeves also confirmed that their friend was truly deceased. Roy looked about, and Jonas said that Bastion was now beyond even his vision, and magically imaged angry fireworks around his head. Bastion entered a power dive directly down, head-first, into a large rock, which left him unconscious and broken on the ground. Boris, in a display of exceptional faith, restored Roisin to life; simultaneously the foul chapel erupted in flames. Jeeves stabilized Bastion, preventing death. Jonas asked if they wanted to kill or question Bastion; Roisin asserted that they wanted to question the strange individual. Jonas used its telepathic ability to reach into Bastion's unconscious mind and present a questioning dream. Obtaining answers that some evil force or curse had compelled him, Jonas explained this to the rest of the group, laid his massive paw on Bastion, and asked Jeeves to wake him. Bastion explained he was cursed and needed assistance. Jonas tried to remove the curse, but was unable to do so. Jeeves gave Roy an herb to rejuvenate his arcane strength, which Roy used to remove the curse, and with a divine boon managed to dispel the powerful curse. When the curse was dispelled an image of the blood-soaked noble flew out of Bastion, flew into the blue flames engulfing the corrupted chapel, and the flames suddenly rose to white-hot; within moments the entire chapel was molten slag. With the destruction of this corrupted chapel, everyone felt a spiritual weight lift off, and the sun itself seemed to glow brighter as the air seemed to be easier to breathe.

Roy began conjuring a protective dome as Jeeves started patching everyone's wounds. Everyone noticed, now, that Bastion's armor had the helmet broken off, and there was no head inside the helmet. Roy announced that Bastion was a construct, but Boris had already determined earlier that this was a living being, not a construct. Jonas moved to the entrance area to keep watch while everyone else took an hour to rest and recover a bit. Roisin asked Bastion what he is and he explained he was like a tree, but instead of bark he had metal armor. Roisin agreed that made sense. Jeeves made a terrible pun about iron wood, and everyone groaned at that. Roy seemed to become distracted with his ritual for a bit, so the others considered the next actions for a bit. Roisin remembered a sad fairy tale set near the end of the War of Undying. The story was about a noble lord who never removed his armor, and a beautiful princess who fell in love. When the princess finally persuaded the noble lord to remove his armor he revealed himself as a being called "Warborn", a plant creature encased forever in armor. Despite this their love remained, and when their defensive situation became dire, as so many did in those days, the two remained behind to allow others to escape, and gave their lives in the hopeless fight. Roy finished his ritual, and the group completed their rest and bound their wounds as best they could. At the end of their rest, as Jeeves shrank back to normal size, a construct walked out of the barracks and introduced itself as a "Locksmith", a servant of the keep and now bound in service to Roisin as "Lord" of the keep. The construct seemed a bit confused, having lost memory of the past three years. Bastion took a close look at the creature, even as the creature began slowly repairing Bastion's armor. Bastion could not say what this construct might be, but was grateful for the repairs. A decent few minutes later Bastion's armor was mostly repaired, though Bastion would need to perform additional repairs that night. Jeeves asked the Locksmith about its nature and purpose, the Locksmith explained it locks and secures places, was summoned to secure the keep, but lacked proper memory of how or why. The Locksmith asked what to call Roisin, noting she prefers "Princess", and offered to continue working on securing the Keep. The Locksmith asked if Roisin wanted privacy or physical security first. Roisin answered "privacy", and the creature said "Very well, I will make this place a private sanctum, as soon as I have remembered how. I am damaged. Help me, please help me?". Bastion answered "I have to fix myself before I can help you"; the locksmith responded "I understand, I will go wait in the mess hall, hopefully nothing will go wrong" and moved off toward the barracks.

Jonas spoke up and asked if Roisin was expecting anyone. Roisin answered "Probably". Jonas let the visitors pass, and they saw a small woman, perhaps 15 inches tall, approach with two tiny children, clearly too slight to be even a halfling or gnome. Approaching Roisin, the woman said "I am not sure how to say this. I am your aunt, my name is Hibiscus". Looking closer Roisin saw the woman had bright red hair, almost the color of flame, with piercing green eyes, and smelling of caramel covered brownies. Approaching the woman, Roisin also saw the woman hid a pair of azure gossamer wings behind her back. Realizing this woman as a Fairy, Roisin listened respectfully as she introduced her son Corriander Deargh, and a small girl named Lavender Rhiannon. Roisin explained she didn't know she had another aunt. Hibiscus explained they kept the marriage secret as the nobles would not accept her because she is a fairy, that, to be fair, for 400 years this fairy herself refused the idea. She explained that Thraebeig, after seeing her, spent 50 years just finding her, then another 400 in pursuit just to get this vision to speak to him. They finally married in K65R. The woman presented a small leather patch, with the lifelike image of Thraebeig's corpse with the chest ripped open, and asked, her voice breaking, "I have heard that your priest is a great cleric with miraculous power and faith. Can you bring him back to us?". The woman then introduced herself as Hibiscus Cerruleus Marshfield, nee Summerlight. Boris stepped out of the dome and saw the fairy there. Hibiscus, seeing this, said "Oh. Hello, I see, by description, you are the priest, the Justicar. I know it is a lot to ask, can you possibly restore him?". Boris suggested he could not restore a person missing organs, but he could try to reincarnate him. Thinking a bit more, Boris explained he could also restore Thraebeig, but it would be at dire cost. Roisin explained it would be worth the cost, a statement to which Hibiscus eyes widened and her downcast visage lifted. Boris asked if the others might assist him, and Jeeves offered a divine boon to assist. Boris threw the patch to the ground, where it transformed into a real corpse, one that was poisoned, cursed, and infested with multiple horrors; Boris was forced to immediately use holy radiance to protect the others from what infested the corpse. As Hibiscus looked on in horror, Boris explained this body would not do. Boris then pulled forth a scroll of immense power, and spent an hour in ritual reading from the scroll. As the ritual completed, Hibiscus disappeared, and a moment later reappeared shaking and wide-eyed, as the earth around gathered into a new form, and Thraebeig reformed before inhaling suddenly. Thraebeig called out "Siobahn", then came to his senses a bit. There was a bit of confusion, until the little girl rushed over screaming "Daddy!". The child threw herself at her father, before remarking "Where are your clothes, daddy!". Hibiscus pulled out a blanket and threw it over her husband before saying "Lavender, give daddy a little space, he's just back from traveling, and he's tired." Corriander came up and said "Hi, Daddy, I've missed you. You've been gone a long time. Don't, don't go away like that again, it's. No. Don't do it." Thraebeig and Roisin discussed a bit, including whether it would be safe to look for some clothing. Gathering his family close, he wrapped the blanked around himself and they headed into the buildings to find him proper clothes. Roisin and friends discussed how to protect Thraebeig, eventually coming to a consensus that it was only Thraebeig's trust of his siblings that enabled their betrayal. Thraebeig returned in clothes, and was talking to them when he suddenly noticed Jonas and exclaimed "Ohgoodgriefwhatisthat!". Roisin explained it was "just our guard dinosaur, Roy's familiar". Thraebeig asked a bit, and seemed extremely impressed that Roisin's wizard companion would have a familiar of such capability. Thraebeig explained he had a court wizard, considered one of the best in the realm, who could not do what Roy had done with his familiar. Roy stepped out, and startled Thraebeig as the "pile of rocks" (which was the appearance of the wilderness ward) disappeared. Thraebeig asked after threats in the keep, as they had left the children sleeping, and wanted to be sure they would be safe. He asked Boris "Sir priest. Would you be terribly offended if I asked you to watch over my children?". There was some back-and-forth about trust, but eventually Boris agreed to watch over the children for a bit so Thraebeig could talk with Roisin. Boris moved in quietly, and settled on another bed nearby, seated, to watch over the children.

Roisin and Thraebeig spoke a bit about her actual mother; what had happened to Siobahn, Rian, Aoife; the true origin and fate of Shay; the disturbing actions of Allred and Aoirie; Peadar's betrayal, as well as the circumstances of Shay's kidnapping; as well as the rest of Thraebeig's siblings. Thraebeig's last question was "Where's your thrice-damned father?" Roisin replied "Somewhere near the Iron Fortress. We're working to get what we need to stop him." They discussed what Siobhan did to the people of Triliobarn, about the terror among the people, the corrupted daggers, etc... Thraebeig offered to potentially take on the Duchy again, but asked Roisin to specifically order the nobles to accept Hibiscus as duchess. Hibiscus tried to say it wasn't necessary, but Thraebeig stopped her and said "I won't hide you anymore, ever." As Roy and the others questioned further, Thraebeig explained other things, including that he and his siblings came from humble beginnings, a simple farm field, and it was only Alathius ambition that lifted the family to their lofty positions. They also informed Thraebeig that Roisin was married, and a mother, though her family was displaced forward in time a few years. They also learned that the noble they destroyed was "Lord Searvrein". Thraebeig had been investigating him when he was killed, and was about to charge the corrupted noble with dark deeds.

Thraebeig then explained that the castle belonged to Roisin by right, and asked permission to stay in the castle visitor rooms for a few days. Looking around it was suggested the party could stay in the upstairs rooms, although Jeeves wouldn't be able to fit anywhere, so he might need to sleep outside on the top of the barracks room, which had a flat top. Hibiscus finally suggested they relieve Boris, and the two took over watching their children while Boris rejoined the group. The party regrouped and began exploring the rest of the lower buildings carefully. Apart from an animate rug, which was quickly and almost trivially destroyed, they found no threats. Bastion also looked around for magical emmanations, and found a magic countertop in the kitchen, some protective magics on the mess hall tables to keep them clean, magic in the smithy/workshop to heat the forge and enhance the other equipment, magic on the barracks beds to keep them clean, and indications of some form of magic within a chest in the visitors' quarters. Roy also conducted a magical ritual to enable everyone in the group, including Thraebeig and Hibiscus, to communicate telepathically for the next eight hours. Roy also noticed a couple of unseen servants associated with the buildings performing basic housekeeping tasks, a typical luxury of the more wealthy castles. It was clear that the, now deceased, "Lord Searvrein" committed substantial wealth to building and magically enhancing this fortified keep. Hibiscus and Thraebeig began preparing the midday meal and the party prepared to continue upstairs.