Session 42: Start of a Long Road Report
General Summary
17th of Haelynir 1524 Continued With as much healing done as physically possible for Xeldarix at this time, Karl and Lily stay with her while Fargrim goes to check on the crew and officers. Lily preens Xeldarix’s feathers and tends to her as she notices a slight fever. Karl gently makes the suggestion for Lily to look through the mask at Xeldarix. After he retrieves it from Fargrim, Lily does look through the mask. Looking through the mask, Lily can see there is a gentle glow around Xeldarix. Karl leaves the tower at this point. He chats with Erin outside the tower about everything that has happened. They go round together to check on the crew which helps with morale.Fargrim at the same time is doing something similar. He has seen most of the crew have recovered from the exhaustion of working in the great cold. Each member of the group gets colours sent to them mentally and each member sends their own thing back, interacting with this presence that is poking them mentally. Erin and Karl direct the crew away as they are confused about what is happening. They take a short rest together. Fargrim and Lily discuss the colours and their theories as to what it means. Fargrim tries to send Xeldarix mental images to react to while Lily lies down with Xeldarix, arranging them both in a hug. Karl and Erin enter the tower to find Fargrim sitting there with his eyes shut looking deep in thought, Lily lying with Xeldarix's whose hands and arms seem to be moving clumsily around Lily's waist. The group is happy to see the movement and continue to connect with Xeldarix mentally as Jarvis brings Lily chocolate to give Xeldairx. Her eyes open for the first time revealing they are amber in the centre and blue on the edge. Not separate like before. Xeldarix reaches for her friends and is rewarded by physical contact with them all. She doesn’t talk, but does make lots of noises. The group believe Xeldarix is missing Simone through her limited communication of colour and emotions. They contact her via sending and find she is in the maze with Erdad. They go to try and meet her halfway. The group gets Xeldarix up and walking once her heels are removed. She needs a lot of help, but Lily has her. They leave the tower and the crew stare at Xeldarix and the group. They try to follow the group, but Karl waves them off. In the end they get to Simone and Xeldarix is happy to see her. Simone reveals that Alexis and Xeldarix are currently one with their hurt locked away. It could be healed over time or become a problem later. The group discusses a lot of possible ideas for some questions. They decide to go back to the tower so Simone can do a proper reading. A bird flying gives Xeldarix the motivation to try flying, but Lily scoops her up and jogs away before Xeldarix can get too into it. The group all head back to the tower.
At noon, back at the tower the group continued discussing possible questions. Xeldarix ends up on the floor and under the table playing with the boots of Simone throughout this chat. Question: “How can we restore our immortal companion's mind?" Answer: "At the moment the immortal is missing her sense of self as it watches the world locked away behind the damage of giving too much of herself. Her inner voices are silenced, and she is free of the influences that have haunted her giving her a fresh perspective to be shaped by those around her. If she feels abandoned her growth back into herself will be stunted as a sheltered flower cannot ever fully grow to the heights of one that is fully influenced by the world. There are magical means that can quicken this growth, but they are rare and dangerous. Acts of love and patience will provide healing as she is still there and will come back slowly as she is taught to live again, but it is a long road ahead as each ward has something to teach her in this new life, she finds herself in and should not be deprived of. She is still true to her nature for those she protects, even if she would struggle to protect herself right now." Karl is concerned about the creatures that attack the ship that caused the need to teleport here in the first place. However, when talking with Jarvis he explains that he can help defend them. Erin says she got a good look at them, but doesn’t know what they were. Jarvis allows them to use the library to see if they can’t figure it out. Karl also needs materials for teleporting so he arranges with Jarvis to take some and buy some for Jarvis later to pay him back. Simone is suddenly pulled under the table by Xeldarix. Lily distracts Xeldarix and Simone makes her escape. Simone follows Karl and Erin upstairs as they go to research, Lily re-introduces Xeldarix to some fruit and Fargrim leaves to go see the officers.
Karl and Erin start to try and find books in Jarvis’ library as Simone draws in the corner. They talk about the journey they will take back to Brechlen. In the end it dissolves into Erin revealing how much the situation has upset her and Karl comforts her. Simone gets uncomfortable and leaves, using her invisibility cloak to sneak away unnoticed. In the end they decide they need to take a break and go see the crew as they aren’t getting anywhere at this stage.
Lily feeds Xeldarix apples and pears as she tries to take the knife, but Lily is easily able to keep it from her. Karl and Erin come downstairs sometime later. Xeldarix seems distressed when she realises that Karl and Erin are leaving. Lily is easily able to distract her as they relax downstairs and eat.
Karl and Erin go outside and talk to the crew who seem fascinated by the colours and mental play with Xeldarix. They gather the crew to make an announcement. With the assistance of some of his magic Karl addresses the crew as their King, highlighting their bravery and giving hope to them that if they stay with the crew after reaching Brechlen that together they could change the world. The morale of the crew is greatly improved after his speech. Afterwards they head back to the tower. Upon returning Lily asks Karl to find some suitable book to read to Xeldarix in the library.
Meanwhile Fargrim finds Wave and talks to him, checking in. He seems very relaxed about the situation he finds himself in. Wave expresses his concerns over the crew processing the situation and not taking the time to let their feelings out in a healthy way. Wave and Fargrim talk to each other and try to support one another with where they find themselves emotionally right now. After some advice is given Wave directs Fargrim to where the other officers are hiding currently. Fargrim goes to find Lorenah next. Lorenah is the opposite to her brother. She’s upset with the whole situation and ends up confessing what the crew had originally planned to do with Karl and how the intent was to kidnap him, but suddenly he is practically a part of the crew. The fact that Captain Erin seemed to have lost of agency seems to have really upset Lorenah with Karl around. Fargrim talks about trust and gives Lorenah a present to try and show her a lighter side of things. This seems to confuse her greatly. Afterwards Fargrim leaves Lorenah with food for thought as he tries to find Enna or Erdad. He finds Erdad in the kitchen, preparing fruit and vegetable kebabs. They talk a little and Erdad reveals Enna has walked off alone to explore the town past the maze. Fargrim doesn’t like this and rushes back to the tower to find Karl and the Captain.
About twenty minutes after Karl and Erin had headed upstairs Fargrim comes rushing in. Lily uses this moment to hide her knife from Xeldarix. He tells Lily and Enna wandering off. She tells him to message Enna instead of panicking. He does so to discover Enna was out by the orchid and will come back. Fargrim sits with Xeldarix and Lily as he asks about her process. He takes over watching Xeldarix so Lily can have a break. He manages to teach her the start of his name. He is called “Aaarrr” as that is the best she can currently manage.
Upstairs Karl and Erin do their research and find more success then before they went to speak to the crew. They discuss the idea of aligning with Viona and Erin doing some investigating to see if she can work out which general sent the Death Knights now they have been able to identify what they were. Erin comes to conclusion that there is one thing she can do to protect Karl and he isn’t comfortable with the idea. In the end she trades her necklace of non-detection for Karl’s circlet or protection. Erin fills Karl in on the details about her tattoos. Karl tells Erin more about the mage guild in Brechlen where she will be able to do more research. Karl mentions near the end of their chat he should spend some time with Xeldarix and Erin confesses she has to get things in order as Captain. They both head downstairs. At this stage Erin leaves and Karl goes over to see an excited Xeldarix. He passes a bigger book to Fargrim before settling down to read to Xeldarix. Fargrim plays up the excitement of reading a book but that quickly fades when he sees the nature of the bookmarked section is about Death Knights. Xeldarix gets curious about Karl’s wands but his quick thinking with mage hand distracts her so he can hide his wands. They go through some mimicry exercises. When Lily’s rest is complete she mentions taking Xeldarix for a walk. Karl says he needs to stay and attune to a new necklace he has to prevent scrying. Fargrim immediately asks if Karl took that from Xeldarix. Karl explains it belonged to Erin and they traded items. He gave her the circlet of protection in exchange. As Lily leaves, Karl and Fargrim talk about the Death Knights before Fargrim leaves to go find Ten while Karl attunes to his new item.
Lily takes Xeldarix out towards the maze. She has to shoo some of the crew away that try to follow though. They practice being quiet and walking. They end up at the orchid. Jarvis is there picking produce and Lily summons an animal that Xeldarix can touch without it running away like many others she had tried to approach and had scared off. However, it becomes obvious that something is wrong as Xeldarix whimpers and paws at her shoulder. Eventually Lily notices there are three darts in Xeldarix’s shoulder. Lily calls Jarvis for help and if he can contact the tower. Lily looks around the danger and uses the eagle she summoned to locate someone hiding in the bushes. The eagle manages to get a hold of the attacker to stop it running away while Lily runs over and Jarvis keeps watch over Xeldarix. She sees the bird has Lorenah and immediately casts Finger of Death at her. Lily rages at the disrespect Lorenah shows by attack the very person that had practically sacrificed herself to save the crew. They fight and argue about the situation until Lily is able to banish her, giving her a small breather to go back over to Xeldarix. The poison had caused a large amount of necrotic and poison damage, making it hard for Xeldarix to move her arm and wing connected to that shoulder. Xeldarix tries to curl up in Lily’s lap as she cries and whimpers, but Lily is aware the problem has only temporarily gone. She gets up and gives Xeldarix a knife as they ready themselves. In the sky as Lily looks up she can see Karl flying with some very visible wind around him approaching the orchid.
Karl attunes to his item and Steve returns to talk to him about some of the decisions that have led Karl to this moment. After a while their chat is interrupted by Jarvis telling them about the problem at the orchid. Steve turns into a wind elemental to take Karl there quickly. As Karl arrives with Steve he needs to use his Detect Life ability to hone in on Lily and Xeldarix. After hearing what happened Karl sends a message to Erin and she start heading their way. Karl casts Wall of Force and traps Lorenah as she returns. She blames Karl for all this but is promptly ignored as Karl comes over to check on Xeldarix with Lily. Xeldarix is confused and very hurt by the whole thing. After seeing the damage Karl goes back to talk to Lorenah, let her know Erin is on the way. In the meanwhile Steve tries to come over and look at the damage. However Xeldarix accidentally stabs Lily when her wing is moved. Steve ends up taking the knife easily from Xeldarix. However, this causes her to panic and let out her Light of Reason ability with a scream as Lily and Steve are blinded by her light. She curls up into a call of feathers of light. Lily blindly hugs the ball of feathers as Xeldarix trembles. It takes a little bit but Lily is able to get Xeldarix to open up so Steve can look at her shoulder. However, he accidentally is a little rough and with a pop Xeldarix disappears and two hydras step out through the tear instead, attacking the trio. Lily is immediately banishes one of the hydras. Karl threatens to feed Lorenah to the creatures if his friends die as he does his best to combat it from afar. Karl ends up banishing the remaining hydra, freeing Lorenah and she legs it into the bushes and is gone. Jarvis is nearby and is able to confirm when Lily asks that Xeldarix appeared in the tower and that Fargrim is with her right now. As they get ready to head back to the tower Erin makes it to them, puffing from the run there. The situation is explained to Erin. Karl privately tells Erin about some of the hateful comments Lorenah had made. Everyone heads back to the tower.
Meanwhile at 2pm Fargrim had discovered that Ten had wandered off to the temple. He collects Wave to go with him to collect Ten and bring him back. When they find Ten Fargrim advises him that while the area is reasonably safe it is unguarded so it can’t guarantee safety. Fargrim leads his wondering ducklings back to the main group before returning to the tower. When Fargrim arrives at 3pm there is a pop and before him is a ball of feather, lit up by a light spell. Fargrim's mind is filled with black and red as a whimper escapes the ball. "Aaarrr." Fargrim automatically hugs Xeldarix and she latches onto him. He realises she is scared and very upset. He carefully looks at a shoulder that she seems to be trying to hide. Xeldarix reacts poorly to the examination and bundles up, but with some coaxing and healing, Fargrim slowly gets her to relax as his humming relaxes her to the point of sleeping.
At 4pm Steve, Lily and Karl arrive to find Fargrim sitting on the ground with Xeldarix laying in his lap, sleeping. Erin leaves them at this point to start her search for the traitorous first mate. Fargrim doesn’t seem to accept that Lorenah had done this to Xeldarix. They explain what happened to him. In the end everyone takes a short rest. Karl reads, Fargrim acts as a pillow, while Lily and Steve have a minor nap. After that Steve leaves and heads back for Brechlen. Fargrim passes Xeldarix over to Lily to act as pillow while Fargrim gets up to stretch. The group discusses plans to about taking care of Xeldarix and getting the crew safely to Brechlen.
After Xeldarix has had her nap and recovered from being attacked Lily takes the time to help Xeldarix practice her walking. This begins with the complex process of climbing the stairs. She is very nervous but with the help and support of Lily she does grow more confident with the process. Meanwhile Fargrim went to go see Erdad to help with organising dinner. He spoke with her and took it upon himself to organise the crew in an orderly manner to receive their meals. Simone and Fargrim have a chat about her going to the temple so that way she would become one less burden on the group. Then he helped and directed the crew in training for putting up tents. It would seem Greg was hopeless with his tent making and should not be trusted in this. Even with Simone’s warning to Fargrim. Overnight the group asks Jarvis to look after Xeldarix. He locks her on the second floor with the kitchen so she would be unable to disturb the others while the rested. In the meantime Lily had a dream.
Breathing is hard as the hand around Lily’s neck tightens. The nails dig into Lily’s neck as her back is slammed into the cave wall. In front of her is Alexis, smirking up at her. At Alexis’ knee is Xeldarix, mumbling and pulling at her other self as she sits on the ground. Alexis mocks Lily and thanks her for making it so much easier for her to take over the body now. Lily tries to remind Alexis that this will only cause her to continue falling. Lily tries to turn into an imp, but instead becomes a lemur. Once she sloshes down to the ground Lily climbs up Alexis and tries to burrow herself into Alexis’ heart. The ground around them suddenly opens up and Xeldarix falls through the ground. Lily forces Alexis to tip over and fall with Xeldarix. They fall through the many layers of hell. When they land, Xeldarix is nowhere to be seen. Lily tries to take on her imp form again. As Lily tries to reform into an imp once again she finds herself taking on Xeldarix’s form. She goes from being the lowest version of a devil to a greater devil. While Lily keeps her own facial structure, she has elements of Xeldarix through her like skin tone and horns. Lily tries to fly up with Xeldarix. As the flies higher and higher, Lily can feel her wings start to warm up and catch fire. Eventually, her wings start to melt and she falls back towards hell. Lily turns to Alexis and says they need to work together to get out. Alexis laughs and says “There is no out for people like us.” As Lily lands, instead of hitting solid ground like last time, she lands in a pool of lava. She sinks to the bottom. As she tries to swing, the negative or harmful things that Lily has done in her life start to weigh her down. The memories of every sin Lily has committed float through the dream. The hot molten lava eats away at Lily and yet she remains whole and solid. She is eventually dragged down for what feels like an eternity before she finally hits the bottom. As Lily hits the bottom she finds she is not alone down there. Down below the depth of the lava pool there are the bodies of beings that were at one point angels but have just sank to the bottom of the pool. Through the weight of all their sins they seem to have given up because they couldn’t fight it. Alexis just curls up the same as they do and no longer responds to anything. Lily refuses to give and instead of trying to swim up again she tries digging down instead. She digs down and down until eventually Lily seems to break through and fall through to a new space. She hits the ground with a bit of a splat and manages to roll out of the lava that comes pouring down into this new space. Lily’s body is on fire with the pain of having been in the lava. Lily finds herself in a black void. There is nothing around her. In the end Lily wakes up feeling so alone. Irrationally Lily feels despair even though she knows it shouldn’t be there.18th of Haelynir 1524 In the morning, Lily and Fargrim take Xeldarix back who almost seems to fall down the stairwell once it is unsealed. Karl is getting ready to leave with Erin. She comes and gives Fargrim and Lily their pay and rewards for their hard work. Lily offers her folding boat to help get Erin back on her feet as a loan. Erin is grateful and it is given to Karl to be passed on to Erin on his discretion. She gives them each a gold. Fargrim is given a Leather Belt set with Eye Agate worth about 160 gold and a Polished Stone ring worth about 110 gold. Lily is given a Dragonscale Ribbon worth about 600 gold, as well as Feathered Bracers worth about 90 gold and a gem (Blue Sapphire) worth 1000 gold for Xeldarix. Lily is entrusted with these items for Xeldarix to either use them to afford care or give them to her when she is doing better. Erin and Karl make a quick trip to Poden for food supplies better suited to a long journey and a few extra tents, and bed rolls. They bid the others goodbye as they take Xeldarix for an hour walk around town where she walks more independently by herself. Upon returning to the tower at 10am they hear from Jarvis that one of his avatars has been destroyed by a goat that Lily and Fargrim suspect to be a vampire goat. They go with one of the other Jarvis avatars to the orchid where this happened. Jarvis is to stay next to Xeldarix and keep her safe while Lily and Fargrim deal with the monstrous goat. They do find one chewing a piece of the remains of the Jarvis construct but it runs off towards a section of trees that seems to have been damaged as something large has moved through it. Eventually they find a three headed monster. It has a goat head, lion head and dragon head. They engage it in combat and find many normal and giant goats all trying to attack them as the monster does. Thankfully they are able to kill it without killing the other animals. When the creature is killed it falls apart and seems to be a construction like Jarvis. Lily takes Xeldarix away as she has grown upset with the thing that attacked her friends, acting more like a fury as she attempts to hit it’s remains. Fargrim and Simone help Jarvis herd the animals out of the wall that has been broken and they are already starting to repair. They regroup at noon near the maze.
In the meantime Karl and Erin lead the crew down the mountain. Before Karl did leave he had a sweet moment with Simone to say goodbye and to promise to bring her paints one day. About two hours after leaving Aeryn spots something suspicious about the trail ahead. The group cautiously approached the trapped section of trail that looked freshly dug up and efforts were made to make it look like the rest of the trail. Karl carefully triggers the trap with his mage hand and reveals a spike pit trap. Erin and Karl get everyone to move around it carefully as it takes up a large section of the trail. Aeryn who was keeping watch notices as everyone is finally just past the pit a horde of ogre’s and goblins come charging out of a section of the mountain. Erin and Karl lead the crew to victory against the horde of humanoids. Some of the ogres were so big four goblins could ride and fire at the crew from fortifications on the ogres' back. Some of them were throwing large bolts. Afterward Karl, Enna and Erin quickly go to explore the cave the group came from to make sure they would not pose a danger to the town above. However all they found for their troubles were several sets of antlers on the wall and a little tin box with freshly pickled frogs legs. It turns out there was a second entrance on the other side of the pit so the group could have attacked on either side. They continue leading the crew down the mountain.
Notes
| Name | XP | Total | Level at End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fargrim | 1400 | 78,460 | 10 |
| Karl | 590 | 77,650 | 10 |
| Lily | 1400 | 78,460 | 10 |
| Simone | 1400 | 46,985 | 8 |
