Session 95 Report

General Summary

Planter's Log

We proceeded west along the coast, stopping in Winterwich to refuel. During our decent, Ophilia removed the curse from everyone, with some help from Jinx to cure Stockade. I unintentionally injured Madame Fortuna by cracking one of her vacuum tubes with a scalpel. She chastised me for not using the right tools, and then crafted a healing wrench for me to use. It worked much better, and I gave her a number of my elixirs to bring her back to 100%. When we landed, a group of juveniles greeted us, but ran off skipping to a fancy building in town. An elder snow mare returned named Aunt Arctica. She has an unusual companion. A bottle of Nog that follows her around, and is able to speak to her in some unknown language. Nog is very sensitive for a bottle, but has a pleasant demeanor in spite of it. Aunt Arctica spoke of tea leaves, and gave a gift to Thumbtack. Ping Wing recognized her as one of his teachers from Aerilon. She creeped out Madame Fortuna by inviting her to a town called Stompi. Madame Fortuna voiced her concerns for creatures called Clowns. Vile, repulsive monsters capable of haunting dreams, and churning stomachs. Despite the terrifying description, they're entertainers of some sort. Very strange. Aunt Arctica invited us to join her in town, and commanded the children on the dock to begin refueling the ship.   The hut we walked toward was very colorful. Throughout the town are several golems. They're covered in graffiti, but respond in obedience to Aunt Arctica. She warns us not to eat anything in the room. There are invisible walls made of some kind of force energy that she pushed out of the way for us. Beyond the walls, we notice the decorum of the room changed into a Golum factory. Aunt Arctica concerns me. She claims to be making Golums to act as parents for the wayward children. Too many questions. For the time being, Ping Wing seems to trust her, and the children don't appear to be in danger. Aunt Arctica arranged a séance for us, and gave us all a cup of tea, and a candle. Electra asked for honey, and Nog (AKA Cool Guy) provided it. I asked for whiskey, but was warned against it. I insisted. This occult ritual is beyond my understanding, so why not have fun with it? Maybe a splash of whiskey will drop the inhibitions of my spirit, and I'll get some brutal honesty out of mine. As the séance began, we sipped our tea and the flames flickered. We were instructed to concentrate on a question, and wait for an answer.   I asked, "Will I capture Babage The Necromancer alive, and return him to Aerilon?   The tea leaves showed me a double door dungeon, with a central gem. Like a diamond shape.   The clouds. Aunt Arctica has a friend who lives in them. He's on a journey. Big guy, four horns, a dragon. Blue dragon. We should be able to find him on our way to Aerilon. She doesn't know his name. Aunt Arctica was a wonderful mare. I can see why Ping Wing likes her so much. As we left, Madame Fortuna tried making sense of why Aunt Arctica was seemingly able to be in two places at once while inside her hut. I figured it was a trick of the eyes like smoke and mirrors, but Madame Fortuna was convinced it was some kind of occult magic that was escaping her. I showed her a thumb trick with my wings, and played it up. She walked off in frustration. We returned to the Node 7, and chaos was ensuing. Some of the kids were below deck, causing havoc with electricity. They were herded off the ship, and we lifted off after sweeping the ship for unwanted passengers. We began flying, and learned Ping Wing had made a new ritual that's capable of disguising our ship. It can be made invisible, and made to look like a normal ship being carried by clouds. We decided to look for the dragon, and spent a good portion of the day doing so.   Luckily, we found an adult Cloud Dragon with 4 horns. His name is Nimbus, and after sneezing a lightning bolt in my face, he told me about the Dubious Donjons. A strange tower that appears randomly, and always changes. He was traveling to the large Aetherstone Crater we passed in search of one there. I told him about my séance, and the double door dungeon. He didn't know what I was talking about, but it made him mention the crater he was traveling to. Odd. Reading tea leaves does nothing to provide answers, but it seems to leave clues for one to follow. Perhaps Babage's lair can be found at this Dubious Donjon. We decided to fly directly to Aerilon with our now disguised ship. We landed close to the road under invisibility, and camped just outside the city limits for the night. Triple told me during our shift change that he left Aerilon on bad terms. He's concerned about what's going to happen inside. I gave him some encouragement, and told him to stay close. Triple gave me some advice on where to take Fireheart on a date. I think it'd be nice to spend time with her in this city. Sure, our "dates" of hitting floating runes with our blades is fun, but maybe not as romantic as we need. Electra was found sleeping, so I hit her in the head with a pine cone.   We entered the city the next morning, and were greeted with the site of a massive stadium. Ping Wing is naturally happy to be back home. He'll provide shelter for us at his dorm room since he's technically still a student here. Madame Fortuna's disguise had better hold up. I'd prefer the animosity between Aerilon and Goldenport to not be an issue, but it's what we have to deal with. My mind is racing. I have an opportunity to learn valuable rituals myself, but Aerilon needs to be shown what Babage has done and we need to learn teleportation to get to the Ball on time. An unseen force seems to be pulling us to it. I'm confident we'll make it.