Empire Group Session II Report

General Summary

The Empire Group's airship is attacked by a group of masked riders on the backs of winged leopards known as Emona. The riders turn out to be commanded by Atlas, the same assassin who infultrated Titus Cicero's legion 20 years ago. He admits that he also killed Emperor Titus' wife and has a massive bounty on his head that follows him no matter where he goes. He offers to make a deal with the party in helping them finding Cassia and showing his sincerity to the Emperor in return for him being wiped free from his crimes. However, he originally refused to join the party in chains as Doc and Leo requested--until he ordered his Emona rider friends to attack the airships war balloon. With the balloon popped, the entire ship went crashing down to the ground while Atlas was holding on by a rope connected to the mast that Doc broke with his warhammer.
Doc and Leo managed to keep the ship from crashing into to pieces in the desert below by casting Feather Fall on it, and Atlas had agreed to their terms while the vessel was still falling in order to be saved.

During the fight between the Empire Group and the riders attacking their airship under Atlas' orders, Ivan ends up dying. His soul is sucked into The World In-Between, where he sees a vision of his death. He then sees someone standing over him with long black hair and a leather jacket. Ivan's own hair turns black instead of white, and his eyes change from purple to red. He asks the stranger if he can get a new gun from him. The person asks Ivan what he is, asks who comes to the Underworld asking for guns, and says they finds him weird. However, they still hand Ivan a gun from their own holster. Ivan says he'll find a way to get out of The World In-Between despite not knowing how. The stranger removes the bullets from their gun and pulls a magical sycthe from it, which they use to slice Ivan in half. Ivan's body and soul then returns to the airship with the rest of the party.
Ivan uses his magic to try and keep the ship from falling, but barely slows it down due to the amount of Emona and riders attacking the ship's war balloon. Leo also managed to steal one of the flying beasts for himself and take command over it, but this still wasn't enough to save the ship. Atlas continues to have his companions attack them.

Once their falling airship safetly lands, the crew realizes that the engine is practically beyond repair from the Emona's attacks, and they'll have to walk on foot to the closest town. Their naviagtor, Benedicta, explained that they crashed in what is known as The Decaying Frontier, which is close to the city of Florium. However, there was no way for her to know for certain how many hours it would take to get there from their location. Being unfamiliar with desert terrain, Benedicta ended up allowing Ivan to take the lead. Ivan knew the area well enough after having to find his way to civilization when he appeared on the Mortal Plane after his first death.

With Ivan's experience and previous exploration of the Decaying Frontier on foot, the party and their crew manages to make it to the town of Florium after a mere hour passes.

After traveling through The Decaying Frontier, the Empire Group makes it to Florium, a town in the Western Elysian Empire. On the way there, the party spots a lifeless, giant skeleton warrior covered in sand and erosion sticking out of the rocky desert terrain. After Doc asks Lexus about the warrior, he explains that it is left over from the dawn of the Age of Ancients, back when the gods battled each other. Much is unknown about the battle of the gods, but Lexus does mention that Soren, the God of Darkness and The World In-Between, was much more violent back then--before he split part of his soul into Grimshaw, the God of Death (AKA the Grim Reaper, Collector of Souls).

The party proceeds to Florium, which Ivan remembers as the first town he visited after he died and came back to life. He immediately runs off to go buy potions from an Alchemist shop, while Leo names the flying Emona leopard (that he managed to steal from one of the attacking riders who originally came with Atlas) Milo. Olus, the Alchemist inside the shop, remembers Ivan from before--especially how he murdered someone last time. He sells Ivan several poisons, which Ivan lies and says to put on the Emperor's tab.

The party meets back up at a local tavern known as The Bloody Arrow. The tavern is ran by Maximian Falto, a dragonborne who recognizes Ivan from when he killed a man at his business last time he was in Florium. He begrudgingly lets Ivan's presence slide so as not to attract attention from the guards since they investigated him and shut down his business before. Ivan says the guy was annoying, to which Leo said he has to follow the Empire's laws. Maximian interjects that just because the local government has drunken brawls doesn't mean Ivan can come to his business and kill people. Ivan replies,

The conversation is interrupted by Atlas removing his chains as a "magic trick." He has a small arguement about his Thieves' Tools with Doc and Leo. Doc adjusts and relocks the chains back onto Atlas, then stars a discussion with Leo over Emperor Titus' possible reasonings for trusting a man who killed someone. They wonder if Titus truly knew that Ivan has murdered someone, to which Ivan suggests that maybe he did know but simply doesn't care.

Suddenly, an ancient snoring Darshroom sleeping on the edge of the tavern wakes up from his nap and looks around. Ivan recognizes him as a Necromancer he met a few years ago when he was first in Florium and asks him to animate a skull he found. The Darshroom introduces himself as Merlin and animates the skull. Merlin then begins to speak in Celestial. Atlas responds to him in Celestial saying, "All these people are idiots," to which Merlin says, "Yes." Ivan realizes by their body language and facial expressions that the two must be talking about him negatively, and he begins to get angry. Maximian warns him again not to cause any fights near his tavern, backing up Leo when he says not to kill someone just for insulting him.

While the party is distracted, Atlas busts out of his chains once again and backflips on top of the tavern. He complains that he's hungry and no one will feed him. Doc claimed he would feed him, but left before he could. Leo moans over being left behind to "babysit" Ivan and Atlas, to which Atlas remarks he's 35 years old. Atlas and Leo are about to fight when Maximian stops them once again. They ask him if he knows where they can find any airships in town, and Maximian explains that ships aren't very common in Florium. He suggests that they try going to the Guildhall, although most merchants travel on beasts or camels through the desert, so any airships would likely be costly.

Atlas suggests stealing an airship to Merlin in Celestial, so that only he would be able to understand. He then threatens the Darshroom not to tell anyone, or else he'll make him into Mushroom Stew. Afterward, he starts searching the tavern's menu for any type of dessert.