Session notes 22-4-2020

9th of Vilrand - continued
 
 
Looking around the rubble and the robes left behind by the unusual cultists, it is only moments until we spot the skull with the eight points around it. The Undead King, once again. How did he - his henchmen- get here so fast? What were they even attempting to summon? I have never heard of such a shadow creature? Was it to attack (new) Apelés? Or does it have some kind of other power? The summoning circle here looks new according to William and Ferrum. They think this place might just be a very good place to channel energy, as the concentration crystal (which is called a Mythral) was probably located here. Sadly, there are no signs of the crystal to be found here, just the place where it was held up.
 
As Ferrum picks up some cloaks and the armour from the figures we just fought, I sit down to identify the strange artefact we are sitting in. The magic around here, illusion and that chronomancy are almost overwhelming when focussing on it.
 
I learned that this relic is called "Beomore's Watch" and it is essentially a protection system that works by shifting and reversing time itself. It can set back it's surrounding for seconds or hours, but also months or years. We are in the middle of it right now. Which is a strange idea. The whole place is slightly magnetic, I can feel it pull on my belt as I stood up, I can only imagine how Ferrum, Thalmiir and William are feeling in their armour!
 
After this short time to breath, we decide to make our way out, before our past-selfs catch up with us. After passing through a very very dusty corridor, we find our way to some kind of throne room. We have apparently come through the back door, as we arrived behind the throne. The whole style of the place is identified as high-elven, not too flashy, but certainly graceful and suggesting status. Everything is overgrown, however. As we are investigating the place, we hear the beating of wings above us... but nothing happened.
 
Quietly, we investigated a bit more. Thalmiir actually finds a teleportation circle on the throned carved from stone. He traces over the symbols and it lights up! I quickly check the vibe of the magic and find it is conjuration. (I should really ask Ferrum or William for some information on these different kinds of magic because honestly, I know the names but not exactly what they involve) As I was copying these symbols, Thalmiir casually decided to just teleport through. We were all a bit taken back by this, as we are unsure where it went. It is at that point that Wulfric states he will be going to, and if we do not hear from him in 10 minutes, we should assume he is dead. Very assuring.
 
Some time passes as we investigate a bit more, looking at the (exotic!) plants, passing through the large doors at the other side of the room, of which one is dislodged. Peeking through, we see yet a larger room, with what looks like a nest in the corner. And thus, we decided to slowly back up again.
 
It is around the 10-minute point, that we are really getting to get a bit worried. William however cleverly mentions that no teleportation circle on a throne would lead to something deadly, as it was probably made as a fleeing route. We all agree on this, but still, I decided to send Mia through first.
 
They are in Beomore's room. They were just there putting up their tents. And with that, we follow through the portal.
 
In the small hut, I set up yet another tiny hut, and we spend the night here. It is quite calm outside, and the evening is calm. During my watch I still look through some books, only to find that it is such an old version of I think common that there is little I can make of it. Still, it was cool to look and there were some intricate drawing in there.
 
 
10th of Vilrand
 
The morning started early for my idea. I am not sure why, but I think that time travel stuff messed with my internal clock a little bit. The morning continues with Thalmiir helping Liya unattune from the strange rapier, after which she immediately picks up her bow with confidence we had missed the past few days! And so, this pretty silvered rapier also finds its way into the bag of holding on Ferrums back.
After this Thalmiir uses another spell to send a message to Barry Olden stating our findings and asking what to do next. Thalmiir relays that he is happy with what we found and that taking care of the Roc would be a nice extra. And that was how we planned the rest of our day.
 
After gathering up our stuff, looking for some more coins and doing some stretches, we try to go towards the castle quietly, hoping that the Roc is still in its nest. We were sadly less stealthy than we hoped, and the Roc found us earlier than we did it. As we tried to prepare for the attack, Erky was standing far away from all of us, and he was immediately picked up and taken away from all of us. As usual, our plan went absolutely horrible. However, with a blessing, a bit of hypnotising and a clever trick with an immovable rod, we still did not get Wulfric loose... but we did harm the creature a lot.
The battle continued until Thalmiir cast the same spell as he did on the shadow creature yesterday: Banishment. This caused it to drop Erky and bought us some time to hide and rethink our strategy. But the Roc is not insane so he flew off as fast as he could when he returned here.
And thus we ran. Sprinted our way toward its nest.
There we found the creature, which was swiftly finished off by Liya with a few arrows.
 
Now that we are sitting here, Liya is taking some feathers as a trophy, Thalmiir is somehow trying to cut the talons off with his hammer while Ferrum and William help him hold them. I think I will go help them now!
 
 
11th & 12th of Vilrand
 
The past two days went fast compared to the 9th. I also did not know what to write about anymore. We were all very tired after the fight with the Roc. Walking back to the beach with the talon was heavy, even for Ferrum. Also trying to balance the boat with it was a challenge, but we made it. Kelly was somehow a bit disappointed to see us return, but surprised and happy to hear that the bird was gone. She honestly looked kind of spooked by that. Still, we reassured her and Liya got her money back. We thanked her and got our horses.
 
Driving back was smooth. The afternoon was nice, a short moment of rain did not spoil the day and was actually kind of refreshing.
We have made camp at almost the same place we stayed on our way here and we are expecting a quiet night.
 
 
13th of Vilrand
 
The morning is cold! The moment that my spell fades, the cold could come in and I was not prepared. Luckily riding will warm us up quickly.
 
Going back through the forest is quick with Liya and Ferrum guiding us again. I barely have to look at where we are going. To be completely fair, it is really relaxing, reminds me of when we would go riding when we were younger, but then I just sat behind someone on a horse so I really did not have to do anything. It is a nice memory.
 
Just before dusk, we arrived at the quarters of Lieutenant Olden. We carried the talons inside, shared our findings and tell our story of the past few days. He seemed genuinely impressed with us! And that feeling was correct. Before we left, he pulled out a stack of deep green suits. He explained that he was very proud and happy to inform us of our new rank: Squad Red. The uniforms we were gifted are very neatly made. Deep green outside with a blood-red inside and golden stitching. Still a bit confused, but very proud of the new appreciation of the Lieutenant, we walk out of the office with a slight smirk on our faces.