Session notes 1-7-2020

4th day in the Feywild - continued-
 
 
Well, something interesting happened. As we were preparing to take a short break of walking through this dungeon, a bright firey white light appeared, which seemed to be taking Thalmiir away, but in the process also affected William and Erky. They were somehow teleported the three off them in the blink of an eye, leaving Liya, Oranje and I behind. We were, well, somewhat surprised and overwhelmed by this sudden flash of divine (?) intervention. Unsure of what to do we decided to just camp close by this site at which they had disappeared to at least gain back some of our strength. Liya had a cool trick. She took out a piece of rope and threw it up in the air. It just hovered there, but she climbed up and disappeared at the end of it as if entering a treehouse of some sort. Oranje and I quickly followed, and we found ourselves in one of the most peaceful places we had seen these past few days. A beautiful scene was around us, of a calm hilly landscape. There were pillows and blankets and overall comfortable places to sit and relax. I had no idea that she could do this!
 
During our wait, we talked a bit. And now that I have just set up another hut for a nights rest, I thought it would be wise to write some things down of our talk. We are after all still waiting for Thalmiir, Erky and William to return... I wonder where they are.
Anyhow, in the past hour or so, Oranje told us about his past, how he was 'created' and the decisions he made throughout his life. How, after they are 'created' they are dumped on some kind of garbage dump where they simply have to survive. It is more of a mental game I suppose, as he does not really need food or sleep? But he said it would take around two weeks before you would be picked up again. At that point, there is some kind of speech, about the Lightbringer (the source of his power) and how they should definitely work for him. If you say yes, you get a bit of his magic and go do whatever this Lightbringer says you must do. If you say no, you get a mark and are sent back to the garbage dump, where you are not only told to survive but are hunted to make it more difficult. If you say no after two weeks of that, the body that soul is in is simply ripped apart and repurposed. Oranje said yes this second time, giving him the powers he has now.
 
It sounds truly horrific, thinking that so many people or well, souls, I suppose go through this. I also asked Oranje about this, about where his well, consciousness, comes from, as I had never heard of something simply creating souls out of thin air? The answer was, not exactly what I expected or what I had hoped to hear. To be fair, I had no idea what I expected to hear. But apparently, souls end up in a place called limbo or purgatory, where your spirit can be picked up by a deity you worship or perhaps another being of power. However, if you are not picked up, you must roam around in those places, and if you are there long enough, you forget everything while slowly fading away. Just at this point, when you have nearly forgotten all, the soul is captured and placed in the body of the warforged. A blank slate if you will. It is all kinds of wrong if you ask me. Oranje mentioned a name for it, I am not sure what it was... 'Autonomy Seed' or 'Seed of Autonomy' something around those lines. It sounded a lot less, well, cruel if you say it like that. Still, I really feel for Oranje, he had to go through all of that...
 
On that note, I am going to ask the Bard to come and pick me up, if that is possible? I wonder if there are others there that were or are picked up by him (or them perhaps I should say them? Not sure but I am sure that he/they understand what I mean). And would the Lightbringer come for Oranje if he were to pass away? He does not quite sound like someone who would do that now that I have heard the process through which he gets his followers.. but who am I to judge? I know nearly nothing of this entity.
 
On a lighter note, Liya also told some things about her past. Where she learned the trick she did just now, creating this place of calm for us. And about her friend, who she visited shortly in Sarton. Funnily enough, she quickly talked about a part in which her friend was turned into a horse by a witch. She tried to quickly continue the story but both Oranje and I went like 'wait a second'. We were quite in sync on that. But this friend of her was transformed into a horse, and later formed back by another wizard or witch. However, he kept the ability to change between his 'normal' humanoid shape and the form of the horse. Which I think is pretty cool. Liya told us a little more, about how they grew up together, both with a love for nature, in the middle of a very industrial and mechanical city. There were some short stories about how they wandered through the woods, learned about the forests.
 
Through one of these stories, we started to talk about the first time we cast a spell, and what that was like. It was all quite fun, and frankly the most relaxed we had been in days. This time came to an end in a little less than an hour, as Liya warned us that we should get out before her spell would fade.
 
Somewhat reluctantly we left the hut, but a little more eager were we to see if our friends had returned already. When our feet hit the ground once again, we were only met with the strange stone creature that had tried to eat us. No sight of any of our friends. I decided to set up camp once again, using another type of hut. Now it is just time to rest and wait, hoping that they will return to us soon.