Chapter 11, Session 2 + 3: Time For a Tourney
General Summary
'You don't need to say it back or even say anything to me but I need to let you know... I've always loved you Olympia, everything about you...'Ez, Mimsi and Anastasia landed in Blackstone specficially, The Greenstone Fields and made their way to Peaches Pitts to check on the ghosts and general security of their home. The group found that the Staff of Peaches Pitts were being retrained to speak by Clarintha and they also revealed that someone had tried to break into the home of the party a day after they left, they made it past the fence before the ghosts slaughtered them and buried them in the gardens. The group checked over the body and found that they had been stabbed by a pitchfork several times and were a reporter from The Silver Sparrows who had written a record of their desire to 'expose' the 'truth' about Persicorum. With that, Ez and Mimsi changed tact and stormed into the offices of the Silver Sparrows to speak to Reporter Kovir only to find the receptionist Seraphina Brightspark revealed that Kovir had been off 'sick' for the last week and his replacement, Lord Reginald Blackthorne, was in his office as editor in chief. Ez and Mimsi, like reasonable sane individuals, kicked down Blackthorne's door and strong armed their way into the room, notably the two of them stared down Blackthorne's guards into doing nothing and they immediately chased answers. Blackthorne arrogantly insulted their group and stated that Reporter Kovir was 'on a sabbatical with his wife Morgana Kovir' an allusion to his possible death... He then implied that the disappearance of Kovir was Persicorums fault for their association with him and that 'everyone and everything you touch really has a habit of dying'. Ez and Mimsi warned Blackthorne that they couldn't promise the safety of his reporters to wish Blackstone explained reporting was a 'meatmarket' and he saw the reporters as deeply expendable. This led to Ez and Mimsi leaving in a rage at which point they spoke to Seraphina once more and she revealed Blackthorne often acted this way in the mornings and evenings especially. The group then left to find Blackthorne nervously climbing out of his carriage with two guards flanking him and they realised that there was an imposter in the editor office. Running back up, the pair of them found 2 of Blackthorne's cigars missing and a trace of a teleportation circle at his desk as though the individual had teleported out. Frustrated, the pair of them decided to rip off the bandaid for Ez and visit Deepest Desire to confront Lord Alastair , they saw the club was closed but the bartender pointed them downstairs and they found Alastair in his office with several of The Mirrored as though in a meeting. Ez and Mimsi both noticed several traps, sigils and hidden figures trained on them but as they entered Alastair dismissed many of his Mirrored, explaining that it would be pointless to resist and he assumed they were here to kill him. Cue several accusation of miscommunication as Alastair revealed he was not responsibile for the bombings of the city and he believed it was Ez as he was the only other person there, Ez levelled the same reasoning at Alastair and they realised someone else was responsible. Ez also showed Alastair the letter the party recovered from Vola about the 'friend on the inside' who advised the Utrunks on how and when to best attack The Blackstone Rox Centre, Alastair explained that he believed it could be several different people as many vie to make Xan fall and there were also the entities and divines at play in this interaction. Though he agreed to look into things. Ez then went to kiss ALastair and realised he was exceptionally cold to the touch, with Alastair revealing he had a simulacrum running and that he left Blackstone days before, choosing to stay in Aria for the time being instead and welcoming a visit from Ez. With that, Ez and Mimsi said their goodbyes and decided to use their transport via plants spell to head to Aria and meet Alastair face to face. Switching back to King's Bay and Thordak and the Battle of Arms was due to start as Thordak faced off against several participants in the battle (including a VERY charismatic Hobgoblin Warchief, a druid who was desperate to make the DM lose their mind, a badass dual wielder rogue fighter, an air genasi axe fighter, and a monk who was later revealed to be the true hero Allea herself), during the fight the field was filled with rabid axebeaks hell bent on crippling their foes, twin polearms and Thordak's colour change as he slowly became more and more deathly looking as he dipped into his 'rage beyond death' ability for the first time. However, the battle ended with Thordak as the victor and he received his award, a statue made by the legendary sculptor Thistlespring Springstep who gave space for the party to meet Allea as she revealed she had been following them for a long time and had been waiting to introduce herself to them, she also implied she had news to give them and that they should meet in her studio in private. At this, Temptation shifted away from the party, revealing that she had a meeting and regrettably told Fen and Olympia she would likely miss their 'Mage-Off' competition. Thordak also left to escort Gell to the skyship to wait. Ez made his way to Aria and, after wandering the calm and tranquil town for a while in the form of a bird, they found a restaurant called The Monkey's Paw and watched Lord Alastair through a window as he played a board game opposite a changeling and seemed to be relaxed, chatty and hearty (not the suave, smooth debonair man Ez was used to). Ez watched Alastair play several games with this changeling before leaving and going to a home on the far edges of the town. Ez now chose to reveal himself and learned Alastair was not as relaxed as believed as he jumped and almost attacked Ez before calming himself. The two embraced and caught up on everything that had happened,with Alastair revealing that he had told about the conversation with Ez's simulacrum and he had a working theory that the traitor was someone who was politically able, powerful and who could know and predict the actions of the party effectively... Alastair revealed that he believed this to be Temptation based on her intellect, closeness to the party and her unhidden desire to remove Xan Prayerkeep from power at all costs. Though he admitted he wouldn't say this to Persicorum as he did not believe Thordak would be reasonable about it. He then revealed to Ez that the house he was in used to belong to Lyren Killian and that he chose to explore it in the hope of finding something to blackmail the tiefling with as he believed Lyren's loyalty to Xan would not be removed by any other means. With that, Ez wished goodbye to Alastair and the two kissed once more as Alastair asked Ez to revisit Aria when he could at which point Ez returned to King's Bay. Meanwhile, Fen and Olympia worked their way through the mage off, completing stylish, slick and INCREDIBLY powerful displays of artistic magic against a variety of opponents before taking on one another in the finals and both revealing incredible magical skill and style however, the tournament ended with Fen as the victor with a 'Peaches' themed victory performance that earned the two of them accolades and earned Fen a cloak woven from pure starlight. Before returning to eachother, Thordak visited the centre for The Inquisitors and used their records to research Nirya Moonbrook and Oya Moonbrook learning that Nirya, as the original arch inquisitor was part of an adventuring party alongside Grumph Fellblade, Xan Prayerkeep and The Spectre who was revealed to be the 4th inquisitor that 'betrayed' the rest of them. He also learned that not many records of Oya Moonbrook exist though she was revealed to have a complicated relationship with Nirya Moonbrook and left the inquisitors in order to be with Shag'Thok Utrunk. With the competition completed, the party met back at the Whispering Willow and were joined by Ez and Mimsi who told the party they visited Aria but Ez was notably VERY tight lipped about the fact he visited Alastair there and instead claimed he was just 'seeing a friend'. Kodo then heavily reminisced about Aria and The Monkey's Paw revealing it was his old restaurant and expressing his pride with Aeleith and her growth as a chef and offering to recreate dragons breath noodles for the party and for Ello and Fell as well (the former of whom then asked Kodo for the recipe), as Kodo was cooking Thordak asked Ez if he'd heard of an orc turning grey and Ez conveyed a limited understanding of the Barbarian rage beyond death ability and expressed it was used by the most potent and powerful heroes and generals. Ez then checked over Thordak to instead be greeted by an incredibly painful vision of him strangling and mercy killing an orc who had their lower half destroyed, a vision that shook Ez and left him reticent and avoiding the rest of the party, however, Kodo later went to help Ez and the two had a VERY wholesome conversation as the night came to an end.
- Fen confesses his feelings for Olympia.
Rewards Granted
Thordak gained a statue made in his honour for completing the 'Man At Arms' battle royale.
Fen gained a starlight due to winning the King's Bay Mage Off.
Comments