Chapter 2 Session 2: Pirates, Ash and Exposition.

General Summary

The party returned in their battle against the ash pirates of the Howling Princess. Thordak and Baralas joined the fray in the battle, with Baralas calling lightning down on the pirates and Thordak entering a golden more powerful rage as he seems to come closer to embracing Pelor as his God.
As they fought, the pirates made a point of targeting Baralas (due to him concentrating on the lightning cloud) and Olympia (they had perceived her to be the weakest member of the party). Meanwhile, another pirate went beneath the Mistwalker to find and kill/beat down Lyren Killian.
The party worked on dispatching these pirates, though, every time the pirates died they crumbled into ash and seemed to reappear aboard the 'Howling Princess'. To combat this, Olympia began to pale the ash of their corpses into the sea which seemed to draw an enraged reaction from the Captain of the Howling Princess. Mimsi assisted Olympia in doing this.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party went below decks where they caught Lyren Killian, with a bloodthirsty smile, enchant one of the ash pirates and tell them 'you may begin' at which point the berserker silently started plunging their dagger into their own body. Lyren was caught in a smiling bloodlust and the party tried to reason with him though he was entirely non responsive as he watched the berserker stab themselves. Eventually, Kodo and Thordak killed the pirate, turning them into scattered ash. The second the pirate died, Lyren came to and was deeply embarrassed as the party stared at him and asked for an explanation... specifically Baralas, as the druid was deeply unsettled by the creepiness and Lyren's use of Aist magic. Lyren promised the party would have an explanation this evening. 
As the fight came to an end and the party made a point of resting and looking across the rest of the ship:

• Olympia spent time in her bunk bed, in tears, angry at herself for being seen as the 'weakest', she eventually endeavoured to make an umbrella for Panic so that the Drow doesn't have to shelter in one place for prolonged periods. Mimsi made her way to Olympia in this time and worked on making her feel better by generally explaining that she is valued and it is all far easier if she chooses to relax and be happy... Mimsi does and, as a result, Mimsi is always happy. Eventually, Olympia felt better and gave the umbrella to Panic... It wasn't made well and Mimsi couldn't figure out what it actually was. They left it with a confused but grateful Panic. After that, Olympia wanted to have a discussion with the party to plan their next steps.

• Thordak spent some time exploring the ship and spoke to Archania, where he tried to understand WHY she was trying to befriend the rest of his party, when she explained that she simply wanted to get to know the rest of the party Thordak understood and agreed to avoid getting in the way of her relationship with Gwydion as they seemed to be in a complicated space that he did not want to be involved in. After that, he paid a visit to Panic and she discussed their hatred of the Utrunk Horde, Panic explained that the Dundox knew who Thordak was and wanted to use him as a figurehead in their attacks on the Utrunks and then establish him to lead the Utrunk's afterward. Thordak expressed hesitance at that and explained that he didn't feel strong or 'powerful' enough to lead the Horde as he was only a fledgling adventurer, Panic was disappointed by this and offered Thordak a sending stone to hold onto. When Zaknafein, the Drow leader of the Dundox, decides to assault the Utrunk's he will summon allies through the sending stone... If Thordak keeps the stone close then he will hear Zaknafein's call one day. After that, Thordak went downstairs to Kodo and discussed what he'd been told, breaking down eventually and telling Kodo he had no idea what he was really doing and was deeply insecure about everything happening, Kodo did his best to console Thordak and was tearfully embraced for a time as Thordak revealed how deeply he was really struggling with everything in his life as well as his responsibilities to his friends.

• Baralas spoke to Panic where he accidentally told her that there was a Aist mage aboard the Mistwalker, she became enraged and scared of this, seeing Aist mages as monsters and dangerous creatures to be around and was generally worried for the safety of everyone aboard the ship. Baralas, in a heartfelt speech, explained that Aist mages were around but that no one was in danger, he firmly believed that his party were the good guys and that everyone on the mistwalker would be safe as long as they were here... Panic, and everyone aboard the Mistwalker could rely on them. Panic was convinced by him, she'd seen the party fight, saw their bond and had faith in them... her faith in Thordak helped his case. During this time Baralas and Panic realised Olympia had given her an umbrella and Baralas made use of his intelligence and the druidcraft cantrip to improve the umbrella to be more aesthetically pleasing and using vines to support its structure. Allowing the umbrella to properly fold into a smaller shape to be portable.

After that point, Olympia spoke to the party, asking that they break into Lyren's rooms to investigate what exactly is going on... the party had a debate about how effective that would be all things considered and ultimately determined it was a very bad plan until they first tried to simply discuss things with Lyren and hope that he's honest. They took the time to offer different wordplay acronyms for Olympia's plan before waiting to speak to Lyren that evening.
Lyren brought the party (with the exception of Gwydion) into his chambers so that he could play a board game with Kodo whilst explaining himself away from the rest of the crew of the mistwalker.
The party learned the following from Lyren:

• Lyren was originally a MAGUS student before he met the Spectre, the spectre taught Lyren Aist magic and how to craft masks to hide his magic (Lyren was taught Masked Magicka).
• He spent a number of months in the Spectre's library, a gorgeous space of endless corridors and halls filled with knowledge and magical items. He was trained by the Spectre regularly and rapidly progressed as a wizard.
• They stopped in King's Bay to pick up supplies, at which point Lyren saw a guard get stabbed by King's Bay thugs and he used Necromancy to heal the guard... mere hours later, he was captured by the Inquisitors.
• The Inquisitors tortured him for information on the Spectre and he revealed that the house mostly stayed in Fallrock as that is the safest place from the law and society. Lyren refused to get into the closer details of how the Inquisitors 'question' people.
• Because of what he told the Inquisitors they went to fight The Spectre and this fight is what caused the Sundering... Lyren feels responsible for this.
• After that, the Inquisitors sent Lyren to the town of Aria to be shadowed and followed by an Inquisitor there in the hopes that the spectre will come into contact with Lyren. He had been shifted to multiple locations across the elected empire and Aria was the latest. This had been the case for the last ten years and the spectre did not approach Lyren leading him... like many others to think the mage was dead.
• During this time Lyren would regularly run away and take trips to Fallrock... though the Inquisitors always found him. On a trip to Fallrock six months ago, Lyren came across Olond. A recent apprentice to the Spectre, Olond gave Lyren a necklace of proof against detection (meaning Lyren cannot be magically tracked or scryed on) and told Lyren the Spectre was in the Mammoth Peaks and was ready to be found. Olond did not state more but he and Lyren became close friends and agreed to meet in Umala soon.
• At this point Lyren carefully picked the mercenaries to join him: Kodo was someone he trusted and Lyren knew the Firbolg was reliable, Lyren liked Olympia's music and thought she'd be an interesting edition, he knew that if he could bring the heir to the Utrunk horde (Thordak) then he could attract the interest of the Dundox...hence why he brought Thordak, he knew the Mirrored were not interested in the politics of Aist mages and so he could bring someone with useful talents onto the expedition who could be used as long as they were rewarded, Baralas represented a kindred soul to Lyren as he felt that the High Elf Druid was dissatisfied with the world as it is... Lyren thought Baralas would enjoy the expedition as a chance to learn, grow and truly make a difference. Finally, Lyren really wanted a Yurshi monk or druid, they are notoriously skilled, if eccentric, fighters... he didn't realise he'd end up with Mimsi.
• Once he'd chosen certain people he went to the Pirate King to purchase a ship (a deal they had made in the past), when Lyren visited, the Pirate King renegaded on the promise as they did not want to be seen helping the Spectre or other Aist mages. Angry at this, Lyren charmed the captain of the Mistwalker to hand him the ship and, at that point, Lyren rapidly began to pick up his crew and mercenaries... this was likely why the Goliath captain attacked the Mistwalker, he was claiming back property that Lyren had stolen.

After he explained himself Lyren asked if the group had any questions. The party asked Lyren why he chose Archania to which he explained that he didn't, Archania approached him and was honest with him... he allowed her on the ship on the condition she caused no death during the expedition, something she promised him. When the party accused him of stupidity he simply explained that you don't say no to the Weaving Providence and that he hoped she would simply target 'someone useless... like a sailor' he felt bad when he learned she was targeting Gwydion but expressed that Archania would have found him anyway... the Weaving Providence always find their targets at the end of the day.
Olympia then asked if Lyren would teach her Aist magic and teach her how to hide Aist magic and she finally asked him if he knew 'Why does the Sun shun the Dark?' Lyren became hungry to do so, he was deeply enthralled by the prospect of teaching and sharing in illegal magic with someone else. Though he did also explain to Olympia that learning Masked Magicka was something that took a lot of practise, power and time and that he wouldn't be able to teach it to her. Upon thinking about it, he advised Olympia to make sure she was certain she wanted to learn Aist magic... if she did then she would always be an inquisitor target and Lyren couldn't promise she would learn masked magicka quickly. He asked her to think on it and get back to him the next day.
He mused that what Olympia was saying is a prayer from 'The Chaos' an entity from another plane of existence, prayers from the entity's destroyed a person, they were built to be seen as a question but they were actually a curse destined to ruin someone's mind. The chaos uses their curse to encourage madness through insomnia, the dream stops sleep happening, blurs the lines between reality and the strange space of eyes and turns any who experience it into a chaotic creature devoted to the spread of chaos, discord and madness. He asked that the party watch over Olympia and ensure she is sleeping. They replied that it is scary just how deep she does sleep... it's like sleeping next to a corpse...
After that Lyren thanked them for their time and for understanding and asked that they leave so he can finish his game with Kodo.
During their game Kodo annihilated Lyren in the match and Lyren seemed more interested in the conversation, he expressed that he doesn't trust the party really but he does trust Kodo... Lyren also explained he has no trust of Olympia in the slightest as he knows she went through his belongings when she had the chance. She concerns him and it is the main fear he has with Kodo's group. Though he did express that if Kodo trusts them all then Lyren does too.
After this, the party slept as a group and Thordak decided to mess with Olympia by pinching her nose as she slept... after 20 minutes of this she still did not stir. Mimsi and Kodo told Thordak to back off, at which point he expressed that Olympia was uncomfortable to sleep next to as she was so cold.
With that, the party took a long rest and the session came to an end.

Missions/Quests Completed

• Defeated the pirates of the Angel's Valour that were assaulting the Mistwalker.
• Learned the truth of Lyren Killian's free magic.
• Learned the reason that you are on the expedition with the end goal of meeting the spectre and finding the Spectre's library.

Character(s) interacted with

• The ash pirates of the Mistwalker (combat)#
• Archania (Thordak spoke to her and promised he would not get between or involve himself in the weird relationship she has with Gwydion... not yet aware that she intends on murdering him)
• Panic (Thordak shared stories with her and she expressed her desire that he assist her with the Dundox's assault on the Utrunk horde ADDITIONALLY she interacted with Baralas as he revealed that someone on the ship was a free mage, he managed to persuade her that everyone on the mistwalker would be protected and okay and so, as uncomfortable as Panic is regarding the free mage threat on their ship she agreed to trust the group... Baralas was clear, they are the good guys and Panic can rely on them).
• Lyren Killian (effectively the whole session was a heavy interaction with him.

Report Date

03 Oct 2020