Chapter 3 Session 1: Pyres, Towers and Dreams.
General Summary
OUR FIRST RECORDED SESSION!!!!
As Kodo, Mimsi and Olympia floated on the surface of the now-calm oceans, looking across the wreckage of The Mistwalker they began to search for their party, supplies and the rest of the Mistwalker's crew. Desperately hoping to find survivors.
Soon enough, Kodo found a few days worth of food rations for the party to use that he kept in the boat along with the wounded but stable forms of Lyren Killian and Olond. Meanwhile, Olympia and Mimsi found Baralas' decimated and charred form, one of the missing members of Persicorum.
After that, they found the body of Gwydion, with Archania's's black dagger embedded firmly into the rogues back. The party realised, Gwydion and Baralas had both perished.
At that moment, Kodo found a letter from Gwydion in his pocket, the rogues goodbye letter that he had snuck into Kodo's pocket during the battle in the Sea of Chaos.
Dear Persicorum (can't believe I wrote that out):
If you're reading this, then it means I am dead, and that I died by the hand of Archania. There's nothing wrong with this, everyone has a time to die, sometimes a disease or old age has your number, sometimes it's an attractive assassin lady. Whatever you all do, don't cry and be sad for me, I hate that, I was always going in this direction. I don't hold anything against Archania, she did what she felt was right, in a different world, I'd be in her spot, it's not like I'm an innocent, I take lives for gold. I imagine I will have a grim welcoming party on the other side, whatever their response, be it good or ill, I deserve.
Baralas: Whereas I focus on taking life, you focus on cultivating it. You are an infinitely better man than I ever could be. Take care of our little winged chef friend.
Kodo: What can be said to the firbolg who puts everyone before himself? You are the soul of the party, no matter how chaotic it is, you bring them back to focus and are their moral core. The short time we traveled together you melted not a little of the heartless assassin writing this letter.
Mimsi: My little goblin friend, you have proven time and time again that you are not just one thing. You are not just a goblin, or a monk, or someone who enjoys their drink, my only wish is that you could see the depth and love for life in yourself that everyone else sees. Have a drink on me, and remember our times together traveling.
Paw Caw: Well done my little friend, master of fine cuisine, champion of the skies, take care of them all.
Thordak: We never saw eye to eye on much of anything, but when I jumped in to try and rescue Kodo, Mimsi, and Olympia, you were there to tie down my rope so we could all get back safely, and that is who you are. No greater compliments to your character can I offer than that. Hunt down that T-Rex and kill it if you please.
Olympia: One day you will be a world renowned entertainer. When you look in the crowd of your massive concerts and see a face, but then when you look back and that face is gone, that will be me. You are the heart of the party, they will need your uplifting songs more than ever now.
I don't really have any last wishes except don't bury me in Litchfield. My whole life I fought so hard to escape that place, the last thing I want is to become that which I most feared. I wish I had finally managed to reach the sky, to have the wind in my face, maybe in another lifetime. There's nothing else to say, except:
Die before your time and first thing I'm going to do when you arrive is beat the hell out of you all.
Having to come to terms with this loss, the party decided to head back to the nearby shoreline with their dead friends, resolving to return to find Thordak once they have ensured that Lyren and Olond have time and space to recover.
When they reached the shoreline, the party found someone waiting for them there, with arms crossed and tapping their foot with impatience. The individual was a High Elf who wasn't wearing the parchment cream robes of a Magus, nor were they in the green and red design of the Aist mages. Instead this young looking man was wearing wizard robes that had been dyed Black and Purple and had a deep hood, they had dark silver eyes and slightly pale features... as well as a strange looking book on their belt that was plain black and depicted a broken hand mirror with an eye glowing in the centre on it's front cover.
The Elf introduced themselves as Fenbalar Leoris, the 'brother' of Baralas. Fen explained that Baralas' had sent him here to find out what happened to Baralas and so that Fen could seek vengeance upon whomever had killed Baralas, upon seeing Baralas' dead body Fen claimed that he 'can't leave his brother in the snow or a dank cave'. With that, Fen conjured into existence a two-story stone tower on the snow, one story had a fine looking lounge with plenty of comfy sofas and arcane posters and symbols running across the room.
The second floor was a dining area with cooking utensils and a preparation area... a good area for Kodo to cook in for the night.
The party used their two remaining potions to heal Lyren and Olond from their wounds and bring them to consciousness, at which point, Lyren looked around in shock before thanking Fen for the assistance.
The party set out with Fen in tow, hoping to find survivors, Thordak and (hopefully) Archania.
The party found 3 more survivors, Maria Cartwright, Panicand Frederick Cornwallis though they also found a bunch of dead crew.
Fen also found the form of Thordak, the Orc was stock still, gripping his greatsword and staring at the sky, muttering a constant prayer to Pelor. Praying for protection.
The party brought everyone back to Fen's Tower, where Kodo prepared a VERY GOOD chicken soup for people to drink to warm themselves. At this point, Lyren told everyone in the room that he appreciated their help up to this point and was still intending on finishing the job to the The Mammoth Peaks but if they wanted to leave then he would gladly pay them compensation so that they could make their ways home.
Olympia pleaded with Maria to stay as she 'owed Mimsi a song' but Maria seemed shaken, weak and... frankly... terrified.
At this point, Olympia asked Fen if he knew anything about The Siblings of Chaos, the sea of chaos or the question Why does the sun shun the dark? Fen knew nothing about this but the party noted that, as Olympia asked the question. Everyone apart from Thordak. Shuddered and winced in response to this and Olympia immediately realised that all of them (barring Thordak and Frederick) had been struck by the Sea of Chaos.
The party rested that night and Olympia was no longer cursed... it seemed the Chaos was no longer staring at her form. She lost her sunlight sensitivity and her dreams were, once more, undisturbed.
That same night though, Mimsi visited Gwydion and Baralas' corpses and promised that she would avenge the first friend she'd made in Persicorum, with that, she took Archania's black dagger out of Gwydion's back and, with hatred in her heart, the dagger cursed her. Mimsi could only wield this dagger now, and she wouldn't be able to break that curse until she either forgave Archania, or killed her.
The morning came and the party said goodbye to Maria, Panik and Frederick. After that, the group agreed to head to the nearby town of Edmonton to rest, find more allies and get supplies for the mammoth peaks.
Before they left for Edmonton, Fen revealed to the party that he did not belong to the MAGUS or the Aist mages. He was a rogue mage and was uninterested in the politics of Alturis. He belonged to a secret group known as 'The Grimoires', his father was also a grimoire who was killed by The Dread King's Judge Rowen Ashe, because of this Fen has resolved that one day he will find Rowen Ashe and kill him. He then explained the lives of Grimoires.
Every mage who finds the strange spellbook that Fen has are immediately a part of the grimoires, bloodthirsty mages who are obsessed with magic and power. Fen explains that Grimoires hunt one another and steal each other's powers whenever they have a chance and no Grimoire, can work with another.
He then explained to the party that he is happy to help them as long as they will help him fight Grimoires if they appear, if he can kill enough Grimoires and take their powers then he could ensure all his friends and family are avenged. Whilst Fen argued he was doing this for his friends and family, Kodo got the sense that Fen was motivated by a deep greed and need for more power underlying all of his claims of need.
Nevertheless, the party agreed, seeing the need for allies at this time.
When they reached the town, the party realised that Edmonton was of a similar design to Aria, a shell of a town with a variety of houses that you could simply call a home and stay in for as long as needed... a town built on the notion of hospitality and residents finding a place to belong there.
The party decided to explore the town for a time and found several shops and houses (Lyren took Olond and a still catatonic Thordak to one of the houses so they could rest). Mimsi soon settled in the The Frosted Tankard Tavern whilst Kodo explored the town (finding that it had a garish restaurant, two warring magic item shops owned by a Tabaxi and a tiefling who were furiously raging in public, he also found the frosted tankard and was overwhelmed by how familiar it felt to him, it carried the same feywild magic vibe that his old restaurant, The Monkey's Paw, had).
Fen and Olympia went to find a library but instead came across a goblin who introduced himself as Grinner Bazzle Strum-Strum. His home was filled with books of all varieties and he was adamant that the pair would find what they needed. Olympia took a children's book about Correllon whilst Fen took a variety of books about mages through the years.
The party eventually reached the Frosted Tankard and met Amrys, a former Crownsguard soldier who was amiably drinking in the corner of the bar. Olympia immediately took an interest in this attractive Half Elf but found him frustrating to be around as, well, socially, she wasn't the best. They started to argue with one another until Amrys proposed that the only way to resolve this disagreement is through a drinking match between him, Mimsi and Olympia.
During this battle the three toasted to a variety of things including:
- Alturis
- Persicorum
- Orthopaedic shoes and other footwear
- To the people we've lost
- To Mimsi
- To Friendship
Rewards Granted
- 4 days of rations from the wreckage of the Mistwalker
- Mimsi took possession of Baralas' Bag of Holding
- Mimsi attuned to Archania's Cursed Dagger
- Olympia bought a black panther statue that she does not know the command word for 75gp from Curious Curiousity's.
- Olympia bought a potion of random animal shape for 25gp from Curious Curiousity's.
Missions/Quests Completed
- The party were tasked with finding supplies for the trek into the Mammoth Peaks by Lyren as well as finding people to join the expedition and began to buy preparation items.
- The party successfully escorted Lyren Killian to the Cave of Longing and Edmonton to prepare for the excursion into the Mammoth Peaks.
Comments