Chapter 4, Session 4: Tricks, Lies and Shades
General Summary
'Well sometimes you just get hit and have to keep going.' 'You could also learn from mistakes...' 'Mostly it's just moving forward.'The party continued their pursuit of The Chaos Siblings and faced them in a tunnel that seemed to change it's terrain to deliberately challenge each member of the party. Combat started with the female sibling (Selma) summoning stone palisades to get some distace away from the party as Arty closed in on the rest of Persicorum to engage them in a melee... seemingly more brazen than they were last time. Thordak went into a rage and ran through the palisades, taking reduced damage as he did so so that he could engage Selma while the rest of the party turned on Arty with Amrys missing him with an inflict wounds before Arty declared that he simply did not find the former Crownsguard worth his time and was here for the others. After that point, Arty engaged the party and specifically struck Fen brutally and damaged the wizard before Kodo and Mimsi rounded on him. As they each struck him Mimsi found him tough to fight and was unsettled by the experiences taking place around her whilst Kodo managed to figure out that Arty was an illusion and dispelled the effect on him before he began to do his best to convince the rest of Persicorum that thsi was the case but it proved harder than simply telling them. Selma then cast a high level paralysis spell that Fen managed to counterspell as he continued to struggle to recognise the events going on around him. As Amrys came round to Kodo and managed to end the illusions effect on himself, Mimsi and Fen's bird Baralas were each absorbed by the walls of the cave. The impact of whatever sentient creature resided in this area was enough to kill 'Bird-Baralas' but Mimsi was not so harshly affected and instead on her turn saw that the entity within these walls was, in fact, her pact dagger floating in a dark stasis and forming shadowy limbs. The dagger whispered 'Promise, Betrayed' to Mimsi who expressed that she couldn't stick to a thing that was affecting her in a negative way. At which point the dagger put a sentence together, announcing 'You will learn' before shunting her back into the cave. After some members of the party took significant damage, they all managed to remove the illusions of the siblings, with Fen coming up from being unconscious and expressing his frustration at not recognising them sooner for what they were. As the party began to group up again. Amrys recognised the walls in the cave shifting as it looked like a large creature was parting the cave wall in an impressive display of strength, the party took a moment to plan for what was to come as Amrys struck the creature through the crack in the wall and learned it was immune to cold damage but was vulnerable to radiance. Olympia took the moment Amrys gave the party to turn Mimsi invisible as the goblin entered a panic attack and this enraged the spirit of the dagger, a large non-gendered spectre with long white hair and a very grim reaper aesthetic. In it's fury, the dagger struck Amrys twice and severely wounded the paladin before Mimsi offered the dagger a chance for them to speak to one another... this seemed to appease the dagger who insisted that the rest of Persicorum leave The Cave of Longing so that the dagger and Mimsi may speak together and the party agreed on the condition the dagger not harm their goblin. Mimsi and the dagger had a secret conversation and the party watched as around 15 minutes later she emerged looking shaken but otherwise healthy and notably NOT carrying the dagger. The party took a short rest outside the cave where they asked Fen to check for scrying orbs and the wizard acquiesced revealing that Mimsi had three orbs scrying on her once more though one was now black (the dagger), Fen discovered he had two scrying orbs on him and learned one was his father Magus Erolith Undergaige... Olympia, however, proved the most pressing issue as she had a myriad of scrying sensors in the form of eyes staring at her as it seemed The Chaos had not lost interest in her... this led Kodo to remark that the siblings also showed interest in Olympia as opposed to the rest of Persicorum. Fen worked on speaking to the scrying orbs and was spoke to by his 'father' Erolith who expressed his relief in finding Fen once more as he hadn't seen him in a year and had almost given up on seeing him again. During this time, Olympia span on the eyes staring at her and hurled abuse at them, acknowledging and feeding the Chaos as she did so, this led to her body and mind being wracked with a variety of destructive effects that left her near dead and requiring outside help. The party, with Olympia in tow, returned to Edmonton and saw that the Aist mage side had begun their assault on the feral Gnome half of the town and were winning... much of this due to the Gnomes losing their relics for demon summoning thanks to Periscorum the previous day. When the party found Miroslav Cauchmar he was immediately shocked at the sight of Olympia and had her escorted away from the walls that the battle was taking place on before escorting Aist Head Cleric Jarlaxis to them, this cleric cast greater restoration and regenerate on Olympia to cure her of her most pressing issues... though he could not save her hair loss. The party then took a long rest and levelled up, the next morning they discussed what to do next and decided that they needed to learn more about the many scrying orbs on them... during this time Mimsi also told the party that she had made a dangerous deal with the dagger in which she had one year to kill Archania Weave but had not yet received any clues about where to find her. The party also reminded one another that they agreed to meet Hayili Flickermask in Oar's Rest, Thordak expressed a desire to look into if anything was left of the Dundox clan and to deal with his old Utrunks clan, additionally, in two months Kodo and Mimsi wished to attend the final funeral rites of Elder Tai Shan in Monastery of Flowers and Olympia wished to return to King's Bay to search for information and find a safeplace in her hometown, though the party agreed they would need to know more about the bounties on Amrys and Thordak before going to the capital of The Elected Crown of Alturis.. As the party discussed plans Fen did another cursory check for scrying sensors and found that Olympia had more eyes watching her than she did yesterday and that Kodo also had a scrying sensor on him now that the party surmised may have been an offshoot of Monastery of Flowers known as 'The Petals'. The party agreed that they needed to begin to learn more about these sensors and to find ways to avoid being scryed on freely, to deal with this, Fen asked his father Erolith to teleport to the party and bring them to A'mlon Erolith first warned Fen that there had been an overhaul in A'mlon whilst the party were missing now Nero Grace had been deposed as the elected head of the city and it was now ruled by an arch-inquisitor and used as a hotspot for mage hunters... all MAGUS members were being watched and Erolith was under scrutiny already. His condition for Persicorum visiting was that Fen promise that none of them were Aist mages... Fen did not hesitate in making that promise despite knowing that Amrys (and possibly Olympia) were Aist. Moments later Erolith appeared before the party on the outskirts of Edmonton and embraced Fen, emotionally telling his son how he was relieved to see him alive and well and his relief at not losing both of his children. He had Fen introduce him to the rest of the party and notably made a good impression by asking about how Kodo wishes to be identified and then immediately trying to charm Olympia in front of Fen. After warning the party about the city quarantines and only addressing Fen as 'Fenbalar' he led the party (Olympia by the hand) through a teleportation circle and into a VERY wealthy estate living room with a roaring fire, huge bookshelves filled with tomes and novels, unseen servants preparing drinks and a VERY large oil painting of Erolith with a teenage Fen and Baralas. The party asked Erolith about their scrying orbs and he expressed that he was 'courting' an Oneiromancer who may be able to assist in chasing the channels of divination magic.
- Fen and Olympia give Mimsi mixed advice for continuing her adventures.
Rewards Granted
- The party did not find any notable loot.
Missions/Quests Completed
- The party discovered the source of ONE of Mimsi's scrying orbs being the sentient dagger she made a pact with.
- The party ensured that the Aist Mages took over Edmonton by removing the Gnomes demon summoning apparatus.
Character(s) interacted with
- Miroslav Cauchmar - Assisted in the healing of Olympia and thanked the party for their help before telling them they would be welcome with Freyfrost and that he has got in touch with his 'brother' Kerrak Cauchmar to recommend Persicorum's services if he ever needs them.
- Magus Erolith Undergaige
- The Chaos
- Siblings of Chaos
- The dagger
Created Content
Olympia hit on the hidden mechanics of the chaos, the more attention you give the entity the more it hurts you for it in random and strange ways... chaos breeds chaos after all...
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