Chapter 5, Session 8: Breaking the Pressgang
General Summary
'Well, I'm not SUPER strong... so I guess I kinda just Roll them off the cliff... can't really keep them in the bag of holding can I??' Mimsi justifies her disposal of The Crownsguard bodies the party collected in a recent fight.We returned to Persicorum as the party left behind the skeleton of the Gnome's house... having killed Casamir and stripped his house down to it's foundations so that nothing remained. The group met back up with Cousin Cathildra who eagerly took the Gnome's hands as payment and thanked the party for their help... before remarking that they had been adequately compensated already from the looting they had completed. However, she agreed to tell the party what they wished to know about The Hunt and the other entities in Alturis. With that, the party learnt a little more about them, as well as learning that some entities had 'keys'; chosen avatars who represented the values of that entity. Thordak had become the key of the Hunt after the death of Nirya Moonbrook and was warned by Cathildra that the hunter within him would emerge with explosive... yet disastrous consequences when he was in a time of pain and true rage. With their information and loot gained, the party returned to the cave to join Olympia who decided to stick with the party for now and was given a marble that she could crush when she felt ready to start her witchcraft training with The Unwaking. The party agreed to stay one more night and asked Cathildra for a favour whilst Kodo cooked for the witches (with Mother Mordred remarking that they hadn't eaten a proper meal in a VERY long time), Kodo managed to scrounge and find some alternative pots and pans from the corpses of more unfortunate visitors to the visitors and he used these pots to make some extra rare and bloody meats for the witches as thanks for their hospitality. Whilst Kodo cooked, Cousin Cathildra agreed to do a final favour for the ranger Anastasia, she agreed to scry on Anastasia's wolf Blackey in the hope of finding an update on the progress of Nash despite Bazzle Strum-Strum arguing that there was a better way to use their final favour with The Unwaking revenant witches. Cathildra scryed for a time before remarking that Blackey was fleeing from something that chased it at speed, there was no sign of Nash. Minutes later, with Cathildra constantly commentating, she remarked that the creature chasing Blackey had fired a gunshot and wounded the animal before killing it... it was a red skinned tiefling that Cathildra identified as Temptation to the dismay of Thordak. Panicked, the party managed to send a message to Nash who replied that he was alive but badly wounded and sorry he'd made a mistake and acted brashly. The party had a small disagreement here as Thordak tried to defend Temptation, only for Fen and Anastasia to fairly gently remark that she was part of The Inquisitor problem in Alturis and that Thordak was running out of time to choose a side... as he couldn't keep standing on both sides of this conflict. Thordak argued that it was hard for him to admit he may need to go against Temptation one day as only a week ago he had been planning to marry her, he promised his friends they didn't have to worry about his loyalties... just that it was hard for him to be so open and clean cut about combating and killing those he once viewed as peers. With that in mind, Thordak excused himself to meditate outside and calm himself down. Anastasia resummoned Blackey and used speak with animals to get the wolf to reveal that Nash had entered the main Hook and Knife facility to see what was taking place, he hadn't got far before he was almost caught by the visitors to the facility (a troop that included Temptation and Xan Prayerkeep) Blackey decided to give Nash an opportunity to escape by attacking Temptation and running away... she killed him soon after. In that moment, Cathildra offered the party an opportunity to save Nash... stating that she would be happy to broker a deal with just one of them to save him; warning them that deals with the Unwaking always ended in disaster. Anastasia did not hesitate to accept this deal and she left with Cathildra to discuss terms in the forests outside and away from prying or interference from the rest of the party. she angrily warned Thordak to give them privacy when he began to attempt to follow and eavesdrop on them... ensuring she could be alone with Anastasia. At this point, I warned the players that their out of character interference in a VERY big RP moment for Anastasia would lead to heavy consequences for them and they were good as gold as a result :). Cathildra began negotiations by making her role very clear... the Unwaking witches did not have the power to do what Anastasia is going to ask, rather, their power is in gifting shards of their soul that can be exchanged to give a creature the chance to make a wish for whatever they desire. However, Cathildra wants something worthwhile in return. When she asks Anastasia what Nash is worth to her, Anastasia reveals that she feels responsible for the young tiefling and sees him as a younger brother to protect. Cathildra smiled at that, realising Anastasia would give much to save him. She offered Anastasia a choice, give her soul to Cathildra in exchange for a wish, or destroy the Monastery of Flowers to allow the Unwaking witches to make a home there. Anastasia didn't hesitate to give up her own soul for Nash. Not willing to cause the kind of suffering to her friends that destroying the monastery would cause. In a moment, the contract was signed and Anastasia felt a warmth leave her body as she became soul-less, though she found a shard of magical power take her place. Anastasia immediately channelled that magic to wishing Nash would be teleported safely to her. In a moment, a teleportation circle was formed and Nash was forced through: wounded, exhausted and bleeding but alive. When Anastasia grasped him into a tight hug he started by apologising for killing Blackey which Anastasia immediately forgave him for. With that, she carried the boy; who stared in terror at the hungry face of Cousin Cathildra, back to the cave for rest and safety. Upon returning, Anastasia did not tell the party what she gave up in exchange for Nash's safety, only that she believed it to be 'worth it'. Nash told Mimsi what he had discovered. The Hook and Knife foundation were being inspected by the council of Alturis and he learned that Hook and Knife had something inside their building, a heavy and powerful monster that he did not see but could hear and feel. Mimsi asked if it was a dragon and Nash admitted he wasn't sure but it was certainly possible. In response to this Mimsi asked Bazzle if he knew if goblins were part dragon and Bazzle said they were not and this left Mimsi with more questions than answers about the mysteries in the foundation in Wakefield. The party promised she would have a chance to investigate it herself one day. With that resolved, the party took their final long rest before saying their farewells to Mother Mordred and Cousin Cathildra and continuing on their journey to Easthaven. The next day was a skill challenge for the party to finish traversing the mountain, which they succeeded at with a mixture of Kodo's tracking, Anastasia's hunting methods and Olympia giving an inspiring group dance and song down the mountain to avert any hunters or predators from them and promise them both a safe and successful day of travel as they left the mountains behind and re-emerged in the forests in the north-east of Alturis. That night, the party kept watch in groups once more, having more than enough travelling companions to ensure they could have multiple individuals keeping watch at once. Thordak and Fen kept watch together first, with Thordak smelling 'something' deep into the forest and asking Fen to stay by the camp whilst he checked it out. Thordak went deep into the forest to find a door standing in space there, the door was red and simple in design but was not attached to any frame or foundation. Upon stepping close to the door, an almighty hammering and thudding emerged from it as a voice on the other side screamed to be allowed free. Thordak asked the things name and why they were trapped behind the door, the creaturee became vague and nervous at Thordak's questioning and he chose to not bother with the door, returning to Fen and claiming they didn't need to worry about the forests tonight. Watch was uneventful until Mimsi and Bazzle, the last two on watch, idly talked for a time before Mimsi noticed the door and they both went to investigate it together, citing the rising sun as proof they didn't have to worry too much about the party being surprised at this point. Though Mimsi again left the door behind when the creature within was vague but begged them to open the door and set them free. This was further shown to be the right choice when the creature gave the name Dornix the Strong... the name Bazzle recalled as belonging to an frost giant chief in The Mammoth Peaks. With that, the party gathered at daybreak and were faced with a clear choice for their final day of travel before reaching Easthaven, they could either travel the safer but far more public and heavily surveyed road leading into Easthaven (risky as many of the party were wanted fugitives in both Eastbourne and A'mlon) or they could take the forest close to the coast and potentially run the risk of monster attacks and unwanted attention. The party chose to take the forest route in the hope of avoiding alerting their enemies to where they were. Travelling the forests, after an hour, the party became very nervous at finding a heavy amount of large hunting traps throughout the space, Thordak found this unnerving as it was an unnatural amount of traps for ordinary hunters to use and represented a small danger to the party. They discussed whether they should turn back and go on the road instead before realising they would lose significant time navigating back to the main roads to Easthaven and so they decided to take care and stay conscious of their surroundings as they travelled. A couple of hours into their movement, the party heard a crashing through the trees and saw a young monk from the Monastery of Flowers dashing from branch to branch on the trees with a terrified look on their face. When Kodo tried to hail the monk, they stopped on a branch and shouted for the party to 'run and run far... they're coming!' a moment after this shout, the party heard a thunderous crashing in the distance as a rifle shot struck the monk in the shoulder and knocked them out of the tree unconscious; Kodo and Anastasia managed to catch them in time and ducked down into the grass as the party watched a troop of The Crownsguard led by an Inquisitor, the party decided to hide out in the hope of stealthing past the soldiers... aided by Anastasia casting Pass Without a Trace the party succeeded in hunkering down and hiding as they watched the lead Inquisitor command the Crownsguard to fan out and find the monk and return to him in Easthaven by sunrise, with that, the soldiers split up and the party stealthed past MOST of them on their way to Easthaven. However, due to crossing paths and moving in the same direction, the party came across the lead Inquisitor of this group flanked by two Crownsguard and, after a little deliberation, the party decided they could not let the press gangers act with impunity. The party formed a plan and moved incredibly close before emerging in a surprise round to assault the pressganger group. In a short six seconds, the two crownsguard soldiers and even the Inquisitor were quickly and efficiently put down by the party in the closest thing to an anime sequence that they have ever done. With that done, the party looted the body and decided to stuff them into the bag of holding to dispose of elsewhere and avoid causing a panic in the area too quickly. With that problem solved, the party moved on and reached Easthaven... upon getting there, the monk travelling with the party thanked them for their help and returned to his group The Quorum Guides in Easthaven, however, the party decided it would be wise to continue travelling to the Monastery rather than stay to rest in Easthaven where they knew there would be Crownsguard hunting them. The party travelled for three days, avoiding press-gangers in their travels and coming across a space that was now abandoned with a windmill that the party rested in (with Kodo revealing that he often visited this space with Long-Stride when he was just a monk student), during this time, Mimsi rolled the bodies they had been storing in the bag of holding off of a cliff in the area in the hope they wouldn't be found in the future. On the final day, the party dealt with a rock slide using a mixture of different spells and the monks impressive movement speeds and finally found their way to the monastery. A near completely isolated space in geography, standing at the centre of an island that acted almost like a moat for it. The party approached the gates and Kodo was greeted by two Kensei-style monks in the space who recognised him as 'Rook' and stated that he, and his friends, were welcome in the monastery in daylight but that the rest of the party were to stay in Pilgrim's rest during the night... it seemed they did not recognise Mimsi despite her also belonging to the monastery. With that, the monks stepped aside and the two party moved into the Monastery, with Kodo promising to support Mimsi as they saw the space was filled with monks who had come to pay respects a month earlier than expected for the unfortunate Elder Tai Shan.
Rewards Granted
The party gained several rewards from the killing of the Inquisitor leading the press-gang
The party gained a wish that was immediately used.
The party continue to possess the treasure box from Casamir's home.
Olympia gained two books from the Unwaking and a marble that could be broken to teleport her to the Unwaking to begin her education.
Missions/Quests Completed
The party successfully reached the Monastery of flowers to pay their respects to Elder Tai Shan.
Report Date
05 Feb 2022
Primary Location
Related Characters
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