Volume 6, The Darkest Timeline 2 - Six Hours in Barada
Part 5 - 00:00-01:30
- The Thanes ask some final questions of Serap.
- Gamble establishes that the main place of Arawn worship would be in the Temple Quarter near the Ziggurat Situ-Niquat (currently controlled by the Obfuscati and Thune Industries)
- Jed is told that he can check up on Rhathgar's status by going to the Guild Muhami's book of titles.
- Upon leaving Serap's illusory office, Petryan finds a piece of paper sticking out of the bed, fluttering as if in a breeze.
- Petryan picks up the paper (which discharges some sort of static) and discovers it's a handwritten excerpt from a book about ancient Akhret writing. Quill commits the information to memory and he leaves it behind with a note thanking whoever left it there.
- Petryan, Gamble and Shinsuke head to the Hw. Habn'Izm University and split up.
- Petryan meets a surly, duregar receptionist who confirms that the Mad Alagrian is an adjunct professor of the university with the official title (Other) Badul Zhaldrea. However they refuse to part with information on his whereabouts, instead pointing Petryan towards the head of the Abjuration & Extraplanar Studies Department, Prof. (Sagacious) Wisatawan Jao.
- Gamble visits the shared office for the Archaeology & Anthropolgy and Literature & Linguistics departments, to ask about the paper on Akhret. She discovers that Prof. (Loquacious) Rosetta "Rosie" Stone is currently out in the field researching that same subject - and writing a book on it.
- Gamble checks Prof. Stone's handwriting on a note on her desk and determines it is the same as the handwriting they read earlier - however as far as Stone's office mate knows, she hadn't started writing the book before she left on her research trip.
- Regarding the Badul Zhaldrea, Prof. (Curious) Birumi Sayyad does not know much about him only that she has heard Prof. Jao complaining about him in the staff room. She points Gamble in his direction.
- Shin wanders around and accidentally finds himself in a lecture hall where an older human professor is giving a talk on Sufficiencism - the belief that everything that can be accomplished by magic must be possible without magic - albeit with an awful lot of added difficulty.
- Gamble and Petryan meet up at Prof. Jao's lecture hall as he is ending a lecture. They speak with him and while he is not complimentary about Zhaldrea as an academic, he does confirm that Zhaldrea lives within Deep Scramble Slums at the far end of Barada.
- Shin wanders into the library and browses the divination section. He is unable to find anything on the current strangeness taking over the firmaments but he does read about the first astronomical diviner, who was believed to be mad after they created a long and detailed prophecy written in sestains. The contents of said prophecy are said to be lost to time.
- The university group reassemble and head to meet the others in the city centre.
- Meanwhile, Jed, Karnak, Nieve (&Cedric) and Jeramyn head down into the centre of the city and through to the municpal district.
- Jed heads to the Guild Muhami and manages to use his stench to disperse the long queue of people wanting to check the book of titling.
- Jed looks through the book and discovers an recognisable name, a brief military history for one (Ambitious) Rhobur Toziros.
- Jed finds the record for Rhathgar and discovers that his previous title (Humble) has been changed to (Heretical) following his arrest for Penitentacostalism. Rhathgar is being held in the Pit of Judgement.
- Jed uses the phrase he was taught by Serap "I was told by a friend from far away that this was a reasonable request" to secure visitation rights to Rhathgar on the basis of being his former student.
- Nieve attempts to talk her way past the receptionist of the Guild Hifar but puts her foot in it by mentioning Thune industries.
- Nieve leaves, disguises herself as a member of Guild Muhami and uses the pretext of researching a land dispute for a case to gain access. Jeramyn can only remember one name of a member of Guild Muhami,"(Sparkling) Yasmine bin-Mufti".
- Having gained access to the Guild Hifar's records, Nieve makes quick work of researching the plans for the palace and discovers that some tunnels created by a former Shovrhan to allow servants to pass unseen were later closed off and later still used as part of the city's sewage network. An access point is nearby.
- The group reconvene by the fountains of the Markaz al-Jahwaz and plan their next steps.
- One and a half hours have passed. Four and a half hours remain.
Part 6 - 01:30-03:00
- Jed heads off to the Pit of Judgement, stopping by the Marching Square of the Qalea Militaria before doing so - he watches a group of trainees being taught by an older dragonborn on how to used their curved swords to disarm shields.
- Jed shows his visitation rights to the guards at the Pit of Judgement and is shown to Rhathgar's cell by a drow guard.
- At Rhathgar's cell, Jed speaks of how he feels he has failed and lost himself. He talks about Gamble and of purpose. He leaves some Alagrian Delight for Rhathgar.
- To Jed's dismay, Rhathgar is severely unwell, fighting against his encroaching death is his only form of rebellion, as he fears he will be given a sky burial. This would mean his body was left under the scorching sun to be fed on by vultures and other scavengers - a death unbefitting of a faithful of Oloch.
- Rhathgar has also been blinded by the Obfuscati who have literally removed his eyes from their sockets. He does not know why but sometimes he gets flashes of vision as if looking through them. He has seen the Primus Obscurus in the Obscurium Al-Oloq communing with a black slaad. The slaad has some vestigial third arm sticking from its chest. Although he cannot hear what is being said, it seems like the Obfuscati are taking orders from this being.
- Rhathgar and Jed say their goodbyes and Jed is reminded of his duty to service over self. While painful, the conversation has left him feeling a little more like his old self than before.
- Petryan, Gamble, Karnak and Shin head to Deep Scramble Slums where Karnak pays an urchin to lead the way to the Mad Alagrian's hovel. She is told that if she's looking for trouble she'll get the same fate as the last lot. It seems the Zhaldrea is able to handle himself.
- Upon entering the hovel, the party finally meet Badul Zhaldrea and his long-term guest, Fezzik the Flumph.
- The Mad Alagrian is clearly unhinged and asks more questions than he answers , often on very esoteric subjects: e.g. why do the gods fear, is time linear or cyclical etc.
- Everntually Gamble is able to get some sense out of him on his theories about what has happened to Umberlee.
- Umberlee was never captured by the Obliviati in this universe - having rewritten time she did not fall for the same trick twice.
- Umberlee's presence disappeared from Ara at the same time as the Storm Wall fell.
- Umberlee however would not be on a different plane as creatures find it difficult to be on their non-native planes and this effect is more pronounced the more powerful the creature.
- The Storm Wall falling was not as powerful in the Primeline and Zhaldrea believes that the Degdia must have used it's falling as a catalyst to work her will physically on the material plane.
- Umberlee is incredibly sensitve to lightning, a result of the feud between her and the Degdia.
- Zhaldrea believes that the Degdia in conjunction with other gods (Arawn but possibly others) used this event to capture Umberlee somewhere on Ara as punishment for her meddling with the timeline.
- Zhaldrea tells the gathered Thanes that much of Alagria used to be under a body of water called the First Sea that is no longer present in the same way.
- He has heard another name for this from a Sphinx, who called it "Mercannon's Shame" - it is the only body of water on Ara that he has vowed never to look upon again.
- Zhaldrea believes that this is the only place where Umberlee could be contained without being freed by her father Mercannon (who is unlikely to have agreed with her punishment).
- Given her curse preventing her from ever seeing her father all this seems to make sense to Zhaldrea, however he does not know the location of the sea.
- He says that because the world is sprialling towards a terrible fate everything is becoming connected. He therefore says that they should keep doing what they are doing and the answer will be revealed to them.
- He also states that should they smell salt water on the breeze or hear the crackle of lightning where it has no place being, they should follow that and they will find their answer.
- The Thanes leave Zhaldrea and head back to the city centre.
- Meanwhile, Nieve, Cedric and Jeramyn undertake a stealth mission through the hidden tunnels to the Palace.
- What she finds is disturbing. The Palace is dark and abanoned. Occasionally she finds discarded weapons and armour and in one or two places bloodstains.
- While searching she also finds notes from months ago showing that at one time the Shovrhan was getting information on the state of Barada. Amongst these notes she finds another page of Professor Stone's work on Akhret.
- Upon finding the Throne Room, Nieve finds three Slaad, two blue and one gray. The gray one is currently trying to consume the body of the death slaad the Thanes had killed on the Howl earlier that day.
- The two blue Slaad are in discussion about the "boss'" plans nearing fruition and him being close to securing something within Barada.
- They do not identify the boss by name but they seem to fear them.
- As the Thanes head back to the centre, they are half way through their alloted time in Barada.
Part 7 - 03:00-04:30
- The Thanes reconvene at the city centre and share their disturbing discoveries.
- Petryan heads to the Guild Hifar and manages to secure a meeting with the Guild Master who finds the offer of a non-guild affiliated, Thune-hating third party thowing a spanner in the Obfuscati's plans too hard to pass up.
- They arrange for Petryan and the Thanes to be allowed into the hidden passageways of Barada to get past the Obfuscati checkpoints.
- Meanwhile, Jed goes to the Guild Rasian where a number of water mages give him a very thorough cleaning with prestidigitation.
- Gamble heads to the Guild Muhami who are aligned with Arawn and makes use of their prayer room. She attempts to commune with Arawn and gets no answer, although she hears the purring and feels a warmth against her side as if a cat had just rubbed up against her. As she tries again she hears the tinkling of a cat's collar bell as if a cat had just left through the closed door.
- Regrouping, the team head to the funerary temple the Ramad Alramad and watch a cremation service for a number of deceased Baradans.
- At the close of the service, a member of Guild Hifar makes contact with them and navigates them through the hidden passageways until they are near the Temple Quarter proper. They say the ways will be open until midnight.
- The Thanes are four and a half hours into their time in Barada. Only an hour and a half remains.
Part 8 - 04:30-06:00
- The Thanes head to the Olochuli to size up the defences of the Obfuscati but find a large cylindrical chamber where the bottom half is entirely obscured in magical darkness. They decide to leave it for now.
- Heading to the Temple Quarter Gamble meets a Temple Cat that starts to follow her.
- The Thanes sneak their way into the main chamber of the Temple Quarter and find lightning where it should not be - a great wall of it blocking entry to the Ziggurat Situ-Niquat. Two large generators have been built into the temples here to generate this power.
- As they size up their opposition, Karnak upon seeing some gnoll guards (reminders of her past battle with Atroz the Unstoppable) loses her cool and charges into the Temple Quarter.
- A fight breaks out against the gnolls, a Ebronian blood hunter, a number of Thunian constructs and Cally the albino Gazer. There are no survivors and the Thanes stand victorious.
- As they take stock of their location they pick up a Thunian prototype automatic hand crossbow called Spray.
- Petryan powers the storm generators down opening up access to the Ziggurat beyond while the Thanes take a breather in preparation for the temple ahead.
- Gamble finds a damaged altar to Arawn that had been used as target practice and covered in a sheet. The temple cat stops and sits before this altar and Gamble once again prays to Arawn.
- Gamble finds herself in a black and white space, the floor is covered in shallow but incredibly choppy water.
- A wounded female figure drags herself towards Gamble, she is in pain, clutching at her stomach. It is Arawn.
- She thanks Gamble for reaching out and apologises that she has not been able to reach either her or Karu before now. She is unable to do much but confirms that the answer the Thanes seek lies within the temple beyond. She warns Gamble that the balance of the world is broken and chaos is coming.
- She implores Gamble to put things right and as Gamble is pulled back from this place, she hears Arawn's words "the thing about balance, is once broken it can be restored."
- The Thanes have a divinely blessed short rest, Petryan finds an Orb of Elreyna and Nieve is visited by a Child of the Briar - she is given the task of delivering the final blow to a high priority target in the Ziggurat.
- The Thanes enter the Ziggurat and find Arietta, not dead and now a pact-sworn of the Lady of Mirrors bossing around an automaton that speaks with Sinan's voice.
- A fight breaks out, during which an undead Gio emerges from a tank of green liquid, Shin turns a nearly dead Jed into a giant ape, Petryan drops seeming to goad Sinan and Nieve fails at her mission to kill Arietta.
- Searching the temple the Thanes find a map that contains the directions of something called the Last Wave of the First Sea. It is c. 180 miles from Barada across the desert. Accompanying this are designs and notes relating to a portable device to deliver "the Degdia's Gift" for use on "the subject".
- They also find notes in mirror writing relating to means of reincarnating a body when the soul is unwilling to return and plans for the creation of an item called a Blod Stone, which requires a valuable diamond and understanding of the rune magic of the giants.
- Petryan investigates the Sinan bot, taking an axe from it but ultimately deciding to damage what was inside to prevent others from copying the mechanics of what he saw within. Shin finds some healing potions. Gamble and ape-Jed find a mirror that shows monkey Jed a strange vision when he thinks of bananas.
- The party split up, with half of them rushing to the market to arrange for supplies for their desert trek while the others go to the arranged meeting place with Serap's agent to take a short rest.
- After organising their provisions the party regroup and await Serap's agent. At around the end of the 6th hour an Aarakocra patron that Jeramyn identifies as Serap's most trusted secretary offers them her table, on which she leaves an Alagrian box of exchange.
Entry for WorldEmber 2023
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