Session XXI - High Tide
13th of Tororima, 560 AL
Resting for the night at the Hightide Manor, Flint, Melinoe, and Strattora experience various upsetting nightmares.
Flint dreams of the moment that he awoke from resurrection and everyone went immediately to Strattora. He was left alone. He is then mangled by a strangling purple force above him. A flare of his skin fire chases the beast away.
Melinoe sees her brother's death but enhanced; unlike before, she turns around and sees the death of her brother in gory detail. His silhouetted head is ripped off in front of her. The vision fades as she finds herself looking up at Zivilon's stars in some sky-strewn field.
Strattora is not so lucky. She finds herself back at the moment of her mother's death. She stands upon the brass bridge to the Crux of Moss. Her companions are there and as Kirasum falls into the Crux, they begin to berate and verbally abuse her. They tell her that she could have done better, done more, been smarter. That it is her fault that her mother has died. She blinks and she is in Kirasum's place. She looks up at her own fearful face at the bridge. She slips into the deathly ichor and feels her organs boil and burst as she sinks into the Crux.
She awakes with blood covering her nose and mouth, dark veins winding their way up her neck. Looking outside, the morning has not brought the sun with it to this place. The night sky above still twinkles with starlight.
Cornelius talks with Dargon, asking him how he got so powerful. Dargon tells him that he eschews the elven pace of living. Their kind has all the time in the world to learn and grow, so many elves live their lives at a snail's pace. He prefers the human approach: living every moment with aspiration and intent. Dargon explains that his master is the human archmage of the Vaulted Tower, Aestus Ocelon. Aestus is a human from the Materium and has taught Dargon his teleportation and transportation magics. Waking from their nightmarish slumber, the party reconvenes in the lower living rooms. Strattora is visibly ill from whatever affliction she acquired during her rest. Thankfully, Cornelius dispels the curse with a greater restoration spell. Flint's mastiff steed Brutus urinates fire onto a nearby wardrobe, setting it ablaze. The strange fat imp from the study flies down the stairs with buckets of water to frantically douse the flames. Melinoe remembers the Nornod that she met in Lausang, considering looking for the man in this plane.
Strattora takes a walk through Gardenholm towards the Sea of Glass, as Melinoe did the night previous. After a short walk, she arrives at the darkened shoreline. She approaches the waters, still reeling from her cursed rest.
As she speaks, a great light begins to emanate from the western shores of the Sea of Glass. Some great sunrise there seems to be occurring, but fixed in place like an enormous lamp of fire and light. Strattora reaches out to the North Wind as the light crests over the sea.
Eventually, the party meets once more at the manor and takes the atrium portal back to Zivilon with a farewell to Dargon. Without the Lord's help, getting back to the plane of stone may prove difficult. There are Choral gateways to the plane, but the party has not traveled in that extradimensional space much Flint remembers his experience in Chorus: mostly blindfolded hiding under a ship tarp, he did peek out to see a vast black sea miles under a cavern passage, so enormous that the walls faded into atmosphere and mist. He was then told to shut up and hide under the tarp. The party arrives under the Consecutarus once more, venturing out to shop for weapons and supplies. They take various messages from the Kaath Mirrors. Melinoe calls her mother, telling her that her father Denogus should be back at their manor.
Cornelius talks with Dargon, asking him how he got so powerful. Dargon tells him that he eschews the elven pace of living. Their kind has all the time in the world to learn and grow, so many elves live their lives at a snail's pace. He prefers the human approach: living every moment with aspiration and intent. Dargon explains that his master is the human archmage of the Vaulted Tower, Aestus Ocelon. Aestus is a human from the Materium and has taught Dargon his teleportation and transportation magics. Waking from their nightmarish slumber, the party reconvenes in the lower living rooms. Strattora is visibly ill from whatever affliction she acquired during her rest. Thankfully, Cornelius dispels the curse with a greater restoration spell. Flint's mastiff steed Brutus urinates fire onto a nearby wardrobe, setting it ablaze. The strange fat imp from the study flies down the stairs with buckets of water to frantically douse the flames. Melinoe remembers the Nornod that she met in Lausang, considering looking for the man in this plane.
"Maybe we could find my friend here?" Melinoe "You have friends?" Astra
Strattora takes a walk through Gardenholm towards the Sea of Glass, as Melinoe did the night previous. After a short walk, she arrives at the darkened shoreline. She approaches the waters, still reeling from her cursed rest.
"I miss you, mom. I'm so sorry." Strattora
"Is this you? Answer me." StrattoraA whispered voice, at long last, responds,
"Dragonfire…not I. Logos Temple…ten days. Dusk…dusk…dusk…"
Eventually, the party meets once more at the manor and takes the atrium portal back to Zivilon with a farewell to Dargon. Without the Lord's help, getting back to the plane of stone may prove difficult. There are Choral gateways to the plane, but the party has not traveled in that extradimensional space much Flint remembers his experience in Chorus: mostly blindfolded hiding under a ship tarp, he did peek out to see a vast black sea miles under a cavern passage, so enormous that the walls faded into atmosphere and mist. He was then told to shut up and hide under the tarp. The party arrives under the Consecutarus once more, venturing out to shop for weapons and supplies. They take various messages from the Kaath Mirrors. Melinoe calls her mother, telling her that her father Denogus should be back at their manor.
"Answer the phone. And tell me why you called me twice. Or I'll have you committed because you're probably not well." MelinoeHer mother, Page, responds that Denogus is dead. Not only that, but she is to be remarried to her new fiancée Pius Cinna, a wealthy elven nobleman. Melinoe is aghast and tells her that her father is alive and was sent back here by a Returner. Page shrugs off the suggestion. The party then heads to the High Thrones once more to collect their reward for the Sonapailes operation. The commissioners there have arranged thirty thousand gold for the party, as well as the deed to the Altin Estate within Kalmassari. With Strattora still exhausted from the previous night and the factory operation, the party decides to head straight to the estate. They travel back to the Consecutarus and pay the 100 gold fare to teleport to a "preferred location" in Kalmassari. They arrive in a military watchtower amidst a vast city of bustling greenery. A sea of steaming waters fills the air with humid, warm air. Various mages and druids tend to the plants that fill the greenhouses and city streets. Following vague instructions on their property deed, the party ventures westwards along the tall cliffs ringing the bayside city. They rise over hill and dale along picturesque views, eventually arriving at a run-down estate overgrown with plants on a cliffside peninsula.
