Session 12: A history lesson

Andrios, 13th of Anagrypnion

General Summary

The council along with Venat make their way back to Andrios. Venat seems intent on reach Andrios as quick as possible and the council noticed that they were moving faster than they normally did. On the way, the council continued to ask Venat a series of questions. Before answering, Venat decide to give more context that would hopefully answer most questions instead of going one by one. She warns that her tale isn't a secret and she's tried sharing it with multiple people in the past. However, everyone she shared it with thought she was mad or a heretic. She begins to describe a corrupted that began to plague the world a few millennia ago, starting with insects and small creatures but progressing to large animals, people, and the land itself. The first symptom of the corruption was discoloration of the skin which eventually led to mutation into monsters. A group of heroes called the Archons tried to find the source of the corruption. However, the source of the corruption kept getting stronger and creatures began to transform as soon as they got corrupted. In only a year the corruption caused the destruction of all continents except for Edinia. After much exploration, research and theorizing, the Archons concluded that the corruption was in the aether (the essence present in all living things and allowed the usage of magic) itself. The Archons devised a plan: extract all aether in Etheirys, give the corrupted aether a physical form and divide all non-corrupted aether between the Archons so they could battle and destroy the physical form of the corrupted aether. The corrupted aether took the form of 4 large monstrosities, the Archons named them Kroxas, Uro, Shotha, and Zalto. The battle against the monstrosities didn't go well, the Archons lost 5 of their numbers and after months of trying to fell the monsters, the remaining two (Venat and Gaius) decided to imprison the monsters instead. Venat and Gaius used half of their aether to create a new plane of reality where the monsters were locked away but Venat had to remain in that plane in order to maintain it. The event that caused the aether to be extracted from Etheirys was called the Sundering and it left everyone without any memories before the extraction. To ensure that civilization could prosper and could be defended by the dangers remaining in Etheirys, Gaius shared his remaining aether with friends of the Archons, people they believed were honorable and of good character. These people later became known as gods. Even though the corrupted aether was locked away, the origin of the corruption was still unknown. In order to protect the Etheirys from being corrupted again, Venat created a closed network of aether, a pattern where every living thing on Etheirys was a thread within it. The gods unknowingly also feed aether into that network, those who are closest to them get empowered with their aether and are able to use and manipulate it, this is magic. Lately, however, there have been encounters with people and creatures that have broken away from the pattern and have instantly become corrupted, these creatures are known as broken threads. Venat mentioned that she didn't know how what was causing the creatures to break away from the pattern but it was clear that whatever was causing aether to become corrupted was still having a strong effect on Etheirys. Venat also explained that Kira wasn't really human. She was created from the aether being used to power the plane where the monstrosities are being held, this also meant she wasn't a part of the pattern. Venat expects her to be resistant to the corruption (hence the slow spread of the discoloration) but doesn't have any explanation of why the members of the council were being corrupted. After about an hour of discussion, the group arrives at the border of Andrios. The council decided not to be suspicious regarding Venat's identity and instead just introduce her as a healer from out of town. As they approached the House of Healing, Kaliaros was hailed by Macheon who was hoping to get some help with his leg injury, claiming that it would help his farm's production. While Kaliaros discussed the problem with Macheon, the rest of the group made their way into the House of Healing and were greeted by Ponteus who was standing guard on front of Kira's room. Kaliaros asked Horas, Miri and Keanon to help with Macheon. Miri protested as she wanted to observe the healing of Kira but Kaliaros convinced her. The group asked Ponteus to not allow anyone into the House of Healing while the healing process was underway. Just as Venat was about to begin the ritual, Ponteus inturrups because Rhene was in need of medical assistance. Kaliaros asked Miri to help. Both Miri and Rhene made their way to one of the private rooms in the medical ward. Hopefully without any more interruptions, Venat began her ritual. Just as she started, there was a loud banging on the door. Kaliaros opened it to find a red robbed man with skulls adorning his lapel. Kaliaros tried to incapacitate the cultists but wasn't successful and Nir fired an Eldritch Blast to his face. Venat quickly froze time for a short period and shared with the council that she could either deal with the cultists, teleport everyone out of Andrios or remove the corruption but only one. The council chose to fight. A battle ensued, Fyx caused the cultist to run in fear while Kamos and Krinos charged out of the room after the cultist. Now out of the room, the council noticed there were three more cultists and Ponteus was currently fighting two off at the entrance. Seeing the threat, Kadmos gestures as if putting on an invisible cloak but instead a cloak of stars appears and Kadmos wrap himself in a starry cloak, appearing like a silhouette formed of the night sky. Nir causes watery blades to appear around the cultist and slashes at him. Fennan fires his crossbow with magical arrows. Kaliaros through a magical incantation put two of the cultists to sleep. The battle seems to be going in the council's favor: the cultists weren't being able to get past Kadmos and Krinos and all attacks against Kadmos were being absorbed into the void of his cloak. As both sides continued to battle, the cultist who has bagged on the door exclaimed that the council's resistance was futile: the cultists already controlled the City Watch barracks and he had cultists in the forest surrounding the city, Andrios had fallen. This didn't stop the council and the battle continued. However, things were starting to worsen, Krinos was beginning to take a beating, Ponteus fell in battle and one of the cultists caused deep gashes to appear on Kaliaros' body causing him to fall unconscious. Nir managed to help Kaliaros back up, Krinos retreated, Fennan continued to fire his magical bolts at the cultists, Kadmos remained on the front keeping the cultists at bay and Fyx tried to make his way to Ponteus to help. Getting frustrated with Kadmos, one of the cultists decided to make his way to the medical ward. Nir tried to stop him with the watery blades but it doesn't enough and the cultists were approaching one of the private rooms. At the same time, more cultists arrived as backup and the situation seemed grim. However, at that moment, the council began to hear howling coming from the forest and from the city's direction. Shortly after, a large wolf that they recognized as Sweet Potato jumped through the window in the medical ward, charged the cultists there, and tore his head off. More wolves charged out of the forest and began to engage the cultists.

Report Date

18 Mar 2022

Reputation with the gods