Session 23: The City in the Forest

Thestia, 23rd of Anagrypnion

General Summary

The council was in chains being escorted out of the Sanctum. Lyra and Xandra stayed behind talking to the captain. Outside the council was made ready for transport, Kaliaros and Fennan being loaded into the cart the council had purchased. Shortly after, everyone started marching towards Setessa.
Lyra, riding her horse, approached the council and explained that they were going to march through the night. This so they could warn the empress about the sanctums but also treat Kaliaros and Fennan. Nir and Fyx tried to convince Lyra to talk to the captain and head to the other sanctums instead of Setessa. This didn't work out, the captain mentioned that other squads had already been sent to the other sanctums and they would never reach there in time if there was indeed a threat.

After a few hours of marching, Nir and Fyx noticed that Fennan and Kaliaros were melting and slowly the ice was breaking off and Nir's voice had returned. After a few more hours, now in the darkness of nightfall, the squad arrived in Setessa. The city was fully embedded into the forest, with buildings interwoven with the forest's trees. The squad continued to match towards a tall central tower. Once arrived, they quickly unloaded Fennan and Kaliaros, which were now no long encased in ice, and brought them to a middle ages woman that poured an ointment on them and started praying. Fennan and Kaliaros recovered consciousness and were brought to Nir, Fennan and Kadmos. The council was now standing on front of a large tower that was taller than the tree time.

Inside the tower, Lyra and Xandra broke off to the right and up some stairs while the council was taken to large central disk on the floor. Once on, the disk began to rise, past multiple levels until eventually stopped near the top of the tower. The council was then escorted to a large room with a conference table in the centre. Along the walls were paintings of Setessa along with a painting of the empress. The room had two entrances with two guards each. The council were free to wander the room and they were appreciating the art when suddenly a figure was sitting at the table that wasn't there before: Gaius, wearing his black robe and red mask.
The guards were unresponsive and Gaius politely requested the council sit so they could have a conversation. Those who refused were commanded to do so and felt forced to sit at the table. Gaius wanted to understand how did they manage to survive. After a long conversation and some insults thrown at Gaius the council revealed that they knew about the pattern and they were working with Venat to save Etheyris. Gaius shared that he believed Venat might be corrupted, that the seal on Venat's prison is leaking corruption into the world which is impacting the mortals and fears it'll soon impact the gods. To prevent this, and the inevitable end of the world, he planned to unlock Venat's domain, releasing the physical form of the monstrosities on Ediania and forcing the gods to respond and battle the monsters.
To open a way to Venat's domain, he needs four keys. These were tied to the Setessan nexus which are guarded by the High Priestess. When he arrived at the Autumn nexus the Sanctum had already been attacked and the priestess was dead, making it easy to acquire the Autumn key. The High Priestess of the Summer Sanctum was a worshiper of Kruprix and by sharing memories of an old friend of his he was able to convince her to step down and give him free access to the nexus. The High Priestess in the Winter Sanctum resisted and preferred to die over giving Gaius access. Given that the council was able to survive the corrupted version of the Winter High Priestess, he saw potential and wished to ally himself. Fennan asked Gaius to share those memories with him, Gaius agreed and tried to perform a ritual but nothing happened. This caught Gaius by surprise.
Nir then tried to convince Gaius to let them try a different approach. Given that the council was an unknown variable, Gaius gave it some thought. After some reflection, he accepted and gave the council two weeks to come up with a different proposal. With that, Gaius vanished.

Report Date

11 Jul 2022

Reputation with the gods

• Kadmos: 14 (+0)
• Nir: 15 (+0)
• Fennan: 14 (+0)
• Fyx: 13 (+0)
• Kaliaros: 13 (+0)

Quests

Odyssey Quests:

• The Corruption (Updated)
• A Mysterious Stranger
• The Shortstride

Optional Adventures:

• The Fate of Kyrian
• A Strange Statue
• A Request From Setessa
• In Defense of Oreskos Savannah
• Justice in the Dunes
• The mysterious claw gauntlet

Side Tasks:

• A Master Instrument
• Horns of Silence v2
• Andrios: The port town?
• Transmutation?
• The Missing Traders
• A Summons From Gaur
• Nyxsteel?