CoS Session 10: Queen Astrid's Coronation
General Summary
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- Heading back to Gameria
- Things are looking better, fewer refugees and monsters on the road
- They run into the villager from earlier, he's no longer cursed with lightning powers
- Catriona gives him a hug, only gets a little static shock
- Arrived at Gameria
- Rumors have been circulating about Astrid’s return, and a massive legit festival breaks out
- People cheer and welcome Astrid as she heads to palace
- Kells tell party to join Astrid in the royal palace
- In the royal palace King Nestor VI looks old and tired, but glad to see his daughter returned home
- Kind words are exchanged, then Astrid asks for her father to abdicate the throne
- Nestor is initially shocked, he didn’t expect to be challenged like this by his long-lost daughter
- Roland vouches for Astrid, says he’s seen her perform powerful ceremonies
- With Astrid's persuasiveness, a teary-eyed Nestor removes his crown and leaves the throne to Astrid’s care
- Fallworth tells party to meet him at his office in couple of hours once after witnessing this awkward reunion
- Once the party takes a moment to settle back in their old tavern, they go to Fallworth’s office
- He’s there at his desk, but there’s also a guy in bulky clothes and mask as well
- Fallworth’s relieved that his plot to replace Nestor went so well, pays them each 750G
- A little less pleased, he says that Paoli has requested one of his men join the party
- Apparently Paoli's loyalty to Gameth is contingent on having say in further missions
- New guy’s name is Nikolaj
- The party’s shocked, acts like they’ve seen a ghost
- Asked if it’s the same Nikolaj from sunken ship, he removes his mask to reveal nothing but a skull
- Catriona faints, Roland’s wariness of the undead kicks in, and Aldo's fine with it
- The party returns to the tavern with Nikolaj, Catriona says she needs proof from Nikolaj that he's the real deal
- Nikolaj racks his head, remembers he has an old pendant Catriona gave him
- Roland, Aldo, and Nikolaj have some rounds of Joseph Daniels (the drink just spills down Nikolaj's chest)
- Roland presses him for details on his resurrection
- Nikolaj says a deity named Rexfur brought him back to life
- Apparently he was looking for new disciples
- Plus Nikolaj used to worship him back in his circus days in Myltev
- He made it to land, then Rexfur guided him to Paoli
- Paoli’s made some offerings to Rexfur lately
- Paoli was reasonably freaked out when he first saw Nikolaj’s skeleton
- After Nikolaj explained situation, Paoli accepted the arrangement and the new ally
- He’d been looking for a way to have more influence in the party, and Nikolaj proved to be the perfect opportunity
- So for a few weeks Paoli helped Nikolaj train, decked him out in armor before shipping him out to Gameria
- He made it there a couple weeks before rest of party
- Aldo thinks Nikolaj is pretty cool, Roland is still reluctant to trust an undead
- Especially if that skeleton has loyalties to Paoli
- Catriona returns from a walk around town to clear her head, Nikolaj shows her the pendant he held onto from shipwreck
- This convinces Catriona, but she’ll need time to process Nikolaj's new features
- The Coronation of Queen Astrid I occurs later in the week
- She gives big inspiring speech about leading continent into new era
- Hakon and Gameth are officially reunited
- Avicennan policy of inspecting Gamerian ships is stopped
- Catriona works on her staff she carved on way back from Trecce
- It tells story of their adventures, including a little skull to represent Nikolaj
- Roland writes letter to Paoli, just to check if this deal with Nikolaj is legit
- He goes to fighting pits, wins 3 out of 4 fights
- Also gets his battle-axe blessed for 1d6 radiant damage
- Aldo buys some upgraded armor, works on a smuggling job to get 200G
- Notices some graffiti celebrating the Fish Man, his drunken persona
- Turns out a bountiful food shipment arrived in Gameria after his fish-headed bender
- People put two-and-two together and celebrated Fish Man for the boon
- Nikolaj purchases a poisonous balm to heal him for 2d8
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