Chapter 9: Chocolate Reign
An epic battle rages in the streets of the village as the rebel forces and Empire soldiers clash. The group lead the charge as they fight through enemies to reach the Yonzu officers.
Jacob uses one of his Illusion cards to summon an Ettin at the front gate, startling the Empire soldiers and giving the rebels the upper hand. Smolette stays close by, bashing heads of anyone who attempts to make an attack against the wizard. Alanis commits to securing the gate so the rest of the group can advance. Zocra and Quinby rain arrows and bolts from the rooftops, until Quinby recklessly descends upon one of the Star Priests below. Zocra sets his sights upon Felodraste as he patiently approaches his nemesis, Olati. Unphased by the injuries from the arrows, the General taunts Olati for his cowardice in allowing his friends to fight his battles for him. Juan struggles with keeping up against the waves of enemies as one by one his Sahuagin allies begin to fall. Growing impatient, Felodraste decides to begin removing the distractions from his desired conflict with Olati. His rapier begins to glow with faint, blue light and he slices the air to open what appears to be a tear in reality itself. He plunges his sword through the tear and it appears at Juan's flank to make devastating attacks against him. The minotaur is close to defeat and an Empire soldier readies to make the final blow until suddenly they are struck down by an arrow from above - the young warrior Ikari saves Juan in the nick of time. His father Takashi cheers with pride. Murdeer does what she does best and furiously cuts down anyone in her path of bloodshed, Zeva and Amani follow closely behind. However before she can make it to the village square, Shanneth engages her and the the two formidable warriors are locked in battle. Felodraste finally closes his distance with Olati and the two engage in another duel - except this time the General does not hold back. He expresses his disappointment in Olati's betrayal, and demands to know why such a fine warrior would ally himself with rebel scum. What wounds him the most however is Olati's lack of honor, using cowardly tactics and allowing his friends to fight his battles for him. Olati shakes off the General's words, saying carelessly throwing away his life for honor does not make him an inferior warrior - in fact quite the opposite. Enraged, Felodraste plunges his sword towards Olati's heart but just as the blade is about to land Murdeer counters him violently, yelling "no one hurts the Captain, especially bullies like you!" Injured both in body and expectations, Felodraste concedes the village to the rebels - saying he no longer finds any honor in the conflict. He opens a tear for him and Shanneth to escape through. As the rift closes, Felodraste vows revenge against Olati and that they cherish their victory, for it will be their last and should expect swift retribution. Now without a commander, the remaining Empire soldiers lay down their weapons and surrender. The rebels cheer triumphantly, the day is won and the village has been liberated from the Empire's grasp.
The rebels celebrate their victory and begin rounding up the surviving Empire soldiers as prisoners which sparks a debate between Zeva and her niece Amani. It would seem the rebels food supply is not ample enough for the new mouths and so Zeva suggests the prisoners be executed, while Amani argues that they need to be better than their enemies and show compassion. Luckily, Quinby has stored in his Bag of Holding a substantial supply of salted meat from the Blood Wing ship which whould hold the prisoners over until the rebels can decide what to do with them. Meanwhile, Takashi is loudly boasting about the accolades of his "warrior son" Ikari from the battle and wants to show off his son's prowess further with catching a deer for the celebration feast tonight. Ikari accepts, and sets out into the woods to hunt. It is then Smolette approach's Jacob and becomes more forthcoming with her intentions: a serious relationship. Not wanting to be tied down, Jacob lets her down as kindly as possible. The gentle giant is noticeably disappointed but also mature enough to understand and goes to find some space for herself to reflect. The party then goes to the Governor's mansion to see if the Empire officers left anything of importance or value, but it would seem Felodrate had a failsafe and all the Empire documents have turned to ash. However, they do find what seems to be another Syndicate leader and this reminds them to finally check in on Vort and Zort who are still being held there. The group finds the two have been shackled with collars that are suppressing their demonic powers. The jesters say that after the party took down Mundrin, the Syndicate's supply of Hero's Dust has dried up and so they sought out the Empire to be a new business partner. However, upon learning of the two's demonic affiliation, the Yonzun soldiers turned hostile and imprisoned them. Unable to escape, Zort attempts to persuade the party into killing them so they can "poof back to where they came from." But when the party does not oblige, he attempts to strike a deal and offers his help with any "demonic objects they might sumble upon" in exchange for his freedom. Jacob decides to leave them locked and bound while they figure out what to do with the fools. They are then summoned to meet with Zeva, who thanks the party for their invaluable efforts during the battle even though they are not the "heroes" Murdeer billed them as. Commenting further "one does not need to be a hero to do heroic acts." She then goes on expand on the fantastic abilities they saw Felodrate perform that are produced from his weapon - the Piercing Void, Riftbreaker - which is in fact one of the Empire's Imperial Arms - powerful weapons with unique abilities that the Astral Elves brought with them when they came to Encopia from the stars. Zeva then reveals that her axe is also one of these Imperial Arms - the Colossal Edge, Giruvegan - and while it is the weapon of her enemy and "responsible for the death of her sister (Amani's Mother)," it is useful to level her fight against them. Suddenly the meeting is interrupted by a rebel soldier announcing there is an lone Empire solider at the gate. Zeva and the party rush to meet the man who turns out to be one of the advisors seen with Felodraste, Ver'an Holidur. He has come to "congratulate" the hard earned victory retaking the village, however he warns that it will be short lived. He is confident in the Empire's power and that "the Empire will inevitable be all there is, and so it would be wise to find your place in it." Zocra attempts to strike him down with an arrow but it passes right though him and Ver'an gestures to his cloak - another Imperial Arms, the Clever Visage, Fantasia - which seems to allow him to create a perfect illusory self. He forgives the slight and offers the opportunity for the rebels to surrender without recourse with one condition: Zeva and Olati must submit themselves to the Empire for punishment. His request is denied and the Astral Elf expresses his hopes that they do not end up regretting their choice, and takes his leave. Zeva puts the rebels on full alert when Takashi mentions that his son has not yet returned, and requests that he be allowed to go out and find him with Zocra and Olati's help. Despite the recent tension, the rest of the party join the other rebels in celebrating the victory. Zocra picks up Ikari's tracks and leads the search party into the woods, where the trail becomes more and more ominous as he discovers signs of a struggle. The elf leads the group to a cliffside clearing to find three spears driven into the ground at the cliff's edge. Atop the spears are the severed heads of three victims: Ikari, Smolette, and Murdeer. Seeing his slain son throws Takashi into a sorrowful rage, while Olati is brought to his knees in disbelief seeing Murdeer - whose horns have been cruelly poached by the Empire. Alanis and Jacob are the first to notice the victims missing from the village and as they rush off to find them the clouds in the sky begin to swirl and form into letters, spelling out a message from the Empire for the rebels celebrating below: "Behold, below is the field where hope grows. Look, and see that it is barren."
Jacob and Alanis encounter the search party leaving the forest and are the first to learn about the fate of their friends. Takashi marches past them with rageful purpose and charges into Zeva's office to demand something be done immediately and the party follows. Juan is able to subdue the frantic father long enough to get Zeva up to speed on what has transpired, and she instructs them to not let the other rebels know until they can fully asses the situation. Juan releases Takashi who storms out and begins arming himself to take action alone, however Juan is able to appeal to the grieving mans emotions and calm him down. The minotaur takes him to the tree in the town's entrance to bury the remains of Takashi's son, and console his father. Juan then takes a moment for himself to meditate and his amulet begins to glow. Clutching the artifact, Juan's consciousness is transported through The Tangle to show him a vision of a mysterious Faun with curly red hair and wearing a dress made out of what appears to be a single large leaf, and carrying a staff. The figure appears to be walking through the ruins of Skiple, inspecting the now wilted Fire Thistle vines. His vision ends just after the Faun seems to look up to meet his gaze as another figure approaches her from behind. Juan is only able to make out that the other figure seems to be an Elf of some kind. Meanwhile, Olati finds that before Murdeer was taken she had left him a final gift: a length of rope tied into the shape of a butterfly. He takes the memento and her remains to the docks, where he solemnly commits them to the ocean - hoping that someday he will find peace with the knowledge that anytime he sails those water that she will always be with him. Jacob takes this time to speak with Alanis, who is unable to fully grasp the shock of losing her best friend, but is able to find some joy in sharing their experiences with Smolette with each other. She then transfigures Smolette's remains into a coin, saying the gentle giant would want to be laid to rest in her homeland - the snowy mountains of Bothia - and this will help her preserve them until she is able to make the journey. The rest of the night is spent both celebrating their victory and drowning their sorrows. Except for Zocra, who secludes himself to become more familiar with the presence inhabiting his bow - the arch fae In-C'le - and who seductively entices the dark elf into continuing to feed him "the delicious blood of worthy game" in exchange for the promise of more power. The voice is purposefully avoidant on the topic of how to break their bond or mitigate the trances Zocra has been cursed with. The next morning, Jacob is woken up by Giuk - the first Sahuagin they encountered in the sewer - to alert him to the Shaman Yazk has regained consciousness and is prepared to perform the ritual to summon "The Great Under-one." The wizard rallies his hungover comrades and they descend into the summoning chamber below the village. Yazk informs them they will need to enter the Kraken to retrieve the orb containing Scylla Undinia, and while they should not fear the process - it is a tradition for Sahuagin to enter Kraken to dislodge foreign objects - they should be on guard for the entities that inhabit the beast, as they they can be hostile to foreign entities. The Shaman then preforms the ritual causing the colossal Kraken to appear and opens his mouth to the adventures. Cautiously, and more than a little grossed out, they enter monstrous maw descend into its cavernous bowels...
The party make their way through the Kraken encountering monsters and perils within, making clever use of a creature's pheromones to mask their smell and avoid danger. They stumble upon a familiar face, Zeek, who has somehow survived the horrors within the sea beast. He leads them to a room where the walls are covered in strange, purple, writhing tendrils. Olati attempts to squeeze through them but is retrained, and the tendrils attempt to infiltrate his mind. Suddenly, Zeek shoves Quinby when he shows reluctance to going after Olati but avoids being caught by the tendrils and makes an attack against Zeek. Quinby's dagger causes his attacker to show his true form: a grotesque, mind dominating shapeshifter. The rest of the party arrives just in time to save the pair and subdue the shapeshifter. When the tendril wither, the real Zeek is found among them an revived. The group then continues to the final chamber and finds the containment orb, but is attacked by a large parasite guarding their quarry. Zocra is put in dire straights but is miraculously able to down the mother parasite before being taken down himself. The party then attempt to exit with the orb but are ambushed by monsters now that the pheromones have worn off. Surrounded and no where to go, Jacob's knife begins to glow mysteriously. The wizard grasps his blade and a Dimension Door appears allowing the group to escape. The Kraken thanks the party for curing him of the parasites within him and bestows boons as reward. Zocra is given a concoction that mutates his body to give him Kraken-like resilience to poison. The party then convenes with Zeva to discuss next steps and she outlines the Rebel's next moves and advises them to deliver the orb they retrieved to foster an allyship with the Council of Captains.
Session 29: Day 56
2/24/2022Jacob uses one of his Illusion cards to summon an Ettin at the front gate, startling the Empire soldiers and giving the rebels the upper hand. Smolette stays close by, bashing heads of anyone who attempts to make an attack against the wizard. Alanis commits to securing the gate so the rest of the group can advance. Zocra and Quinby rain arrows and bolts from the rooftops, until Quinby recklessly descends upon one of the Star Priests below. Zocra sets his sights upon Felodraste as he patiently approaches his nemesis, Olati. Unphased by the injuries from the arrows, the General taunts Olati for his cowardice in allowing his friends to fight his battles for him. Juan struggles with keeping up against the waves of enemies as one by one his Sahuagin allies begin to fall. Growing impatient, Felodraste decides to begin removing the distractions from his desired conflict with Olati. His rapier begins to glow with faint, blue light and he slices the air to open what appears to be a tear in reality itself. He plunges his sword through the tear and it appears at Juan's flank to make devastating attacks against him. The minotaur is close to defeat and an Empire soldier readies to make the final blow until suddenly they are struck down by an arrow from above - the young warrior Ikari saves Juan in the nick of time. His father Takashi cheers with pride. Murdeer does what she does best and furiously cuts down anyone in her path of bloodshed, Zeva and Amani follow closely behind. However before she can make it to the village square, Shanneth engages her and the the two formidable warriors are locked in battle. Felodraste finally closes his distance with Olati and the two engage in another duel - except this time the General does not hold back. He expresses his disappointment in Olati's betrayal, and demands to know why such a fine warrior would ally himself with rebel scum. What wounds him the most however is Olati's lack of honor, using cowardly tactics and allowing his friends to fight his battles for him. Olati shakes off the General's words, saying carelessly throwing away his life for honor does not make him an inferior warrior - in fact quite the opposite. Enraged, Felodraste plunges his sword towards Olati's heart but just as the blade is about to land Murdeer counters him violently, yelling "no one hurts the Captain, especially bullies like you!" Injured both in body and expectations, Felodraste concedes the village to the rebels - saying he no longer finds any honor in the conflict. He opens a tear for him and Shanneth to escape through. As the rift closes, Felodraste vows revenge against Olati and that they cherish their victory, for it will be their last and should expect swift retribution. Now without a commander, the remaining Empire soldiers lay down their weapons and surrender. The rebels cheer triumphantly, the day is won and the village has been liberated from the Empire's grasp.
Session 30: Day 56-57
2/24/2022-2/25/2022The rebels celebrate their victory and begin rounding up the surviving Empire soldiers as prisoners which sparks a debate between Zeva and her niece Amani. It would seem the rebels food supply is not ample enough for the new mouths and so Zeva suggests the prisoners be executed, while Amani argues that they need to be better than their enemies and show compassion. Luckily, Quinby has stored in his Bag of Holding a substantial supply of salted meat from the Blood Wing ship which whould hold the prisoners over until the rebels can decide what to do with them. Meanwhile, Takashi is loudly boasting about the accolades of his "warrior son" Ikari from the battle and wants to show off his son's prowess further with catching a deer for the celebration feast tonight. Ikari accepts, and sets out into the woods to hunt. It is then Smolette approach's Jacob and becomes more forthcoming with her intentions: a serious relationship. Not wanting to be tied down, Jacob lets her down as kindly as possible. The gentle giant is noticeably disappointed but also mature enough to understand and goes to find some space for herself to reflect. The party then goes to the Governor's mansion to see if the Empire officers left anything of importance or value, but it would seem Felodrate had a failsafe and all the Empire documents have turned to ash. However, they do find what seems to be another Syndicate leader and this reminds them to finally check in on Vort and Zort who are still being held there. The group finds the two have been shackled with collars that are suppressing their demonic powers. The jesters say that after the party took down Mundrin, the Syndicate's supply of Hero's Dust has dried up and so they sought out the Empire to be a new business partner. However, upon learning of the two's demonic affiliation, the Yonzun soldiers turned hostile and imprisoned them. Unable to escape, Zort attempts to persuade the party into killing them so they can "poof back to where they came from." But when the party does not oblige, he attempts to strike a deal and offers his help with any "demonic objects they might sumble upon" in exchange for his freedom. Jacob decides to leave them locked and bound while they figure out what to do with the fools. They are then summoned to meet with Zeva, who thanks the party for their invaluable efforts during the battle even though they are not the "heroes" Murdeer billed them as. Commenting further "one does not need to be a hero to do heroic acts." She then goes on expand on the fantastic abilities they saw Felodrate perform that are produced from his weapon - the Piercing Void, Riftbreaker - which is in fact one of the Empire's Imperial Arms - powerful weapons with unique abilities that the Astral Elves brought with them when they came to Encopia from the stars. Zeva then reveals that her axe is also one of these Imperial Arms - the Colossal Edge, Giruvegan - and while it is the weapon of her enemy and "responsible for the death of her sister (Amani's Mother)," it is useful to level her fight against them. Suddenly the meeting is interrupted by a rebel soldier announcing there is an lone Empire solider at the gate. Zeva and the party rush to meet the man who turns out to be one of the advisors seen with Felodraste, Ver'an Holidur. He has come to "congratulate" the hard earned victory retaking the village, however he warns that it will be short lived. He is confident in the Empire's power and that "the Empire will inevitable be all there is, and so it would be wise to find your place in it." Zocra attempts to strike him down with an arrow but it passes right though him and Ver'an gestures to his cloak - another Imperial Arms, the Clever Visage, Fantasia - which seems to allow him to create a perfect illusory self. He forgives the slight and offers the opportunity for the rebels to surrender without recourse with one condition: Zeva and Olati must submit themselves to the Empire for punishment. His request is denied and the Astral Elf expresses his hopes that they do not end up regretting their choice, and takes his leave. Zeva puts the rebels on full alert when Takashi mentions that his son has not yet returned, and requests that he be allowed to go out and find him with Zocra and Olati's help. Despite the recent tension, the rest of the party join the other rebels in celebrating the victory. Zocra picks up Ikari's tracks and leads the search party into the woods, where the trail becomes more and more ominous as he discovers signs of a struggle. The elf leads the group to a cliffside clearing to find three spears driven into the ground at the cliff's edge. Atop the spears are the severed heads of three victims: Ikari, Smolette, and Murdeer. Seeing his slain son throws Takashi into a sorrowful rage, while Olati is brought to his knees in disbelief seeing Murdeer - whose horns have been cruelly poached by the Empire. Alanis and Jacob are the first to notice the victims missing from the village and as they rush off to find them the clouds in the sky begin to swirl and form into letters, spelling out a message from the Empire for the rebels celebrating below: "Behold, below is the field where hope grows. Look, and see that it is barren."
Session 31: Day 57
2/25/2022Jacob and Alanis encounter the search party leaving the forest and are the first to learn about the fate of their friends. Takashi marches past them with rageful purpose and charges into Zeva's office to demand something be done immediately and the party follows. Juan is able to subdue the frantic father long enough to get Zeva up to speed on what has transpired, and she instructs them to not let the other rebels know until they can fully asses the situation. Juan releases Takashi who storms out and begins arming himself to take action alone, however Juan is able to appeal to the grieving mans emotions and calm him down. The minotaur takes him to the tree in the town's entrance to bury the remains of Takashi's son, and console his father. Juan then takes a moment for himself to meditate and his amulet begins to glow. Clutching the artifact, Juan's consciousness is transported through The Tangle to show him a vision of a mysterious Faun with curly red hair and wearing a dress made out of what appears to be a single large leaf, and carrying a staff. The figure appears to be walking through the ruins of Skiple, inspecting the now wilted Fire Thistle vines. His vision ends just after the Faun seems to look up to meet his gaze as another figure approaches her from behind. Juan is only able to make out that the other figure seems to be an Elf of some kind. Meanwhile, Olati finds that before Murdeer was taken she had left him a final gift: a length of rope tied into the shape of a butterfly. He takes the memento and her remains to the docks, where he solemnly commits them to the ocean - hoping that someday he will find peace with the knowledge that anytime he sails those water that she will always be with him. Jacob takes this time to speak with Alanis, who is unable to fully grasp the shock of losing her best friend, but is able to find some joy in sharing their experiences with Smolette with each other. She then transfigures Smolette's remains into a coin, saying the gentle giant would want to be laid to rest in her homeland - the snowy mountains of Bothia - and this will help her preserve them until she is able to make the journey. The rest of the night is spent both celebrating their victory and drowning their sorrows. Except for Zocra, who secludes himself to become more familiar with the presence inhabiting his bow - the arch fae In-C'le - and who seductively entices the dark elf into continuing to feed him "the delicious blood of worthy game" in exchange for the promise of more power. The voice is purposefully avoidant on the topic of how to break their bond or mitigate the trances Zocra has been cursed with. The next morning, Jacob is woken up by Giuk - the first Sahuagin they encountered in the sewer - to alert him to the Shaman Yazk has regained consciousness and is prepared to perform the ritual to summon "The Great Under-one." The wizard rallies his hungover comrades and they descend into the summoning chamber below the village. Yazk informs them they will need to enter the Kraken to retrieve the orb containing Scylla Undinia, and while they should not fear the process - it is a tradition for Sahuagin to enter Kraken to dislodge foreign objects - they should be on guard for the entities that inhabit the beast, as they they can be hostile to foreign entities. The Shaman then preforms the ritual causing the colossal Kraken to appear and opens his mouth to the adventures. Cautiously, and more than a little grossed out, they enter monstrous maw descend into its cavernous bowels...
Session 32-34: Day 57-58
2/25/2022-2/26/2022The party make their way through the Kraken encountering monsters and perils within, making clever use of a creature's pheromones to mask their smell and avoid danger. They stumble upon a familiar face, Zeek, who has somehow survived the horrors within the sea beast. He leads them to a room where the walls are covered in strange, purple, writhing tendrils. Olati attempts to squeeze through them but is retrained, and the tendrils attempt to infiltrate his mind. Suddenly, Zeek shoves Quinby when he shows reluctance to going after Olati but avoids being caught by the tendrils and makes an attack against Zeek. Quinby's dagger causes his attacker to show his true form: a grotesque, mind dominating shapeshifter. The rest of the party arrives just in time to save the pair and subdue the shapeshifter. When the tendril wither, the real Zeek is found among them an revived. The group then continues to the final chamber and finds the containment orb, but is attacked by a large parasite guarding their quarry. Zocra is put in dire straights but is miraculously able to down the mother parasite before being taken down himself. The party then attempt to exit with the orb but are ambushed by monsters now that the pheromones have worn off. Surrounded and no where to go, Jacob's knife begins to glow mysteriously. The wizard grasps his blade and a Dimension Door appears allowing the group to escape. The Kraken thanks the party for curing him of the parasites within him and bestows boons as reward. Zocra is given a concoction that mutates his body to give him Kraken-like resilience to poison. The party then convenes with Zeva to discuss next steps and she outlines the Rebel's next moves and advises them to deliver the orb they retrieved to foster an allyship with the Council of Captains.
Continuing from Chapter 8: Water and Fire
Parent Plot
Related Characters
Related Organizations
Related Locations