Pieces of Eight, Session 21: Siege of Tarkeltopia Report

General Summary

In the futuristic utopia of Tarkeltopia several heroes fight alongside mechanical warriors against a wave of Grave Reminders and the dark killer that controls them.

The Battle of the Broken Hero

Full breakdown of this session coming soon.

Having just recieved an upsetting message from her "rock candy," Zulynn Heartwind #1,000,001 grabs her gear and heads for the Tarkelby workshop where she saw a large battle starting.
Yeros' Souldiers and Wavebreaker's Grave Reminders approached each other on a large bridge above an endless void. Zangrim, Mabel, and Zulynn joined the Souldiers on the ground while Eyrs and Zararuk tried to get an eye on Wavebreaker from the air.
Wavebreaker was impossible to see through the hundreds of ghostly opponents. The battle raged on. Zulynn, the rune knight, threw her Rock of Returning into several ghosts defeating them. The rest of the party attacked, taking several ghosts down with every swing. A Souldier housing King Skotti One Million One's soul singlehandedly took down several of these spirits. Zarazuk even managed to take out eight Grave Reminders with one strong swing from the Rat Bastard.
Unfortunately, the battle would not remain this simple. As more and more Grave Reminders were removed from the area around the bridge, the power of their remaining number grew. A crowd of Grave Reminders swarmed Eyrs and stared into her soul. She aged forty years. The same happened to Zangrim. He was aged eighty years. The Grave Reminders' power did not stop here. They began possessing the living. Zulynn was possessed and many Souldiers were as well. Eyrs and Zararuk were taking major hits.
Lycan Subskrybe began to fight against a possesed King Skotti, who attacked with four mechanical arms against the elderly werewolf. Eyrs manuvering with her jetpack dropped out of the sky and out of sight. Things were dire when all of their remaining ghostly opponents returned to their home inside the Grave Glaive.

A Break in the Wave

The possessions ended as the spirits swirled back to Wavebreaker. Zulynn and the possessed Souldiers collapse to the ground. Only two possesed Souldiers remain, standing guard, as James Wavebreaker strides across the bridge. The party's former ally looks older too. The power of the Glaive has withered Wavebreaker and deformed him. He stands before them challenging them to single combat.
This situation reminded Zangrim of the party's adventure to Dunwater, and Zangrim casted Heat Metal on James' armor (just as the Lizardfolk Elder Shaman had one year earlier). However, Wavebreaker had always prepared to fight against the Pieces of Eight, and Zangrim's magic failed. James laughed and taunted Zangrim.

"You clever little gnome. I always knew we would have to fight. That's why I warded myself against your magic. You know that stone you've carried since the haunted house? The one you can't remove?" - James Wavebreaker

Zangrim unimpressed tosses the cursed luckstone into the void, before it appears in his hand once again. Then without missing a beat, Zangrim charges towards Wavebreaker and lifts him overhead. Zulynn notices this and Misty Steps towards the pair, attempting to assist Zangrim in tossing Wavebreaker over the bridge and into the endless void. At this moment Eyrs returned from the void riding a large bat, Rithrana Rrostarr One Million One, and shot Wavebreaker point blank in his wrist, severing the nerves in his hand and causing him to drop the Grave Glaive into the endless void below. Zulynn used this chaos to steal the cursed luckstone while Eyrs burned a goremantic brand into Wavebreaker in case something went sideways.
Fortunately that never happened, the Glaive was gone. His magical connection to it was gone. He was no longer enslaved to the Gravebound. James Wavebreaker was freed and Zulynn threw a rock at him. He spoke to the party for a few moments about what little he could remember from his time as a Grave Slave but ultimately fainted due to the pain of his injury.

"Zangrim, Klearic, I'm so sorry," "I'm not the one who needs your apology. Saltmarsh is." - James Wavebreaker and Klearic Faymal

Traversing Realities Kinda Easily

After the Pieces of Eight stabilized Wavebreaker, Rithrana gave Zangrim the TARKELoop. After pairing the TARKELoop to the Tarkeltoy, Zangrim investigated its features and scanned each member of the party to locate their reality of origin.

• Eyrs' scan is unclear citing multiple intertangled readings
• Mabel is originally from Reality Two Hundred Sixty Four
• Rithrana is from Reality One Million One
• The new iteration of Zulynn appears to be from Reality One Thousand One
• James Wavebreaker, Zangrim, Krag, and Zararuk are all from Reality Negative One

With all of this new information stored and cataloged Zangrim made the decision to transport the party back to Reality Negative One aka The Remaining Realm. After arriving, he activated the TARKELoop again and used it to search for Vencyne and Klearic. The TARKELoop, being an intelligent computer narrowed his search to the variants of Vencyne and Klearic he was aware of. For each party member it gave a current location and an origin location.
Klearic was originally from Reality Negative One. Vencyne was originally from Reality One Thousand One. Their current location was Reality One, so Zangrim traveled to Reality One.

Reunion

Bhaciar, Charlene, Klearic, Jimmy, Raicahb, and Vencyne were begining to get worried that the temporal loop would reset before they would find a way to escape from Salsvault. In the nick of time, Zangrim appeared but despite the difference in his age all of the adventurers trusted him and returned with him quickly.
Bhaciar, Charlene, Eyrs Thonich, Klearic Faymal, Krag, James Wavebreaker, Jimmy Tarkelby, Mabel Bloodsworth, Raicahb, Rithrana Rrostarr One Million One, Vencyne Amakiir, Zangrim Tarkelby, Zararuk, and Zulynn Heartwind One Million One all stood in Gandalf's dilapidated and overgrown College of Wizardry and Potions. The reunion and introduction between the fourteen adventurers was loud and confusing. The twins were shouting. Klearic and Vencyne were wondering why Zangrim and Eyrs looked older. Jimmy was wondering what had happened with Wavebreaker. Then Charlene called out for Klearic and broke through the noise with her dying words.

"Ancient wizard, take the last vial. You'll need every drop to stop the Gravebound." - Charlene, in her dying breathe

Charlene then died from the Frigid Woe, releasing the cure to Klearic Faymal as she did. The twins, Bhaciar and Raicahb were moritified at the loss of another friend and tried with the full force of their strength to give Charlene a healing potion. They accidentally removed her jaw, and continued to dismantle her corpse in their grief. Everyone around them was mortified. Vencyne, in shock at this upsetting encounter, accidentally channeled her medium abilities and created a soul trinket for Charlene. Vencyne squeezed the symbol of Limonar and produced Charlene's ghost which tried to soothe the Half-Orc brothers while they tried to toss her lifeless corpse back to the world of the living.
Charlene then answered Vencyne's one question before finally resting, her mission fufilling Limonar's will in the Reality One temporal loop finally accomplished. Vencyne asked "What should we do next?"

"Find the answer to Harlow's prophecy and you will have everything you need to defeat the Gravebound." - Charlene's spirit answering Vencyne's final question

With that question answered, Mabel joined Krag, Jimmy, and Zararuk in searching for the answers to the riddle Harlow had given them a few days earlier. The twins left to get firewood and give Charlene's diseased body a burial at sea. The rest of the party began to make camp while they awaited the arrival of Tolvig Thundersong, and his broken time machine.

Rewards Granted

James Wavebreaker

Missions/Quests Completed

Killer Wave

Character(s) interacted with

• Rithrana Rrostarr One Million One
• Charlene
• Jimmy Tarkelby
• Krag

Created Content

• Reality #1,001 (Vencyne/Zulynn Homeworld)
• Remaining Realm's Designation (-1)
• Shoulder Boulders
• Rock of Returning
• Sharp Rock

Related Reports

• Season 2, Session 6: Frozen Cure
• Season 2, Session 7: The Tragedy of Tarkeltopia

Notes

Retcon: Tony Smith's origin takes place during the events of this session, though the actual character wasn't introduced until Heist of the Elder's Vault, Part 1: Don't Open the Maintenance Hatch

Report Date

25 Jun 2022

Related Characters

• Belaquarra Rrostarr
• James Wavebreaker
• Mabel Bloodsworth
• Tony Smith
• Zararuk