Session 46

A chill fills the air and Pippy's says "We have to kill Bimp Knoton". Everyone starts questioning Pippy on where this is coming from and why we must kill Bimp Knoton. Pippy explains that Bimp Knoton is giving necromancy a bad name and must be dealt with. Everyone is still confused but Zandro speaks up and says that he saw her carrying potions and dropped them and was muttering about fixing what she started.
Pippy keeps suggesting killing Bimp Knoton. The group is trying to investigate her first and they decide to talk to Hapicord about Bimp Knoton. Thydrom and Raui decide to chat with Bethrynna about all of this. Pippy stays silent about her conversation with Baoth but Snow demands she walks with him so she gets out of the backpack, places Lehroths helmet inside of it, and goes to Snow's side. Raui goes up to Ra, and tries to fist bump him (with their good hand) but it confuses Ra. Raui then says "for justice" and raises her warforged arm. Ra asks about it and what happened and Raui is very non-chalant about having it chopped off. Ra and Raui make ammends about the situation in the past that caused him to lose his arm. Raui asks to have a long chat with them sometime over dinner and Ra asks if Wi Po can cook the dinner to which Wi Po agrees. Raui then compliment Wi Po on their pink mane and Wi Po talks about the artifact they absorbed. Raui comments about how he is lucky to have a good artifact like that. Ra then asks Raui about how controling the artifact is going and Raui mentions how they chopped off her arm and took the artifact from her because she couldn't control it. Raui says that she didn't come back to Grandia with Yatish but with Soj, the real Soj. THey both escaped at the same time. Raui says they don't know who they were imprisoned by as the person was always cloacked and Ra asks Soj if they knew. Soj thinks about it and doesn't know who they were. Soj then offers everyone a cup of two day old coffee and Raui leaves to speak to Bethrynna. Snow then asks if Raui changed and Pippy says that she seems nicer. Zandro says that he never fully trusted her.
The group heads off to the college and Snow keeps looking back on Pippy and she snaps at him saying she isn't going to run off and Wi Po offers to carry her on his shoulders. She accepts and as she sits on his shoulders she rests her head on the top of his glaring at Snow. Ra then walks up to Wi Po and asks about Cri Ro and how they knew eachother. Wi Po explains that he's been searching for Cri Ro and Ra asks if Wi Po will live him, errr us... Wi Po says that Ra is a good friend now and offers to have them come back to the 1000 acre woods. Ra says that they troubles about losing Wi Po as a friend troubles him. Wi Po grabs his trunk and holds it and assures him that they will figure out some way to make it work out and stay friends. Wi Po says that he has no plans to leave Ra and that now they have plans to stay together. Snow is up front wiping a tear from his eye. Wi Po notices him crying and grabs his hand and says that he can stay too and that we're all friends. The group makes it to the college.
Meanwhile Bethrynna is pacing back and forth in their study as Thydrom and Raui go to have a chat with her. She is muttering to herself, deep in thought. Raui walks over to Bethrynna's desk and sits on top of it and watches them talk to themselves. Thydrom pulls up a chair and lounges in it and pull sout a chalice and starts sipping some win. Raui asks Thydrom which would get her attention, a lightening bolt or a crack of his hammer. Thydrom says that Yatish used to scare her with lightening bolts all the time and make her jump. At the mention of Yatish's name this gets Bethrynna's attention. Raui says that they have some questions for her. She sighs and agrees. Raui asks where Bimp Knoton is and Bethrynna says at the college locking it down and Raui says that Bimp Knoton is the cause and explains the weird desire that Pippy has to kill Bimp. Thydrom explains that Bimp has been practicing necromancy for a while and mentions the viles that were found on the ground that Bimp had dropped. Bethrynna is troubled by a necromancer blaming another necromancer. Raui mentions how the rest of the group is headed towards the college that is under a lockdown and then asks if its ok to level the building. Behtrynna immediatly says no and that its not just the door that is going to be locked. She mentions that there is a way in, to talk to the body guard or to kill them. Raui mentions that she doesn't want to kill the guard and Bethrynna commends her for controlling her emotions. She then turns her attention to Thydrom and asks what his questions are, which is if Bethrynna will help take down Bimp Knoton and in exchange she helps us against Astral.
Raui is confused by who this is and Bethrynna explains that Astral is a being of destruction, hatred, evil, and power. Thydrom explains we've met them twice already and Raui asks if he took out Nioza. Thydrom explains that Nioza got distracted by books and then mentions everyone we've lost. At the mention of Lehroth's name she looks at him inquisitively and then he metions that he went by Ashbringer and Raui tackles Thydrom. Thydrom asks if she knows him and she just answers with "Who the fuck killed him?!?" Thydrom says that they aren't sure but we know him as the fake Soj. Raui immedietly turns her attention to killing the fake Soj and says that he needs to die. Thydrom explains that fake Soj could also be a threat to Grandia. Bethrynna asks if they think the fake Soj would be able to defeat her. Raui is determined to kill the fake Soj and makes a deal with Thydrom to deal with Grandia and then to go kill the fake Soj. They ask Bethrynna to join and she explains she has to tay there to protect the king and instead says to take Q with them as it's best if her and Skywatcher would stay and protect the king. Thydrom asks about the king and she mentions that he is stable and resting but is locked away for safety. She agrees to let Thydrom speak to him once Grandia is safe. Raui gets off of Thyrdrom and thanks Bethrynna and explains that she set something straight in her mind but doesn't go into details, mentioning she doesn't feel comfortable sharing her feelings in front of Thydrom. Bethrynna then says that she hopes the party's numbers don't dwindle any further and Thydrom explains specially since they can't resurrect anyone. This confuses her and he explains that the skill is not working currently. She thanks him for the information and starts rummaging through her papers on the table. They leave heading toward the college and run into Q tending to Pandjed's body. She explains that she's cleaning him up out of respect. Raui reaches out to Q in their mind and says "I can respect that, the dead will always be with us in our hearts". They then say out loud that we need to go head to the college and explains that Bethrynna said for her to come with us. Thydrom then casts a spell to prevent Pandjed from being resurrected by necromancy to which Q thanks. They then head out taking Q with them to the college.
The group heading towards the college sees that the windows are closed and the doors are locked. We see a figure standing in front of the college, they are waering a giant blue robe that coverss their head. They are about 6'5, and their hands are concealed in the sleeves. Wi Po speaks up and offers a greeting to which the person says that we're not to enter. Wi Po, Pippy, and Zandro try to convince him to let them in and he agrees to take one name to Hapicord. Snow offers up their name and the guard just sits their. Snow asks Pippy how long this usually takes and there is a little back and forth before the guard says we can enter but not to go to Skywatcher's Alley. He then warns us about any ruckuss and they will take us out. They put their hand on the wall and wind happens and the door opens up and we walk through. We make our way through the college and the halls are mostly empty and we see pretty much no one. We make our way to the lirary and the shelves are empty and it's a very barren area. We make our way towards Hapicord's office/home and Snow knocks. There is no answer. Wi Po starts shouting for Hapicord asking where he is. Wi Po suggests that maybe they are hiding and Pippy suggests that something could have happened to him and asks Zandro to open the door. Wi Po checks the door for magic and doesn't sense anything. Zandro tries to unlock the door but doesn't have any success. Pippy suggests again to try to open the door first and then reaches for the doorknob and it instantly opens. She turns to the group and rolls her eyes and just walks in.
Thydrom and Raui arrive at the college and meet the hooded figure. The figure says to speak their name and Raui gives their name and Thydrom's name. They asks why Raui is so casual with them and Raui says 'I don't know, why am I?" and casts destect thoughts but it is counterspelled. Raui sense this and counterspells it back to try to detect the surface thoughts. Raui hears "you really are doing this" and in her head hears "do I take them out now?". Raui says "Oh you're a dangerous one" and the figure says that they were told to let them in but are having doubts now. The figure then makes mention that Hapicord is not the top and then says that they are being watched and if they do anything the figure will kill them and will drag their corpse out themselves. Then they correct themselves and says they will kill the rest of the group in front of them first and make them watch. Thydrom checks if there is any undead around before they head too far in. They don't sense anything at this time. They head to the library and see the same sight, everything is turned around and bare. Raui calls out to see if anyone is there but gets no answer. But they do hear from the hallway Bimp Knoton running towards them. She's out of breath and greets them and explains this is the second safest place. Raui asks where Na'Raan is and Bimp says the last place she saw her was the library but is unsure where she is now and mentions a secret code. Bimp then asks where the rest of us are and Raui says they aren't sure cause they showed up last. She asks who we're staying with, Hapicord or if she needs to house anyone and Raui makes mention about Zandro and Bimp starts blushing and panicking. It's decided that Raui and Thydrom will find Zandor and extend the invite for Bimp for Zandro to join her in her room and everyone else can stay with Hapicord. Thydrom suggests tailing her and Raui suggests letting Zandro do his thing. They then make some jokes about Zandro getting it on with Bimp.
The other group enters Hapicords office and we see Hapicord on the ground. Above him stands someone in a black coat with a hood up. They turn around and put their hand up and we see some of their face and some markings start to show up on them. The group starts to scatter out of the way but a fireball hits Pippy in the face. Wi Po lunges at her to heal her a little. The figure then shows themselves and it's Astral. They praise us for listening to them and then steps over Hapicord's body and collects some notes. They start talking friendly with Zandro to which the party starts getting agrivated by the friendlyness. While this happens Snow whispers to Pippy to keep him distracted. So she summons four shadows and attacks Astral. It hits him but the damage bounces off of him and he starts walking towards Pippy. he inquires why she is focusing her rage on him and she states that he is part of the problem and mistreated Lehroth in the Feywild. While this conversation goes on Snow rips the papers from Astral's hands who sense him and immedietly puts Snow in chokehold. Wi Po turns into an Owlbear and gets ready to pounce. Astral then chokes Snow and starts to carry him through a portal and says that if we ever want to see him again, to follow him into the portal. Ra and Wi Po immedietly run into the portal and Zandro follows behind. Thydrom, Raui, and Pippy stay behind but Pippy hears in her head from Baoth "GO". She growls and forces her shadows she summoned in front of her and growls that she has to go in and then goes. Thydrom asks if it was Baoth and she just grunts. Raui and Thydrom misty step into the portal right before it closes.
Astral looks at us all and thanks us for joining and throws Snow to the side, finally letting him go. Where we are is dark, like a jail cell almost, and we see a hole in the wall that is illuminating the space. Astral says "Home, where I learned about despair. There is a reason why this prison is the worst as every prisoner has looked up to that light and imagined climbing up to freedom. Like shipwrecked men drinking sea water for an uncontrolable thirst and inevitably dying." He continues "as I terrorize Mynithural I will give them hope and you can watch me torture an entire city and when you can truly understand the depth of your failure we will fulfil destiny. We will destroy Mynithurl and it'll be done when it is ashes. That is when you have my permission to die." He then opens up a portal for us to go back. Thydrom ignores this speech and checks on if Snow is ok. Thydrom says next time Snow needs to let us know about his plans as Astral is not that easy. Snow then asks Astral if he is toying with us and askas about the "permission to die". Zandro suggests Astral just wants us to get the artifacts for him and Astral says that if he wanted them all to himself he could have done that already. Astral mentions how he could kill any one of us right now if he wanted to. Thydrom says hope is what drives people forward and is what gives us the drive to stand against him. Astral then mentions how he loves the despair in their dying eyes when they see everything they hoped for die. Thydrom says he will never get the satisfaction he is looking for from us. Thydrom then takes Snow and steps through the portal. Wi Po screetches in Owlbear form and motions to get in the portal. Raui then speaks "You make a lot of sense, but in the end you may win and that'll be it. That's life. We all die one day. Also, have a good time, if you're gonna be killing all of us enjoy it. Peace and see ya later." Wi Po turns back into his natural form and says that Astral is not very nice and he needs to stop hurting him and everyone else. Pippy says "We will stop you some way just as we have accopmlished everything else we've done so far." Astral says "I love how you hold onto your hope" and Pippy laughs and says "You think this is hope? Ha! You know nothing." and walks through the portal. Zandro hesistates to walk through the portal and Ra stands there and says that he isn't walking through until Zandro does and Zandro walks through. The rest of the party makes their way through.
Once on the other side Snow says he has good news and bad news. He shows his hands and has half of the documents that Astral was holding. He then shows his neck and he has a handprint around his neck, white like the one Lehroth had on his face. Zandro asks if it's his first time being choked. Bimp Knoton is standing at the door to Hapicords office and sees Hapicord collapsed and immedietly blames the group for hurting him. Zandro tries to explain it was Astral but she isn't listening. Thydrom stabilizes him and gets Bimp to calm down. She notices Pippy's shadows and asks about them and Pippy says they are for her protection. Bimp then says necromancy is banned here and has been for the past 50 years. Pippy then says that Bimp used necromancy against her in the wizards duel. Bimp is trying to talk her way out of it and playing off that she doesn't use necromancy. Then she states that she started using necromancy but is learning other things. Pippy keeps questioning and Raui detects her thoughts and dives in deeper and discovers that she wants to kill Bethrynna. Bimp's goal is to take over Grandia and get rid of all the bad poisoned blood. Zandro suggests we sleep on this and continuing questioning her in the morning and before he can finish his thoughts Raui casts a lightening bolt at her. Bimp goes flying across the floor and smacks into the wall. Zandro asks what is up with that and Raui says that she heard her thoughts and that she needs to die. Pippy turns to her and says "I was right!" and then sends her shadows onto Bimp and attacking her. Raui attacks with another lightening bolt. Bimp struggles to stand but does and says "I am going to bring down Grandia" and then looks to Zandro and says "I'm sorry Zandro, I really liked you" and the ground falls away and she falls down the hole.
Meanwhile Wi Po heals Hapicord and he stands up holding his head. Wi Po asks if he's ok and Hapicord asks about the hooded man. We explain he ran away. Meanwhile Zandro and Raui are looking at the hole and see that it goes down into a deeper hole and they feel the ground around them start to shake. Zandro hops down a floor into the hole. He is in the lunchroom. He looks into the hole and it's just a black hole from there. Snow asks if he sees anything down there. Raui offers to cast a fireball into the hole but Zandro finds a torch and lights it tossing it into the hole instead. He sees statues of Goliaths in a circle, as wide as the college. There are steps down there and it just keeps circling down. he doesn't see any way for him to get down from where he is but he does see that there is a path that leads down there. The fire finally hits the ground and the moment it does he hears a noise down there and the fire is put out. The noise was deep growl.
Zandro fills us in on what he sees and Thydrom suggests asking Skywatcher if he knows how to get down there. It's suggested that this may have once been an ancient stronghold of goliaths. Raui suggests getting to Bethrynna and warning her because Bimp was adamant on killing her. Zandro says he is going to linger back and search Bimp's room alone. At that moment Snow asks if Q would know something and Thydrom and Raui realize that Q is not near them. Thydrom reaches out to send Q a message, asking her where she is at but they get no response. Raui is nervous about seeing Bethrynna since they lost Q but the group decides to make their way back to the castle. Before they head back Thydrom casts a spell to sense where Q is but gets an image of her being dragged by her foot on some stone pathway. The party suggests that she is unconcious and is being dragged below us. Snow suggests that they stay behind so Raui can say that Q is with Snow. Raui is not a good liar. They start arguing about this and Zandro tries to give them advice on how to lie by telling half truths. Snow starts walking and Raui follows as does Pippy, Thydrom, and Wi Po. Zandro lingers back at the college. We try to go outside but there is a wall of air blocking us from going outside. The guardian is busy fighting the Rakasha. Pippy sends a message saying to let us out and we'll help but they turn their head as she does to see where this came from and they get hit but manage to drop the air shield.
Raui charges up an attack but the Rakasha dodges it. Pippy sends her shadows on him but he walks by unaffected. He then turns to Snow and says that he's disapointed in the people he's chosen for his friends. Raui then casts a spell but it has no affect on him. He then thanks the hooded figure for opening the door for him and mentions that he needs to finish his research. Raui goes to help the cloacked figure but they push her away and say "Don't fucking touch me, but thank you though" and they stand up, "you.. Raui right?" Raui nods and the cloaked figure says it's been a while since they've seen us and asks what we're doing now. Raui says that they caused a ruckus and should be killed. However the hooded figure removes their hood and we see that it's Eira. She mentions that Flux is over at the church protecting it. She mentions that they've been working for Soj and we ask which one they've been working with. Eira is confused and we mention that there are two Soj's and one is fake and we discover that she's been working for the fake one. She suggests getting Flux to fill them in on what has been going on as well. Raui then asks where all the people are in the college and Eira ensures them that they are all warded up in their rooms. We make our way to the church but Pippy hears in her head "I would like you to check on my servant in the church, the one that gifted Nioza that book. I want you to check on them and I would like you to do me one other favor. I want you to kill someone for me. This is one of the debts you must pay." Pippy then says that she will check on his servant and then Baoth will give her a name of someone she must kill, someone that she knows and has met before. Baoth then says that everything is for a reason and Pippy reassures him that she trusts him cause he hasn't steered her wrong yet and that she could use the distraction.
Snow is eagerly trying to get us to the church and Thydrom says he is looking forward to taking communion with his god. Snow is then distraught at the mention of gods and Pippy says "I wonder if there is a shrine for my god" and Snow just groans and says "OH GOD". Snow then makes a beeline for the church and we make our way there. We see someone in a big red robe, it is Flux. Eira suggests we go inside for a minute and Flux puts down her hood and mentions how Eira doesn't look so well. Eira says they'll explain when they get inside. Flux taps the wall and lets us in.