Chapter 4, Session 1: A road and a trial

General Summary

We picked up at the travelling casino, where the party (barring Hermione) teamed up to win a game of King - Sigholdt successfully won 1 gold piece and was now “King”, gaining a magic crown. The party chose to leave after that rather than risk more of their small amount of gold. Begrudgingly Hermione agreed to identify the crown, lying and claiming it was very powerful, and needed the use of the command word ‘Authority’. Sigholdt immediately unattuned from his anti-scry/tracking charm, only to learn that the crown can only glow and make a statement that he should be listened to as he is the king. The party set off in their Sandspeeder once more. Hermione was a stellar driver, and the party rather quickly came in sight of the next city. But not before another round of skill checks: Esmerae used Perception - success Malus used Survival - success Hermione used Arcana - fail Peregrine used Performance - fail (now canon that Peregrine can’t do music)
Sigholdt used deception to pretend Peregrine’s music was good, successfully rousing her morale and granting a final success to the skill checks.
Peregrine took a moment to speak with Esmerae, who agreed to help her with a con to sell the Ruinor’s Tome and regain some of their lost gold, before reading some more of the Dreamer’s Tome. Deciding to rest before entering the city, Sigholdt proceeded to dream. He dreamed of the familiar stone steps, although this time the first one had no writing on it. The second stone asked why he chose to stay, to which he responded “To find a purpose”. As Sigholdt slept, Crumble sat on his chest, apologising repeatedly as Hero simply stared at Sigholdt. Peregrine was on watch and asked Crumble if he was ok. Crumble apologised for failing “Her” but wouldn’t specify who, calling Peregrine a Lyar. When Sigholdt woke, she offered him some comfort and a friendly ear. Sigholdt eventually admitted that the “Her” Crumble referred to was a Waking that Sigoldt had once had an oath to protect. He had failed, and fled, leading to meeting the party. The pair bond, and Peregrine offered to cast Sending to his mother so he could stop running and start to face up for his actions, and see his family again. Sigholdt asked for some time to consider things, which Peregrine agreed to.
In return, Sigholdt offered to enter Peregrine’s dream, which she agreed to. After checking in on Malus (who is always watching), the pair go into Peregrine’s dream. The voices were very chatty, confirming that Peregrine was getting close, that they had kept up their end of the bargain, insinuating Whisper was in Diamond. Peregrine tentatively asked about “Lyars”, and the voices finally explained she was a liar - she had been a liar over many lifetimes, even when she tried not to be. Her attempts to be honest had led to Fionn’s death, Xanthier’s ruin and would lead the rest of the party to their doom. Sigholdt used his Prey Sense on the voices, realising they were somehow Quori, Nocta Mori and Dream Woven all at once. The voices called Peregrine a fool for thinking Sigholdt was safe, proving they knew he was there, but couldn’t hurt him in the dream. Finally, they stated there was nothing Peregrine could do to protect the party, but congratulated her for graduating from a cog to a spring, stating she could handle greater pressure, and was doing well. Sigholdt watched as the flames proceeded to burn Peregrine alive until the pair woke.
Peregrine woke with a new feat - Tormented. Sigholdt tried to comfort her, before asking about Whisper. With a quick backstory drop, he questioned how Whisper didn’t know he’d stolen a crown piece, finding it a bit dubious. Despite his attempts at comfort, Peregrine was not doing great. As the rest of the party woke up, they continued their journey towards Diamond, coming across an Omamori Shrine.
Everyone took a trinket and made a bouquet of Lavender, Dreaming Bark, Gloom Cluster and Cinder Branch. As the bouquets burned, a message appeared, stating: “We need a truth: heartfelt, true and new”. Malus, having watched and listened all night, encouraged Peregrine to speak her new truth. She confessed her discovery from her dream and disappeared. Malus eventually confessed he pees himself when he has a nightmare (after attempting to feign ignorance) and also vanished. Sigholdt confessed to being afraid of what’s happening to Hero and Crumble, as Esmerae and Hermione are secretive with their confessions.
Eventually, everyone passes and got to ask a question: Esmerae: Where’s Dawncrest? Far north, between the Slumbering INcisions and the Faux Lock. Sigholdt: Is there a way to harm/stop the Dream Woven? There are only ever 100 Dream Woven which cannot be harmed or killed except by Lunametal. Killing one also kills a piece of its creator. Peregrine: Who was I before I lost my memory? Numerous people, as she has lost her memory over and over and over again. She has been a smith, tailor, singer, dancer, politician, leader, soldier, criminal, thief and more. The only consistencies have been that she is always scared of fire, always has horrific dreams/nightmares, and always is capable of magic. Malus: Where is Luyarnha? Within the Long Night, and it will return when the True Long Night begins. Hermione: Is Wraith still alive in Diamond? Yes.
New words suddenly appear: The Kae’s Path dictates one fights a foe head-on and without fear: Are you willing to accept our challenge?
The party accept! Combat begins, with the stipulation that the party must follow the Kae rules and survive rounds - the more rounds survived, the more ability points the party can add to their stats. As Quori Minor Hunters appeared, Esmerae stabbed the nearest one. With a lucky lair action causing disadvantage to enemies, Peregrine Misty Stepped to gain some distance, casting Armour of Agathys for extra defence as Sigholdt and Malus moved in to tank against multiple foes. Esmerae killed a Quori that turned into a Parasitic Sliver. Hermione cast Mirror Image, which went on to save her multiple times! As Esmerae crit with her rapier and eldritch smite, she found herself knocked to the ground by a lair action causing the earth to shake. The enemies also evolved with the new round. Peregrine cast a Spiritual Weapon as she threw a Silvery Barb to help protect Esmerae as she was hit while prone.
With a quick Haste cast by Peregrine on Malus, the party watched as the enemies fully healed. Malus and Sigholdt dealt considerable damage between the two of them, though were also hit several times. Hermione cast Crushing Singularity, dragging one enemy away from the combat. After getting to her feet, Esmerae stabbed again before turning into her raven form to try and help shield Hermione and Peregrine. Peregrine sent a twinned Healing Word to Sigholdt and Esmerae, as well as a Ray of Frost at a Minor Quori Abstract, using her strange totem to make it afraid of her. Sigholdt and Malus tried to take down an enemy but only managed to get it near the edge of death. One of Esmerae’s Ravens tanked a hit for Hermione as Malus got roughed up by the Quori. Hermione shot out an Aether Lance, shoving surrounding enemies away from her and letting her run a path away from the main combat safely - with one Mirror Image still intact.
The party have successfully survived 3 rounds, with 1 ability point gained. Malus Haste rounds: 2 Esmerae planned to try and kill the very weak Quori next to Malus.

Report Date

18 Jun 2024