Session 17: Adjustments and Plans

General Summary

Summary: 2 pts.

Afternoon and evening, outside the Llyrian Moon Facility

Coming to terms with the loss of Nock

Sunny: mourning an absent friend and vowing to find him

Saf inquires as to Sunny's mental state. Sunny explains that he misses his friend, who was "a good dude" despite them only being acquainted a short while. Saf requests that Sunny elaborate - Sunny points out that Nock was always willing to talk despite many considering Sunny to be "kinda slow." Sunny explains that he seems to keep losing people and he doesn't like it. Saf and Sunny sit together in quiet conversation for a while.
When Sunny returns to the main group, he puts a hand on Leucis's shoulder and says he's glad the cleric is still here, and that they will find Nock.

Maya: Breaking the news to Cinnamon

Maya casts Speak with Animals to explain the sad news about Cinnamon's owner. Cinnamon doesn't seem to fully comprehend the situation and takes the news in stride.

Leucis: A feeling of abject failure and vowed revenge

The loss of Nock and the escape of literally all of the recently-fought lycanthropes has Leucis feeling like he has failed Selune, so he kneels by the pond in quiet prayer for forgiveness. He notes that the prayer feels much as it always does, but that it's very different from the more direct feeling of the encounter from the prior night. Leucis isn't sure how to replicate the intensity or immediacy of his experience, and finds it confusing and unsettling how much it contrasts from the usual trappings of the religion.
After some time, Maya and Leucis discuss the cleric's feelings on the matter. Maya suggests that the only reason the lycanthropes survived was that they ran away. Leucis thinks he may be able to contact Nock using some of Selune's magic, but may need to wait for a more opportune moment. Maya and Leucis commisserate over their shared desire to destroy the lycanthropes for the damage done to their respective homelands (as well as being abominations against Selune).

Housekeeping, maps, and inventory

• Maya inventories Cinnamon's pack saddle and shares the contents with the party.
• Kolvonnin sets up camp and gathers wood.
• Ol'Harb tries to pitch in but is dazzled by how well Kol is doing at all these routine tasks.
• Kolvonnin inquires about the map from the shield, and Maya indicates that based on what he's seen, it matches up with an area near Sunny's hometown but it would likely take a couple of weeks to travel that distance.
• Maya also puts together that the sun symbol on the map likely refers to Sunhaven based on the rumor fron Harridra Flintchip.
  Main Continent

  Open full size
• There's some sugestions about going to the tabaxi enclave as a stopover point for more information on the way to the region depicted by the shield etch.
• Maya inquires whether travel there might be done via river. Sunny explains that the river is pretty swampy and the banks move during the rainy season, so it could be rough going as they'd have started to recede (this being the tail end of the summer). Most travel there is handled overland for reasons like this.
• The plan so far is to see if Roger knows anything about these map points and then head that direction. Potentially do something similar in Grayhill.
• Speaking of Roger, there's a consensus around advising him to exercise a bit more discretion in explaining the group's whereabouts and goals. Maya is a bit more... enthusiastic... about this conversation involving fangs around throats.
• For her part, Saf is not perturbed by this discussion and is glad the group thinks she's useful given the level of concern.
• Saf volunteers as quartermaster/purser for the group at large. There's some discussion of setting up a war chest.
• Maya volunteers to take over Cinnamon's care and maintenance.
• The group settles on new Watches and Marches based on the new party composition.

Overnight watches

Sunny/Harb: Breeze from the east. Uneventful.
Harb: Temp cooling a bit. The pond lights up brightly.
Saf/Maya: Saf inquires about the glowing pond. Maya suggests that the pond and the fountain may have a similar source or be otherwise connected. Maya mentions there's rain on the way, likely in the morning.
Kolvonnin/Leucis: A quiet watch.

The next day (29th Stormwake, Clothday)

The party starts the day ahead of the rain, but the more perceptive among them can smell it on the wind. Harb takes a minute to refill his waterskin from the pond, and alerts the others that the water is fresher than it has any right to be.

Return to the Llyrian Facility

At the top of the ramp, Maya uses Speak with Animals to assure Cinnamon that the noise outside is just stormy weather. For his part, Cinnamon seems pretty unconcerned about the whole ordeal. Maya casts Darkvision upon entry. The large stone shields seem undisturbed from their placement the day before.

20: Room of the Tree

Light comes from a section of the ceiling (which is domed, about 30’ high in the center and 20’ high at the edges) - it appears solid but emits sun or moonlight depending on the time of day. In the middle of the room is a large tree, with brownish bark and gray-green leaves.
A few people notice that the door in the northwest wall was not open when the group fought with the scarecrows and statues.
Harb and Saf check into the offshoots to the south. The others check out the current room; nothing stands out as being different from the prior visit. The group decides to verify the eastern rooms are empty before heading deeper into the facility.

TreeKeeper’s Quarters

The ruins of a bed and chest of drawers are piled in a corner. The door to this room has a lock that appears to be broken.

Harb determines that the broken status of the lock is a recent occurrence. Leucis and Sunny verify that the locks were opened but not broken on their last visit - Jasperia picked them previously. The destruction of the furniture looks pretty methodical as a means of thoroughly searching, as in several rooms before.

TreeKeeper's Archives

The ruins of a set of filing cabinets are piled in a corner. The door to this room has a lock that appears to be broken.
The group decides to verify the eastern rooms are empty before heading deeper into the facility.

Slightly melted floor, lightly charred walls...

The ruins of several tables, benches, and beds are piled along the south wall. The walls show partially-removed signs of multiple explosions, and the floor appears to have been either melted or partially dissolved in several places. Aside from the broken furniture there is little else of note in the room. Light can be seen coming from the west hallway.

The group does a quick investigation of the cells off to the north.

Sleeping Cell A

The room smells faintly of soot, but is empty.

Sleeping Cell B

The room smells faintly acrid, but is empty. One corner of the room shows signs of acid damage on the stone.

Sleeping Cell C

The room is empty.

Sleeping Cell D

This room is empty. There's a small broken stone panel in the southeast corner.
Harb pokes his head into the offshoot room.

Hidden Closet

This room is empty.
The group theorizes that someone without skill or patience was trying to search this place. They cautiously head into the opened (previously hidden) door, and check the rooms to the north and south.

Garden Tool Storage

This room appears empty.

Observation?

This room has a single chair that faces a stone wall. The west wall looks into the tree room, somehow... A solid circle and an empty circle are carved into the stone in the north side of the northwest corner; sliding a finger from the solid to the empty causes the west wall to become transparent, or back to opaque..
Maya is immediately suspicious of the chair, it being the sole piece of unbroken furniture. The wall feels like stone, despite it seeming to be clear. Maya notes the similarity to the bridge in Stonebridge and the roof of the Temple of Selune.

***Due to significant technical difficulties and potential encounters looming, we elected to stop early.***

Rule clarifications:

1. Which party members need uninterrupted rest?
   RAW has this to say on the matter. The salient points:
   • A long rest is (at least) 8 hours of downtime, during which at least 6 hours is spent sleeping. The other two hours can be spent standing watching, talking, eating, and similar light activities. An interruption of a full hour (combat, fleeing, other adventuring stuff) means the rest is spoiled and would have to start again.
   • Some races have exceptions to these outlines. Ol'Harb, for example, can complete a long rest in 4 hours if he spends it appropriately ("in an inactive, motionless state, during which you retain consciousness.")
   • This came up during a discussion about standing watch and uninterrupted rest (which was a concern in prior iterations of the system).

Next steps:

1. Attempt to contact Nock via Sending?
2. OOC discussion about party inventory on the party loot sheet
3. Create a party avatar token (GM).
4. Suggest some magic items your characters would want to appear in the nearish future.

Session Feedback

Eddy: Not moving around pieces would be good.
Heather: No real feedback. Easier if we did single token for exploration.
James: Movement items.
Jeremy: Single token would be good.
Matt: May want to streamline exploration bits going forward. Otherwise good.
Meg: Rehashing the same facility is getting a bit old.
John: Probably done by middle of next session.