OttL Session 13: Gambling with Gods and Planes

General Summary

The party settles in to play poker with the gods. Penguin is of course already there, since he is the host. The first guest is Deep Sashelas, followed by Nemain, The Traveler, and Olidammara.
Introductions and pleasantries are made. Nemain is actually just one of three sisters that form a single goddess known as The Morrigan. One of her "sisters" is at war in Durhambia and the other is in the beastlands doing "some fancy diplomatic shit". Nemain herself appears to be quite eccentric, with a loud harsh voice, a lot of cursing, and just a general lack of clarity in wording. When she sees Natsu, she says

Oh! You're the snow! You play tricks on yourself!

This line of conversation is cut short when the traveler whispers in her ear.

We don't talk about that, remember?

The Traveler still has the staff given to him by Memento Vitae. It is now covered in small carvings and trinkets, which The Traveler says he collected from people he has talked to during his travels. He also talks to Ignacio Icarsus about his title (ÆϢͶ). He says the individual characters are "Ash", "Shei", and "Digamma", but their placement without spaces implies that it is meant to be pronounced at once, like "Asheidigamma". What does that mean? He doesn't know. Comprehend languages didnt tell him anything, which implies they are the names of people or places. On the other hand, he has not found anyone who recognizes them. This implies that they are so old that no living person would know what they are. As for why it has become Ignacio's Title, Nemain claims it is due to some "weird-ass future shit". When pressed for details she says:

It's like a cow standing on a wheel of cheese and eating the moon!

Play begins. Ignacio Icarsus is eliminated in the first round and returns to the ship to visit Hobbs and Izar. Memento Vitae is eliminated soon after. There is some small talk about Tornac, and then Thaiva Phenol is also eliminated.
Now that Natsu is the only mortal left at the table, she switches to speaking in celestial and very bluntly asks the gods what it is they dont talk about. There is a lot of laughter, especially from Nemain, followed by a persuasion roll. She rolls well, but the response she gets from the yuan-ti is less helpful than she had hoped:

Imagine, like, a fox biting on her own tail and jumping into a pile of snow and shouting "I LOVE YOU!" It's like that!

Natsu chides her for being so vague with her predictions, but Nemain insists that her way is far more entertaining. Natsu presses both her and Penguin for more details or a translation of some kind, but ultimately gets very little new information. She does get Nemain to say that if she talks about it then it might not happen.
Play continues, and The Traveler is eliminated next. He goes over to make small talk with Memento Vitae, talking once again about the staff and asking about how he is getting on with his medusa curse. These pleasantries out of the way, he also turns to Thaiva Phenol. He tells her about a wonderful place on the Astral Sea known as The Toad's Boardwalk.
Now that death is ruled by Olidammara instead of The Raven Queen, death is much less pushy than it used to be. This has enabled departed souls to stay on the island and wait to meet their loved ones. In fact, The Traveler claims to have met Arianna Weskey on The Toad's Boardwalk. The Traveler tells Thaiva Phenol that "Daisy" was there with her brother and her dog. The Traveler then hands Thaiva Phenol a beautiful scarf, created by Arianna Weskey herself, and reminds her that she is now technically capable of going to visit her on The Toad's Boardwalk.
As this is happening, poker continues. Natsu is eventually eliminated and proceeds to sneak off and search the castle. She rolls a series of very high numbers, including multiple crits, leading to her finding Tornac's personal chambers, locating a large phoenix egg within, and successfully stealing it and bringing it back to Barry the Airship. As the group reconvens on the ship her thievery is discovered, and the crew eventually shames her into dropping it over the side of the ship. Phoenix eggs are nigh indestructible, so it suffers no meaningful damage in the process. Ignacio Icarsus scolds Natsu, and she eventually agrees to cut him a deal: if Ignacio Icarsus catches her stealing something, then she will give it back. She will "take that as a challenge".
Hobbs also has a private talk with Natsu. the two plot to stage an intervention of sorts, since the crew seems to be having a lot of problems with internal conflict.
After these shenanigans are over, the party discusses where to go. They eventually settle on returning to Murdoch to ask about the planes shifting around and see what can be done about it. A jump is made, but they miss and wind up at an unknown location in the Prime Material Plane. Hobbs and Natsu are on deck discussing this development when Ignacio Icarsus triggers the jump again, nearly knocking them off the ship.
On the second jump, the party winds up in a strange gray region that appears similar to Mirror Lake in Durhambia. The problem is, there is no color anywhere. Everything is completely grayscale, except for the members of the crew. With some rolls and investigation, this turns out to be the Shadowfell. Ignacio Icarsus wants to jump again, but the balance in the elemental core is off, so instead the party parks the ship in the lake and shuts down the engine in the hopes that things will settle down. In the distance, however, a large bone dragon can be seen flying directly towards them. After a lot of frenzied panic, the situation is eventually resolved by Ignacio Icarsus stabilizing the engine and jumping again without aiming.
The party finds themselves in the Elemental Plane of Air, near what appears to be a large army of aarocokra performing military exercises. The session ends as the army approaches Barry the Airship.

Report Date

02 Aug 2020