OttL Session 27: The Age of Coalescence

General Summary

RP Roundup

• Femtid predicts she will die within a month
• Thaiva Phenol hums a song, but cant remember anything but the tune. It makes her think of the time just after Arianna Weskey died, which she has almost no memory of
• Hobbs and Natsu go on a shopping trip in Stasterry. Gifts are distributed, including a new shield for Thaiva Phenol and a magical prosthetic eye for Memento Vitae
• Natsu gives a child a bag of marbles
• Hobbs makes donuts
• extensive beach shenanigans
• A wild Dreamonskii appears, looking for Bosgosho but instead grabbing Natsu by the leg. He is rather confrontational at first, until Femtid calms him down by talking to him in infernal. After this, he is just very sad and sits staring at the water for a long time. Eventually he confides:

We made a promise, once. Had a contract for it and everything. It was your idea, Hobbs. You told me you didn't want to lose who you were again. That I should make you remember. But then you did forget, and you didn't tell me about it. And I think you did it on purpose. And now we're here. What am I supposed to do with that?

• Hobbs doesn't know how to help, but does gift Dreamonskii with a turtle. Dreamonskii dubs it 'T' before flying back home to Lucileastil.
• Memento Vitae asks Femtid to go with him to buy flowers in Stasterry. This is essentially a date, escorted by Natsu and Thaiva Phenol.
• Femtid asks Thaiva Phenol to teach her how to fight, and Thaiva agrees.
• Femtid asks Natsu a lot of questions about what its like to have Moon Plague.

Did the Avatar Time Travel?

There is some debate at the beginning of the session whether to investigate the "beacon" or to visit Murdoch. Eventually the party settles on Murdoch, who they finding his workshop performing experiments on an Ouroboros Pendant. Murdoch claims it was given to him by Tsukiko to see if he could reproduce the enchantment. He has also been serving as a consultant with her regarding a cure for Moon Plague.
Murdoch has not been able to identify the deity responsible for the Ouroboros Pendants. Natsu takes a wild guess that this is because the deity responsible does not exist yet. This prompts considerable questioning from Murdoch, and eventually she lets slip that her mother had come back through time using Istus' Music Box. Natsu claims not to know anything else, which Murdoch sees as a disappointment.
Murdoch says that he had recently consulted with Nihilo about The World of Forms. It seems strange that the effects of the current age are manifesting so quickly, while in previous ages it required several centuries. This was originally assumed to be a result of a higher population throughout The multiverse, but could also be explained by someone traveling back in time and unwittingly taking the avatar with them.
Natsu explains that this could be a result of Tsukiko using the Music Box, but Ignacio Icarsus recalls an arcane bit of history and points out that the music box sends people back in time by transferring the new consciousness into the old body. In other words, it would not explain why there are two separate versions of Tsukiko. There is some further inconclusive theorizing before they move on to the next topic.

Medieval Eye Surgery

Memento Vitae requests assistance from Murdoch to have one of his eyeballs gouged out to replace it with the Ersatz eye acquired by Natsu between sessions. Murdoch does not know how to do this, and it is a dangerous operation on account of the medusa curse, but he volunteers the services of his intern Craig to perform the task. Vannis and Thaiva Phenol accompany him during the operation, in which Memento Vitae takes significant injuries and Vannis vomits on the floor. The operation is successful, however, and Memento Vitae regains sight from one eye.

Hobbs' bag

Murdoch attempts to explain to Hobbs how his bag works. Hobbs seems to understand, but throws out three more fuzzballs. He gets two "Pirate Apes", and a Jackal. Natsu later attempts to pet the jackal and is allowed to boop the snoot.

Moon Plague Science

The Moon Plague appears to be a purely magical phenomenon, brought on by the current avatar. Ignacio Icarsus wants to assist in finding a cure, but a cure has technically been found, and even tested on Kiri. Her and Luna now have separate bodies, but they are still bound to each other and can speak telepathically. They also suffer negative effects when spread too far apart from one another. It was accomplished through an incredibly complicated ritual which even Murdoch himself is not currently capable of casting.
Ignacio Icarsus suggests attempting to place the second soul inside of an object instead of a physical body. That has not been tried yet, partially due to strong concerns expressed by Moon Plague patients and partially due to the difficulties of accomplishing such a thing. Research has been progressing quickly, thanks in part to Tsukiko providing a great deal of background information. Some of this is written in infernal, and appears to have been stolen from the nine hells.
Ignacio Icarsus volunteers to assist in the research effort, and is given a sending stone to communicate with Nihilo from anywhere.

Fumigation

Murdoch is hired to fumigate Barry the Airship by repeated castings of cloudkill. Izar pays 300 gold for the service.

Murdoch Wants to go to the Moon

Before the party leaves, Murdoch asks them to humor him on something. He once again mentions his desires to go to the moon. If the gods themselves have not even set foot there, he reasons, then who knows what might be up there? It might change everything, it might have a cure for Moon Plague. Natsu and Femtid tell him about their visions of a giant space dragon and Murdoch walking around inside of its interior finding lots of technology that was beyond their comprehension.
It is a dangerous proposition, however. If the gods themselves cannot reach the moon, then death may work differently there. After all, how is a soul supposed to find its way to the Astral Sea if even a god cannot reach where the soul has passed on? This unknown poses a significant danger, and the party is mixed on whether or not that is a risk worth taking or not. Thankfully, Murdoch is not asking anyone to sign their lives away; instead, he is saying that this is a long term goal of his and he would be interested in purchasing Barry the Airship, or even just the prototype it carries, in order to help shorten the time it will take him and his team to make it to the moon.
Murdoch even goes so far as to offer to take some of the party to the moon with him. The implications of this would be that the next campaign would be science fiction. No decisions are made immediately, however, and so the party returns to the ship.

Izar Might Leave

Izar confides in the crew that he is considering leaving the airship to become an Archfey on the Seelie Court. He is still uncertain whether or not he even wants to do so, but the crew is supportive of either choice.
The crew then debates more near term plans. They want to go to the Feywild, but Izar warns that time is weird in the Feywild, so the party delays that plan slightly to check in on Polaris and Duncat first. Most of the party fails their saves and therefore takes heavy damage during the trip.

Checking in at Polaris

After the Stasterry shenanigans are settled, there is some general nonsense and eventually the party decides their next destination should be the Feywild. Izar warns that time is weird in the Feywild, so the party delays that plan slightly to check in on Polaris and Duncat first.
In Polaris, Memento Vitae checks in on his mother Memento Caritate. She has been keeping pretty busy, and is concerned about the state of the city, but otherwise seems to be handling herself fine, despite having caught Moon Plague and becoming part platypus. Memento Vitae asks her about his father, but she first claims that he has no father at all (he left, after all), then eventually caves and changes her answer to say she doesn't know. The man she slept with gave her a fake name.
Hobbs also speaks to her, asking about how to grow flowers.

Duncat

The party travels to Duncat, leaving the events there to RP chat between sessions.

Report Date

08 Nov 2020