Session II: The Festival of Mothers

General Summary

Premise

The Festival of Mothers is finally here! The Festival is one of the most celebrated holidays in Therium, and the celebration in Cynhall is especially extravagant. The city holds plenty of options to celebrate the Festival. What could go wrong?

Session Events

After arriving in Cynhall on the Sharkfin, you spend the day before the Festival resting and recuperating after the difficult night beforehand. The next day, you awake in the Golden Seas Inn early. Despite the hour, the city is already bustling; people are in the streets setting up decorations, makeshift stalls in front of their homes, or otherwise preparing for the day's festivities. Swordguard and Ari make their way to the dining hall, where they purchase a big meal. They take their food out of the Inn, eating while patrolling the nearby streets. The people there don't seem to mind them, focused on setting up before the day's festivities begin. Jack also makes his way to the dining hall. He attempts to steal some food, only to be caught. Thankfully, the woman serving the food felt generous, not wanting to ruin the day so early. She sells Jack a partial meal. In the meantime, Kyros makes his way to the main room of the Inn, where the inn-workers are setting up for the day's competition. He helps them move some furniture. During this time, Xaravax is relaxing. Soon, the celebration for the Festival of Mothers begins! The streets are bustling with people; it seems like everyone in the city - plus many who have traveled across the kingdom to celebrate in the capital - is out on the streets. No one is working, except for those running the tournaments or selling goods. The party decides to travel together to the west square in the Merchant Ward, where stalls and shops are set up. They meet a dwarf selling some rare goods, as well as a magical staff with the head of a snake atop it. The party chooses not to purchase anything here, though Kyros does decide to find another shortsword from a blacksmith. After shopping, the group parts ways to participate in different competitions being run throughout the city. Ari makes her way to The Glorious Traveler Inn in the Upper Ward, where she enters a performance competition. She uses her affinity for water to perform a sort of water dance. Overall, her performance is average, and unfortunately she's unable to place in the competition. Jack travels to the Caldus Estate in the Upper Ward, home of one of the oldest families in Therium. There, he learns a bit about the history of Cynhall and the people who live there. He then enters the chess tournament. He puts up a valiant fight, but is unable to place. Kyros makes his way to The Poor Fish Tavern, where he enters a dice competition. He plays straight for a few rounds, before finally attempting to bluff his way to victory. Unfortunately, he too is unable to place. Xarvarax chooses to enter the Dueling competition, where he faced several tough goes in single combat. Through his superior abilities, he's able to place first. Similarly, Swordguard chooses to enter the Grand Melee. After a bloody brawl, Swordguard is able to come out on top. After participating in their respective competitions, the players decide to spend the next hour relaxing, recuperating, and taking in the sights of the festival. Jack makes his way to the castle. At half past eleven in the morning, the clock towers ring. The rest of the party, knowing that the ceremony for Prince Quin's nameday would begin at noon, made their way to the castle.When they arrived, the Grand Hall was already quite packed with onlookers; Jack managed to get a spot front and center to watch the ceremony, while the rest of the party stuck to the back and edges. They watched as King Hostus Accius Verulus, Queen Dexia Verulus, and Prince Quintus Mallius Verulus entered the hall.The Royal Family was a majestic sight, each member beautiful or handsome in their own right and holding themselves proudly. The King welcomed the crowd, thanking them for joining him to celebrate Prince Quin's twenty first name day and the Festival of Mothers. The crowd erupted in cheers; clearly, they love this family, especially the charismatic Prince Quin, who seems a little embarrassed as his father plays up his accomplishments. The party notices several members of the crowd who seem a little less excited, their cheers more restrained and...almost feigned. The Queen and Prince take a seat while the King launches into a speech. In the middle of the speech, screams could start to be heard from outside the castle. They're in the distance, in the direction of the Merchant Ward. The crowd becomes uneasy, nervous at what the screaming could be but wanting to be respectful of the King while he speaks. Feeling the tension, the party looks back to those individuals that stuck out. They looked less nervous, and the party noticed how they made eye contact with each other. The King finally acknowledges the screams, urging those present to remain calm. Swordguard moves to leave the Grand Hall in order to investigate, but before he can exit, a large explosion erupts in the middle of the room, instantly killing many of of the citizens in the center of the crowd and blowing out several of the beautiful stained glass windows. Chaos and panic ensues. The guards at the front of the room immediately move to protect the King and Queen, and Prince draws the two longswords at his hip. The crowd starts to rush out of the room, cries and screaming filling the air. The party stands their ground, and they notice that several other members of the crowd do as well. They recognize three of those people as three of the other passengers who came here on the Sharkfin with them. They watch as four of those who stuck around lower their hoods. One is a woman with long, illustrious black hair and deep green eyes. Another has a blue tattoo running down the left side of her face, over her eye. Another has a similar tattoo, but over his right eye. The last has a tattoo running from his chin, over his lips, and to his nose. Four others stick around, wearing black leathers and with weapons at their hips. The man with the blue tattoo over his face approaches the woman with the black hair. He addresses her as "Portia", stating that they need "them" alive and referencing a prophecy. Portia responds that she knows what the prophecy says, and starts making her way to the front of the hall. The guards have ushered the King and Queen off to a side holding room, while the Prince bravely stood his ground. He threatens the woman, Portia, that he would not allow her to hurt his parents. Portia reassures him that it is not the King and Queen that they're here for. Portia then raises her hands and start to say magical-sounding words, starting to cast a spell. A difficult battle ensues. The attackers move to protect Portia as she casts her spell, while Prince Quin joins the party in their attempts to stop Portia from finishing her spell. As more of Portia's peers start to fall, the male with the blue tattoo urges her to finish her spell and escape without them, if necessary. Finally, she finishes channeling the energy required to cast the spell. Her eyes glow bright white, the effort required to channel the spell clear as she groans in pain. Portia falls to her knees as the white immediately turns to pools of darkness; she rips her gloves off, revealing black tattoos running along the backs of her hands and down her fingers. Portia holds her hands out, tendrils of darkness emerging from them and running to each of the party members, as well as Prince Quin. The tendrils encompass the party's and the Prince's face, obscuring their vision and nearly choking them with how oppressive they are. While some of the party members try to continue the fight, they have difficulty due to their inability to see. Prince Quin is unable to continue, finding it incredibly hard to breathe. After a short amount of time, the tendrils withdraw, just as Portia makes her escape through a portal. Some of the party is unconscious, as well as Prince Quin. The others finish off the remaining attackers. As they notice the guards returning, however, they're overcome with exhaustion - and the effects of the spell - and fall unconscious as well. Even in their unconscious state, the players and Prince Quin hear a calm, feminine voice rings through each of their minds, but they only hear a few words...perhaps part of something bigger?

Jack: "Heretic and Savior,"
Ari: "Fated in Life..."
Kyros: "...His grim Return,"
Stormguard: "Her Might and Light..."
Xarvarax: "...and her Allies...
Quin: "Not without great sacrifice,

Repercussions

Xarvarax and Swordguard gain renown for their combat prowess throughout Cynhall.
Cynhall is attacked by unknown assailants, some of which are magical in nature.
The party and Prince Quin are unconscious in the Grand Hall of the castle.
The King and Queen are safe.