Session 6: All a big misunderstanding, really
General Summary
Session nr.6 19/01/2022
Wednesday, 19 January 2022
19:01
They return to the party and share their new knowledge. Doctor Hasnar was the Headmistress' husband. Ruyi too shares she had met up with the doctor back in Crane's Hill. After spending most of the rest tending and healing his own wounds, Haarin is able to stand up again. He turns to Ruyi with a defeated look on his face. He starts of with an apology to her, and says the only reason he will share this now is so she's aware of his motive, and what he must do when the time comes. He begins to speak of his past, how he used to work around Tharkos with a good friend of his, working jobs everywhere. Despite this, he ended up in a deep debt. One day he got a job to take out a witch or hag that was causing large amounts of trouble. He confronted and fought it alongside his ally, and was able to get the upper hand, which led the witch to flee. However as she did, she turned to Haarin and cursed him in a language he could not understand.
That very night he returned home, only to find his wife murdered on the floor. Above her his daughter stood, blade in hand and eyes completely black, her veins swollen. His son was nowhere to be found. His daughter ran towards him, but he didn't resist. Instead, he embraced her, as she plunged the blade into his back over and over. AS he was losing consciousness, the last thing he could remember was seeing his friend separate them and decapitating his daughter with his axe. After that fateful day, he became a mercenary. This is how he came into contact with Ruyi's father, who gave him a second chance at life. However while he was unconscious, the spirited came to him and revealed who this witch was that cursed him. "That demon, was your mother." Haarin says, looking Ruyi dead in the eyes. "I want to tell you now, should I ever happen to come across her; I will kill her without hesitation."
Everyone is baffled for a moment, until deciding they should probably move on. Despite the main exit being blocked by Subject 23, there are still a few side paths that the robot claims she has no knowledge of where they might end up. Ruyi however wishes to speak to Haarin privately immediately. The party allows them to, though Silvio hangs behind to listen in on their conversation. Ruyi expresses how she feels almost betrayed by Haarin, as not only did he accuse her mother just like those in her past have (revealing that her mother was at one point condemned), but he did it in front of everyone, putting the spotlight on her and making her look horrid if she had gone against him. Haarin tells her this issue will not get in the way of him protecting her, however that is not Ruyi's concern at the moment. Nevertheless they continue walking, though tensions are high between them.
As they continue deeper into the caverns, Yfirge, who was leading, slips and slides down a steep wall, eventually reaching a more open space with a bridge built over a chasm. On his end, a Drow man sits. On the other end is a woman wielding a bow. As the rest of the party carefully makes their way down, the Drow tells them beyond the bridge his tribe is located, as well as a way out of the caves. They however must trade him food for passage. Yfirge nods towards Lucién, who still has the most rations, but Guy instead walks forward and grabs the man by his face, slamming him into the ground. He tells him they'll simply pass without payment, and begins to cross the bridge. The woman on the other side aims her bow at him, but as he comes closer she begins to tremble and lose her courage. As the rest walk by, Ruyi apologises on everyone's behalf to the Drow man and the bow lady, however they are too terrified to reply.
They walk for two hours, until suddenly Guy turns around, pushes Lucién to the side and begins to attack the party. They attempt to fight him off, until he gets punted by Dust, which brings Guy back to his senses. Something had successfully infiltrated his mind causing him to attack his allies. As they walk on, pained and bruised, they come to find out why. The walls have gone from iced-over to this strange, gold-like metal. Gears and strange silvery engravings adorn the hallways they now find themselves in. Founder architecture. As they reach a pair of doors very similar to the ones Dust saw behind Subject 23, they take a moment to check up on eachother. Silvio notes how Haarin's wound is still not fully healed, and how he has no armour since they left it behind when they crossed the frozen lake. Nevertheless, they decide to enter. Opening the doors, they find themselves in a large, very clean room with a functional fountain in the middle. They have found the Founder Ruins.
After looking at all the doors, Guy randomly picks a direction and the rest follow. Inspecting room after room, they come across boxes that are impossible to break with nor magic nor claws, a butchered robot that Silvio wishes to bring along, something resembling a circular cleaning robot, some cleaning supplies, and a large room with furniture that has been torn apart with signs of battle, all except for a single chair standing in the middle, untouched. After checking all the rooms, they decide to go into another direction and eventually find some stairs leading downward, loud metallic clanging can be heard from below.
They hear what sounds like a voice. The party continues, and sees two large figures engaged in combat. One appears to be mechanical, his whole body covered in metal and wielding a great sword encrusted in ice. The man opposite of him is wielding a large blade as well, but his is trailing with fire and radiant energy. They both turn to the group. "You there, please help me." the fire wielding man says. "Newcomers, assist me" the mechanical one proclaims. Yfirge runs in first and demands more context to the situation, however he does not get much. Guy runs up as well and begins to attack the mechanical one. Yfirge, remembering they need an "artefact" sees the mantle the mechanical one is wearing is adorned with golden chains. He cuts them loose, careful not to harm the robot. Dust behind them, jumps on top of the fountain that is in the centre of the room and calls for attention, which he does get for a moment, until Guy continues to attack. Silvio then runs up and yells at everyone to stop, followed by him absolutely going ham on them for action so irrational and stupid. He calls everyone children, willing to murder someone purely on a coin flip to determine who is in the right. He gains the flame wielding man's respect, as well as the mechanical one, and combat comes to an end.
After hearing both out, they find out that the mechanical one is named "234" and is here to defend Founder artefacts from falling into the wrong hands. The flame wielding man is named Prime Vitamancer Oslo, and is from Tharkos. He is here on a mission to retrieve a single artefact, an item resembling a crown. 234 claims he is capable to trading the artefacts for items of similar value, however Oslo had no such items on him and thus decided combat was the best decision. The party introduces themselves, of note is Yfirge who suddenly calls himself Finn instead. Nevertheless, 234 informs everyone that again, he is capable of trading the artefacts and relics if given something in return. Oslo tells the group he will go out and seek such an item, and takes his leave. However as he does, Ruyi calls him over and tells him in private how she too hails from Tharkos, and knows who Oslo is; he works for Telarus.
She asks about his mission, and he explains it us a government case. He trusts her due to her being not only Tharkian but also her being a Bloodworthe. He has many other duties to do here in Kinnorath, but it all leads into getting this specific relic from the Founder Ruins, and thus he shall return as soon as he possibly can. Ruyi offers assistance in the form of writing to her dad, and if he gives her a few more days she can travel to Pyeerest, from where she can use its postal office and send the letter. Oslo takes off his helmet, revealing despite his massive size, he is just human. He smiles at her, and tells her he will give in a good word to his higher ups. Oslo turns to look at the party who are still talking to 234, and says her friends are good people. With that he gives her a friendly nod, and exits the room.
Ruyi returns to the rest, who have convinced 234 to show the party the artefacts he guards. With a movement of the hand, five items appear on the pedestal behind him. From left to right, there are a large red gemstone similar to the item Lucién got from Doctor Hasnar to gift to his parents, a mechanical lock with an unknown purpose with a blade on top, a crown, an odd contraption made up of gears and mechanical arms with a brittle looking gem embedded in the middle, and lastly a strange hook-like item. Ruyi specifically asks which of the items are able to "transport" someone from one plane to another. 234 points towards the 4th item, the machine. He explains it can damage the protective layer around Joran for a small moment in order for something to be let "inside". Unfortunately its source of power, the gem, has worn over time and lost most of its power. If she wishes to use it to it's full extend, she'll need to get a new one. When asked about the first item, the red gemstone, 234 explains it can heal ailments caused by the body, but not those from external sources. Finn seems to have his gaze fixated on the fifth item, the hook.
Ruyi shows her pendant to 234 and notes it was her mothers, which makes Haarin look up. She however is not planning to trade it, instead pulling out the wand they found in the Crane's Hill Mines. After some discussion, Silvio and Lucién are willing to give up their magical items (Lucién's mantle and Silvio's new gloves) in addition to Ruyi's wand in order to have enough to trade for the device. 234 accepts, and so they obtain the item Ruyi needs to fulfil Jim's request. As then turn around to inspect the item and Dust begins to tell them their trade might not have been worth giving away all of their magical items, Finn approaches 234 and trades the golden box with the stone they found in Crane's Hill Mines for the hooked item, going unnoticed by the others. Lucién teases Ruyi, claiming she is now indebted to him and Silvio, and how he'll write a letter to her dad. Afterwards the party asks 234 if they can help them out of the Founder Ruins, and he offers to teleport them to the surface. Saying their goodbyes, they soon find themselves back out in the cold air. Finn is beyond delighted, though the nobles had forgotten how cold the outside was.
As they set up camp, Ruyi wishes to inspect the device. She finds out pretty much exactly what 234 had told her, and tells the group she shall refrain from using the device until Jim contacts her again. Lucién and Silvio however, come forward and tell her technically the item doesn't belong to just her, and that they themselves are allowed to decide what to do with the item. They wish to use it first and see what it does, much to Ruyi's disagreement. With two people stacked up against her, she concedes and tells them not to make any dumb decisions, then goes to rest in her tent. Lucién and Silvio begin to debate whether they should really push it or not, until Silvio says they'll both press the big button at the same time. Without too much thought, they push down onto the device.
After a rumble and a flash of light, the gem in the device shatters into pieces. As the light fades, a figure is seen hunched over in the snow in front of them. The figure begins to lift itself off the ground, leaning on a cane adorned with a snake's head at the end. He is dressed quite nicely, and has long sleek hair. He looks from person to person including Ruyi, who exited her tent due to the loud noise. One by one, the man points to the party members with his cane, saying their names in a strange tone. Lastly landing on the lizardfolk. He takes a second, then says "Finn". He pulls out a golden necklace adorned with two golden dice, and throws it over. "It once belonged to your brother, but I feel you'll have more use for it" he says. Finn looks confused. "My... Brother?" The man then introduces himself as Saan, and claims they have helped him quite a lot. He's been trying to get to Joran for some time now.
He explains he hails from Ekellos, a different planet. "Do you know Jim?" Silvio asks. Saan laughs, and says he indeed knows a Jim, he is an old friend of his. He says they could have helped him if they knew how to correctly utilise the device. Ruyi glares at Silvio and Lucién, very annoyed. Saan continues, asking If any of them find themselves in Hislathil, otherwise known as God's Haven located in the centre of the world, to do him a favour and use whatever's is located in there. He then looks at his wrist where he wears a strange device. "Theres something at the heart of Hislathil, something myself and many others want. Joran is weakening, thus sooner or later we'll all get in. It all depends on who manages to get there first." Saying his goodbyes and wishing them good luck, Saan teleports away, and the party is left standing there dumbfounded. Aliens are real, and apparently they are trying to find out the Founder's secrets. Unfortunately though Hislathil is not easily entered due to The Abyss that has taken over.
They finish setting up their camp, and Lucién and Guy fantasise about taking a vacation to another planet. Meanwhile Dust and Finn have gone out hunting, and Dust confronts Finn about his sudden name change, noting how he's been acting different since he returned form Pink. Finn claims his name has always been Finn, and that he never called himself Yfirge. Dust pries a little more, asking for what he recalls. Finn explains he knows everything about their trip, but his memories go as far back as him waking up with the ring around his finger. He shows his ring to Dust. The golden ring is adorned with a purple gem. He recalls The Brjalao, but says he doesn't recall why he hates them. He adds that he is no longer actively after them however, and once again looks entranced at his ring. Dust thinks back and recalls the dinner party at Silvio's place where Finn had told them all about his past with his tribe, however he decides to drop the subject for now. They continue to hunt, and return with a large yak. Dust cooks it up, as Finn makes darts out of its bones. Meanwhile Ruyi sits in her tent, writing the letter she promised to sent for Oslo.
That evening Haarin takes watch, as the rest are asleep. Haarin notices Dust seems to get deep into his meditation and then jerks back into consciousness. By the second or third time, he asks him if he wishes to talk about it. Dust says he does not, however he does want to talk about something else. He asks Haarin about his story earlier that day, about his relation to Ruyi's mother. Haarin says he feels bad for Ruyi and putting her on the spot like that, and will apologise to her tomorrow. Dust agrees that he should have talked about that to her in private. Dust does however say that he too has lost his family, his parents, and shows sympathy towards Haarin. Haarin gets a pained smile on his face. Dust sits there in silence for a moment, before getting up and saying he'll quickly take a leak. He goes out into the woods, but doesn't return for some time.
Dust is seeking a clearing deep into the woods, and stands there for a couple of minutes. "Listen I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you. If its my life you want, you can have it. You deserve it." He is met with silence, until he feels a presence. The figure appears behind him. "No, no. I, I guess it's time, now that you are aware of who we are. I wont ask how, but. The thing I need from you, is the only way we'll have peace." Dust turns to the man and nods in agreement. "I want you to kill Relas or die trying." Dust looks at the man. "Are you sure thats what you want? I'll do it if you ask me, anything. I'll do it." He says, not breaking eye contact. "That is the only thing we wish from you." the man says. "He wasn't responsible." Dust says. "We know. Its two of us in here, the parents are in here." the man says. "I can't risk someone else like that getting loose." Dust says. "The rest of us understand." the man replies. Dust nods. "Appeasing the dead or saving the living, I know what to choose." he replies. The man then vanishes. Dust leans against a cold dead tree at the edge of the clearing, and tears begin to roll down his face. He begins to make his way back. As he walks, he hears Demise in his head. "you did it again. Spoke to nothing". As he walks back, Dust notices a single footprint. As he returns, he sees Haarin drinking. His eyes are blood red, revealing he too has been crying. That night during the watch, Dust notices a few creatures in the distance walking similarly to people. They're too far away to pose a threat however, and so he makes no move. Haarin stays awake the whole night, trying to drown his sorrow.
That night, Ruyi finds herself once again contacted in her dream. She stands on the same rocky edge, with Jim encaged in front of her. The symbols he was drawing the night before have been largely expanded upon, as he turns to look at her. He congratulates her, stating he was watching her all the way through her adventure in the Founder Ruins. He tells her he's been encaged in there for around 3 years now. Ruyi asks if he saw everything that happened, and Jim says he did up until she had traded the device. Ruyi averts her gaze for a moment, which leads Jim to understand what happened immediately. then tells him how her allies Lucién and Silvio had activated the device without her permission and accidentally summoned someone else named Saan, breaking the gem. Jim scratches his beard for a second, and tells her he knows Saan. "He was a student of mine" he says. Ruyi asks what he used to teach, and he tells her he was a teacher of magic once. Ruyi becomes sceptical as Saan told her he was from another planet, but Jim claimed to be from Dhool. Jim however tells her its quite easy to travel between realms if one knows the how to.
Setting aside the subject, Ruyi asks Jim more about his current circumstance, more specifically if he's run into any lady demons and devils. Jim is taken aback for a second and tells her he is considered quite the ladies man, but he draws the line at literal demons. Ruyi says its not like that and asks if he knows one by the name of Lilliana Fetch. Jim says he was aware of a woman named Lilliana, she was once the queen of The Fey, however that is not the person Ruyi is seeking. She describes how her mother looks like, but despite that Jim says he has not seen her. Ruyi is dissapointed, but understands. She tells him she will seek out a new power source for the device and will try to inform him once she has obtained it. She also asks Jim if he could make her next dream a pleasant one, as she's been tormented by nightmares for a long time. Jim promises her he shall, and Ruyi leaves the dream. However as she does, she enters a new one, dreaming about her and her friends being buried by an avalanche.
The next morning she wakes up with her tent fallen onto her. Guy had pranked her by kicking down the pole that kept her tent up. She however thinks it was Lucién who had done it, and she gets out of her tent, fixes it up, then stomps over to Lucién's and kicks it down. She returns to her tent angry as can be, dresses herself and then departs towards the woods to look for "food". Dust looks on and is about to ask Haarin if he's going to do something, but realising Haarin had not slept all night and looks like an undead, he chooses not to act. Guy meanwhile is absolutely losing it, seeing Lucién be blamed. Funnily enough, Lucién did not wake up. That is until Silvio has woken up, fully dripped out in a beautiful new outfit. He too goes into the woods to look for something, wishing to impress Finn, who had been sitting to the side. After some time he returns, and sees Lucién still asleep. He takes some of Dust's cooking supplies he had used to make breakfast, and begins to make a buttload of noise. Lucién shoots awake and tries to get his tent cloth off of himself. Quickly, Silvio shoves the tools into Dusts hands right before Lucién pokes his head out. He yells at Dust for this stupid prank, claiming its something Guy would do and that he needs to be original if he wants to be funny. Dust however, doesn't reply.
Ruyi returns, having calmed down a little. It doesn't last long however, as after Lucién asks about if she had another dream with Jim, and her describing it, he begins to talk about how she's most likely into older men. Ruyi tells him that is far from the case, and that if she was ever to get a relationship, it'd be with a man chosen by her father, and one of noble stature and closer to her own age. Lucién smirks and tells her not to describe him so perfectly, which leads Ruyi to look him up and down in disdain. "I wouldn't date a man that can't even get their hair straight and narrow". Lucién looks up to see that indeed, crawling out of his collapsed tent had made his hair looks a bit on the wild side. They all pick up their items, and continue their travel to Pyeerest.
Lucién: "I don't know sleeping habits of those I haven't slept with."As they walk onwards, Guy comes up with an idea to use disguises since they had some trouble in Crane's Hill before. He borrows Ruyi's shades, which are really Alistair's, and tells them to call him 'Dude' from now on. Despite this light-hearted moment, not too long after Haarin approaches Ruyi and asks to speak to her. Ruyi is still dismissive of Haarin, but does approach. He tells her he wishes to apologise, but Ruyi tells him what he has done has already been done. Her mother was condemned before, and him embarrassing her in front of her friends had brought back that memory. Having cut his apology short, Haarin now had a dead look in his eyes. He is no longer hearing her, instead lost in his own thoughts. Ruyi walks away from him. Silvio had seen it all and walks next to Haarin, placing his hand on his shoulder to give comfort, but it is in vain. As they approach Pyeerest, Finn and Dust speak of what they recall about the place. It is well known for its many different sorts of vegetables and other foods local to Kinnorath, a culinary hotspot. However as they see the town's walls and gates up ahead, they note it is eerily quiet. Approached the gate, it is unmanned. Dust opens the gates, and the party is met with an ungodly sight. The entire town has been burned to ashes, no bodies to be seen. Only the remains of buildings, markets and carts are strewn about. They were too late. Silvio, Dust, Finn, Guy and Haarin look around baffled and angered, while Ruyi and Lucién remain eerily calm. They then spot a cloud of smoke further up, nearby a single lonesome house still standing. As they're about to approach however, they hear the gates behind them close shut. A large group of thugs emerge from a hiding spot. They are ambushed by The Frostbite, the same group that was defeated back in Crane's Hill. In the middle a man wielding a scythe and wearing similar armour to the one they met in The Crane's Hill Mines, begins to speak. "You're not our ambush. However, your appearance matches the ones Red described." The man then chuckles, as he gets into a battle stance. Dust acts swiftly, and immediately strikes the thugs attempting to flank the party from the right. A battle ensues. "Remember, we must not disturb Lady Red and Master Till!" the scythe wielding man yells. As Dust, Guy and Haarin fight off the thugs to their sides, Silvio Ruyi and Lucién take out the ranged ones as Finn attempts to take out the Scythed man. After another Anrar appears and almost takes down the mages, they just manage to fight it off. However, Ruyi is more injured than she's ever been. Something stirs within her. They are surrounded by The Frostbite, though they are close to death. One of the armoured thugs tries to strike Lucién, but he manages to deflect him and stab the man with a flaming spear he conjured. As the man falls back near death, Ruyi's eyes begin to glow a crimson red. She grabs the man and rips off his helmet, then sinks her teeth into his neck, draining his blood. The man perished, falling motionless to the floor. Lucién gets back up and looks at what just happened in front of him. "Guess I'm not the only one with a party trick" he says, as he looks at Ruyi wiping her mouth, eyes still red. He grabs her by the arm and drags her away from the body, snapping her out of her trance. "You, you and Haarin both, we need to have a talk after this". In the front, the scythed man witnesses Ruyi's bite. "You're... You're monsters!" he yells, as Finn plunges his blade into him, speaking a line of draconic which the man doesn't understand. He then hurls a dagger into one of the ranged thugs, and the man's life force is sucked into the golden amulet around the lizardfolk's neck. Dust and Guy manage to take out the remaining thugs, winning them the battle. Haarin unfortunately still does not have his armour, and thus could not defend himself and has fallen unconscious. Dust urges the group to continue looking for any survivors at the lone house, but Ruyi and Lucién refuse, pointing out how they have been gravely injured. If that house contains more Frostbite, they will not be able to take them on. Guy gets a look of disdain on his face. "Fucking Nobles" he says, which makes Lucién and Ruyi both look up offended. Dust tells them if they wish to stay behind they can, but he will continue on. Despite their disagreement, they do end up running after the monk. As they reach the house, they see a large pile of burned up bodies next to the door. Dust signals Guy to burst open the front door, and he bashes it in with his claws. Inside, Red is seen sitting at a table eating a plate of fish and bread. On the other side sits a rather handsome looking man, presumably Till. Furthermore there are more armoured Frostbite sitting around the table, all eating. Upon noticing the party entering, Red gets a frightened look on her face. Till however, looks up and says he is impressed. He is not interested in a fight, but is willing to spectate. "Watch carefully then" Dust says, as they begin to engage with the Frostbite and Red. As they fight, they manage to take out a few Frostbite, but they are clearly losing, much to Lucién and Ruyi's prediction. Red clashes blades with the party. "Don't think you're the good guys for doing this to Pyeerest! I can't die yet, I haven't found the butcher..." At that point, the fight stops. Dust asks what she means by her words, and she accuses the party of being responsible for what happened in Pyeerest. The party calls her out on her bullshit, and she now too is confused. It turns out she had set up an ambush for a man clad in dark black armour, one who had betrayed her and The Frostbite. Furthermore she explains the attack on Pyeerest was not done by The Frostbite. "The butcher?" Finn asks. "Are you part of The Glorious Hand?" This gains Dust's attention. Red shakes her head. "No, they are the ones who did this".
Dust: "you only know the sleeping habits of races you've slept with?"
Lucién: "yes of course!"
Guy: "So you know no sleeping habits then."
Report Date
15 Feb 2022
Primary Location
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