Season 8, Episode 1: "In Medias Res" Report
General Summary
The Battle of Great Shadar ended, and news spread like wildfire across the known galaxy. The Drift began to falter, its traversal now almost twice as unpredictable, plagued by Outsiders from the Dark Tapestry, and other creatures taking advantage of the instability of the planes. The Rambling Road twisted closed, the gifts of the Dreamer vanished, and to all of sound mind, sanity became harder to hold.
The Dream Team were lauded as heroes, they're victory televised and narrated by Roger Glipglorp and shared across every media outlet in the stars. They gain a fan group, who quickly dub themselves the Corncakes, led by their forum board leader, BecomeXChaos. The Azlanti Star Empire and the Shadari Confederacy declared an uncomfortable peace, and the allies of Alexander Marcus found themselves on the wrong side of the law, removed from power after public trials and lifetime sentencing. Project 9 disbanded, and the members of Altraeza's Riders vanished into the wind. Both the Children of the Forge and the Ikal Expanse tribes are recognized as galactic citizens, with the latter being given representation on the Pact Council. Valentina Terris takes her place as an informal leader of the Pact Worlds in the chaos, seen by many as the guiding light after Marcus' deceit.
Back at Ezorod, Tesin brings a wounded Zelophedad back to the bubble city, where he takes his brother's vacant role as warden of the Eshtayiv. None seem to prortest as she claims rulership of Night, bringing stability to the region after Carrot's death.
Using the Fivefold Cauldron, the group add Abelina Tremont to their coven, restoring her body back to full health, leaving her to recover from her grandfather's experiments and the mystical poisins in her body. She is treated alongside Anastasia and Roar in the River, who bore equally-troubling backgrounds and strange maladies, becoming fast friends both to each other and the group.
At the Forge, the Shield of Denial is brought to the city of Montressor, which quickly becomes a necessary transportation hub centered around Isra's Fold Gates. She spreads the portals all over the galaxy — including Mataras, Great Shadar, Absalom Station, Safarae, Aballon, Akiton, Typhoon, the Scoured Stars, and the Veskarium — building a modern instant-transport network that most galactic civilizations had only ever dreamed of. After learning the Cromwell had been the traitor, his mind corrupted by his torture at the hands of Gregar Taxus, Isra decided to privately pardon her caretaker and cure him of the malady, making him mayor of Mon Tressor. His status as the traitor was not made public, and the Children grew to a dangerous galactic power overnight.
About a week after the conflict, Isra made good on her promise to Vaughn Blackblood, waiting for his arrival within the core of the Forge. The Oni came barreling out of Heaven with thousands of Angels on his heels, and his wife hidden within the Spire. Using Dedlam's Bones as a ritual component, Isra used the Forge to create a Hopping point, which Vaughn used to flee the Infinity Petal altogether. During the transport, Isra felt an eerie sensation as Dedlam's Bones burned away, and the spirit within seemed to follow Vaughn into the unknown...
From there, the group spent much of their time resting after months of hardship, and preparing their homesteads for the growing calamity. They split up, some staying home, while others ventured into the Vast, and others leapt to other planes entirely. For the sake of brevity, a summary of these activities are listed below:
- As previously agreed, Hamat steps down from his temporary position as Ezorod's Pact Council representative, and the group elects Shalema to the permanent position.
- Flay holds a public trial for Unari Dama, and his past crimes are laid bare. He is charged with the task of rebuilding the Ikal Expanse, and is appointed a group of warriors to act as both protectors and wardens, led by Roar in the River.
- Flay is coronated as Chieftess of the Tribe of the Morning Ember, made up of the survivors of her people, and oversees the construction of their new city in the Expanse, dubbed Ralhoma. As tradition dictates, she adopts a war orphan named Fury in the Black to be her heir, and entrusts his upbringing to Dances with Leaves while she is away. Warmth in the Clouds is appointed their Pact Council representative.
- Lockette takes ownership of the SS Iron Drake, moving it to Noma, and oversees the rebuilding of the city. Using the plans recovered from Jun Zhao, and funds from research groups interested in Noma, she builds the Iron Drake Mini along with it.
- Lockette also oversees a mission carried out by the Warchiefs, who after six months of planning infilitrate the Horse Eye Orbital Plate, and recover the Hydra Engine, a biological sample from a creature that looked alarmingly of Lockette, and confirmed that both Ooblat and Wachowski are alive, working under gunpoint in a secret laboratory.
- Mist goes on a field trip across the stars, heading to the Plane of Shadow to make an alliance with Nassistra (unlocking another ending), whom he found lamenting Alexander's death.
- With his old crew and Anastasia in tow, Mist also visited the Azlanti Star Empire in search of Vic's ghost, whom he found with the help of Anastasia's old mentor, Leto Xhao. The ghost was too corrupted to share much, but did give Mist enough of his essence to create a Face, and a lighter capable of creating multi-colored flames.
- Mist later took a similar crew to investigate the home of Bernard Faust in Absalom Station, finding the surrounding neighborhood strangely abandoned, with few even taking notice of his street. Upon breaking in, Mist found a chasm below the entire neighborhood, diving deep into the Ghost Levels, which the System identified as the Barrow Garden. He found magic was hard to summon there, making his teleporting abilities useless, and the group decided to revisit the location at a later time.
- The group was shocked to discover that Wonton had been getting Cornelius hooked on the old formula of their mooncakes, taking their existing rivalry to another level. The group began to boycott his restaurant in protest, and Cornelius left with Isra to get some rehab at Safarae. The matter remains unresolved at time of writing.
Rewards Granted
Created Content
New and updated articles for:
- A Special Message from Roger Glipglorp
- Mantle of the Dark Walker
- The Mask Maker
- Shield of Denial
- Mantle of the White Flame
- Brightsever
- Vic
- Iron Drake Mini
- All Is Lost
- Sara No-Name
- Chang Lu
- Valka
- Bast
- Crow
- Nairee
- SSID Ritual-Construct: Queen of Iron
- Creator Gods
- Garden of Silence
- Data Bleed
Notes
Our play schedule between Season 7 and 8 was disrupted by about a month, so this game was as much a social catch-up as it was a D&D game, a.k.a. it was all over the place. Of course, the games following this were plagued by me going to a week-long training program for work, and most-recently getting COVID, so the next 5-6 session reports are all being written about two months after the fact.
(Update: 1/4/2023) Two months? More like eight.
Flame in the Night
Tesin Movahesh
Thunder in the Mist
Lockette Endrinmaster 12 2.0
Isra
Report Date
03 Jul 2022
Primary Location
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