Session 25: The King in the High Castle
General Summary
Vax, still dreaming, responded to the form of Operative IV with someone else’s voice, telling them that “You are going to lose.” The form turned to smoke and began to blow away, but something forced the smoke back to the field. Vax reached out and as he did, the smoke reformed into Maris who took the mask off and whispered, “Beware the Belltower” before disappearing.
Vax woke on the Lightning Rail and roused the rest of the Foundation. He told them about the figure’s warnings and the group talked about what that could mean. They all agreed, even if they weren’t sure what “ground” was referring to, that it was a threat.
A half-elf waiter took drink orders from the flustered Foundation, and returned with a full bottle of wine for Vax and coffee for Jurian, as well as an unaddressed letter. After delivering these things, Bal and Mila noticed that the half-elf entered the section in between cars and gracefully leapt off the train. Rasp immediately cast detect poison and disease and detect magic, but the letter, wine, and coffee seemed to be harmless. The letter read:
Dear Son,
I know it’s been some time, but there is information you needed to know. There are more secrets in Vidsk than you think.
Signed,
Father
Shaken, Jurian told the Foundation about the letter and apparent identity of their waiter just as the real half-elf waiter returned very confused. Despite this new development, Jurian quickly cast sending and contacted Turk to make sure they were warned about the Shadow’s threat and to make sure they were okay. Turk responded, confirming they were okay and had not been attacked or threatened themselves yet. He also said they would leave the tower and find somewhere safe to hide and would contact Jurian when they were safe.
The Foundation then discussed their theories on the threat, and they finally settled on the fact that they didn’t know enough yet about the journey ahead of them to know exactly what the threat referred to, but that they needed to be on their guard. Rasp brought up the fact that quarry could be any safe haven, so the best bet was to be careful.
In Starilaskur, the Foundation got off the Lightning Rail and hired a carriage to take them a half day’s ride south to New Cyre. While travelling south, the party also discussed the troubling thought that a Changeling working with the Shadow could mean that at some point, one of them could be impersonated. They came up with various ways to tell if they were really themselves in the event they were impersonated, some more practical than others.
Vax burned himself with a flaming chromatic orb on his panty line (that is the term I’m going with, the others are awful), Bal stabbed himself in the same place. Mila determined that while her dragonmark could be recreated, an imposter couldn’t use it and Rasp determined that his speech pattern would be unreplicatable. With Jurian, they found a predicament in that a changeling could do everything they could. Instead, Jurian opted to tell the Foundation their true name, a semi-sacred thing to the Changeling people, which was Jin. However, Jin did admit that a possible member of the Shadow and someone they had history with named Alaine de Vere (whom they met as Khyber’s Finest at the Huntington Masquerade Ball) did know Jin’s true name, so it wasn’t a full-proof method of identification. However, Bal came up with a clever code phrase and response for the group. “What's the only drink better than wine?”
“Jin.”
Before getting to New Cyre, Mila asked Vax to help disguise her so the Cyrans wouldn’t recognize her. While the effect was good at a distance, up close, someone would be able to tell that Mila was disguised. Vax then took a nap on the trip and Bal snuck the disguise kit from Vax’s coat and improved upon the initial attempt, making Mila unrecognizable. In the late afternoon, they finally reached New Cyre.
There, they found a working community of refugee Cyrans living in a beautiful town of winding, narrow streets and blue shingled roofs. Mila messaged Alexei, telling him they had made it to New Cyre and asking how they should meet. Alexei responded that he would send a royal guard to escort them to him and told Mila to put a red ribbon on her lapel to identify her.
In the meantime, Rasp, Bal, and Jin saw a Cannith House of Making on the high street and decided to pay it a visit. Inside, they found a confusing array of mechanics and magic and a short, bulging-eyed human behind a massive construct. The artificer, a man named Tarkov, came off a bit rude to the three Foundation members, asking what they wanted and telling them to move on if they didn’t have legitimate business. Bal mentioned apprenticing under a Cannith maker, which got Tarkov’s attention. As a surprise, Tarkov fired a hidden wand at Bal, who managed to aptly dodge the attack, which impressed him.
Tarkov, noticing the group of non-Cyrans, figured they were adventurers heading for the Mournlands and asked them if they would be willing to do something for him. If they could get to the city of Making and retrieve his research notes from the House Cannith Headquarters there and bring them back whole and unread, he would pay them 1000 crown. The Foundation accepted and Tarkov bid them good day.
Outside, Vax pulled Mila aside and talked to her about the fates of both Max and Maris and how Vax thought they could both be saved from the Shadow.
Soon after, the royal guard approached and escorted the Foundation up the hill to the Manor House that was being used as the government center of the city. At the steps, they met General Oksana Roti, a woman that Mila recognized. She asked the party to remove their weapons before going inside, for the protection of Alexei. After some initial attempts to conceal weapons, eventually everyone gave up their weapons and went inside. In a distant room, the party was met with a dark atmosphere and a ruler covered in shadow. Alexei called out to them, asking how he could know that Mila was actually his sister.
Mila asked him if he remembered the day Mila realized she was taller than him. Alexei responded that he remembered being pushed into his favorite fountain, but that any spy could have also known that, and that Cyre had many enemies with many spies. Alexei taunted the Foundation, and showed that he had guards in the room that were armed. He stepped down to the Foundation, up to Mila and asked if she was scared. Mila answered, “Why would I be scared of you?”
Finally, Alexei broke, revealing the sinister atmosphere and faux royal act was all a prank he was pulling on Mila, a prank that failed. Alexei, now the charming, humble brother that Mila remembered (despite the new mustache), invited the Foundation to rest and clean up from their trip, then join him for some lunch.
There, they discussed recent politics and the pertinent information of their mission, electing to leave out information on the Shadow in order to protect Alexei. Alexei let Mila know about their situation in New Cyre, that the number of refugees had tapered off, which is allowing them to solidify themselves and build upon that number. That Vespirov had been trying to contact Alexei regularly, but the message was always garbled. However, with the help of former spies, they knew that Vespirov was most likely in Vidsk, south of the capital city of Metrol.
He also mentioned that if Mila meant to go into the Mournlands (which he knew he couldn’t stop her from doing), their escape might be very complicated. Both the Talenta Plains and Valenar have closed their borders and reinforced their defenses along the borders to the Mournlands with Rex Guard and Armored Caravans respectively, meaning that they may have to come back across the Mournlands when their mission is complete.
Alexei also said that he thought it was time for Mila to reveal to the world that she was alive. His reasoning was that if she goes into the Mournlands and returns with survivors, if anyone were to find out she was alive beforehand, people might be suspicious. But, if they reveal she’s alive and goes into Mournlands, that regardless of the outcome, she would be seen as a hero, someone who could generate hope for Cyrans. Mila agreed in the end, with a plan to come.
After a bit more food and conversation, the party decided that they would take to the streets at night and check out the Sovereign Spire in town, which could be a “belltower”. As they approached, Bal noticed a few figures up on the walkway of the tower, one of which was a warforged that seemed familiar, the hunter from the Shadow Marches. Before he could figure out why he was there, the figure opened fire on the streets with a rifle. The party took cover and quickly pinned the sniper down on the balcony, putting pressure on him. In response, the warforged began shooting civilians. Vax ran up in front of an elderly woman, keeping her behind him. As the sniper checked over the balcony, Vax used one of his new warlock spells and blasted the warforged with a flaming eldritch blast. Jin moved up and scaled the tower with ease, but as they landed on the balcony, a trap was sprung in the form of a charged dragonshard that exploded, sending Jin back over the railing and to the ground below.
Mila hunkered down and set her sights on the tower. The next time the warforged popped up, she kept her cool and fired a single shot through the forehead of the sniper, killing him instantly.
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