
Recap
The Hand of Fate, a now renounced force in the world known for their many deeds, from the slaying of the chaos sisters in Vodras, brining stability to Warnek. Stopping the cult of the metallic dawn before it even got started. Their journey continues, now able to focus on personal objectives.
The group goes to Ipyèn by means of teleportation circle and new more powerful magics that they have gotten, they buy magic items and talk to important people. Daren and his sister Cyra go to find their mother, who Daren confronts and Cyra stays to comfort, driving a wedge between the siblings. Greta and Libra talk to the Kari Seladin about the magical misgivings they have encountered, they learning about the Ik-fe’i and the possible stirring happening in the ossuary of sirinal. Alar continues to build his influence in Nashel.
They journey to Sirinal, across the world. Posing as foreign dignitaries they go to Alar’s home in the northern reaches of Sirinal, the wood elven enclaves. Daren reaches out to various divine sources for information. At Alar’s house, with the desire to kill Alar’s grandfather and shift family control, this spirals into learning that his cousin Coletti was taken over by a Fae skinwalker. Meeting the strange pair of Demor and Mura who are cousins of Alar but have been scared by the torture methods meant to “better” those and their skills. Perplexed on how to deal with this Daren trusts the young Mura to go about her discovery of power on her own.
Doing more northwards still to Shasal and then the small village in where Joenes is from, meeting his family and town and enjoying the one area of the world still rather peaceful.
Then back south they teleport to Sirinala’av where, it seems the city is preparing for a large invasion, scouts tell of a massive skeleton army coming from the ossuary, meeting generals and military leaders, priests and citizens abound the city. Daren accepts in part his role and announces the coming of the dark one to the church of Mornal, being on better speaking terms with Mornal now. quick plans are made and they fly off to the ossuary.
At the ossuary the topple magical defenses to get inside the core of the city and into the inner chamber, where they find to their surprise an almost man who is King Oberon of the Fae, a tough battle where Flynnic and Pascal brush with death, but succeeding for now to banish Oberon away. They return to Sirinal and defeat the large skeleton army, talk with the warmaster general and go about on the long preparation for what they know will be further dealing with the Fae.
Sense then 5 months have passed, the Fae have shown small signs of existing, and our heroes have prepared in their own ways to face the oncoming threat.
Session #42
8/36/1564BM
The Fae are here, after building up forces in secret, even evading detection by our party it seems they have gathered enough recourses to make their first strike. Kest has fallen, the major cities from Lo’ra to Sernavil have been taken over, the whole country aside from the draconic empire has been taken by a fast attack. Only those few mages who escaped and the draconic empire bring reports. It seems in the span of but three days they managed to take over. By what means it is not exactly known but the world was caught deeply off guard. Now our players meet back up in Nashel to discussion what to do, and what they have done to prepare in this time.
Daren and Alar have been working on a secret room, one to discuss matters such as this, going down into their base they seen an ornate table and surrounding them are artifacts of their adventures, the skull of Argenta’is, the Kopesh of the mummy, the geometric obscurity of Hlyenna and many more. Daren being decorated in his new armor, silver with deep blue and black subtle accents, a set of well-made half plate but with hidden ability to so fully shield the mind from outside detection. After seats are taken he takes an exasperated sign to say an “I told them so” about the generals of Sirinal and other powers of the world, they knew about the threat of the Fae yet others where unconvinced. He invites the others to tell what they have done these past five months to prepare.
4/46/1564BM
As Alar has grown in power, almost to the height of nobility, especially in Nashel. Major players of the world have grown to know of him, he gets various offers and requests from time to time but two of note he found. First was lady Aminatu of the Rasvel, who has been experiencing problems with production of the jungle resources. She explains in the letter that she makes deals and trading with the native tribes of the glow jungle and her last two weekly shipments have bene quite small in production, and it being blamed on men “vanishing” she knows that Alar has experience in both commerce and in plants but also has access to the hand of fate as an important team of adventurers. The dinner is held in Piltir and shows the height of the worlds summer. Arriving at the city a day before and settling in Libra and Greta have been invited by the Kari to socialize. The party scene is glamorous, adorned in decorations and floral gallantry. It’s scene of nobility and those famous in Estia alike, rather busy but enjoyable for most. Alar is there with singular intent, to talk to Animatu and get a greater understanding of the issue, in finding her quickly they discuss details of what needs to be done, and from Alar’s assessment, but without saying it to her, he guesses it to be Fae involvement. Getting a black scale style calling card, so that Daren can identify himself. Alar also is bothered by Armani Trest, who is the head of the glassmakers of in this area of Estia and knows of his project, proposing a business connection. While interested in theory, Alar’s plans involve a large amount of money that is being made to be spent on the funding of the magic school that Daren and himself are running, with Libra to help as well. he also wishes to make a permanent teleportation circle in Nashel, to further build up its power as a city.
Libra gets talked to by Kevra-tan who is the prince of Salra, one of the third regions of Estia in the ongoing Three Estia’s conflict. He is deeply interested in Archaeotech and Libra is his first war forged that he has seen. Libra explains them being here on behest of the Kari. Kevra-tan talks at length about the interesting deep history and makes mention of the far north of Thalia and the secret rune stones that he would one day wish to visit. Libra talks a bit about the Fae, at least indirectly and Kevra-tan makes it known that he feels poorly about Sirinal’s disbelief in cremation, and how Estia doesn’t have these undead problems.
Greta gets almost trapped in a conversation with a man named swumthultosh who goes on a far to passionate conversation about various succulent plants, while she listens, she also has her ears open and hears over into the conversation that Alar has with Animatu, and while interesting she feels it not for her to join. After some while she goes off deeper into the palace estate, and comes across a younger women dressed in a nice pink but taking a break away from the loud action. The women, introducing herself and Crane, and makes some complaint that she is really only here to accompany her two sisters, Clair and Clain, how they enjoy the whole party scene far more, btu its not as much for her. The two talk a bit about the lack of desire for these things, and Crane’s general boredom at life. Crane asks how long she is staying and recommends seeing the bird women on Friday, bird women being people who dress up in fancy and dazzling clothes and spend time in public as a spectacle, almost a living decoration.
Libra stays long enough out in the main area, talking to other members of the aristocracy, hearing about the various non-issues that they have to complain about it, in time late in the night the band gets a bit more rowdy and the atmosphere livens up, more improvisational and fun.
Greta walks the palace by herself, in time stopping to observe the frescos on the celling, a servant stops by and offers champaign, which she takes. In time the party ends and her and Libra go back to their hotel close by.
5/5/1564BM
After hearing from Alar the group goes out to investigate the glow jungle of Estia. Libra having mastered an even greater level of teleportation uses this magic to bring them to the city square of Rasvel, where in, as it often is, the people there are quite surprised by Pascal, a proper true dragon. Flynnic does his usual of playing nice and Daren and Libra go about finding direction to the jungle. As quick as they came they leave, Libra polymorphing into a giant eagle and scooping up Daren with Pascal carrying Flynnic in toe. Not knowing exactly what to look for by Flynnic spies the first very small sign of life, some wooden steaks into a tree side that go from ground level to canopy height. Going down into the jungle, past the tree tops, through the canopy and onto ground level they start to look around, the sounds of nature surrounds them, even as a giant bird and dragon they feel utterly small next to the massive sounding area that is the deep glow jungle. A fusion of mushroom and trees, plants growing in and on other plants. Flynnic is cautions and looks around, but climbs up the small stick ladder in the tree, him and Daren getting to the upper canopy. Looking around for a moment, and not seeing anything they try and alert the jungle, yelling out their purpose. Small vines from the canopy reach around their feet, trying to anchor them, yet this does little to deter, but knowing that something magical is happening Daren pulls out the scale he was given by Alar and shows it around, and this seems to draw attention. A man of dark skin, who was holding on to underneath the canopy layer and covered in disguise and makeup comes out and very cautiously shows himself. Looking and saying little he speaks in elvish, but with a slow and unpolished accent. Upon seeing the man he quickly notes the form so he could later disguise it. The man asks “why you here?” Daren responds “Aminatu sent us, to help”. suspicious he looks “What your names?” the group responds in kind. After libra changes into his normal sized self the man asks “is dragon also man?” to which Flynnic says no. they asks what the problem is he says “The jungle is sick, is bad” Daren asks “where is it sick? What direction is this coming from” to which the man says “Not direction, is all around” he, still on guard tells them to come to ground and leads them away.
Moving further into the forest, taking turns and following paths that seemingly only the man can see they venture. Eventually he gets to an area and looking around picks out a corner, and makes odd blinking motions. Daren picks up on this and ask “why so much blinking” he looks at him and says quick “eyes dry”. In a few minutes another man comes down and the two look at each other, exchanging some hand gestures but saying nothing. Eventually they nod and go to a tree, in which our first one reaches into the bark and pulls a handle, the second does the same and a disguised door opens up to reveal a central ladder carved going down. Climbing a few feet down they make to a very dim area but with three other people working on various crafts around the space. A central figure, one wearing a head dress of sorts steps forward and tells them that skin stealers are present, and so them being outsiders their normal systems of trust do not work, but they know that the stealers are young and so do not know things. he asks each of them to tell some fact that shows they have wisdom. Libra speaks about the workings of well water, Daren talks about city design and management and Flynnic talks about secret codes and thieves cant. They speak for a little bit about the problem, how it has been for a few weeks. About the trauma of seeing a thing that looks like a friend but is not, they can mimic sound and some limited memory but not everything, many have disappeared and now everyone is distrusting, it has struck fast and they worry. Daren, in his confidence tells them he has solution, using a special formulated ointment and magic he is able to see into the ethereal plane and past disguises, and sadly, he sees the second man that brought them in as a Fae, a pale skinned beast with long fingers and sharp claws, in an instant he slashes twice with his sword and kills it. the other four are deeply surprised and shocked, again how easy it is for their secretive nature to be slipped. They ask how to draw out the creatures and they say loud noises are the best way. So the group goes out and starts their blaze on the jungle. The first group of Fae they run into is five of them, all looking like hunters, but moving in quickly and coordinated. Pascal and Flynnic as a dynamic tag team of dragon and man, Libra with his mastery over fire magic and Daren with fast and swift strikes and banishing energy, they kill the Fae quite fast, and when doing so their disguise fades, skin back to a pale white. Gathering the bodies and working to get specimens. The first day they kill a good few, two more groups of four and three respectively. They camp out in the little underground shelter. With the men there saying they will gather other members and so try and sort out all the real people with his Daren’s magic eyes. The second day the Fae seem more cautious and so they use disguises as those native tribes men, before lashing out and attacking. Half way through they capture three alive, with Daren using a force cage, a deep and powerful level of magic. The three inside are threatened yet corporate and speak a little bit, under fear of duress and death. Daren asks about their origin, where they come from, how they communicate, while the three are non helpful, when they start to answer less he uses sickening radiance to give them a little pain to keep talking. They learn the local General is Khemntesh and get a visual for what he looks like, a more monstruous Fae, four arms with a serpents tail and a barbed ending, thinking about fighting him but knowing they could come back later with more, at least more information would be needed. They also learn that each Fae does not really know where they come from, simply waking up in a cave or dark place on day and vaguely knowing what they must do, learning quickly from other Fae and being able to sense them out, they have a very weak psychic connection to other, but generals have more, and that they have a wider range of ability. They also surmise that the Fae wish to be feared again and respected, with idea of the Fae’s new world order a bit odd, as they consider even this jungle to be too tamed by humans. They contact Alar and work out a method to get the Fae back to the magic school that is being started up, into a secret and well magickly protected sub-basement, there in they will work to interrogate and discover further. They continue to root out the Fae, and kill about 34 in the End, by the third day they can find no longer and they feel satisfied that the work is done, so heading back home after collecting samples of the soil and trees, after brining back lots of bodies of the Fae to study, they find their mission a success, is a great curiosity.
26/5/1564BM
In Sirinala’av the work of repair and rebuilding is taking much higher focus than that of building a counter to the oncoming threat, Joenes works hard to push initiatives but this does little to sway those higher in power, he does make the process of the magic school and finding those suitable for it easier. In addition he does work to get their horses sets of quite decorate armor, swooping golden wing like panels fitted to each horse, while at this point the horses live in the stables of Nashel and are much more pets than functional animals they still see great care.
5/32/1564BM
In the few weeks after the Fae much is learned about their means and methods, especially biology. Yet by means cruel and inhumane, yet these are not humans. While the Fae resemble humans they seem different, faster and more agile than the average man, yet also slimmer and less able to sustain themselves over a long time. their biology often resembles human nature, with brains and organs and other internal structures, the blood a pale lavender color. And with the unique mutations often some more odd biology is present, extra limbs, sensory organs in strange places, and more. What exact methods happen down in that basement to extract information are of the most deplorable nature, hurt and healing, the breaking of the mind and shaping it back together, after countless experiments, many hidden out of their horror, Alar and Daren come to realize much, and sadly the Fae can give no more and finally die, added to the corpse pile as fresh dissection tools. Oddly Mornal says little of this, while being focused on pain and death, he does not delight or mourn in this time. they learn that the Fae are able to sustain themselves on a much wider array of organic material such as plant matter and bugs. They also learn that while not weaker to any element, at least among these basic foot soldiers, they seem to fear fire and the elements more than physical attacks, they also seem to be able to detect pure sacred metals like silver and aluminum. They can survive roughly the same band of temperatures as humans, a little bit warmer but not much so. Libra also is given information that is pried out of the Fae, notably the four locations they have taken up by them so far, and more specific ideas about their vision for the new world order.
6/7/1564BM
At the magic school for the Marade, to be slightly expected Daren has gotten a letter from one Archmagis Levothyroxine who is the leader of evocation at the university of Thalia Ipyèn. A sternly worded letter about the safety of his new “so called school without so much as even a pittance of curriculum or safety for the mage students” and his “Unorthodox methods of teaching” which, Daren reads up until this point, underlines the word “Unorthodox” writes, “read up until here, if you want to say anything else, please come in person and we would be happy to hear you” written, in a passive aggressive font. Happy at his pushback against the system he send the letter back. He also has gotten a few letters from the magical regulation society in Thalia regarding his payment of Portal registration dues, at times reminding the necessity of paying them, at other times letting him know someone else paid on his behalf, and to those he writes a rejection and will refuse any payment at all, another statement of his petty and cunning nature at times.
6/24/1564BM
Libra, in his pursuit of knowledge of the Fae, the intellectual defense. He and Greta Travel to Thalia briefly, Greta to visit with him and go attend a luminated temple service and her regular sightseeing, she also needs some components for her magical transformation amulet of polymorph and so gathers them here. Libra journeys up north, to the sage that Kevra-tan mentioned. Up even past Kotūsen, into the deep hills where stones lie. There Libra spends a week deciphering the ancient writings and learns a great deal, lore and legend about the great cities that once flew. The city know as Aevel which has crashed off the coast of Thalia, and currently is under magical protection by the luminated inquisition, one of the few organizations to take the warning of the Fae seriously. Second of the cities is Torin-Dasil, named after where it lies, on the summit of the tallest mountain in the world of the same name, inaccessible and cold but perhaps to be investigated. And the last of the cities, which has no translation but Libra gave the title Thendsia, after the ancient titan of the ocean, this city lies at the bottom of the Soln sea and may be responsible for the many strange misgivings down there, including some they have experienced. While wanting to explore a city he will not do it alone and so would do so only with the whole hand of fate.
7/10/1564BM
Greta and Daren pay a visit to Cyra for her birthday, a small little day celebration but one to connect. Daren working to make amends. It seems that Cyra has gotten into loom work, and was given some nice silks for her projects as a birthday gift by the king. Her job as a royal assistant to help king, she is quite well liked and lives well on her own. Greta bakes some nice oatmeal raisin cookies, these an exercise in the far more normal cooking applications prowess.
7/13/1564BM
Libra continues his studies, into the ancient area of Parahlitan, to uncover and discover the past and its parts. After getting information about places of interest he is brought to the old mountain caves of Kest, those on the peninsula near Lo’ra. Old cave paintings and obscure scrawling of writing, that which even magic has trouble of making out. Yet with time he gains more information, how did the world collapse and what does the time line look like. He makes the basic information. The ancient demon and devil war and the war between metallic and chromatic dragons happened long ago, perhaps five thousand years. Than it was mostly the two main races on Parahlitan, those mortal and those not, human kinds and the Fae, Humans as more lawful and city based and the Fae as more natural creatures of the forest and chaotic. Odd middle he learns that the Elven races seemed to be a descendent of the Fae, with their affinity towards nature and longer age. It seems the humans expanded, and perhaps three thousand years ago where able to master old and powerful magics, to raise great cities into the sky, to bring great power, power so great that its ability no longer yet existed once the cities fell. The Fae wished to take the cities down, and this they succeeded, yet afterwards the gods worked to banish them, gods and humanity worked together. Using three elements, the gods gave frost and plant, the humans gave stone, and with this they made a prison for the Fae. Perhaps, Libra thinks, this could be done again, yet sealed and completed with the hidden part that still lies in Aevel. Also his guess at what caused the climate shift of the ice age of the collapse still at large, perhaps dragons, perhaps a large rock from space, perhaps the anger of the gods, it is unknown, as very little from that time survives at all.
7/34/1564BM
Flynnic, going to the Draconic empire to try and outfit Pascal with more proper armor and revisit other draconic elements goes to visit Zyres. He reaches the layer, nervous but knowing it went ok last time and feeling better. he rides in atop Pascal, riding as human on draconic mount. Zyres snakes out to peer from her massive wet cauldron of a hoard, she looks and leans in, Flynnic dismounts off Pascal and bows to show respect she acknowledges it. seeing just how much more Pascal has grown she is surprised but hides it well enough. Flynnic tells Zyres of the Fae threat, and lets her know the details, she not yet having heard of it, and to make the point more has brought a corpse. Zyres examines it and is confused but disgusted, he explains their fight with Oberon and, thinking to himself notes that both him and Pascal died in fact, but does not mention this. He states the massive threat that they face, that even the dragons here could be attacked. He asks if she in her age and wisdom has any information on them, while Zyres is quite old comparatively at 843 years of age, the Fae where over three thousands years old, and only perhaps Fenadak the Green and Thornak as being old enough to remember these things. but she said that perhaps if both the Hand of Fate and herself made an appearance they could talk to Thornak. She also wishes success in the protection of Pascal and so reaching into her horde grabs a vial of her own dragon tears, and it also spills a great number of coins and gold, a small fortune. Flynnic and Pascal both able to channel lightning and storms, Flynnic has a vision for a magical nexus that can control the weather and summon storms, yet this is a costly matter at weather controlling is powerful magic.
8/2/1564BM
Libra, after gathering the information, makes his thesis for how to go about sealing the Fae away again. Two routes exist, one that involves evoking the old magic and one that involves the new magic. For the old magic, it will take the three pieces that where used before, the magical power of Frontril the god of frost and ice, a vengeful god, who was feared during the collapse, power now still small yet held in northern Kotak. Veren the god of the angry forest, of a primal nature who is obscure but the Hand of Fate encountered in Adrea once perhaps. And lasty the element of stone from humanity, guessed to be at Torin-Dasil. And the piece in Aevel to seal it all away in full. The second route is more well know, the four cores of power of the elements. Fire, Water, Air, Earth. Yet not those found in mainline sirinal but those of the splinter groups far outside of the borders, these areas are yet known, the north mountains of Kotak for earth, the northern desert wastes for fire. The air is found in the sky spires, besides the world spine mountains. And lastly the water is found in the jungle lake of Estia. It is said that old gates reside in these spaces that lead to great power, yet are guarded by both people and spirits to keep away wrong doing. Lastly again is that power contained within Aevel, that hidden thing that scares even the gods.
8/32/1564BM
Daren and Alar gather their students at the school, which has been named the Marade school, Marade meaning “Guard” in ancient Si’irin. When the students are able to cast a successful fireball they achieve the rank of Marade. In this school five students have been selected as those most gifted. Of those five, four are quite loyal to Alar first, but Daren and Alar have agreed not to have a civil war in the school, yet still it is good that for now the two agree on their goals and missions. In this room the five students stand, Gevra Duran a tiefling who came already gifted with fire and has learned quite quickly. Polos Laren a fire Genasi who mastered fire and offensive spells quite well due to his bloodline. Sydney Carpaith who is the daughter of a high ranking general in Sirinala’av. Theodric Yeltis who after a tragic accident died, yet was brought back to life by Alar, he claims to have spoken with Fenesal during his brief stint in death. Lastly is Fedtho Romi who is a study of Alar from Nashel brought over. Under each of them around a dozen students and of those around half are Marade. Alar and Daren gather the students to congratulate as well as thank them for their efforts, as well as mentioning that they think they have a first field mission in which they are to go to the north of Kotak in the mountains to take down some Fae, real field training. Excited at the prospect the students ask questions, and knowing that Daren went and fought Fae before are curious, he has largely kept this under wraps but feels that the Fae draw close. They are to have a winter break and meet back on the 37th.
Music
Estian party https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj0boS-gQTY
Jungle mission https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jzp5H4mQVE
Marade school https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpZR2dK0mAI
Sirinala’av https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddMSMwKQkKI

Session #43
36/8/1564BM
Still gathered round in meeting, now Alar coming in and he was finishing up some business, as he is like to do. The group continues to discuss what to do about this whole threat. Libra goes over the possible plans and explains their upsides and downsides. Plan one “The old seal” involves this, using the same three parts that sealed in the Fae before and an investigation in Aevel for what ever lies there. These three parts are: One, the human contribution of stone found atop the mountain of Torin-Dasil, which currently lies at 33,000+ Feet, well above the breathable level, and while some members could go the possible danger would require them all. Also the old temple to Frontril in northern Kotak, seat of the old god of frost and winter, an unknown exact location but deep, old, and vengeful magic. Lastly would be the magic of Veren, whom they encountered a statue of in Adrea, unknown location and hard to work with perhaps. The second plan “the new seal” needs the four elemental parts, found at special gateways, these a more approximate location is known of. Water is found in the lake in the jungles of Estia. Fire is found in the north of the desert of Harash, near the desert flame. Air is located in the sky spires, near the broken sky cult. Upon hearing this Greta has dread appear on her face, an indication of what was and a possibly hidden backstory. Still an unknown, Greta has not really ever let on what or where she was before she meet the group in Oas. A small pause and Libra continues explaining that the Earth element is in the mountains of Northern Kotak. Lastly they would need to go to Aevel and discover what is there. After some discussion the group decides that they would prefer to do the new route, seeing as the old seal failed. Daren guesses that either if they use the old seal it wont be forever, or may break sooner, or they have the “key” and will just escape again. They decide that perhaps they should check out Aevel first, see what is there and if needed change their decision. They guess that in Aevel may be a scroll or artifact or spell or some form that is needed, all they know is that is scares the gods. They also have a map with the active Fae presence labeled. They talk a little about what will be needed to Aevel, cold weather gear perhaps. Daren does a sending to his Marade leaders, to Polos to get ready to be teleported away via the plant method that Alar uses. Libra also considers a better weapon for when he is in his transformed phase. The group also talks about possible defense for Nashel, walls perhaps, While Alar can use magic to make some it takes time and spell resources. As they wrap up the meeting each goes about their evening. Libra does some more planning work, thinking to him self about how he wishes he had more time, he has been working on this for almost 6 months and yet still feels so near the beginning. Flynnic’s thought in bed are of Pascal, now relegated to being outside due to his wise being larger than most doorways. He thinks back to how just two years ago Pascal was but the size of a rat and could fit in a coat pocket, and now he is larger than a horse. Alar continues on with his vast pile of paper work and contracts, he has gotten to a better and more even place with Keldwin, Keldwin now in realization at a much fuller scope of Alar’s plan, full on Theosis, he desires the divine and will piggy back off of Keldwin to do so, but she is getting far more worship and so for now and understood peace. Daren meets his Marade students, a minor understanding causes almost the entire school to come over. 4 of the Advanced Marade and 38 students, which was much more than he expected, so he uses the evening to find them housing and places to stay, as well as a short speech about the new developing threat. Daren is moving fast and worried while doing it, but able to keep a put together stance in front of the troops. Greta at night she feels scared, but not alone. at least it isn’t just her against the world, she has others. she tries to think about logisits for the seals, bringing her back to her past, she is distracted and while she prays in the evening it is going through the motion, it lacks hearth. On his way back home, Daren sees Flynnic sneak out his window and go to sleep by Pascal in the stable. Libra uses Aid in the night as he often does.
37/8/1564BM
While the various members wake at different times in the morning, all rise early, breakfast of Alar gotten bagels. A knock at their gateway, it appears to be the King of Nashel, Tyrel Calisto, and he wishes to meet with Alar. Soon after another Guest, a black dragon born comes in, seeming a bit odd but being allowed, the natural defenses of the base would block out any Fae, but still something is up. The dragon born, introducing himself as Gravstan Ives, who works for Galthamornak, the party is weary as their news was that Galthamornak, one of the black dragons of the Kesti mainland, whom, they heard was killed as part of the initial invasion of the Fae. Being a bit suspicious of this dragon born a subtle casting dispel magic, yet nothing seemed to be dispelled. Still, the atmosphere and vibe that Gravstan was giving off was suspicious. He said that Galthamornak wanted to meet the crew and inform them about the Fae threat, but provided little exact details, he said he was teleported over and the mage stayed behind. He says he is in the mountains on The draconic empire. He tells a vague story about how his Galthamornak’s wings where injured but he escaped. After he leaves the party looks at each other with suspicion and knows they need to check this out. In the mean time a third guest has arrived, an elven man, a mage from Thalia, he introduces him self as Isstán and wishes to speak to Daren, having a serious and unhappy demeanor about him. Daren invites him up into Alar’s office, which, covered with piles and piles of paper, he sits down. Isstán being surrounded by some of the Marade that Daren brought in, Isstán wishes to clear up the debt that Daren owes to Thalia over his portal fees, but in exchange they would want the help of the hand of fate to investigate the site of Aevel. A fierce back and forth over exact payment and possibility of deal, Daren wants to make a signed deal but Isstán isn’t a law scholar and so can’t make a perfect contract but promises that if they talked to the proper mage association they could get finders rights to some minor artifacts, but any deeply magical things would need to be brought to their attention. Both Isstán and Daren, forces of passive aggressive nature in this conversation. Isstán is lead outside and waits peacefully, but under supervision. Daren, smug look on his face feels like he “won” the conversation. Just the king remains after the other guests have passed by, light conversation between the group and the king. A quick discussion and they start some preparations, Greta and Daren go off and buy some potions of resistance. Alar and the King sit and talk, the King knowing full well how much power has increased within the past few month and at this point he hopes for help, he makes some more concessions to Alar, more land grants, more building stipends, more business freedom, and more symbolically the title of “acting sovereign”, the title that he once held before becoming a king, in effect, making him a prince or small king. Alar smiles as King Tyler Calisto leaves, one more step towards his grand journey, his goal ever yet closer. Alar works on sending Ghost to scout out the location of Galthamornak, or at least what ever is masking as that, in the mean time Libra and Daren both rest to recover some spell energy to be full for the fight. Libra also needed to acquire a chalice, one worth a considerable 1,500 gold in value, to cast Hero’s feast, a magical incantation that grants them immunity to fear, and sharper minds, and immunity to poison as well as some more health, at this point their modified bodies by magic being much tougher. The only place that would have something this valuable on short notice being the palace, as while Alar does have many valuable items he refrains from lavish items such as this. So Libra goes with Cyra to go into the palace and he in time finds the King’s wife, Ms. Rachael Calisto. Libra explains the importance of the situation and Rachael does in fact have a chalice that fits the description, she is very hesitant to give it up, as while quite valuable it also was a gift from the emperor of Adrea on the coronation of Tyrel, she does say that Libra could have it, as he is offering payment, she calls an artist in who spends time taking drawings and notes and she hopes to recreate the chalice in time. getting back to their base, Libra casts the Hero’s feast as Ghost reports being at the location of the Dragon and waiting. Eating a hero’s feast, being blessed with Aid, and ready for what every is to come forth they get make their last preparations and go, two of Daren’s Marade being present, Polos and Gevra.
Libra teleports the group gets a jump of the battle, guessing a Fae presence at once they lash out in spells, getting a few seconds of a jump on the foes. In the battle field a clearing surrounded by woods but on the face of a mountain set backdrop, ten black dragon born and one large black dragon, larger than they have seen, perhaps the size of Zyres but much more bulky, where Zyres is thin and long, slender and graceful yet powerful, Galthamornak is bloated and commanding, large black wings and a massive belly, huge legs like pillars and a huge face. Alar wastes no time and opens up with a fire storm, hitting many of the dragon born, which when hit bleed purple and their skin peels to a white, Fae! Greta turns into her ape form, now perfected and magical, and hits a Fae squishing it at once. Flynnic flies in the air atop Pascal, a lightning wand extended and fires out striking the dragon in the face, Libra eyes ready follows it up with a load stone and a thin green beam, which while hitting the dragon seems to have little effect, a magical power overtaking the devastating spell of disintegration. Daren races forward with his mighty blade drawn, mindreaver slashes out at the dragon and he yells “Have fun your emissary was stupid!” he hits, but notices that the mental part of his blade seems little effect, this Fae dragon seems to be immune to its effect, so he moves back. The two Marade stay towards the back of the battle field and use their walls of fire to incinerate more of the Fae, two more small Fae die in fire. The dragon goes, small spots of scale eroded away to a white fresh underskin, the original Fae that is merely wearing the skin of Galthamornak. He breathes out a sharp pink mist that hits at Greta and Daren, a mental effect that harms Greta but she has plenty of resilience. The remaining small Fae leave the fire and run towards Daren and to Pascal and Flynnic. Alar goes and hits another fire before running from the battle field, letting ghost do the work here. Greta hits the dragon hard with her massive Ape fists, two good jabs. Flynnic and Pascal get close, Flynnic using his pan to bash the side and Pascal biting the dragon. The dragon moves quite fast and uses its claws to hit back at Greta here, it seeming to move at nearly three times the speed of normal. Libra summons up the objects from the bag but also uses a large tree trunk from neat by as an animated staff to bash at the dragon. The dragon tries to bit but misses Pascal. Daren moving from small Fae to Small Fae slices them down one after another hexing and killing two in a single slash and ending a third from a push into fire. The dragon acts again and breathes out its mental breath and the few small Fae act and continue to fight and distract. Alar makes a wall of fire to further push the dragon out, Ghost attempts but fails to inflict wounds. The dragon uses a magical set of bolts to hit Flynnic, Flynnic hits back with a hard hit with his pan infused with lightning from Pascal as usual. Libra moves the tree trunk, now caught on fire to snack the dragon. Then he uses a blast of six fire rays, all of them hitting with a now improved magical prowess. The dragon bites out and grasps Flynnic in his mouth, biting down, Daren gets another small Fae sliced down, the Marade, less spell potent use fireballs on the dragon, do what they are well trained to. The dragon goes, his skin now much more fading away and falling off, white shiny and slick undertones showing through, he slashes out at Greta. Alar uses an inflict wounds and hits, necrotic spreading out of scale. The dragon goes again, its claws slicing with an exposed white Fae nature and cuts away the ape form of Greta, her transformation made null. Flynnic uses his lightning wand to shoot down to the throat of the dragon and pascal attacks while trying to wrestle Flynnic out. Daren yells at them to hold their turn for a second, The dragons wings beating and starting to fly up. Libra’s objects crash still into the dragon, the flaming log crashing and Emra’s axe powerful as ever. Greta attacks the dragon as it gets off the ground. Buting down the dragon clamps on Flynnic, but Daren in cleaver thinking polymorphs Flynnic into a giant ape! Clasping the jaws open with his new strength but in the air Flynnic finds himself. Polos and Gevra continue to blast with fire and stay afar, Polos using a very focused scorching ray and doing impressive damage to the wings, at this point the old skin fully bursts off and not one but two pairs of almost dragon fly like white silken wings burst out from beneath, if it were not for the disgusting nature it would almost be of beauty. Pascal looking rough and others being hurt, Alar creates an Aura of life, a bubble of regeneration to heal. Daren signal Greta to get ready to run. The dragon shoots out the magical bolts at Pascal, and for a second him his life is extinguished, stollen in a single moment Pascal falls dead, not dust but tragedy none the less, a ripping emotional sensation in Flynnic heart, he screams out in Ape form a wrenching cry! Libra fires away with the scorching ray and aims true again. The dragon uses another focused missel attack on Polos, scaring him well but not dead. Daren’s plan starts, he casts an Arcane gate, a teleportation circle between two points, one in front of Greta and one over the back of the dragon. Greta runs forward and on top of the dragon, ready to smash with her quasar hammer. Flynnic punches from the inside of the mouth, ripping out teeth from his jaws. The scorching rays from Polos and Gevra, out of energy for fireballs. The dragon, now almost fully white scale and numerous cuts of lavender blood across its form, burn marks and scorches, holes in wings, yet still standing, flying rather. The dragon rolls on its back and attempts to get Greta off, but no, not so easy. Alar makes a fast move to bring back Pascal, save him from the sight of vorpal space as much as possible. Greta goes and hits while on the back, hanign from spines. Daren is hit with the magical bolts and breaks his arcane gate and his polymorph. Flynnic being scooped up by pascal while falling shoots his bow at the dragon, a hunting magical mark placed on the dragon. Libra continues to lay fire support with his scorching rays, the dragon swoops back down and breathes his cone of magical breath again, psychic shocks across Greta and Daren. Polos and Gevra cast shatter, loud contortions go off and rip apart wing pieces, further bring the dragon to the ground. Daren uses dimension door teleporting himself atop and over the quite weak dragon and stabs the head with force and vigor a banishing smite once again, hoping to rid this side of space of its foul presence. In a flash of light as blinding as the sun the dragon is cast away, like a shadow erased by the noon sun the dragon is gone. But not dead, close, but not dead just yet. “Get ready!” Daren yells as the other take but a few second to be poised as Daren let slip the binding banishment on the dragon it slips back into reality, only to be slain in a moment. Daren slashing, Flynnic a piercing arrow. Libra a final blast of fire, Alar an infliction of wound, And Greta a wallop with her hammer. Even pascal gives a blast of lightning, not death can stop fury like his. a battle so intense and yet short, fast moves them all it took but less than a minute, of the speed of our adventurers.
Music
Nashel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHeuZ8EIbSU
Galthamornak, Fae transformed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KPgmk6L4rw&rco=1
The Marade https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NihzptRjto
Session #44
8/37/1564BM
Right where we last left off, our hero’s have slain the great Fae dragon, and now in the late evening take some time to rest, recover and to see if anything can be gained from this once mighty dragon so horridly infected. Alar as usual, with his prowess in medicine and his newer understanding of the Fae is able to spot out locations of bones for Daren to then slice and dice, dragon bones being a high value resource. Many bones remain in good shape and are cut and put into the group bag of holding, one piece of interest is the large complete spine of the dragon, stretching almost 30ft when laid out. As the sun sets Libra uses his magic to teleport them into the circle in Rokash, going through customs as they had before, a bit faster for the main group as they have done it once, the two Marade take some time but manage. The group looks for the inn they where in last time, the Svalroads, Thull the propriotor happy to see then, the group bedding down for the night. Polos and Gevra go out to experience the cusine of the empire. Daren looks for some reward and so seeks the a magic item shop, finding one open this late he purchases a nice set of thin chain, the kind that a wizard can wear, this made of small dragon scales, often shed from young dragons and found. Daren inquires if he would take dragon bones but in the end pays with regular platinum. The group rests well, a hard fought day of battle.
8/38/1564BM
Grouping in the morning, after some short breakfast soup they head out to the lair of Zyres to warn her of the Fae and to get her help perhaps. As they approach the weather changes and a clear day turns to a gentle rain into a harder downpour, familiar at the shaping magic of a dragons lair they approach. Flynnic first in with the group behind, it seems that Zyres is more trusting of Flynnic at how much she sees Pascal growing. Her lair as usual, a wet and rain surrounded mountain with a hole in the top that. Drips down onto the central bowl that Zyres rests, she emerges from the water, slinking out in her grand grace, her long serpent like neck peaking out. “My son is back, and you Flynnic, you brought your friends once again” Flynnic responds in a confident voice “we bring reports of the Fae, this infection on the land. They have taken Kest, the cities overrun and non left to escape. Had you heard that a dragon fell? That Galthamornak was slain? News of his death reached us, however a black dragonborn informed us he was still alive and escaped. We quite suspicious but decided to check it out. It was in fact a trap, a Fae had taken and worn the skin of this once mighty dragon, we slain the profane monstrosity.” She listens in “they made a mockery of our form!” she shouts at hearing this. Flynnic follows us “This is serious, the Fae are not just at your gate but within the empire, who knows how many are already here, who knows what they might do, we need your help to defeat this enemy that threatens the entire world”. Flynnic continues “There are more of them, I have told you of their king Oberon, but we know of other generals, other powerful Fae leaders, even the normal foot soldiers could easily defeat three or four draconic soldiers”. Zyres reaches her claws over the bowl and gets out from it, an emerging beautiful long blue slender body comes out, gracefully and stunning, a recognizable nature of both great beauty and yet some fear, attractive almost. She speaks “we must go to the palace, to speak to Kirill” “Petra, Milix, keep guard while I am away”. This whole time the Party, a little used to the fear of dragons are fine, but Polos is quite afraid by the natural presence of Zyres. Zyres starts to fly off to the royal palace. She is fast and it takes about an hour for the group to arrive, Libra and Polos are giant eagles to fly the crew while Flynnic rides Pascal. Daren uses sending to tell Theodric to find the black dragonborn who fold them of Galthamornak, curious to perhaps gain some more information. Soon the area of the palace is known, the air gets colder and soon a snowy landscape is formed, ten miles out it gets chilly and the group bundles us. Flynnic drinks a cold potion, Alar and Libra both masters of fire, as well as the Marade. Greta and Daren both dawn fancy cloaks.
They arrive at the palace, seen from above it is a massive complex of buildings formed of white marble stone, perhaps a dozen or more relatively smaller buildings surround a massive main complex, this whole area perhaps two miles wide, a feat of planning not seen by them as of yet. they fly down and enter into the main building, almost church like in design it is of brilliant layers of white and blue, a spectrum covering every possible shade and tone, windows of frosted glass shows large images of a great many blue dragons, none recognized but all stunning, up top white dragons in marble inlay. The most stunning of all yet is the scale, the main entrance door are of a grand scale, over 100 feet tall at least, and the building must be a few hundred feet, almost more of a mountain in scale that a structure. They do open the doors, Zyres even looking small in comparison. An entry hall is seen, although even then this in scale is of a massive size, a same sized set of doors ahead of them, great silver and inlayed with a pattern of patterns, a design of a map of the entire world, the expanse of geography, yet even this design on closer look small trees, shore lines of rocks, it is beauty and a carving beyond measure of appreciation. To their left, another dragon. He lays atop a hoard of his own, yet not gold or silver but clear gems and jewels, large manor of diamonds and other gems and crystals of value. He looks at them, about the same size as Galthamornak, yet the familiar more slink and thin style of Zyres. This is Kirill the Blue, a massive green jade orb clutches in one claw, adorned with jewelry and decorations, he as well is a force to behold. Kirill speaks to Zyres saying, in a loud but clear draconic “What are you doing here at this place with these things” off handedly gesturing to our group. Zyres bows down a little responding “My lord, it is of the invasion from the Fae, those who have taken Adrea, this group, they are hero’s of renown and wish to help” Daren and Flynnic both translating for Greta using Elvish. Zyres asks “Does Thornak know, is he aware of the gravity of this threat”. Kirill responds “He is aware... and is working to bolster our defenses”. Zyres says to Daren to get out the corpse, he pulls a Fae soldier corpse from the bag, displaying it to Kirill, an odd fear from him and disgust over the object. “I see” Kirill says. Zyres continues “These ones, they are small in scale but mighty in power, may the speak to you oh lord?” Kirill says “They may”. Libra, daring speaks up first in well practiced draconic “What do you know of the Fae, have you encountered them before?”. Kirill looks at him directly “They are from before my time, I am but only twenty one centuries old, I first grew up during the collapse and only got into this adulthood once the ice had thawed and the world started back to its rule by mortals.” Libra responds, “Well tell us what you do know at least” Kirill says back “The Fae where here during the first rise of the empire and where mostly delt with by mortals, when the cities fell the Fae left and the mortals got quiet, we thought that they were gone forever”. Daren speaks up this time “Something is different, they are faster, they are corrupted almost, unsightly creatures that seem to be different than those of long ago.” He continues “may we speak to Thornak, and ask for his knowledge and assistance”. At this Kirill and Zyres look towards each other, Pascal looking at them both in kind. Kirill says “Yes, but be warned, you mortals shall not speak in his presence, only us two dragons, if you wish a question think of it now, if you think of one in the moment use magic to speak it in our thoughts so we may say it.” the group and the dragons speak for a bit, this whole time the Marade are stunned, this is a truly once in a lifetime experience, quite cold they are but managing for now. after some time they agree and decide to go into the main chamber, the large doors are opened and the group follows behind Zyres. Announcing their titles Kirill speaks aloud “The slayers of the silver Dracolich Argenta’is, Breakers of the siege of Sirinala’av & defeater of the Fae king Oberon, the hand of fate!” a cold whipping silence follows them the blast of cold air from the inside of this chamber stings the skin, far below freezing inside here, they see perhaps thousands of armed guard at the ready, white dragon born with high spears. The chamber perhaps a quarter mile long, hundreds of feet tall, lined with icicles on the roof and below their feet a thick layer of glass, crystal, or some other clear substance that slows the hoard, a sea of gold and silver, almost like a liquid in his quantity, objects strewn in this massive swath of wealth. Below a black dragon on stone slab sits, seemingly a part of the treasure horde. And commanding all of it, Thornak, Kirill speaks in a loud presenting voice, improved with magical prowess. “He is the icy death, the old and immortal, the pinnacle of dragons, he is god emperor, first son if Tiamat, Thornak”. Thornak, the largest dragon, and the largest single being they have seen, the scale of the fabled ocean leviathans, he sits forward looking out at them, his white skin aged and yellowed in places, his eyes the size of fountains, his whole head perhaps that or a hotel, his entire body hidden but hundreds of feet long wide and tall. His front claws are perhaps as big as three men. Even being familiar with dragons some of the group still feels his aura of deep fear, Polos and Gevra paralyzed, Daren quickly messaging them and saying to leave and wait, they step out as to not die of the cold. The cold bites on them but they can stand it, at least for a bit. Kirill says “Father, the mortals they call for your greatness, you stunning brilliance of crystal of snow, the Fae, those long ago foe of the mortals attack once again, and not only them but they may wish to strike at us and our grand empire!”. The group, while a witness to Thornak have their own thoughts Daren thinking that this is not a god, he has seen and knows god and this isn’t one. Alar, thinking, cleverly “What’s a god to a non believer”. Kirill continues with his speech “They ask for your knowledge and wisdom of great one god, your expertise and guidance and knowledge of this Fae”. Thornak of little words, he speaks an old and rough but powerful form of Draconic saying “These disgusting being fled, and are frightful back. If it bleeds it can die, and it can be bound by silver. Take what you need of first son of mine, do what is needed to defend the empire”. Kirill bows and responds “oh great father, the mortals they wish to know how the banishment of the Fae was done, your wisdom of the ancients passed down”. Thornak calls out “An alliance between the risen man the gods that gave their powers, yet after the gods turned and struct their cities down”. “But those mortal gods, they have no powers on us sons and daughters of Tiamat”. Zyres bows and says “Thank you, oh great and immortal god emperor, your great wisdom brings us well” Kirill bows and they leave. Back out into the area and closing up the doors the first thing is to heal wounds, Libra and Alar using fire to heat other up, Gevra and Polos still scared deeply of the sight of Thornak. They continue to talk with Kirill a bit to see what help there is. Libra at once starts thinking… he thought that the Fae struck the cities down, but Thornak claims it was the gods, how strange. Daren asks a bit of draconic history. Kirill goes and explains a basic version that from what Kirill knew this is roughly how it went, around 7000 years ago Tiamat made the first dragons, five chromatic, five metallic, that for a little while they spread out over the earth, still young some slain by mortals but most lived in Kest or what is now the empire. A war broke out, and the chromatic dragons and metallic, in that all the metallic original dragons died and all but three of the great dragons died, Thornak, Nomarat and Fendak. Normarat was slain a few hundred years ago by a group of powerful adventures at the orders of Thornak, for a civil war was being fought lead by Nomarat, after his death the modern form of the empire was made. In regards to outside events largely Mortals and Fae did not concern this part of the world. Kirill does offer that he would help, now that Nashel is the southern most city of Adrea, that would be where the Fae would start. For now however he believes that access to the deep archines, known as the Black Library may help in their search of knowledge.
They exit the main palace building and go around back, Kirill leading them to a still large building but one that seems focused on a much smaller scale, doors only about 50ft tall in height, here much more the area is adapted to the staff of the great palace, white dragonborn soldiers off duty and many others around, almost still like mice underfoot in scale to Zyres and Kirill, after passing many areas, each getting older in time they get to an old entrance, great stone doors, these stone and of 20ft tall in scale, grand yes but not the size for true dragons. This is the black library, an area that lives in isolation and darkness, extensive beyond catalogue and area but holding perhaps the richest of the worlds repositories, if you can find it that is. Kirill summons for the proprietor, a white dragon born adorned in a ceremonial black cloak, Tsar-Telesov. He tells the group that it is large enough that often one simply lives in the archines for a bit, the groups asks for a few hours to gather supplies and wait. Back at the door with supplies for two full days the group enters into this space. The Marade still tagging along, walking for a few hours past shelves of many kind they get to an area that appears central, Tsar-Telesov tells them this will be the base camp, he can guide them to certain areas, but that within that the knowledge must be found, there is no grand cataloging scale so even finding what knowledge that is sough is hard enough. He sets down a light source and gives direction to be able to find this center spot again, also recommending to keep a trail such as string or leaving a trail or pebbles. The group makes camp and rests, for the morning they will search.
8/39/1564BM
It is morning, or at least says the body for the library is dark, foreboding and lonely, each of our members has a thing they wish to search for, some things are personal, some things concern the fate of the world. In hope they will find it over the next two days. Flynnic is searching to bring his dream true, command of the storm and weather in the palm of his hand, he knows that draconic might and energy changes weather but only at the lair, but after meeting Thornak he feels more than ever that this power can move and be brought with. He learned rather quickly that yes a spell exists to control weather, but it is not lasting and it mealy shifts the weather, event his spell more power than most mages could cast, yet yearning for higher. He discovers a phenonium of a large sun disk in Thalia that prevents rain for a city, this was made long ago with magic more power than this age, or more powerful than a single person, but perhaps with enough people and power, and a little burrowing of some ancient materials it is possible for forge his theoretical storm disk. He learns also more about dragons, that Pascal truly seems out of the ordinary, he learns about the general life cycle of dragons, most dragons being born are wyrmling and will become young at the age of one hundred, for pascal that was only 20 years. A young dragon is anywhere from one hundred to four hundred years of age, pascal is just as old as Flynnic, a mear 24 years old. It seems that only when dragons reach adulthood to they become mature, both physically and mentally, Pascal quite capable but still lacks that same consciousness of an adult like Zyres. He learns that often dragons do not raise their own, but simple young dragons fend for themselves in the wild until the reach maturity and present themselves. Flynnic wonders is perhaps the connection between him and Pascal is more than simply one of a deep bond, perhaps in some way their soul is connected and the strong ik-fe’i that he and the other members of the hand of fate have, perhaps Pascal has this as well. Daren seeks two things, power and knowledge. He believes that the mastery of the arcane can help banish and bind these Fae, he finds an old scroll, made of vellum and on it a form of imprisonment, not a spell scroll but detailed instructions, he gets to work and copies, a stack of papers for this information, both him and the Marade work on this, in the end he finds a spell that can imprison, much like he saw with his brother Thomas, trapped in a jewel, he finds that a large sphere of Mithril or other metal of great value can trap a being inside, but of the greatest use is that this version of the spell slips past all defense of the mind and gives no recourse of willpower to escape. On his second day he joins Alar in the quest for books of betterment, they have heard of ways to get your strength of dexterity beyond mortal measures, but what or the mind? They find what the seek, not a way to increase their power, but for each a breaking of the normal ceiling, Alar can become wiser and more knowledgeable than mortal limits, Daren more charismatic and persuasive than mortal means. On the first day Alar seeks to question the divinity of Thornak, was it in fact real, that he witnessed a god in the flesh? The Geldic pantheon teaches that all the gods are great hero’s of old, those who did such great deeds that on death the worship of their spirits brought them divinity, yet alar does not seek death or to rule from vorpal space, he wants to grasp at that power here and now. he does learn this is a bit of truth, being born from Tiamat, Thornak is more a demi god if you will, wielding divine power in the flesh yes, and his worship does bolster that power, but not truly a god like those other he knows, but, the power witnessed is real, worship can bring about this divinity of sorts, and perhaps Alar is the one to make it happen. For in Thornak, this is the closest he has seen, the line between mortal and divine thinner than it seemed before. Libra, amazed at the opportunity chooses to forgo sleep and plunges into the deep records without tire, he has explored the world and heard only tales of the black library. He wants to know what he can find about the cities and Aevel, as well as the sealing of the Fae before. He finds old stone documents, carved tablets from long ago that recount Aevel, it was the first and greatest of the flying cities, the cities where supported by industry on the ground but the seat of power was in the city, they existed in a time when magic did more, when more powerful spells could exist, when a wish was not the greatest magical achievement, that at this time a deity for magic existed. The cities flew off of tapping into the under chaos, in thin spots of the world vorpal energy could be harnessed and used to power the cities, yet this process brought vorpal energy in the real world and real world energy into vorpal space, each realm blending and bleeding into the other, perhaps if it went on for long the barrier would not exist, perhaps this is why the deity of magic no longer exists. Aevel itself had a small population, guessed to be 20,000 at the time of its fall, yet the support system in Thalia is what are the Archaeotech ruins, the place where he was recovered from. In addition he learns this, about sealing, there are two types of sealing, to seal in vorpal space and to seal in real space. When a being is sealed in real space its form is made physical, not always dead but often the case, myths tell that the planet is the corpses of many Nestali, beings that where very much like gods but born of real space. It is said that the sun is alive, and that the collapse was caused by the god trapped inside growing sleepy. In vorpal space being are not killed in the same way but can be bound, they will be trapped in a location and have belief limit their power, sealing them off in a space. In addition Aelosum, a god or perhaps a force of nature is the final passage, if a soul ventures beyond that space, they cannot come back, not by any means. With this he learns that to bind of seal it often requires material from the other realm, a real space binding needs vorpal materials and a vorpal space binding needs real materials. He speculates that to seal away the Fae, if by a real means they would be cast as a part of new reality, but their vorpal soul would have to be slain first to draw them fully into the mortal realm, then sealed in the real world and killed. That, that would end the Fae, much like the mythical Nestali of old, gone forever, only a corpse remaining. Greta looks for how to kill Fae, and how to distinguish them from mortals. She learns this, Fae, are much like humans in that their soul starts mortal but after death goes into vorpal space, however it seems that these new Fae are slippery and that for many they are using the souls from vorpal space and putting them into real bodies, so killing them in real space is good but not final. She learns that a need to kill the vorpal body, which if there is a real body will force the soul into the real body fully, or once the real body is killed they can kill the vorpal body. The order doesn’t matter, but they must slain both in a short succession to fully end the Fae, while this will kill a Fae, this still does not banish the idea of Fae from the world, that is what libra is studying and looking at. She also learns about how to identify Fae, first is one she knows a spell that allows to see into the ethereal plane, a sort of skin on top of reality, she also learns from this that vorpal space has an ethereal plane of its own, and to be quite carful with looking into the ethereal plane in vorpal space, for to see a god truly is not just dangerous or but deadly beyond death. In addition she learns that while they have a dislike for metal they will put up with it for disguise purpose, but they will not and cannot touch silver, they also bleed lavender. No matter what a prick of blood or an attempt to wear silver will spot them out. Alar attempt to plant a small sapling of a tree, a back door to get back in here when he wishes, him not knowing that this place is warded heavily and can only be accessed in person, no scrying or teleportation gets in here. After two days of full and intense study they leave the library, satisfied at their knowledge gained. It is the late evening but they must go back to Nashel. Teleporting back once the leave the black library they hear updates from Theodric, they did in fact find the black dragon born, not a Fae but perhaps a regular dragon born under deep suggestive influence, however… they found him dead, his head cut off, unable to revive him easily and less concerned about what info he would prove the group sleeps, in mild frustration.
41/8/1564BM
Early morning they go and do a few quick things before they meet together and head out for Aevel. Daren goes to the usual magic shop to inquire for goods, something to give Gevra for his service, as he got Polos the mages chain armor of dragon scales. He doesn’t have much at the moment but more stuff will come in on the 3rd, Daren also asks for any mithril things, trying to build up a stash for his imprisonment plan, all the shop keep Kendra has is an earing, but still yet Daren buys it.Daren also does a cheeky sending to Oberon, not expecting a response but wanting to tease. “Your dragon was a poor imitation of the real thing and easy to slice down, is this all you will throw at us?” Daren also scry his brother, the one not trapped in a jewel that is, Jonathan is enjoying some early morning breakfast with people in a bar of sorts, playing a card game of sorts with knuckle dice. They meet their mage, the Thalian man whom was sent to bug them, he was being waited on, but at last he brings them to Thalia, using a scroll he teleports the group into Ipyèn, the Marade, while wondering if they are to go to Aevel, Daren tells them not, its too dangerous and unknown, use the knowledge they gained and train the others, unable to find a great thing for Gevra he gifts his pearl of power for temporary usage. Now in Thalia, they pass the usual security of teleporting in, while wishing to go and do some things in Ipyèn, chiefly gather mithril for Daren’s plan, they move quickly to the office of the luminated inquisition. After the passing of the familiar but still odd anti magical protection plate at the entrance the group goes back and meet with Salendrina Lumto, the mage that Libra and Greta spoke to last time, she was expecting the entire group and very quickly lays out that currently all of Thalia is aware of the Fae and have a number of precautions in track, first among them their frequent use of antimagic plates that will strip off disguises or suggestive spells, but also the luminated inquisition ahs fully secured the larger Aevel area, labeled “Area X” for the unknown, they are aware of Aevel, but a person visits only once in a few hundred years, it is known that the areas its self is dangerous and harmful, that even the most powerful and advanced workers of Archaeotech do not go there, the sea is mysterious and perhaps going by air would be best. She makes a sending to those stationed and in a few minutes say they are ready, she makes a teleportation circle and send them up to the site.
A wooden cabin, a small shack situational, on the ground a large rolled out rug with the reciving end of the circle on it, two men and three women in front of them, all adorned in the black garb of the luminated inquisition. A man steps forward and says, “please step off the rug and follow me” the people leave first and then the party, outside it is foggy, a mist covered the area, short grasses and boulders are seen, looking outwards they see a shoreline close by, every hundred feet or so a large silver rod emerges, a plinth of sorts. Libra recognizes this area, from his vision prescribed to him in Rokash. An odd chill overcomes him, after entering through one area of the pillar, the man says “Vetrrá stay out” she nods and stays on the other side of the barrier. Now inside he talks more. “I am Rastía, the judicator and head of the luminated inquisition, it is good to have your assistance” he is an elven man, short black hair and wearing the garbs, five silver stripes on his shoulders each, a scabbard at his side and wearing a small necklace with a symbol of the luminated pantheon. He points at the other members, an elven women “this is Tsénā, a master of defensive magics” gesturing to an assamar man “Mneros, he is a scout” and gesturing to a human women “Zolgìn, head of coordination and protection, she got you all here” Zolgìn waves. “Outside Vetrrá works on defense”. “thank you all for being here”. The group looks out at the fog covered waters, what ever that island has it calls them to, the depths of the ancient past yearn to be set free, but at what cost?
Music
Forest ambience https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvftPSb5Xtw
Kirill theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlNeg0wR1HA
Thornak theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKPZMc0FpXo
Black library theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5xDyG72wHE

Session #45
41/8/1564BM
They stand as a group, looking outwards at the sea, fog covered and hazy. Rastía tells them that is will be a largely unknown expedition, records from the last are about 250 years old, and they didn’t get very far. A smaller set of papers, perhaps a dozen pages of very brief outlines of a short journey. It seems the last group traveled to the island, went to the center square and turned back coming home, they claim a sickness in the air, a sharpness of breath and some thing that brought about blood in their lungs. They tell of still standing buildings over 8 floors tall, but with little of note within them. Alar has an idea for an air bubble to protect, the hero’s also thinking about poison resistance. Then, Rastía wishes to have them sign a contract, what exactly is expected of them. it follows a traditional structure, laying out the day and time, setting expectations and calling out witnesses. At the end the five of our group sign, in various languages and scripts but all their name, in some form or another. Rastía and Mneros both sign it as well. a small back and forth over exactly what compensation will be, some common mundane loot sure, but the group wants more, and hedging a bet that even if they get something powerful, it will be used for good Rastía agrees that they may have one piece as a finders fee. With the contract signed and the group ready they set out, into those cold waters to the shore, close yet distant in time, almost separated from the world.
They drift along, silent, Pascal pulling the boat with a rope and Flynnic riding pascal to scout ahead. They spot it first as an outline, a shape, man like yet large, far larger than any living thing. Closer and with stealth they see it, even getting close of sorts, a massive warforged, bronze and towering in size, perhaps 200 ft tall and its legs are mostly underwater, it moves with a slowness of age but also of size, towering, yet it moves in the other direction, and payes them no mind. Continuing now on guard they boat further closer, into the fog, no unable to see shore or sea harbor, a ripple in the waters ahead, yet as before going simply around. And, soon they see the island, the fallen city that is and was and forever will be, Aevel.
Libra scenes a calling, a direction, a familiarity here to this place, he did once walk these streets, see these buildings before, but long ago that was. They landed on what would be the south eastern shore, and first walking up towards the middle, to the central square and then up, not sure exactly what, but a place for sure to go to, somewhere that feels right. He moves in a more mechanical stance, a rigidness of sorts, the way that one would creep when in fear. Flynnic thinks about providing aerial support, but not wanting to risk making too big of a presence here they decide against it, instead him and pascal simply walking atop the buildings roofs to see above them. it is not as if the city is dead, no life still exists here, small plants exist, signs of animals perhaps, but it’s the total lack of bugs, no insect creeps or crawls here, and of the plants, they are dull are grey in color, as if life is just holding on by a thin line. It’s a quite place, but it does not feel empty, rather it feels as if it is not worthy of being filled at all.
Pascal and Flynnic spot it first a figure moving, mechanical, much like Libra. They message out to the others, the group hiding at this point and staying behind while Libra moves in. the warforged holds a paper in his hand, saying in a mechanical voice “Hello” with plain tones. Libra responds “Hello, what is your purpose”. The warforged responds “I deliver messages, do you have a message?”. Libra responds “I do not have a message, but you do, who is the message for?” the warforged responds “This is for Mr Kaeris”. Libra responds easily “I was sent by Mr Kaeris, may I have the message to deliver it to him”. The warforged hands the letter over easily and starts to walk away. A bit puzzled but accepting it, Libra open the letter, written on a special long lasting paper like substance, its in the old Thalian writing, and while he recognizes it, he can no longer read it. he brings it back to the group, Alar casting a spell to understand any written text and reads the letter, unfortunately it is rather mundane, a response from a textile merchant about the alterations to his clothes being completed and would be ready to be picked up. marked with the date 133PA, 6/4. Getting to the central square Flynnic and Pascal continue to spot more things on the roof tops, a small unique building in the distance, with perhaps a telescope on top, Libra points the way and indeed that’s the direction to be headed.
They continue on top street and causeways, a few scant more signs of life seen, webs as if a spider made in the cracks between buildings, scratch marks and ruin signs. Flynnic and Pascal spot it first, a tangled webbing, a cocoon of sorts almost, in a small alley way he informs the others of it, they look at it but from a distance, he wonders if shooting a thundering bolt shot into it may be best, and given the clear does so. Boom! The thunderous sound of the attack rings out and a screeching wails from the crack, the creatures inside quite unhappy at this, Libra wastes no time and uses haste on Greta and Daren, Greta raging and running forward attacking with force as she slickly transforms into her giant ape form. Daren runs up and lays a pot shot of eldritch blasts at the beasts. Ghost uses a guiding bolt at the beasts. Attacking out they are insect like, in a vague understanding that is, eight long limbs with pincer like tips, a grey metallic sheen to their skin, molting and moving cracked carapace like that of a lava flow, their talons slash and reach out and hit Greta with force. Rastía moves upward and draws his blade getting ready, a luminous sword of bright white silver. Flynnic hits again with a lightning infused strike from his bow from above. Libra uses his fire bolts on the weaker one, locked in combat with Greta, Greta slays the twisted beast. Daren hits the beast once more. Alar slices out ice knives and hits the beast hard, shattering on impact. The beast moves in to hit at Daren but Rastía moves in and intercepts the attacks, then swinging back with his blade and slays the beast. Easily taken down but scarry, if this lies on the surface what else would be below? Alar petitions to put these corpses into their portable hole, for further study. A short hand name of sliver is guesses, as they are silver in color and pointy like wooden slivers. Also they notice that Rastía, much like Joenes, he emanates an Aura, those who are close to him seem to do better, that they cannot do their worst, and also of monsters it seems they cannot do their best. A balance of sorts. They are close to the area where Libra feels this pulling to and in time to arrive, it’s a larger building not a house but a factory of sorts, large pipes cross the floor and ceiling, signs that existed long sense faded away, a back staircase led them to where the underground might be. At this point they do start to feel the effects of the city, while all quite strong hero’s it does seem that something about the air or even just the space around them brings pain and harm, they are far from the average person but they can guess why the previous expiation left so early to stay alive. Trying to not waste time they head down into the belly of Aevel.
A large door blocks the path, a circular wheel to turn to open it, and when they do another attack springs forth! This time six smaller slivers spring forth, Greta moves into the room and starts to hit them with her hammer, Daren moves into the room as well and from a corner unleashes a cone of cold outwards. Alar then reverses course and uses burning hands to engulf them in flame, then teleporting to cause another smaller bout of flame. Rastía moves in and sues a flame strike to hit another one, killing it, Flynnic runs in and Pascal behind squeezes in, Flynnic hitting with his frying pan and Pascal biting, killing on with a chomp. Libra uses some fire bolts, and before the slivers can get any good hits on Greta swings and kills the last one. Down here below the surface the poison in the air, that energy seems stronger but oddly Libra seems more fluid, more moving and his spells even a bit stronger. They go back up top to rest a bit, using the time to recover spells so they can heal, Libra, unaffected by this energy of the city moves and explores a side room. It’s a large model, a structure of what can be seen as the planets, the sun in the middle and around it all a clear movable dome that holds star positions. Also another warforged looks out at a telescope. Libra talks to the warforged, again one with a little less intelligence and more simple but still fine to talk to. Libra asks how long it has been since the city stopped moving and the warforged says “it has been 750,153 days, do you have any other questions?”. Some quick math says that the city has been fallen for 3038 years and a few months. Libra asks “has anything crazy happened in the past year?” “No, nothing unusual or unpredicted has happened”. he follows up “had their been anything unexpected that has happened?” responding “Yes, 170,031 days ago a new star was born, it was bright for a few weeks but now it shines like the other” he points to one of the stars on the chart, a small point that does look as if added on. Libra asks if anything has happened in the city, the warforged says that he does not leave this area but that no one has come in quite a while. Libra asks if he knows Mr Kaeris and the warforged says no. Libra thanks the warforged and makes his way out, but on his way out he looks to the model one more time, noting that yes it seems in order. the sun and the six planets are in order: Paraveltin, Parahlitan, Parakolis, Paranoshal, Paranatil, and Parawakin. Moons are shown around Parahlitan, and many others as well as some small objects Inbetween Parakolis and Paranoshal and some beyond Paranatil. Odd, they must have had a more advanced knowledge of space. Back in the factory that the rest of the group is resting at Rastía and Daren and the others talk and speculate. Daren gives a small speech and they rouse and make their way back into the depths. Into another room, the grey walls here of smooth made stone continue here, it with a door yes but behind a water curtain. Large mechanical glass cylinders like tanks hold a blue liquid and many small sparks within them, a device sits near one with a tube that leads into a tank. Fast as ever to solve a solution Alar teleports through the curtain and two small orbs leave him and go into the tanks, he feels strange, not as if health was lost but ability, to be inquisitive and persuasive, yet oddly he is good with his hands? The group wonders for a little bit, what the purpose could be of the devices. Alar does open the door and sees the next room, yet waits for the others. With some good arcane guesses and on inspection the guess that this device would sit on the back of the neck and pokes at you. Daren goes first and feels possibility, the ability to change a skill and when doing so can go past the water curtain just fine. Now understood the others follow suit, Alar coming back and reversing the process. Then Flynnic and Pascal, Rastía. Libra as well, it still able to work with his mechanical nature, and lastly Greta. Pascal, oddly simply gains a skill he lacked before, how interesting. They move forward into the next room. This one with eight buckets of preserved seed and with Alar being able to read it he can make out the eight kinds: Wild Garlic, Rye, Apples, Pumpkins, Cabbage, Wheat, Onions, and Carrots. As well near the door is the twelve traditional seasons of the luminated pantheon with little bins. Alar the naturalist gets working on figuring this out and in time gets the seeds in what he thinks is right yet no luck, then with a little druid magic grows them up and make small seedlings and so gets the order right and the door unlocks they continue forward, down one area first. They see a large expansive room, and a large sea of blue mosaic tiles on the ground and moving forward to a figure they see in the distance they see it is in fact a world map, but one that is different, some islands are missing, some islands are there, the shape is close but it does seem older they take it to be a map of what the world looked liked when Aevel feel, so long ago and before the collapse and the age of ice. They approach the war forged, Libra speaking and the others hearing a mechanical sort of elvish. The group ponders some of the differences in the map and makes not of them. as talking to the warforged he is working on some tile art above the map. The group asks him if he can update the map. ‘Update, what do you mean update”? they show him the new map and he does “Ah, I will make changes, should I update at once?” they say yes, leaving him to the long task of moving and reworking tile. Fascinating, in this dead and fallen city some things still move and work.
They continue onwards going lower into the depth of the parts beneath the city, the surrounding seems to become more powerful in their toxicity, pain tolerable but not pleasant, and enough to kill a commoner within the hour easily enough. They arrive at a strange room, familiar flat stone walls but in the middle is a long metal made box like contraction, while looking at it they see spots for some sort of fuel, area for flames to pop out and a number of crucibles, It appears like a type of metal refining machine. Also in the room are barrels with various labels on them, and in that are small metal pellets, looking rather similar but on the barrels are luckily labeled with names, in ancient Thalian yes but Alar quickly read them out, that however leaves them with a puzzle yet still, to get past the door they see a scale, and in that other room a vat of a liquid. Upon the machine is a strange symbol, a triangle with a circle within it, metals labeled on its outside side lengths. Silver, Iron, Titanium, Bismuth. Confused at first, but one metal, sodium seems to work well as a fuel to alight a fire, and trying a few times at various combinations of metals. The first quench the bar with the liquid, but it turns out not looking right. Rastía makes a comment that this must be the way to make Thalian silver, a well held trade secret for the creation of such a valuable metal. With some reasoning they determine that the liquid needs to cool the metal more quickly, so using some ice magic they cool the liquid down, well below what would normally freeze water, but still a liquid, odd. Then after Libra and Daren work together to calculate out the correct ratio of metals together they are able to successfully make a small bar of Thalian silver, quite the task and realizing the potential of this they take all the excess metal so as to replicate making Thalian silver back in Nashel. A ration of 1 part iron, to .721 parts Titanium, .721 parts silver and .585 parts bismuth. In the end they gather a great amount and start to speculate what they could do once they arrive back home. The next room they enter in is a dead end, no further door way yet inside is a place of fascination. A chapel, of sorts, old stone pews and seats, with up top an altar. An image, an imago of a god, cracks and shattered but still a statue in place, around her lay twelve disks, deep purple stone in form and shape. Rastía remarks “she is not of the light… but what is she??” the group tries but does not know this god, or spirit or any image, all but Libra that is. Libra doesn’t know who she is, but he does know that she may be what is no longer, an actual god of magic once existed, perhaps this is her form. The group looks around for any hint of what happened here. Firstly Flynnic looks closer at the statue and finds the disks able to be pulled off, and with some arcane knowledge between him and Libra they recognize this as an energy storing disk, one that can hold spells, much like a pearl of power, yet these can hold energy up to 12 partitions, where a pearl can hold but 5. The most advanced magic is categorized as being 9th level in power, but perhaps these could hold spells of a greater power, once upon a time that is. Daren looks and finds a small paper scrap under a side stone. it reads, when deciphered “how dare they shatter she of magic, oh mighty Mystra who was felled, we are all to pay”. Taking this and thinking. The group is growing close and weary, perhaps this is what the gods so feared. Alar and Greta are working to put the image back together, the statue being complete with some mending, her likeness a purple women with longer hair holding a spear. The group takes these disk of spell storing, Rastía asking for three to keep for his own. They continue further to another room, this one rather small, stacks and stacks of paper, all marked with lines, and at a desk is a warforged that is powered off, not mealy resting but off. Libra knows that light spells can work to heal so they use some magic to try and get it back, the first try is not enough power, but on the second try with a more powerful version of it, Daren uses a sickening radiance to power the warforged back up, taking a minute to restore but then looking up and around it asks “How much time has elapsed” Lira responds, “I do not know, what was the count when you last where awake” it responds “the count was 749,305, what is the count now?” thinking for a second they tell him the day the heard from the other warforged up top. They ask about the place of Aevel at large. “why are you here?” Daren asks in elvish it responds “to keep a count of the days, I was instructed to”. “know instructed you?” “Krevesta an í en instructed me” it says. Alar asks “Where does the power come from?” it responds by pointing downwards “from below it is held” Libra remarking that the engines are lower. Alar follows up “But where do the engines draw their power” it responds again “from when we make port at the points, energy is stored”. “how is that power gotten and stored?” “I do not know”. satisfied yet confused they go forward, deeper into the ground, the oppressive feeling of sickness becoming worse, blood is starting to be coughed up, and almost frost bite like burns on the fingers, at times some fuzz or static in vision, all are feeling the symptoms, at least aside from Libra. They enter the next room and inside are six large stone statues, with large topaz gems in their foreheads. Sure that they are guardians to protect the deeper parts of this labyrinth, knowing they must be defeated Flynnic rips off a thunderous shot with his bow first, knocking one back. Greta pulls out a gem from a forehead after loosening it with a steady punch, showing this is how the statues stop. The statues attack, slow but forceful and hurting attacks. Alar transforms into a bear here, a form to withstand damage from the statues, and to act as a shield of sorts against the sickness of the city, his bear form attacks out with its claws. Daren, seeing they are unaffected by energy or spells majorly tries to banishing smite one, and with success does so, casting it out from this realm for a short while. Rastía dispels magic on the statue and causes it to falter and slow. Libra with creative ideas uses animate objects on the statues to try and wrestle the control from their topaz into his domain, getting control and using it to have one statue pull out their own gem, now two defeated, and two delt with. Flynnic smashes one on the head and pascal is able to bite out the gem, working together to take another down. Greta gets one that is controlled and attacks it to try and pull out the gem, prying it out. The statues try and resist the control of Libra’s spell but are unable. Bear Alar attacks out and de-gems another. Then Libra manipulates the remaining ones and they pry out their gems, Daren bringing the one that is banished back and Rastía swings at it mightily and takes the gen out. looking at the potential for permanent guards like this Libra takes the statues and keeps them, putting them in their portable hole. Going back above to lick their wounds and get out from the sickness of the space, but not gone long they venture back down into this area and continue the search. Entering a new room its simple, they see a large box or cage in the center of the room, a black sphere of almost nothingness inside it, a breeze of air going towards it. Curious, Daren tries to touch it with the end of a battle axe, and quickly the axe is pulled from his hands and destroyed and torn apart by this sphere. On the back of the Box, Alar reads “Sothera” which because not a meaning is assumed to be the name of what ever this thing is. Determining nothing good here they leave. They have two options before them one goes lower and one to their side, Libra goes first downwards, knowing that the sickness will be stronger, Ghost joining him. Down there they discover an engine, large and golden with ornate tubes and surfaces, its pure advanced Archaeotech of the highest form, looking around and seeing little of exact note or progress other than this engine, one of many that held the city aloft. On a small table is a model of the globe, one with a number of circles across it, in total nine circles. One that stretches across the equator, and two that cross from up to down, also six smaller circles that each occupy a face of the globe, each of these circles contains a number of small dots. This all assumed to a map of leylines or the points on with which the city flew. Returning to the rest of the Party Libra tells of this and they make their way forward into the next room. This one odd, a large table with on top of it a detailed plaque with a hauntingly fascinating image, spirals within spirals, arms branching of arms, its organic but infinite, a small note reads “the third fractal” and above the table a complex device looks down, almost like that of a reverse telescope, stacks of paper with detailed drawings of this shape exist in vast number. Yet beside the door is a set of circles, labeled in seven large circles with the old thalian numbers 1 through 7, and then twelve smaller connecting circles with them being labeled in parts and given numbers 8-32. Assuming some sort of combination, yet confused they try and number of things, pressing the buttons in pure order, pressing certain ones, some sequences. But at last all the prime numbers on the circles in order make the door open. And when the doors open the face a hoard, a massive wave of fire breathes out at them, dozens of small slivers belched out flame at Greta and Daren, dealing massive damage, using the door as partial cover to hide some of the people, Alar uses a firestorm to catch the hoard in a large swath of fire, hurting a fair bit badly, perhaps two dozen small slivers in this room exist, and another large almost fused abomination to the wall exists, a moving and pustulating mass of carapace and flesh exists, the mother. This mother births another, slime and blood as a new beast is formed out. Libra uses a berth of focused energy, a line of pure sun from out of his arm and he sweeps it across killing some. Greta transforms into her ape form and enters the room. Daren hears a yell from the mother and is stunned in fear, frozen by the sickening voice, but out from it he uses a cone of cold to press forth and kill more of them in Icey death. Pascal and Flynnic charge in, bolts of lightning to wound the large mother. Rastía moves in with his sword, striking out at the small slivers and making his way towards the mother, summoning a cloud of spiritual guardians. The small slivers moving in attack and hit Flynnic and wound Pascal, Libra is attacked but uses a shield spell to block it, Alar sues a scorching ray and Ghost unleashing many bolts of fire as well. The mother births two more small slivers and screams out, Libra continues to aim his massive sun beam towards the smaller ones, killing two more, and some flame continues out, the firestorm continues to do massive damage as it moves. The whole room heating up from the large amount of concentrated fire within. Greta smashing the slivers with her massive fists, Daren seeing that the mother is weak holds a plan, and starts to muster an arcane gate, also hexing the mother. Flynnic unleashing the lightning wand on the mother and Pascal boosts it with a bolt of lightning as well. Rastía swings twice with his great sword and kills the smaller slivers with his aura moving towards the mother. Alar uses an infliction of wounds on the mother and its quite damaged, the mother attacking out at Rastía who proved it, but Daren with his plan uses the arcane gate as a shield of sorts, the attacks of claws into the gate and he directs the other side to her back, attacking herself with her own attacks! Their deadly claws swing and puncture her carapace and she dies, a deep rupture of acid sprays out and three smaller slivers emerge from inside, Libra aims the sunbeam back at the smaller ones killing the last of the slivers. Over two dozen corpses remain, blood and viscera spilt on the soaking floor.
They descend down at last, the deepest layer and perhaps the final. It’s a circular staircase wrapped around the stone walls, the feeling of oppressive energy at them to the highest area, perhaps this is what is causing that sickness within the air? Alar casting an aura of vitality so they may resist this sickness. They do down about 50 ft, and one last door stands before them, simple as before but foreboding. They open it, turning the wheel. Inside, a large silo of sorts, grey stone with a few lines on the side as a decoration, little else as off decoration. In the middle, a gantry that holds up a cluster, six large rods, almost like javelins stand, golden but with a hue and iridescence that changes and shifts, another worldly color in the truest since, Rastía exclaims in horror “Thalian gold!” on the ground is sequence of symbols and characters in a circular pattern, much like a teleportation circle, Daren and Alar go to copy it down quickly. Looking up this cluster, holding six, looked as if it could have held seven at one point. Libra, dawning realization at once “They… they killed Mystra, and they used these things to do it” the symbols on the ground seem to be a gate to vorpal space. The group sees in horror, this is what the people of Aevel made, this is why the gods fear this place, this, this explains so much and yet asks more mysteries. Libra “if this is what it takes to stop the Fae then we need them, at least two in case of back up” Rastía adds “The inquisition should hold one, even holding one of these is too much for a group, we will carry ours as back up, and you will have yours” he adds “This will not be under the oversight of the government” a quick handshake between him and Daren, these large objects, which Flynnic comes and declares “Annihilation Lance”. Two are taken down by Greta in Ape form and put into the bag of holding. Four are left up, Daren uses a casting of major illusion, large to make it seem like a giant piece of Archaeotech to cover what is truly hidden here, much like a complex engine that should not be messed with. A good safety precaution. Also using stone shape to destroy the Vorpal portal sigilThey leave, in quiet and contemplation over what exactly they discovered and what the implications are. Walking up they go into a side room, one less important but filled with some extra parts, lots of Archaeotech bits that Libra takes, to work on himself when able. Also with some unique materials, prettified wood, a good amount of Topaz, some small natural red diamonds, worth a great fortune, and a white obsidian crystal. Satisfied and horrified they leave, leave this retched place and return to the surface, return to their boat and shore back. Quite mostly, each a unique thought in their mind, temptations for Alar, possibility of what could happen. Sun burnt skin, eyes flared, showing the signs of the fallen city, to hopefully recover now that they are out of the area.
Back onto the main land Daren sends off to Polos the recipe for Thalian silver and has him start to work on writing it down and setting things up. Alar sends to Kortor the same, Daren and Alar still working together but separately, not at odds, not yet. Rastía brings over the other inquisition and pulls out the Annihilation Lance, “What have we done, uncovering this artifact of such great power?”. They have their own place of containment, a special safe that can only be opened by the judicator, a solum promise to come to their aid if needed at all. Daren addresses the group, Inquisition and Hand of fate alike “we recovered these artifacts, spears cast of Thalian gold, Lances of Annihilation, we will use them to not only cast the Fae down, but to erase them from existence, we will next go to the four nexuses of the elements and gather what is there, we will end this infection on the world” bows and acceptance comes forth. Leaving the containment area the group teleports back to Nashel and starts to prepare further. The group agrees not to share the Annihilation Lance with anyone, not trusted followers, not Marade, no one but their group. They plan their next few days that evening, Alar going and overseeing the forge of Thalian silver that is being set up, a small scale industry ow working around the clock, many people ready and willing to give time and energy to serve the great good that Alar works towards. From the many reports and inform they gather it seems the Fae are taking more and more, advancing onto a good portion of Velng and getting closer to Nashel into Adrea, taking the area where Vodras once stood, the city walls are being more and more built.
42/8/1564BM
Daren and Alar store the Annihilation Lance in their underground facility of the Marade school, magic binding so that they both must be present to unlock it. Daren also travels back up to Kalim to cash in a favor, to try and establish metal trade for Bismuth and Titanium, rare metals but not impossible. Also they go to their mage and figure out the true power of the disks, calling them Mystrals disks, they each still hold a small amount of magic, a 7th level of various ones in each, Flynnic, Alar, Daren, and Libra each holding onto one, and the others saved for later or others.
43/8/1564BM
The last day of the year, normally a time for celebration and festivity, yet preparation continues, work is hard but when the world is at threat it must be done, celebrations are not held, but walls are built, silver is made, refined and forged into armor. Marade are crafted sets of light mage armor. Daren does not want more power, but wishes it for the need of the world and so calls on Mornal, speaking to him. Into Vorpal space his mind goes and he speaks to his deity, a man in tattered cloth wanders a graveyard. Daren brining his Crozus, his staff of Priestly power made of the Faewood tree. Mornal asks plainly and coldly “what did you find in the city?”. Daren responds “we found a shrine to Mystra, we found the implements used to kill her, Annihilation Lances, we found some still surviving Warforged”. He nods, weary. Daren says “I come seeking power and flexibility, not for myself but so I may do what is needed against the Fae” Mornal nods again “after this is over we can continue as before, I can grant you this power to do what is needed” he continues “What a cleaver mind can do is scary, we delt with it the first time but at a cost” Daren asks “we know the next step is with the elemental powers, can you tell me some of that”. Mornal talks “those groups are odd, twisted ideas of what is, and they are outside of the twelve, Fae stand at each of those cult places. At Air is the general Majius, at Fire is Anagelion, at Earth is Martreah, and at water is Fulcrim”. “Thank you” Daren says. Mornal leaves a last line “Use carefully this power, do not think you are an exception to the rules set out”. Daren slyly responds “I have no intention to usurp”.
1/1/1565
The group continues to prepare, they will visit the air temple first, Greta worried but knowing it needs to be done. Nashel is gearing up still and forces gathering. Major players moving in to observe, Thalia sending a few mages to help with moving people and administer the teleportation circle, with Daren being quite in an argument about this. The King Tyrel Calisto working often with Alar and the other Adrean cities to hope to prevent the fall of Adrea as happened to Kest. Alar also uses some time to contact Keldwin, into the desert temple and before her throne of blood and scorpion he stands, small in stature. She asks “what have you gotten up to now?” he brings forth and offering of the white obsidian, which she is pleased by. He tells Keldwin about the Annihilation Lance’s the power to fell a god and its possibility, but its usage with the Fae. She says “The fall of the cities and the banishment of the Fae was before my time, but I am aware of what it was” she continues “I shudder to think of what misuse of this could do again”. He asks her opinion on the Fae “They are a part of the universe, and a part of balance, but if they remain it will offset something far greater, we will be hurt. I think it is necessary to banish these Fae, end them” she continues “do this, and do this well”. she remarks “If you secure proper order, we here perhaps can secure a future for you.” a small pause and a continue “I know what you are up to, we have not had a new member in a while but it could be possible” he bows “no matter what happens I will keep moving forward”. Keldwin looks “that is good to hear, oh partner of mind”. He returns back to his mortal form. Knowledge gleaned and gained and work to be done, divinity is closer still.
The group levels up to 15th level after this.
Music
Aevel ambience #1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LptTKfrHSi4
Aevel ambience #2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk2bpo5paPw
Geiger counter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMsjlEft0K0
Combat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLAa1urufGE&t
Aevel’s Annihilation lance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxcPyt1gm6I
Mornal talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdlvgIFdNZU
Keldwin talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46w8MRZKj64