Light of Elfaivar
Oh yeah, Elfaivar is a damn huge topic and I'm really looking forward to returning there in adventure 8.
While I don't know the new mechanics of L5R (I only played it for one or two sessions, Tiz is more of an expert), this does seem like a fine mechanic. PF unfortunately doesn't offer good canon methods to use your character's personality and bonds mechanically, so we just do our thing from time to time
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One day later, a ship from Macdam arrives, carrying both troops in mechanized armor and mechanical war golems.
“Courtesy of Mr. Pemberton.”, one commanding officer says.
“This is... just brilliant!” Auryn exclaims as soon as she sees what kind of reinforcement Macdam sent to Sawyer. “These bastards won't know anything about technology and the golems are immune to many kinds of magic.”
“Plus they'll most likely be lightly armed and won't be able to use effective guerrilla tactics as they are most certainly not in their homeland yet.” Carlyle adds, being unusually optimistic.
It takes a while but the troops of Macdam, Sawyer, some eladrin, the golems, as well as Auryn and Carlyle manage to form quite the formidable team. Together, we travel to the empty enclave to look for the tracks of the attackers. Fortunately for us, finding the tracks of a small army isn't too hard and so we get on trail in no time. We spot a couple of dead scouts on our way, scouts that were sent by Sawyer days ago. They are buried quickly before we continue our chase.
A few hours later, we come across some graves and guess that these dead must have been part to the enemy forces. So we decide to take a look at one of the graves and find it filled with nothing but bloody armor and a weapon. Carlyle and Auryn agree that this can only mean that there's a newly reborn deva somewhere nearby, so we try to find the missing soldier.
After a while, we indeed find a confused man with deva markings who's stumbling through the jungle while being completely naked. He's mumbling some barely comprehensible words about the “Light of Elfaivar” that has somehow been important to him but he doesn't really remember why.
Carlyle immediately recognizes the current condition of the deva as he's been reborn twice and was suffering from the same kind of amnesia and confusion after his rebirth. So he uses his hat of disguise to change into an eladrin-deva and tries to help the man. He hands him a blanket to protect himself from the jungle and carefully asks him about images, sounds or feelings he may remember. Bit by bit, he learns that this man had been a devoted follower of King Vardanis in his last life. He keeps calling the King the “Light of Elfaivar” even if he doesn't seem so sure about the meaning of that title and whether he should continue believing in his Lord.
Carlyle promises to guide him through this path of uncertainty, as he, being of the same kind, had to go through the same trials. He asks the man about his last orders and what he's thinking about them right now. The deva answers that he had to bring prisoners to the lands of the King where the men are to be sacrificed in some kind of ritual to empower the Light while the women are to become brides of the King and his most loyal followers. He thinks that doing so must have been necessary to ensure the Empire's stability.
We can only guess that this sacrificial ritual is either meant to be some sort of payment for Acheral or some sort of means to prolong the King's life or to enhance his powers. Carlyle then tries to tell the man that this kind of empire cannot possibly be the bright future for Elfaivar they've all been dreaming about, but the deva is pretty sure that allying with the human enemies won't help either.
“The knew it... they knew she'd come. And then they killed our goddess. They killed my family. They are... monsters!” he stammers as he remembers fragments of his very first life.
“Your family? Would you tell us about them?” Auryn asks, finally breaking her silence.
The man tries very hard to remember more details and then tells us about his wife and their two daughters and sons. Auryn then asks him whether he'd think that these five people would have been able to lead a happy life in the empire of King Vardanis and then quickly answers the question herself: That his wife and daughters would most likely be taken from him while his sons were to become warriors for the “Shining Light of Elfaivar”. She then tells him about the various enclaves where all eladrin, including her own family, are free to live in peace as long as they follow the local rules. We then explain that, should he give it a try, he might just regain what he lost so long ago.
Regarding the “Light of Elfaivar”, Auryn asks him to watch her dance for a moment as she performs her ritual dance to the goddess, which conjures the divine light of Srasama and calls forth myriads of flowers that all bloom at once.
“This is the true Light of Elfaivar. The pure light of the goddess that no King in his hybris may ever taint”
(Gosh, how I love this Nirvana's blossom masterpiece)
After giving the newborn deva as much comfort as we could, we discuss the situation with our troop's higher-ups and come to the conclusion that these soldiers are most likely highly indoctrinated to believe in their King and were maybe killed multiple times to ensure that this memory of utmost loyalty is strongly engraved into their psyche. Which is why we'd probably need to do the same to break their brainwashing.
“I really don't want to call for the execution of hundreds of soldiers, but I don't think there is any other way to relieve them if we wish to let them live a life of their own” Carlyle says contemplatively.
The other agree reluctantly while Carlyle explains what going through a reincarnation means for a person like him. He also hopes that their sliver of Srasama might offer them guidance, even if he doesn't know whether she'd call to them as she does to himself. So we continue our way and come across a second confused deva who we also take care of.
After a while, we finally reach the rearguard of the King's army and manage to fall into their backs unexpectedly. Then, a rather big battle breaks out as the main army realizes what's going on and tries to retaliate. Fortunately, our assumption about the deva not being accustomed to fight mechanized enemies turns out to be correct and so we can ultimately defeat them despite suffering heavy losses on our side as well. We also make sure to strike them all down before we can finally free their prisoners.
(That was rather grim, but we didn't see any other way to deal with an army of indoctrinated deva. Sure, we could have imprisoned them indefinitely, hoping to maybe break their brainwashing over decades, but this would have felt even more unfair as they had originally been victims of the Malice as well. Giving them a new life was the best we could do for them)
When we return to Sawyer, we are welcomed back with a tremendous cheer. The prisoners, humans and eladrin alike, thank us especially for being rescued after they had already given up all hope. We give Roderick the advice to increase their security measures for the Covenant and Sawyer as well as we're pretty sure this Mad King threat isn't over yet. On the contrary, we expect that this one might just be raging with thirst for revenge as soon as he hears that his Enlightened were obliterated.
Still, losing the Enlightened will probably be a heavy blow to the King's forces and he might need some time before he tries to set foot into Kellandia and the surrounding territories again. We also remind Kaealys and Roderick that there will be around 100 reincarnated deva appearing somewhere around the battlefield soon, and that these people will need the guidance of experienced eladrin. Together, we come to the conclusion that they should be transferred to the enclave of Eshaya where they can take all the time they need to get accustomed to their new lives without being out in the public.
After this is settled, we finally find some time to talk to Matriarch Kaealys in private. We tell her all about the Borne incident and explain the threat of the Colossus to the Dreaming and Elfaivar in particular, should he eventually decide to go east. Kaealys responds that she has read quite a bit about the giant adamantine golem in the news
(making her probably the first Matriarch who reads newspapers!), but she didn't know what happened to him afterward. She finds overly positive words for Risur and King Aodhan, whom she never met in person, but still heard much about.
“If all they say about him is true, then this monarch of yours is truly regal and has earned his title of King. And Risur has been such a reliable partner when it came to founding the Covenant. I only wish there were more humans like them.”
We thoroughly agree to her assessment. Next, we tell her about Asrabey, Kasvarina and all the mysteries surrounding Kaealys' grandmother. We also include that Kasvarina was involved in creating Borne and that she might have been part of sinister plans to maybe take control of the world.
Kaealys agrees that Kasvarina always had an easy time gaining enthusiastic followers to her causes as she was that kind of woman who oozed charisma and radiated fiery determination. She remembers her to be a kind grandmother during her early childhood, a woman she loved being around. Still, there had always been a sense of darkness and grief lingering with her. When she asked her mother Launga about Kasvarina she explained that her mother had suffered many losses over the course of her life: There was Pillai, her first husband, who died during the first war. And then there was Dala, Launga's sister, who died during the Malice.
Carlyle thinks about Kaealys' tale for a while and then forms a frightening, but convincing theory: What if Ashima-Shimtu knew that Srasama would eventually be summoned? What if she somehow warned the Clergy of the goddess' coming?
“These words just keep on floating through my mind: 'they knew she'd come'. And I know only of one demon who'd know about the future. Maybe even because she previously gave Miller and Kasvarina the keys to summoning the goddess and therefore conquering Crisillyir. And maybe... Dala had been a part of this ritual as well.”
“Maybe they needed three women: A maiden, a mother and a crone. Then Dala and Kasvarina would have both been participants. All of this would explain why Kasvarina hated the Clergy more than anyone else” Auryn adds.
“Don't forget Miller. Maybe Kasvarina managed to cope with her grief and decided to start a new life with Miller. Only to see her new partner be executed by the Clergy for heresy.”
We all agree that this might just be enough to send an eladrin on a centuries-long crusade against the Clergy, even if Kaealys has never heard about a man named Miller before. We then warn the Matriarch about the Obscurati, the organization Kasvarina got entangled with. Especially as they try to recruit people who are influential and full of good intentions. We also ask her to keep this information confidential as the Obs are part of an ongoing RHC investigation.
When Auryn asks Kaealys about the striking similarities between herself and Kasvarina, the Matriarch laughs softly and explains that bloodlines tend to work that way, so she mustn't think of it as being some kind of obscure fate or prophecy. Regarding Auryn's plans for marrying Carlyle and founding an enclave in Risur, she reacts a bit skeptical as she fears her granddaughter might be unhappy on the long run and the enclave far from home could be a controversial subject as well. Still, this isn't her decision but Auryn's.
Auryn thanks her grandmother for her advice, but it seems as if she isn't fully satisfied yet. So she asks Kaealys whether she knows any true oracle, skyseer or prophet she could ask regarding her fate, birth or future as she really needs more guidance for what is yet to come. Kaealys explains that she knows of only one such oracle, the oracle of Beng Fenor, but their holy site resides on the territory of the Mad King.
At this point, Carlyle hooks up again, seemingly irritated by Auryn's insistence on prophecy.
“Do you really place so little faith in your own decisions that you'd rather make yourself dependent on obscure sources of advice?”
Auryn shakes her head to this question. “Not at all. I just wanted to see if there's more information to gather to make an informed decision. But you're right about the oracle. I won't need that.”
(She wasn't being completely honest here. Of course this was still about Ashima-Shimtu's prophecy which she wanted to be either confirmed or refuted by another prophecy. Auryn knows that prophecies sometimes are made at birth and there might just have been enough reason to hide such a prophecy from Auryn if its contents would be considered dangerous. The last thing she wants is to doom the world by deciding to maybe make one of the biggest experiments in recent eladrin history)
After this is settled as well, we say goodbye to governor Roderick and Matriarch Kaealys. We ask them to keep their eyes open for threats or hints of agents of the King returning to Kellandia and send us a message should there be any more attacks or problems. We explain that the RHC is pretty quick in delivering messages and we'd also be accessible via sending magic. Then we return back to Pallita to tell Galadin and her husbands about what happened in Sawyer, especially as this Mad King threat is very much real.