Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="aartvb" data-source="post: 9523704" data-attributes="member: 7035557">Session 40 (31-1-2024): Mysteries, Malice, and Magic on the RailsIn the morning, the group wakes up to find four young women sitting around Red at breakfast.  Torro Griento arrives with another dramatic tale: supposedly, a woman has been murdered, surrounded by blood. According to him, a staff member mentioned this, but now he can no longer find that person.  After a while, a boy comes downstairs, saying the staff member is upstairs. It turns out to be a young woman from housekeeping. She recounts that a woman was found in an alley, with her intestines wrapped around her and her organs in her hands (a liver in her right hand, a heart in her left, and blood in her hair). However, she says she heard this story from Annelien.  The group returns to the train, which is heading from Cherage to Orithea.  As they board, they notice Malia loading a large crate onto the train, bearing the logo of a well-known arms dealer.A man approaches her, his wrist chained to a briefcase. This turns out to be Cardiff Hengehill. After speaking with Malia, he boards second-class, car 14. Some group members attempt to investigate Cardiff's briefcase, but he refuses. Similarly, when they approach Malia, she also denies them permission to examine the case without a valid reason. However, Malia does reveal that the large crate contains the weapons they had ordered.  In car 18, two new passengers board: an elf and a tiefling. Some recognize the tiefling as Luc, the nephew of Danor’s leader and brother to the Minister of Outsiders.The group engages them in conversation. When they learn that the elf follows the Clergy’s faith, Red asks if he can perform a ritual to bless a piece of coal. The initial attempt has little to no effect. Upon the elf’s advice, the ritual is performed following religious protocols, resulting in a remarkably strong effect.  They repeat the ritual, this time on a book of names. When they ask which of Red’s family or friends wish her harm, the name "Ottavia" appears randomly from the book. It turns out this is the name of the elf.  As the train enters the Malice Lands, it stops at a fort where many soldiers disembark. From this point, magic will behave chaotically, but the train will stop in Orithea, where magic functions normally. In Orithea, tours are offered to explain this phenomenon.  Bree is seen wearing only a t-shirt despite the cold. Her arms appear to be prosthetic. It’s revealed that Bree is a war veteran from the Fourth Yerasol War, having lost her arms and legs to a jaguar during the conflict.  Malia announces that the group can practice shooting at “Malice Beasts.” The real hunt will begin the following day.  The group shoots at various beasts from the train. Levy, Red’s bird construct, retrieves multiple creatures, including a cheetah with a skeleton head, a bird with eight wings, a land-octopus, a fire-breathing wolf, and more.  Suddenly, they notice a man standing on the train ten cars away, waving a crowbar. He yells for them to quiet down. It turns out to be the same man they had seen running through the city the day before.  <code class="bbCodeInline">Note: Fun fact, I noticed that my note taking style has changed quite a bit since the beginning. At first, I mostly noted down only the things relevant for the written down adventure. However, now I write down quite a bit more about what the players do, even inter-personal developments which don't have a lot of impact on the overall plot.</code></blockquote>

Verification