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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lykkenthrope" data-source="post: 9785778" data-attributes="member: 7045440">Session 20:(I'm aware these arnt shorter write ups, I have surprised myself by remembering a whole lot more details than I assumed I would remember from over a year ago. Hope yall are enjoying them)The session began with the group stepping out of Papuvin’s cave and debating what to do next. Vic, Ze, and Torrent were eager to seek out Vuhl. Sorian agreed that, even though Papuvin had seemed sincere, they should hear from others before making any decision that could affect an entire people.As they crossed the village, Reshi, ever pragmatic, decided to rejoin Grom outside the settlement. He said he understood their need for answers but was weary of politics and would rather keep watch.Vic, Sorian, Ze, Torrent, and Crystin followed the winding cliffside paths to the far edge of the village, where they found Vuhl waiting near the mouth of a cave. His appeared weary, much like the other Seela, but there was a spark in his eyes that rivaled Tiljann’s own. Ze decided to wait outside, keeping watch while sending her shadow along with the others to hear what was said.Inside, as soon as they entered, Crystin staggered and clutched her head. Vic rushed to her side, thinking it might be another vision, but Crystin only whispered weakly, The song… it’s too much. Vuhl fetched her water before growing serious, explaining that the Song of Forms had never been meant to be sung for so long…its ancient magic was having unintended effects.He shared that the Seela’s touch had once been healing, but now drained the life from others. In a similar fashion, the song that once renewed the forest was now keeping it, and all within it, in endless agony. Vuhl explained that he led a growing faction who believed it was time to stop singing. Yes, ending the song would free Indomitability, but it would also end the fire and allow the forest to burn as it should have long ago….and someday life would return as is the cycle of life.He explained that 22 of the remaining 39 Seela already agreed with him. It would only take a single pause, a single moment of silence for Indomitability to break free and restore the natural order. The party listened quietly, save for Sorian, who admitted that Vuhl’s logic resonated with him more than he cared to admit.Sorian and Vic pressed Vuhl on what he intended to do if the other Seela continued to sing. Vuhl said he did not wish to harm anyone, but reason had failed for nearly a decade. His group was growing restless and were becoming hard to keep in check. Vuhl had been searching for something powerful enough to shock the singers into stopping, even if just for one moment. The only act he believed could do that was to show them the dead body of Timbre.Sorian was initially horrified at the thought, but Vuhl insisted that Timbre was already dead, as dead as any of the Seela or firetouched were. He said he had tried to reach out to Timre but she was sealed off in her grove, refusing to let anyone come near.Vuhl suggested that Timbre might offer an audience for the lock of Arielle’s hair, a relic kept at her shrine. When the group told him that it had been stolen and its keeper Bhurisavra viciously killed for it, Vuhl nodded grimly. He was certain Gwen, the nymph of the lake and rivers of the Innenotdar, had taken it. He proposed that they try and recover the relic, and if they could not find it, that bringing Gwen’s body might also be enough to gain an audience with Timbre.Despite being alone in the cave, Vuhl brought everyone closer and lowered his voice to tell them the forbidden story of Gwen and Arielle.Long before the fire, long before the Shalahasti invasion, Gwen and Arielle had been lovers: young, wild, reckless, and inseparable. Both loved the forest fiercely and felt bound to its protection. So it did not surprise Gwen when Arielle left for the front lines when the Shalahasti invaded, it did not surprise her when she returned a celebrated hero….but it did surprise her that she returned engaged to Timbre and acting as if she and Gwen had been nothing more than friends. Heartbroken, Gwen claimed that Timbre must have bewitched Arielle. Yet there were whispered rumors of secret meetings around the lake, of stolen moments where Arielle sought comfort in Gwen’s arms even as she prepared to wed another. That Gwen was Arielle’s passion, and Timbre her duty. During the final battle with Indomitability, it seems it was Gwen, not Timbre, whom Arielle turned to for aid as Arielle purposefully lured Indomitability into Gwen’s waters. When the battle ended and Arielle lay dying, she refused to be taken to Timbre’s grove and instead asked to remain by the lakeshore.Vuhl admitted it could all be rumor, a century of fire and isolation can distort the truth, but he knew was certainty: heartbreak, betrayal, and grief had twisted Gwen into something monstrous.Swayed by Vuhl’s story, Vic asked if it would be possible for them to work with Gwen and help her confront Timbre? Allow Gwen to get her closure and kill Timbre. Vuhl thought for a moment and said no one had dared speak with Gwen for so long because of the monster she had become, but if they could some how reason with her then, yes, Gwen would have the strength to do what needed to be done.Before leaving, the party told Vuhl that while their mission to Seaquen remained their greater duty, but that they would not turn their backs on the Seela or the Innenotdar. Whatever choice they made, they would not leave them as they are.[SPOILER="DM Note. A Comment on including Out of Character Discussions (No Spoilers, mild drama)"]I want to keep my campaign story the focus of this thread. However I am choosing to include some out of character discussions and above table moments, aka “drama”, when these moments had significant impact on the campaign. It would be confusing not to mention them as they directly influenced story decisions and tone. (But I know its not everyone’s cup of tea so hence the spoiler cover.)I won’t go into full detail here, as this isn’t the place for that, but if you’re going through something similar at your own table, or you’re just curious (no judgment), feel free to reach out to me privately.Before anything else, I want to make it clear that Reshi’s player is still at my table, and is now one of my most engaged, funny, and thoughtful players. The me who DM’d this session would never have believed I’d be writing that sentence, but once I found my voice and learned how to communicate my expectations clearly, he responded with respect and a willingness to collaborate. It took work on both sides, but we found a rhythm that’s made the game better for everyone. [/SPOILER][SPOILER="DM Note. The Out of Character Talk aka Drama (Implied Spoilers?)"]After leaving Vuhl’s cave, the group that spoke with Vuhl remained on the beach and had an intense, character driven ethical debate. They came to the decision, rather organically, to go along with Vuhl’s plan by either retrieving Arielle’s hair to confront Timbre or (their preferred way) finding a way to get Gwen to do the deed for them.Then, Reshi’s player suddenly stopped the scene to argue that Vuhl had to be evil citing citing out of character/game evidence: ie. a Brandon Sanderson plot comparison and confusingly my choice of background music (Do They Dream from Westworld and Small Beginnings from Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, which both sure were metajokes for just me, but in no way were villian music) I tried to pivot, moved the conversation outside of town so Reshi and Grom could join in character but the discussion spiraled into metatalk about not wanting to lose pulling everyone out of character.I paused the game to refocus the group. I explained that War of the Burning Sky isn’t about clean victories. It’s about surviving impossible choices and understanding that not every decision will feel good. This forest arc in particular was meant to prepare them for the larger ethical dilemmas they will face, moments where there isn’t a clear “right” or “wrong” only perspective and consequence.After that, we regrouped. The players finished the session by agreeing to not side with Vuhl, Papuvin, or Tiljann, and to table the philosophical decision on their hands till after they met Gwen.[/SPOILER]Outside, they reunited with Grom and Reshi on the outskirts of the village. They shared all they had learned from Papuvin and Vuhl which lead to a long, heated debate on ethics vs. purpose and morality vs necessity. Many in the group not liking Vuhl, but could not articulate why. Finally, Grom silenced the argument and asked that Sorian speak his mind, as the forest was his home and the decision most affected him.Sorian took a moment before speaking. He said that, though he felt weird to admit it, he agreed with Vuhl. The forest was no longer truly alive and the Seela’s suffering could not continue. Still, he wanted to give more time to finding a way that might spare them before taking an irreversible action. He made a quiet vow, to himself more than the others, that he would do what needed to be done for the natural order to be restored.The group remained divided, but agreed on one thing: whatever they decided, they would act alone. No Seela interference, no declarations of allegiance to either side.As the sun began to set, the party decided to camp with the Seela for the night and head toward Gwen’s domain in the morning. Crystin stayed with Grom on the outskirts, noting her headache eased when she was away from the Song. The others returned to the village, where Tiljann greeted them with joy, relieved they had not left for good.Tiljann led them around the village, introducing them to Seela from both factions.The non singers spoke highly of Vuhl and dismissed Papuvin as not being strong enough to protect them and do what needs to be done. They were exhausted and without hope, clinging only to the belief that their deaths might one day bring life back to the forest.The singers spoke bitterly of Vuhl, angry that he called their purpose meaningless. They said to stop singing was to die and they did not want to die while they still held faith in Etifini, the hero who once escaped through the fire, and continued to sing in hope that they might still be saved. Ze noticed a flicker of guilt between Tiljann and another Seela as they spoke about Etifini.When pressed, they confessed that many of their people had given their life force to help Etifini break through the fire. Some doubted he survived, but on quiet nights they swore they could still hear his voice singing from beyond the forest… though not in nearly fifty years.It grew darker and group settled near the lakeshore watching embers drift across the night sky. Tiljann made one final plea to the heros, she said that There are many ways to die, so there must be more than one way to live. Etifini escaped, even if it took a sacrifice. Perhaps six heroes might think of something we could not. The silence that followed was uncomfortable for all so Tiljann broke the awkward by offering to teach them the Song of Forms, so that even if the Seela perished their song would live on.Vic and Ze accepted, learning the melody by the faint light of the burning forest while the others rested.(Session End)</blockquote>

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