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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Echolocation" data-source="post: 7952637" data-attributes="member: 7011911">Session 13 OverviewTeam BAD travel to the peak of Cauldron Hill with famous skyseer Nervard Sechim.Recap (Written by Lissandra's player)After the deep loss of Effie, most of our constables awoke the next day to a strange encounter. A strange fey creature visited each of them to deliver a message, expertly coded to invite them all to Angharad’s house without any suspicion, of course. Following their gremlin guides to the Cloudwood, each arrived at a clearing that encased a very interesting and rustic looking cabin. Ella was first to arrive, followed by Lisandra. There was a brief, tense exchange of small talk of the invitation before Ella led the way. They walked in silence around the spiral path that slowly winded in on itself to the front door as Avvakir joined them. Ella studied structure itself, the outside adorned with many sylan symbols that shaped prayer of protection to the Titans. Eventually they arrived at the front door, unlocked, and an awaiting Angharad inside. He sat at a table in the main room of the cabin, laden with dried leaves of various plants, fey pepper includes, and various other paraphernalia that hinted a little deeper at the man’s relationship with drugs.As it turned out, the Cipith had quite the news to share. In the wake of their recent association with Kell coming to light, and the upset it caused, he thought it best to be as upfront as possible. Ella, fed up with secrecy, urged him to say his piece and Angharad told the party that the Vekeshi had tasked him with something just prior to the Summer Solstice. He was to hand over a gift and a message to Gale when he encountered her, as if the Mystics knew they were to be put onto the case. He produced an odd-looking mirror, which Ella identified as some kind of magic item that would allow an soundless image or a scene to show reflected in the glass when activated. He explained he was to deliver it along with a message that said, “The Unseen Court is watching. Take this mirror and when you see the face of our enemies within it, bring them down and we shall reward you.”Too exhausted to dwell too much on the situation, Angharad’s admission was taken quite calmly and the team decided it was best to focus on the time-sensitive task at hand; assisting Skyseer Nevard to Cauldron Hill and gain their invitation to speak with Gale.Upon reaching the Skyseer’s camp, the group met with Pazamu who greeted them and led them to Nevard, reminding Angharad, ‘No Cigars’, and winked as he held up a ritual dagger and invited them inside the tent to begin the ritual. With a little apprehension, the group assembled inside, greeting Nervard and Pazamu went over the details of the ritual again. A glass of milk and the dagger was passed around as each constable carefully cut themselves and bled into the glass. The orc retrieved the milk and his hands glow as the liquid shifts to black. Pazamu pulls out an ancient-looking scroll. Ella’s attention focuses on the scroll as Pazamu works the magic and she recognizes its use from history books, as a piece of ancient forbidden magic called the Bond of Forced Faith, once used by the old Witches of Cauldron Hill. It was used to make them nigh invincible in battle, as they bound unwilling victims to them which would take the injuries they received instead. The scroll disintegrates as the magic is done, leaving Nevard now bound to each of the constables. Noticing Ella’s recognition, the Skyseer apologizes for the use of such a spell, but explains that he thought that despite its dark history, perhaps it could be used this time for something good. Ella dismissed his apology, expressing, somewhat reluctantly, that she understood… and that she has had some experience with using ‘questionable means’ for the greater good. Lisandra quietly shrank into the background and was relieved when the Skyseer nodded and suggested they head out. All were a little surprised when Nevard got to his feet with the ease of a much younger man, but it seemed the ritual had worked.With the Skyseer in tow, the group dutifully make their way to the Mayor’s house, letting the old man discuss the Nettles fondly. They each listen quietly at Nevard’s tales about how the Nettles used to be when he was younger, though Lisandra’s nervous attention drifted to keep an eye on the roads around them as they travel, perhaps a little paranoid that Kell or anyone else might be keeping eyes on them. Nevard laid out the grizzly history of Cauldron Hill as they travelled. A tale of witches who inhabited the hill 150 years ago, plaguing the city below with goblins and phantoms to steal people for their dark magic and hiding between realms to evade retaliation. After decades of terror, they were finally felled by King Lorken with the aid of a Crysilli Godhand.At the Mayor’s residence, they team is greeted by the pleasant face of the Mayor’s aid, Mr. Cillian Creed. Pleasantries and introductions were made, as they brought Nevard through and met with Mayor Macbannin by the pig pen out back where all the preparations had been made. Gathering in a pile, as promised, were camping supplies and several barrels of goat blood and several less animals gracing the pen that last time they visited. Cillian rejoined them with a cover tray containing the protective amulets. Apprehensively, at the Mayor’s insistence, the constables and Nevard take up the amulets and place them around their necks. At Lisandra’s anxiousness, Reed reaffirms that the amulets will protect them all from possession from any supernatural forces atop the hill and instructs them, quite forcibly, that once they return they must all undergo a cleansing ritual to ensure any stragglers have been dealt with, for safety’s sake.With determination, and a healthy dose of trepidation, the group began their journey up the hill. The ascent was fairly benign, almost suspiciously pleasant as they caught a breathtaking view of the city from above, standing in a cool breeze from the ocean that drives away the humidity. The only detail that marred the picturesque view is the grey smear of heavy smoke that obscured the Parity Lake district from above. As the constables marvel at the city below, Nevard’s chin lifted to the sky, taking in the clear view above them where the stars would shine after the sunset came.Team BAD busied themselves getting a quick lay of the land, and Ella spotted a curious glint of something magical down a sheer spot down in the hill. Curious enough to trust her fellows to assist her, they group worked to lower her down via a rope, and she use Lisandra’s grappling hook to tug out the item, retrieving a small shiny cauldron from the foliage. Successful trust-exercise complete, the group set to work preparing the campsite before the night came. Avvakir marked out the camp with a ring of goat’s blood as Lisandra and Ella dug a small pit for a campfire nearby two fallen pillars, edging the pit with gathered stones to shield the light. Ella continued to shield their small campsite with surrounding brush as Lisandra wandered the perimeter, quietly speaking out to spirits of place to beg them to be on their best behavior and maybe not come to the hilltop tonight. Angharad warded the camp in his own way, much like his home, by burning little sigils of sylvan around the area.As night settled in, the group huddled around the fire as Nevard began his gazing, and it wasn’t long before the horrors of Cauldron Hill made their presence known. Spectres flocked to the hill top, swarming around the ring of blood. A wriggling woman with skeletal features, crawled towards the camp… giggling gleefully with a hungry stare as she began to circle the camp. Horned demons, lion-faces monsters and goblin phantoms joined in, tracing the camp in endless circles with hungry looks and terrified calls.Quietly, Nevard leaned over to Anghard and whispered just loud enough to be heard. Through the link, he recognized Angarad’s blood and Vekeshi leanings and inquired about his knowledge of the star, Mishados. Unfamiliar, Nevard explains that it is supposed to be an incarnation of his dead goddess, Surah-sama. She was said to have been a healer. The blue-skinned, dog-faced Mishados waits in the heavens for when she will be recalled to bring the goddess back to life. At the urgings of the skyseer, Angharad turned his gaze upwards and watched Mishados dance in the night sky, captivated by its strange movement.He urged them all to look upwards to the rare sight of clear night sky, and while Ella and Avvakir lifted their gazes, Lisandra sat quietly, back against a pillar as she clutched an old doll in her grip, eyes kept acutely glued to the spirits amassing beyond the ring. Nevard’s sagely whispers barely reached her ears, focused on breathing slowly and trying not to listen to the distant voices whispering across the evening wind.The hours lingered on as the group dwelled in the strangeness of Cauldron Hill. The strange sounding of a distant horn, a glimpse of a mirror image of themselves sitting on the other side of the camp. But most tangible of all was an apparition that appeared inside the ring, floating above the campfire. Lisandra sprang back, almost trying to retreat into the stone at her back with baited breath. A red velvet hung in the air, glowing gently and swaying in the wind as if completely corporeal. A figure barely visible on the other side. After a moment the curtain fluttered and the form of Nilasa Hume walked out, hushing gently with a finger to her lip. She pointed out into the darkness and warned them, “The man who killed me is coming. His face is scarred, so he hides behind many faces.” She raised a featureless black mask to her face and faded away along with her curtain and the air around them became thick and heavy with the familiar stench of burnt engine grease.The constables sprang to their feet, grasping their weapons and succumbing to the dizzying twirl of vertigo. The stars spun overhead, stretching out with a strange sense of time and movement. When their vision cleared, their eyes were drawn to the north, down by Parity Lake a build spring to flames with a dreamlike swiftness. Suddenly they find themselves amidst factories, tongues of flames licking from building to building as the air fills with terrified screams of those trapped inside. The flame rose like two dragons, decimating the factories as they collapsed into the dawn of the following day where all that was left was a charred sign amongst the rubble that read “Serchim’s Alkahest and Etchings”. The vision ended in a SNAP, and the constables found themself back atop the hill. Nevard smiled knowingly and said, “Ji-ez, the plane of fire. It is brighter tonight than usual. It reflects on the surface of the lake. You saw it, didn’t you?”It appeared as though, perhaps through the link they shared with Nevard, the constables had their first first-hand experience with Skyseer visions. A little on edge, Ella gets to her feet and begins to keep an eye-out, still quite worried about Nilasa’s warning. The atmosphere of the evening takes a grim turn some time later the sounds of a man calling for help drift out from beyond camp. Nevard warns them not to listen as the voice continues to scream in terror, begging for help. The sounds dragged on for hours as the constables listened, or tried not to, as Lisandra clutched her doll and retreated into herself and Ella softly reminded herself none of it was real. Much to their surprise, Angharad’s voice picked up and began to match the volume of the spirits, singing a stubborn and uplifting song into the night. Vekeshi in nature, a hymn to his goddess of resilience and always coming back strong in the face of adversary and slowly, Nevard began to lend his own voice to the tune. The unexpected display drowned out the wailing and phantom tearing of flesh in the distance as they listened to the song and turned out the horror.As midnight passed a lull in the spirits activity brought a quieter moment to the group, though a few spirits still lurk at the ring of blood. Those with the ability to see in the dark noticed a figure on the opposite side of the peak, walking toward camp with a sense of purpose. It strikes a cylindrical rod and the CRACK of a sunrod. All turn, living and dead alike, to see the light adjust and reveal a familiar man, with dark, strange angular features leaking oil across the way. He hurls the sunrod, arcing it across the camp and drawing the attention of every spirit that still lingered to the group. With a horrible shriek, the spirits sprang on the camp. The constables fought to defend Nevard and redirect the light, desperately trading blows with unearthly foes. Swarms of tiny insects erupted from the ground. After a harrowing battle, the horrors finally thwarted and beacons of light were dealt with, the constables watched the insects scurry off and found no trace of the angular man. Tending to their wounds, the group was more than happy to be done with this place, flooded with relief as Nevard declared he must return home and rest to consolidate his visions.Upon returning to Reed’s property below, the shaken group was greeted with the sounds of shouting voices.  Group of armored soldiers are in conversation by the gate. Their leader, a young man Lisandra was familiar with, seemed to be arguing with the Mayor about protocol. Between reprimanding the Mayor for not following said procedures, Lieutenant Dale greets Lisandra and returns to expressing frustration at the dire consequences of sending people up the hill at night without properly informing his team. Reed tried to reassure anyone that precautions were taken, and the light show they all witnessed from below was not part of his instructions.Pazamu and his druidic posse was also present, awaiting to escort their Skyseer home, and made haste in taking their leave. Reed led the team back to the house, with Dale’s strict admonishments and supervision. Once purified of any trafficking malefic spirits, Lisandra asks the Mayor if he would mind her keeping an amulet, for extra protection. He agreed and with their business awkwardly concluded, the constables made haste to Parity Lake to follow up on their troubling vision of Heward’s factory, leaving Dale and his team to play an impromptu game of soccer in the Mayors yard.True to suspicion, they encounter a group of suspicious people in an alley by the wayside. Two dragon-like men and a few mercenaries huddled around a wagon. Ella and Avvakir attempt to approach, badge displayed to inspect the goods as Lisandra and Angharad keep a presence at the entrance of the alley. Upon finding the wagon full of alchemist fire, Ella demands the goods be relinquished, and naturally an altercation breaks loose. One of the dragon-men attempts to set the wagon alight and Ella, Lisandra and Angharad attempt to busy their opponents as Avvakir pushes the wagon aside, slowly getting closer to the lakeside. The dragon-men flee, and with all but one mercenary knocked out, the combat comes to an end as the man begs for leniency in return for information. He shares the information he has, about the recent attacks on the district and further plans for the next target, the home of Security Chief LeBrix before Lisandra tell him to run home to his family in the Nettles and stay out of trouble before the local police arrive. The three others were arrested and as they were taken away by the authorities, the constables were met with their final oddity for the very eventful evening… a message on the wind from Gale herself and a yellow canary that flitters about them all, requesting they give her a time for that evening that suits for a meeting.With a hagged sigh, the group declared 11pm tonight to the wind and left to return to HQ to catch a quick nap and figure out how the hell they are supposed to meet this Cippiano, warn LeBrix and meet with a supposed terrorist all in one day while still gaining a little sleep. Join them for a day in the life of an exhausted agent of the King and see how the manage to pull off this insanity today in the adventures of Team BAD...DM DiscussionAvvakir will continue to be a party of Team BAD (until the end of this adventure), with another player controlling his actions during combat. Outside of combat, he passively follows the Team.A couple of the players have a hunch that the Mayor has some larger role in this story, but they are unsure whether that is as an ally or as an enemy. For example, Lissandra's player wasn't sure how to interpret Lt. Dale's argument with Reed. Was he helping the party by sneaking them up onto the peak by bypassing red tape, or was he hoping to avoid interference by the military?The players quite enjoyed the Cauldron Hill encounter, and the variety of enemies. Having Wolfgang's rapier here was a true blessing, and reminded the group of their bittersweet time with the Doctor.I introduced Gale's message a little earlier than the book recommends, to help players plan their priorities for the next session. The message requested a meeting that day, as the following day will be filled with events (the day of the rally).</blockquote>

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