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The Thorns of Winter -(updated 8/1/2023)
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<blockquote data-quote="Nthal" data-source="post: 8475676" data-attributes="member: 6971069"><p style="text-align: center"><strong>A Key Lost</strong></p><p></p><p>I went to work, and laid each of the Cannith housemates to rest. Adrissa helped me, as I placed coppers on each eye and whispered a quick litany for each of them. I felt a little guilty in rushing and doing them all as a group, instead of each one alone. But I was sure that my god understood; the needs of the living were urgent and pressing. My ministrations of the dead was important perhaps more to me I supposed. The dead here might not have cared that I performed what I believed to be a sacred duty. I had no idea what these people believed to be their afterlife. I knew that many believed that their souls travelled to Dollurh, but Sylvannia I wasn’t sure about. Her writings mentioned something about the “Silver Flame” and while I had heard about that in passing, I didn’t know what it meant.</p><p></p><p>“Sage, what is the ‘Silver Flame’ exactly?” I asked.</p><p></p><p>Sage turned to look at me and shrugged, “It’s a belief founded in Thrane. Bookshelf might know more as he spent more time there.”</p><p></p><p>Bookshelf’s head snapped to attention at the mention of their name, “Well…yes I did. But I was never a ‘Flamer’; they didn’t really encourage warforged to be members. But they were founded by an event where a human, Tira Miron bound an overlord of darkness and flame into a ‘Silver Flame.’ Since then the church has built a city around it called Flamekeep, and the Speakers of the Flame have resided there ever since. But people that die believe they join the Flame, and fight evil as part of it.”</p><p></p><p>“And not go to Dollurh…is that right?”</p><p></p><p>“I suppose,” Bookshelf said. “We only were taught that mages with ‘divine’ type spells were different that wizards. The theology behind the religions were never important.”</p><p></p><p>“We were built as…tools for the war,” Sage informed me. “A tool should care nothing for why an acolyte from Flamekeep does what they do; just that they can. Anything else was seen as irrelevant.”</p><p></p><p>“And now? Is it relevant to you…either of you now?”</p><p></p><p>Bookshelf was silent a moment as Sage and they looked at each other. “Not really. It seems illogical that a being of such might cares about people. They certainly don’t care about me. I doubt the gods are real.”</p><p></p><p>“However, the Flame is real,” Sage said. “Tira did bind something; all the military texts describe how the forces of the era were insufficient to halt the overlord. Visiting Flamekeep, pilgrims can see the Flame itself. But as to their beliefs, or the less concrete ones of the Sovereign Host or any of the rest; it seems too abstract to be useful.”</p><p></p><p>“But this…overlord that Tira bound. It was real?” I asked trying to make sense of the story.</p><p></p><p>“It was,” Sage said. “Supposedly a creature from the earliest days. And supposedly not the only one, but I’m not up that history. Wasn’t important in training, and I doubt any texts exist on strategy or tactics.”</p><p></p><p>“History was a distraction, unless immediately useful,” Bookshelf concurred.</p><p></p><p>I looked at the bodies in the room and sighed. I really felt I should know more, understand more so I inter them properly. But I knew that I was ignorant about a lot of things here. These religions, plus the Blood of Vol were so different from what I knew. And while I had more than just faith, I had some measure of proof about my god’s existence it made me wonder. Their faiths were truly abstract belief; they had no proof. No events like the ‘Godswalk’ on Toril. No chosen. Power from the gods was without question, as a god would revoke if they were slain or did not feel a person was worthy of their power. But here…I wasn’t sure. Rosa and I supposed Morrigon venerated the wild nature of the world. Each was I hoped in opposition in terms of morality. But that morality didn’t impact their ability to work magic. Was it the same for others that claimed to have divine power?</p><p></p><p>Having no answers, I left the impromtu mass grave, and returned to the room with the revolving light. I then turned to the large door on the side of the room. Unlike the stone work here, the door had seen better times. Its metal surface was pitted and corroded, with tears of bright purple streaks dripping from the larger ones. The metal surface was dark, with a dim purple sheen. On the center of it was a runed disc, that was separated into five distinct rings. Stepping closer I looked at the runes, but none of them meant anything to me as the letters were unfamiliar. I placed my hand on the Apochcrypha and started to whisper to myself to see if these sigils meant anything. Meanwhile the others moved and stood beside me.</p><p></p><p>“That’s a big door,” Doxx said pointing out the obvious.</p><p></p><p>“What’s with the runed circles?” Rosa asked, wiping away tears from her eyes from the graves below.</p><p></p><p>“It looks like a lock mechanism,” Sage said. “Turn each ring to a position and it opens.”</p><p></p><p>“Logical. But what is that?” Bookshelf asked as they pointed to an indentation in the middle, which had a finger width shaft extending into the middle of the door.</p><p></p><p>“A keyhole?” Adrissa said squinting at it. “It’s higher up than most of us can reach.”</p><p></p><p>“Sounds about right for the rest of the furnishings.” Doxx said.</p><p></p><p>“How do we—”</p><p></p><p>“There is only one possible answer!” The Blade said triumphantly as he pulled the last lever on the pillar.</p><p></p><p>“What did you—“ Rosa started as the humming and grinding of metal echoed throughout the room. We all looked around in dread, waiting for more barbed bolts to be fired at us in quick succession. We waited as the sounds finally ground to a halt, and with a final clang the noise ceased.</p><p></p><p>“There could have been another trap you fool!” Doxx said stomping over and waggling her staff at The Blade. “You could have—” and as Doxx started to tear into The Blade, the room went darker, as the spinning light finally was extinguished.</p><p></p><p>“See?” The Blade beamed. “I told you a second trap would be ludicrous and a waste of a good trap.”</p><p></p><p>“That doesn’t help us now does—” Doxx continued, unsatisfied that she couldn’t fully vent her frustrations.</p><p></p><p>As Doxx was yelling, Bookshelf took a closer look at the door, and they reached forward and pushed on the metal plate. To their surprise, the door moved easily, swinging away from us. It made no noise as it moved aside and exposed a tunnel descending down, with more light pulsing on the walls. The door swung and finally halted with a dull boom, which Doxx failed to heed.</p><p></p><p>“—You’re pulling random levers, while we stare at—” Doxx sputtered.</p><p></p><p>“—Doxx—” I said.</p><p></p><p>“—This massive obstruction to our—”</p><p></p><p>“—Doxx honey?” Rosa said calmly tring to get her attention.</p><p></p><p>“—progress. Can’t you stop a moment and—”</p><p></p><p>“DOXX!” Several of us raised our voices, which got the old woman to turn around and blink in surprise.</p><p></p><p>“Ah…good. Glad we fixed that.” Doxx said putting on a smile. “Shall we?”</p><p></p><p>I rubbed my temples, trying to get ahead of the dull pain I knew I was going to feel.</p><p></p><p><em>Gos? Nothing behind?</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>--Oh hey! You REMEMBERED ME.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Gos…please…not now.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>--But yeah. Nothing but fine grains of dust, the occasional burst of planar energy and more dust.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Well it can’t be…wait. Planar?</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>--Yep planar. I know we are near a doorway somewhere. The borders raises up my hackles.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>I’m going to recall you.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>--Huh? Wait wait! Don’t—</em></p><p></p><p>I quickly yanked on a white and black strand and pulled Gossamer to me, and dismissed him from the world. The last thing I wanted was for him to be stranded on the wrong side of a door. “Sorry Gos…” I muttered, and we then started to move down the tunnel deeper into the rock.</p><p></p><p>It was a fairly steep descent, and we moved slowly to avoid slipping. My boots were well worn and held their grip we enough. As we descended with the driftglobe up behind us, and might light on Sage’s shield ahead, I noticed that I could now see the pulsing light on the tunnel walls, streaking away from the bottom. And I swore, I could even feel it and I wasn’t even touching the walls. I swallowed and looked around, feeling on edge.</p><p></p><p>The others seemed to share my unease, Doxx looking around constantly, while The Blade and Adrissa kept their bows ready. Sage’s back was to me, but his arm blade was behind him, ready to whip it forward in an attack. That left Rosa who looked around furtively, like a cornered rat. I found myself watching her most, as she was beyond just jumpy; she looked terrified. </p><p></p><p>I moved closer to her and tapped her on the shoulder and leaned down. “Are you alright?”</p><p>She shook her head quickly; “I feel…feel… exposed. I don’t know why. Something on the edge of my memory that I can’t place..” She turned to look me in the eye with a wan smile. “I’m sure its just me dear. Don’t worry about me hon.”</p><p></p><p>I sighed to myself and looked ahead. Her words did nothing to calm me. Like her I felt like I was missing something. But for me it wasn’t an elusive memory. As we descended, I could feel the strands withing me, vibrate. Each one twitched in response to the pulses of light pushing past us in the tunnel. And what I first thought was my imagination, I quickly realized it wasn’t an illusion. The separation of each pulse was getting narrower, but they were also stronger. Each pulse pushed on the strands more and more as we continued. Suddenly, the runes in the hallways started to light up, in a single wave from the depths, and then passed us. But unlike before the runes only dimmed a bit.</p><p></p><p>“Something is happening below; we should be ready for a confrontation,” Sage said, voicing the obvious thought in our heads. Staring ahead, I finally saw that the tunnel opened up into a large chamber. Sage turned and gestured at his shield and nodded at Bookshelf, “Lights.” I flexed, and felt the energy flow up my spine, and the light on Sage’s shield winked out, while Bookshelf recovered their driftglobe. With our lights out, the lit runes on the wall became very clear, and the pulsing was more pronounced. Sage gestured and pointed at the walls of our tunnel, and we then split up and pressed ourselves against the sides of the tunnel, and we stepped forward into the room.</p><p></p><p>The chamber was large, and it reminded me of the music hall in the Civic Festhall in Sigil. The roof was arched, and the floor leveled off into flat arcs, that continued to descend. As they descended, the room narrowed to a dais, which had a stone structure that looked like a lectern. Behind it was a large metal door, that gave off a dull boom as it closed, and the sounds of metal scraping came from the door. On the floor around the door, were the remains of vegeogres, their corpse looked to have been seared with flames. Near them, lay the much more human corpses of men dressed in homespun robes which were covered in soot. But standing next to the pile of bodies, were a pair of large awakened trees and another pair of vegeogres. But in front of them, behind the stone lectern stood a woman.</p><p></p><p>She was wrapped in leathers that were dyed a deep red, and were festooned with bones and feathers. Her bare arms were covered in marks, either tattoos or war paint. Her face was like wise adorned with stripes that gave the impression of a leering skull on her face, surrounded by a shock of black hair with streaks of blonde. Next to her a staff leaned against the podium, from which hung bits of bone. She looked up at us, and smiled. She turned something on the podium with her hand, and then withdrew a small crystal, the width of a thumb and the length of a dirk.</p><p></p><p>“Finally…Morrigon said you would come. But its too late.” She said with a shrill voice, her lips was curled into a snarl. As she spoke, she casually tossed the crystal behind her, which hit the stone floor and shattered. She then continued, reaching for her staff which she cradled in her arms, “But he was surprised to see a former colleague to be one to move against him. As am I. Did your time on the edge of town soften you?” she spat.</p><p></p><p>Rosa stepped forward and addressed her. “Tracia. It has been a while since I last saw you. This is a bit extreme though; harvesting people and turning them into fungus? Marching on towns? All to bring forward winter?”</p><p></p><p>Tracia smirked and tilted her head looking at Rosa, “You seemed to understand once. Don’t you remember our last words together in the Gloaming? ‘Sometimes the world needs a push’ ? ”</p><p></p><p>“Let us say I have had a lot of time to consider what I said, and perhaps a retraction is in order,” Rosa said, her voice quavering.</p><p></p><p>Tracia’s smirk was now a vicious grin. “Now I understand. Thank you for that clarity of what has…passed between us,” She said speaking slowly and deliberately.”</p><p></p><p>Rosa suddenly stiffened and looked around herself nervously. I was unclear on what the significance of what was just said. And looking at the faces of the others, it was clear that for most of them, whatever was said was a puzzle. But there was an exception; Doxx.</p><p></p><p>Doxx, looked at Rosa with confusion, the old woman’s brow knitted together as she stared at Rosa in disbelief. I could see her mouth a word, but I couldn’t be sure what. Rosa lips quivered a moment as she stammered, “Whatever; what’s behind the door?”</p><p></p><p>“This?” Tracia waved at the door behind her, keeping her eyes locked on us. “The last part of a machine, long quiet. And now…active once again. Soon it will provide us everything we need. And then the long delayed winter can begin. Somehow, I bet you would want to do something stupid, like disable it. But as I already said, it’s too late. The key is broken, and only Morrigon has another.”</p><p></p><p>“We will have to pay them a visit then,” Sage said. “I’m sure Morrigon will talk to us.” </p><p></p><p>Tracia shook her head, “By the time you reach him, winter will be here. But enough of this pointless banter and poor attempts of subterfuge. Time for all of you to die!” And her eyes rolled back into her head as she started to chant.</p><p></p><p>The Blade and Adrissa shared a single thought at that moment, and each loosed an arrow. They whistled across the room, heading towards the druid, when they suddenly stopped just in front of the dais Tracia stood at. The arrows tumbled to the ground harmlessly, as the duo swore. Doxx started to run down towards Tracia, and Adrissa tore after him, discarding her bow. Sage, started to thunder down to the druid, as the trees and giant fungus started to lumber to intercept. It was then, that Tracia had finished her spell and a beam of white moonlight descended from above, and struck Rosa. </p><p>She screamed, and fell to her knees, as wisps of smoke drifted from her body. But as I watched, her form shifted. Where once Rosa stood, now was short wiry figure, who wore a featureless face with an indistinct nose, and slightly sunken cheeks. The color of her hair quickly washed away, and became white as ice. She opened her eyes, which now looked like black pools and her face was contorted in anger.</p><p></p><p>“I thought so,” Tracia said triumphantly. “So nice to see you again…Rhys.”</p><p></p><p><strong>Session notes:</strong></p><p>Players accused Melisandre about secrets. Of course, she knew things. She knew things that players wanted to be a secret. In this case there was a lot of elaborate stuff going on, including hiddened character sheets on Dndbeyond with the public 'Rosa' and the private 'Rhys' This one required a bit of work between the player and the DM to pull off. The surprise was well worth it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nthal, post: 8475676, member: 6971069"] [CENTER][B]A Key Lost[/B][/CENTER] I went to work, and laid each of the Cannith housemates to rest. Adrissa helped me, as I placed coppers on each eye and whispered a quick litany for each of them. I felt a little guilty in rushing and doing them all as a group, instead of each one alone. But I was sure that my god understood; the needs of the living were urgent and pressing. My ministrations of the dead was important perhaps more to me I supposed. The dead here might not have cared that I performed what I believed to be a sacred duty. I had no idea what these people believed to be their afterlife. I knew that many believed that their souls travelled to Dollurh, but Sylvannia I wasn’t sure about. Her writings mentioned something about the “Silver Flame” and while I had heard about that in passing, I didn’t know what it meant. “Sage, what is the ‘Silver Flame’ exactly?” I asked. Sage turned to look at me and shrugged, “It’s a belief founded in Thrane. Bookshelf might know more as he spent more time there.” Bookshelf’s head snapped to attention at the mention of their name, “Well…yes I did. But I was never a ‘Flamer’; they didn’t really encourage warforged to be members. But they were founded by an event where a human, Tira Miron bound an overlord of darkness and flame into a ‘Silver Flame.’ Since then the church has built a city around it called Flamekeep, and the Speakers of the Flame have resided there ever since. But people that die believe they join the Flame, and fight evil as part of it.” “And not go to Dollurh…is that right?” “I suppose,” Bookshelf said. “We only were taught that mages with ‘divine’ type spells were different that wizards. The theology behind the religions were never important.” “We were built as…tools for the war,” Sage informed me. “A tool should care nothing for why an acolyte from Flamekeep does what they do; just that they can. Anything else was seen as irrelevant.” “And now? Is it relevant to you…either of you now?” Bookshelf was silent a moment as Sage and they looked at each other. “Not really. It seems illogical that a being of such might cares about people. They certainly don’t care about me. I doubt the gods are real.” “However, the Flame is real,” Sage said. “Tira did bind something; all the military texts describe how the forces of the era were insufficient to halt the overlord. Visiting Flamekeep, pilgrims can see the Flame itself. But as to their beliefs, or the less concrete ones of the Sovereign Host or any of the rest; it seems too abstract to be useful.” “But this…overlord that Tira bound. It was real?” I asked trying to make sense of the story. “It was,” Sage said. “Supposedly a creature from the earliest days. And supposedly not the only one, but I’m not up that history. Wasn’t important in training, and I doubt any texts exist on strategy or tactics.” “History was a distraction, unless immediately useful,” Bookshelf concurred. I looked at the bodies in the room and sighed. I really felt I should know more, understand more so I inter them properly. But I knew that I was ignorant about a lot of things here. These religions, plus the Blood of Vol were so different from what I knew. And while I had more than just faith, I had some measure of proof about my god’s existence it made me wonder. Their faiths were truly abstract belief; they had no proof. No events like the ‘Godswalk’ on Toril. No chosen. Power from the gods was without question, as a god would revoke if they were slain or did not feel a person was worthy of their power. But here…I wasn’t sure. Rosa and I supposed Morrigon venerated the wild nature of the world. Each was I hoped in opposition in terms of morality. But that morality didn’t impact their ability to work magic. Was it the same for others that claimed to have divine power? Having no answers, I left the impromtu mass grave, and returned to the room with the revolving light. I then turned to the large door on the side of the room. Unlike the stone work here, the door had seen better times. Its metal surface was pitted and corroded, with tears of bright purple streaks dripping from the larger ones. The metal surface was dark, with a dim purple sheen. On the center of it was a runed disc, that was separated into five distinct rings. Stepping closer I looked at the runes, but none of them meant anything to me as the letters were unfamiliar. I placed my hand on the Apochcrypha and started to whisper to myself to see if these sigils meant anything. Meanwhile the others moved and stood beside me. “That’s a big door,” Doxx said pointing out the obvious. “What’s with the runed circles?” Rosa asked, wiping away tears from her eyes from the graves below. “It looks like a lock mechanism,” Sage said. “Turn each ring to a position and it opens.” “Logical. But what is that?” Bookshelf asked as they pointed to an indentation in the middle, which had a finger width shaft extending into the middle of the door. “A keyhole?” Adrissa said squinting at it. “It’s higher up than most of us can reach.” “Sounds about right for the rest of the furnishings.” Doxx said. “How do we—” “There is only one possible answer!” The Blade said triumphantly as he pulled the last lever on the pillar. “What did you—“ Rosa started as the humming and grinding of metal echoed throughout the room. We all looked around in dread, waiting for more barbed bolts to be fired at us in quick succession. We waited as the sounds finally ground to a halt, and with a final clang the noise ceased. “There could have been another trap you fool!” Doxx said stomping over and waggling her staff at The Blade. “You could have—” and as Doxx started to tear into The Blade, the room went darker, as the spinning light finally was extinguished. “See?” The Blade beamed. “I told you a second trap would be ludicrous and a waste of a good trap.” “That doesn’t help us now does—” Doxx continued, unsatisfied that she couldn’t fully vent her frustrations. As Doxx was yelling, Bookshelf took a closer look at the door, and they reached forward and pushed on the metal plate. To their surprise, the door moved easily, swinging away from us. It made no noise as it moved aside and exposed a tunnel descending down, with more light pulsing on the walls. The door swung and finally halted with a dull boom, which Doxx failed to heed. “—You’re pulling random levers, while we stare at—” Doxx sputtered. “—Doxx—” I said. “—This massive obstruction to our—” “—Doxx honey?” Rosa said calmly tring to get her attention. “—progress. Can’t you stop a moment and—” “DOXX!” Several of us raised our voices, which got the old woman to turn around and blink in surprise. “Ah…good. Glad we fixed that.” Doxx said putting on a smile. “Shall we?” I rubbed my temples, trying to get ahead of the dull pain I knew I was going to feel. [I]Gos? Nothing behind? --Oh hey! You REMEMBERED ME. Gos…please…not now. --But yeah. Nothing but fine grains of dust, the occasional burst of planar energy and more dust. Well it can’t be…wait. Planar? --Yep planar. I know we are near a doorway somewhere. The borders raises up my hackles. I’m going to recall you. --Huh? Wait wait! Don’t—[/I] I quickly yanked on a white and black strand and pulled Gossamer to me, and dismissed him from the world. The last thing I wanted was for him to be stranded on the wrong side of a door. “Sorry Gos…” I muttered, and we then started to move down the tunnel deeper into the rock. It was a fairly steep descent, and we moved slowly to avoid slipping. My boots were well worn and held their grip we enough. As we descended with the driftglobe up behind us, and might light on Sage’s shield ahead, I noticed that I could now see the pulsing light on the tunnel walls, streaking away from the bottom. And I swore, I could even feel it and I wasn’t even touching the walls. I swallowed and looked around, feeling on edge. The others seemed to share my unease, Doxx looking around constantly, while The Blade and Adrissa kept their bows ready. Sage’s back was to me, but his arm blade was behind him, ready to whip it forward in an attack. That left Rosa who looked around furtively, like a cornered rat. I found myself watching her most, as she was beyond just jumpy; she looked terrified. I moved closer to her and tapped her on the shoulder and leaned down. “Are you alright?” She shook her head quickly; “I feel…feel… exposed. I don’t know why. Something on the edge of my memory that I can’t place..” She turned to look me in the eye with a wan smile. “I’m sure its just me dear. Don’t worry about me hon.” I sighed to myself and looked ahead. Her words did nothing to calm me. Like her I felt like I was missing something. But for me it wasn’t an elusive memory. As we descended, I could feel the strands withing me, vibrate. Each one twitched in response to the pulses of light pushing past us in the tunnel. And what I first thought was my imagination, I quickly realized it wasn’t an illusion. The separation of each pulse was getting narrower, but they were also stronger. Each pulse pushed on the strands more and more as we continued. Suddenly, the runes in the hallways started to light up, in a single wave from the depths, and then passed us. But unlike before the runes only dimmed a bit. “Something is happening below; we should be ready for a confrontation,” Sage said, voicing the obvious thought in our heads. Staring ahead, I finally saw that the tunnel opened up into a large chamber. Sage turned and gestured at his shield and nodded at Bookshelf, “Lights.” I flexed, and felt the energy flow up my spine, and the light on Sage’s shield winked out, while Bookshelf recovered their driftglobe. With our lights out, the lit runes on the wall became very clear, and the pulsing was more pronounced. Sage gestured and pointed at the walls of our tunnel, and we then split up and pressed ourselves against the sides of the tunnel, and we stepped forward into the room. The chamber was large, and it reminded me of the music hall in the Civic Festhall in Sigil. The roof was arched, and the floor leveled off into flat arcs, that continued to descend. As they descended, the room narrowed to a dais, which had a stone structure that looked like a lectern. Behind it was a large metal door, that gave off a dull boom as it closed, and the sounds of metal scraping came from the door. On the floor around the door, were the remains of vegeogres, their corpse looked to have been seared with flames. Near them, lay the much more human corpses of men dressed in homespun robes which were covered in soot. But standing next to the pile of bodies, were a pair of large awakened trees and another pair of vegeogres. But in front of them, behind the stone lectern stood a woman. She was wrapped in leathers that were dyed a deep red, and were festooned with bones and feathers. Her bare arms were covered in marks, either tattoos or war paint. Her face was like wise adorned with stripes that gave the impression of a leering skull on her face, surrounded by a shock of black hair with streaks of blonde. Next to her a staff leaned against the podium, from which hung bits of bone. She looked up at us, and smiled. She turned something on the podium with her hand, and then withdrew a small crystal, the width of a thumb and the length of a dirk. “Finally…Morrigon said you would come. But its too late.” She said with a shrill voice, her lips was curled into a snarl. As she spoke, she casually tossed the crystal behind her, which hit the stone floor and shattered. She then continued, reaching for her staff which she cradled in her arms, “But he was surprised to see a former colleague to be one to move against him. As am I. Did your time on the edge of town soften you?” she spat. Rosa stepped forward and addressed her. “Tracia. It has been a while since I last saw you. This is a bit extreme though; harvesting people and turning them into fungus? Marching on towns? All to bring forward winter?” Tracia smirked and tilted her head looking at Rosa, “You seemed to understand once. Don’t you remember our last words together in the Gloaming? ‘Sometimes the world needs a push’ ? ” “Let us say I have had a lot of time to consider what I said, and perhaps a retraction is in order,” Rosa said, her voice quavering. Tracia’s smirk was now a vicious grin. “Now I understand. Thank you for that clarity of what has…passed between us,” She said speaking slowly and deliberately.” Rosa suddenly stiffened and looked around herself nervously. I was unclear on what the significance of what was just said. And looking at the faces of the others, it was clear that for most of them, whatever was said was a puzzle. But there was an exception; Doxx. Doxx, looked at Rosa with confusion, the old woman’s brow knitted together as she stared at Rosa in disbelief. I could see her mouth a word, but I couldn’t be sure what. Rosa lips quivered a moment as she stammered, “Whatever; what’s behind the door?” “This?” Tracia waved at the door behind her, keeping her eyes locked on us. “The last part of a machine, long quiet. And now…active once again. Soon it will provide us everything we need. And then the long delayed winter can begin. Somehow, I bet you would want to do something stupid, like disable it. But as I already said, it’s too late. The key is broken, and only Morrigon has another.” “We will have to pay them a visit then,” Sage said. “I’m sure Morrigon will talk to us.” Tracia shook her head, “By the time you reach him, winter will be here. But enough of this pointless banter and poor attempts of subterfuge. Time for all of you to die!” And her eyes rolled back into her head as she started to chant. The Blade and Adrissa shared a single thought at that moment, and each loosed an arrow. They whistled across the room, heading towards the druid, when they suddenly stopped just in front of the dais Tracia stood at. The arrows tumbled to the ground harmlessly, as the duo swore. Doxx started to run down towards Tracia, and Adrissa tore after him, discarding her bow. Sage, started to thunder down to the druid, as the trees and giant fungus started to lumber to intercept. It was then, that Tracia had finished her spell and a beam of white moonlight descended from above, and struck Rosa. She screamed, and fell to her knees, as wisps of smoke drifted from her body. But as I watched, her form shifted. Where once Rosa stood, now was short wiry figure, who wore a featureless face with an indistinct nose, and slightly sunken cheeks. The color of her hair quickly washed away, and became white as ice. She opened her eyes, which now looked like black pools and her face was contorted in anger. “I thought so,” Tracia said triumphantly. “So nice to see you again…Rhys.” [B]Session notes:[/B] Players accused Melisandre about secrets. Of course, she knew things. She knew things that players wanted to be a secret. In this case there was a lot of elaborate stuff going on, including hiddened character sheets on Dndbeyond with the public 'Rosa' and the private 'Rhys' This one required a bit of work between the player and the DM to pull off. The surprise was well worth it. [/QUOTE]
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The Thorns of Winter -(updated 8/1/2023)
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