ZEITGEIST Tizbiz Zeitgeist Campaign

[Lylandra]

Session 52
The other Fey Stag

While we're waiting for King Aodhan's final call on the matter of secrets, we return to Flint and use the spare time to catch up on the case of Ulrik as knowing more about his experiences might be key to helping Andrei. Or more precisely, the progress of his questioning. Our colleagues at the RHC tell us that they already managed to get a bit more information from the young man, but that we're also free to ask our own questions.

(We regularly check on old threads if we got some spare time )

Ulrik appears to be a bit more open this time. He tells us that he wasn't forced to play Nicodemus' host, he rather volunteered and was payed reasonably well so that Lya Jierre could talk to the summoned spirit in this delicate mission of hers. Ulrik doesn't know too much about the mechanics of the process, just that he's been injected with an alchemomagical substance and always lost his consciousness shortly after. He wasn't able to remember a thing when he woke up, which would make this the perfect process if one tried to keep the exchange between his mistress and Nicodemus a secret.

We thank Ulrik for his honesty and ask our colleagues to treat the young man fairly. Then we discuss on how to apply this knowledge to the case of Andrei. We assume that, like with Ulrik, his mind might be unconscious and usually unable to realize what's going on. But unlike Ulrik, the possession of Andrei appears to be permanent (at least that's what Macbannin hinted at), so separating Nicodemus from Andrei might be trickier. But also unlike Ulrik, Andrei had shown one case where his mind woke up and was able to gain control for a moment. But that might be related to Andrei being an unwilling host. So we guess that one strategy could be to make Andrei an uninteresting host for Nicodemus by beating him until he's unable to move. And while that might sound cruel, we know that Andrei will heal the damage eventually, so it would simply be a matter of time until Nicodemus got fed up with being caught in an unusable body.

We keep that thought in mind and are then handed a sealed letter sent by the King, containing a secret we may use in case of demonic emergency.

(Reading “break in case of emergency”. Aodhan is one hell of a witty character)

As we want to bring as many of Kasvarina's fragmented memories back before we enter the really dangerous places, we decide to enter the Pardwright Library to let her scan all the maps we can find with the Arc placed on her head. And to our pleasant surprise, our plan works as she feels a faint tingling while looking at a map of Trekhom and of Cherage.

(don't know if Tiz was being generous or if the Arc is meant to act that way. But it was a nice shortcut to get a potential “full completion”)

We discuss this with Kasvarina and she agrees on a small detour to Trekhom before going to Sid Minos and ultimately Odiem. While planning our trip, Auryn tells Gabriel that he was right about what he said regarding Ushanti: That the decision on whether or not to keep Ajit as the “Partiarch” was Kasvarina's alone, even if that included ending the factual reign of the Obs in the enclave - one of our main goals. She explains that it is hard to hold back when it comes to her home nation, as she sees making Elfaivar a better and safer place for her kind as her duty. And that doing more (and maybe too much) feels better than doing (too) little.

Gabriel is positively surprised to see Auryn coming to this conclusion this quickly. He is glad that she is able to let Ushanti be for now. Also, he isn't sure whether it would be a good idea to reinstate the image of “Kasvarina, the High Matriarch” in everyone's mind as none of us (including Kasvarina herself) has a clear picture on who this person truly was. After all, Kasvarina used a good portion of her time as Matriarch to hunt down members of the Clergy, even before Launga's death. Which meant that this Matriarch undermined all efforts of forging peace with Crisillyir, as impossible as this peaceful solution might have seemed, and also betrayed the philosophy of Vekesh.

“Is you see it in a radical light, the old Kasvarina might be the complete opposite to the new one. And I don't know whether it would be wise to revive such a potentially hollow symbol”, Gabriel states with a thoughtful sigh.

Auryn doesn't see old Kasvarina that negative as she states that, when everyone was in despair and felt as if the nation of Elfaivar would fall apart, it was her who had the resolve to carry on and survive. And that by being one of the three High Matriarchs, she became not only a symbol, but a pillar of this tiny new elfaivaran blossom. She also points out that, right before Launga's death, Kasvarina was, in her function as Matriarch of Ushanti, willing to let go of her hatred and give peace and renewal a true chance. Which is why it is likely in her eyes that “new Kasvarina” might utilize the positive aspects of her past and continue on this path.

“But I guess we can agree that after all she and we have seen and learned about Nicodemus, she will not simply follow him and their Obscurati again. Not after knowing that it was him who was directly responsible for my great-grandmother's death with all of his lies and schemes”, she says with a bitter undertone.

Auryn adds that Kas also saw that even young Miller had lied to her from the start, so this would be another reason to not trust him ever again. But what is still uncertain would be the question whether Kasvarina would rather join us in our fight against the Obscurati or whether she'd simply want to find peace and live a life free of conflict. But no matter what, we agree to support her in her decision.

Then we seek out Kasvarina to discuss a wholly different and more present matter: The state of her relationship with Asrabey. We tell her our assessment of his behavior as we feel like he is still acting purely out of a sense of duty towards his Matriarch, and that we are not sure if this might lead to a large problem if not addressed. We ask Kasvarina how she thinks about Asrabey and it seems like she isn't too sure herself. Which also isn't too ideal of a situation. So we suggest that it would be fairest towards Asrabey if she made up her mind regarding her stance towards the Dreadnaught and then start giving him the right signals no matter what her decision may look like.

Kasvarina then says that she knows she isn't the person Asrabey married and that she might never go back to being this version of herself. But she feels much more confident now that she knows who she had been and which parts of her past persona she likes and loathes from her present point of view. We agree that she managed to regain much of her strength and encourage her to seek a solution to the Asrabey problem depending on her own feelings.

We and Kasvarina also agree that Asrabey has to decide on his stance towards Kasvarina should he be freed from his duties and vows. Auryn points out that this holds a certain risk as to her knowledge Asrabey has never been without duty or at least a concrete task, so this might leave him hanging in the air and without bonds. Still it would be a risk worth taking as Kasvarina doesn't want to feel as if he's simply her servant. So she decides to take Asabey on a picnic and talk to him about their future before we depart to Trekhom.

While Kasvarina is off with Asrabey, and we are busy packing our equipment for the trip to Trekhom and Odiem, we hear someone knocking at the door. Auryn is a bit wary as she didn't expect any visitors nor did she expect Kasvarina and Asrabey to return so soon. Her gut feeling turns out to be right when she sees two satyrs standing in front of the door who immediately attack her. One of them tries to grab her, while the other one gives her a quick grin and tries to get her to undress with an enchantment spell. For a moment, she is baffled and manages to evade the grab and shake off the enchantment. But before she can ask what the heck would be wrong with them, she feels a sharp pain as a formerly invisible pixie stabs her from behind with a rather long dagger.

Her surprised scream alerts Gabriel Carlyle while Auryn, now fully alert of the threat enters a fully defensive stance. While fighting, the satyrs argue with their smaller companion that they'd rather humiliate than mincemeat their enemy while the pixie seems to be in a more stabby-zealot mood. It doesn't take Gabriel too long to grab his weapons, teleport to the front door and surprise the attackers in return. Being fully armed, it doesn't take him too long to overpower and knock out the three fey. He then tends to his partner's wounds and is very much relieved to see that despite having a knife in her back, she is very much alive and going to recover with a few healing potions.

(It has been a while since Auryn had taken that much damage in a single blow. If I remember it correctly, the sneak attack from the pixie dealt 1/3 of her hp or so. Also, Tiz somehow has a habit of ambushing my characters with rogues/assassins... my very first character death was four ninjas vs. my very harmless, sleeping 3.0 bard. Who got also stabbed by Cyric with Godsbane in a prior ToT adventure. Weird )

We drag the fey to the basement to question them on their motives to attack Auryn. Turns out that the Satyrs are bounty hunters, following their fellow hunter pixie, who has personal ties to another fey called the Stag of the Winter Field, who is a member of the Hedgehog Court and follower of renegade Olazdor. The Stag, they say, put a good bounty on our heads, so they decided to give it a try.

(In retrospect, this was a rather good foreshadowing. Unfortunately, we both had forgotten the name Olazdor when we arrived in the Dreaming in the next adventure)

As we have never heard of a renegade Court in the Dreaming, we decide to meet this mysterious Stag on his own turf. So we hand the satyrs over to the RHC together with a report of their attack on two RHC agents and have the pixie lead us to the Winter Field, a place right next to a faerie circle near Parity Lake in the Dreaming. As the crossings to the Dreaming are highly unstable right now, we ask the pixie what this Stag might be up to and why he'd put a bounty on our heads. The pixie tells us that both the noises and the pollution stemming from the Lake are deadly for the Fey on the other side of the circle. And that the Stag, being responsible for his Winter Field, saw that we're allies of the King who encouraged Flint to continue this practice of pollution.

We explain the pixie that we are both against the ongoing natural disaster that is Parity Lake, and that this pollution is dangerous for humans and animals in the Waking as well. So we'd rather fight for a habitable Parity Lake on both sides of the border, but that would obviously only be possible if we're alive and use our influence to sway politicians like Stanfield or the King. The pixie seems to understand our reasoning and we let her free on the condition that she'll arrange for a meeting with this mysterious Stag of the Winter Field.

 

[RangerWickett]

Who got also stabbed by Cyric with Godsbane in a prior ToT adventure.

I haven't thought about the Time of Troubles since the 90s. I was only reading Drizzt novels at the time, not actually playing D&D, so I never considered actually having a game set during that period.

Thanks for this installment.

By the way, the Adventures in ZEITGEIST setting book has finished the post-layout proofread, so it won't be long before we release the PDF.

 

[Lylandra]

I haven't thought about the Time of Troubles since the 90s. I was only reading Drizzt novels at the time, not actually playing D&D, so I never considered actually having a game set during that period.

There is a short-ish AP that lets your party accompany the major characters from that Realms-shaking event. It is fun (especially if you are a newbie, like I were, and don't know anything about the Realms), but it can be frustrating as the AP is very railroady and the NPC get to shine more than the PCs for obvious reasons. Especially if your DM is so new to DMing that he's afraid to make any changes since he could completely destroy the FR he'd like to utilize further in the campaign (but to be honest, it was a Planescape campaign at heart, so losing the "known Realms" wouldn't have been too tragic). But he was way more comfortable in the end.

Why my character got stabbed? Well, she managed to grab the Tables of Fate from Myrkul during their encounter and would most likely have become goddess without Cyric's intervention (which originally would have happened to Myrkul). Fortunately, Cyric decided to not kill her and turn against bloodthirsty Godsbane/Mask since they had originally been friends, so this became known as Cyric's last good deed.

 

[Lylandra]

The bare necessities

We return back home with the uneasy sense that something is stirring in the Dreaming, but with the pathways at least partially cut off and with Kasvarina still being our main priority, we see no way of getting more invested with our mirror world.

Kasvarina and Asrabey eventually return home and they appear to be a bit more at ease. We assume that they managed to set at least some parts of their relationship straight, but Asrabey still emanates his aura of being concerned and brooding. We don't want to interfere too much with their private matters, so we agree to let them come to us if they'd need an open ear.

The next morning, we start our journey to Trekhom to search for more of Kasvarina's memories. When we arrive, we take a long tour through the city and finally get a resonance when we pass by a philosopher's tavern the same evening. Cautious as we are, we decide to play it safe and take a closer look at said tavern before allowing the vision to fully form. So Kasvarina hides the Arc and is very much surprised to see a fellow Eladrin debating with some dwarvish philosophers. She gets the feeling that she somehow has a connection to that man, but leaves it to us to scout for her.

So we enter and learn that this man goes by the name of Balu and is, in fact, a pretty old Eladrin veteran who managed to stay middle aged on the outside. Balu appears to be invested in drinking and Eschatology as he enjoys talking drunkenly about the possible ways the world could come to an end. We bluntly ask him whether he'd know an Eladrin woman named Kasvarina, to which he also very bluntly responds that he already told his ex-wife that he'd quit killing Clergymen a long time ago and wants to be left alone to hang out with his buddies.

We carefully tell Balu that we are friends and family of Kasvarina and that she might want to talk to him the next morning when everyone would be sober again. And of course Balu isn't too happy about this prospect. We assure him that Kasvarina has changed her mind regarding the slaughter of Clergymen, so he might be in for a pleasant surprise. But as Balu is really intoxicated right now, we decide to leave him be for now.

We then tell Kasvarina and Asrabey what we've learned about that mysterious Eladrin. Kasvarina is a bit surprised to hear that she had another husband whom she apparently sent to the icy end of the world. Asrabey however rolls his eyes as soon as he hears the name “Balu”.

“That incompetent drunkard is a complete waste of time. We should just gather our memory and be done with this place”, he scoffs.

Auryn giggles at this remark as Asrabey just displayed very obvious signs of jealousy, a trait he had never shown before. Kasvarina looks at Asrabey and then suggests to maybe wait until every other guest has left, then get to the vision and then decide whether or not Balu would be worth the time as it was very obvious that he was kind of happy with his current life.

So we wait till later that night and then have Kasvarina use the Arc. She joins her past self with ease and then enters the tavern in large strides. A bucket of water appears in her hand as she moves toward a sleeping Balu, pours the water onto him, grabs him and drags him outside where she releases him in a pile of snow.

Then she releases a heavy tirade as she berates Balu about his obvious abandonment of the mission she had given to him. And that her do-no-good of a husband would be a disgrace as he'd preferred drinking ale and spirits with dwarves to keeping an eye on possibly dangerous or hostile philosophies.

Balu looks at his then-wife with confusion, sits up and returns in an equally polite manner:

“You know what? I do prefer the company of these guys to being ordered around by you! These nights we shared, good nights I confess, aren't worth the trouble. And I'm really fed up with doing the dirty work for you!”

He adds that it would be all for nothing in the end as the Eladrin are doomed to die, just like the rest of the world. Which is why he'd rather spend his last days being at peace and enjoying what's left for him.

“Ha! Told you, that guy is worthless!” Asrabey exclaims with a mix of amusement and being piqued by this obvious disregard for his Matriarch and his chosen way of life.

After this vision, Kasvarina is quite glad that Balu wasn't close enough to be drawn into the whole scene. She is also very much shocked by her own behavior as it was quite clear to her that she saw Balu, her husband, as a mere tool. As soon as she realizes that Asrabey is still around, she glances at him with discomfort, but he doesn't seem to mind.

(Either because he doesn't draw the parallel to himself, or he is actually alright with this role, or he really doesn't mind...)

Kasvarina quickly adds that she now remembers that she got a letter from Balu where he announced that he'd consider their marriage to be over. And that she hasn't seen him ever since. Which is why she now feels the need to talk to him maybe one last time. Asrabey isn't too happy to stay much longer, but Gabriel gets him in a more positive mood by agreeing with his assessment of Balu.

The next day, Kasvarina finds Balu in the very same tavern where he is a bit more sober than the night before. She talks to him and makes it clear that she doesn't wish to ask him to work for her again. All she needs is to assure him that she left her violent past behind as well. Balu is a bit amused and invites her to join their next “Drink 'n Debate”, but she rebuffs him and claims that she has more pressing issues to tend to than to join a nihilistic party. She still leaves on good terms and promises to leave Balu alone for good.

We then head to Trekhom station to take the train to Sid Minos. But when we're about to hop onto the train, Asrabey declares that he'd stay behind and wait for our return in Trekhom harbor as he'd need some time for himself to get his mind sorted. We tell him that this would be no problem as Kasvarina will be fine with our company. Then we leave for Crisillyir.

 

[Lylandra]

Return to the Lady of the Forked Tongue

The Avery Coast Railroad brings us safely to Sid Minos where we all go straight to the pier where we last left for Odiem. A few gold coins buy us a small ship that will bring us to the haunted island, but from the talk of the sailors we get the clue that we're not the first ones who sailed to Odiem. All in all we conclude that there might have been two different groups of people who landed there before.

We thank the crew for the safe passage and then cautiously search for more traces and signs that could reveal the identities of the two groups. We're surprised to find hints on a previous combat with quite the number of people and conclude that the two groups would have most likely ended up fighting each other. This of course raises our alert level even more and we agree to proceed under the veil of an invisibility spell.

After a short while, we spot a couple of tents that are guarded by a dwarf lady and her guards wearing the insignia of the Clergy. As their camp is really close to the entrance of the Crypta, we also see that the door is currently warded off by a force field.

To not draw too much attention and get some information without conflict, we opt to also look like fellow faithful of the Clergy via hats of disguise and ask Kasvarina to stay behind so she'd not draw attention. We then withdraw a few steps, turn visible and hail the dwarf. She doesn't seem to be too happy to see us and introduces herself as Secula of the Inquisition and shows us her insignia. We ask her what a Secula would be doing here, to which she replies that, by decree of the Hierarchs, she is to guard this island as there have been multiple incidences with foreign intruders in the past.

She then asks us what would bring us to Odiem as she surely didn't expect any reinforcements so soon. We explain that we've been sent by our higher-ups to retrieve devilish artifacts in a safe and secure manner.

While we're talking to her, we get the gut feeling that this good lady isn't being honest with us, so Carlyle uses a truesight power to see whether she'd be hiding something from her fellow colleagues. It comes as quite the surprise to see that this woman is in fact Grandis Komanov, leader of the very same sect of “World's End” Eschatologists who tried to blow off Sharon Baker Station almost a year ago. Which also means that Grandis managed to overpower the Clergyfolk who were sent here to secure the island.

We don't want to start hostilities just yet, so we tell her that we did not come here to fight battles for the Clergy. Now Grandis is intrigued and tells us that her divinations revealed that three very interesting people would come to Odiem today. Even though she wonders why there would be just the two of us. We stick to our story of wanting to retrieve the artifacts and Grandis offers to help us with our task in a pretty demanding way.

After a quick mental exchange, Auryn and Gabriel agree that bringing a possibly crazy but clever terrorist leader to Ashima-Shimtu and a vision of Kasvarina's past wouldn't be the wisest of ideas. On top of that, we should also seize the opportunity to arrest the culprit behind the attack during our peace conference. So we politely refuse the offer and call for her surrender.

Komanov reacts just as we'd expected: With a sudden attack. She summons black ice to turn us into living icy statues. Fortunately, we are too quick for her and manage to overpower her before she can even launch the icy bolts. Unfortunately though, this Grandis turns out to be a mere Simulacrum which shatters as soon as we'd knock her out. We then turn to her “guards” or rather disciples, knock them out and put them in the absurdist web for later delivery to Chief Inspector Delft.

(Really didn't expect to have that thread be picked up again here. Regarding taking Komanov's goons with us: We just thought it would earn us a few bonus points and rid the world of a couple potentially dangerous terrorists if we'd bring them to the RHC for further questioning)

We then return to Kasvarina and tell her that it would be safe to use the Crown now. She promptly places the Arc on her head and walks toward the warded entrance. The island shifts quite extremely and leaves us in a much more pleasant and inviting version of Odiem.

Kasvarina shifts into her younger self, wearing prisoner's clothes. Miller appears by her side and both of them are dragged to the Crypta where they are being locked off. We slip through the now not-warded entrance alongside the two and see Miller talking about the doomed place from which no one has returned yet. The don't give up though and so start making their way through the enchanted corridors.

We accompany them and see how they first meet Linia and try to free her. Gabriel tells Auryn that this was just what he had seen in his previous vision and that he is still glad that Srasama let him release the angel from her torment. During their tries, we see Miller getting more and more desperate and infuriated, even if he isn't too surprised to see that the corruption of the Clergy made them turn against the noblest of beings.

They finally agree that they cannot help Linia and have to try save themselves. On their way, they then come across the chained Architect, but also cannot help him. All in all the pair manages to traverse the Crypta quite well. They walk past the cursed paladins and finally come to the door leading to Ashima-Shimtu's room. The door is locked and they open it by sacrificing a drop of their blood.

Again we see Ashima-Shimtu chained to the ceiling, but this time her mouth is sealed by yet another hook. After assassing the situation for a while, Kasvarina climbs up to the demoness and removes the hook so they may talk to her. To our surprise, Ashima-Shimtu thanks Kasvarina for her kind deed.

She then asks the pair how they'd end up in such a godsforsaken place as they don't look like other demons or cursed souls. So Kasvarina and Miller explain their whole situation to Ashima-Shimtu: That they had been betrayed and only wanted to secure a chance for peace. And that they are enemies of the corrupt Clergy who apparently wants them to rot down here.

Ashima-Shimtu laughs when she hears these words and tells the two that her story is of a similar betrayal. She talks about not wanting to be a pawn for the Demonocracy and working together with Triegenes to bring the empire to its fall. She speaks fondly of Triegenes, but then says that she had been imprisoned down here by these thankless humans shortly after his death. But Triegenes, dear Triegenes had been clever enough to not give his corrupt brothers the means, the tool that she had given him so long ago: The Ritual of Apotheosis, the power to become a god. And she didn't want to give it to them either. Which would also be one of the reasons why they'd imprison her here.

But she, Ashima-Shimtu, aptly ignored them. Instead, she had centuries of thinking about the nature of good and evil. And whether she'd want to distance herself from evil despite being a demon, just like Triegenes had suggested.

She then looks at Kasvarina and Miller with a fiendish smile as she offers them a plan that could give them all want they truly wanted: She'd teach them the Ritual of Apotheosis. Which the two could in return trade in for their freedom. Then, she guesses, the power-hungry Clergy would use the ritual to create some war-deity to defeat the Eladrin. But, she adds, the Ritual has one major flaw: If someone knew the true name of the God, then this God would become vulnerable. And by killing the God of War, one could kill war itself.

(Such is the power of the True Name. It is known.)

Ashima-Shimtu then teaches the two the Ritual and we make sure to memorize it as well. The vision ends and the current Ashima-Shimtu appears in front of our eyes to greet us one more time. We ignore her first as we are still very much shocked by this revelation. Besides the fact that having this knowledge is indeed very scary as we'd basically have the secret to create a god, we also now know how Triegenes managed to ascend and probably how Srasama ended up being on the battlefield. Even though this was totally not what Kasvarina and Miller had planned.

Kasvarina looks at us in confusion and apologized that she doesn't know how the summoning of Srasama would have happened as this was clearly not what she had intended in this moment. We also point out that Miller and therefore Nicodemus does know the ritual as well and that we should be ready should he try use it another time.

Then we turn to Ashima-Shimtu and ask her whether she'd be willing to share some more information with us, now that we know what might be her biggest secret. The demoness grins at us and says she told us we'd return and that we cannot outrun fate. But also that she is willing to share information in return for information. We agree to this trade and offer her knowledge about her nasty blind spot (due to their wards and Geases): The Obscurati.

Ashima-Shimtu is indeed interested and so we first ask her about the Demonocracy and her role in their empire as we'd seen that she betrayed them and joined Triegenes. The demoness explains that she was no disciple or true member of the demonocracy, but rather a seer that happened to be born a demon. The demons and devils found her talents to be useful, so they used her for their own gain. And she didn't like that. During the early days, she adds, it was easily possible for planar creatures to come to our world and they did so in great numbers. Most of them didn't care too much for the local inhabitants, but they used our “plane” to fight in their planar conflicts. Some of them though found the natives to be useful, which is why they enslaved them. But then everything changed when the Ancients found a method to limit planar travel by forging a seal that set the current planar configuration in stone.

This lines up nicely with what we've learned during the Obscon, so we ask her to continue. Ashima-Shimtu then tells us that this seal caused the demons and devils to become trapped in our world which led to the reorganization into the demonocracy we know from our textbooks.

We also ask her about the plane of air and what could have happened to it, but she returns that we'll soon find out ourselves.

Our next topic is Srasama and the Malice. We sternly ask her whether anything in her teaching of the ritual would have been flawed or rigged to summon the wrong god. But Ashima-Shimtu insists that she had no hand in the catastrophe and that she did want to usher in the downfalls of the Clergy. Also, she has no deal with Nicodemus, even if she is intrigued by that man.

“So he did tell the truth after all...” Carlyle mumbles.

She concludes that she has been very much neutral so far, even if she doesn't know yet whether she wants to abandon her true nature as an evil entity.

“This decision is purely up to you. A matter of free will. No one forces you to be good or evil.”, Auryn says. “And from what I know, most people ignore these extremes altogether and simply strive for happiness without hurting others in the process.”

When hearing these words, Ashima-Shimtu looks her straight in the eyes, turning her own to tiny slits.

“You speak of free will while Triegenes is getting more and more hold on yours. Soon his ideas will be your own. You already sound very familiar, dear...”

Auryn closes her eyes and place her hand on the Humble Hook hidden beneath her robes.

“You cannot taunt me, Ashima-Shimtu. Triegenes' relic is merely a guide for me, like the voice of a dear friend who tries to bring out the best of me. And if all you've said about Triegenes is true, then I respect him even more than I did before.”

(She would have totally gotten Auryn worried like crazy just a year before... that part of her self-consciousness has surely grown)

Gabriel then has a more personal question himself, as he asks the demoness about her opinion on the source of Miller's rebirth as Nicodemus and whether that would be akin to a Deva reincarnation. She doesn't know for sure, but can tell him that it was caused by the death of Srasama, just like his new life as a Deva. She also casually mentions that this nature would make it quite impossible for her to see him, unlike Kasvarina who is easily visible for her due to having been offered a drop of her blood.

Auryn then asks about her connection to Kasvarina as they share many characteristics. Ashima-Shimtu claims that a part of Kasvarina died during the Malice as well and that this part was obviously reincarnated in Auryn.

(not that this was any less cryptic. I now know what she might have meant with that statement)

She then tries to gain more information about the prophecized End of the World, to which Ashima-Shimtu says that the Serpent wants to devour the world and is looking for proxies. Which is why it chose us and wanted to infuse us with its essence. We reply that while this is true, the essence of the Voice of Rot only gave us a bit of power but couldn't get a hold on our souls as they were already “claimed by another”. All in all this sounds a bit far-fetched, but concrete enough to not cause too much stress right now.

Then it is our turn to tell her all we know about the Obscurati, including their plan to alter the planar configuration. We closely watch Ashima-Shimtu's reaction and find that she doesn't appear to be too interested in having planar travel options back. After our exchange, she appears to be satisfied and offers us to leave through her basin again. After all, she remarks with a smirk, we will see each other soon enough as we are still destined to free her.

Auryn rolls her eyes at this cockiness and tells the demoness straight up that she'd honestly considered freeing her after she had told them about her time with Triegenes and her mental challenges. But now she came to the conclusion that Ashima-Shimtu should just spend more time thinking about the “nature of evil” a bit more as she believes in change in exchange for change.

We bid her farewell and use the basin to get to “a place close to Cherage”. We end up in a small village where we gather a few clothes from the local populace at night to dress more discreetly and go searching for the hidden memory.

 

[Lylandra]

Now before we enter the final session of adventure #8, I'd like to take the time to give a quick detour into something that I somehow didn't manage to sweep in properly in over the last recaps as we dealt more with the plot, Kasvarina and the exchange between Auryn and Carlyle: The inner thoughts and motives of Auryn herself. I basically kept a parallel thread to the recaps only for Tiz and me so he'll be able to understand when she acted strangely from time to time. And dealing with Kasvarina had a major push on Auryn reflecting herself.

Starting with her realising that she does love Morris Dawkins like a father figure, maybe even moreso than she loves one of her mother's husbands, just like he'd see the (adult) daughter he never had in her. She also managed to grasp and accept the concept of fated threads tied together for the first time when they both vowed to have a friendship that persisted through time, and that she'd be his mentor in his next incarnation. Which also somewhat eased her worries about his eventual demise. For now that is.

(Wonder if there is another group that used the lovely Rear Admiral as excessively as we did...)

This mirroring theme also reflected in her dealing with Kasvarina. After her initial reflection of her own desires onto the more vulnerable Kas, she had to confront and witness the cold, cruel deeds of her ancestor. And despite the oftentimes horrifying experience, Auryn understood that she had to actively embrace Kasvarina as turning her back on her would be the easy but wrong path. All while trying to understand the situations Kas had been in and fearing that she had the potential to walk just as cruel a path as she had. That her family's legacy, her own legacy, would be of great power and will, but also of ruthless determination.

Oh and what a relief had it been that Kasvarina turned out to be that resilient when faced with her past tragedy. And that she did appear to truly regret and make amends for her past misdeeds.

And then she learned about Launga, her own great-grandmother. She knew exactly how it felt to lose a loved one, to see them perish before her own eyes being unable to prevent it from happening. But losing her own child to treachery and betrayal by those you trusted would be on a wholly different level. She knew she would have slaughtered the pirates just like Kasvarina slaughtered Rilego had she been given the chance.

She had reacted somewhat like Kasvarina, shutting off everyone and being reluctant to form personal bonds until Morris had reached out to her. And until Gabriel opened up to her.

Auryn secretly admired Kasvarina's fire, her will to stand up even after she'd been stripped of all that was left living for. Even though all these experiences turned a once bright flame dark and twisted. And she saw what she could potentially become should tragedy strike her in the same way.

But she knew she had been blessed where Kasvarina had been cursed: Gabriel wasn't Miller. She had someone to rely on and to trust. She could express her turmoil, at least to such an extend that she didn't feel alone. Which was especially valuable now that she had to be a stable safehaven for the new Kasvarina. Gabriel had no secret agenda of his own, but instead was a voice of reason and pragmatism while she was free to be a visionary and follow her ideas of peace and prosperity for all. And like Miller, he couldn't die and would recover as long as she found him and help him restore his memories. But Gabriel also needed her visions and her moral compass as he'd otherwise let his pragmatism when facing problems turn to utilitarianism. Meanwhile, Kasvarina and Miller might have been too similar in nature to balance each other. Instead, they (and most of all Miller after becoming Nicodemus) amplified each other's path to darkness.

After they had met Ashima-Shimtu, Auryn also reflected on the demoness' claims that a part of Kasvarina had been reborn and given a new chance way before Grappa did the same for the still-living Kasvarina. The potential effect on causality worried her a bit, especially as Kasvarina would be helping herself if she took it literally. But it would explain how their fates were tied together. And she wondered if Gabriel and Miller shared a similar connection. But then there was the tiny (or not so tiny) chance that Ashima-Shimtu was just playing games with them all....

Not that Auryn was overly worried at that point. She knew who she was and who she wanted to be.

(Well, at least for now...)

Regarding Nicodemus, Auryn's opinion had shifted quite a lot. She had found him to be charming when whe first had the chance to talk to him, she even admired his perfect albeit merely displayed attitude. But now she realized that all of this had just been a facade. That all of this immaculate exterior was just crumbling down on the inside. Miller might have had noble goals, and it was likely that Nicodemus still thought he'd follow the same ones he always had. But his methods were cruel. Today's Miller would walk on the corpses of enemies and allies alike should they happen to shand in his way. And that included Kasvarina, his closest ally and maybe former partner. And then one thought came to her mind, clear as the sky on a mirror moon: If Miller, or Nicodemus, knew only the dichotomy of either ally or enemy, then what would be left to set him apart from the Clergy he despised so much? What progress could be made by exchanging one tyranny for another?

(and yes, there will be more dissection of Nic in the next chapter)

Lastly, Auryn grew really fond of the Humble Hook's presence. And after meeting Ashima-Shimtu, she also held Triegenes in the highest of regards. Being incorruptible while also being all alone in a world of corruption, walking his set path without faltering really impressed her. She didn't know if the man had to witness his former comrades or disciples locking up his ally Linia, or why he didn't interfere when he had the power of a god. Which left her to wonder where Triegenes would be right now. Was he in the Bleak Gate, unable to act in our world? Or was there a divine realm, cut off from our system by the Ritual? All she knew was that the emotions she felt, the whispers she heard when focussing on the hook came from Triegenes himself. And that maybe he had the Hook with him when he ascended to godhood with the help of the Ritual of Apotheosis.

 

[MrsMongoose]

I thought at some point he chose not to ascend because it was a spiritual trap...?

 

[RangerWickett]

Wonder if there is another group that used the lovely Rear Admiral as excessively as we did...

I haven't seen one, no. I like how you fleshed him out and made him really influential in the life of one of your PCs.

But she knew she had been blessed where Kasvarina had been cursed: Gabriel wasn't Miller.

The two pairs are yeah, wow, such an amazing parallel.

I'm extremely touched by the depth you've gone into with your comments and analysis of the characters.

 

[RangerWickett]

I thought at some point he chose not to ascend because it was a spiritual trap...?

You eventually learn the truth, but at this point Auryn wouldn't know.

 

[Lylandra]

You eventually learn the truth, but at this point Auryn wouldn't know.

Exactly. At this point, we were fully convinced that Triegenes had used the Ritual to ascend as it was the most logical explanation. When we learned the truth later on, he went to full BAMF in our ranking.