Session 20: Bokdat, all on the floor report

General Summary

Last we left off, the group followed Hanari back to a mansion for a dinner where they were introduced to Lord Taigen Hiro who had some great conversation with the group, telling them about how wonderful Bokdat is, how he's nothing like Hanari and was born into this role. The caretaker of the orphanage Nayomi was also there playing a biwa with a smile on her face. Ghost decided that she would talk to her for a moment and pluck a tune as well, very well indeed. While all this was going on, Klaus and Hanari were getting drunk and Hanari got emotional, regaling Klaus into how he got to be where he was at. How at one point he was a priest of Ilmos here and then when the abericlase went dark a group of heroes showed up requesting their artifact. Reluctantly he let them borrow it on the condition of allowing him to follow them to the temple. Once inside, the placed the artifact on a pedestal and it shattered and that's when he lost it. He murdered that party and continued on alone until he ran across an old man who offered him another artifact in return, the crown of thorns. As he placed it on his head, it sank deep into his skull and he realized that he'd been tricked by Lord Vrothak, the Decayed Sovereign, who did keep his word, but also put Bokdat under his control. As dinner wound down, Boots aka Ghost and Ray Cyst decided it was time to do some investigating and then walked up the river, finding small slivers of purple glass growing out of the ground and stopping just before the grain and rice fields and becoming more and more dense the further back into town they went. They also noticed the flicker of a campfire off in the distance and a mysterious figure in the darkness. As they approached, the noticed the monk that they had seen before, Yura, and a small, fragile looking child laid up next to the campfire along with a large rock broken in places carved with the symbol of Ilmos God of the Hunt and Nature. After some discussion, Yura fed the child some warm broth that Ghost had also identified as being poison. The child was returned back to the ground to hopefully return one day as something with less suffering. The group decided that they needed to look into this further and Yura offered to get them into the temple through sewer access that he'd used to steal the grain for the orphans just a week before. While they were doing that, Klaus Gruber had a conversation with the spirit of his wife and decided that perhaps letting Amahri Rhea practice magic was better for him.

The next day, the group wasted some time before meeting up around the back of the temple where Yura was waiting for them. Entering in through the sewer, they stumbled through and ended up awakening some creatures that they had to fight. Once they had dispatched their enemies, they entered into the temple and began looking around. The great tree in the center of the room was old and decaying and had more of the purple glass growing out of it while other trees there were all dead. Aeren Grimvein decided that he would hulk smash the tree in the center of the room and it ended up spraying out a black ichor that held him and his blade. Struggling to get out, the rest of the group prepared for an attack due to all the noise, but what they weren't expecting is that their foe didn't really used doors and Hanari came crashing down from the ceiling, splitting the ground around him. A massive battle ensued. The efforts of the group proved futile as Hanari easily beat them down to within an inch of their life. Blacking out, the group awoke in jail cells only illuminated by torches and a guard patrolling. Aeren and Ghost in one cell. Rhys and Klaus in another. Ray and a tortle named Genbu in another along with others scattered throughout. They were chained with decay ore so no magical effects would work and eventually dinner was served to them. In walked Nayomi and the young orphan girl Hana with some red bean soup. Ghost decided that she would carve a lock pick from the spoon while Ray and the tortle spoke and after some conversation, began showing him various stances of the arcane samurai. Ghost was able to remove the cuffs from both her and Aeren's wrists, but one of the guards put an end to all of that and Aeren had to put on a show to sidetrack him. Klaus, with his devil-sight noticed that the guard was wearing human-face and was actually an Oni. As the guard began checking each of the cells, Rhys decided that he would pee on the guard's foot. Unfortunately for Rhys he didn't notice, but Aeren noticed, a blade being pulled out from his side, giving off similar "vibes" as his own blade from the hells. It was plunged into Rhy's side where he fell down, the wound festering and not closing. The group rested, licking their wounds to prepare to start their day anew and figure out what to do in this prison.

As each of their eyes flutter open, they hear a familiar voice, a laugh that haunted their nightmares just the night before and Hanari steps in, one of the guards next to him. "You've caused me a bit of trouble, and I've had to negotiate to keep Bokdat safe. Thankfully, you're going to make sure that negotiations don't break and help undo what you've destroyed down here in these mines. Enjoy your breakfast and if you don't work, you don't get fed after today."