7/28 Session

(Retcon) A medium-sized ship emerges from a portal. Milrac and Salen emerge from the ship and begin to approach the group.
Jeb and Tank buck Marzak off and knock him prone.
Jeb grows one size and knocks Blackroot prone. Tank uses a reaction to attack Blackroot with her cowbell.
Jeb shoots a railroad spike through Blackroot and triple crits.
Tank jumps down from Jeb's back, using her cowbell as a lasso to hit Blackroot on the head. Her head splits apart and void begins pouring out. The destruction of her head disables her telepathy, causing her to lose her ability to control people. Marzak is freed from mind control, but Adala, Olier, and Raine are still corrupted. Tank swings back up onto Jeb's back. Jeb shoots another train spike, and pushes her back 20 feet. Tank swings back up onto Jeb's back and they step away from Blackroot.
Kali tries to hit Blackroot with 3 eldritch blasts, but Milrac looks at Kali and one of them blows up in her face.
Tank breaks concentration on Raine, and Raine un-polymorphs from a beer bottle into her corrupted form. Raine comes out of Tank's pocket. A swarm of locusts swarms and attacks Tank and Jeb.
Corrin tosses Callow a Neox Core. All familiars stop functioning and are permanently debuffed by Salen. Corrin tries to dismiss her familiar but can't.
Corrin unsheaths a shortsword and casts Dimension Doom on Milrac, sending him flying upwards. Corrin attempts to speak to Salen in Abyssal, but Salen doesn't understand or respond.
Blackroot teleports away.
Milrac teleports back down to stand next to Salen, tells Kali and Corirn that the familiars will be back in the morning, and begins to walk back towards where Blackroot had been formerly.
Corrin: Why are you attacking Big City?
Milrac: We're trying to stop her from attacking the Big City.
Corrin: Who's 'her'?
Callow: Blackroot?
Milrac says nothing.
Corrin: As much as I don't want to work with a Neox general, I want to avoid killing students as much as possible.
Jeb: Oops.
Callow, Kali, and Corrin can tell that Blackroot is blipping in and out of reality as she teleports away.
Callow loads four of the five Neox Cores into the volatile launcher.
Corrupted Olier, Raine, and Adala are now missing.
The group takes a long rest.
The Headmaster of the school comes to speak with the party in the school library.
Headmaster: Were you there for last night's incident?
Corrin: I was there for part of it. There was an actively transforming demon thing and a Neox general who appeared to be tracking it down.
Headmaster: A Neox general?
Callow: Yes, sir.
Headmaster: Who are these people?
Corrin: We're the Circle of Stones.
Headmaster: Let me ask you this. Who knocked out the students last night?
Tank: Well, you see, sir. There was this miles large demon that punched all the students into a hole in the ground. And that's what knocked them out.
Headmaster: I'm going to get to the bottom of this magically.
He starts using Detect Thoughts on the party.
Tank: Well, okay, I might've told a little fib. They were being mind controlled by the previously mentioned demon, though, so we were just putting them down for a little sleep so we could deal with bigger issues.
Headmaster: Were all three of you there for that?
Callow: Well, I was in the infirmary-
Headmaster: I need all three of you to follow me then.
Tank: We did our best to keep the kids safe.
Headmaster: That's not what we're worried about. We just want to check if you have the disease.
Callow: Oh, well I don't. I was in the building.
Headmaster: It's just a precaution.
The Headmaster takes vials of blood from Jeb, Tank, and Callow.
Callow: Not to overstep my bounds, but I believe it would be worthy to quarantine the students that were under the demon's control in case it comes back and resumes control.
Headmaster: You're not overstepping your bounds. Necessary precautions have been taken.
Callow: Thank you. That's all I ask.
The Headmaster returns the three of them back to the library. All three of them tested negative for the disease.
Headmaster: Do you know if you've come in contact with the disease?
Corrin: not that I know of.
Headmaster: It's getting bad out there.
Corrin: That's an understatement.
Headmaster: The school is getting a lot of pushback these days. I hope you're not doing anything to sully the school's name.
Corrin: Just trying to end the war and cure the disease.
Headmaster: You and your volunteers?
Corrin: I'm more the one volunteering. I'm just trying to fix things.
Headmaster: It's just my job to protect the school. And people are jumping at the chance to rally against us.
Corrin: Do you have any suggestions or things that might help?
Headmaster: Right now the archmages and I are doing our best to quell concerns in the Big City, but if you suspect someone you know is infected, quarantine them. We just don't want dissemination of the disease tracked through you back to the school.
 
[Corrin's research has gleaned that the Void is an entity within the location of the void, and everything that leaks into this plane of existence is void energy from the entity leaking into this world.
Void + something = disease, but Corrin doesn't know what the "something" is.]
Tank: You know, it's worth questioning how Blackroot got here so quick, and was able to find exactly where we were. I mean, what if she teleported with us? Valenzia did disappear directly after we teleported, after all, and then Blackroot just happened to appear after that...
 
Headmaster: You ought to check in on Karmichael
Corrin: He's at Wigdala, though that might not be super safe at this juncture. Where would you want him sent?
Headmaster: Well, if you're able to smuggle him and anyone else out, Northern Galia towards the Stalic border would be best at the very least.
Corrin: Get them away from the front lines. Right.
Headmaster: Take them to Osolaria.
Corrin: How quickly would you like Karmichael to be in Big City?
Headmaster: The sooner the better, unless he's in the middle of something important.
 
Corrin casts sending to Karmichael to let him know she's coming to Wigdala to pick him up, but magic doesn't work in Galia currently because of strong winds.
Tank goes fishing in the pond of the school courtyard.
The party goes to the Beast Brigade to see if they have some lead on tracking Blackroot. Because Tank and Jeb are with us, we are let in easily.
 
Employee: What can we help you with?
Callow: We need help tracking the demon that we fought on the campus grounds last night.
Employee: I'll get Mr. Marzak since I know nothing about that.
Tank: Now, word has it y'all sent a lieutenant to Galia on a tracking mission?
Employee: No? We don't do anything in Galia. What are you referring to?
Tank: Well, we met a girl, Valenzia, claiming to have been with the beast brigade with one of the lieutenants.
Employee: No, we don't go that far. Didn't you know that? We went over it in training.
Tank: Ah. Must've slipped my mind.
 
Captain Marzak enters the room.
 
Marzak: Do you know where it went?
Callow: We were hoping you might know.
Jeb: We know that wherever this creature goes, it transforms people.
Callow: We also have strong reason to suspect it could be connected to the void so-
Marzak: We don't have anyone that would know about that... well... except Freebird. We've worked with them before... I'll talk to them. I know they've recently got some associates in Neox.
Tank: Well, I ain't a fan of Neox, but this does seem to be connected to them.
Callow: Blackroot used to be connected to Neox. I think she's defected, or become an uncontrollable monstrosity.
Marzak: I heard they do some strange things with creatures and monstrosities and whatnot.
Callow: Yeah, they do biological experiments.
Marzak: Anyway, I can get in contact with them and see what they know. By the way, were you missing someone?
Jeb: Huh?
Marzak: Yeah, there's a little girl outside asking about a Jeb and Tank and Corrin and Rao...
 
Marzak goes and gets Raine from another room.
 
Jeb: Wow, you're looking a lot better today!
Raine: Was I worse yesterday?
Tank: let's not talk about yesterday
Raine: I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. Olier and Adala are still knocked out in the back.
Jeb: You only got up a little while ago?
Raine: Yeah. I think I lost my staff.
 
Corrin gives her her staff back. Callow takes two big steps back.
 
Corrin: What's that for?
Callow: The last time she had her staff, she tried to infect me with the void.
Corrin: I think that was the void more than her.
Raine: I'm gonna go get Olier and Adala.
Corrin: And don't cast any magic.
 
Raine uses magic to wake up Adala and Olier. She returns
 
Raine: Why are we in Big City?
Jeb: What's the last thing you remember?
Raine: We were in a cave, and then there was that thing taking over people's brains, and next thing I know, I'm asleep in here.
Tank: So you don't remember being a beer bottle?
Raine: So I did have the alcohols?
Tank: You were the alcohols.
Raine: No, I don't remember that.
Tank: Well, that's probably for the best. We teleported.
Raine: Did we win?
Tank: We didn't lose.
Raine: Then we won.
Corrin: Yep. That's how that works.
Jeb: Always do.
Raine: Are we going back, or did we win the war too?
Jeb: Still working on the war.
Raine: We could go talk to Samuel.
Tank: Yeah, we could go talk to him.
Raine: You'll like him, he's nice.
 
Corrin calls Samuel to let him know that people are going to the Lighthouse, and the party goes to the Lighthouse. Corrin gives Tank and Jeb each a time shimmer to get them back to the present day if something happens. Samuel smacks Callow in the head with a broom.
 
Tank: assailants!
Corrin: No! No more cowbell!
Samuel: Oh. Hi Tank. Hi Jeb.
Jeb: Ah. Our reputation precedes us.
Callow: Sorry. These are the Tank and Jeb from the past.
 
Corrin gives Tank and Jeb each 1 million gold so they'll stop asking after Rao. Tank gets a burger. Samuel warns Jeb and Tank about putting stones into the pedestal.
They use the Observatory to scout for Blackroot. Blackroot is currently in a containment cell in Neox's possession. However, they can't use the Observatory to see the Wind Stone, so they ask Samuel. Samuel says that Tyren disappeared for a while somewhere on top of what is now present-day Manaki.
Corrin casts sending to Karmichael successfully this time.
Samuel helps Jeb and Tank scry on their past-future selves that are eating lunch in Big City. Callow purchases 5 Superior Healing Potions. Corrin brings 1 Disease Suppressant with her.
 
[The Disease Suppressant replenishes slowly because the flower it's created from is in high demand.]
 
Tank and Jeb go to meet Tank Prime and Jeb Prime (the ones that went to the Lighthouse, back in time, and then had to reunited and lived their lives in Big City as members of the Beast Brigade for 2 years). When they meet, time stops, and Laurel appears. Suffering from the disease, she calls them "mistakes" and vaporizes Tank and Jeb, as does the 2 million gold. Tank Prime and Jeb Prime both retain the memories of the vaporized Tank and Jeb. An NPC named Jim is with them.
Tank, Jeb, and Jim go to the Lighthouse.