The Castle in the Stars (Session 24) (WIP)

Day 457-479 3 week travel 1 Day Vladenkul 22 Days

Session 24: All Aboard The Infernus
Clara warned us that Mechanicus is patrolled by creatures called Monodroids She also said that contact had been lost with the plane’s native population of gnomes At one point while traveling I spent a 3rd level spell slot to increase the ship’s speed so we could escape a ship that was trailing us While traveling, we encountered strange winged creatures with both mechanical and organic parts I could not identify the creatures specifically other than that they were cyborgs of some kind Using minor illusion, Nirx managed to scare them off At one point we encountered the ship from earlier, attempting to pass us on the way to Mechanicus As the ship passed us we saw it being manned by an elephant man and a hobgoblin At this point, we noticed a massive creature following their ship, which proceeded to chomp half of the other ship off The creature gave chase to us and I spent another 3rd level spell slot to help us evade the creature We entered a small demiplane to escape the creature It possessed what resembled two moons, which clapped together after we passed them. This prevented the creature from giving chase any further The demiplane we entered was a small and drab location with a village, manor house, and forest Gael recognized the castle from a vision in Celestia. It was the castle owned by Gael’s father, Lazarus Treznor Gael said that he was born 70 years ago to Lazarus and his mother, Lydia He was born in Solaria His mother was executed because of his relationship with Lazarus, yet Lazarus had already left and was not there to prevent it As a result, Gael loathes his father for being absent Gael had no interest in attempting to reconnect with his father. He intends to kill him at some point in his life We found a fey woman sitting by the lake and I inquired about her nature I felt compelled for a moment to go to her but managed to resist her temptations Skar, Constance, and I managed to deduce that the woman was a siren We parked near the lake but left the siren behind We encountered a vampiric-looking individual after we moved away from the lake He identified himself as Lancaster He explained that the two moons of the plane were created by Lazarus to defend it He said that Lazarus curated this place specifically to be a haven for vampires like him He mentioned there have been issues with the “Enigma Engine” As we went with Lancaster towards the castle, we saw armed villagers marching from the village led by a brave woman who was attempting to “save” us We decided to go with the humans to get their side of things The leader of the humans was named Elenia She said that the island of Vladinkul moves and that is how the humans on the island were captured The vampires send their spawn to capture humans whom they drain and then return still alive The people want to be free but cannot find any way to defeat the vampires We then went to the castle to see the vampire side of the story The castle was elaborate and had been built over time with some parts being visibly older than others We were let in by an angry-looking old man named Henry Lancaster explained the general layout of the mansion and told us that Lazarus had not left in his study in over a decade, having his servants attend to things The island could not move due to Mechanicus interfering with its machinery We went to visit the Cosmotorium, the Mansion’s observatory, used for navigating the Astral Sea Through the cosmotorium we noticed that the Far Realms were more extended than normal, with the twin suns of Atoria “pushing” it away Lazarus is the only one capable of using the cosmotorium to navigate and he has great skill. He is capable of locating almost any plane or demiplane Lancaster took us to see the Enigma Engine, passing a forbidden room along the way with a door that appeared very damaged Across the way was a door marked “G. Treznor” The 2nd room was furnished with accommodations for a young child including a crib with a mobile The engine was a massive room comprised almost entirely of complicated machinery with a podium resembling a ship’s helm. Magic emanated from almost everything in the room We saw Lazarus working with a wrench in the room I immediately messaged Gael and then bought time by chatting Once Lazarus saw Gael he immediately became suspicious of him, recognizing him as familiar though he did not initially figure him to be his son Lazarus charmed Gael causing him to become more agreeable Then Nirx accidentally let Gael’s name slip New Characters Lazarus Treznor Lydia (Mentioned) Lancaster Elenia Henry