C2 Session 5

The adventurers are flying swiftly on the back of the [[Artificial Dragon]]. It is terrifying in a sense, being so high off the ground with no control, but the feeling of freedom is intoxicating, especially to Henry, who knew nothing else but the city and the boring view out of the manor windows. The dragon continues flying and approaches another mountaintop. The dragon’s voice pops into their head, saying that it has absorbed all of [[Zedek]]’s memories, and that Zedek is not of this land, and he is from far away. The dragon lands on the mountaintop and bashes a few rocks away, revealing a clockwork-esque chest. It says that the chest contains all the belongings Zedek deemed worth keeping. The chest contains a lot of items including a clockwork-looking necklace, a key whose head is in a question mark, a pole with the word extentia engraved on it, a small brown pouch with some kind of dust, and a shortsword with a red and black engraving in onyx. They thank the dragon and ask for it’s name, but it does not have one and has no preference for a name. They all come to the conclusion that [[Zahadin]] fits the dragon perfectly. Zahadin offers to let the adventurers grab their reward and bring them where they need to go before he returns to Zedek’s home to attend to some unfinished business.
  They gather their belongings and brings them to the Bear’s Claw tavern, which terrifies the townspeople upon their arrival. They walk up to their room and see that everything is still there. Henry sits down and examines all of their rewards. He finds that the necklace is a clockwork amulet, The key is a mystery key, the pole is a pole of collapsing, the bag of dust is dust of sneezing and choking, the stone is a luck stone, and the shortsword is a shortsword of wounding. [[Xodon]] takes the shortsword and the mystery key, [[Koin]] takes the dust and the amulet, and [[Henry]] takes the pole and the stone. After sorting out the items, Koin goes down to the bar where they see [[Yinta]] sitting at the table. They speak about Koin’s oath, and Yinta asks if they all would like to go to her abode. Koin gathers everybody else and they head back down to find that Yinta is gone. However, there is a tabaxi and a halfling waiting at the door to accompany them to her house, which is only a short cart travel away. As they get close, they see a beautiful array of houses and bridges in the trees before being greeted by Yinta at the door to her home. They all sit down and begin talking, at which point Yinta says that [[Dragol]] is a plague, and that the armada has started a social unrest, and she needs all of their help driving the dragolians out of [[Aezraghn]]. She will give them some time to think it over, considering they are already in dealings with [[Rafwar]]. She gestures them out where some tabaxi lead them each to their respective rooms, Koin’s room being bigger than the other two of course. Henry and Koin stay in their rooms, and Xodon tries to leave but Yinta kindly asks him to stay in his room, which he does, and the night falls.
  Xodon gets a knock at his door, and he answers finding Yinta outside who says that she is going to train him personally for the next week before everyone sets out on their journey. Xodon follows her into another room. She pulls out a dagger and a rapier, and says that she wants to see his combat that Poco has spoken so highly of. They begin to spar, and Yinta looks at him, only taking a step and raising her sword, awaiting an attack from Xodon. Xodon runs towards Yinta attempting to strike with his shortsword but misses. Yinta readies herself for another attack. Xodon advances with a dagger attack but gets his hand swatted away, then swinging around with his shortsword and misses again. Xodon takes out his wounding sword and tries to attack again, getting pushed away by Yinta. Finally, Xodon gets an attack on her by moving his sword around her parry. Yinta switches her stance, going in for two attacks on Xodon, which both hit for a decent amount of damage before she starts retreating. As she retreats, Xodon seizes the opportunity and slices her ankle with his wounding sword. She commends the attack and prepares to defend. Xodon hits another attack on her but the second is swatted. Yinta rushes forward with a flurry of four attacks, hitting 3 of them and leaving the tip of the dagger on Xodon’s neck. She is disappointed, saying it was not his best. Xodon shifts, but before he can do anything, she sweeps his feet with her tail, with his back landing on her knee and her hand on his forehead. Her eyes glowed white and she pressed her hand to his forehead, ending his shift. She says they will continue in the morning.
  In the morning, they both walk out to a field, where Yinta says she suspects that Xodon is lost, and that even though his combat is good, it can be great. She tells him to close his eyes, which he does. Suddenly, he is in the [[Ouran]] forest and is asked what his senses are telling him. Yinta wraps a cloth around his eyes, and then suddenly a punch in Xodon’s face as Yinta tells him to hear and smell the forest. Xodon hears the wind breaking beneath her fist, but only hears it impacting his stomach. She continues to punch him until noon, where she tells him to try shifting. It doesn’t work at first, but suddenly he can hear and see everything, even while completely blinded. Yinta throws multiple flurries of blows which Xodon dodges with ease. She commends him and tells him they will continue tomorrow.
  The next day, Yinta starts by telling him to attack her with his swords. He tries, but fails. She tells him to do attacks and a bite, but he fails that too. Xodon then shifts and keeps trying to hit the attacks, trying to go faster and faster, until Yinta grabs his forehead, saying that she will take away his shifting, and he needs to feel the senses and the thrill of the hunt. Yinta runs off and Xodon tries to follow but can’t. Suddenly his muscles remember, and he can smell and track her perfectly. He sprints after her, catching her and biting her. She commends him, and says that the final trial is tomorrow, and Xodon goes to his room to sleep.
  The next day, they meet and Yinta blindfolds him and takes both of his shortswords away. She tells him to feel the nature around him, that what he feels is not magic, but primordial. She runs at him for an attack and Xodon dodges. She swings her heel and he dodges again. Xodon runs for an attack, but Yinta perfectly counters, telling him he needs to be faster. Xodon tries again, but Yinta still dodges out of the way. He tries a third time, and begins to feel everything around him. His senses are elevated. He is blinded but can feel that there is a wolf next to him. The wolf gets up, and sprints away into the forest. Yinta tells him to come at her faster. Xodon then runs at her faster than ever, and as she goes for a dodge Xodon bites her and she throws him off. She commends him, and then takes the blindfold off. She tells him to get some rest to show off his new abilities to the rest of the group tomorrow.
  During these days of Xodon’s training, Henry is also receiving training. He wakes up in the morning after a night of thinking about Yinta’s words. He hears a knock at the door and answers to find a 4 foot tall figure with dark grey skin, a white mustache, and spiked white hair. The figure says hello and to follow him, so Henry does. They walk for about an hour, seemingly aimlessly. Henry asks where they are going, but gets no response. Henry taps his shoulder and asks again, and he says he does not know, before opening the door to Henry’s room. They have gone in a full circle. He says that Yinta has asked him to train Henry in return for a mango, and he loves his mangoes. He tells Henry to do some magic for him, and then sits on the bed and waits. Henry attempts a few illusion spells, but the man says that it’s not much, and to come back tomorrow. Henry walks out of his room, and then tries to go back into his room but it is locked. The only room available is the bathroom, which he begrudgingly decides to sleep in for the night.
  In the morning, Henry opens the door to his room, and the man is standing upside down on Henry’s bed. He rambles on and asks how Henry can cast magic. Henry tells him how he thinks he does it, and the man tries it, but it does nothing. He is intrigued, and then suddenly goes invisible, reappearing behind henry and hitting him on the head, then telling him to do the same. Henry says he can’t, and the man just tells him to use Henry’s explained method to do it if it’s that simple. The man, who calls himself [[Reino]], says he knows nothing about the spellbook and asks Henry to show it to him. He exclaims that the spellbook must be how the Dragolians cast magic. He then starts to cast the spell he used to go invisible, but pauses it so Henry can copy the runes, but when he goes to do so, he cannot find his ink, so he asks where he can get some. Reino says you can get it anywhere before disappearing for a few minutes and coming back with a bunch of plants which he grinds up and pours into a bowl. Reino tells Henry to try using the inks created from the plants to transcribe the spell. After a couple hours, he is successful, and Reino tells Henry to follow him. As he is following, Reino explains carefully to Henry how magical inks can be made from certain plants in the natural environment of Aezraghn. After finishing his lengthy explanation, Henry gained a deeper understanding of the plants and could now forage the environment to create the magical ink needed for his spellbook. Reino then leaves Henry for the night and says that his training will continue in the morning.
  He returns in the morning and begins by asking Henry why he has so few spells in his spellbook, and Henry says it’s because those are the only ones that he’s learned and copied into his book so far. Reino tells him to copy the invisibility spell, but does it too fast for him to see the runes and copy them. His inability to do so puzzles Reino, and he rushes off. He returns with a wooden box and a few wooden pieces. Henry looks at it and sees that it’s the equivalent of a children’s memorization game. Reino continuously flips the pieces over, almost instantly flipping them back while Henry tries to memorize the matching pieces. After spending around half of the day trying to get them memorized, he finally is able to remember every piece in the fraction of a second that he can see them. Reino acknowledges his success, then leaves for the night to let him get some rest and prepare for his last day of training.
  In the morning, Reino returns to Henry’s room. He tells Henry to show him what he can do. Henry tries throwing out a few more powerful spells but they are batted away by Reino. They toss cantrips back and forth for a few minutes before Reino stops and begins casting an odd spell with many intricate runes. Time seems to slow for Henry, as he carefully observes the runes as they appear. Shortly before Reino would finish casting the spell, he dispels the runes, and Henry has them completely memorized. He inscribes them into his spellbook, perfectly copying the runes to cast the spell. Reino commends him on the completion of his training and hands him a new spellbook with enough ink to last him awhile. He exits the room, leaving Henry the rest of the day to himself before his test tomorrow with his group members.
  During the same period of time of Henry and Xodon’s training, Koin also receives special training from an old friend. He gets a knock at his door in the morning. When he opens the door, he sees the familiar face of [[Sun]], his comrade that he has not seen in a long time. They greet each other and Sun tells Koin to walk with him to the courtyard. As they are walking, Koin recaps his travels up until the current moment, describing every event in detail. Sun is impressed with how far he has come and says that his future is bright. They arrive at the courtyard, and Sun mentions that now is a better time than ever to finally see him in action. He readies himself in a sparring stance, waiting for Koin to come at him. Koin rushes at Sun in an attempt to unbalance him with a swift attack. As his sword reaches Sun, he disappears suddenly, reappearing above Koin and striking down with the pommel of his sword. Sun goes for another strike to stun him, hitting Koin hard but not stunning him. Koin lays on the ground near unconscious, but Sun walks over to him and heals him up, lending him a hand to get back up. Sun walks back to his original position and puts one hand behind his back, telling Koin to come at him again. He runs at sun, throwing a bag of flour to try and deceive him. He hits the bag and it explodes into a cloud of flour that blinds Sun, leaving him vulnerable to Koin’s next attack. Koin strikes with his sword and seemingly hits, but at the last second the scimitar in Sun’s hand flips around and blocks the sword from hitting.
  The flour cloud disappears and Sun tells Koin that he needs to be able to see every weakness of an enemy. Koin follows Sun to a nearby table and pulls out a chess set. They begin playing while talking, and Sun says that Koin is too forward and hostile and most importantly, easy to read. He says that he’s too easy to see through, and as he says those words he puts Koin in checkmate. He says that Koin must make decisions fast and well. He mentions that Xodon and Henry are a perfect balance of each other in their capabilities, and that nothing will work if the balance is interrupted. Sun tells Koin that his place as a platinum defender is to strategize and identify, and if there is any hesitation in doing either, that he will fall apart. As they are talking, Sun is playing out scenarios of balance and strategy with the chess pieces so Koin can understand. He says that Koin must be proficient in all forms of combat, and he goes through a few more strategies and types of parries before getting into a specific example stance. Sun goes through every part of his stance, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses and emphasizing the importance of being able to switch between offense and defense in battle. He says that it is not always about how fast you can get somewhere, and mentions that the final test is tomorrow. Sun asks if Koin has any questions and he inquires about his escape from the [[Stone Glass Citadel]]. Sun tells him that it was a long time ago and he reveals a strange mark on his back from when he was there. Koin promises to keep it between them, and they both wish each other well before Sun leaves him to prepare for the test.
  The following morning, Yinta gathers all three of them and brings them down to the courtyard. She asks if they are all ready for the final test, they say they are. Yinta tells them to get in a row as she takes off her cloak and grabs her rapier, moving her feet into a fighting stance. They all realize what the final test is, and Xodon goes in for the first attack. He misses both of his attacks, and Henry tries to put her to sleep with his new spell but fails. Yinta moves to Xodon and attacks him with a flurry, hitting him a couple of times. She then attempts to retreat briefly, leaving an open attack for Xodon who tries to slash her ankle but has his sword swatted away. Koin lands an attack on her, attempting to sweep her feet out, but he is unsuccessful. Xodon attacks again and hits this time, while Henry conjures the apparition of a large goblin behind her, which only she can see. In response to the goblin, Yinta rushes at Henry with multiple attacks. She keeps swinging and missing, and an attack that looked like it certainly would’ve hit was missed in the blink of an eye. Eventually she manages to swing her leg around and hit him. Koin takes the opportunity to attack, but misses his entire flurry of attacks. Xodon powers himself up and goes in for a powerful bite, dealing a chunk of damage to her. Henry creates a few clones of himself to confuse Yinta, giving Koin the chance to attack and completely disarm her. Xodon slashes her with his sword and tries to bite her again but misses. Henry delivers the final blow, summoning his shadow blade, making it disappear as his fist connects with her stomach, and the blade reappears directly through Yinta’s stomach, temporarily knocking her unconscious before Koin heals her a small amount.
  Yinta gets up off the ground, commending the group on their progress and completion of both individual and group training. As she begins to leave, she asks Xodon to come with her to her study while Henry and Koin return to the Bear’s Claw Tavern. When they reach her study and sit down, she tells Xodon that his comrade Poco and her are part of an organization named the [[Silver Masks]], an org built to fight the [[Dragol Armada]]. She tells Xodon that he has her mark of approval and to watch Henry and Koin, monitoring their progress and ensuring that they make the journey to [[Thera]]. She says that when they return from Thera, they will all be ready to join the Silver Masks. Xodon agrees to her terms, and returns to the tavern where Sir Rafwar had just returned.
  Sir Rafwar has the gold that he promised them, and he tells them that they should begin their journey to Thera immediately. They begin their journey with a couple uneventful first days. On the third night, their cart was attacked by tabaxi bandits, the same group of bandits that destroyed Koin’s cart many years ago and left him near death. Xodon rushes down the captain of the group and hits him hard off the bat. Henry summons his shadow blade and throws it at the captain dealing a small bit of damage. The captain attacks Xodon with the same amount of force and damage that Xodon dealt. Koin emerges from the cart with anger filled eyes, instantly intimidating all of the bandits as they recognize who he is. He jumps off the cart and kills one bandit, jumping quickly to another one which he also kills. One of the bandits with a crossbow tries to shoot at Henry but misses entirely. Another crossbow bandit tries to hit Koin, but misses out of fear and is slaughtered by Koin. A bandit rushes at Henry and tries to punch him but gets his attack deflected and is killed by the shadow blade. Xodon hits the captain hard once again and Henry follows up with a shadow blade slash and a dagger stab to finish him off. Finally, Koin sprints over to two bandits and pulverizes them with a fist of blinding light, while the last bandit tries to escape but is struck and killed from behind by Xodon. Sir Rafwar emerges from the cart to see the corpses of an entire bandit group, at which point he commends the group on their quick work, and they all continue on to Thera.