Session 069: The Second Largest French City on the Mediterranean Coast

We open as the North Wind begins exploring the tunnels.   They decide not to take their fantasy energy drinks yet. Talasea summons his steed, Pearl. Jack determines that a lit lamp that has been left in the area has been burning for hours.   They encounter crumbling mine cart tracks, a clear trickling stream, mushrooms releasing puffs of odious spores   Aphid talks to some of the mushrooms, asking if there has been any movement in the last day.  

Mushrooms: footsteps have passed for the first time our roots can remember. What is a day?   Mushrooms: They've criss-crossed back and forth, but generally they go deeper, down where the water pools.   Aphid: thanks   Mushrooms: you're welcome, homie

  They enter a cavern with larger mushrooms continuously puffing thinner clouds of spores. Everyone breathes them in as they explores this space, mushrooms dimly glowing and faintly twitching. Some folks almost fall into a big hole in the ground leading deeper towards larger mushrooms.   Some members of the party begin to notice movement, always out of the corner of their eyes, moving closer and darting away. Different folks see movement in different directions. It progresses to the sound of footsteps following them, stopping when they stop. They spend some time debating which direction to move in.   They locate some glowing crystals, Talasea dancing items a couple of 'em out of the wall, notes they feel a bit resistant like there are some magic properties to them.   They notice a lantern in the middle of a random tunnel, notice an ambient glow coming from a wall, and locate a secret door. There is a table strewn with papers, a couple of bed rolls, crates stuffed with supplies. It looks like a home base of some sort.   Talasea starts looking through the papers. He later lights his lantern of revealing to look over them and see if there's anything hidden.   First is what appears to be a grocery list. Talasea asks Verity if there's any meaning of these words in thieves' cant. Verity says there is but that it doesn't particularly make sense.  

Grocery list:

• Goat's milk
• Eggplant
• Tomato
• Parmesan

  Thieves' cant meanings:

• giant mansion
• egging
• take everything
• the best thing

  There is a map of the Four Kingdoms with a pin in Vivaria. Talasea holds the map up to the light to see where there are holes from previous pins:

• the Verdant Quarter
• Chippinshire
• Oasis of the Muda
• The Tinderwield (the oasis where the shrine of the Summer Goddess is located)
• Halitara
• Felimandoo
• Ivaran
• Narwhada

  There is a scroll, the Symbol of Awakening pressed into the sealing wax:

Father,   I am doing well. My journeys are grey skies. I expect it to turn cold soon. Let me know if you receive my gift.   {In invisible text:} Is the VQ1 extracted?    

  Mohr notes that this scrolls appears to be what Moa had been writing when scried upon. Talasea carefully peels off the wax and tucks it into a book.   There is another series of letters:  

Child,   It is possible that you are right and I am wrong. It is possible that you have missed a fantastic show. It is possible that all we dreamed is possible. Isfara says hello, so do not forget to get him a gift.

 

Child,   The trial continues. Years end and so do lives. Send more of that when you get a chance. It isn't the most important thing on your list.   {In invisible text:} We need another planetouched. Get on it.

  Examining the letters, Talasea thinks that Isfara is probably not the "Father" Moa is writing to, but rather someone else. He tries to think on what planetouched is. He doesn't think that he has seen the term in any literature or texts. But he also thinks of the brick they have been carrying and that it may have to do with the way something changes when it travels between planes. Aphid notes that they have all traveled between planes.   Meanwhile, Jack checks out a locked chest. Verity makes quick work of the lock on the chest. Jack opens the chest and manages to jump back just in time to avoid the fire blast that turns the contents of the chest to ash.   The light of Talasea's lantern reveals a book in the chest that was not incinerated. It is The Book of Exalted Deeds.   The first page reads:  

Whomsoever is lucky enough to read these words, know that your kindness will be your only way through. But that it may be the best thing that has ever happened to you.

  Talasea tries to flip through the book. He is able to discern different kinds of handwriting, but any time he stops to try and read it for more than a second, he gets kind of lightheaded, his vision swims, he isn't able to read anything past that first page. Jack goes to take a try at it, but as he touches the book, he takes radiant damage. Brie pops into existence in order to tug at Jack's pant leg. He takes a step back.   Mohr tries and is able to read what appears to be a series of essays. They each begin with how they found the book, then go on to talk about doing good. The struggle of it, the worthiness of it. The things they've done and the evils they've defeated. At the end of the book is a blank page. The last thing written reads:  

May you learn from the ones that came before you. May you make your own mark upon this book and upon this world. If you have spent the time with me, you will reap the rewards. If you fail to live up to your potential, you will lose anything that you have gained from it.

  The last essay describes how the author found the book in a bookshop. The bookseller had never seen the book before. The essay goes on to describe how the author became a smuggler getting people and things out of a war-torn nation.   When Mohr holds the book, Jack is able to strain towards reading it. The group decides that Mohr will keep the book and they will determine what is up with it later when they have more time and safety on their hands.   Talasea looks through the crates. Other than standard supplies, they find an array of dark clothing in various fabric types. Lots of cloaks, very loose and adjustable clothing, stuffing, prosthetics. It occurs to him that if you're using an illusion to change the way you look, if someone touches you they may realize that the feel is wrong. So it doesn't matter how your clothing looks, it matters how it feels. Talasea takes six of neutral black disguise kits.   Having found everything they could within this hidden home base, the group heads down the stream, deeper into the tunnels.   They come upon a fire that has burned low, Mohr recognizing the location as where Moa was when she scryed on her. They move carefully past the fire. They come across plants which Talasea carefully collects samples of. Talasea excitedly discovers a glowing crystalline structure tucked within an alcove. They determine that it is likely the reason that the mines were established in the first place: mithral. Jack and Talasea spend some a moment trying to do some light mithral mining.   They ultimately decide that maybe mining the most durable metal in existence with some daggers is not going to work out super great whilst attempting to stealth.   Leaving the alcove, the group is taken by surprise as Onoana shoots tendrils of dark magic out that wrap around Mohr, restraining her.