Act I, Session 4

Super TLDR     TLDR    

Detailed Notes

 

Int. Cell Block E, The Fringe, The Vranic Empire, The Prime Material, Kurra - Morning, A Week After Last Session

  The session picked up a week and a half after the incident with the rats. Life returned to normal except for The Admiral who was punished for his desertion of his post by forcing him to remove all depictions of the sea for four months.   As the sun rose, Abeni awoke as they normally did. They said a prayer to the spirits of the dead, especially their deceased husband Borith Zela, before making the morning rounds to see how their friends were doing. On the rounds, Ginger reminded Abeni that today was the 3rd anniversary of Borith’s execution. This devastated Abeni as they had completely lost track of the date. Ginger felt bad about reminding Abeni but they were thankful for the reminder to honor Borith’s loss.   Walt brought in the morning’s gruel and four-day-old biscuits. Walt almost forgot that it was the day for Abeni to mourn. He said that had just begin as jailer less than a week after the execution. He recounted how Abeni was much more frantic and violent in those days, almost being transfered to Block D. Abeni said that they were no longer that person and was sorry for cursing Walt’s spirit to wander the planes of existence eternally without rest or comfort (they since removed that curse.)   As they talked, Talina (now operating as the Fringe’s specialist in Living Weapons) checked in on Rattigan. Talina said Rattigan hadn’t made much progress towards becoming a relatively normal person again but he also hadn’t gotten worse. Walt invited her and Nurse Maddie (who accompanied Talina and Walt) to sit for a meal with the block.   Walt told Group 1 that they were going to be escorting a prince, two merchants and their caravan from the boarder with The Dominion of Free Peoples to the north where the Elven Vanguard will take over escort duties north of the Untrodden Spires. Apparently caravans in that area have been coming under frequent attack and this caravan was particularly important. He also said that all of the inmates would be wearing masks and codenames to hide their identities.. They would be observed by Dump who would report back to the Warden on the efficacy of the mission and Walt’s leadership. After the brief and brunch, Walt and the staff left the block to their own devices for the rest of the morning.   After the meal, Molar approached Lan and Lannary for some more paper. Lan happily retrieved Molar some paper from his art supplies. The twins reminisced about how their mother crated paper ornithopters. In return for the paper, Lannary asked (very discretely) for some feminine products from Molar’s black-market sources.   At the same time, Persephone asked around the block if there was anything that she could get from the outside. Ginger asked for some tobacco. Grayson wanted a some leather to either make a holster for the rock he was sharpening or for a headband. Zilch said for his gift, instead get something extra for Lottie.  

Int. Cell Block E, The Fringe - Evening

  Walt brought the meal car accompanied by Nurse Maddie and Talina. Talina checked in on Rattigan as Nurse Maddie made her rounds to check in on the health of the prisoners.   The whole block plus guests shared a slightly more lavish than normal evening meal in preparation for the next day’s mission. They feasted on a fatty cut of actual meat, rice and some other luxury foods (for the Fringe.) Percy, Lottie and Abeni took the opportunity to rib Walt about his crush on Nurse Maddie.   Lottie even feigned a medical emergency to bring Walt and Maddie closer together (which Walt saw right through.) Even though Maddie bought it, Lottie said the only thing that would make her feel better is if Maddie and Walt got together. This kind of blew up in her face as it made Maddie think Walt put her up to this. Maddie hastily went to attend other prisoners as Lottie’s illness was a ruse.   Percy pulled Walt aside for some advice. She encouraged him to take the advice of the youths of the Northern Steppe: you only love occasionally or YOLO. Percy even encouraged Walt to tell her YOLO the next time they were together.   The dinner continued and ended on a happy note as Walt bade everyone goodnight.  

int. Cell Block E, The Fringe - A Few Hours Later (around 10 PM)

  Unexpectedly, Heyman along with six guards entered Block E around midnight as the block was just about to sleep for the night. He said that Dump sent him to ensure that they were ready for a long and potentially dangerous mission tomorrow.   Heyman went one by one down the line of Team 1, hurling insults and verbal abuse at them. After insulting Percy, Lottie and Molar he turned his attention to Abeni by heaping considerable insults about their Craterborn heritage. Abeni lunged at him but Heyman saw this and easily dodged as three guards restrained Abeni. He admitted to having ulterior motives in coming to Abeni on this day of all days, the anniversary of Borith’s execution.   Just as Heyman was about to knock Abeni out, Molar went into a faked seizure. This drew the guards who dropped Abeni and Heyman who came over to see if they were ok. This allowed Abeni (now unattended) to quickly search for a weapon; Grayson held out the piece of stone that he sharpened into a jagged edge.   Abeni quickly took the stone and approached the distracted Heyman from behind. Heyman performed chest compressions but then stood up and wheeled around to go for help, putting him face to face with Abeni.   Abeni took the stone, yelled “¡muerte los bastardos!”. and cut Heyman’s throat. Heyman started to bleed profusely and choke from the wound before falling to the ground. Abeni drug the much larger Heyman to the nearest Moon Door in an attempt to throw him out just as Heyman despised of Borith’s body. The three guards were so distracted by Molar’s feigned seizure that they only noticed that something was wrong with Heyman as Abeni drug the body to the lip of the opening into the abyss.   Before Abeni could give Heyman one final shove through the Moon Door, they froze. Standing at the gate of the block, drenched in sweat was Walt holding his colar controller. Abeni asked Walt to let them do it because Heyman needed to die but Walt would not let them. Walt quickly pulled Heyman away from the Moon Door and started to apply first aid to his wound. Nurse Maddie also came into the block and helped to treat the wound. Walt even let Percy cast Guidance on them with her magic to assist in the treatment. They eventually stopped the bleeding, mended the wound and stabilized him enough to be transported to the infirmary wing.   With Heyman stabilized, Walt approached Abeni and demanded to know what they were thinking. Abeni said that they knew this was not the way, that this broke every vow they ever made but they needed to do this to put Borith’s memory at rest in their own mind. Walt agreed that Heyman was a worthless sack of shit but said that he would not let any of his block die in here much less be executed. He whispered to Abeni that his mother was an alchemist and he knew how to prepare a drought that would make Heyman forget the attack; he would administer the drought but that he would not interviene the next time. Abeni understood and implicitly promised that they would not try to seek revenge again.   Walt now addressed the three guards that had let the attack occur under their watch. Walt basically threatened that he would expose their ineptitude and gross negligence if they did not do exactly as he said. He ordered them to keep quiet about the incident and said that they would be filling in for his duties in Block E while he was away. He expected them to everything exactly as he told them or they would face horrible consequences. Walt then dismissed them for the night but ordered them to report for duty first thing in the morning.   Nurse Maddie took a moment to check in on Abeni. Maddie said that based on Heyman’s file, he was a tough person and to dispatch him like that made Abeni in her opinion a bad bitch. But seeing that Abeni was fine, she returned to Walt and Heyman. Walt and Trink carried Heyman to the infirmary closely followed by Nurse Maddie.   Now left to their own devices, the block had a moment to process what just happened. Molar went over and slugged Abeni and chastised them for putting the whole block in peril. He said that is not how the Queen would want this to be done and that it was not how Borith would want Abeni to do. Abeni understood but affirmed that they had to do this, for their own peace of mind. After that, everyone left Abeni alone by the Moon Door.   Meanwhile, life in the block returned to some form of normal. Lottie knitted a web doll of Borith for Abeni to cheer them up. Rattigan also took one of the old biscuits and carved a rat-like heart in it to cheer Abeni up as well. They both later place those in Abeni’s cubby for them to find.  

Int. Cell Block E, The Fringe - Later (around Midnight)

  They sat there for a long time, their legs still immobilized by their colar. It was around midnight when they saw what looked like Walt’s shadow before they felt a click and the function in their legs returned. Molar’s words seemed to affect Abeni as the first thing they did once they were free to walk was to apologize individually to everyone in the block for putting them in danger.   After the others went to bed, Molar went over to the Moon Door. He sent his paper airplane with a message on it through the door and waited for a reply. But this time it was not the Raven Man but Zilch, the Goblin block-mate and member of Team 2, that came to Molar.   Zilch seemed genuinely curious and maybe a little suspicious as to what messages Molar sent via paper airplane. Zilch asked if it was going to the revolutionaries and Molar admitted that it was going to the Raven Man. That information piqued Zilch’s interest.   Zilch told Molar a bit about himself that no one other than Grayson knew. He said that he angered the wrong people and that one of those people was the Raven Man. He awoke in this prison missing half of his body. However, it also made Zilch seemingly imortal as he should have die from old age, physical abuse and hunger decades ago.   Zilch also said that Grayson was in the Fringe because he could not die either. Grayson even fell through the Moon Door and survived. Grayson said that he saw white flowers down there. Zilch said he and Grayson had been friends longer than Goblins were expected to be alive. He offered Molar some advice before he returned to his bunk: “the early bird gets the worm. You want to be the bird, never the worm.”   Meanwhile, as Abeni slept but didn’t dream, they heard a voice calling to them. It was a voice they heard before but it had been a while since the last time it spoke. It said “you’re like a beacon in the night, you Craterborn. How brightly you glow.” Abeni tried to ask the voice something with their mind but found that the voice was gone.  

Int. Cell Block E, The Fringe - The Next Morning

  At the morning meal, Walt came into the block followed by Dump and an Unia. man with copper skin. Walt introduced the Unia man as The Prince that they would be escorting as part of the mission. Dump made it very clear to The Prince that he was just like the other prisoners and that he was to do exactly what he said at all times. Dump also made it clear that he was there to observe the combat abilities of Team 1 for use by the Fringe.   Dump went around to each of the members of Team 1 to find out their abilities. He took a special moment to stop at Abeni and to apologize for the actions of Heyman. Dump revealed that he was a fellow Craterborn and would not tolerate any of the words that Heyman said to them. This took Abeni aback but they thanked Dump with a subtle nod.   With that Walt ushered all of them to the Quartermaster’s to get their weapons and supplies for the journey.  

Int. The Quartermaster’s Room, The Fringe - Shortly Later

  Team 1 arrived to find the now familiar Quartermaster, a grizzled Gnomish woman in her later 40s, impatiently waiting for them. She handed the team their equipment and opened up the portal they would travel through. Molar attempted to memorize one of the runes used to open the portal but was hurried through before he could commit all of its parts it to memory.  

Ext. A Dusty Scrubland, Near the Boarder between The Dominion of Free Peoples and the Vranic Empire - Continuous

  Team 1 came through the portal to find a dusty, hot scrubland somewhere near the Vranic boarder with the Dominion. They all appeared on this side of the portal wearing the masks they previously designed and decorated to keep their identities a secret.   They watched a carriage and some buffalo along side it approach their location then stop. A Dump introduced himself as Count DeVicious DeVicious Mon but you could call him Dump because everyone else did. Dump also introduced The Prince to the caravan but didn’t give his name. The older of the two merchants, a Tiefling man in his 60s, introduced himself as Karos and his younger companion as Rex. Team 1 went around the line and introduced their codenames. Lottie wore an Owlbear mask and gave her codename as ‘Henrietta.’ Moler donned a black Anubis-looking mask and said his name was ‘Bork.’ Abeni donned a Day of the Dead skull mask and gave their name as ‘McFriendly.’ Rattigan wore a mask that looked dead-on like a rat but claimed it looked too much like a shrew; he chose the codename ‘Rodento.’ Lastly, Persephone wore a mask and introduced herself as ‘Artie.’   Team 1 and their company took up positions on the waggon and headed off into the dusty morning sun. The caravaners seemed friendly enough as they chatted with the members of Team 1. Karos once visited Abeni’s home town; Abeni recounted how warm and beautiful it was and how it was a shame that they were banished from there forever. Abeni also mentioned that they were a co-ruler of the region but were on the wrong side of a power play that landed them in jail and Bortih his execution. When asked who attacked the caravan, Karos said that at first they believed it was just outlaws or bandits but he has come to believe its the Resistance and Older Sister. He believed that the Revolutionaries wanted to take or somehow stop something in particular they were transporting. He had no idea what it was as he was ordered never to look inside the secure hold. He said that it was odd that they wanted to take something so secure by land alone; when he inquired about transport across the sea the people who set this up said it would be impossible. This tidbit started a rumor among Team 1 that the cargo was a vampire or some vampiric spawn that couldn’t cross the ocean.   Irregardless, he said that the raiders harassed them from Springjacks all the way through the deserts of the Dominion and seemed determined to stop them. The raiders used some sort of bomb or magical device that destroyed metal and as such they retrofitted most things on the caravan to be made only of wood (from the wheels to the roof, no shocks though.) They were relatively safe in the Dominion as they hired some warriors to escort the caravan and they seemed to be efficient at that task.   Rex said that he expected the raiders would attack again soon. Percy asked if they were attacking on a schedule; Rex said that it was nothing like that. He could tell something about the future through his music. When he whistled, he could get little hints about what would happen in the near future. The song told him that the raiders were about thirty minutes from a new attack.   After hearing this, Molar quickly wrote a note to their resistance contacts warning them that the caravan knew when they would attack. Molar was able to attach it to an arrow and discretely shoot it at a tree in the hopes that the Resistance would find it. A few minutes later Rex checked up on when the attack would occur and he said that it was now off. No one in the caravan suspected that there was someone on the inside or that Molar was in anyway involved.   When Rex said that things changed, Abeni began to meditate by closing their eyes and burnt tobacco. They cast Augury to get some clarity on the situation and began to draw cards from their Tarot deck. Abeni asked the Spirits, “will the Rebels see reason?” They drew the Fool, the Wheel of Fortune inverted and on the last card they cut their finger as they drew the Hanged Man.  

Ext. A Road, Somewhere in the Southern Vranic Empire - About 30 Minutes Later

  As the carriage continued along, Molar thought it would be advantageous to their comrades to stop the caravan’s progress. He hung off the back of the carriage he discretely cast Produce Flame on the back right wheel. After a few moments it didn’t seem like the spell worked but the wheel broke and the caravan ground to a quick stop.   Team 1 and the caravaners jumped off to fix the wheel and any damage to the axel. Since the entirely wooden wheel broke apart, they had no idea that it has been damaged by fire and so assumed that it just hit something hard and broke apart. Rattigan used his carpentry skills and army of rats to help mend the broken wheel as most of Team 1 took watch.   The notable outlier who didn’t keep watch was Molar. He made his way to an area out of sight from most of the others in the group before casting Teleport to enter the now-abandoned interior of the carriage without detection. Walt saw Molar do this and discretely excused him self to lie down in the carriage for a moment as to confront Molar in private.  

Int. The Carriage, A Road, Somewhere in the Southern Vranic Empire - Continuous

  Walt entered the little carriage to find that Molar opened the hatch in the floor and was now rifling around the contents of the carriage’s interior hold. Moler lied and said they were looking for feminine products for Lannie which Walt seemed to at least partially believe. He said to not take anything that would be missed and left Molar alone in the carriage.   In the hold he found a few interesting items but nothing that would be of use to the Resistance. The most valuable thing Molar found was a pouch with some amethyst and other gemstones. The most interesting thing was a goldfish suspended in a vessel the size of a tabletop globe. The vessel did not have a top or bottom or any sort of lid but kept the water inside.   From outside Molar heard that they got the wheel fixed and were about to lift up the carriage. Moler was able to look through the window and teleport outside of the waggon with only Walt noticing.  

Ext. The Carriage, A Road, Somewhere in the Southern Vranic Empire - Concurrently

  As the others took up positions around the carriage, Abeni took a position facing where the part of the road they had just traversed. They saw something move in a copse of trees and took a few steps forward to investigate. For a split-second, they saw a blue Tiefling woman wearing a sort of leather armor, standing in the trees observing them. Then she was gone.   It was just when Molar materialized when the caravaners heard an unusual rumble in the distance. The rumble grew louder and louder until it grew into a noise. They saw four people riding on motorized, metal bikes (motorcycles.)   One of the people riding the motorcycle immediately attacked the caravaners. One of the raiders threw three bolos that ensnared Abeni, Molar and Persephone. One of the others cast Grasping Vine that further restrained the three trapped by the bolos. Rattigan escaped capture by darting under the carriage. Two of the motorcyclists drew rifles and pointed it at the members of the caravan. They said that no one had to get hurt, they were just there to get one thing from the hold.   Even with their hands restrained, Molar was able to use the Revolutionaries’ sign language that he knew to covertly communicate with the motorcyclists. The person that appeared to be their leader Misty Stepped right up to Molar and whispered in their ear. They said that that Molar failed his mission and that he was a prisoner of the Empire. The leader told Molar that the Revolution would be in the Fringe in six weeks and they would free him. They said that there was something more important in the prison than any of the Revolutionaries’ lives. Their leader then Misty Stepped back to the motorcycles. Both Walt and Dump saw this which drew their suspicions.   The leader demanded the contents of the strong box once again. As a sign of good faith, they released Abeni, Percy and Molar from the Grasping Vines. They asked one last time to let them take the one item and then leave. Walt said that if they did, they would fail the mission and it would be awful for Team 1.   Out of nowhere, a mechanical scorpion burst from the ground. It became quickly clear that Dump was controlling it from a device on his arm. The Scorpion quickly destroyed three motorcycles forcing the Revolutionaries to jump off. Molar discretely cast their Evil Eye on the construct. Still, the construct killed one of the motorcyclists but its pincer jammed as it went after the second. The delay caused by the malfunction allowed the two surviving motorcyclists to teleport away from the encounter.   After it was clear that everyone in the caravan was ok, Walt and Dump had a little meeting with Team 1. Dump said that this attack didn’t bode well for Walt or Team 1. Molar successfully deceived Dump into believing that he convinced the bandits that they could be negotiated with which made them unprepared for the mechanical scorpion attack. Dump said that it was not all a waste and he would not put their failings in his report just yet, implying that Team 1 could redeem themselves   With that in mind, Team 1 packed the caravan up once more and continued on until dusk made the road too difficult to travel. Along the way Molar received a note via odd dragonfly. They pocketed the note before anyone saw.  

Ext. A Roadside, Somewhere in the Southern Vranic Empire - Nightfall

  As the sun set, the road became too difficult to discern and the caravan pulled off to the roadside for the night to make camp. Dump set up his Tiny Hut for later as the others roasted sausages and other campfire treats near the waggon.   Walt sat down next to Molar to have a little heart-to-heart. He asked Molar to be honest with him about the bandits. He revealed that his full name was Walter Raneros Vranic the Fifth., that he is actually a member of the Imperial Family and that Older Sister was specifically trying to kill him. So he implored Molar to be honest and tell him what was going on. With that bombshell of an info drop, the session ended for the night.