Act I, Session 5

Characters

Team 1
Abeni/Ekundayo (codename: McFriendly)
Lottie (codename: Henrietta)
Molar/Squawk (codename: Bork)
Persephone (codename: Artie)
Rattigan (codename: Rodento)
Walt
Caravaners
Dump
Karos
Prince Salizar Vranic
Rex
Others
Older Sister
Eric (the Revolutionary)

Locations

Starting Location
Ext. Camp, Somewhere in the Southern Vranic Empire, The Great Continent, Prime Material, Kurra - Morning
Ending Location
Ext. Lower Levels, Outer Karsts, The Untrodden Spires - Late Afternoon (about 3/4 of a day after the start of the session)
Other Locations

Quests

All: Survive the Fringe
All: Find more information about the Raven Man
All: Escort whatever the caravan is transporting to Throne
All: Escort the Prince to his destination
All: Regain Dump’s confidence in Team 1
Molar: Get ready for the raid on the Fringe in six weeks
Abeni: Get revenge on Borith's killers
Persephone: Get back to Sergaia

Rewards

Molar: One ruby ring (confirmed out of character not to be a Philosopher’s Stone)
Molar: 700 gold pieces
Molar: 4 healing potions
Molar: A notebook
Rattigan: One +1 quarterstaff
Walt: One set of splint mail
Lottie: One Ruby Necklace of the Spider Queen
Abeni: Ingredients for 3 very potent poisons and 4 very painful, lethal poisons
Abeni: One pound of loose-leaf tobacco
  Super TLDR   TLDR  

Detailed Notes

 

Ext. Camp, Somewhere in the Southern Vranic Empire, The Great Continent, Prime Material, Kurra - Nighttime (Immediately following last session)

  Team 1 and the Caravan previously made camp in the Southern Vranic Empire, not far from the Great Sea. Dump and the Prince split off from the main group and stayed in the Leomin’s Tiny Hut that Dump cast. The rest of the group sat around a crackling campfire.   Around the fire, Walt began to tell the story of his life with a magical musical accompaniment by Rex. His mom was a pure Elven alchemist from Culestis. She gained renown for making potions for the benefit of all in need. At a fair, she met a handsome man who she slept with resulting in Walt. The man turned out to be the Vranic Emperor and this made Walt 38th in line to inherit the throne of the Vranic Empire.   Walt lived with his mother in a small village until the age of six when a cruel Dwarven governess named Sian came for him and took him to Throne. He lived at the Imperial court with his 37 other half-siblings. Walt mentioned that his siblings were mostly half-Elves and Tieflings but he had Arachni, half-Arachni, Unia and other races as well. They were all kinds of different ages as well.   At the age of thirteen, Sian told him that he was betrothed to the heir of the powerful merchant family, the Sepakoni. He fell in love with the girl, Rubina, whom he called Beans. From the first time they met they fell in love with one another. Although he couldn’t leave the city, his relationship with Beans made the containment a little easier. Walt’s happy relationship with Beans continued until the day they were set to be married. Walt’s father, whom he never met, annulled the betrothal because the Sepakoni family was no longer an important ally.   Walt and Beans ran away from Throne and from the Empire. They lived in hiding for about five years before they were apprehended again. The Empire found them in Merryville and implemented an extermination protocol.. Culestis counter-attacked the Vranic forces with their Living Weapons. In the ensuing battle, Beans went missing and Walt hasn’t see her since.   After the battle, the Revolution took advantage of the situation and captured Walt. He met Older Sister who told him that he was responsible for all of the death which happened in this place. Walt didn’t know but the town was the headquarters of the Revolution (at least at that time) and Older Sister was very upset that the war came to her town that she cared about. She let him live but said that she would kill him the next time they met. She branded him with the mark of the Revolution as a permanent symbol of his shame on that day.   Walt spent many years after that wandering from place to place, avoiding those who would wish him harm. He ended up in a bar in Culestis where he hooked up with Celeste. The next morning, she held a dagger up to his throat and forced him to return to Throne to face the tribunal.   At the Tribunal in Throne, Walt faced the Vranic form of justice. He was held responsible for the deaths caused when the guard went to Merrydale. They gave him the option to be held as a political prisoner or to be the jailor of Block E (whose warden had his throat cut in his sleep.) Walt chose the Block E jailor option. He said that it was mission to keep everyone alive as he was unable to do with the people of Merryville.   After that stirring story, Molar pulled Walt aside to talk privately. Molar informed Walt that the Revolution would attack the Fringe in six weeks time. She asked Walt to break away from the main group when they reached the Spires and promised that it was to keep everyone safe. Molar also promised to tell Older Sister that Walt was one of the good ones and that he should be spared. Walt agreed to the terms and went back to the fire as Molar lingered in the shadows for a bit longer.   When Walt returned to the group around the fire, Persephone had some questions for him. She remembered that the Rineros family was a powerful Elven dynasty in Sergaia and that her friend Leif was connected to them. She asked if his mother’s family had any history of planar taveling or connection with other worlds. He said that he was not sure and didn’t really know about that part of his family but he seemed to think it was at least a possibility. Walt turned in for the night and retired to his little field tent some ways away from the fire.   With all of the authority figures gone, Rex asked who wanted to help him look into the forbidden box they were transporting. Everyone still around the campfire, except Rattigan who was asleep, wanted to join in on the mystery. So Rex got the key from his sleeping uncle then led Abeni, Lottie, Molar and Percy around the back of the waggon to the secure hold. He found a large box that appeared to be the only suspicious thing in the hold so he took it out for everyone to see. It was locked but he used one of the keys to open it.   Inside the group found an underwhelming treasure, dozens of vials of liquid. Most of the vials appeared to be blood of different animals. The first one they picked up had the label “3rd potency, 4th iteration, 19th cycle - Gorgon” stuck to the glass vial. Abeni knew from their travels and exposure to exotic healing practices that Gorgon blood prolongs life by slightly petrifying internal organs so they decay much slower and function for longer. They knew that there were only about a hundred Gorgon in existence in Kurra and that any organic product related to them would be extremely rare. They also knew of the practice of giving Gorgon blood to pregnant women to pass along to their children so they would have powerful abilities, long and healthy life as a result.   Rex continued to search through the chest of vials. All of the ones that appeared to be blood were Gorgon blood of different potencies, iterations and cycles. There were three vials in the front that looked much darker in color than the others. Rex pulled one out and saw that on the label there was only “G” written on it.   The moment Rex took the darker vial, weird things began to happen. The group noticed that the chest moved on its own, very slightly and barely perceivably, but definitely on its own. Percy grabbed all three vials at the same time. The box shook on its own again, this time very noticeably and emitted a defining siren. Percy put the vials back and slammed the lid, which stopped the siren but the whole camp heard the unmistakable noise.   The entire camp woke at the same time and came out to investigate the sound. Percy tried to cover by using Thomiturgy to cast a noise similar but not exactly the same as the warning siren. She said that she thought she saw something but with her magic being off, it produced the two discordant siren noises. The group that looked inside the box lied convincingly enough to get the others to go back to sleep.   As it was quite late by this point, the group divided up watch sifts. Abeni and Molar took the first shift as the others went to sleep. When they were the only two awake, Molar revealed her note from the Revolution to Abeni (essentially letting them know about the prison raid in six weeks and that they needed to let the Revolutionaries abduct the Prince.) Abeni was on board with the plan and promised to help in any way she could. Molar did the same thing through the night as the other members of Team 1 took their watch shifts; all agreed to help Molar and the Revolution in any way they could. After they agreed to help, Molar showed each person in the team the Revolutionaries’ version of the Thieves Cant sign language. They learned how to sign: “don’t kill”, “friend”, “Molar”, “Older Sister” and “help.”  

Ext. Camp, Somewhere in the Southern Vranic Empire - Early Morning

  Percy had the last shift of the night. After she talked with Molar, she sat alone by the fading glow of the campfire. Suddenly, she heard static then the familiar voices of Zeelie and Drod coming to her through the noise. Drod said that things were going much slower than they initially planned but they were still trying to get her home. Drod asked about Pauline and Percy responded that she had not seen anyone from Sergaia there. There seemed to be some time distortion or delay between the worlds; Drod and Zeelie said that Percy was talking so slowly that they could barely understand her. He said that they would send Barthor. through the portal with a golden rod to help tether Percy in reality. Percy said that she would look out for him as the connection to the other world closed abruptly.   In her head, Percy heard the voice of Thulene say “do you hate me? Do you hate that I put you here?” Percy said no although she did feel like a prisoner here. A small spark of green-yellow light appeared infront of Percy. Thulene’s voice came from it and said “you have to open up this world.” It also said that she would help Percy as much as she could.   The speck of light darted into her eye. Percy let out a loud yelp of pain as the light entered her eye. The others came running out as soon as they heard the yell. The others came out to see Percy holding her eye and blood streaking down her face. Percy told the group that she was ok and not to be worried.   Inside her mind she asked Thulene if she had seen Clip. Thulene said that Clip had been with Percy the whole time but the frequencies at which they tried to communicate with one another were wrong. Thulene used a bit of her magic to correct this and Clip once again appeared to Percy.   After the immediate shocks of Percy’s yowl of pain and seeing Clip for the first time, the others noticed that Percy’s left iris was now a deep yellow color. Abeni immediately felt the presence of another spirit inside Percy like Ekundayo in them.  

Ext. Camp, Somewhere in the Southern Vranic Empire - Morning

  Since everyone was already up, Dump began breakfast for the camp as the others broke down the site. They enjoyed a hearty meal together. During the course of conversation Dump said something that Lottie feigned distress over and began to sob. She immediately sobbed and wiped her snot all over the Prince, ruining his best set of clothes. He seemed convinced that he needed a new set before they entered Throne so that he could look presentable.   Percy opted to take her meal away from the main group so that she could reunite with Clip in private. Clip said that both her and Thulene were with Percy the whole time and Clip tried to talk with her but Percy seemed to ignore her or not be able to hear her. Clip heard Thulene talking the whole time about turning over a new leaf and wanting to help her home world. After some more catching up with Clip, Percy rejoined the rest of her friends around the campfire.   On Percy’s way back to the campfire, Abeni approached her and asked if they could talk. Percy agreed and the two went over by the caravan to talk in what amounted to privacy in the camp. Abeni asked if they could try again to talk with the spirit in Percy’s body; Percy was on board with it but doubted if they could commune with the powerful domain goddess. Abeni’s eyes became purple, their hair stood a little more on end as if static was coursing through them and Ekundayo came to the forefront of their body. Ekundayo tried but only got the response “I’m tired, leave me alone” from Thulene. Ekundayo respected Thulene’s need for rest. Ekundayo also checked in on Percy who said she was relatively ok even with her patron living in her eye. So Percy and Ekundayo went back to join the others for breakfast.   Ekundayo and Percy arrived just as the others were finishing up their plates. Clip had a cute exchange with Percy and Walt about how Percy and Walt had feelings for each other even though they had other people in their lives. Thoroughly embarrassed, Walt walked over to Dump’s hut to escape.   Molar took the opportunity of Walt being relatively alone to approach him about the impending stop in the Spires. Molar handed Walt her note from the Revolutionaries and essentially filled him in on the prison raid in three fortnights. Walt thanked Molar for sharing that but didn’t specify what he would do with the information.   After that they packed the last items up and hopped onto the caravan. Before they left, Ekundayo made sure to fill their canteen of water brim full then cast Purify Food and Drink on it to turn it into high proof rum which they happily took a shot from.  

Ext. The Road, Somewhere in the Southern Vranic Empire - Shortly Later

  With the sun now well over the eastern horizon, the caravan took off in the direction of the Spires. As they went, Walt revealed to Percy that he was actually having a romantic evening with Nurse Maddie when Abeni tried to kill Heyman.   Shortly later, some hobgoblins ambushed the caravan. They yelled “For our mother in blood!” as a cannonball struck the side of the carriage and threw several people off with a jolt. Karos had to stop the wagon as the jolt damaged the axle enough to worry him that it would break.   Molar took the initiative and teleported into a patch of trees to the left of the carriage where it seemed the cannon fired from.  

Ext. A Wooded Area to the Left of the Road, Near the Waggon - Continuously

  She tried to stealth behind the Hobgoblin’s lines but snapped a tree branch and blew her cover. One large male and one wiry-looking female Hobgoblin, who appeared to be their leaders, stepped out to confront Molar. Molar lit one of her improvised explosive arrows, chucked it and blew up the male Hobgoblin. The female escaped the encounter leaving Molar alone in the grove of trees. On the male Hobgoblin’s body Molar found some interesting loot which they picked up and brought back to the group.  

Ext. The Waggon, Side of the Road - Concurrently

  From further down the road Team 1 minus Molar heard a voice yell to bring out the Devils. In a flash two Bearded Devils emerged and began attacking the caravan. The Hobgoblins also sent in an Umberhulk (a massive, bug-like creature) for good measure.  

Ext. A Wooded Area to the Left of the Road, Near the Waggon - Continuously

  Molar climbed the nearest tall tree to gain the high ground over the Hobgoblins. Once at the top they shot an arrow at the Umberhulk which glanced off of the bug’s tough carapace.  

Ext. The Waggon, Side of the Road - Continuously

  Rattigan surged forth and delivered several devastating blows with his sling-staff and rats to one of the Devils.   The Umberhulk reacted to the situation by barreling past the Devils and unleashed a devastating attack against Walt for critical damage. It made a second attack against the carriage which dealt some superficial damage but nothing to its structural integrity. The Devils threw spears at the Team, with one hitting slashing Rattigan’s arm but noting too severe.   Percy cast Hex on the Umberhulk and summoned her spiritual weapon to the fight. Percy’s spiritual weapon bludgeoned one of the Devils with a mighty swipe but left the Devil still in relatively decent health.   After several hours of drinking strong rum, Ekundayo was very drunk. They jumped off of the carriage and swaggered around to the side where the Devils were. They took some rum from their flask, blessed it and threw it in the direction of one of the Devils to cast Guiding Bolt which missed wildly and ended up killing a Hobgoblin climbing one of the trees to attack Molar (completely unintentionally.)   Walt was unsurprisingly the most competent of the Team in combat. He landed a furious slashing blow with his sword and a shot with his pistol against the Umberhulk.   Lottie hid below the carriage and attempted to snipe at the Umberholk’s feet but narrowly missed.  

Ext. Atop a Tree, The Wooded Area to the Left of the Road Near the Waggon - Continuously

  Molar quickly fashioned a large but very unstable explosive device for use agains her enemies. She quickly attached it to an arrow, lit it and shot it at one of the Devils.  

Ext. The Waggon, Side of the Road - Continuously

  The arrow almost missed but landed in the Devil’s calf. Since the bomb was so unstable it detonated from the sudden deceleration against the Devil. It exploded in a massive fireball killing the first Devil, sending its bones flying as shrapnel and incinerating many of Rattigan’s rats who were attacking that Devil at the time. The blast and shrapnel did a decent amount of damage to the nearby Umberhulk as well as some minor shrapnel damage to Abeni, Rattigan and Lottie.   After the last bits of shrapnel pattered onto the dirt road, Rattigan sent another rat swarm in against the Umberhulk. They did a healthy chunk of damage against the increasingly bloodied bug creature. The second swarm led by Terri and Yaki killed the remaining Bearded Devil who was at very low health.   The Umberhulk changed its strategy; it darted away from Walt, past Percy and Lottie as it made for the back of the waggon. It made several attacks agains the waggon as if it was trying to break open the trunk containing the vials of suspicious liquid. It also tried to pull the wheels of the carriage off in an apparent attempt to disable them.   Percy, who had fallen off of the waggon when the Umberhulk attacked it, ran around to the back. Her spiritual weapon missed but sent three Guiding Bolts into its face. The Umberhulk let out a shrill screech then collapsed to the ground dead.  

Ext. Atop a Tree, The Wooded Area to the Left of the Road Near the Waggon - Continuously

  Molar heard the voice of the female Hobgoblin which seemed to be their leader command the remaining forces to regroup and attack later. Molar tried to run along the trees but soon fell and was not able to catch up to the Hobgoblins. As it seemed they got away, Molar returned to their friends at the waggon.  

Ext. The Waggon, Side of the Road - Continuously

  Now reunited with the group Molar threw the splint mail and staff on the grond but concealed the gold. Walt took the splint mail so that he could sell it in the Spires to pay for repairs to the carriage. Rattigan took the +1 staff. Molar also let Walt know that the Hobgoblins were likely to regroup and attack the caravan again.   At this point Ekundayo walked with a slight wobble and smelled like a leaky rum distillery. Walt confronted Ekundayo and asked if they were drunk. Ekundayo’s eyes changed from both purple to both brown and Abeni answered that they were just fine. They didn’t appear to be drunk at all and the smell of buttery alcohol disappeared. Walt checked their canteen and it was only water inside.   With all business attended to, Karos patched the waggon up enough to limp onward toward the Spires.  

Ext. Lower Levels, Outer Karsts, The Untrodden Spires - A Few Hours Later

  The caravan slowly lurched into the more merchant and traveler areas on the outer edge of the spires. They came into the small merchant town with little homes and shops on the ground level and a pulley system to reach the rooms built higher up into the karsts. Karos and Rex parked the carriage near one of the busy merchant areas.   Walt gave the group about an hour to tend to their own desires while Karos and Rex mended the waggon. The only caveat is that the prisoners had to stay relatively close, like within a quarter mile from Walt so that their collars didn’t register an escape attempt and kill them.   So the caravaners split off to tend to their own needs. Dump left the Prince behind and made for the tavern nearest to the waggon. Lottie wanted to revisit some of her haunts in the red-light district higher in the spires but Walt wouldn’t let her. Walt slipped Molar 15 gold and she went to the nearest general goods store to purchase items that the rest of the block asked her to get. Abeni (who had also lived in the Spires before) went to a nearby shop that they knew would be discreet about selling them what they needed. Walt and Percy went off to the tavern leaving Rattigan, Lottie and the Prince with the waggon.  

Int. A General Goods Store, The Lower-Outer Spires - Continuous

  Molar found the nearest general goods shop. There she purchased two arrows coated with a poison to paralize a person for 20 gold and four vials filled with a potion to decrease intelligence for 30 gold.  

Int. By the Waggon, The Lower-Outer Spires - Continuous

  Outside, an Arachni woman recognized Lottie and approached her. It turned out to be Lottie’s aunt Myrtle. Myrtle didn’t know that Lottie was even alive. She promised to tell Lottie’s brother Theo that she was alive and that she was in prison all of this time. Myrtle passed Charloite her mother’s ruby necklace which Myrtle promised Lottie’s mother that she would give to Lottie. The necklace was supposed to have originated with the Spider Queen herself and was passed down through the generations until it was Lottie’s to pass down. Lottie hid it in her hair then embraced her Aunt before Myrtle returned to her shopping.   Dump, who had left the tavern, saw all of this and approached Lottie. When the Prince (who Dump said his first name was Salizar) tried to get Lottie in trouble by telling Dump what happened, Dump rebuked him. Dump tried to comfort Lottie as she tried so hard not to cry. He lamented that Lottie was in prison at all and promised that if she got transfered to Block A that he would look after her.   With the mood turning hostile toward Prince Salizar, he decided this was a good time to look for new clothes to replace his snot-soiled ones. Lottie volunteered to go with him first which horrified the Prince; when Molar volunteered to chaperone him the Prince jumped at the suggestion. So Molar and Prince Salizar went in search of a clothing shop.  

Ext. Streets of the Outer-Lower Spire - Continuous

  They walked for a bit, trying not to go too far from Walt but in search of a good shop. Rattigan took it upon himself to stealth a bit behind them to help if Molar needed it. So Molar and Prince Salazar walked for a bit with Rattigan trailing behind unseen. Prince Salazar decided on a fancy looking shop one block down and a few blocks over from where the carriage was.   Molar noticed a person lean out of an alleyway and make the Revolutionaries’ identification hand gestures. Molar approached the person who turned out to be one of the people riding the motorcycles who attacked the caravan (during last session.) He said that the Revolutionaries needed to capture the Prince so Molar had to lead him down this alleyway and find a way to subdue him. Molar said that she understood and they would be there soon. So Molar went back to his post outside of the shop and waited for Prince Salazar to exit.   When he eventually came out, Molar escorted him to the alley where the Revolutionary waited for him. The Revolutionary grabbed the Prince with a vine whip and took him down the alley. Molar helped Eric, the Revolutionary, tie Prince Salazar up and load him onto a waiting motorcycle.   In order to avoid suspicion, Molar set up bear traps and fell into them to look as if she had been trapped before the Prince was taken.   Rattigan ran back to the carriage and raised the alarm. He lied however and said that Hobgoblins took the Prince and that Molar was very hurt. Walt heard from inside the tavern and ran in the direction of Molar with his gun drawn; the rest of Team 1 (minus Abeni) followed closely behind. They found Molar wounded but alive in the bear traps. It took a few minutes but they were able to get her free. The Prince was long gone by this point and Walt said it wasn’t useful to search for him around there (he knew it was the Revolution that had him.)   Dump, who was not privy to any of the plots, believed that Hobgoblins followed them and took them. He used his sending stone to inform who ever he reported to that the Prince was gone and that they demanded a large amount of gold for a ransom. The voice on the other line said that the 75th in line to the throne was less important than delivering the shipment on time therefore they were to not go after the Prince. So the group made their way back to the carriage with a wounded Molar.  

Int. An Apothecary, The Outer-Lower Spires near the Waggon - Concurrently

  Abeni found a shop that they visited for botanical goods in the past. The Arachni woman didn’t remember Abeni at first but when Abeni revealed their face they remembered their story. Abeni purchased bunches of very particular herbs to make poisons and a pouch that could become paper thin and conceal beneath their clothes. Abeni indicated that the poisons were for the ones who killed Borith and the tobacco was to honor him; the Arachni who supported Borith gave it to them for free. After all of that, Abeni made their way back to the carriage.  

Ext. The Carriage, The Outer-Lower Spires - Continuous

  Abeni returned to the carriage right when the others returned with Molar. They loaded up the now-repaired waggon and departed northward toward Throne. Lottie expertly guided them through the Spires, along all of the back roads and avoiding the congested merchant roadways. As they went, Abeni smoked a hand-rolled cigar as they sat on the back of the waggon combining the ingredients for their seven poisons. Abeni passed the cigar around to those who wanted to try a few puffs. In that spirit of tranquility and companionship, the session ended for the night.