Session 33 - Deep Roots

79th of Summer

Reaching out to Lazu

We resume session as Meera passes out, pulled in a void between worlds, where she confronts Lazu. The God of Chaos is mercurial but pleasant enough in disposition. They constantly pace, wrapped in ethereal chains, shifting between genders and appearances as they speak. This is the first time in any of Chikara's lives that she has ever attempted to pray. Lazu is quite amused by it.   Meera asks about Lazu's intentions -- and why she's been cursed. The rapport between the two is fairly pleasant. Lazu says that Meera is part of them. A little soul shard that Lazu threw out into the world so that a part of them could be free of this prison. Meera doesn't quite understand. "Imagine I hacked off my index finger and tossed it outside so that part of me could escape jail." Oh! "I'm a finger!"   Meera's purpose, which was apparently neglected in history, was to make a stand against the Hegemony slowly trying to assimilate everything into a monoculture. She's not destined to be queen of Verden. She doesn't even have to be a big damn (anti-)hero. But she's supposed to be a spark of chaos in the world to prevent it from falling into ruin.   Lazu mentions how sad it all is -- they used to be great friends with their sibling, Diel. Then Diel went overboard and wanted to unite the whole world. Maybe Lazu went a little overboard too. You know how family gets. Meera can see it happening now, surely. With her and Piers? Piers made a choice that she didn't agree with, and she's mad about it, yeah? This is how those splinters form.   Lazu loves the party because of their nature. Take care. Be chaotic.   Meera wakes up.    

Piers and His Guide

Piers is visited by his increasingly exasperated angelic guide, the ethereal voice. She initially takes him to the same grove illusion as normal, but Piers requests another place after what just happened. She shifts the vision to a path cutting through the deep woods, sunlight beaming through the canopy. This will do.   She apologizes for what he had to see -- much of it was equally shrouded from her vision due to the ancient nature of Fey and Weird magic, which is powerful enough to conceal things from the gods themselves.   The voice says Piers will probably face some tough talks from his friends. Many will hunger for blood -- to go back and kill Sunniva. They can. Fey are like fiends, they just hide their intents with a smile. That's why his powers involve warding off fey as readily as devils. But be careful about craving bloodshed because you're feeling bad. Or want vengeance. It's a dark path, much like the one Sarael took.   There are more options between "walk away" and "murder." The voice's strong suit is courage, not necessarily clever trickery like one of her sisters might specialize in, but you could potentially force Sunniva to make a pact that would bar her from ever entering the Material Plane again. Should you feel killing her is inappropriate.   Killing is easy. Sometimes too easy. Diplomatic solutions and trickery in the name of peace? Far more difficult. But sometimes the better option.    

The Morning After

The group wakes up in relative awkward silence, but then start to discuss what happened with Sunniva -- and how Piers's decision upset most of them. The conversation takes a turn when Meera sends a right hook into a his face and begins to scream insults at him. He takes it and allows her to vent. She continues on until Hart interrupts her and tells her to back down, and she complies.   Piers airs his reasoning for what happened. Abbit relents from his bitterness when Piers admits that he ultimately froze in the moment, and he can understand that position. They collectively decide to move on for now, since Jericho and Hoo'Ax'Dyuu are pressing threats, but intend to return at a later date to see if they can coerce Sunniva into leaving the Material Plane.    

Travel

The group hikes through the woods. After a few hours, a giant shadow passes over the party. They jump into hiding as a massive Ancient Green Dragon passes overhead, carrying the mangled corpse of some huge animal. They are able to avoid detection. The dragon flies to the northwest and quickly leaves line of sight.    Later, the path is interrupted by a sheer cliff and a waterfall. Rather than risk a detour through the woods, they have Abbit fly up to the top of the cliff with their ropes tied together. Nox's hand begins to burn with pain while tying the ropes. It lasts for several agonizing seconds. Perhaps a warning from his patron for not killing Sunniva when asked.   The party ascends with some varying difficulty, but makes it to the top without someone falling.    

The Shimmering Ravine

The group comes upon a ravine as they near the edge of the Lost Woods. There is a small village there, but the villagers are oddly stationary. They spring to life as the party approaches. There are also Hall of Heroes undead legionnaires there -- acting as if they not undead. Some are guarding a bridge. Some are sweeping the porch of a hut. The group does not detect undead, oddly enough. Or any other magic.   During the investigation, Abbit and Meera make their way to the back of the village. Malikathar "dies" after being struck by something. At which point they are ambushed by a massive sentient plant. It hits them with vines and swallows them whole. Abbit it knocked unconscious by the interior fluid while Meera is able to shrug off the effects with her soul trinket boost.   A horrible monster with pointy needle legs and grappling hook arms attacks the other half of the party. It spears Talitha through the arm and drags her to it, embracing her to cause additional psychic pain.    The party is essentially split on two sides of a bridge. Piers channels his Radiant Soul for the first time since the Scarred Devil to help protect the southern party from the horrible hugging monster -- dealing massive smite damage while Talitha and Hart fend off the villages who have quickly turned hostile. Hart breaks open one's neck with his chair. And inside is just..... plant. All of these people. Plants!   The party slays the creatures and the lingering plant-people die when the Bodytaker Plant is killed. It was.... eating them and replacing them with imitations?! Ugh, gross.   They decide to camp in town for the night since it's already getting late.    

Watch

Abbit lets Meep know about the village's fate. He then resummons Malikathar as a raven. Meera and Nox stay up for watch and talk about his patron, and if he's doing okay after the hand pain. Maybe try talking to his patron? Seemed to work for her and Lazu.   Nox also uses Find Familiar for the first time since learning the spell from Rhiannon. He summons an owl. Her name is Kuro! Cooler and sleeker than Malikathar. Who is incredibly bitter and spiteful about the inclusion of a new familiar.   Malikathar will remember this.    

Majora Revealed

After Nox falls asleep, he is approached by his patron -- who is incredibly upset that he did not fulfill the request to kill Sunniva. He thought he could rely on Nox! He was supposed to help! That's how this relationship works. Just like Hoo'Ax'Dyuu and Abbit. Abbit helps Hoo'Ax'Dyuu, and gets power in exchange. It's like that!    He chose to help Nox because they're both orphans, and he believes that people like them shouldn't be cast aside by society. With power, Nox will have the ability to change the world as he sees fit. And that's important. He just needs things in return. Sunniva had killed a salesman who was supposed to help him, and vengeance was deserved! Maybe think about being a better friend. >:(   Nox asks what his name is.    Majora.