Session 40 – Fucky-Wucky Travel Time

With the Silver Path having pointed them in the right direction, the group – aboard Vendetta once more – set out South. The first day passes relatively uneventfully. Yenush is able to stop the MWDs from a malfunction and the miasma proves to have little to offer in the way of hallucinations. Arkyn successfully feels he's better at Survival now and while Cadence starts her history course with Quill focused solely on a very niche aspect of Caliban's draconic history.

Teagan stops Arkyn and gives him back the Book of the Dead. It wasn't personal... or it was kind of personal. Arkyn notes that he wasn't completely taken over and that's part of the reason Teagan is comfortable giving it back. The topic of "School" returns as Arkyn notes that Aiaoue informed him that his parents did, in fact, give him up to Auntie. Oh, so you send to your family and asked them? What now? Teagan explains the deal they made where Arkyn would send to his parents and Teagan would send to his daughter. Arkyn has no memory of this. The entire group is summoned to the conversation, noting the last time they witnessed Arkyn attempt to send to his family.

Aiaoue describes how Arkyn's bracelets flashed briefly with magic when attempting to Send, but were otherwise mundane. Perplexed, Quill is summoned to give his opinion. From his time in Caliban, he's confident there's magic out there that can disguise magical auras, but he's not entirely certain he's seen something "flash magical" in his lifetime. Though this is certainly not his area of expertise. Are they cursed? Can anyone know if the bracelets are cursed? Aiaoue notes that they could have Cadence cast Bestow Curse on someone and then see if anyone can detect that they're cursed. That's one way to find out.

Arkyn is unwilling to take the bracelets off now matter who and how the question is asked. Auntie told him to keep the bracelets ON. Teagan asks Arkyn if he'd remove the bracelets if Sayah asked. Arkyn doesn't like that question. And so, they summon Sayah and ask HER to ask Arkyn to take them off. Motioning for Teagan to bend down, Sayah notes that they all seem to be operating under the assumption that Auntie is benevolent... Sayah is not. Rather than asking Arkyn to take them off, she asks if he'd like to and seems to back down when he respons negative. Jeff chimes in, summoned from the depths of Vendetta by the conversation.

On the morning shift, Yelkin notes an issue with one of the MWDs, but fails to prevent it from spewing thick, dark smoke. Yelkin's first attempt fails to fix it and eventually Quill is sent to wake Yenush. Arriving outside, Yenush finds the entire saddle covered in smoke. The MWDs are able to be remedied, though in the commotion, no one notices the pocket of miasma before its too late. To make matters work, both Yelkin and Jeff are consumed briefly by the miasma, lashing out... at the MWDs. One immediately begins to leak fuel as another completely stalls.

You hear chatter first, the natural background noise of an active village or a lively community. Along the stone of a small cliffside, a woman in a fur-lined cloak carefully carves patterns into the stone in front of her. In the large hood of her cloak, a baby – perhaps a year old – plays with a toy carved in the shape of a wolf. All around, shifter-looking individuals sit and sprawl as they clean garments, sew, carve, and craft. There’s a huff of irritation followed by a laugh as a boy settles into his seat, allowing his older sister to finish weaving feathers and bone into his hair. In the background, you watch a gaggle of children run about… humanoid one moment and beasts the next.

The village features no permanent settlements, suggesting that the "village" is either nomadic or merely passing through. Cadence conveys what she saw to Arkyn as she is delighted that they were a more nomadic people like hers. Yenush berates Yelkin for his poor performance with the MWDs before working to begin fixing the damaged MWDs. He manages to mitigate another issue before having to surge the MWDs as another pocket of miasma approaches.

The miasma thickens and surges over you, revealing a starry sky surrounding a full moon. It is eerily silent, save for the faint sound of your breathing. And then, soft rhythmic footfalls. Ahead of you, a silhouette draws near. A reindeer-like creature with a blue hide speckled with silver dots and antlers veined in silver approaches. Atop its back is a woman clad in dark leathers and face obscured by a wide-brimmed, veiled hat. Her mount comes to a halt. With an arm seemingly made of pure silver light, she readies a massive silver-strung crossbow… and waits.

After a moment of silence, Arkyn waves hello. The woman simply holds a finger up to her lips beneath her hat's veil. And then a crazed lycanthrope flies from the forest and, without looking, the woman shoots true. The lycanthrope falls to the ground, blood pooling near the wound as the maddening silver - and life - both fade from his eyes.

On the next shift transition, Arkyn remembers to inform Teagan that he overheard something happening in Ragna. Supposedly, the Warrior Elite are going beyond the Coliseum hunting for something. Teagan doesn't really recall how the Coliseum works, but it is worrying, weird, and weird, and definitely worrying. Milo sends to a co-worker to see if the paper has any information on what's going on in Ragna. Meanwhile, Aiaoue walks up to Ademar and shuffles her deck perfectly. Ademar grins, shuffles his own deck with a bit of flair and gives Aiaoue a nod of acknowledgement. Aiaoue attempts to mimic, but isn't as successful. She takes her cards and leaves, telling everyone that she played cards with Ademar.

Over time, Yenush is able to get the MWDs fixed and sorted. As Teagan and Cadence take their shift, they enter a pocket of miasma. The ground shakes from tremors and a wolf howls in the distance. The ground becomes just a little "fucky wucky" one might say. The path grows unstable, but Teagan, Cadence, and Yelkin are able to help Vendetta navigate the rough terrain as the miasma returns once more. On the next shift, another pocket of miasma approached. As the sunset and the stars appeared, Milo noted a set of "stars" rising from near a cliff in the distance. By the time Milo is able to point this out, the "rising stars" were indistinguishable from the stars above.

The following day, as the group approached a shallow cave, another pocket of miasma crawled forth:

Through the veil of the miasma, the cave is restored. Shifter-like individuals move about, grabbing needed tools and equipment from carved shelves and cubbies. Others sit on benches and stone furniture, conversing. You can smell meat cooking on a fire, the smoke funneled out through a hole in the ceiling. Attention shifts as a figure pushes past you to enter the cave. A hunter carries a deer slung across his shoulders.

Cadence notes odd puncture wounds on the deer and a broken, bent ribcage. She's able to note that the puncture wounds don't match weaponry and Teagan notes that constriction could cause broken bones like that. A WERESNAKE. Arkyn, have you heard of a weresnake before? No he has not (as the only known case of lycanthropy on Dremora was one High Oracle who enjoyed turning into a rat to prank people). And while they've seen variety in the lycanthropes in dreams and hallucinations, none have been weresnakes. Ah, well, guess maybe it was just a regular ol' big snake or something.

The miasma thickens and surges over you, before revealing a well-trodden path. You feel the sun on your face and can feel the gentle caress of the wind. Ahead of you, stopped at a fork on the road is a broad-shouldered man with fur-tipped ears, brown hair tied in a messy bun, and a child on his hip. With a sneeze, the child goes from humanoid to rat-like and back. The man laughs before stopping, his eye turning a brilliant silver. Without hesitation, the man turns on his heel and chooses to tread his own path forward.

A moment later, huntresses and a massive werebear clash, though the miasma reclaims the group before they can be caught in the middle of the altercation. On the next shift, the group overhears an argument between well-dressed goblinoid figures and a shifter man standing firm.

Merchant: ‘In the case of delay, the merchant shall be permitted to traverse-‘   Keeper: With whom did you negotiate? If it was not the Wolfspeaker of O’Lycaon or the Silverlight, this agreement is null and void.   Merchant: Yes, it was the Wolfspeaker.  

Keeper: Then either she has gone mad or through underhanded means you have overwritten our long-standing agreement. "No Prosperan merchant shall traverse the Rise unless summoned by the Silverlight."

As their argument continues, Sayah notes that the symbol on the merchant's head - an eye surrounded by coins – is something she has seen before. Ah, yes, the "Discerning Eye", that tracks. Sayah would wager that Moonstones were perhaps at the heart of their argument.

On the next shift, no one is paying attention and the miasma catches them off guard. Yelkin is once again overtaken and attacks Cadence. Fittingly Quill is also overtaken and attacks Yelkin in turn. Standing on a rise before a precarious path is a deer-like creature. When Teagan speaks to it, the deer seems to recognize and acknowledge that it is being spoken to, but otherwise does not response. When asking how to get to Kesar'Arrat's temple, the deer is unconvinced and teleports away. Cadence, Teagan, and Yelkin are able to help Vendetta navigate forward, continuing as the miasma returns.

Milo dreams and manages to shake off the anxiety it induces. He received word from his co-worker that reporters have been denied entry into the Coliseum and that the Warrior Elite have been seen traveling about the region, however they provide no details on where they've gone. Teagan is very interested in whether or not they're just roaming about... or if they're going to one specific area. Yenush presents Cadence with the gift he's been working on. Cadence is surprised; Does this mean they're friends? Yenush thinks she has at least 5 friends at this point.

Time passes before another pocket of miasma approaches:

As the miasma fades, the shattered remains of stone rise forming a ring of arched stone, etched with various runes. In the middle, the pile of stone and rubble now forms a statue of a figure caught between humanoid and bestial form. It is hunched over with a cloak adorned with long feathers. An orb of pure silver light – reminiscent of a full moon – levitates atop the statue. At the base of the statue, a group of wolves sleeps. One wolf is larger than the rest, with silver stripes running through its darker gray fur. Next to it, a middle-aged woman is knelt in prayer. Her long silver hair is adorned with bone and feather, and she is covered only in a simple tunic.

Arkyn carefully approaches. The larger wolf turns towards him with a flicker of silver in its eyes. Its mouth open and a voice speaks: "Child. Tell me, how fare our kin in Oshiv'Ran?". And the miasma cruelly returns before Arkyn can response. At his feet, he finds the skull of a large wolf... surrounding by the bones of the woman and the rest of the pack. Trying to Speak with Dead, the spell seems to fail.

As an odd patch of miasma approaches, the whole group is gathered. The ground - fucky wucky - causes Vendetta's gait to become unsteady. A portion of the ground has sunk while another has been jolted upward. Bones litter the ground. As Vendetta approaches, a larger stone appears, the massive claw marks that cleaved it in half still visible. Other stones contain the remnants of runes, now inert. Arkyn and Yenush both simultaneously go "OOOOOoooo" as they note the magic hold traces of binding power (Earthbind, Hold Monster). In the distance, the silhouette of something massive begins to form... and directly in front of Vendetta is a skeleton still holding a silver-strung crossbow.

Approaching the crossbow, the scene changes. There is carnage everywhere as leather-clad huntresses with silver weaponry clash with silver-crazed lycanthropes. A familiar huntress arrives, her crossbow loaded and prepared for battle.

Keeper, the Silver Path guides you still. We advance… and with haste. She cannot be allowed to free herself while madness still clouds her heart and mind.

In the distance, a massive wolf howls and strains at its binds. Arkyn's attention, however, is drawn behind him... to the faint image of a silverlit tower on a steep rise and the threads that emerge from it. He decides to charge forward with haste.

Moving through the carnage, Milo embraces Werebear mode, running on all fours. Teagan is coming to terms with being a frail old man. Aiaoue decides that the veiled hat is a necessary part of her new uniform and keeps the hat on when she goes bird. As the group advances - waylaid by wererat, werebear, and mad lycanthrope - Teagan and Aiaoue are able to savagely tear through most of them with ranged support from Sayah, Brito, and Yenush, and magical support from Arkyn, Cadence, and Milo.

Arriving at the base of the massive wolf, Brito moves to defend as she notes that the binds must be strengthened. Aiaoue imbues a chain with Shield of Faith. Teagan uses that old Firbolg strength with Yenush's understanding of physics to physically hold a chain. Cadence attempts to "spiritually guard" a chain, but it doesn't quite seem to stick. Arkyn Silvery Barbs some chains so that a creature trying to break them has disadvantage. With a growl far more bestial than human, the cracked wolf pulls and strains, the first wisps of miasma leaking from its massive maw. The chains snap, but the shield of faith, strength, and silvery barbs prevent the closest chains from breaking fully. The explosion of silver, light, and ice strikes the ground away from the group. Despite the chaos, Arkyn's attention is drawn to the silver path... coalescing in a single narrow trajectory forward.

Silver 4-pointed stars dart past, sinking through the remnants of chains and forcing the massive wolf down. And a voice echoes out.

"Huntress, fall back. Take your sisters and flee."

A broad-shouldred shifter man takes slow and steady steps along the Silver Path. Kesar'Arrat. Arkyn is hit by a sudden flash of images: The field around you, different… yet still stained red with blood. A smaller purple-hued wolf stands, snarling and snapping, flinging drops of blood from its maw. All around you lie body parts, viscera, and pools of blood.

You don't remember... but I do. Ota, I am so sorry.

The Silver Path beneath Kesar’Arrat breaks, silver threads pulled and reformed into a silver blade in his hand. The world slows as the blade sinks through the cracking wolf’s heart. There is no fight… merely an execution. The moon’s light above fades. The lands slowly wither before your eyes… as the wolf collapses, its final breath tears free with desperation and agony. There are screams all around you, but it is all muddled. Kesar’Arrat drops to his knees, hands vanishing into the purple fur. And then the miasma spills forth, prying apart the cracked body of the wolf until it ruptures and gives way. There is the sensation of being teleported, nausea swirling in your gut as the image of the fallen wolf and Kesar’Arrat fades.

Back in the miasma, the rib cage of a massive wolf skeleton forms a coffin for the humanoid body that rests within. The body of Otsana Daciana is scarred and broken, her insides almost made of pure silver. Arkyn attempts to Speak with Dead and - when able to entice one response - it is a cryptic spewing of words, half-sung, about the lullabies and whispers of the Moon.

Carefully, Otsana's body is brought aboard Vendetta.