Session 29 (October 25, 2023)
Last session, our heroes took a breath after their fight with the carapskit, returning to Kolonie to collect their reward for opening travel back up within the Haden Desert. Rormir recognized the voice he had been hearing as coming from his fake sapphire sword. It identified itself as “Jarles” and seemed unhappy to be awake, frantically asking about its location and about someone named “Zilyana”. It also seemed particularly averse to our favorite gnome, confusingly saying “that isn’t Heph” upon first seeing him.
Heph cast Identify on the carapskit’s “staff”, its head, and on Jarles. He found the staff was an arcane focus without much power on its own, although it seemed to have been responsible for the transformation of the strange humanoid creature. The head seemed to have been affected by magic that was ancient and natural and raw, similar in some ways to the magic on the puzzle box but without any divine aspect. And Jarles seemed to be affected by a spell similar to Speak with Plants, although more powerful, and held a latent ability to store spells. He also seemed to be of elvish make.
While preparing to head out to Wildeport, Heph’s attention was caught by Farley, the proprietor of the alchemist shop in Kolonie. He asked if Heph was Spraus’ son from Potion Pitstop, and asked him to inform his father that the Amulet of Wind shipped as part of his “side business” hadn’t arrived yet. He also gifted Heph a copper bracer which shocked him initially after touching it.
The party departed aboard the Dune Skimmer “The Hog”, along with a hidden Ana Cardi and Isabella Isabelli who said she wanted to go to Bad Zamdorf to look for her family. They got a short rest, only to be jolted awake by a terrifying screech, a vibration in the ground, and a call from the helm of “Sand Kraken!”
- We head up to the deck of the ship
- 4 tentacles burst out of the ground, seeming to keep pace with the ship as we speed along
- Kara Reiner, the helmswoman, is steering the ship and is glad we are aboard to help out
- She says this isn’t an uncommon occurrence, but also not super regular
- Elias grabs the ballista, shoots at Tentacle #3 and hits
- It shrivels and dies, and disappears back into the sand
- Kara swerves the ship into Tentacle #2, ramming it
- Rormir shoots an arrow at #2, causing it to shrivel up and die
- We hear a screech from under the sand as it dies
- #1 tries to hit Heph, but isn’t able to get past the armor
- #4 comes after Elias, but flops onto the deck ineffectively
- Heph tries to punch #1, but misses critically
- He gets briefly stuck on a suction cup, which leaves a mark
- Karrl is just flying around, not doing much for the combat, scouting for more trouble, but isn’t able to make much more out
- Tentacle #5 shoots out of the sand
- Elias booming blades #4, but isn’t able to connect
- He disengages from the tentacle, and runs over near Heph and #1
- Kara straightens the ship again, and prepares to steer into another tentacle
- Rormir, with his infinite perception, is able to sense that the center of mass of the creature must be underneath the ship, a little towards the back
- Glancing over the side of the ship, he can see the hint of pink slimy flesh just beneath the surface of the sand behind the ship
- Rormir moves towards the flesh and casts Speak with Animals
- Rormir attempts to ask the kraken to leave us alone
- The rest of us hear Rormir screeching into the sand behind the ship, with a louder shrieking sound returned from under the ship
- The kraken responds “I must eat, and I like the hunt!”
- Rormir tries to convince it that we are going to hunt it back, and we must restore balance
- He tries to persuade it, but the kraken is not convinced and calls us small
- Rormir tells it to show itself, because he doesn’t think it’s that big
- A massive slimy pink head bursts from the sand, its beak snapping open and closed
- It bites at Rormir, scoring a critical hit, and 11 damage
- #1 misses Heph, and #4 misses Elias again
- #5 comes after Rormir, dealing 4 points of damage and grappling him
- Heph misses a punch on #4 again, and runs over towards the back of the ship to help out Rormir
- Karrl grabs a bolt from the ballista, and drops it on #4, dealing 13 damage, bringing it near the verge of death
- Elias plunges his rapier into #1, damaging it badly
- He runs back to the ballista, readying himself to shoot it again, yelling out for everyone to duck
- Kara is not happy that Rormir made it angry, and pulls a rope strand next to the wheel
- The glowing strands in the sails dim slightly and the ship slows down suddenly, the kraken ramming its head into the back of the ship
- It damages the ship and deals no damage to the kraken on a nat 1
- Rormir breaks out of the grapple, and bites it to show it who's boss
- #5 and the kraken both try to attack Rormir as he moves away, but both miss
- He tries to convince the kraken to disengage, and on a nat 20 the kraken decides there is easier food to be had
- The head starts to recede into the sand, and the tentacles begin retreating
- #1 takes booming blade damage, #5 is punched by Heph as it pulls away
- Heph shoots a fire bolt at the head
- Karrl makes his way back to Rormir
- Just before they fully retreat, Elias attempts to hide again, but is not super successful
- Isabella pops her head out and asks if that was a sand kraken
- The ship continues to sail westward, members of the crew pop up to repair the
ship
- Heph relaxes and asks Rormir if he can take another shot at repairing his ring of Find Familiar
- Rormir hands Heph the ring, he heats it up, and doesn’t make it worse, but doesn’t make it any better
- Heph convinces Rormir to give him one more shot in the morning
- Heph pulls out his beacon, and sends a message to his parents “Met Farley in Kolonie, he said hi. Heading to Wildeport, we’ll be there in a day and a half. Ask Morty to contact”
- Spraus replies “Your mother and I are so proud, you are well traveled. Bring back souvenirs. What…did Farley say?”
- A few minutes later, Morty asks Elias what’s
up
- Elias messages back that his brother started a cult, and he sent the cultists to Morty
- Morty sends back, ooh a cult, big man. Can’t wait to meet them. Zacharias sounds rhymey
- Morty immediately sends another message, “still looking in to the disruption of the ships. Seems like there’s some other fleet causing trouble in the sea, attacking coastal cities. Will get you more info when I have it.”
- Elias responds “Zacharias is a great guy, you’d like him”
- Morty says “Sounds good”, and distantly he says “ooh cultists sound fun”
- Rormir hears Morty in his head, asking about
the octopus and the ring
- Rormir tells him about the kraken, and asks how he is doing
- He’s been doing a lot of paperwork, accounting, and middle management
- Rormir tells him that sounds nice
- Morty says it’s not, but he blew up an ant hill with magic to make himself feel good
- Rormir asks him for advice about his sword that just started talking and won’t shut up, does he have any idea what could cause it
- There’s a long pause, then Morty says “you got a fucking talking sword? Tell me everything”
- Rormir explained that he got a sapphire sword that chipped then started talking
- Morty says he’ll look into it, there aren’t many talking swords, it’s frowned upon
- Rormir asks why, and Morty says it sucks for the sword, and it’s his last sending
- Heph gets a ring on his sending stone
- Bloody Mary asks if we’ve decided on a name
- Heph replies that yes, we are Anonymous, with a capital A
- We all notice a reflection of Bloody Mary in Rormir’s sword, she smiles, gives a thumbs up, and disappears
- Heph thinks back to the breakfast they had with Bloody Mary, where she did not have a reflection, and he knows that there are arcane theories/beliefs, unproven, of the other side of a mirror being some kind of other universe or reality
- It makes Heph wonder if the Heph in the reflection is really himself, and what happens if there is no reflection
- Elias is chilling at the front of the boat
- Heph heads to the berth, and checks to see no one is watching
- He inspects his reflection in the mirror, looking for any differences, no matter how subtle
- He sees nothing on this first inspection, then settles in for the night
- Back on the deck
- Rormir notices that it is a quiet peaceful starry night
- In the morning
- Heph tracks down Rormir and takes another crack at the ring
- Heph spends another few hours on the ring, and the surface is now tarnished, the surface is cracked, it’s significantly worse than it was before
- Rormir tells Heph he trusts Elias to fix it more than Heph, which Heph finds truly offensive
- Heph sets up the beacon and sends another message: “Farley asked which direction the wind was blowing.”
- Heph gets a message back from Spraus: “Heph, we need to talk about this. Don’t mention it again on here where your mother can hear. I’ll get another message to you and we can talk about Farley and this.”
- Heph spends the rest of the day making some progress on his gun
- Elias spends most of the day at the font of the boat, agitated,
scanning the horizon, fingering his brass cylinder
- Rormir works with Karrl to scout for treasure in the sand
- He sees the walls of Wildeport, but doesn’t see anything especially interesting
- Rormir sends Karrl ahead to the city to report on what he sees
- When Karrl gets far enough away, Rormir feels the connection between them break
- While Karrl is out, Rormir will meditate on the sword
- As he sits down, he hears a voice timidly say “so your name is Rormir?”
- Jarles realizes he’s stuck with Rormir and might as well get to know him a bit
- Jarles explains he was made this way, and that he had a friend who made him, but he doesn’t know where she is
- He asks for Rormir to help bring him to his friend
- Rormir asks where Jarles was made and what her name is
- Her name is Zilyana Valric, and they lived in Duin, he last saw her in Del Falor
- She left him behind and he was picked up by someone else
- Jarles was asleep for a long time and doesn’t really know how much time passed, feels like a couple of years, it was around 5600 or so, maybe 5610
- (Note: it is currently 6529, almost 1000 years later)
- Rormir says we will try to help after we’re done the mission we’re on
- Rormir says we might be able to change him to a person, and the sword seems confused and maybe a bit revolted by the idea
- Jarles reiterates that he should be kept away from the gnome, because he doesn’t trust him
- Rormir asks why Jarles doesn’t trust Heph, and Jarles just says something about him seems suspicious
- Jarles says the name Heph doesn’t seem right, he thinks he’s seen Heph somewhere before
- Rormir asks about Elias, Jarles says he didn’t like that Elias gave him back to the gnome, and he lied about stuff, Jarles thinks he might be a bit dishonest
- This gives Rormir an idea in the back of his mind that he should be careful around Heph
- After that conversation, Rormir relays some information to the
party
- The sword was asleep, and we want to find Zilyana from Duin
- Apparently the last time the sword remembered seeing Zilyana was a few years ago
- Heph asks when, Rormir says 56 something
- Heph tries really hard to get Rormir to understand exactly how long ago 1000 years is
- Heph suggests that we might need to visit The Morenwald and Duin to try to figure more out about Jarles
- Heph tries to get some time alone in front of a mirror
- He notices Isabella watching, but not Rormir who has been keeping an eye on him
- She says she is curious why Heph is spending so much time in front of the mirror, Heph explains that mirrors are fascinating, and she seems really weirded out and runs away
- Heph spends some time looking into the mirror, and on a critical failure to investigate notices absolutely nothing, the image looks completely identical to the image outside
- Eventually he gives up and goes to sleep
- Rormir inspects the mirror a bit
- As the sun begins to set, Elias is still chilling at the front of
the boat
- Once it is set, Elias feels the weight of the cylinder in his pocket, and he pulls it out
- Before opening it up, he looks around to see if anyone is watching
- Seated on a spar of wood about 30 feet up, watching him, is Ana, not making much of an attempt to hide herself
- Elias walks over to the mast and misty steps up to her, she says “neat trick”
- Elias says she should know something about that
- She flicks her ring and misty steps to sitting on the other side of Elias
- Elias opens the cylinder, and looks into it, touching his finger to the scratches on the inside of the cylinder, on the mirror
- Ana asks “what is it?”
- Elias says it’s the only thing he has left from his home
- Ana asks where is that, and he replies it’s complicated
- She replies Elias is a complicated person
- Ana glances at the cylinder, and asks who Ash is
- Elias says she is about as real as Tobias, Zacharias, or Jeremias
- Ana interprets that as she is very real and related to Elias, and Elias says sure
- He’s been hiding it because he was trying to get away and start over, be someone else
- Ana describes Rormir and Heph as “disconcertingly effective” and good at what they do
- She thinks sharing with them might allow them to help Elias find closure
- Elias claims he wants to get away from it, and Ana says he isn’t trying very hard
- Elias says he saw Ash out in the desert
- Elias says Ash is elsewhere and not of concern, but somehow he can’t escape her
- Ana warns Elias that our group finds ourselves in a dangerous circumstance, and none of us are equipped to deal with additional surprises
- She explains she previously was in a group where trust was an issue, and it didn’t end well
- She encourages Elias to be a bit more open with his traveling companions, Harold and Rudolph
- Elias asks what makes Ana think he intends to stay, he feels things aren’t great and what’s the point of trying to salvage it
- Ana explains being with a group is nice, and he probably likes it more than he wants to admit
- She suspects Elias cares more than he wants to admit, and she stands up, preparing to step away
- Elias tells her that’s where she’s wrong, he stands up, and tosses the cylinder off the side of the boat
- Ana looks surprised at this, and says “maybe I was wrong about you then”
- Elias says you definitely were, and it’s easier if she doesn’t ask questions, like his other friends
- As he says that, the wind slacks and the sail moves between them, in this time Ana disappears and Elias finds himself standing alone in the quiet of the night
- Elias sits down and watches the horizon again