Session 64: Convincing the Council (October 17, 2024)
Last session, our heroes emerged from the spiritually-inhabited Northrun and stepped out into Circle Grove, currently the site of the Festival of Blossoms. A large number of people were dancing and singing in a courtyard surrounded by, dark, ancient-looking standing stones with a single jacaranda tree in the center. Rormir noticed that although the body language of the celebrants indicated frivolity, their eyes betrayed a fear and lack of control. The party decided that they seemed to be puppeted by something. With the help of Elias’s Thieves’ Cant, Heph Messaged one of two resistance members in the crowd, Hilariel. He also reached out to the tree itself, after a conversation with his mirror half. The tree replied that Kogar’s forces had taken something called the Root Stone from the forest, which Delilas wondered came from a time when the Nor’Southern Isles were independent of its adjoining planes and was an ocean-less expanse of forest and mountain.
Heph convinced the spirits to release Hilariel and her resistance compatriot Ser, and they stepped away from Circle Grove to talk. Hilariel and especially Ser seemed somewhat suspicious of Elias, but with the help of some of Maho’s wine they managed to convince them to blindfold the party and take them to the current base location. All of them but Heph (who’s legally a child) were given hallucinogens. Elias had a vision of flying high above Dalin, feeling a sense of emptiness by his old home, but then looking up and seeing a massive snake coiling through the sky. The snake explained that just like the tides, “he” goes out and then returns to the depths, carrying things back with him. He asked what of themselves the party would have carried along.
Eventually the party arrived at their destination. Their blindfolds were removed, and they found themselves in an ancient series of tunnels. They traveled some time, passing faded murals or ruined statues. Ser, in talking with Rormir, said that after having spirits in his head, Rormir seemed oddly familiar. He led the party to his apartment, carved into the stone of the tunnels. Maho offered him wine, and he said perhaps it would be better given as an offering to the Spirit of the Deep. He gestured towards a bowl placed in front of a carving depicting a man, scales balanced across his shoulders, octopus tentacles emerging from his back, and a giant snake coiling in the sky above him.
Heph’s Disguise Self wore off and Hilariel took a swing at him.
- Convincing the Council
- Hilariel smacks Heph, and the group has to explain to Hilariel that Heph was in disguise
- Ser looks at Rormir and tells him he heard he was into snakes, and Rormir says they’re cool although he’s not “into” them, he’s not in a snake
- Ser sees a resemblance between Rormir and the carving in the alcove, Elias and Heph don’t see it
- Rormir looks at it and sees what can only be explained as his truest reflection
- Maho looks at it and to her the depiction on the ancient stone tablet seems to be depicting him as the Spirit of the Deep
- Maho asks how they don’t see the resemblance, Heph mentions that Rormir actually has a face, and Elias says he recognizes the snake
- Rormir explains that although it’s not an exact reflection, it feels like a reflection
- Elias asks how long the statue has been there, and Ser says it’s his household spirit and it’s older than he knows
- Nobody knows who built the tunnels, but the idol is probably as old as the tunnels themselves
- Ser says that the offerings he leaves he usually has to clean up, but recently the offerings have occasionally gone missing on their own
- Heph perks up at this, and investigates it more closely, noticing a tether of sorts between Rormir, the carving and the bowl
- Rormir thinks the bowl might be a portal, and Heph tells him it is linked
- Rormir decides to ritual cast Speak with Animals, and Heph ritual casts Identify
- Ser goes on to explain that the idol is The Spirit of the Deep, a counterpart
to Urobor
- The Spirit created elves, which passed from the depths, eventually breaking through the Shroud and forming what we see on the Nor’Southern Isles
- Elias points out one could say that The Spirit’s goal is to bring balance
- Heph finishes casting Identify, and learns that the bowl is just a plain stone bowl, idols themselves are not necessarily inherently magical, but what they represent brings a power
- Rormir finishes casting Speak with Animals, and then asks Karrl if he recognizes himself in the idol
- Karrl responds, “it’s about time”, seeming maybe a little upset Rormir hasn’t talked to him yet, and Rormir points out it’s only been a week
- Before Karrl responds, he decides to list off the animals he doesn’t think we should eat, concluding we should only eat armadillos and horses
- Bringing his focus back, he explains that octopi are fairly smart, but when he met Rormir he changed in a significant way; he thinks Rormir left a little of himself in him, in a way that made him a person
- He thinks he got his ability to shape change from whatever Rormir left in him
- Rormir asks him again to look at the tablet, and Karrl thinks that maybe there is a reason Rormir was drawn to him in the first place
- Karrl has seen other animals change when Rormir interacts with them, but somehow Karrl has been the most changed
- Karrl thinks Rormir isn’t just a regular guy, and he thinks that carving is of Rormir, not a previous iteration or incarnation of him
- Rormir touches the tablet, and feels a sudden jolt, as if he
licked a battery, and he asks if anyone is there, but there is no entity in
the tablet, there’s just Rormir
- Rormir examines himself and the tablet in the mirror, and notices that Pheh winks at him, although Heph does not
- Looking at his own reflection, he recognizes that the other side of the mirror is another plane, even though he can’t observe a difference in his reflection, and he thinks he could leverage the power connecting the planes when the time is right
- Hilariel, looking at her sundial, notes we should probably move on
- Elias is confused how the sundial works inside, Heph figures it’s fey bullshit and isn’t too concerned with it and starts heading out
- Hilariel leads the way to the temple chambers to get an audience and get reinforcements
- On the way, Hilariel looks at Elias and says he will have some convincing to do, and after some discussion Elias decides it may be better to just rip the band-aid off
- Ser, hanging out at the back, says to Maho he thinks she seems to be the most mature one here, Maho just sort of shrugs it off and says she’s a bit of a mess
- He asks Maho if she trusts Elias, and Maho says that she thinks so, Maho put the group through some trouble and Elias stuck it out
- Heph Messages Elias, asking if he’s tried to explain that he was tricked, and Elias responds out loud, posing a scenario where he causes an accident that got one of Heph’s parents killed, and Heph thinks it would still be possible to forgive Elias, and Elias tells Heph maybe he can explain it to the elves
- Rormir, overhearing the conversation, chimes in and agrees that holding on to anger will keep things unbalanced
- Elias explains it’s not so much anger as distrust, and Rormir says he needs to make amends, and how better to do that than surrounded by friends
- This clearly moves Elias and a tear forms in his eye, which he quickly sucks back in
- Rormir tells Karrl to go keep Elias company, which he somewhat reluctantly does, since Elias has good crackers
- Maho chimes in that making amends isn’t simple, but she has Elias’ back and will fight alongside him
- The tunnel narrows down into the form of an archway, make of the same stone as
the tunnel, but more worked, with bricks carved from the walls of the tunnel
itself
- Hilariel stops at the entrance and welcomes us to the Sanctuary, explaining she will go inside, get us an audience, and then be back out momentarily
- Elias asks why she didn’t use a password, only to find out Delilas’ friends had been pranking him thinking he needed passwords to get into rooms, and Heph points out he’s a bit too trusting
- Hilariel comes out and says an audience has gathered, and leads us in
- As Elias tries to pass, she stops him and asks for the password, and hearing Delilas chuckling ahead Elias knows he’s being messed with and pushes past with a “fuck you”
- We head into a larger chamber that seems to be the sanctuary of an ancient
temple, the remains of a humanoid statue in an alcove in the back
- There are vents at various positions on the walls, and tapestries, some that have been repaired and some new, dampening the echoes in the room
- There is a wooden stage in front of the alcove, clearly not original, with 4 tall seats on it, with 4 people standing in front of the chairs
- The 4 people are Teleor, Saraen, Gelian, Thad
- Gelian nods at Hilariel as we enter
- Saraen notices Delilas and notes she is back earlier than expected, and asks if she has completed her mission
- Delilas explains she has returned to ask for additional resources to complete the mission
- Thad a bit weirdly seems excited to see Elias, Saraen notes this, then turns to Delilas and tells her that resources are needed here, and we should make our case for why additional manpower is needed
- Rormir tells her we are facing a powerful enemy, and he goes on to explain what we have faced, and that we are desperate for help to succeed in our mission because defeating them alone is not possible
- Gelian is confused how that relates to Delilas’ mission, and Heph connects the dots between chasing Sentin and Kogar’s plan, and the Lucien Dynastic papers are produced to show the connection between them
- Seeing Elias, they are worried it’s a trick
- Elias pulls out an arrow, explaining that it’s magic and that if shot with it the person shot can’t lie, and then asks who wants to shoot him
- Gelian volunteers, Elias asks for anyone else, and nobody else volunteers, letting Gelian do the honors
- Elias Mage Hands the arrow to Gelian, who hands it to Saraen, who inspects it and notes it is different from anything she is familiar with, and she pricks herself with it, and then she blurts out that she thinks Thad is a completely incompetent nincompoop and his position should be eliminated, and then notes that it does seem to work
- Gelian shoots Elias, almost missing, but Maho grabs Elias and moves him in front of the shot, causing it to hit, although it hurts less than he expected
- Under the influence of Zone of Truth, with a bit of encouragement from
Heph, Elias starts to talk
- He repeats that Kogar is in the material plane, we have a shortcut, and Kogar doesn’t know we have access to him, and now is the best time possible to strike
- Gelian asks how they know the mission won’t go sideways due to Elias’ involvement, and Elias says they don’t know for sure, Maho chiming in that such is the nature of battle
- Elias repeats that it is a short window of opportunity and it is their choice to take it, but they really should take it, Elias is trying to repair the previous mistake he made
- Teleor speaks up, and notes that Elias has a lot to atone for, and that public opinion is not in Elias’ favor as his actions ushered in the greatest defeat the resistance ever faced
- Teleor is worried about public backlash if Elias is involved in another failed plan, and Elias says you don’t need to tell the public
- Heph explains the plan isn’t really Elias’ entirely, and Rormir jumps in to add that the people aren’t really in a state to care due to the actions of the spirits
- They say they know about the Festival, but don’t know how to solve it, Heph chimes in that actually the tree told us it needs the Root Stone back to solve that problem
- Teleor turns back to Elias, and asks him if he can promise to keep it a secret and not seek glory, while under the effects of the Zone, and Elias promises that he is not in it for any kind of glory and he promises to keep the matter a secret for all time
- Thad pipes up and says he’s a big fan of Elias, and Elias responds “it is… to see you” to avoid lying, and Thad talks a bit about what he’s up to, and doesn’t really contribute much to the discussion, although Elias gets the sense that he doesn’t want Thad on his side for everyone else to agree
- Saraen thinks not informing people of Elias’ involvement is a good move politically, and Heph and Rormir chime in to list out some of the resources we have at our disposal to keep Elias hidden
- Elias starts to explain how we get back to the material plane,
pauses and says “mind you, I’m compelled to tell the truth”, and then explains
the craziness about the portal in the windmill
- The group continues to make their arguments for taking the mission on, it is a unique opportunity to not only strike at Kogar but to prevent him from getting stronger, which is imminent otherwise
- Maho also mentions she has a magic sword that allows her to extract information from the dead, and if we kill Kogar it might be a unique opportunity to extract information from him
- After all the arguments, Saraen says the group needs to huddle, and they begin discussing
- Thad seems extremely on board, and won’t stop talking
- Teleor seems on board, but is having trouble arguing for the plan because Thad won’t shut up
- Rormir pulls a couple of bats out of his hat of vermin, attempting to use the bat to distract Thad so the group can discuss more freely, the two bats latch onto Thad and he starts running around trying to remove the bats, leaving the group to discuss
- Gelian seems to be pretty convinced as well, seemingly a bit reassured after having shot Elias
- Saraen also seems pretty convinced; she was mostly concerned about the political aspects but is pretty okay with things if Elias really stays publicly not involved
- They sit down and do a roll call vote for supporting Delilas’ mission, Teleor votes yes, Thad sticks a thumbs up while nearly unconscious, Gelian gives a curt nod and agrees, Saraen votes yes as well, giving unanimous support for reinforcements
- Ser seems a bit surprised that Gelian is on board, and Elias catches his eye and winks
- Gelian requests a few hours to gather some troops
- We hear rapidly approaching footsteps echoing from down the hall, and a teenage boy in ratty clothes dashes into the room (Elias throws his hood up to hide) and breathing hard, says the Order of Steel found this place and is only a couple of minutes away