Session 71: Departure from Dalin with Darryl (December 19, 2024)
Last session, our heroes began their escape from the Old Dalin Palace. Delilas, distraught, carried an unconscious Elias on her back as Maho, unable to stabilize him, urged the group further to meet up with Heph, who was some distance ahead in the ball room. After Delilas crashed down through the ceiling with her brother, Heph used his Pearl of Power to regain a spell slot and pump a near perfect healing into Elias. Delilas, relieved, embraced him.
With the authority of the Vassal King Aeveron behind them, the party called Gerald, who led them back to his garden and to safety. They decided to disguise Aeveron, putting him in inside-out clothes, placing Maho’s bucket with a carved face on his head, and calling him Jorf the Bucket Man™. They exited through the basement of the Indecent Prince with John, leaving behind a very confused bartender, and headed to where Elias’s parents were hiding.
There, the party found four Order of Steel soldiers inspecting the cliff. Re-summoning the Frost Giant and charging in, they sent the soldiers over the cliff to their sexy, sexy, deaths. They retrieved Mathias and Victoriias and Heph burned anything that remained in their hideaway. Elias tried to send them back to their home with Ana and Delilas, but Delilas was reluctant to leave Elias’s side after such a close call, saying protecting him is what a big sister should do. Elias attempted to run off, only for Maho to grab him and say she’s sick of him always going off on his own. Elias relented, and hugged his sister, who said that since he ran into her again he’s had many opportunities to run but hasn’t, and that counts for something.
On the way to Circle Grove, the party discussed the Root Stone. Aeveron wasn’t sure what it was, just that it was placed in his family chest and it gave him horrible nightmares of roiling oceans of magma and a vast, cold shadow that fell upon them. Heph himself felt a deep, heavy cold from the Stone, and recognized it as possessing an ancient, detached, deific power. They returned to Circle Grove, where upon seeing the stone the entranced dancers were released. They then met up with members of the resistance in the edges of the Northrun, being led deeper by spirits eager to regain what they had lost. They eventually arrived at a clearing, where there was space beneath the roots of a massive tree for the Stone. Upon placing it there, the trees all extinguished themselves, standing up straighter and pulling their roots from the ground, beginning their march towards the Old Palace.
- Heph returns to the group and says he didn’t expect that, and asks
Elias if it is normal that the trees just got up and marched away
- Elias explains that it is normal for the trees to walk when they are first born, but not normally older trees and not normally this many at once
- Elias asks the resistance to send some runners ahead of the trees to evacuate people from their path, Gelian offers to go and Elias tries to order them, but they won’t listen
- Elias turns to Saraen and she smiles and nods at Gelian, who before leaving tells the group we did a good job today
- Ser starts to head off with Gelian, but stops to tell Elias that this alone won’t make up for the harm he caused, but he expresses faith that Elias may pull it off
- Elias is rendered speechless by this expression of confidence, and Ser gives Elias a playful punch on the shoulder and runs off, Elias saying “thank you” a bit delayed after he runs off
- Saraen turns to the group and asks what the plan is, Elias and Heph say we should make our way back to the material plane and continue with the plan
- Heph thinks about how time is passing and discusses it a bit with Elias, and they decide the best course of action is to rest, but first to get out of Dalin and to the windmill
- Heph offers to send Karrl with a message to Elias’ parents house, to tell Delilas we are leaving and if she is coming to meet up with us and bring his parents
- Elias writes a message in Thieves’ Cant, explaining the trees are attacking the palace and it’s a good time to get away and take out Kogar, and he knows he can’t stop Delilas from joining, and asking her to bring their parents too because they will likely be safer in the material plane for now
- Heph suggests we head to the boat, and Elias realizes he didn’t include that in the note, so Heph calls back Karrl and Elias adds a PS to the note with the info to meet us on “Penisinsula”
- We start to head to the peninsula with the crew of resistance members, and
they seem rather nervous because they are heading very much into the unknown
- On the way, Heph suggests to Elias that he should probably brief the people on the transition to the material plane, and he hesitantly agrees, Maho calling him “Planewalker Elias”
- Arriving at Penisinsula, we see two imperial ships heading towards Dalin, but it is unclear what they are carrying
- We debate some plans to interfere with the boats, and eventually find out Thad has a bunch of fireworks just in his pants
- Karrl gets back, and Heph gives the returned parchment to Elias, which is a note from Ana saying they got there safely but Delilas dipped almost immediately, but she will bring his parents to the peninsula
- Heph starts working to repair Thad’s fireworks and fashion them into some missiles
- While he is working, Delilas shows up, and Elias rushes to her and hugs her, saying he was really worried
- She asks what happened to the forest, and Elias replies simply
with “they moved”
- She affirms it’s odd, since trees usually only move when they’re first born
- She also asks what Heph is doing, and Elias says he doesn’t know, but he asked Heph to make aquatic mines, although Heph is actually just making missiles
- Delilas seems willing to back whatever Elias has planned, although she’s a little reluctant, and she asks where Darryl is, and Elias says he doesn’t know
- Maho sits on the ground and starts rowing, but it doesn’t seem to cause Darryl to show up
- Ana and Elias’ parents show up, and his parents
ask if they are going with us, and Elias explains we are trying to
hail a cab
- When they arrive, looking over at the water, there is a sizeable watercraft, galleon shaped with long oars, parked on the shore as if its always been there
- Darryl is sitting there, Heph says he seems to only show up when the whole group is there, and Elias asks him this, and he says there is no point in wayfaring if the whole group isn’t there
- Darryl thinks we can get around the ships, but Heph really wants to shoot the missiles
- Heph heads out to the next peninsula and starts firing off missiles, but the first two he fires miss wildly, and Elias offers to step in and help out
- Elias fires one off and manages to pretty much perfectly calculate the trajectory, hitting one of the ships with barrels full of oil, spreading burning oil around the deck and lighting some of the crew on fire
- Elias shoots the remaining missile at the other ship, managing to ignite some barrels of gunpowder, causing a massive burst of force and flame, damaging the sails and knocking a cannon off, and a couple of sailors seem to have died and several more are injured
- Sailors on both ships point towards the shore, and Heph and Elias head back to the other peninsula and tells everyone it’s time to load up and go
- Darryl is letting everyone on the boat, but as Delilas
approaches Darryl puts up his hand, says she didn’t follow his rule and cannot
pass, and a symbol lights up on her forehead and then disappears
- Darryl explains she stopped rowing to try to save her brother, Elias says can you blame her, and Darryl says it’s not about blame, it’s the rules
- Elias jumps back off the boat, runs over to Delilas, grabs her shoulders, and says he can’t leave her behind
- She tells Elias he needs to go and she can’t go this way, and Elias says she’ll have to go the long way
- Delilas tells Elias it was her mission originally to hunt down Kogar and take him out if possible, but through the actions Elias and the rest of the group have taken we have significantly increased the chance of success, and Delilas says she thinks it is Elias’ mission now
- He stands up straighter, looks to his parents, and looking back at Delilas says that he thinks they should stay with Delilas
- They agree to stay with Delilas, but his mom explains supplying Kogar’s military is a big job, and any disruption to his supply chain would significantly weaken his power
- They dislike the idea of Elias doing it alone, and Maho jumps in to say he isn’t alone
- The council and the king are not getting on the boat, and say that Delilas can work with them here, they may be able to return Dalin to a free kingdom for the first time in years, the King chiming in that the day has been a shitshow but something good may come from it
- Delilas says that she thinks we have this, and Elias starts to say if this is the last time he will see her, thank you, but she cuts him off and says it won’t be the last time
- Delilas also encourages Elias to find Ash and figure out what is going on there, and give Ash a piece of her mind
- Elias lowers his hood, says no more hiding, no more running, and they embrace, Elias pulling his parents into it too
- Elias slowly and reluctantly pulls away from his family and climbs onto the boat, and as the boat begins to pull away, Delilas hands Elias a jangly leather sack, and says “I’ve found these have come in handy on missions I’ve been on before”
- Elias opens the bag and finds it is a bag of ball bearings, and Delilas says “if you can, let’s figure out a way to communicate”
- Elias says he’ll get Mort on it, Delilas doesn’t really believe Elias has a wizard friend, and Delilas sets a backup plan to meet in the bar on the material plane where they first met up (Sal’s Castle)
- Delilas gives Elias one last hug, then pats their parents on the back and says she’ll make sure nothing happens to them, and he begs her to actually stay with them this time
- Elias gives his mom his Morphemoles book, and when she expresses she will probably want the rest, Elias says she’ll have to come visit
- Elias’ dad just tells Elias he loves him and not to die, and seems to be a bit at a loss for words beyond that
- The gangplank lowers down, and Elias gets on the boat
- We have about 40 or so members of the resistance on board, some of whom have seen some combat previously, but all of whom seem ready to take the fight to Kogar
- Elias introduces everyone to Darryl, and explains he is some sort of fey bullshit, and they should listen to whatever he says
- Darryl explains the rules: keep looking backward and don’t stop rowing, and asks everyone to repeat after him, and Heph yells out one half and Elias yells out the other half
- He pulls in the gangplank and looks expectantly, Heph and Elias start rowing, and yell at everyone else to do the same, and everyone starts rowing
- The boat starts to move out, and looking backward we see the council, king, Delilas and Elias’ parents waving
- Heph can see that the ships that were previously heading towards where the ships were converging are changing course to chase us, and Elias starts singing “just keep rowing, just keep rowing, just keep rowing rowing rowing rowing”
- The ships are slowly gaining on us, and Heph encourages everyone to keep rowing
- Darryl is looking back, and says “I haven’t spent a lot of time near land recently, what is going on there?”
- Heph gives him the short version of what is happening, and he notes he doesn’t like that Kogar is launching warships
- Looking off the back of the boat, Darryl notes the seas were once clean, and the warships have dirtied the seas with gunpowder and flotsam
- Darryl confirms the trees are against Kogar, and says “there is no room in between for those that defile the old ones”
- The sea starts to get crazy, and Darryl looks to us and says “no matter what happens…” and Heph and Elias yell out “just keep rowing!”, and as we do the kraken reaches out and cracks the first ship in half, dragging it down to the depths of the ocean
- Commotion breaks out on the ship behind, the crew rapidly trying to turn the ship around and get back to the island, but before they can 4 more tentacles reach up and tip the ship over, causing it to take on water and pulls it down into the ocean
- Heph tells Darryl “nice one, that kraken is a good pet”, Darryl replies “yes he is”, and as quick as the storm came it leaves, leaving the sea calm
- After some time, we start to feel a bit strange, and realize time and space
are beginning to expand and contract to a much more extreme degree, and we
begin to approach the shore
- Darryl says we are here and the ship hits up against some sand, Darryl saying we can stop rowing, and Elias jumps off the boat quickly
- Heph takes his time, thanking Darryl on the way, Darryl saying we are welcome any time
- Elias says we will bring a present next time, and Darryl says he will expect it
- The shell Maho took appears back in her pocket, which she returns, thanking it for accompanying her
- The troll Elias left behind has been jumping and waving the whole time, and Elias tells it to sleep, and it does a handstand on one pinky finger and sleeps
- Elias puts his Mandalorian helmet on backwards to block out the sun, steps towards the windmill, gets there and collapses into the grain
- Heph tells the group to get to the windmill and then steps there
- One of the members of the group realizes it might be hard to sleep in the day, and as they all start to figure out how to traverse the land, makes it night
- The sand around the seashell Maho returned starts to glow, and Maho asks it if it wants to keep going with her, and the sand pulses a bit
- Maho picks up the shell again, and hears Darryl’s voice in her head, saying “to travel is a prayer, to return is sacred”, the boat and Darryl are gone, and looking at the shell, which is the top half of a clamshell, and there is now a little glowing mussel in the bowl of the shell
- She says we have a long way to go, and starts her two month journey hiking back to the windmill
- She arrives a few moments later, seeming to have been on a long journey, her hair grown out, and noting it’s nighttime now she lays down to sleep
- Heph also rests in the flowing grains by the lazily turning windmill
- The group wakes up feeling refreshed, unclear how much time has passed
- In the windmill the rope is still there, and Heph sends Maho first, then follows, leaving Elias behind to make sure everyone gets through
- The others start to follow “up” the rope, but one of them stops and asks if we’re all going inside the windmill, and Elias responds “it’s bigger on the inside, a lot bigger”
- They have just been going along with Elias for now, but one of them approaches him and says “you’re the napkin thief, i saw you climb the ministry of unity”, and Elias says yes, that was him
- Heph overhears this, but doesn’t react immediately
- Elias says yes he is the napkin thief but he doesn’t have it anymore, and they put two and two together and realize he is also the one that leaked information
- They ask how they can trust Elias, and he says he convinced the trees to help, that might help
- Another one chimes in that the council seems to trust him, and whatever we have been doing is helping, and they have their orders and they should just trust Elias, and the original protestor reluctantly goes along with it
- Elias asks the guy who has advocating for him what his name is, and he says his name is Yil, and Elias thanks him, and Yil asks him not to make him regret it
- Maho climbs back down the rope, telling Elias he’s taking too long, and Elias finally climbs up and Maho lets go of the rope, falling upwards, then tries to grab the rope when she gets past
- Back on the roof of Tertel’s Little Heavy, all is quiet, and it seems to be
early morning, birds are just beginning to wake and crickets are going to
sleep
- Maho comes blasting out of the chimney feet first, arcing through the air and seeming to remember how things work in the material plane ends up landing flat on her back, cracking the roof a little
- Everyone else gets on the roof, and wondering what day it is, Elias checks his pocket watch, but that doesn’t help
- Heph leads everyone to the window, Elias swinging in first to ask Tertel if he has any more lodging
- As we get back into the room, Thom wakes up, and according to him it’s only been one night, and it seems like we’ve come back a bit earlier than when we left
- Maho looks up at the sky, and can swear she can see more stars than there were before we left
- Heph’s arcane lock is still in place, so it seems it’s the same plane
- Heph remembers looking at the sky when crossing the desert, and noticing it felt like there were more stars than there used to be, and he recalls recalling myths about the sky consisting of a shroud that serves as a barrier between this and other worlds, and the stars are rips and tears in the shroud, and the light is the lantern of Vaitera shining through the holes from the other side
- According to myths and legends the stars are formed from beings passing through the shroud
- Heph asks one of dolls if he can see its pocket watch, and after turning away and looking back, the doll is holding out the watch, and Heph can see it’s 6am
- After briefly discussing options, Heph and Elias conclude we need to get Delilas’ people to them, and Elias drafts a letter, and Heph sends Karrl off to deliver it
- Elias sends 3 of the Eladrin off to get breakfast after giving them an incredibly short crash course on the material plane, and Heph decides to send Thom along with them so they aren’t unsupervised
- Harris Kelner begins to wake up, and Elias Minor Illusions some pixelation over his genitals