Session 5 - Familiar Faces

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Town of Holbeck
* Slim Al says that he knows someone in Alvalan who can get them anywhere in the country they need to go > he gives a piece of paper with the address "3 Cobblestone Lane"
* Cart brings them through a really rocky, mountainous area with very few trees (the entirety of Corcoran is pretty much like that)
Town of Alvalan
* Massive stone walls surround the city, with open gateways every few hundred feet
* A pair of guards are at the gate, but they don't really move or say anything as you go through
* A majority of the world's goods are produced in Corcoran - specifically the city of Alvalan
* The entire city is essentially just one large industrial site (geothermally and steam powered)
* Very few people live in Corcoran who aren't actually from the place
* People cloaked in white/gold clothing from Asphodel, praising the “one true god Amsa”
* Two merchants from the desert walk past them > Myth of “Rip” on the rise
** "Have you heard about that blue-skinned giant from the West? They say he's over 10 feet tall and as strong as a mountain. And no one's ever seen anything like him before."
* Meet Ike and Chet together at a fortune telling booth, with Ike laughing about how he's "going to die"
** They met on Ike's way back to The Kanserine Empire, and he said he could join him until he got back
** Ike says: "My son wanted to come here one day... Although I’m called invincible, my son is my only weakness… He was."
*** 20 years ago, the son of Ike Sanakan - the current Sword Saint - was kidnapped by a man now known as the Commodore, mainly for reasons unknown. His safe return was promised in exchange for the life of Ike Sanakan in a window of two days. Ike gladly offered up his own life, and it took the entire might of the Kanserine Empire to prevent him from killing himself. And the Commodore held true to his word - killing his son publicly for all to see. It was at that point that the true might of the Sword Saint was put on display, before he was eventually subdued - the countries of the world then made deals with the Kanserine Empire to prevent Ike from leaving the country, as they feared what he could do.
** "I’m the strongest man in the world and I couldn’t even protect one boy.” > Then says he should be returning home, and that this isn't the first time he left - Chet is also coming with him. He offers to give you a tour of the Kanserine Empire if you were ever to visit
* Fortune teller
** "A necromancer's magic is hard to detect, but I suspect one if you is already under their thrall. One of you... is already dead."
**Tells Voladore to "ask the book about the dark star," before vanishing into the back of the booth
* Flipstone rings
** Call from Orhid checking up on Voladore from the King of Asphodel's flipstone
** Another phone call from a different number, but it's all static (GRG handle, number 6)
* Traveling through a market
* Run into Q who joins you
** Picks up a letter from the ground that says: “Last night was worse than usual, but I saw them today, in Alvalan. Shopping at a market. Picking up this letter. Standing next to a man I don’t recognize. There’s me, right next to them. But they don’t know… Are you watching me, dozen-eyed demon? Rejecting my existence, when you’ll soon witness a miracle."
* Go to 3 Cobblestone Lane > meet Laurent Ludas (a former smuggler) who says he can get them to the Valley of Black Sand