Session 85

Synopsis
== Summary ==
Julia gives some theories about why she was kidnapped in particular. The stars are part of the astral plain. The astral sea connects everywhere and is the place that is traversed when you teleport. You would invoke the stars, the constellations when you wish to permanently affect the astral sea. The stars disappearing means that difficult calculations have to be done to adjust for them. The obelisks are probably some sort of closed door. Vecna is one of the three archliches, the students of Agantha: Vecna, Acererak, and Votuum. They each pursused different avenues of arcana knowledge. Acererak pushed the boundaries of known magic, Vecna pursued the forbidden spaces like the divine and godhood, and Votuum focused on the combination of magics. Rumor is that Vecna made a deal with Asmodeus and was likely betrayed by him. 
The stars have been going out for "a while," infrequently, though with more frequent in the last six months. Degorah, a deity from Meyrin's realm, presumably pursued her here when she fled that realm. The stars started disappearing about six months ago, around the time the party began putting the halberd together. Julia explains that there is probably at least one more door out there, and that only one needs to open for Vecna's entrance. The party gives Julia a Band of Kept Secrets. 
They leave the next morning for Oceanside and then head for Life is Pain. Alan has seven copies of him so everyone can take breaks and stuff. He's being paid well; but he begs the party to give Xelbari to do so he stops annoying him. They enter the office, and find him building a very complex dominoes nonsense. When it falls, it looks exactly like Xelbari making a winky face and thumbs up. He knows nothing about Vecna, as he does not have Asmodeus' memories. Asmodeus' memories however might have piggybacked onto Caius' soul, of whom a fragment lives in Xelbari. Xelbari also explains that Belxari, for whom Caius is a source of fear and trauma, accidentally created a version of him that she doesn't know about. After some discussion, the party agrees to enter Xelbari's mindscape for the information they need, but only after they have taken a crack at talking Oceanside out of attacking Auguste. 
As the party leaves Life is Pain, there is an explosion. By the time they arrive, the combat has ended. The party is approached by a guard, and after explaining who they are, he states that there are standing orders for them, and leads them to an antechamber. They are asked to look at the bodies. They are wearing Augustian uniforms, though they seem off, and one of the men Kiono recognizes as one of Anguish's men. She informs the guard that the attackers are decidedly not from Auguste. The guard accepts the information, then takes the party to Haziz's safe room. The party explains to Haziz the people were Anguish's men, and that both Oceanside and Auguste are being goaded into attacking each other by a third party. 
The party decides to go to the beach to relax before restocking on supplies. While there, they question Kiono about Elizrae's present comment. Eventually Kiono admits that she had gone to Elizrae's cave the night before the party had found that she had left, obtaining the book at that time. She also explains that Elizrae had trusted Kiono to do something that would power the obelisk, but she ended up not doing that. Teer laments that Kiono didn't trust the party enough to share any of that information. He requests that she try to tell them things like that, even if she thinks she can handle the situation. He and Belle then leave to collect sea glass, leaving Kiono to Think. He explains that Kiono was raised in a death cult and has been dealing with A Lot; they're trying to get her to trust them, but it's rough. They return to Kiono's house and sleep. 
The next morning, as they head for Xelbari's, they find a letter on the door addressed to Kiono. It's from Cecily, saying that she saw Kiono in town, and offered to have lunch sometimes in the next couple of days. After some discussion of the potential of a trap, Kiono decides to go. The party travels with her in case it is a trap. They do find the cafe and Cecily, who is sitting at a table pulled slightly away from the others. Belle, Teer, and Ephemera sit at a nearby table, testing various teas on the warforgeds' root systems. Kiono approaches cautiously. Cecily asks how she is doing and whether the people from the secret village had come for her. She is acting suspiciously and unnerves Kiono. Seeing her concern, Teer steps in and apologizes again for having broken her plant several months earlier. Cecily again asks Kiono whether she is still the Chosen One or not. Kiono asks her to confirm that she is in fact Cecily, and Cecily says that is enough for her. Kiono is then shot by someone else, which KOs her almost instantly gosh. Cecily hides in the crowd. Teer and Belle get Kiono back up, who then makes the three of them invisible, and they flee the scene. They retreat to the old woman's house. They enter and are provided soup by the old woman. 
Kiono turns Teer into a tressym so he is able to eat the soup, and then he heads back to the cafe. There, he sees a dragonborn with a very large gun clearly attempting to track the party. The gun then turns into a warforged, and the enemy party begins walking in the direction that the party had fled. Teer reports back, and the party flees for the palace and Haziz's protection. He agrees to set them up, and also sends some people out to find Kiono's attackers. 
== NPCs ==
=== Introduced ===
* Fake Cecily
* Dragonborn
* Gun Robot
=== Returning ===
* Julia
* Xelbari
* Prince Haziz
* Meleia Uistein
=== Mentioned ===
* Elizrae
* Vecna
* Acererak
* Votuum
* The Burnetts
* Caius
* Belxari
* Anguish
* Empress Renilla Auguste
== Items ==
* Band of Kept Secrets (given to Julia)
* Misc items (purchased during the session)