01. Festival of Lights (Part 1)

==Intro==
We learn of both the players and the characters.
Kat, will be our venerable DM throughout the campaign. Noel will be playing a water-soul genasi wizard named Fran. Kaitlin will be playing a human druid named Corbin. Sophia will be playing a tiefling paladin named Laika. Her only character trait is wolves.
Sophia makes a bad noise and not even five minutes in, Kat threatens to cancel the podcast.
==Brief Exposition==
The opening narration informs the listener of the creation and violent history of the world of Avelis. When the world was born, the Forces ruled, and saw prospect in the empty land. They first created the mortals, and then the Gods for their supervision.
But the Gods were not totally created in the Forces' image. They were not impartial, they were not serene. They fought and remained jealous, petty and spiteful, and exploited the mortals to the advantage of their divine games.
The resulting devastation of the land was detrimental to the mortals who lived there. Seeking salvation, a human girl connected with the beast gods Fenrir, Cernunnos and Muninn. They lent her power enough to lift an island into the sky and save the last survivors of the mortal world. They hailed her the Goddess, and she named the island Estra. For thousands of years her soul has lived on through the bodies of her mortal daughters. Each body having a set of Guardians, representatives of the Beast Gods, to protect her. Today the Guardians of her current vessel are to undergo a final trial, and take their place at her side.
==Meeting the Guardians==
===Corbin of the Crow Clan===
Corbin is awakened by his animal companion, a greater crow named Berger-Jerger, from a recurring nightmare about fire raining from the skies of Estra. But as he wakes the sky is still blue. It is at this point that Kaitlin realises she needs to have a character voice. Corbin's first words are horrible. Kat leaves, comes back and establishes that Corbin is a seventeen year-old that sounds like her dad doing a snooty old man voice.
Corbin's mentor, Demora, pops up into the trees and tells him that he’s going to be late for the trial.
===Laika of the Wolf Clan===
Laika has been up for hours. Shes training intensely with her animal companion, a wolf named Gingie. Sophia tries a character voice. She also sounds like an old man. Kat is distraught. Sophia tries again, and sounds less like an old man. Marginally. Gingie tells her to eat some breakfast, and Laika does, gladly.
===Fra'Nika of the Deer Clan===
Fran is reluctantly awakened by her deer companion, Bae. Thankfully, Noel's character voice does not sound like an old man. However, Fran is, in fact, late to the trial. Before she leaves, Bae drops a letter on her face. It is from her late mentor, Alonia. Although the listeners are not told the content of the letter, there is much dramatic crying. 
==Arrival at the Temple==
The Temple at the center of the forest of Estra is dilapidated and covered in vines. As it used to be the original dwelling of the Goddess, it is traditional for the trials of the Guardians to take place there.
Corbin is the first to arrive and is pushed into a kneeling position by Demura. 
As Laika is making her way to the temple, she meets up with her mentor, a seven foot tall half-orc named Buddy. He apologies for his lack of formal teaching since his group of Guardians didn't get to spend much time with their Goddess. Laika reassures him and they engage in a hug contest. Laika out-hugs him and Buddy is proud. He does also push her into a kneeling position when they arrive, though.
Kat tells us that usually the Goddess' vessel lives to be elderly, and then she gives birth to her new vessel. However, the previous vessel only lived to be eighteen. Since then things have been weird. The new Goddess doesn't make many public appearances, and even though she trained at each of the Clans, the Guardians barely know her.
The Goddess is standing at the top of the stairs. Her skin is dark and she wears the traditional accessories of the Goddess; a wolf claw necklace, crow feather earrings and bracelets made of deer antlers. She waves a little, and Laika freaks out.
Fran finally arrives, but she does not kneel, and she does not have a mentor to make her kneel. She looks at some bushes. Bae ends up headbutting her, forcing her to her knees.
There are four attendants standing next to the Goddess and they wear veils that identify what clan they are from. There is one each from the Crow and Wolf Clans, and two from the Deer Clan. Minimal formalities ensue and the Guardians begin to ascended the stairs towards the temple door.
As they approach, the Goddess is ushered hastily away. On the door to the temple, there are three hand prints. The Guardians place their hands upon the indents, some more reluctantly than others, and the doors open for them.
==Into the Temple==
The party descends the stairs into the temple, emerging into a room with a tapestry on the wall that shows a map of the world below. On the wall with the door they just exited, there is a picture of the Goddess raising Estra. On the wall to the right, there is a mural of the Goddess as a child running with a pack of wolves. The door slams shut and is locked behind them.
Introductions ensue among the party, with no one reacting well to Laika sniffing their butts.
Corbin succeeds on a perception check and notices that in the mural of the Goddess as a child, there is a shadow under the knife that she is holding that doesn't look right. Corbin investigates and finds that is an actual physical knife in the tapestry. Fran casts Light on her shirt to make rave lights in the dim room. Corbin takes the knife, the rooms darkens briefly (except for the rave shirt) and suddenly there is a new mural on the opposing wall. 
The new mural depicts the Goddess as a teen, sitting next to a spring with a herd of deer, using magic to make a tree grow. Fran finds that the tree is a real branch. She takes it and once again the room briefly dims (except for the rave shirt). Once again there is a new mural.
This one is of the Goddess as a young woman, riding on the back of an enormous crow. Fran investigates, and finds a feather made of cloth in the wing of the bird. Corbin takes the feather and once again the room dims. This time, the light does not come back. (Except for Fran's rave shirt).
They immediately give up and lie on the floor. Eventually, Corbin casts Detect Magic and finds that the knife, branch and feather are not magic at all. They investigate the tapestry and find a door concealed behind it and a small silver key concealed in the tapestry. The key doen’t open the door.
After investigating the mural of the Goddess lifting Estra, with flames surrounding her, Corbin decides that they need to burn the tapestry. Laika is skeptical, but Fran notices that the door behind the tapestry is made of flint. The party makes a torch out of the branch and cloth, and uses the knife and flint door to set it and the tapestry on fire. They do this, and Kat reveals that that is how they were supposed to get the key, they just skipped some steps.
The door now unlocks. 
==The Mephit Room==
The Guardians continue on and find themselves in a roomed tiled with red, black, white and brown squares. There are two locked doors, one on the wall directly across from the entrance and one on the wall to the right. Four pedestals are placed in the center of the room, each with a glass orb sitting on top, with colours corresponding to the tiles. Laika picks up one of the orbs, and when it starts to heat up, she drops it. As the orb shatters, a little red demon emerges- a magma mephit! Roll initiative!
An entire round of combat passes with no one managing to damage anything (including the magma mephit) and Kat encourages the party to look at their surroundings.
After looking at their surroundings, and definitely, absolutely thinking through their plan, the Guardians decide that the best course of action is to throw the white orb at the magma mephit. All this results in is an ice mephit emerging. 
Corbin decides to “tap” the magma mephit with his spear. This verb is met with much protest from the players, however Kaitlin persists. The tap does nothing and the magma mephit is unaffected. Fran then breaks the black orb, and a mud mephit emerges.
Another round passes and Corbin breaks the brown orb onto a brown tile. Nothing happens, except now there is a dust mephit on the loose. Laika sneezes, because she has allergies.
After some thought, Laika decides to hit the magma mephit while standing on a white tile. It actually does hit! Corbin ends up slaughtering the magma mephit with a Moonbeam spell, however it immediately explodes into a big ball of fire, hitting Corbin for 1 whole damage. Another round passes and Corbin calmly walks to a red tile and obliterates the ice mephit with Moonbeam. This time Corbin is ready for the ice explosion, but both Laika and Fran take damage. 
Laika briefly heals herself.  
Fran, frustrated at not having hit anything so far, gives up and lies down. Even though she is emotionally prone, the mud mephit fails to hit her. Combat continues to go hideously badly - until Noel rolls a natural 20 and Fran finally manages to kill the dust mephit with Shocking Grasp. 
Noel rolls another natural 20 on the dexterity save and Fran does a sick back flip to avoid the explosion. Corbin kills the mud mephit by harshly touching it with his spear-tip. Everyone fails the dexterity save and gets covered in mud and Corbin gets pummeled in the head with a small silver key. 
The door on the right of the room unlocks. 
==A Message to Chantel==
Kat: Chantel! Chantel! The code word is: ...robins.
Sophia: The sleeper agent has been triggered.
==Featured Characters==
===PCs===
*Fran
*Laika
*Corbin
===NPCs===
*Berger-Jerger
*Demora
*Gingie
*Bae
*Buddy
*The Goddess
*Unnamed Deer Attendent #1
*Unnamed Deer Attendent #2
*Unnamed Wolf Attendent
*Unnamed Crow Attendent
*Magma Mephit
*Ice Mephit
*Mud Mephit
*Dust Mephit
== Trivia ==
* The first spell of the campaign was Light, cast by Fran.
* Corbin made the first kill of the campaign, when he decimated the magma mephit with Moombeam.
Category:Episodes
Category:Arc 1: Festival of Lights
Category:Estra