Session 5: Nodes and the Beginning of the End

## A Week of Downtime

### Remybubbles:

He walks into a general store and attempts to buy forty rations for reasons he will not divulge. Everyone is suspicious but can't do anything about it. The rest of his time is spent with his wolf pack and Beowulf, who is growing fast.

### Liatos:

Since he put on the cursed ring and now cannot get it off, Liatos seeks out a magic shop that can appraise his ring. He makes a point to stay as far from Gregory's shop as possible. The man he goes to tells him, upon payment of 20 gp, that the ring is cursed. The shop keep also tells Liatos that he can't get the ring off. So, getting a brilliant idea, Liatos seeks out Nyle. He finds the man at the training grounds as as usual.

> *Kyle: "Can I roll a perception check to find him?"*
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> *Ivy: "You find him."*
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> *Kyle: "But I wanna roll dice."*
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> *Ivy: "You can fucking see him! He's a faceless fuck!"*
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Liatos asks Nyle if he can get the ring off, to which Nyle tells Liatos that he doesn't deal with magic like that. Liatos then clarifies that he wants Nyle to cut his fucking finger off. A tentacle comes out from under Nyle's cloak and slices Liatos' finger clean off. To cauterize the wound, Liatos puts The Demon's Fist on and flicks the nub where his finger used to be. He bandages the wound and carries on with his day.

> *Liatos walks up to Remybubbles.*
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> *"Hey, you want my finger?"*
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> *"What?"*
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> *"You seem to collect weird things so...?"*
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> *"I collect animal parts..."*
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> *"Yeah and I'm an animal."*
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> *"No."*
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> *So Liatos goes and buries his finger in the forest and forgets about it.*
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He also plays his flute throughout the week, unknowingly helping to alleviate the Madness condition plaguing Airis.

> *Liatos: "You know, out of everyone here, I feel like you're the one most susceptible to mental illness.*
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> *Airis: Excuse me?*
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> *Liatos: Well I mean, you were screaming about blood on your hands that one time.*
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> *Airis: Yes, keep talking. Keep telling your only friend that he's insane and see where that gets you.*
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### Charlotte:

Charlotte spends he time seeking out a long sword or rapier to bind with. She ends up buying a good blade for 200gp. Upon attempting to barter with the shopkeeper, she fails rather terribly and ends up paying the entire 200. She spends the rest of her week bonding with her new sword buddy.

### Willow:

Willow's first course of action is to find someone who can appraise the necklace he obtained from the last battle. He walks into the same shop Liatos went to to get his ring appraised. The man charges the same amount and Willow reluctantly pays. After staring at the necklace for some time, the man comes back to Willow, telling him that: "All I can tell is that it promises power." Willow already knew this and demands his money back quietly yet threateningly. The man passive aggressively gives the tree his money back.

The rest of the week for Willow is spent hunting in the woods outside the compound. He acquires three dire wolf pelts- no connection to Remy'sbubbles pack- and sells them in the city for a decent price.

### Frug:

Of course, one of the first things Frug decides to do is antagonize his favorite victim, Elwood. Knocking on his door, he presents his newly enchanted spear to which Elwood tells him it still looks like shit.

> *"What do you want, gnome?"*
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> *"I want to antagonize you, Elwood. How can I antagonize you the best?"*
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In response, Frug takes out his vile of fish stank and throws it on the ground. Elwood slices it out of the air with his rapier before it can hit and immediately spray anti-fish stank around the area, before closing the door and ignoring the gnome. On his way back to the compound, however, he notices something completely amiss. The old woman he murdered the last time he was in town stands in her shop, completely unharmed. So Frug murders her again but when he goes back to the city again the next day, she's back yet again. So, of course, he murders her again and goes to complain to his tree friend.

> *Frug: "So you remember the old woman that I murdered the other day?"*
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> *Willow: "Uh huh."*
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> *Frug: "She keeps coming back! I keep murdering her!"*
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> *Willow: "Why don't you cut off a body part and take it back to the compound?"*
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So Frug does just that. He murders the old woman yet again, cuts off her hand, and takes it back to the compound with him. But when he wakes up the next morning, the hand is gone, and going in to the city, the old woman is back at her shop. Feeling entirely frustrated by this ordeal, Frug enters the store and begins to inquire about how the hell she keeps coming back from the dead. To his surprise, the old woman remembers him but not the fact that he's murdered her many a time. Just as he is about to ask what's going on, he unexpectedly blacks out. When he comes to, he is back in the compound with no memory of his conversation with the old woman or the fact that he murdered her many times throughout the week beyond the first time. So he carries on with his life as if nothing happened at all.

### Airis:

For most of the week, Leo stays inside his half of the barracks, playing with his fire woofer, Ken, to alleviate his madness condition. That, coupled with Liatos' flute playing and Airis can again use currency. He then goes into town to buy ten more great arrows for the soon to come conflict.

## A Misleading Message

While relaxing in his room one day, Airis notices a bird at his window with a note from D'ys attached. Upon reading the note, which says:

> "Nodes sent a warning that some untrained Nightgaunts fled the island. Elwood wants you to stop the ones at the shore. Him and his soldiers will deal with the ones already at the city."
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Leo then relays this information to the rest of the party and they all decide to go to the shore where their personal vessel is docked. They see a Nightgaunt approaching in the distance and ready for battle. After killing the first, two more appear to answer the dying howls of the first Nightgaunt. The team kills those two off rather quickly and decide that they should head back to Cariss to see if they need any help dealing with the Nightguants. Unsurprisingly, they do not need any help and have successfully killed five Nightgaunts. Elwood greets them and Willow immediately demands payment. He gives each of them 50gp for defending Arcaniss. With nothing else for them, the gang decides to go and do their own things.

## The Calm Before the Storm

### Remybubbles:

Buys six more rations for reason he still will not explain. He also lends money to Liatos and now has three favors on him.

### Liatos:

Liatos travels to the specialized blacksmith, asking if the man can outfit his gauntlets to carry poison in the knuckles. The blacksmith says he can do that, but it will take some time and 600gp. Upon hearing this, Liatos leaves the shop, planning to come back when he can gather the money to pay for them. He considers going to the tree for the money but a small voice tells him that's an awful idea and instead he goes to Remybubbles first. He gets a big portion of gold from the gnome, but owes him yet another favor. Then he seeks out Leo, who gives him the money with the promise of getting paid back. Liatos then runs back to the blacksmith and pays the man to deck out his gauntlets.

He also goes to Nyle again looking for a way to become stronger. Nyle offers to make Liatos one of his disciples since hand to hand combat isn't really his style. Liatos considers this for a moment. He doesn't feel he is strong enough to protect the people he cares about is willing to do anything to get stronger. However, a little voice inside his head tells him that becoming Nyle's disciple is a terrible idea, so he does not.

### Charlotte:

Charlotte spends her time relaxing for a change.

### Frug:

Frug doesn't have anything worth doing in the city so he goes back to the compound to be alone.

### Airis:

Leo lends Liatos the money to buy his gauntlets with no strings attached. He spends the rest of the day, resisting the call of the necronomicon.

## Into the Fire

Airis is awakened late at night by a bird squawking in his ear. It's raining buckets and thundering constantly so he knew shit was about to go down. He finds a note attached to the bird that reads:

> "Yesterday was a trap. Nodes used the Nightgaunts as a distraction to steal the rest of the Dagon relics. He plans to summon Dagon so he can "hunt" him. He would be able to hunt and kill him but not before Dagon drowns the entire world."
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Upon a closer look, Leo notices another hidden message from D'ys. One that reads only:

> "NODES."
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Leo jumps up from bed and goes to the other half of the barracks to wake up Charlotte and Liatos. Charlotte wakes up easily but when Leo tries to shake Liatos awake, the monk does not move. Airis, not having it, slaps Liatos awake. He complains a bit but Airis pays him no mind explaining to situation to the pair. He stomps on the ground a bit to wake Remybubbles up as well. After Charlotte leaves the room, Leo shares the details of the secret message with Liatos.

> *Liatos: "What does that mean?"*
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> *Airis: "Maybe we should ask Nodes for help with D'ys"*
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> *Liatos: \*Ponders this for a moment\* "Nah."*
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> *Airis: \*Dies internally\* "I should've picked a different partner."*
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Then, Liatos goes to get Willow and then Willow goes to get Frug. Then the party goes to their ship. They are delayed by two trident kings. At this point, Yiki appears at the edge of the forest, bowing deeply towards Frug. Yiki joins the party.

After taking them down, the party boards their ship. Upon setting sail, four deep one displacer beasts. The team takes them out and goes through the portal opened by a figure in the distance. Now closer to Nodes' island, the gang's ship is once again under attack. Ten deep ones and two cultists of Dagon board the ship and begin to fight. On top of all that, Nodes, from his island, fires volley shots at the ship. Through a long battle the party is able to clean up their ship, only to have another Nightgaunt and two deep one berserkers appear in their place. Nodes continues to rain arrows down on them as well. Liatos and Remybubbles both go down during the battle, but eventually even those enemies are taken down.

During the boat ride to the island, Liatos goes up to Willow, looking to buy some health potions off of the tree. However, mid-sentence Liatos stops talking to the tree and just completely walks away. A little voice told him again that he should perhaps ask some of his FRIENDS for health potions who would just give him the potions. So instead he goes to Leo and gets a couple potions. Willow is mildly annoyed.

Once the gang reaches the island, a burst of blue energy explodes from the Palace of Bones and it starts raining even harder. But before the team can run to the palace, two Hounds of Tindalos appear to stop the party from getting any further. The fight was not a long one and the gang moved on to Nodes' palace. Willow, however, was able to pick up a non-Euclidean pelt that one of Nodes' Hounds dropped.

## Nodes, The Outer God of Hunting

When the gang enters Nodes' palace, they find the God sitting on his throne as he usually is. He greets them, saying that he knew they would come. He also reiterates that Willow should not hold back against him. Then, Nodes initiates combat.

He targets Willow for the first part of the battle, placing a Hunter's Mark on the tree man. He then flees to on of his nests atop the chandeliers of the room. He targets the party with magical arrows, one of which Liatos is able to actually deflect. Willow lines up to take a shot at Nodes.

> *Liatos: "Give him a taste of his own medicine, W!"*
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> *Liatos calls to Willow. Willow considers shooting Liatos instead.*
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When Liatos deflects another of Nodes' arrows, Nodes switches his hunter's mark to Liatos instead.

> *"I won't let you hurt anyone else!" Liatos screams at the God. For that, the all-powerful DM grants him an inspiration point. So obviously Liatos becomes proficient in soap carving mid-battle.*
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Unfortunately Liatos is unable to deflect the next arrow that comes at him.

> *"Catch that!" Nodes calls mockingly.*
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So the battle wages on for some time more. The gang is able to destroy two of the three chandelier nests but destroying the third is unnecessary. Willow takes the final shot, reducing Nodes' hit-points to zero but sparing his life.

And though Nodes is defeated, the battle is far from over. Nodes tells the party that the battle between them was well fought and a fair fight but it was too late. Dagon had already been successfully summoned. At that moment, another blast of energy emanates around the room and a number of party members suddenly fear Dagon.

He's been summoned.

Nodes informs the members of the party that they will have to defeat Dagon now while he is at his weakest from being summoned or else it will be too late. He also gifts Frug a ring of water resistance to help him in the fight against Dagon. He then turns to Willow who he gifts a few items: a lesser cloak of holding, The Mask of the Great Hunt, as well as 50gp for a good, clean win. The rest are given two greater health potions.

And while Liatos is busy arguing about something stupid with Remybubbles, Charlotte, and Willow; and Frug has decided to just leave the Palace all together; Airis decides to act upon the secret message he'd received from D'ys.

He asks first if Nodes knows of the Mademoiselle. Nodes says he does know of the citizen of Cariss. So then Leo tells Nodes of the secret message he's been receiving from D'ys, in particular the one containing just his name. Nodes seems surprised to hear this, asking if Airis means to help the woman escape from the King of Cariss' grasps. Leo of course says yes and Nodes sighs. He gives the half-elf a pendant that will protect him and one other person from the magic of Cariss at night as well as a small glass cage with a spout on it that Nodes tells Leo can save one soul and that is all. He says that the King keeps the souls below the castle in a room directly below where they hold the masquerade. There should be stairs within the castle leading down to them. Nodes tells him he will have to be quick; get in, get the soul, and get out all before midnight if they could. They can't get caught. Nodes also gives Leo a flare, if they get caught Nodes instructs Airis to press the button so Nodes can even get the fuck out. Leo thanks Nodes with a deep bow and the God only sighs.

> *Leo's notes on what Nodes told him:*
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* > *Find stairs*
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* > *Under castle*
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* > *Find soul*
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* > *GTFO*
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* > *Amulet should help*
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* > *Press button if caught.*
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Nodes then turns to the rest of the party and tells them to go get rid of Dagon.

> *Nodes: "He should have spawned in the nearest body of water."*
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> *Liatos: "But like where?"*
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> *Nodes : "In the ocean, monk."*
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> *Liatos: "Okay but like the nearest body of water could have been like a puddle or something so like how was I supposed to know that?"*
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> *Ivy: "Shut the fuck up, Kyle."*
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So the party readies to leave. Liatos stops Leo on the way out, asking for him to ask Nodes for a potion of rest. Airis tells him to man up and just ask. Not liking this advice, Liatos goes to Remybubbles and asks the same. This goes on for some time until Nodes snaps.

> *Nodes: "What do you want, monk?"*
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> *Liatos: "I want... Do you have any potions of rest that I can have?"*
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> *Nodes: \*sighs\* "You're cowardly and I don't like you. Here. Now get out of my palace."*
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## Dagon, the God of the Deep

The gang runs to their boat to start the fight with Dagon. They all see him trudging through the water in what is only waist deep water on him. So he's fucking huge and the team has to stop him. They sail to catch up to him and start the battle to save the world.

The battle is long and arduous and the party deals minimal damage for many turns. Liatos goes down again and soon after that Remybubbles has fallen as well. Unprotected with Remybubbles unable to heal him, Beowulf dies during combat. Everyone is immediately affected by the loss of the adorable doggo but none more so than Remybubbles, who gets up and deals a substantial amount of damage to Dagon in his rage. With a new found will to fight, the team finally- finally- defeats the God threatening to drown the entire world. He lets out a billowing scream and his body erupts into a deep blue light. He is then turned into a large blue and black crystal which Charlotte picks up. Everyone feels a sense of calm knowing Dagon is forever banished from this world.

Elwood meets them back at the compound, greeting Remybubbles with a quiet "I'm sorry" before turning to the rest of the party. He givens them each 20 platinum for effectively saving the world. After that he tells them their ship will be fixed fro them so that they may leave the island and carry on with that which they were doing before.

## To Save a Single Soul

After Elwood leaves the party to their own devices, Leo fills Liatos in on what Nodes told and gave him to help them save D'ys' soul. But before they travel into the city at night, Airis makes Liatos go and buy a cloak to help him sneak through the city since Leo doesn't trust Liatos' ability to sneak. So the pair first travel into the city before night to buy a cloak with Leo promising to pay for it if Liatos cannot. But it was unnecessary and Liatos gets a cloak to help him match Leo in stealth somewhat.

Then the fun begins.

When night falls, Liatos and Leo approach the city. With a little help from some rope and a great arrow, they are able to scale the outer wall and get into the city. The entire place, as was to be expected, is completely deserted. Not a soul in sight.

Feeling the pressure begin to sink in, Liatos freaks a bit once they start heading towards the palace, attacking Airis as if he were an enemy.

> *Airis: "What the actual fuck?"*
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> *Liatos: "Sorry."*
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> *Airis: "Yeah okay."*
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Thankfully, Leo is quick enough to dodge most of Liatos' attack so not much harm is done.

After that small debacle, the pair notices bright lights coming from the first floor of the palace and decides that's where they need to go.

Upon reaching the front door of the the palace, Leo carefully looks through the keyhole. From what he can tell, there are two hallways, one leading to the left and the other to the right in what is probably a circle. A little ways forward is another frosted glass door that leads to a room in the middle of the circular hallway. The hallways are dark and no one can be seen so Liatos and Airis tentatively enter the palace. They notice that the time is eleven-thirty from a clock nearby and decide they don't have much time before the masquerade ends.

Beyond the second door, Leo and Liatos can hear the muted sounds of voices. They decide that much be where the masquerade is being held so they must avoid that room at all costs. Down the left hallway, Liatos notices a shadow of a figure, so the two decide to go down the right hallway instead. A little ways down, they come across a door that opens to a linen closet full of coats. That's not what they are looking for so they decide to continue on down the hallway. However, a few more feet and they notice the shadow of a figure approaching them down the hallway. Fearing getting caught, Liatos and Airis get into the linen closet to avoid detection.

> *Kyle: "Ooo we're getting in a closet together! Close quarters!"*
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> *Amanda: "Don't be creepy."*
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> *Kyle: "What do you mean, don't be creepy?"*
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> *Amanda: "You know exactly what."*
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Through the keyhole, Airis notices a man walk past them and disappear around the hallway.
Piecing together the facts, Airis guesses that the man is going to walk down the hallway in a circle on guard so they are going to keep running in to him on their way to the stairs. Liatos suggests that they follow the guard a ways behind him to avoid that. Airis agrees but before they can follow after the guard, Liatos snaps again, breaking under the pressure and punching Leo.

> *Kyle: "So remember when I said your character was the most susceptible to madness conditions?"*
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> *Amanda: "Yeah."*
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> *Kyle: "I was wrong."*
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> *Amanda: "That doesn't make hitting me any better!"*
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He's able to dodge most of the damage again and the pair go to the left now instead, following carefully behind the guard. Not carefully enough however, because the guard notices them after some time and begins sprinting down the hallway after them. Panicking slightly, Airis and Liatos notice a large chest, one big enough to fit two people if they lay on top of each other.

> *Kyle: "Liatos is on top!"*
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> *Amanda: \*Sighs deeply\**
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Swallowing his pride Airis gets in the chest, followed by Liatos. Through the small keyhole of the chest, Liatos is able to see that the man is approaching their hiding spot. At that point, the panic is real. But thankfully, Leo notices a blanket underneath him. Through some finagling, Airis is able to get the blanket out from under him and give it to Liatos who covers the two of them from sight all before the guard opens the lid of the chest.
The guard opens the lid and begins patting down the blanket, obviously very suspicious. Thankfully, Liatos is able to keep quiet throughout the encounter and the guard closes the chest once again, resuming his rounds around the hallway.

> *Kyle: "Oo a constitution saving throw, I'm good at those."*
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> *Amanda: "Yeah, and hitting your friends."*
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Making absolute certain the guard is gone, Liatos and Leo tentatively get out of the chest and begin their journey towards the stairs once more. Unfortunately for them, they notice the time on a clock nearby. It's eleven-fifty, only ten minutes left. Really feeling pressured, Liatos once again attacks Leo on their way towards the stairs.

> *Amanda: "Why is it that you roll really well to hit me and do serious damage but not against enemies?"*
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> *Kyle: "I don't know!"*
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Leo dodges the hits and takes half the damage, but it now beyond annoyed and seriously considers his life choices. But there's not much time for that, so they continue down the hallway as fast as they possibly can. They reach a barred door with a padlock blocking the staircase that they probably need.

> *Liatos: "What are we going to do!? The doors locked."*
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> *Leo: "You do know who you are with right?"*
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> *Liatos: "You can pick locks?"*
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> *Leo: "Of course I can fucking pick locks!"*
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> *Liatos: "Oh."*
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Airis is able to pick the lock relatively quickly and the pair go down the stairs before the guard can come back around to catch them. When they shut the door, they are engulfed in complete darkness. This time, it's Leo's turn to have a mini panic attack and slap Liatos across the face. It does hardly any damage but Airis feels infinitely better.

> *Liatos: "What the fuck?!"*
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> *Airis: "Don't give me that, you hit me THREE times for way more damage!"*
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After the small argument, the pair decide to go down the stairs carefully. Airis can see fine due to his darkvision but Liatos on the other hand, holds on to Leo so he knows where to go. Leo considers running him in to a wall but before that can be done, the duo notice a dull blue light coming from the bottom of the stairs. And when they reach the bottom, they find a large crucible filled with humanoid looking figures who are clearly distressed. Quickly, Airis takes out the glass cage Nodes gave him and, after calling out D'ys' name, a single soul comes out of the crucible towards him. It reaches the case, turns a delicate green color, and takes the shape of a woman inside the glass dome.
She looks extremely surprised to find that Leo and Liatos actually managed to save her. Then she, after asking what time it is, says they have to get out of their now. It was at that moment blood-curdling screams echo around the castle. Liatos immediately wants to run to the rescue but Airis holds him back, saying that he can't go or else he'll die too. Liatos shakily agrees and Airis puts the Mademoiselle in his backpack before the two of them rush back the way they came. The screams continue to echo as they reach the main hallway. Thankfully Airis remembers to lock the door behind them before they rush back towards the front entrance.

> *Ivy: "You remember that the door was locked when you found it."*
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> *Amanda: "Should I lock it again?"*
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> *Ivy: \*Stares incredulously\**
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> *Amanda: "Yes I should. Leo puts the lock back on the door."*
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When the duo, turned trio, reaches the front door, they notice that the frosted glass door is now completely covered in blood. Someone slams into it, their bloodied hands leaving streaks as they slide down towards the floor, screams sending shrill echoes around the entire area. Liatos once again tries to run into the room in an attempt to save the people inside, but once again Leo holds him back, saying there is literally nothing they can do for them at this moment. Liatos begrudgingly accepts this and they book it out of the city, sprinting the entire way back to the compound.
They only relax once they get back to Leo's room.

> *Liatos: "Should we take D'ys out and talk to her?"*
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> *Airis: "Don't talk about her as if she's an animal."*
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> *D'ys: "Uh, guys? I'm right here."*
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They talk to D'ys for a while. She explains how she was able to get her secret messages through to them, and how grateful she is to them for getting her out of the King's grasp.
Airis and Liatos brainstorm a plan to keep D'ys hidden while they are on the island in a safe. They considered asking the tree for help, with his cloak of holding but Airis doesn't like that idea.

> *Airis: "So, here's what I'm going to do. I will go into the city tomorrow and buy a safe to keep her in. You are going to stay here with her. You are not to let anyone in the room and you are allowed to come up with any reason as to why you are in my room that you can think of."*
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> *Liatos: "Ooo that's a dangerous game."*
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> *Airis: "I'm aware."*
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> *Liatos: "I could just make some grunting noises if anyone comes by, that should work, right?"*
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> *Airis: \*considers death\**
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Then she asks if either of them have anything that she can read, anything at all. Airis immediately thinks back to his necronomicon but before he can say anything, Liatos brings up the book of prayers he has. D'ys says that will work but that someone will have to turn the pages for her. So Liatos reads with D'ys in Leo's room for a while, letting her read through the book of prayers while Airis waits for him to go to sleep. Liatos hides her under his bed once he's gotten tired enough and that's when Leo goes over and takes her back out.
She's surprised to see him, but upon seeing the book Airis is holding becomes completely shocked. Airis explains to her where he found it and says he doesn't know what to do with it anymore. D'ys then asks if he's read it, to which Airis responds with yes.

> *D'ys: "Have you read it?"*
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> *Airis: \*with his voice pitched higher than normal\* "Maybe once or twice"*
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> *Kyle: "Maybe once or twice, that's a blatant lie and you know it!"*
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> *Amanda: "Shut the fuck up, Kyle."*
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D'ys looks conflicted for a long while until she finally tells Airis that he should just get rid of it. Not here. Not on the island. Somewhere far away where the king can't get to it. Airis also tells her that the book did help him save D'ys so it wasn't a complete waste. D'ys seems confused about this and Airis doesn't really have any answers for her either but they settle on the idea that Leo should definitely just get rid of the thing the chance they get.

Airis wishes her good night and good luck attempting to sleep in the form she is in and then puts her back under the bed.

And so ends the fifth session.