Session 21

Session 21

·   Jeopardy happens

·   Session begins approximately

·   Reminder of the new inspiration rule.

·   Vjenga moves to the front of the wagon to talk to Leonidas.

o    She asks how he was able to locate Sylvi in Kare with such speed, Leonidas says he’s had help from “arcane practitioners” and scrying

o    Vjenga gets a peek into his bag. He has numerous vials of blood, healing potions, a strange-looking stone mask shaped like a horse’s face, and a blue crystalline orb (the Scrying Eye).

o

o    Leonidas says that it is easy to locate the Lumleys/Olivier children because they are not that wise. People with stronger wills are harder to locate. He offers Vjenga use of the orb.

o    Vjenga looks for her sisters, specifically Ylda because she thinks Erva will be close nearby.

o    Her vision is consumed by the orb, and she peers through clouds down into the mountains. The region is inhospitable, there are monsters battling in a “never ending feast”. Past that there is a small town, nestled in the mountains. Inside that town there is a tower, and in one of the higher floors she sees Ylda.

§  Both sisters are petrified (the petrification bears the same appearance as Eikthyr’s petrification of the bleeder.) Ylda is holding a shield and sword where she stands in front of Erva.

§  The sisters are not alone. There are multiple people, also petrified, standing around them. They are all looking in the same direction.

§  Following their gaze to a bright hole in the wall, Vjenga is able to see the eye of a massive snake peer into the room. At that point the vision dissipates.

o    Vjenga is a little thunderstruck, Leonidas asks if she saw anything good and she declines.

·   Vjenga returns to the back of the wagon.

·   Langar swaps places with her, they struggle to pass one another.

·   He moves to the front of the wagon, and sits next to Leonidas to speak to him.

o    Langar asks if Leonidas is knowledgeable about vampires.

§  He says that he has seen it before. They were “a big thing” where he came from and with respect to “their family”. He says that they had to educate themselves, which was hard with limited access to information.

o    Langar wants to know if vampirism will benefit him, specifically with respect to killing Jongar Bonebreaker.

§  Leonidas says yes, under the circumstance that he continues to find blood to drink.

§  Says that Sir and Madam Lumleys might help Langar

o    Langar asks whether the blood given to him came from people.

§  Leonidas says yes, but that they are not harmed for it. The people of Grey Town are compensated for their blood. It is a voluntary donation but not a charity.

§  Leonidas apologizes -- says that they don’t sort the blood so it might not be according to Langar’s taste.

§  As far as Langar can tell it all tastes the same.

o    Leonidas asks who Langar is looking to kill.

§  It’s Jongar obvs.

§  He rings a bell. He caused problems for the Lumleys family, but the only other thing he knows is that he moved up to the northern territory.

o    Langar claps him on the back as he thanks him and nearly shatters this frail little mustachioed man.

·   Venphira moves to the back of the wagon, where Sylvi is seated,

o    She sits across from her.

o    She holds her hand out for Sylvi to take

o    Sylvi takes it

o    Venphira continues to hold her hand, and asks how she’s feeling about seeing her family again.

o    Sylvi says she isn’t sure how to feel, she doesn’t know her family all that well.

o    Venphira says she’ll be present for Sylvi regardless, and grips her hand more tightly.

o    They smile at each other.

·   Elyes reminds Sylvi that she has a Deck of Many Things

o    And Jinx has a card that grants her a single truthful answer to any question.

o    Jinx’s card has someone dressed in fine robes, and they bear a staff. On the other side of the car there is a person in ruined, tattered robes.

o    Sylvi has no idea what the cards do, and asks Jinx.

o    Jinx explains that the drawing of the cards can either result in the user gaining or losing something.

o    Jinx decides to use her question card.

§  She holds the card up to her face, and asks, “Are they alive?”

§  The card burns away

§  Jinx hears screams of anguish, and amber fills her mind. Out of the haze a single word is clear - Yes. Amber floods her mind again and the card is gone.

§  The screams were not voices that Jinx recognized. Jinx knows that the card asks a question of the gods (who have largely been out of contact with mortals), and assumes the screams belong to them.

·   Sylvi decides to pull a card from the Deck - most of the cards are made from ivory or velum.

o    As she is going to draw a card, she drops a card and she chooses that one.

o    The card she pulls is a King, surrounded by wealth. The other side of the card sees people in poverty and despair.

o    Gems appear in Sylvi’s satcHeland spill out on the floor of the wagon, among them are diamonds worth 1000gp.

·   Vjenga is spooked by the flare of the card as it vanishes and asks about the deck

·   Jinx says that “so far, everyone who pulls a card from the deck has had something good happen.”

·   Vjenga is apprehensive, Langar wants to pull a card.

o    Langar pulls the same card, with the peasant side facing up.

o    Langar’s sword vanishes, and so does all of his material wealth.

·   Sylvi says it’s fine, and asks Solla if they want to draw a card.

·   Solla suggests that she count her gems first.

·   Vjenga is still acting like a stick in the mud. Jinx says “It’s fine, it’s like gambling.”

·   Kare, fatefully, decides to pull a card.

o    “The Void: This black card Spells Disaster. Your soul is drawn from your body and contained in an object in a place of the DM's choice. One or more powerful beings guard the place. While your soul is trapped in this way, your body is Incapacitated. A wish spell can't restore your soul, but the spell reveals the Location of the object that holds it. You draw no more cards.”

o    As Kare draws the card, he sees that it is black on both sides. For a moment, he’s confused, and then he feels his eyes close and vision vanish as hiS SOUL IS RIPPED OUT OF HIM.

o    Everyone but the DM and Kare deafen.

o    Vjenga investigate’s Kare’s body. He is unresponsive but doesn’t appear any more “dead” than he was before with respect to vampirism.

o    Langar pours a vial of blood down his throat, nothing happens and Kare does not drink.

o    Vjenga asks Leonidas to stop the cart, and he comes around back to see Kare lying comatose

·   Leonidas comes around to the back of the cart, gets 20 on his arcana check to identify the cards.

o    He is given the deck

o    He is baffled, laughing, and asks where they got the deck.

o    Sylvi says Mindabar, Leonidas doesn’t seem to know of it.

o    He pinches the bridge of his nose and moves away from the cart to start digging a hole before Vjenga stops him, and tells him that Kare is alive.

o    He seems relieved, though not upset that Kare is essentially dead anyway.

·   Leonidas explains that Kare’s soul has been removed and relocated by the card. Vjenga gets her “told-you-so”.

o    Leonidas tries to get the party on board with an alibi initially, and says he’ll be in trouble once the family realizes the son he was sent to retrieve is essentially dead.

o    He quickly forgoes this plan, and they decide to take the body back. He says that the family will be very upset with the party, but he can avoid the brunt of their anger. He also says that because this is a family acquainted with vampirism, saying that Kare fell comatose because of that is unlikely to work.

o    The party debates whether to lie to the Lumleys about Kare’s passing.

·   Leonidas keeps the cards.

·   Venphira squeezes Sylvi’s hand to comfort her while she counts her new wealth and mourns the death of her brother.

·   Eikthyr curls up with Kare’s body.

·   “Weekend at Kare’s”

·   Vjenga asks Sylvi how she feels, who says it's her fault that Kare died.

o    Vjenga and Jinx try to console her, Vjenga cites that they are fortunate to be here, and that this is an unexpected tragedy (but is it really).

o    Langar puts a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, and looks into her eyes, Sylvi is able to see them for the first time. They are bright green, and he has small dark pupils.

§  Langar says that the party will return his soul and DESTROY whoever took it.

§  Leonidas says “the card is destroyed, it’s the thing that guards him they need to worry about”

·   Sylvi’s Loot

·   Three days pass on the road.

·   Langar carves tokens that say “Angelina” on the front, one for each living member of the party.

·   Venphira’s turn to interrogate Leonidas.

o    Visual description of Leonidas

§  He is a slim, toned man with a long mustache, greying white hair. He has a satcHeland a rapier/knife. He wears black leather armor. He also wears a necklace with multiple colored pieces, each corresponds to a specific rune.

o    Venphira asks what Leonidas can tell her about the Olivier/Lumleys family.

§  He says that would be better saved for when the party meets them. The family is indescribable (but Elyes eventually equates them to the Addams family.)

§  He says they are generous, and have taken care of Grey Town after the **tragic passing of the Vidal family.**

o    Venphira asks how long Leonidas has been working for them.

§  He says he’s had an “on-and-off” relationship with them.

§  He did not want to leave his home continent, Arkadia.

§  After a spot of bad luck and the death of his group, he returned to the Lumleys family and is grateful that they took him under their wing.

o    Venphira asks if he was working for them during the Vidal tragedy.

§  He says he was not.

§  Venphira calls him “another ignorant victim of their charm” and leaves to return to her seat.

·   Leonidas is tuned out, and does not react severely as she leaves.

·   Venphira returns to the back of the wagon with Sylvi, and they lean against each other.

·   Eikthyr takes their food as they eat, and hides behind Kare’s body.

·   Solla asks Leonidas how he crossed the border.

o    Leonidas says that they should be fine, with the grace of the family -- as long as they don’t have anything suspicious.

o    Solla asks Leonidas about dragonborns, he says they know a colony of dragonborn to the south.Solla asks if they’re slaves.

o    They are not, in Leonidas’s opinion. They are dressed similarly to Solla.

o     The colony is close to the middle of The Green Lights, near a volcano.

·   As the travel continues (day 4 or 5 into travel), the party is eventually stopped by a group of ragged humanoids who are limping and seem otherwise injured.

o    Langar tells Leonidas to stop the cart, and he does so. He also gets Vjenga’s attention

o    They hesitantly approach Vjenga when she tries to draw them closer to help, and say that they were held captive in the woods.

o    While Vjenga heals them, Langar tries to deduce whether they are being honest about their plight. It’s too dark to tell and the healing is changing their posture.

o    Langar prepares his sword and keeps his eye on the forest.

o    The apparently injured people say that they were kidnapped for a ransom and tortured for weeks. One says that his eye was taken for sport.

o    When asked to sit down and rest, they hurriedly decline and implore the party to move quickly to free the other captives -- claiming that their captors are going to kill their hostages soon.

o    Within the hole of the missing eye, Vjenga sees amber bubbles.

o    Venphira asks who the kidnappers are, and the injured people say that they do not know.

o    Langar notices, as they are leading the party through the woods, that the people leading them do not have a consistent limp. There are moments in their stride where they limp with the wrong leg, or forget to limp at all.

o    He immediately stops upon seeing this, and seizes the one closest to him by the neck. The rest of the party is shocked.

o    Langar and Vjenga argue. Langar says he doesn’t know what’s going on, but does know that these people are faking their injuries.

o    Upon closer inspection, Vjenga recognizes that the wound in the eye is too old to have been made in the past few weeks.

o    Joey briefly voices the Nίðhӧggr

o    Langar and Vjenga try to get them to explain, they stick to their story.

o    “Alright, I can get you to talk.”

o    Langar bites the person who he has grappled. He lifts his helmet and turns away from the group and bites into this person’s neck. He does fuckall damage and regains a blood point.

o    The person he bites is drained completely. The party sees them prune up and their legs dangle uselessly. THEY ARE DEAD, AS IF I NEEDED TO WRITE THAT

o    Langar tosses the corpse aside. Venphira says that she doesn’t think this was the way to go.

o    Vjenga implores the other people traveling to explain themselves

o    They drop the charade and ask what the fuck happened to Adria(?)

o    They explain themselves, prompted less so by Vjenga and MUCH MORE SO BY LANGAR, who has just increased the shelf life of their friend tenfold. Turned that motherfucker into beef jerky.

o    They were going to ambush the party, and there were in fact kidnapped people.

o    The party ties up the remaining would-be-bandits and has them lead the group through the woods. Under threat of more desiccation from Langar, they do so fearfully.

o    Leonidas wants to come, but he has to stay behind with Kare’s comacorpse.

·   The party travels through the forest, led by the people who tried to lure them.

·   They eventually arrive at the bandit hideout

o    There are about a dozen or so noble captives and a Jotunn held prisoner.

o    Ymna character description.

§  They are a cloaked, very tall mountain Jotunn. (7’8”), they have grey skin and white hair. On their hands there are many rings and they wear a pendant that looks like a (minecraft) emerald on their neck.

o    There are about four bandits in the camp, one in the tree, and a trold chained up in the back.

o    The captured bandit says that he won’t have much sway over the others -- they were sent out because the other bandits consider them expendable.

§  He’s also peed his pants

o    Langar tells him to call off the others

o    The bandit pleads to the rest of his group to cooperate, he does so quietly. Vjenga makes his voice substantially louder with thaumaturgy.

o    The one in the tree initially points his crossbow at him, but eventually lowers and asks “Guzmo (correct name spelling blunders pls), what the fuck is happening?”

o    Guzmo explains Langar’s air-fryer-food-dehydration-setting-treatment of the other bandit (he loved the other bandit D’: ), and pleads for the release of the captives, saying that it’s not worth it.

o    He waves over another bandit, he has REALLY strange hair. He steps up next to Ymna onto the podium and asks what’s going on.

o    Guzmo faints.

o    Vjenga moves up to the weird-hair-bandit and tells them to release the captives, Langar tells him to count the number of remaining bandits. Obviously there is a raisin missing, but the bandit leader is nonplussed. He doesn’t believe that the party could have killed the other bandit in any way horrific enough to warrant a surrender. “I can kill someone with a sword too, well done.”

o    The bandit leader offers to demonstrate on one of the captives ( D: !! )

o    Venphira tells Vjenga to distract the bandit leader.

o    Vjenga casts calm emotions, affecting both the bandit leader and Ymna who is on the ground next to him. Nothing really changes. (but i feel peace of mind, and isn’t that a victory?)

o    The bandit leader summons Draven, another bandit, to come stand by them as Langar continues to threaten an unconscious Guzmo.

o    Langar briefly considers enslaving these people under Athanasi

o    The bandits say they’ll wait while the party goes to fetch the corpse of the slurped bandit. Sylvi and Venphira go to get their remains. (so romantic)

o    When they return, the bandits are shocked and want to see it happen again to the rest of the “expendable” bandits.

o    Langar KILLS IT AT INTIMIDATION. Even with disadvantage this is a scary scary boy. The bandits back down and say they’ll release the captives.

o    They do. None of the people are particularly injured, aside from being sleep deprived and hungry. Vjenga corralls the post-prisoners behind her.

o    Langar talks to Ymna and asks if he’s alright.

§  Ymna doesn’t respond initially. Langar tells him to go to Vjenga if he needs help.

o    Jinx wants to kill the bandits to the chagrin of her frost-Jotunn chair.

o    Solla asks about how profitable banditry is.

o    Venphira asks Vjenga to take the nobles and leave. Solla offers to go with them.

o    She does, and asks if Ymna wants to come with. Ymna initially seems okay with this but quickly turns around when Jinx reminds him that he could stay and “kick the shit out of the people who kidnapped” them.

o    Vjenga (carrying Guzmo), Solla, and the 12 nobles leave on the way back to Leonidas’s wagon.

o    “WE’RE NOT SLAVERS, WE’RE KIDNAPPERS”

o    The bandit leader tries to convince Jinx to get in on their scheme -- ransom off the captives, split the profit. She gives him the name James McCannon. Neither of them can do math.

·   Writing out this next section is going to be Agony

·   The party argues over whether to kill the bandits for 30 minutes.

o    The bandits say they’ve tried everything else to turn a profit -- information-gathering, coliseum fighting, theft, the army. All of their “start-up” options are crimes.

o    Venphira proposes that they give them an honest startup, but she still does want to kill them.

o    Jinx wants to kill them.

o    Langar doesn’t want to kill them.

o    “WE ARE *NOT BIRDS*”

o    Langar doesn’t want to give them any money, either.

o    The bandit leader, Olentil says that the party is just as bad as those who kick around homeless people for lack of a job.

o    This makes Venphira Very Angry.

o    Venphira wants to kill them

o    Ymna wants to kill them

o    “Let’s be honest here, we’re ALL victims”

o    The bandits explain that they were dealt a poor hand in life. Most are orphans, the one who did have parents had abusive parents.

o    VENPHIRA SAYS SHE’LL E U T H A N I Z E  THEM ???

o    Jinx proposes that the party FRAMES THE BANDITS for Kare’s death, who she says will face justice if not for the crime they committed

·   Meanwhile, Vjenga and Solla return with the others to Leonidas. Leonidas says they have no room for the additional people. Vjenga is adamant about bringing them along.

o    The closest town is Lagrheimr, about 7 days away.

o    One of the nobles thanks them and offers them 500 gold for their safe return.

·   Back to the clusterfuck.

o    The trold (Gavel?) in the back removes their chains. Olentil reveals that they were a participant in the ambush plan. Obviously that’s not happening anymore.

o    Sylvi is indifferent, and doesn't want to kill them. “Get them in a program”

o    They promise not to Do A Kidnapping again on the condition that the party lets them go.

o    Jinx wants to kill them anyway

o    Ymna flips them off.

o    LANGAR WANTS TO CUT THEIR FINGERS OFFF??????????????????????

§  Lentil Sidetrack (here’s the recipe for vegetarian lentil shepherd's pie, it’s really good)

o    The present party takes a vote

§  Ymna wants to kill them

§  Venphira wants to kill them

§  Jinx doesn’t wants to kill them

§  Langar wants to kill them

§  Whh huh Langar wants to kill them??????? (it was a misunderstanding)

§  Langar doesn’t want to kill them

o    Jinx wants to rob them

o    “The only thing we had of value were those people, we don’t even have food.”

o    “You’re a dick and you deserve death”

o    “You’re insane”

o    Yeah

o    They are insane.

·   The party leaves at long last. Venphira drags Ymna, who flips off the bandits as they leave their sight.

·   Leonidas struggles to find space for the fourteen additional people that he’s now asked to transport.

o    He pulls a part of the wagon out, increasing the capacity as an attachment to the wagon.

o    There’s room for most of the new passengers in the wagon, some others can stuff themselves up into the wagon with the party.

·   Nothing else happens on the way to Lagrheimer.

o    Upon arrival, the nobles rush off. One of them leaves and returns within the hour with a pouch containing 500gp, which Vjenga divides among the party.

o    One of the nobles says that this will be a good story to tell his children, Vjenga introduces herself and the others, but stumbles when the noble asks for a collective group name.

Session ends.