Just Another Quest

## Player Characters

* Eva Storm
	+ Blue tiefling roguelock with pseudodragon familiar and dual scimitars

* O'Hara
	+ Harengon druid with a wolf pack

* Henry Howard Holtz
	+ drunken human detective with a terrible stench

* Laureli
	+ Buff, cheerful elf gaviturgy wizard with a dirty lab coat around waist and aviator goggles

## Pitch

You are a well-travelled band of adventurers, trained by experience's harsh hand. You have slain many evils (Yes, I'm certain that old woman in the pumpkin was evil, okay?) and fought many battles. Driven by wealth, glory, might, or goodness is up to you, but whatever it is has held you fast as a band for years. Why would today be any different?

Sure, the man who is asking for your help doesn't move his mouth when you hear his voice. You've met plenty of strange quest-givers. And the letter of instruction he just gave you is written on a sheet of paper unnaturally white and crisp. You've held dozens of magical artifacts and bizarrely-constructed scrolls. In all honesty the strangest aspect of the whole situation is just .... that you're still not entirely sure what the quest is. But oh well, the pay is fantastic, and you all are confident enough in your abilities that you seriously doubt wherever he's sending you could be any serious threat. After all, it's just another quest ... right?

## Summary

### Synopsis

It was, in fact, no ordinary quest.
The voice of the party, Eva Storm, negotiated with the peculiar contractor on the behalf of the group. The greatest challenge was concealing how eager the group was to embark on another quest. The guidelines were simple: go locate an object out in the woods. After the party accepted, the mysterious man left without giving further information about his identity. O'Hara used a bird familiar to follow the man to another inn, where he appeared to have disappeared without a trace. As the group made preparations to leave, O'Hara meditated and casted *divination*, asking for guidance and information. None was forthcoming: whatever this thing was, it clouded the vision of the fey spirits. As the party approached through the woods, animals indicated to the druid that there was a meadow of death ahead: anything that came close to the object died.

Once the party had visual, they could see that it was a cube with circles on the sides. Some died animals lay around it seemingly struck by lightning. Laureli pushed O'Hara into the clearing as a test. No inexplicable death. The group cautiously approached and interacted with the strange cube. On the sides were doors - also the cube started sparking. The group jumped inside, with Laureli and O'Hara just barely making it inside before the doors closed and the cube unleashed an explosive wave into the surroundings.

When the doors opened, the party was in an entirely different world. They didn't understand what they were seeing but they landed in a bustling futuristic metropolis. A number of other cubes were lined up nearby. A robotic man greeted the group and bid them to follow. Eva and Henry seemed overwhelmed and unease. Laureli was beyond excited at the technology and flying sister city in the distance. O'Hara never felt more alone. Already a stooped figure, the harengon further shrank into himself with each passing minute in a world that was horrifyingly devoid of nature.

The robot explained that the group had been pulling into the future as a potential solution to a problem. An imprisoned god was slowly but inexorably unraveling a prison in which it was contained. This was only possible because the god possesses an artifact of powerful evil: the Eye. The researchers of this society believed that presenting this god from beings of a past time - a time in which the god was familiar and happier - would draw the being out in a sense, and enable them to strike back and seal the prison. The group agreed, some more reluctant than others.

(A long rest) later, the group departed for the prison. Not just this evil god was imprisoned: all gods were imprisoned. The whole society was powered using these deities as batteries for hundreds of years. O'Hara once again casted *divination*. Instead of receiving guidance, the druid heard desperate voices crying out: the last of the fey and natural spirits. The existential crisis deepens. Laureli, fascinated by these developments, continues to admire the view and ask questions about the future society. Once the task is complete, she may stay and learn the knowledge of the future.

The party speaks to the imprisoned god... Gnosi the Scribe. The conversation is tense. Gnosi speaks of how he's been treated: obviously being turned into an eternal battery is a terrible fate for any being. Laureli has firmly sided with the future, but Gnosi gains the sympathy of the rest of the party... until he explains the genocidal vengeance that will be brought upon the people. Thousands of deaths in moments, hopefully millions before Gnosi is stopped. The party's discussion is fraught. O'Hara and Eva separately consider freeing Gnosi as Laureli is willing to fight to keep him imprisoned. Henry excuses himself to assassinate the robot from earlier. The ideological and moral conflict fractures the party. In the end, the party fights together against projections created by Gnosi and the fight siphons off extra energy that Gnosi needed to continue his escape. By the actions of the party he's now trapped.

Alls not well and doesn't end well. Nobody gets to return home via time machine. Additionally, O'Hara intends to go on a guest to find the scattered surviving fey and free the good-aligned gods. Eva Storm and Henry Howard Holtz may join him. Laureli splits, intending to pick up whatever knowledge she can from the future. The future is safe... for now.

## Notes on D&D

The session was incredibly roleplay heavy. The beginning was dedicated to deciding as a group what the party dynamic would be. There was a good deal of interparty roleplay and personality at the beginning and throughout. No one expected the group to fracture along ideological fault lines. Almost by chance, the conflict was set up perfectly: the knowledge-inclined wizard had been jokingly ribbing on the nature-inclined druid from the get-go, and this dynamic dramatically soured and almost came to blows when faced with the destruction of all nature in the name of technological advancement. Each character, other than the wizard, contemplated freeing Gnosi and tearing down the society at different times during the session, culminating in some 60 minutes of tense interparty arguments and conflict. If things had gone slightly differently, the session may have ended with PvP instead of a boss fight. Incredible stuff.