Episode 6: Forming the Faded Fates

**Forming the Faded Fates** (C1E6) is the sixth episode of the first campaign of The Table is Yours: A Role-playing Adventure Show. The group wraps up their mission in Generta and decide on what to call themselves...

## **Synopsis**

### Enemies in Darkness

After an exhausting fight with the rats, the group sits for a moment to gather themselves. Within a few minutes, Valoo, followed by Old Maeve, arrives on the scene. The party reassures Valoo and Maeve that the situation is under control. They tell the barkeep they are pretty sure they killed most, if not all, of the beasts, but they need to head back to The Gray Grove to tie up loose ends. This idea, proposed by One and Wash, results in a groan from Codex and Terrance who are looking exhausted and hurt. Even so, the group agrees that the mission needs to be completed sooner rather than later, so they settle on a quick rest before reexamining The Gray Grove.

The party makes their way towards the park after a quick recovery and heads to where Shae and Terrance previously saw the burlap sacks hanging from the trees. Shae leads the way, since she is the only one who can see in the dark (besides Wash, but he keeps that to himself). As they approach their destination, Shae shadow-gates away from the group to see if anything changed above them, and she notices all the sacks are missing. She relays this to the group and goes to scout ahead, leaving the rest of the group fumbling about in the darkness for a moment.

Shae jumps from branch to branch until she eventually sees a flicker of light ahead. She makes her way back to the group and guides them through the woods until they reach the source. A small torch is lit alongside a stone obelisk in front of a cave. After some debate, the party ventures inward; they grab the torch and walk, single file, down a cramped cave that leads them to a stone room. As they enter, One swears she hears a noise, but she does not hear anything further as the light from the torch fills the cave. Inside the room are the burned bodies of the rats Codex eviscerated, but otherwise, the cave is barren. The party starts searching the cave for hidden clues to avoid overlooking any important pieces of information.

One suggests she leave with the torch and watch the exit, positing that the entity behind the rats may only operate under the cover of darkness. The group agrees because Shae and Wash are confident they will see if something enters the space with their darkvision. One takes the torch and leaves the cave with v2. The rest of the party waits for something to happen; Shae and Wash specifically watch the door and the rats. Suddenly the cave is covered in a magical darkness, leaving Shae and Wash like Terrance and Codex: completely blind. They call out to One that something is happening, but by the time the darkness lifts, they realize all the rats are gone.

Outside, One checks her surroundings and hears a skittering coming from the cave. By the time she turns around, she sees nothing. The rest of the party fumbles out of the pitch black cave and tells One what happened, and she shares what she heard. At a loss, the party splits up to examine the area for clues. They look for signs of struggle, marks on the cave walls, and footprints leading into the woods, but they find nothing. Frustrated with their findings, they all start arguing about what to do next, considering this looks like a dead end.

Codex, however, is staring off into the woods, refusing to accept this as a failed mission. As a last-ditch effort, she fires off a Message haphazardly into the woods and asks if there is anyone there. She hears no answer, and for whatever reason, tries again. She explains they just want to know what is going on. Just as she is about to give up and join the rest of the group, a deep raspy voice responds in her head: *“Congratulations. There’s nothing to talk about; you did it. You defeated my pets, the infestation. You and your faded friends can consider this mission a success. Looks like I have encountered some great adversaries. Until next time…”.* As the voice fades out, Codex stands in a shocked silence. She tells the group what happened and the response she received. As she looks back toward the trees, she swears she sees a pair of eyes, shrouded by darkness and glinting in the starlight, almost as if they are stars themselves. As quickly as they appeared, they blink away.

### Exercise and Experiments

Back at The Absent Mandolin, the group reports to Valoo that they’ve taken care of the infestation. Valoo thanks them for their help and gives them all keys for rooms for the night. After an exhausting day, the party did not hesitate to rest. The following morning, Terrance awakes to a knock at his door. He opens it to see Codex, wide awake and ready to go for a run, something he completely forgot he agreed to do, but he tags along anyway. About five minutes into the run, Terrance realizes that Terry may have an easier time with this physical activity. He chugs a serum and comes barreling around the corner towards Codex, who quickly dodges out of the way of the monstrosity of a man. After the run, and once Terrance returns to his normal state, Codex asks why Terrance decided to change. He explains that firstly, the serum makes physical activities much easier, and secondly, the more he becomes Terry, the more he understands about him. Codex asks if they are two different people, and Terrance says no, but the motivation of each form is different. He also explains how he gets a little foggy when he’s Terry, but he remembers everything once he’s out of it. He relays to her he needs to keep experimenting with Terry to fully understand his abilities.

### Back at the Guild

The group decides it is time to head back to the Red Raven Adventuring Guild, so Codex, One, and Wash pay for a carriage, while Terrance and Shae hitchhike their way back. When they arrive, Shawm meets them in the taproom and congratulates them on a job well done. He tells them they will be paid for their services once they decide on a name for themselves. He is met with a groan from the group, who aren’t even sure they want to stick together, but Shawm simply smiles and tells them to report to Maude with the information they gathered as well as a name for their party. Shawm dismisses himself and leaves the party to their own devices. The party discusses if it is in their best interest to stick together. They realize they are all trying to achieve the same thing and it is indeed in their best interest. After much deliberation, they decide on the name “The Faded Fates” because they are all extraordinarily pale, and it seems like they are destined to be together.

Maude joins the party in the taproom and discusses the events of the past few days. They tell her how the rats are all exterminated, but there are some lingering issues that they didn’t mention to Valoo, like the burlap sacks in the woods and the mysterious voice they heard the night before. The party tells her they want to be called “The Faded Fates”, and with that, she hands over their payment. Maude tells them to meet back in the taproom later on, and she will give them their next mission if they wish to take it.

The group dissipates to spend their hard-earned money. Codex wants new armor, so they head into town to see what they can find. They end up walking into an armory called *The Iron Woman* where an intimidatingly large and beautiful goliath woman stands behind the counter. She introduces herself as Millah, aka the Iron Woman. Terrance makes pleasant conversation with her while Codex browses the armor on display. Terrance decides he needs some way to defend himself in case he doesn't have access to his serums, so he buys a dagger and a shield (just in case).

When the group returns to the guild hall, they find Shawm and Maude waiting for them, but before they can sit down to chat, Shawm asks One if they can speak privately. One looks hesitantly at the group and tells v2 to stay with Wash, and she also explains to the group that if they all pet him, he will listen to their commands. As the two walk off, Maude explains that One is being assigned a solo mission.

Shawm walks with One and tells her what is going on. He says someone hired her to complete a mission by herself, and the rest of The Faded Fates will complete a separate mission. He guides her through the halls of the guild where they eventually meet the people who hired One for the job. Shawm introduces them; on the right is Orathia, a human-looking woman with long pink hair and purple eyes, known to many as the Bull of the Onyx Obscurity. On the left is Lord Kess, a slim, elven-looking man with tied-up ashy blonde hair and red eyes. At her approach, they greet One by her full name: Cornelia Rousseau. With her memory still foggy, she questions how they know who she is, to which all three laugh and convey they have a job for her.

The remaining Faded Fates watch as One is escorted out of the guild by these figures. Codex recognizes the woman and has a physical reaction to seeing her, which is noticed by Shae who instinctively comforts her friend. The rest of the party stare as One looks at them, and with a gentle nod to her party, she exits the guild.