Episode 40

The party leaves Basalt to find the library that K is so insistent on visiting.

They head to the Liceum to be teleported. It is a stark white stucco building with three stories and a domed roof. On their way the group is stopped by a flustered, short gnomish woman who introduces herself as Mixy Berrybit. She is their newest party member! Mixy gives Lily a letter from Ripi, who chose to take her new job opportunity and retire from Iridescent Soulfire. They are also given Hathi’s old necklace.

The letter is filled with goodbyes from Ripi to the party, and includes a “good luck” for both Ingred and Mixy. She makes sure to poke fun at Anthos and give everyone words of encouragement through her writing.

As they enter, the ones that have been in the building before notice that there are more guards than usual. Anthos speaks to an older receptionist to get the party to the city of Asnad in the Sidross Region. Turns out the closest city they have access to is Bresso, which is about a four days’ journey from their destination. The price to travel is 200 gold per person, and 400 gold is taken out of the party’s funds to pay for Mixy and Ingred. The gentleman tells Anthos more information regarding the ambush, apparently one of their employees was found unconscious in their home that night. The culprit had disguised themself as the worker and took over their shift.

The party is taken down the hall to a large set of double doors. A sending spell is casted by the employee before the party is given access into the teleporting room. A tall, silver haired elven man dressed in white robes arrives to teleport the party. Anthos straight up vomits from the experience. Mixy takes it well.

Anthos is a bird enthusiast.

Bresso is a very large city with cobblestone roads and buildings; it must be built near a mine since the main building material here is stone. There are many street vendors along the main road. Anthos tells the newer party members to not buy the fruit.

The party goes to Penny’s Stables, where a gentleman rents them two horses and sells one to Anthos. 120 more gold is taken from the party’s funds. The bought horse has no name, Anthos will need to give it one if he plans on keeping it. The other two are called Diamond and Lemon.

Anthos is still a bird enthusiast. On their way out of the city he mentions that they had been ambushed by people who called themselves feathers. He is wary about buying fruit from merchants because of that day.

On their journey the party is met with strong headwinds. (after all, this is the month of Wind). Mixy finds the group a good spot to settle down their first night, sheltered by a thicket of trees. They set up a bubble and talk about the Conclave of Ebony Wings. During their ambush they tried to kidnap K to set free the entity inside him. They wielded poison daggers and dressed in all black, with strange six-eyed face plates. Anthos eventually warns Ingred and Mixy about them.

Mixy uses a star map to determine their traveling success, a disc used by superstitious sailors for weal and woe. Ingred seems amused by her weird tool and will later share a bunch of seeds with Mixy. During their down time a strange inky hound appears in the bubble and enters Lily’s back. Ingred examines her body but doesn’t find anything obviously wrong. The night goes by without any issues.

The next morning they approach a crossing that also leads to the eastern city of Prolis. They continue their journey north to Asnad. They spend the next three days riding through rolling hills and crossroads, having gained an extra day due to the wind. Late in the morning of the third day, they enter some larger hills that provide shelter from the harsh wind. The hills are lush and filled with life; 3 griffins fly overhead, unaware of the group, and buffalo rush around the party. As they round the bend they see Asnad in the distance, nestled between three large hills.

The town is filled with white buildings adorned with terracotta roofs. There are no walls to the city, and an unusual building is seen on the tallest hill, made of granite or grey stone. The roads are wide and of compacted dirt. Some of the townsfolk acknowledge the party as they enter. A blacksmith works diligently on a speared shovel. In the townsquare is a statue of a dragonborn looking through a spyglass. It points to the granite building above, and has an engraving on it that reads “There is no single path through life that is right, we are all on a journey to leave a story to tell - Noymosyne Derkesthai. The name is pronounced (noy-moss-ee-nee)/(derk-es-tai).

Lily talks to a gentleman about religious entities. She asks him where she can find a library or a bookstore to get their hands on some esoteric knowledge. After a bit of bribing he tells her that she can visit the Noymosyne vault. It is the grey stone building on top of the hill.

The building at the top appears to be some sort of Mausoleum, with white marble pillars holding up the building. There is a bronze spyglass on the door, with the name Noymosyne Derkesthai embossed into the blue granite walls. Two stone lions block the door as the party tries to enter. They only let them through after Mixy repeats Noymosyne’s saying that was found on the statue.

There is a set of stairs leading deeper into the vault.

A story is embedded into the interior walls depicting the story of Noymosyne. A young dragonborn ages as they travel down. He seeks books and knowledge. In his youth he is surrounded by a lavish landscape, seen adventuring the world and collecting books on his journey. He meets kings and witnesses many interesting landscapes. The mosaic moves down with them, the party sees the many paths of Noymosyne, most of which not being taken. It shows that he stumbles across a hilled area in his older life. He hollowed out the hill and filled the vault with books. Once burnt by invaders, he covered the vault to protect it. Many people tried to find it; bards, kings, adventurers. He made a statue in the town’s square, pointing a spyglass to the vault for those with a true desire for knowledge to find.

The party pushes their way through a set of heavy wooden doors, revealing the interior of the vault. It has 20 stories that reach down 400 feet to the floor below. Each floor has a variety of bookcases that form rings around the curved balconies. The area is filled with many other adventurers and white robed figures tending to the books. Anthos flags one of the attendants and asks for assistance in finding books relating to Vegzet, the entity in K. The attendant introduces himself as the Archivist Kison and offers to take them to the 16th floor with a magic elevator of sorts. Ingred doesn’t follow the party onto the elevator, instead deciding to walk down the floors herself.

While the others look for books, Lily shows the Archivist Hathi’s necklace with the odd symbol. She also asks about an ancient temple made of ice, its chandelier missing one blue gem.

The symbol is of the Sword Saint Or’yen. He was born in the 7th age and likely died during a magic flux when the weave became unstable, or of eleftherosi, where elves of 3000 years or older accept death. He is well known for killing Vegzet, the Demon of Red Sand. If Yegzet is dead, how is he in K? The temple, Promhull, was a sacred site. It used to be an ice palace that held 115 hearts of the sea, representing the primordial element that was killed or trapped there. The hearts, forming the chandelier of life, held the unknown deity/power creature. Lily was given a rough location; it being on an island somewhere South in the frozen sea.

Anthos looks through books relating to archangels, seraphs, ect. The names of angels are omitted or missing with their heavenly host.

K looks for info on Abaddon, but doesn’t find anything.

The archivist speaks to Lily about the Loremaster. He says that she may meet him but only if she has something interesting to show. Mixy tries to charm the archivist, but it does not work. In a flurry K activates his necrotic shroud and unleashes Yezget in an attempt to show the archivist something interesting. The elf is disinterested in the show of violence.

Shit goes down.

Anthos admits that he is over 10,000 years old, and Seipora reveals that she is the sister of the Carrion King. The archivist is still not impressed, the party’s credibility likely sinking since everyone is telling him such drastic details.

The fight with Vegzet is broken up by the appearance of a large radiant lion with wings in its head. After getting suckerpunched by an upset Anthos, the archivist teleports them all to the Loremaster. The loremaster is a giant winged golden tiger sphinx, who calls himself Andorora. Kova is obviously intimidated by the creature. The party agrees to owe him a favor if he helps K. Anthos asks to be fixed as well, and Andorora tells him that it will be brought up the next time they meet. Lily is given the memories of the sphinx to help with their quest.

The session ends with the party being teleported to the island of Krymenios, its shores made of black pebbles and its land filled with an endless forest of palms. In the center of the island is a temple, topped with a golden eye. It is obviously their destination.