“Apocryphon”

> "What... what's happening? Where am I? ...who am I?" - The thing inhabiting Arianna Vindfield's body as she woke.
>
>
> “Apocryphon”
> ------------
>
>
>
> ### Campaign
>
>
> Wisdom of the Stars
>
>
> ### Session
>
>
> 2
>
>
> ### Session Date
>
>
> July 14th, 2023
>
>
> ### Dungeon Master
>
>
> Deirdre
>
>
> ### Players
>
>
> Clark
> Houstion
> Kyle
> Maya
> Serenity
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

“Apocryphon” was the second session of Wisdom of the Stars and the final session of the first arc, "The Harbinger". The name comes from the arc's session closing music, "Apocryphon" by The Sword, a naming convention that will be followed for future arc finales.

## Synopsis

The marked found themselves before the ghost of Arianna Vindfield, the last lady of the manor. The grief which took her life will not allow her spirit to move on. She recounted what the cult had done to her unrotting corpse and the bodies of her bloodline, disturbing their graves in search of hers. Her body was central to whatever ritual Harbin was conducting in the ballroom. She bid the marked find a music box in the east attic and bring it to her daughter, Maria, who she believed is still alive 700 years later. In return, she used her song to bestow healing and magical power to their weapons; she also revealed some secrets of the manor, including where Felix was being kept and and a hidden room in the basement.

Farex rushed to the west attic to find his friend Felix. A wrathful specter of another Vindfield tried to stop the marked from saving Felix, but with Vigil's aid Farex convinced the spirit they would help it find rest. Thimble effortlessly picked the lock on Felix's cell. The initiate paladin of Ilmater did not know anything about what had happened, the cult caught him completely unawares. He was not branded by the cult. Given a blade by Vigil, Felix joined in the efforts to fight their way out of the manor's demiplane.

In the east attic, a room filled with dolls sprung to life and attacked the marked. Thimble was quickly overwhelmed and was left knocked out for several minutes until he could be healed with a spell scroll by Vigil. Another section of the eastern attic contained a room filled with empty bottles and hunting trophies. The talking skeleton of Edgar "von" Vindfield sat decomposed in an armchair in his "man-cave". The marked promised to bury him, and in return he allowed them to take a Bag of Holding from the room, which his bones were then moved to.

In the basement, the secret room Arianna revealed was opened by playing the sheet music on the secluded piano. It revealed Harbin's bedchambers, decorated in an overwhelming amount of juniper green and a painting of Arianna's corpse, beautiful in death. The eye and ouroboros sigil was not behind this portrait of her, a first throughout the manor. Farex found two journals in encrypted Celestial, which he took for later translation. Any further exploration was interrupted by a tremor shaking throughout the manor. This wave of force made all agree it was time to confront Harbin and end this.

Within the ballroom Harbin stood in a large ritualistic sigil which glowed with white light. The corpses of 10 cultists surrounded the circle, and in the center was the body Arianna Vindfield. In this confrontation Harbin revealed why the marked had been chosen for his goddess: they all lacked a mother within their heart. Whether it be from never having, never knowing, rejecting, killing, or abuses suffered by one, each person branded needed the love of a mother. This enraged Farex, and a battle commenced. Harbin raised a few of his followers to do battle but it became clear Harbin wished to die in this fight as he screamed only his death would bring them back to the Prime Material plane. Yara realized this, and stopped herself short of ending his life when she struck the final blow.

When the fighting had stopped, something else in the room stirred. Life had returned to the body of Arianna Vindfield, but whoever inhabited the body now had no idea what, where, or who she is. Farex took hold of her and reassured the confused lady, while Harbin awoke and started babbling nonsense. It was clear, however, that he held no small amount of joy seeing Ariana's body move. Vigil, utilizing just about every persuasive technique in the books, convinced Harbin the marked would kill the lady if he did not willingly remove the manor from the demiplane on the other side of the stars. He relented, and the marked were finally free of his prison.

Waiting at the doors of the manor was Detective Genevieve Vestadt, who revealed it had been a whole of 5 minutes since Vigil and Thimble entered the manor in the first place on the 9th of Kythorn. A lengthy process of questioning the marked, arrests of the living cultists, and treatment of Arianna Vindfield's inhabitant ensued. By the end of it, the sun was setting over the harbor in the Dock Ward. Each survivor of the cult's madness found themselves at the Dock Ward's City Watch outpost.

Genevieve comforted Vigil outside by the door. Farex and Felix took off for the Temple of Ilmater in the North Ward, taking Kyratus with them after mild protestation from the blind monk. Dobae left shortly after, wishing to return to her two fathers. Vigil stopped Dobae and tried to say she wanted to see her again, but struggled with finding the right words. Dobae suggested Vigil come see her at the Clay Cauldron in the Trade Ward, and they could go out for drinks. Thimble took off, lamenting that he would have to find someplace new to stay. He couldn't go back to the manor after what had happened. Before he left, Genevieve commended him for the good he had done that day, to Vigil's chagrin. Yara also took off in a flash as soon as she could, worried about losing her job. Vigil and Genevieve decided a night of carousing was what she needed to take her mind off of the days ordeals.

In the closing moments of the session, Thimble made his way to a public clinic in the Dock Ward, run by a woman called Jackie. She welcomed him with open arms and told him he was always welcome to stay as long as he needed. She also patched up his wounds and asked about what had transpired in the manor. Yara rushed to the club she works at to find her bosses not angry with her. Relieved, she returned home and collapsed immediately into her bed and drifted to sleep. In her dreams, she was confronted by a figure made of two misty orbs; one white, one red. They proclaimed they were the whispers she could hear, and that they could offer her power should she kill more things. They alluded to having a connection with her father. Before the dream was up, the orbs took the form of Yara, albeit with one white and one red eye.

In an epilogue after, Civilar Berith Gremory discussed the report of what transpired at the Vindfield Manor with Edelweiss, the enigmatic leader of Silver Aster. Edelweiss spoke of rewarding the marked for their bravery and for stopping the cult. Berith protested, specifically citing Vigil as undeserving of anything she could give, but it did not seem to sway Edelweiss in the slightest. What the reward could be, only time can tell...

## Major Characters

* Dobae
* Farex
* Kyratus (Sir. Not-appearing-in-this-session!)
* Thimble
* Vigil
* Yara
* Arianna Vindfield
* Felix
* Harbin

## Deaths/Kills/KOs

* Swarm of Porcelain Dolls - Shattered into broken memories by Vigil's Booming Blade aftershock.
* Corpse of a Cultist - Returned to rest by Felix utilizing righteous edged weaponry.
* Harbin - Defeated by Yara with the once animated rapier. The blow was non-lethal.
* Second Corpse of a Cultist - Brought low by Thimble's blade.
* Third Cultist Corpse - Yara Blasts it's brains out, Eldritch-ly.

### Campaign-long PC Victory Count

* Dobae - 0 Victories
* Farex - 0 Victories
* Kyratus - 1 Victory
* Thimble - 4 Victories
* Vigil - 3 Victories
* Yara - 4 Victories