How Most Stories Start

**"How Most Stories Start"** is the twenty-eighth episode of *Mountain of Mystery*, airing on October 17th, 2023.

The first episode of *The Warden of Vespershire* story-arc, the session was DMed by Capwithoutacountry and hosted on TanisJr93's channel on Twitch.

## Summary

*...continued from session twenty-seventh*
After helping Kahlan back into the common room of The Bar Barian, Lazarus leads the Tiefling to Trouble to have her palm healed; the Fighter hugs the Druid first, apologizing for previously having been unable to express her happiness over the fact that Trouble's father had been revivified, and the Druid casts *Cure Wounds* to heal the Tiefling's hand. Thava admits to Sado that she grew to feel more herself around the members of her party, and the groups eat dinner while Siobhan recounts the story of her party's confrontation with the ebony dragon Varilax in the swamps north of Odessloe.

As the evening grows late, she offers rooms at the tavern to anyone who needs to rest, and promises to continue the story in the morning over breakfast. Cash retreats to his mother's room to find Jean and Shiloh and realizes that the two are in the midst of a calm and profound conversation; he leaves the room as Trouble arrives, quickly comes to the same realization, and leaves as well. Lazarus begins to retreat to his own room as well before Kahlan asks him to stay with her, and he joins her instead; while dreaming, Kahlan finds herself in a familiar tavern, and after several minutes, an intricate clockwork hummingbird zips past her and lands on the shoulder of a man behind the bar.

She immediately recognizes him as Kord as he asks about her concerns, and Kahlan questions her purpose, suggesting that it feels like she is only meant to feel pain; Kord admits that strength and pain are never far apart, and claims that her purpose is to use her strength in whatever way she chooses. He also reveals that he did not answer when she called out to him when she was attacked as a child, nor did he give her anything in that moment, explaining instead that her strength alone was so powerful that it caught his attention, and he merely waited to see if she would access it on her own or not; he admits that he wouldn't have saved her and acknowledges that his admission is truly awful, but that he was impressed that she found the strength to survive.

He then offers her a perspective on her pain, revealing another person within the dreamscape of the tavern that he introduces as a younger incarnation of Shiloh; making Kahlan invisible, he shifts his attention to the Paladin, congratulating the man on his team's recent defeat of the ebony dragon Varilax. Shiloh then surmises that the Stormlord is visiting for reasons other than commending his performance, and Kord admits that another of his followers, whose arrangement differs from the Paladin's, has abandoned his pact in order to seek more power elsewhere. Shiloh requests to complete the mission with his new team, and Kord encourages his to do so; he tells the Paladin that the man he's looking for is named Orison Moore, shares one more drink, and then wishes Shiloh a happy birthday before tapping him on the forehead.

Shiloh then wakes at a table in the dining room of The Horn Pub, having drunkenly fallen asleep there the previous night, and wakes Jean, who had fallen asleep next to him at the same table; the Bard orders a Bloody Mary for breakfast as the Paladin heads upstairs to collect New Moon, Sound of Bells, and Thava before approaching Siobhan's room and knocking politely before entering and inviting her downstairs. As the group gathers in the dining room, Moon and Bells excitedly rush down the stairs in a flurry of noise, and Jeans orders a peanut butter, banana, and bacon sandwich for breakfast as Shiloh congratulates the team on their victory against the dragon; he then describes his dream and his assignment from Kord, persuading the rest of the team to accompany him before Jean notices a group of younger women fawning over him from a nearby table.

The party heads upstairs to pack their gear as they resolve to acquire horses for the journey, and as they prepare to leave the tavern, they are approached by a Tiefling Bard who introduces herself as Dascha and offers to pay them 30 platinum to escort her to Rexxentrum. Given that the capital is on their way, the party accepts the job before visiting a nearby stable to rent a cart and passing through the street festivities of the Day of Challenging; as Siobhan pulls ahead of the group to scout along the Cloakjaunt Path, she encounters the Halfdragon soldier Kurdath who accuses her of being a murderer, a coward, and a thief.

The rest of the team catches up quickly as the Rogue casts *Hex* on the soldier, who taunts the group to finish what they started before being struck by two spirit arrows from Bells. Jean spots a sniper in the trees to Kurdath's left, casting *Vicious Mockery* on him as Dascha attempts to cast the same spell on Kurdath but fails; Thava then advances on the soldier, who calls her a disgrace to their kind before she strikes him with her radiant breath weapon and a pair of vicious punches. Kurdath responds by striking the Dragonborn with his own acidic breath weapon before shoving past her, dodging a punch as he advances toward the rest of the group.

Moon attempts to cast *Chaos Bolt* on the soldier, hitting a second sniper in the trees to his right instead before striking Kurdath with a Quickened *Fire Bolt*; Siobhan advances on the second snipre, missing him with a crossbow bolt before he returns fire, striking her as the first sniper fires at Thava and misses. Shiloh strikes Kurdath with a maul attack that is infused with divine radiance, shattering the crest of Varilax on the soldier's chest plate as a third unseen sniper fires at Dascha, striking the bard in the neck and knocking her unconscious; Bells rushes to cast *Cure Wounds* on the Tiefling, reviving her as Jean casts *Heat Metal* on Kurdath's dented armor, and Dascha attempts to cast *Vicious Mockery* on the soldier once more, failing again.

Moon attempts to cast another *Fire Bolt* at Kurdath, inadvertantly triggering a Wild Magic surge instead that renders himself, Bells, Jean, Shiloh, and Dascha dangerously susceptible to piercing damage, after which Siobhan fires a crossbow into the soldier's throat, knocking him unconscious before chasing after the second sniper; the man drops his crossbow and pulls a pair of longswords, missing as he swings wildly at the Rogue before backing away, giving Siobhan an opportunity to strike him with her dagger. Thava strikes the first sniper with her radiant breath weapon and a pair of punches before the man retaliates with his own acidic breath weapon, greatly injuring the Monk before Shiloh rushes toward the pair, killing the sniper with a devastating javelin attack infused with divine radiance.

*...continued in session twenty-nine*
## Notes

* The events of the session begin on 9 Duscar 839 PD before flashing back to events that occurred on 7 Misuthar 815 PD.
* Alternate titles for the session include, but are not limited to:
	+ "A Very Painful Place"

## Quotes

* "I was out of healing: I dumped it all into her brain." – Lazarus Oldman
* "I am unclear as to what is happening." – Trouble
"I am *so* sorry that I could not... I could not express how happy I am that you have your father back. What happened to him... It put me in a very dark place. A very painful place. And I was not able to...treat you right, and treat him right. And I want to apologize, because I am very happy that you have a second chance with him." – Kahlan Karsus
"There, there. I don't, um, know how to respond. I don't know what I'm supposed to do." – Trouble
"That is okay. I just... Lazarus helped me see through the pain, and I just wanted to let you know that... I'm happy that we could get him back." – Kahlan Karsus
"Another time, when there are not so many prying eyes and listening ears, we should talk." – Trouble
"I agree." – Kahlan Karsus
"I'm glad you are–" – Trouble
"And I'm just happy that I've– I will be able to listen better than I would have been able to a few days ago." – Kahlan Karsus
"I'm glad you are feeling... better? Perhaps not the most appropriate of words, but... I'm glad you seem to have come to a resolution that suits you. We should talk another time. I am not certain what I have to say would be taken well by... those listening." – Trouble
"Alright. Thank you." – Kahlan Karsus
* "There's a lot of emotions happening here tonight. This afternoon. Sorry. I'm not sure how to deal with all this." – Thava
"I don't quite understand emotion either. I just kind of sit back and watch." – Sado Thuliaga
"Are they always like this?" – Thava
"Since I've been traveling with them." – Sado Thuliaga
"Ugh. Ugh. It's like reliving... Nevermind. You'll be fine. You were always better at handling that than me." – Thava
"Are you the group mother, Mama?" – Sado Thuliaga
"Oh, dear gods no. Bells was usually stuck with that. In our first adventure, I– I didn't feel like a mother. I more felt like a ringmaster at a circus. But, over time, I suppose I became... used to, fond of... I felt more me around them, I suppose." – Thava
"Um, I know we said we would tell you the story of, uh, our first encounter with everything. Uh, in light of many things that have happened in the last hour, I'd say that's more of a thing for later on tonight, possibly tomorrow morning. I think we all need a bit of a mental break." – Siobhan Hannigan
"I've had, like, three already." – Lazarus Oldman
* "Happy birthday, Old Man." ‐ Kord
* "She's wrong in fourth person." – Zach Faulkner
* "🎶Add turn; add turn. We're gonna find out if I'm accidentally gonna kill everybody🎶" – Capwithoutacountry

## Episode

* Twitch
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