Session 05

Date range of Session 05

> ***Unfinished and unedited - check back soon!***
>
>

## **52nd of Duoary**

### **New Friends**

The session opened with an uneasy peace between the party and their orc and ogre companions.

Electra attempted to exchange pleasantries with their assailants and offered a particularly egregious-smelling ogre some perfume. With the assistance of Amanita, who spoke Giant, she explained how the fragrance was used to mask foul odours. The ogre did not understand the concept. In her attempts to demonstrate the process of applying perfume, Amanita learned that essential oils and mushrooms are … not a good mix.

After deliberating on what to do to shake their assailants, Electra came up with an ingenious plan. After attaching some rations to Colossus, she cast an *incite greed* spell on the orcs and ogres and encouraged them to fight over and chase the rations. She managed to distract all but one of the group. To ensure Colossus wasn’t eaten by an ogre, Amanita hid another ration nearby and stealthily rescued the dog, bringing him back safely to Electra.

A few more minutes passed, and Electra felt a ping in her head. She recognised the sensation as Deuteronomy attempting to contact her. She accepted his message and entered a trance-like state. She once again found herself before Deuteronomy in the Ethereal Basin, surrounded by stars, as if in the night sky. She relayed everything that had happened since they last spoke. While he listened attentively, Electra noticed his eyes light up when she mentioned the tome *Root and Stem* (or was it the *Heretic’s Companion*?). He appeared uninterested in the extraneous details of her journey, only paying attention to her descriptions of the lich. However, she also noted that he didn’t attach any importance to the rusted iron crown. For once in her life, the old cat knew less than she did. Deuteronomy provided some more background on liches, noting that Nekrosis was an “old weapon on the Swarm”. Imagining the potential power of the lich, he urged her to bring Nekrosis to the Ethereal Basin to negotiate a deal. When Electra again mentioned the Court of Fire’s treachery, Deuteronomy attempted to magically silence her for “a moment’s silence”. But Electra stood defiant, and even Deuteronomy’s magic could not silence her. After this brief conversation, Electra returned to consciousness on the Roseway and spoke in hushed tones to Balthazar about the possibility of returning the lich to the Ethereal Basin.

After some more time on the road, the remaining ogre snapped out of Electra’s and Balthazar’s charms. After a *command* from Electra, they fled.

## **53rd of Duoary**

Four days after their encounter with Nekrosis the Devourer, the party encountered another strange sight on the Roseway. As Amanita and Electra spoke, with the Sister relaying some memories about liches and their history, they saw a great tree in the middle of the road. Much to their surprise, the tree screamed, and lashing out with roots at the party, yelled, “Look out. I can’t stop it!”. Balthazar restrained the tree within a watery sphere while Amanita telepathically bonded with the tree. A much more lucid, humanoid voice responded to her, telling her that something ambushed them on the road and blinded them. Sensing magic, Amanita cast a *dispel magic* spell on the tree, and her spores corroded the magical energy and the tree to reveal a helpless toad. The toad thanked them profusely, and after they remarked that they would have given the party gold had it not been stolen, Electra handed the toad a gold piece. The toad, a commoner, appeared shocked by such a generous gesture. They also revealed that they were ambushed by a hooded figure, a tall human with blue robes and a thin red beard.

While they spoke with the toad, with her natural perceptiveness, Amanita spotted a giant python in the trees. The python’s eyes flickered, becoming green and human-like. Before she could react, the python lunged for Amanita and Mornon. After a brief scuffle, in which the python revealed itself to be a human, Mornon attacked with his sword, Balthazar cast a charm on the group, and the spellcaster attempted, unsuccessfully, to shapeshift into a flea, the mage surrendered. Speaking in broken Ockran, they implored Balthazar for mercy, recognising him as a lord of Morozova Manor before switching to Ignan and speaking to Mornon. After Electra cast *tongues* so the party could communicate with the mage, they wove an elaborate tale about trying to “test their new powers” on the unsuspecting toad, only robbing them when their original spell failed. Soon, the truth came out. They were a petty thief using magic to rob travellers on the road. While Balthazar, with the aid of Colossus, attempted to intimidate the thief, it was Amanita who successfully ordered them to stop their illicit activies on the Roseway. Reminding them that the sisterhood saw all, she warned them against thieving on the roads again, and they fled from the party.

Nothing else happened that day. As the party settled in for the evening, Amanita invited the group to share memories as a sign of their friendship. (Please add Electra’s story here). Amanita handed Mornon her *pipe of remembrance,* and as the tiefling wove a tale of his battle prowess, the smoke conjured images of his victories.

## **55th of Duoary**

On their final night before arriving in Greensgood, the party game to a humble inn known as the Frosted Apple. Stopping at the inn for the night, they were greeted by the owner of the establishment, a battle-scarred dwarf by the name of Orkus. He recognised Balthazar and welcomed the mouseling and his companions.

The inn was bustling, filled with ravens, toads, some lizardfolk, and travellers of many descriptions. Amidst the sea of strangers, the party saw two familiar faces: Genevieve Abernathy and Professor Ashworthy. Amanita and Electra approached the pair while Balthazar and Mornon headed to the bar for a drink. Balthazar asked for a glass of milk while Mornon shared war stories with the barkeep over drinks. After many drinks, Orkus shared that he had fought at the Massacre of Crow’s Point – a final stand between civilians from the Shadowfen and forces from the Ironclad Union. According to Orkus, he had received his distinguishing scars from one of the Union’s warg constructs. Having shared war stories, Orkus took a liking to Mornon and Balthazar, sharing with them a bottle of Fire Whiskey – a delicacy from the Winter Pact to the north.

Meanwhile, the cleric and the sister spoke with the professor and the albino raven. Electra returned the silver bangles to the raven and inquired to the professor about liches, assuming him to have immense stores of knowledge. Ashworthy freely shared his knowledge of liches, informing her that during the Mage Wars, the desert was largely spared of lich activity, noting how liches tended towards the “heavier” elements and touching upon the theory that the liches lead to the Diminishing. Some, he suggested, argued that the liches harnessed too much of Stormbound’s finite magical power, and their disappearance lead to the disappearance of the magic from the continent. As Electra listened to the professor, Amanita attempted to read Lady Abernaty’s mind but was met with a blank wall. Telepathically connecting to Electra, she noted how her magic had failed, and the two conspired to distract Lady Abernathy to see if Amanita could access her thoughts. On a second attempt, Amanita was met with the same resistance. Recalling her telepathic training on inanimate objects under the Sisterhood, she realised that the raven was not a “creature” but an “object” without an accessible mind.

At this moment, a tense mood fell over the inn. The professor’s beard stood on end. In a miasma of shadows of tendrils, Electra’s bag exploded, and from the rusted iron crown, a shadowy figure took form. A skeletal figure without an eye or tome. Nekrosis the devourer.

In an instant, Lady Abernathy vanished, and the Professor cast a spell to teleport himself away. The inn erupted in chaos. Electra called upon her divine protection to *bless* the party, and they prepared to confront the lich. In the chaos, Balthazar seized his opportunity and used Azazel’s Prophecy to cast a spell on the lich. But to the party’s horror, the staff summoned a *fireball*, engulfing not just the lich but also the nearby Amanita, Electra, and Savos. Each was consumed by flame, with Amanita’s and Savos’s fungal nature proving particularly susceptible to the fire. The lich cast a corrupting spell and within moments, Amanita fell, unconscious, the mushroom armour fused to her skin, corroded and burned by fire and corruption. She was saved from death only when Savos, who, also near death, dragged her from the flames, and a hooded stranger stabilised her with a potion. Meanwhile, the barkeep grabbed his axe, and after trying to figure out friend from foe, glancing between Balthazar and the lich, decided to attack Nekrosis. The tide of the battle turned when Balthazar cast a *watery sphere* on the lich and held it in place, Amanita cast a sphere of silence over the lich. Trapped and silenced, they could do nothing but strike out with skeletal hands at the dwarf nearby. Finally, Mornon charged at the lich, and with three deft attacks, he sundered the lich’s arm from its body and in a final burst of thunder (?), he tore the lich’s chest open. Once again, the party prevailed against the ancient evil.

As the rusted crown fell to the ground, Mornon was filled with the overwhelming sensation that the crown was *meant* for him. Something had connected him to the artefact, and he felt an immediate bond of attunement form with the crown. Taking the crown, he placed it on his head. The rusted crown fit him perfectly, and his long horns began to mould around the metal, rendering him one with the artefact.

When the barkeep approached them about the events and the crown they possessed, Balthazar attempted to persuade him to allow them to stay, arguing that the lich would not return for many days. While Electra tried to assist Balthazar in persuading the dwarf, he stayed obstinate. The barkeep tactfully refused the party lodging for the evening, informing them instead that they could find shelter in the stables across the road. The party took their leave, but not before Electra handed the barkeep 20 gold in compensation, and Amanita performed a rite for the memories of the departed.

> *This life will not be forgotten.*
>
>
> *Great Mother, guide these memories to their home in your arms.*
>
>
> *May they sing forever and their voice never die,*
>
>
>
> *In the Network, where eternity lies.*
>
>

Under the roof of the stable, they found rough lodgings for the evening. Being sure to a watch for the night to ensure that nothing happened to the crown, they rested until morning.

## **56th of Duoary**

When morning arrived, Electra cast a *sending* spell to Deuteronomy, saying, “*Had a brief meeting with the lich. Interesting information. Feel free to chat when you’ve got a moment*”. Amanita, meanwhile, recalling the lich’s unusual casting of a corrupted version of *spirit guardians*, consulted the network and learned more about lich magic. Through the memories, she recalled that the process of becoming a lich involved invoking an element and replacing one’s soul with that element. Such a transformation allowed a lich to cast any magic associated with the essence of that element, for example, allowing a lich of corruption to cast all necrotic spells, a lich of wood to cast all healing and transmutation spells, and (theoretically, as there were no documented cases of such as lich) a lich of chaos to cast wild magic at will. For their future encounters with the lich, she remembered that liches were vulnerable to the “true opposite” of their element, and radiant spells would serve them well in their fight against Nekrosis.

The party, after many days of travel, finally arrived in Greensgood. A marshland city built in the caldera of an old volcano, with vine-covered buildings lining swampy canals. When the party arrived at the towering gates of the city, they were met with Xyanos the Lyre, a decrepit old raven whom Amanita recognised as a Chamberlain and member of the Office of the Broken Crown. Xyanos was accompanied by six members of the Obsidian Butchers, guards to the Broken Crown, dressed in dark purple armor, and greeted each party member by name. He appeared to have knowledge of their exploits on the road, informing them that travellers had spoken of them. Electra tried to make a good impression to the raven – despite her lack of knowledge – and Amanita assisted her, telepathically giving her information on the raven that she parroted. He seemed flattered by her interest in his personal biography. When he asked their purpose in the city, Amanita took the lead, informing the Chamberlain that her companions were guests of the Sisterhood, assisting in private matters. Xyanos, sighing at the secretive nature of the Sisterhood, allowed them to pass, but insisted they remain with her in the city.

Being Skoros, the Greenheart council was due to meet for the day, leaving the group most of the day to explore the city before they would report to the council.

## References

1. ↑ A common funeral rite performed by members of the Celial Sisterhood