Koth's Secret

The session opens with two Rocs dead, the warband pulling apart pieces of flesh. Sylvi notices that Eirlys looks exhausted. Keen Eye reassures the group that the noise is unlikely to have been overheard from the Flame Legion army from the distance and the group decides to stay to harvest the dead Roc. Toe Knee and Dostoyevsky have a tender moment and return from the large Roc. They promptly fall asleep.

The party then sets out to gather information on the Flame Legion while Koth grapples with the implications of his Secret.

## Plot:

Destiny's Shadow takes a breather after fighting the trio of Rocs.  Toe Knee is still off in the sky with the largest Roc and the Charr are starting again to harvest meat from the dead Roc.  Sylvi approaches Eirlys to apologize about the fate of the young Roc.  Eirlys, slumped against an outcrop to catch her breath, tells her it will be alright so long as nothing the Charr take goes to waste.

The Druid then begins to arduously pace out a circle around the massive corpse in order to dedicate the remains to the forest.

Meanwhile, Toe Knee and his Wyvern leap from the back of the Roc and dive back down towards the party.  He and Dotsoevsky have a moment of reconnection, where Toe Knee tries to make amends for the way he has been treating the Wyvern.  Dotsoevsky relays that he has not yet given up on Toe Knee and the two set off once again back towards the group.

Keen Eye reminisces about the loss of her Divine powers and seeks out Koth's guidance for how she can continue to serve the group.  Koth suggests that though Gods are fickle beings who's whims change like the winds, in his experience they always respect power and he tells her to continue to prove her strength and her worth, and that they will wind up coming crawling back to her.  In celebration of this revelation Keen Eye rams her horns directly into the trunk of a tree, and then is graced with the vision of a unicorn-like Goat.  The creature eyes her and then hops off into the brush again.  Keen Eye lets it leave in peace.

It is about that point when Toe Knee returns to the camp and Sylvi shares some of her infinite wine flask with Toe Knee and Dotsoevsky.  Then Toe Knee and the wyvern go to get some rest, as they have both been out all night long.

Sylvi spends some time to transform her familiar, Noodle the snake, into a Hawk to help with reconnaissance and then she takes Eirlys and Keen Eye aside for some makeup and sword practice so that Koth can have time to talk to the Charr Warband.

Koth and the Warband discuss the possible reasons for Niloc's betrayal.  Varis suggests that Niloc has not been quite the same since he lost his arm.  Marin admits that it could be a spell of some kind and that while she does not like Niloc, she doesn't believe he would have betrayed the group of his own free will.  Duncar says he's never had a problem with Niloc, and that he has always been there for him when he needed him.  Radwin cuts Duncar off and makes the point that the Charr have been warned before that fighting the Flame Legion can mess with your head.  He points out that the princess is not the Charr's mission, and suggests that they shouldn't be throwing their lives away.  Varis doubles down and says that the Warband will follow Koth to kingdom come, but he won't hesitate to call Koth out when he thinks there are mistakes being made.  Koth gives orders to prep for scouting and espionage.

After the Warband meeting, the party reconvenes.  Sylvi uses her Scry Phone to check in on Spiderling Hressik', who is crouched low, hiding in a tent with a strange, oversized cloak being worn.  Her arm is held awkwardly behind her head and she won't respond to anything Sylvi says, but she seems to be in distress.  Every time Sylvi says something Hressik' seems to be concentrating incredibly hard.  Sylvi breaks the connection and pulls out her magic books to try to figure out what is going on.  She comes to the conclusion that someone in the Flame Legion camp must be able to detect thoughts, and Hresic is trying to keep her mind clear so she can sneak through the camp.

Destiny's Shadow discusses their options and chooses to split up into multiple parties.  Sylvi sends Noodle out and watches through their eyes to get a bird's eye view of the Charr as they break down their camp.  Eirlys and Marin set out into the woods and ask some very chatty Coyotes some questions in exchange for some of the Roc meat.  Keen Eye stays behind with Toe Knee, Dotsoevsky, Radwin, and Duncar to watch Sylvi's comatose body.

Meanwhile, Koth and Varis set out on a day-long scouting expedition to circle the Flame Legion forces.  As they get closer to the camp, Koth overhears some Flame Legion Charr discussing that they're going to be pulling down the wall.  They witness the Flame Legion using magic to reverse the construction of their fortresses back into logs.  On closer examination, Sylvi's familiar and Koth independently discover that the replaced trees are fabrications and not actually alive.

Meanwhile, Eirlys and Marin arrive back in camp, and Eirlys broaches the question of what the Flame Legion actually want, and why the warband is fighting them.  Disturbingly, she doesn't get any concrete answers.  Some people say that the Flame Legion is sexist, and that there is something of a religious conflict.

Eventually, Koth and Varis return and Koth begins to recant the history of the Charr and the Flame Legion.

Long ago the Charr were united under a single Charr known as the Kahnur.  The Kahnur sired four children and each of those children went on to found the four Charr legions—the Ash, Blood, Flame, and Iron Legions.  He, on his deathbed, said that whoever held the artifact known as the Claw of the Khanur would lead all Legions.  The Flame Legion seized control first and led the Charr into a religious zealotry that drove them to systemized misogyny and devotion to the dark gods known as the Titans.

Koth continues for a time, and then struggles deeply with an internal dilemma.  A secret he has carried since before the founding of Destiny's Shadow.  A secret kept even from his warband.  A secret he will continue to keep from Toe Knee, as Keen Eye points out that he cannot be trusted with such things and Koth immediately sequesters him into a bubble of silence.

Then, the Charr Ranger turns his attention back to the secret at hand.  The Flame Legion is currently following a female Charr, and Malise has tasked Koth with approaching her and trying to use her to bring the Flame Legion back into the fold, ending the generations-long conflict.  As he shares this information, information he has kept from his family and friends for over a year, the reactions to the revelation are varied.  While Keen Eye seems contemplative the Warband expresses distaste and distrust with Koth, only Radwin seeming to be willing to continue the conversation... and he does this by pointing out that if Koth had a secret mission, maybe Niloc does as well.

Eirlys then shares her theory that Niloc's body may be possessed by another entity, largely because of her experiences with Gareth Hakeem and the revelation that Niloc's body now possesses a very large Awnsheglien aura when he never had one before.  Sylvi mentions that something similar had once happened to Toe Knee, and that they should probably get him out of the silence bubble so they can ask him about his experience.

About that time is when Sylvi decides to use her Scry Phone's truesight function to examine the party, just to check to make sure it works before she uses it to examine Niloc.  Toe Knee is revealed to have a strange, shifting form, Ae'Rion has a ghost girl with him, Marin is carrying several concealed magical trinkets, and Koth has a magical sensor floating over his shoulder, spying on the whole group.  Just as Sylvi makes the shocked realization that they are all being watched the Episode comes to a close.