Bonds of Forced Faith Prologue

## **Session 1**

The session begins with Roland leading a strike team of Flint citizens against the witches at Cauldron Hill. One by one his party members go insane and die, until he meets the Contessa herself: “Such a pitiful band for my greeting party, Roland? I’m insulted!”

And then she kills him. Thanks to Roland’s nature as a reincarnating deva, this isn’t their first rodeo nor is it their last.

On advice from the skyseer Rachel, Lorcan comes to Flint to discuss the matter with Roland with Melissa, Harkover, and Tomas along for the ride. According to Rachel, the witches must be defeated after sunset or else it won’t stick and so the party makes plans.

Enter Amielle with a warning about the witches: they must be defeated BEFORE sunset, because that’s when they enact a ritual that will grant them great power. Being from the enemy country of Danor, Amielle is immediately distrusted but the party takes her along to keep an eye on when they get word that Rachel’s in trouble at Parity Lake.

At Parity Lake, Rachel is being assaulted by a man for being a witch! The party explains that no, she’s just a skyseer and that’s different from a witch. Rachel is an ally to the crown, not that Lorcan is especially popular after ceding territory to Danor in a recent war. The man who attacked Rachel suddenly keels over and his blood is drained up out of him to form the Contessa’s silhouette as she delivers an ultimatum: give her the king and let her rule as queen, and they’ll stop the kidnappings.

Roland intervenes as the townspeople are considering this deal, but they’re not happy with Roland either for allowing the witches’ attacks to happen. He points out: y’all keep planting him back into the governor’s seat every time he dies/reincarnates, so do you trust him or not? He knows his ex is up to no good, he can handle it. (The players have since been informed that it’s not strictly in the text that Roland and the Contessa are exes. It's canon now though.)

The party fights a witch; highlights including the witch turning into a bird to escape before someone catches them barehanded and Melissa tying up the untransformed witch in a golden net before the party tosses her in a lake to drown. We then convene with Rachel, who argues with Amielle over the before sunset/after sunset deadline. Melissa gets fed up and puts up a Zone of Truth, figuring Amielle is obviously lying and that this is the easiest way to prove it. Instead Amielle repeats her story and Rachel...

“Okay, I’m not really a skyseer. But I do want to help! I can guide you to the mountain with my sister, make sure you get to Cauldron Hill. We have potions to help you make the trip.”

Weird but seems mostly legit? Harkover wants to be sure, though: "Can you say that you're not working with the witches?"

Rachel smiles and casts Cloud of Daggers at the king.

## Session 2

We defeat Rachel and both Lorcan and Melissa give some speeches to the townspeople. Because Lorcan is perceived as weak and Melissa is perceived as a haughty warmonger, this earns both some much-needed favor.

The party heads up Cauldron Hill to kill the Contessa before sunset. Due to a mix of magical items and abilities we manage to climb the hill undetected - and good thing, because the Contessa had set out the corpses of Roland's previous party as a welcome mat of sorts.

We take a while to decide what to do about the hostages, which is complicated by the fact that 1) they're in cages, 2) the Contessa can screw them up if she realizes we're trying something, and 3) any blood we draw from the Contessa will be reflected on the hostages. Because the Bonds of Forced Faith have a maximum radius, we split into two groups: one to trap the Contessa behind an anti-magic barrier and one to rescue the hostages and get them beyond said radius. Roland is in the first group, and when the Contessa catches sight of him:

> **Contessa:** Roland! You didn't bring me flowers?
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> **Roland:** Well, I have this...
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> *(Roland produces a cactus from somewhere as a gift)*
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A fight ensues. Meanwhile Lorcan and Melissa rescue the hostages, and Lorcan sends Melissa as an escort to see them to safety (hoping to improve her image and therefore viability as a successor) before joining the others.

Witches here can only be killed via drowning or fire, so we have to figure out how to kill her via one of those methods. Amielle, finding that her gun isn't much use against the Contessa, has an idea. Even if her gun won't do much damage, the powder horns she carries can do some damage if ignited...

After some OOC discussion (TWENTY POWDER HORNS) Amielle tosses seven ignited powder horns at the Contessa and demolishes her in a blaze of 21d6 damage.

Unfortunately, the Contessa has a death curse ready and hurls it at the king. Lorcan just barely lives long enough to name Melissa (come back in at the tail end of the fight) as his successor before dying painfully. Due to the magic underlying Risuri rulership, all Melissa needs to do is put on her crown.

A shockwave sends Risuri citizens prone, and Harkover uses this as an opportunity to take the crown and keep Melissa from claiming it before they can appoint a more democratically decided monarch. Melissa...agrees, but just barely.

Amielle asks to become an ambassador to Risur and has Harkover promise to focus more on technology (Danor's specialty). Tomas takes a scroll of the Bonds of Forced Faith and goes back to Crisillyir. Melissa is eventually made queen thanks to the favor she curried during the adventure. Roland continues to be governor.