Broken Bonds: Episode 02

September 5, 2020 (Arcadum's YouTube)

### Reddit Thread

***Broken Bonds* Episode 2** was streamed on Arcadum's Twitch channel on July 19, 2020. The group found an alembic, destroy the golem, and wake up an undead warrior from his deep slumber, who gave them a gift. On their way out, they grave rob some graves and have to deal with the consequences. They return to the tavern and make friends with a hyperactive chemist that helps them with the alembic. They craft some interesting stuff, and have visions of gods and oracles.....

## Summary

Remag determines that the golem is caged in the ritual circle. Li'Lu lets Totemi perform some tricks in front of the golem but it does not react. The party convinces P'mis to get into the circle but a red barrier appears and the golem warns them about being ripped apart when entering the circle.

On a nearby table Hashbrown finds an alembic that is used to distill different liquids. P'mis picks a chest lock and finds 3 golden ingots, 1 pouch of powder, 3 incense sticks and a blue potion. The party brings P'mis to whiff the powder and he freezes shortly but remains unharmed. The Golem offers to identify the powder after it is freed from its prison.

E'ar sprays some water on the circle causing the prison to break. The golem identifies the powder as Silver Dust, a byproduct of an astral projection and a potent arcana reagent. Identifying of the blue potion only reveals that it contains powerful transmutation magic.

Bryan notices the symbol of Babylon on the golem's back. As the party only gathered four ingredients for a use of the alembic and are searching for a fifth, they decide to break the chains of the only non-looted sarcophagus against the golem's advice. The golem shatters as a creature emerges. P'mis, in panic, shoots the creature and it grabs Li'Lu although not to kill her but to reward them for freeing it. It turns out that the creature is Vesseven Talisbane and he gives them a black coin that will summon him once to help them, then leaves.

The party loots the tombs for 259 gold and gets attacked by skeletons that do not pose a great danger to the group. After defeating the skeletons, Remag retrieves the golem heart from the shattered rune golem. In Vesseven's sarcophagus P'mis finds a pair of daggers dedicated to the god Crowley. The daggers glow as he wields them. On the table, they now notice 4 vials, one of them contains blood covered in alcohol. They take the vials as well as an hourglass and leave the catacombs with Remag jumping up like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. They realize that they are still prisoners and decide to hide their findings in Remag's shell while Li'Lu puts Vesseven's coin in her shoe.

They report back to Gallant and the mayor, who pays Gallant 750 gold for their service. Back at the inn, Gallant wants to search the prisoners but Remag creates an odor of shit aura that causes Gallant to try to clean him in the bathroom eventually giving up.

The gnome alchemist Kezzebezzekerrez walks into the inn. While P'mis and Bryan distract Gallant, the rest of the group shows the gnome their findings. She identifies the unknown vials as Verdant Essence, Sky Essence and Ambition. She also warns them not to show the powder to the open sky, the Astral Sea.
She further identifies the blue potion as Azure Light and describes it as concentrated faith. They start to use the master alembic and first create Conqueror's Brew, the essence of domination, from blood and ambition. In the hope of creating an avatar potion they mix Sky Essence, Water from E'ar, a lit incense stick and verdant. It creates a mandrake root. They mix both results together and create a Genesis Shard. The alchemist describes it as memory, time and new beginnings represented into a single artifact.

As Remag removes the Genesis Shard from the alembic, a surge of power moves throughout the inn strengthening the party.

An Augur vision potion that shows the future of the imbiber is created by mixing water, a gold ingot and incense. Li'Lu drinks it and sees herself in a vision besides a cyclopes and gets a flash of insight from an oracle girl with the Seer's sight. Li'Lu will be asked to make a decision by an enemy and should not choose the selfish option.

Bryan drinks the Azure Light and she meets Babylon. She promises her loyalty, but for his love, he asks her to kill Vesseven Talisbane.

## Featured Characters

### Main Characters

* Bryan
* E'ar
* Hashbrown
* Li'lu
* P'mis
* Remag

### New

* EX1L3D
* Vesseven Talisbane
* Kezzebezzekerrez
* Babylon

### Returning

* Gallant
* Mayor Lamino