Session 14

### Session 14 - The Infinity Stones? Is Telmund Thanos? So many questions, and no answers...

We start this session with a bottle of Short and Stout. Coda seems confused, picks it, tastes it and confirms that it is, in fact, Short and Stout. She tells us that her family don’t sell it outside of Cliazerat, and goes to ask a bartender about it. The Lucky Lady’s bartender tells her that they have been selling it for around four or five months, and we take every bottle they have. We all try it, and it tastes a little bit fruity, but still has the hoppy taste of beer. Coda also mentions that her family had started working on a lemon flavoured one. We also find that Pawkanin’s, a delivery company that circulates products via airship, are the ones who distributed it to The Lucky Lady. The party briefly talks about birthdays, and Telmund and Xia apparently have birthday trauma? Then Coda and Telmund circulate the room and decide to take part in some gambling, first stopping at a table to play a game called Firefork. It costs one Vodeen to enter, and it’s basically Cash and Guns. The first round goes by in a matter of seconds. However the second round is much more exciting, and Coda wins us 31 (!) Vodeen. We then spend about 30 minutes of the session discussing our character’s birth dates, and then bed down for the evening. We take an early morning trip to the Foal and Goal, and find that Cabbage was here just 2 ten-days ago.

We set off on the road to Ashagos, and find a city that seems to be partially levitating. The tallest points aren’t connected to the ground, and it seems like there is a community below and a network above. The floating parts are not stationary, but moving above within the confines of the city below. We take a short stop at Pocken’s Hippo Sanctuary, and speak to Amanda Pocken, an aarokocra who gives us a little bit of information and tells us to look for Daggle, the cheapest and worst taxi driver that can get us to Feathertop. We find our way to the Lord of Messages after a hectic taxi ride from Rockbottom to Rocktop, in which Maggie nearly bounces off the side of Rocktop. We see a grandiose village hall type building, with doors on the side instead of windows, and we watch figures flying in and out. We enter inside and meet Daggle, a human man who looks extremely bottom heavy, with a large beer belly hanging out of the bottom of his short sleeved vest top, trousers that trail halfway up his legs, and socks pulled up to his knees to give the illusion that his trousers aren’t too short. In one hand he holds a bottle of beer. He tells us he is one of the King’s messengers, and we ask him for a ride. He asks Ejholan if he is a Thindruck, stating that the King’s Messengers have to take them up to Feathertop for free. Ejholan looks to Trip for guidance, and then lies. A bold move really.

We are taken to the Griffon, who Daggle introduces as Ggle, however when Ejholan speaks to him, he says his name is Anthony, but asks him not to tell as he has a prestigious job working for the King. Daggle climbs aboard Ggle/Anthony, activates an orb that suspends us all around the Griffon in mid-air, and we take to the skies. We fly for 30 minutes before hearing a noise behind us. Flying a few feet back from the orb is a gnomish gentleman riding atop a large owl, flanked by four boars clad in armour. We enter into a battle.

### **The Fight!**

*I have written down a play by play of the fight for the benefit of Tom, only to realise that I don’t think he has looked at the wiki once in his life, so the rest of you can just enjoy it, I guess.*

**Top of the Round.**

Xia casts Ball of Light at two of the boars and the gnome on the owl, dealing 24 damage to one boar, and 12 to the others.

Eva whips out her Force Cannon, and takes a shot, unfortunately missing.

Trip pours an Elixyr of Dragonscale down Ejholan’s throat.

The owl flies directly at the Griffon and pure lashes out at him, damaging Ggle quite a bit, before flying at Maggie and biting her for 21 damage.

Coda throws a Guiding Bolt at the guy on the owl, and hits, dealing 17 points of radiant damage.

For the boars turn, one attacks Coda, another attacks Telmund, and the other two miss attacks on Ejholan and Trip.

Maggie tries to charm but unfortunately, the spell does not take hold.

Ejholan takes a whack at a boar with his mace.

Melchior dolls out two hits, plus an action surge with a Nat 20 on Owl Man.

And all of that happened in the space of 6 seconds.

**Top of the Round.**

Xia casts Wither and Bloom, healing Ggle the Griffon and damaging that dick of an owl.

Eva casts Eldritch Blast out of her sword and it’s BADASS!

Trip heals the Griffon, and chucks a molotov at the owl.

The owl claws at Telmund and deals 29 points of damage, before grabbing a sack from the Griffon and flying away.

Coda cast Guiding Bolt dealing 20 points of damage.

The boars take a turn, and at this point they aren’t doing a whole lot. They miss all of their attacks.

Telmund cast Dissonant Whispers and its creepy af.

Maggie uses Zephyr Strike and takes two strikes against the creatures.

Ejholan uses Compelling Duel on the Owl and its a fucking sick move, and lay on hands 25 points of healing for Telmund.

Melchior absolutely launches his lance at a creature.

**Top of the Round:**

Xia casts Magic Missile at the creature.

Eva moves away from the Owl, who takes an attack of opportunity against her and deals 30 points of damage. Her cannon bangs off at it and deals 10 points of damage, and also pushes the creature back 5 feet.

Trip tries to grapple the man on top of the owl, and succeeds. Like a boss.

The owl pecks at Ejholan, dealing 34 points of damage that sends him down. Unfortunately, his Compelling Duel drops and the owl flies away with Trip still gripping on tightly.

Coda heals Ejholan.

The boars try to attack us and miss.

Telmund casts a spell and expends something to get some sorcery points back. I don’t know how sorcerers work.

Maggie stabs things.

Ejholan tries Compelling Duel again, but unfortunately it doesn't take.

Melchior kills a boar.

**Top of the Round:**

Xia tries to cast Hideous Laughter on the owl. It fails.

Eva attacks and also misses :(

Trip grabs a bottle and opens it at the owl, casting Acid Arrow. CAL ROLLS A NAT 20!!!! FUCK YEAH! Nvm, he rolled three ones as the damage :/

Owl pecks at Xia and she is down and out from one attack. Trip almost dies again. The acid does get the owl very low on HP.

Coda takes an attack of opportunity from the owl and heals Xia.

Pigs fly towards Trip, everyone takes attacks of opportunity and hits. Except Ejholan lol.

Trip goes down.

Telmund cast Dissonant Whispers on the owl for 19 points of damage.

Maggie cast Hunters Mark on a pig and stabs it. NAT 20 BBY! THATS MY GIRL!!!

Ejholan kills a pig.

Melchior hits a nat 20 against the man on the owl.

**Top of the Round:**

Xia hits the man for 1 (?!) point of damage and heals Trip, with Wither and Bloom.

Eva hits the man with her sword and does 9 points of damage.

Trip tries to grab the package from the dying owls hands. Rolls a 26, and yanks it successfully but the bag rips. Theres mail flying everywhere. It looks like the scene from the first Harry Potter film. Absolute carnage. Bonus action Healing Word on herself.

The man swirls his hands but appears to cast no spell, shouts something we can’t make out.

Coda scrambles round the owl and casts Inflict Wounds on a pig. NAT 20 AGAIN BBY! 42 damage on the pig. She moves back.

The man casts Blight on Coda and takes her out.

Telmund collects mail.

Ejholan baps the man twice.

Melchior attacks him, only one hits, dealing 10 points of damage.

**Top of the Round:**

Xia heals Coda.

Eva collects mail.

Trip tries to push the gnomish man off the edge. They match on a 25 and he doesn’t budge.

The gnome grabs the owl and goes careening off the edge of the bubble of force, healing the owl as he goes and flying away. Eva finds a rectangular parcel addressed to Layla Brewer. Daggle didn’t really notice any of the fighting because he’s oblivious.

We make our way up to a Grand Palace. We can’t make out whether the walls are white stone or pure clouds. It’s built upon nothing, seemingly and is very grandiose. As we arrive, Telmund just lies face down on the ground, happy to not be flying anymore. Trip rolls over and just breathes fire onto him, healing him.

We head towards the main chamber alongside Daggle. We enter down an icy passageway, the walls look very cloudy. We head past a stable with large grand golden chariots inside with two seats that look like they could seat all of us and then some. Walking in, we look down and the floor is like glass. We hear bellowing laughter that rumbles down the hall, and turn into a chamber that stands at around 500ft tall. There are clouds floating around the top of it  and there are two benches within, standing at 7 or 8 feet tall. There is a cloudy white throne. There are three individuals sitting on each bench, and one on the large throne. They look rather big and scary. Our attention is immediately drawn to their clothes and headpieces, lined with yellowed translucent crystals. The person sat on the throne has the most of these crystals by far, and wears a crown inlaid with the gems. There is a cauldron on the ground in front of them, a mural of crystals surrounding it. One giant stands, leans down to the cauldron, picks out a gem and places it onto their clothes. The one on the throne offers us a room, and challenges us to a wager. We have something to do in the morning, though for now, we don’t know what it is.

We head down to the left into the stateroom. Telmund is getting a strange buzzing sensation in his skull. Everything has wavering lines around it. He holds onto Ejholan for stability. Once inside the chamber, we are greeted by two Aarakocra servants. We settle in to sleep. It's a strange feeling. The bedding and floor all feel weightless, like clouds.

Telmund wakes in the night, as the room shakes, waves and shudders around him. The other members of the party are strangely unidentifiable to him. He knows who we are, but he can’t differentiate who is who. He walks, with purpose, but not purpose that is his own. The floor beneath his feet feels spongy. A door opens for him, he turns down a corridor on the right and the floor begins to feel like he’s wading through thick, deep quicksand. He feels strange, like he’s in control, but also isn’t. He continues walking, and takes a right again. He sees the glimmer of the two moons, and walks into the empty throne room. He steps up to the huge white cauldron. The glimmer of starlight reflects in the gems that are inlaid throughout the pot. He reaches forward and places his hand on top of one of the crystals, and for a second, his vision goes normal. He stops. He second guesses why he came to this room, why he is wandering the halls in the middle of the night. Then suddenly, the gemstone is in his hand.Suddenly he’s walking away, clutching the gemstone tightly in his hand. He holds onto it so tightly that it hurts. He can feel the heavy weight of the case in his pocket, overwhelmed by the unrelinquishing urge to put them together, to combine them. He opens the case, pulls out the wand and touches them together. His vision blackens, as he is overwhelmed by a searing hot pain, and then… comfort.

A voice echoes in his head. “You have done well. This power can be yours, Telmund. What is it that you desire the most?” He responds, “I wish to go home, and see those I love most.” The voice states that it can help. “The power inside yourself. Power you have been holding down. You feel weak.”  Telmund vision returns, and he locks his eyes onto the wand, now with another gem embedded in the handle. The voice speaks again, “You don't need to be.” Stone envelopes him, freezing him in place like a stature, before cracking away and crumbling to dust. Telmund gains a +1 to AC. “This is strength. This is power.” The voice continues. Telmund feels the glow of the yellow gem spread through him, stopping at his face. Telmund’s hit points increase.

“Collect more for yourself, and you will become stronger. Do not, and you will fail. Look, I will show you.” Telmund hears a whispering, and wakes up, still in his bed. He hears his wife, and gains access to the sending spell. The connection seems incomplete, he can’t hear her properly. And that's where we end the session.

#### Quotes:

‘Can I… taste the dribble?’ - Coda

Everything’s chance, so anything can happen!’ - Coda

‘You’re a very extreme man!’ -Maggie

‘Do you have a come day?’ - Xia

#### Point of Inspiration:

We decided that the weekly point of inspiration should go to Trip.