Session 15

## Notable Events

* Nova was not grounded, grounded, grounded
* Had beef with clarence
* Secret about Nova’s birth parents revealed to Nova
* Meet up with the dragon knight, Adeline confirmed captured by Norne, party possibly going to dracksrock?
* Beef with clarence again
* Justice revealed why he's forestphobic (got stuck in a forest as a child)
* Went to Nova’s parents house to find information about lotsa things
* Pearl gets kicked out, Nova’s birth parents secret revealed to the group (minus pearl)
* Given task to investigate clarence’s weird magic, Orianna tells us a book is missing
* Goofin off - Meadow is very homesick, Dimi gets some blood from pearl, Justice and Haldir have grandpa conversation
* Halfling kid leads us to base, clarence tells us origin of magic as best as he can
* We go to bog and find remnants of devil summoning ritual
* Make a deal with devil to fight to the death so clarence doesn't blow up\
* Justice hit 0hp - Devil hacked and slashed
* Devil runs away (coward) and we win :)

## Details

Damaia travels ahead while Nova, Ruvyn and Marie follow, with the party further behind. While they are walking, Nova explains to Ruvyn and Marie why she's so nervous about this conversation - telling them about her father and her heritage, which is why she wants to go to the Feywilds. Travelling through forest path - a group of 4 teenagers are loitering about and leader bumps into Nova. After annoying The Party the kids wander off and the Party moves on. The Party eventually splits off from Nova and her family as the paths diverge, one way going towards the glade Nova trained in and the other path leading towards the area where the injured group Marie described temporarily live in.

In the glade that Nova trained in and spent a lot of her childhood in, Damaia revealed why she was so against Nova traveling to the Feywilds. She explains that Nova's mother, Eleanor, was someone Damaia and Orianna took in and saw as a daughter. Nova was very similar to her mother in her wanderlust, Eleanor set off when she came of age to see the world. She later returned to visit the commune with an elvish man with reddish brown hair, and eyes similar to Nova. She excitedly told them she and her traveling partner were looking into traveling to other planes. The last and final time Damaia would see Eleanor was as a corpse in the glade unexpectedly, in the arms of the man she travelled with, with blood on his hands. He looked proud but guilty and looked less elvish and more fey like - having sprouted horns and legs being replaced with that of a satyr. Damaia attacked him, inferring that he was the cause of her daughter's death, wounding him before he escaped through what Damaia describes as "a rip in reality". Damaia was left with Eleanor's corpse, carved with the words "I will return". Damaia and Orianna buried her beneath the redwood tree in the center of the glade so Eleanor could lay beneath the moon even in death, and resolved to raise the child she left behind - which was Nova.

After Nova heard all of this, she was in shock, questioning everything she knew. Damaia continues on, explaining this is why she doesn't want Nova going into the Feywilds, as she already lost one daughter to this. Nova responds that she still has so much she wants to know about this, and expressed her wish to communicate with him. Damaia is angered by this, asking incredulously why she would want to speak to him after all he's done, calling her curiosity foolish and reckless, and pleads that she just doesn't want to lose another daughter. Nova explains that she thinks he may be involved in something bigger - explaining that she feels like she needs to go to other planes to find out whats happening. Damaia pleads Nova to promise on her mother's grave to not go into the eywilds, and Nova responds that she cant make that promise because she doesn't know where this adventure will take her. Damaia storms off after this; Leaving Nova, Ruvyn, and Marie back in the glade where they stayed for a little bit to help process the information they just received.

> "Nova: Call it curiousity,...
> Damaia: I call it foolishless! recklessness! Same as your mother. What do you think I would do if I found out I failed twice? I want to protect you. If that means keeping you here then I will."
>
>

> Damaia: Promise me you will not go to the Feywilds. Promise me on your mothers grave.
>
> Nova: I don't know where this will take me. I don't know whether I can make that promise.
>
>

Meanwhile, the rest of The Party followed the path and approached the clearing ahead, spotting the familiar faces of some of the Cinders, the Dragon Knight's mercenary group. The bugbear said on a chair on the deck, clearly injured, with fur removed in places. Further into the trees, the Dragon Knight could be found chopping wood. He looks rough, leaner than the party remembers, covered in bandages, and two fingers missing. He starts to tell the party about what happened. Pearl's frustrations arise and he does not control them. He criticizes the Dragon Knight for things outside the Knight's control, as he sees the parallels between the Knight and himself. The Dragon Knight punches Pearl twice.

> "Don't say their name again." - The Dragon Knight to Pearl
>
>

After the party left Turlock, the Cinders lost one, headed north and kept going. The Dragon Knight became feverish and Adelein looked after him. The commune let them in and they rested. The Dragon Knight didn't want to rest, so he started building a cabin as thanks for the commune's hospitality. The nobles came by soon after. Haldir approached the Cinders and asked for them to go with them. Adelein volunteered themself, while the rest of the Cinders held the Knight down.

> "Make sure you break me out." - Adelein to The Dragon Knight, before leaving
>
>

Justice asks the Knight if he is from Norne, and if so, why he would speak so brazenly to a noble? The Knight reveals some of his origins: more than a decade ago, the Dragon Knight woke up in a crater, metal around him. He had no memory of anything before. He joined the mercenary group with Harrold and travelled the world. He says he's not Jaindallian, but the party gleans that he's not telling the whole truth.

The Dragon Knight revealed his plan to break into Dracksrock, collect his items, and break Adelein out of Norne'e grasp when he recovers from his injuries. Justice explains that Adelein has at the very least one chance of not facing death with the help of someone he knew (Augustine). The dragon Knight stated he was open to the party's assistance, if they were so inclined to provide it - and The Party is keeping this in mind.

As the party goes on the forest path back towards the main area of the commune, they spot Nova having an altercation with the group of children from earlier - particularly with their leader, Clarence. A little earlier, Nova, Ruvyn, and Marie had left the glade - with Ruvyn and Marie having other duties to tend to, and Nova wanting to meet up with the party. Clarence harassed them once again and Nova, who was in a precarious emotional state, retaliated with attempting to hit Clarence with Thornwhip, which misses. Meadow intervenes and intimidates Clarence into leaving them alone; this works a little too well as this causes Clarence's magic to react to his fear, going wild and manifesting in a Chain Lightning spell which hit Nova, Ruvyn, and Marie. This is when the party notices that Clarence's magic is extremely strange, and manifesting in concerning ways (his irises are leaking, he has absolutely no control over this magic, and it is unnaturally powerful). The Party take a short break as Nova, Ruvyn, and Marie recover from the lightning that hit them. Justice reveals his reasons of being uncomfortable in forests.

Ruvyn and Marie split off from the group while The Party returns to Damaia and Orianna's house in search for information about earthquakes and interplanar events - Nova is secretly wanting to search through Orianna's collection of journals for the night she was born. The rest of The Party are introduced to Orianna, as she tries to help them with the information they wish to gather. Orianna questions how did they would know that this earthquake reached other planes. Pearl accidentally lets it slip that he received this information through Nova's Father, and that he gets magic from him. After this revelation, Orianna kicks him out of the house. The rest of the Party finds out about the origins of Nova's birth from Orianna; Nova mentions that her father has communicated with her. Orianna gives her support if Nova wants to pursue finding answers by communicating with her father, or going into the Feywilds. Before the Party leaves the house, Orianna asks them to investigate Clarence's mysterious magic and a missing book from her library, which the party suspects are connected. Meanwhile outside of the house, Pearl has an encounter with Nova's father, where he instructs him to stay the course, and that he was almost there - despite Pearl not knowing what he is actually supposed to be doing in return for his brother's life, but stating that he was not willing to kill anyone for him.

> "So you're here. Finally you came here. And now, you, Pearl. You're very reckless. But Oriana is right. You should have left the house. I can't be trusted."
> -
>
> "I would have been very surprised if you trusted me at all."
> -
> "Remember our deal. Your life for his. You're getting very close now. Just stay on the path and you're going to finally be able to pay me back."
> "You killed your own wife!"
> "....It's complicated. You weren't even supposed to see that. I should have ruptured your brain from the inside out. For such heresy, hubris,.... for trying to control my memories, my train of thought. Maybe it was a sense of pride and envy that you would do something so foolish that I decided I wouldn't kill you."
> "I'm not going to kill anyone for you."
> "Just stay the course. You don't need to kill any of your friends at least. The power you have is growing like a flower, ready for harvest. So stay the course, Pearl."
>
>

Deducing that the best chance to tracking down Clarence or any of his friends would be when they gather for lunch, The Party decides to relax a little for a couple of hours.

* Nova sets out to pester Marie in the fields, wanting to show off what she's learnt in her time outside the commune and just generally spending time with them
* Justice asks Dimitri about his condition and Dimitri reveals he's gone quite a while without blood. Dimitri, Justice, and Pearl go to find Meadow. Together, they hide in thicket to deal with Dimitri's predicament. Pearl offers his blood. Meadow says that she would, but doesn't think it would be a good idea considering her condition and connection to Malar. Justice stays silent, and seems uncomfortable about the entire situation. He turns Dimitri invisible. Meadow holds Dimitri's head and Justice holds his arms from behind, to make sure Dimitri won't take too much. A couple of people heckle them as they exit the thicket, assuming the the four of them were in there having some fun.
* Meadow looks for a quiet place to contemplate on home, and stumbles upon the Damaia in the Redwood Glade. Meadow leaves her alone as she's having a moment and goes to the other side of the glade to meditate, just taking in being surrounded by nature again while trying to communicate with Malar. Asking him to ensure Lana and the Tribe's safety. She is later approached by Dimitri and Justice, who asks about how she's feeling. She reveals some of her feelings and homesickness.
* Dimitri heads towards the kitchen to help out with lunch, Nova and Marie roll in a giant pumpkin because they went a bit overboard with the magic, but Dimitri makes a feast of pumpkin pies with it.
* Justice has a cordial conversation with Haldir, talking about history and what Haldir has witnessed in his long life. Justice also mentions that Norne may come back for the Dragon Knight when they find out they have a changeling instead

The Party reconvenes for lunch, and spots one of Clarence's friends sneaking around to take some food. After pranking him, The Party convinces him to lead them to Clarence's hide out. In the hideout, The Party inspects Clarence more to see the extent of the damage his magic has caused to him, and they convince him to tell us where he got his magic from. He is under some enchantment that prevents him from saying the particulars, but The Party manages to find out that he was given magic by some entity he encountered in the swamp area of the woods.

The Party travels further into the woods, with Clarence's directions, Towards the swamp. In the swamp, the party finds evidence of some sort of ritual being done some time ago, and the book that was missing from Orianna's library. Nova was the only one able to read the book, as it had all been in infernal. She relays that the book details how to enact a devil summoning ritual, and it matched with the ritual materials present in this swamp. With dawning horror of what has occured here, The Party is caught off guard, but not surprised, as the Devil approaches them.

The devil reveals that she was indeed the one to give Clarence his magic in exchange for his soul, but used his wording of "more magic than I could ever need" to make him a sort of magic time bomb that would result in destruction for at least two miles around - taking out the commune with him. The Party offers to make a deal with the devil, offering up their souls in order to prevent this from happening. Justice takes the lead with negotiations, as he has extensive knowledge and experience on legal matters. It was settled that The Party would fight the devil, if they lost the devil would get their souls in addition to Clarence's, and he will continue on until the magic within him explodes. But if the devil lost - by definition of either leaving the arena, or perishing - The Party keeps their souls, Clarence is released from his contract and keeps his soul, and the magic within him is dispersed safely out of his body. Dimitri and Justice were the first to sign the contract.

It was a difficult battle, with both Justice and Pearl going down a number of times. Justice went down almost immediately, right after scoring the first hit on the devil. Pearl went down next. Both were brought up by Nova, but Pearl fell down again by the devil's bow. Dimitri and Meadow struggled to score hits on the flying devil, and Nova was accosted by imps that the devil summoned. At the end, the Devil surrenders and flees deeper into the woods. Nova runs off towards the commune in panic, wanting to make sure the Devil didn't do anything strange with the contract and the commune and Clarence was alright, while the party catches their breath for a minute.

## Relevant Places, Characters, and Items

* Clarence
* The devil
* Book on devil Summoning