Sx13 — Spirits, Sailing, a Send-Off and Secrets

***Spirits, Sailing, a Send-Off and Secrets*** is the 13th session of the campaign*.* It is preceded by Sx12.5 - Adrasteia's Terrible No Good Very Bad Day., and followed by Sx14 — Familiars and Foes.

This session takes place over two days: Paraskevi the 19th of Leontes and Sabato the 20th of Leontes. Notable moments of this session are the fight in the Lighthouse, Oto talked to Dionysus, the group met Theobald, and Oto told the group about his backstory.

## Battle for the Lighthouse

As we roll initiative we move into the room to battle the three spirits. Oto in particular moved into Melee combat with the golden figure (the eidolon as we would later learn) who carried a large Axe. At the beginning of combat the shadowy figure moves to possess Leoven, successfully taking her over and attacking Carban - it is important to note that the spirit isn't taking Leoven's initiative to attack, or using her divine smites, he is only taking his own attacks using Leoven's weapons and body. The female spirit (a banshee) screams, the effect of a failed save causes the paralysis effect - however it has no effect on constructs like Oto. Throughout the battle we keep getting shot by a poison dart that seems to come from the ocean and we see as the tide moves a young looking boy covered in barnacles and showing the effects of someone who had drowned. Zenne moves into combat with this spirit and demonstrates the ability to use Metamagic (it is unclear whether this is a feat or a multiclass into sorcerer). The child then performs an effect that causes a person to suffer the effects of drowning on land and then he attacked with a knife. If he successfully hits it immediately knocks a person unconscious. In this time we are able to get the spirit out of Leoven, but he quickly moved and possessed Khantos and turned to attack Adrasteia.

SIDE NOTE\*\* Even though there is no context to remember it, at some point Khantos says:

"I used to be an old man, I am not an old man"\* - Khantos Evergreen

We eventually defeat the spirits and collect all the notes surrounding the glyph and destroyed the glyph completely, and then quickly moved back to the boat to get off the island.

## Nightmares and Talks Aboard the Boat

Planning to take a rest aboard the boat, Oto goes into his sentry rest, listening to what is going on around the boat but not interacting. Leoven also begins to trance, hoping to recover from the battle, but when she falls asleep so does Khantos very suddenly. A few moments later, Khantos awakens and appears quite distressed. After being asked he reveals that he had a nightmare, that he believes he shared with Leoven. This nightmare seems to have revealed the series of events that led to the complete necrotic take over of Hecate's Crag. They saw a young black haired boy with his grandfather, kill the rest of their family (the boy kills his brother and the grandfather kills the parents) and the family transforming into the spirits we fought in the lighthouse. The father turned into the Eidolon, the mother turned into the banshee, the grandfather turned into the shadow and the child who was killed turned into the drowned boy. However the black haired boy seems to have escaped or completely vanished - his location is unknown. The group wakes up Leoven, who is visibly unnerved but tells them she's fine and shrugs them off. She glances at Khantos with the clear intention of wanting to talk later.

While sailing Khantos and Adrasteia sit together and are watching the ocean when they see a group of jellyfish moving through the water. Khantos identifies them as a species called \*\*Thanatos' Breath\*\* due to its ghostly appearance.

KHANTOS AND ADRASTEIA have a quick conversation about all the secrets that he is keeping and Khantos says he is keeping his secrets for a reason and that they are only to protect us. They have a quite emotional moment in which Khantos makes half a promise to not keep secrets from each other. A promise he does not intend to keep or does intend but quickly breaks.

KHANTOS AND CARBAN\*\* have a conversation in private.

NYLA AND ADRASTEIA\*\* have a secret conversation in Nyla's private quarters.

ADRASTEIA AND BROTHER LEVITICUS\*\* have a conversation about their pasts. Leviticus says he was a merchant before he was a cleric. He was given the occupation from his father. It was a stall called "Loxodon's Trinkets and Treasures", however people noticed that there was a lone Loxodon carrying a lot of goods and gold around and was attacked, where they threw tar in his eyes, making him blind and robbed him. He says that for a while he was angry but then he turned to the church and dedicated his life to protecting others.

Adrasteia she reveals, wants to join the hunt of Artemis, and also that there isn't anyone back home who would care: > \*"there would have to be people"\* - Adrasteia

LEOVEN AND LEVITICUS\*\* have a conversation about war and peace, but Leoven is purposefully vague. She does express her own distrust of Leviticus.

\*"In all my years I have never been able to trust a man of peace"\* - Leoven

After 6 hours on the boat we reached the port of Artemis Sentry and departed. It was then that Oto attempted to slip away from the group unnoticed but was heard leaving by Leviticus who pointed it out to the rest of the group, who then began following him. Simultaneously, Carban walked away from the group heading to the tavern near the arena that he gets free board at.

## A New Friend and Grand Reveal in the Secret Bar

Back at the Artemis Keep, Oto caught up with Leoven and asks her how she is, asking her to be truthful. He specifically asks her about all the nightmares she's been having. Leoven said that the night before she was possessed by the shadow man when she had the nightmare she had the feeling of something rotting. In the dream she could see the moon and it gave her a great sense of uneasiness. It was the same feeling she had in the dream about the necromancy and the family. Omen from the Gods?

The following morning, the group collects and Adrasteia sends Cynthia the Spider to go and find Carban and bring him to the rest of the group. However Cynthia returns saying that Carban is not there. The group runs to the tavern and finds it to be empty apart from the bartender and a Harengon man. The bartender says that Carban has already left the tavern and didn't mention where he was going. We go and ask the Harengon who introduces himself as. Theobald Footstomp. Theobald is a 4" tall Harengon man with white fur and blue patches and Warforged hands. He wears a lawyer suit and his hands are made from a blue cobalt Theobald says that he was sent there by a friend to come and find us who knew specifically that we would be at the Crow's Post. And he says he needs our help with an issue with The Cult of Nemesis? Theobald seems to think that we are a solution to something and that he wants revenge (on the person who took his hands?) and that he seems to look up to us and wants to join the group. He also tells us that we are gaining some notability across the continent. Oto uses message to ask what each person what they think about him joining the group, getting a vote on whether or not they allow him in. Each person voted as follows: - \*\*Oto:\*\* For - \*\*Leoven:\*\* For, but cautious about it - \*\*Khantos:\*\* Against - \*\*Adrasteia:\*\* N/A, Refused to answer - \*\*Brother Leviticus:\*\* For Therefore allowing Theobald to join the group.

With that matter settled, Oto pulled the rest of the group away from the bar and began to tell them about his backstory, revealing himself to be the creation of Hephaestus and also that he is a weapon created to kill a God. He also revealed that he believes The Owl and Spear Sect have a hold of his sibling and are experimenting on them to create a weapon that they can use to kill a god in some way. The group responded with apt shock. Oto then said that at some point he wants to return to Artemis Cove to try and save his sibling as he believes them to be there. Adrasteia immediately expressed concern for Oto and how much danger he would be in, while Khantos worried about the information Oto carries and how that might be able to help the people creating a weapon. Leoven remained silent. To solve Khantos' problem Oto asks Khantos to build a bomb that could be detonated inside of Oto to destroy him should he fall into the wrong hands - an idea the rest of the group hates including Khantos who denies it in front of everyone, but while casting \*Message\* he seemed more willing with further conversation when others can't hear. The group leave the conversation somewhat open-ended and on uncertain ground.