Knot Filomena Fabian Fenix of New Zenith XII

A member of House Aviary. Played by Jonathan Dackow.

#### Sent:

My character (Knots Filomena Fabian Fenix of New Zenith the 12th, Cardinal-kin 12 level Fighter) is reaching out to Grand Marshal Xander Gloom to introduce herself as a member of House Aviary of New Zenith. I give him the gift of my skill to help in the training of his troop.

#### Response:

You enter the city and make your way to the barracks where you ask to speak with **Grand Marshal Xander Gloom**. A guard politely asks you to wait where you are as he leaves. About 3 minutes go by when you notice a human dressed in really fine leather armor and long hair down his back. He politely introduces himself as the **Grand Marshal Xander Gloom**! He extends his hand out for a handshake in which you shake it back. He asks what business you have in the city and you explain why you are there. He smiles and states that he will always take extra training for his troops, especially from an adventurer. He tells you to come back tomorrow at dawn and let the training begin.

You arrive at dawn and are greeted by Xander. He tells you let's start the day. He explains that his troops primarily focus on defense and being able to withstand damage and hold out in battle until the aggressive branch of Bastion can arrive. The day starts off by waking up the troops, making their beds, and getting in full gear and heading to the courtyard for a small portion of food. It looks smaller than what you would think a soldier should eat, but as you asked a few soldiers they tell you that the food supply is lower than normal so they are trying to ration it out to prolong it until they can get stocked up more. You then eat a meal with them and begin training. Some small routines at first. The basics, block then strike. You do this for about 2 hours. Then they have you get in the front of the troops and go over the skill in which you are most effective and the skill and tactics that go along with that. You train with this style for about an hour. After that it is time for a water break. After this you go into a medium sized room with all the gear. You watch the troops begin sharpening all the weapons and polishing all the armor. They touch just about every type of armor and weapon imaginable. Even some that are made from different materials.

This proceeds to be the whole day from the standard soldier side of things. The Grand Marshal explains that there are other soldiers that specialize in other areas. Like recon and cartography as well as retrieval and rescue. They all have a different routine and way to go about their day. He thanks you for all your help with training and welcomes you back at any time to help again. He tells you that maybe next time, you can train with a different unit and learn those tactics. As he took you through the bare basics and that there are much more interesting tactics to learn. You thank him for this opportunity and head out.

### June IBGA

#### Sent:

My character (Knots Filomena Fabian Fenix of New Zenith the 12th, Cardinal-kin 12 level Fighter) is reaching out to House Slayer to introduce herself as a member of House Aviary of New Zenith. I give them the gift of my skill to help in the training of troops.

#### Response:

**House Cane** welcomes you to come train with some of their newer recruits and help them along. They seem to live up to their title of **House Slayer** though. All seem to be focused on burst strength, hard hitting and focused on targets. When you join with the recruits to help teach, quickly you are dragged into the training yourself. They seem to have no regard for who you were before you showed up to training. After the first day you are finally able to talk to the person in charge, a **Sergeant Pargin**. After you explain why you are there you are allowed to help train with him. Somehow this Sergeant seems to have a lot more battle experience then you expect. While there, you catch whispers from some of the recruits, about something about **the Line**. There seems to be nothing else about it though, as though the recruits don’t even know what it is.

### July IBGA

#### Sent:

I plan to follow up with Gloom and bring food for the troops to help prepare them for the next push as there ration looked small. I will also see if I can talk with him or them about "The Line" I hear of with House Cane.

#### Response:

You arrive back at the barrack to meet the Grand Marshal again. He is pleased to see that you have returned to learn more. As you approach, you show him that you have brought some food to help with the troops and the next push. He is extremely excited about this, and can’t thank you enough. He tells you to come in and escorts you to the mess hall to help set the food in the storage to keep it fresh. He then asks what brings you to the barracks again. You explain that you went to visit house Cane and that they mentioned the Line. He smirks a little when you say this and tells you to come back tomorrow and he will have a demonstration prepared for what it means to be on the Line.

You come back the next day bright and early. As you arrive you meet a guard at the gate that tells you to follow him around back. He leads you to another wing of the barracks. Here is pretty much open and one big arena type layout. Gloom is there to greet you. He explains that this is where the magic happens. He tells you that the Line is the defense group used to make sure nothing gets out of the portal from the Nexus area. Cane sends his men in to attack the creatures when they get too adventures and try to escape, but before that the Line holds off these creatures from getting any further than a foot step. The line is made up of elite trained troops and have spent years studying and training. He looks forward and signals and tells you that with all that, this is what they can do.

You look on and see what seem to be 20 soldiers walking out from the other side gate. In the center of them, is a banner with the Gloom Guard symbol on it. They seem to march forward and form a Line that kind curves to circle around the banner. Then from behind you, about 40 soldiers appear with bows ready and aimed at the 20 soldiers. The banner bearer then slams the banner down on the ground and what feels to be a wave of magic goes out from it and the ground seems to become extremely stable. Then you notice the 20 elite soldiers plant their feet and what seems to be magic energy flows from the ground into their feet. The 40 Archers fire a barrage of arrows at the soldiers. The elite stand there and right as the arrows are about to strike, they seem to parry them away with ease. The archers fire 2 more volleys before dropping the bows and rushing the elites. The elites seemed to have parried every arrow and as the archers rushed with their swords, every single strike seemed to be parried. It was like no end to the parries that these elites could use.

You stand there astonished at such a feat. Finally they all stop and the elites put their weapons away and return to the gate. Gloom explains this is what training and studying can accomplish. You ask how this is possible. Gloom explains that there is a book in the arts of becoming a Line Guard. It has been in the family and City for centuries. Those who seek to become a member and show dedication and determination to the cause and willing to learn, can master this ability as well. You seemed intrigued on how this all worked and thank Gloom for the demonstration. He smiles and tells you it's not a problem. He asks if you need anything else, and you respond politely with no. He then has the guard escort you out and you head back to your city.

### **October IBGA**

#### **Sent:**

Try tracking down the Mega bird. Co tracker Co falconers

**Response:**

IBGA was sent late so now response

### **November IBGA**

#### **Sent:**

The Pheonix persona takes over when Fenix hears of The Serpent attacking the Aviary. It dedicates itself to tracking down leads to end this threat. Possible Leads:  He can also try tracking the dead serpent minions the Aviary fought for any track of them or where they came from. Fenix was told the Blind Sylvenborn Seer warned to be careful of The Serpent perhaps he knows more and would share it as Fenix help one of his brothers. (the Fenix persona would take over in this route.

**Response:**

Your search for this “Serpent” lead you in many circles over the course of the month. First you attempt to track the serpents back from wherever it is they came from within the Time Caves and you are initially successful. As you follow their trail it leads you deeper and deeper into the caves until you are no longer sure you can sneak past the spiders unnoticed. Whichever entrance these snakes used, it was very deep within the caves. You do also decide to try and gather the attention of the Blind Sylvandorn you were told about without much luck. When you are about to give up on that line of searching you turn around to find that very Sylvanborn leaning against a wall. Without any preamble he tells you to follow him and then starts walking away. He eventually leads you to a small cave not terribly far from the adventurer town whose entrance is so small you can barely fit through it. He follows behind you as you fight your way through a score of giant slugs that inhabit the cave all the while making seemingly random comments about you and the rest of the aviary, all of which are correct to at least some level. As you reach the deepest part of the cane you come to a large crystal statue of a sylvanborn which your guide promptly touches with the tip of one finger causing the entire thing to fall apart to dust.

As you are leaving he tells you the following.

“The serpent, whoever or whatever it is, really hates you. Like, hates you on a fundamental level, and  it's usually not even your fault as to why.”

“I wouldn’t try too hard to find them, usually they find you and when they don’t you find them a lot easier, but you always find him because every path that leads you back home leads through them too.”

### **Winter Part 1 IBGA**

#### **Sent:**

Fenix intends to put the strength of his arm to work in creating a low-cost high-yield defense barrier by digging deep trenches around vulnerable sections of the town helping to slow invaders and collect any ore or Smiting material he finds during his dig. He would welcome others aiding in this task. He would talk with Gloom Guard Norton about placement so as to not interfere with the placement of the first palisades.

He is hoping to find enough materials to train some of the laborers in Smithing later in the winter (round two possible) without pulling materials from the town's supplies. The goal would be to have them gain the trait of a Skilled Laborer with a Smithing Specialization and another with Skilled Laborer with a Weaponsmithing Specialization in preparation for when the town needs them.

in 2.0 CMABlacksmithing 14, CO tracker, CO falconers Blacksmithing workshop with WoC (cannibalize, scroll making, additional user, and additional user)

### **Winter Part 2 IBGA**

#### **Sent:**

Fenix will continue his task of trenching. And look for resources while digging.

#### **Response:**

You continue the long and tedious task of digging the trench. You put hours day in and day out into it. You finally realize that you are days away from finishing. This will go a long way with helping the town and allowing for more defense from attacks. As you continue to dig, you are attacked by some monsters. You manage to defeat them with some time but nothing too terrible.You do notice that some of the monsters attacking the town seem to be flame imbued and use a lot of it. Even the air outside is heavy and at some points gets hard to breathe. As you continue to dig, you manage to spot something reflecting and shining in the sunlight. You dig down and little further in order to get it. Once you get down to it, you dust it off and notice it's a small wooden chest with a  symbol on it. (OOG come see plot to get chest with symbol at the next game.) It's not locked and you decide to open it. Inside you find a piece of paper and a small wooden doll inside. The paper reads “This is the start to the cure”. This looks interesting and you will investigate further later after you finish your trench. Once finished, some of the villagers that have been helping and observing shout in excitement and are glad it's complete. You take what you found and head to your room to get cleaned and ready for the coming market.

(OOG note. upon completion of this trench, the town now has a permanent +1 Defense to its stat and now as a new building type that can be upgraded)

Update from in-game: The box has an aura of magic found in the magic storms but is not Earth or Celestial. Perhaps looking at the auras of reagents may help narrow this down.

### **April 2023**

#### **Sent:**

Now that he has finish trenching and the town is more protected Fenix will be aiding Hudson in his task to track down the location of Zenith.  He'll scout around for any locals using his tracking and falconry skills to local them who might know more about the floating city, with an ultimate goal of contacting the island and its inhabitants.  Reginal will aid as well.

Fenix will do his best to control the Phoenix presence on the travel by having the Apthicary give him a double supply of his elixir for the anticipated length of the trip.

#### **Response:**

You board the Hammer with Hudson and head up the river most to the East. You are able to travel relatively easily. Some small sea creatures along the way but nothing you both couldn’t handle. You follow the river until it reaches the base of a mountain pass. You dock the ship and start to head on foot. You follow the mountain edge north. This seems to be accurate to where the map shows Zenith being. As you look to the West, you can see a significantly large dead tree. It's the same tree you can see from the town, but bigger as to symbolize you being closer to it. You keep heading on foot until you run into what seems to be a small pool of water. Not big enough to be a lake on its own but definitely bigger than a pond.

Here is where the map shows the best chance of where Zenith was. You begin to start to search around the area. Especially the water as it's strange that this is still here inside the desert area. You approach it to take a better look. This water seems almost crystal clear, and fresh. You reach in and grab a handful and taste it. It's Delicious! You are astonished that this has not been tainted by the world yet. As you both begin to look into the water more, it starts to ripple and sparkle. Then the water flashes images almost as if it was a vision. You start to see images of a floating city, so full and lively. Then more images flash of the world going dark as Bastion is removed from the land and then Zenith is struck by a large lightning bolt and then is no longer floating in the sky. Then another image is flashed of what seems to be a small camp of about 15 Avion inside a ruin and they seem to have seen better days. You Notice that they seem to be defending against undead inside this ruin and are rationing off food to survive. You see that the undead ruin is on an island by other smaller islands. Then the water returns to just that, water. You both are amazed at this. You both have a lot to take in and head back to the Hammer to head back to the town.

### **May 2023**

#### **Sent:**

Fenix will take flight shortly after the end of this last market to scout out the ruined island keep that Avionas scouts from the Great Protector went to explore and did not return. He will do so cautiously and only approach and enter if it seems safe. He intends this to be a fact-finding mission, not a rescue attempt.