User blog:LadyLuctus/Session 43: 18th March 2019

8th of Evaar


 * 7am; Ventus and Alethra are hungover when Spawnsworth arrives to collect everyone for the quest to take the keep.
 * Spawnsworth’ has brought a lot of people but none will be able to fight; builders and other helpers. 3 wagons (1 is building and camp supplies, 1 for builders, 1 for the party)
 * The Proprietor and Accountant friend are coming along for the trip; his name is Voron Yllwreak (gnomish name.)
 * Rihiri gets the sense someone is watching us when we pass through the forest outside of Southreach.
 * 6pm when we reach the People’s Shield. We go to The Familiar Fork inn. It used to be a house and now sells drinks. Small and “down-market”, as higher end clientele eat and drink at the People’s Shield itself.
 * Furbolg mercenary; Pernelis from the Moon Wood in Thorea . He’s lived at People’s Shield for 30 years. To hire him it's 6GP a day, plus feed (it was 5 but he said no cow jokes and Alethra made one about him lying down to warn of rain.) He doesn’t like to get wet and will leave if he’s made to swim etc.
 * The keep we’re taking is referred to as Green Keep. It’s built on the ruins of an elven keep, and it’s rumoured to be cursed. The last people who tried to inhabit it disappeared; including their servants and all livestock. There are stories from the past that singular inhabitants have disappeared over the years as well.

9th of Evaar


 * Alethra buys Pernelis some fancy vegetables to apologise for her cow joke the day before.
 * As we pass through forest on our way to Canterport Rihiri sees figures in the trees keeping pace with our wagons. They’re about 200-300ft away from us. Rihiri Dimension Door’s next to the figures, while Cayden Tree Stride’s.
 * There are 5 people, with guns, who shoot Rihiri. 2 notice Cayden coming out of the trees and go after him. The rest of the group hear the sound of shots and run to help. Rihiri gets knocked unconscious.
 * Cayden Destructive Wave’s and all 5 figures die. They appear to be bandits who have acquired firearms.
 * Ventus obscures the caravan from view with his fog cloud. Pernelis points out more people in the forest in the opposite direction to where Cayden and Rihiri went. Alethra runs into the forest where Pernelis pointed and shouts out to the 6 people there. 5 have pistols and 1 has a rifle. They seem to panic and run.
 * Cayden revives Rihiri who finds a note on the bandits written in Thieves Cant. It contains drawings of the party. Their guns have the symbol of Uquitia (badly) filed off.
 * Alethra lets the rest know the people she was pursuing are running; Cayden jumps into a tree and follows them. They shoot at him but miss. 1 of the men looks like he could be a blood hunter; wide-brimmed hat.
 * The blood hunter kills himself by biting down on something. The rest surrender. They said the dead guy paid well and told them to shoot if we came too close. The blood hunter has 35 Uquitian platinum (can be exchanged at The Rimtonas Bank for non-Uquitian currency.) 75 shot. Alethra arrests the 5 criminals.
 * Thieves Cant Note: 100GP for kill or capture of Ventus or Rihiri, 50GP kill or capture everyone else and then 15GP for information Ventus or Rihiri, 5GP for the rest.
 * As Ventus and Alethra are thinking through their rings of communication, a giant eye appears in their minds, seemingly looking at them. It's similar to the eye of Eldath but this was a flesh and blood creature. When they react, Cayden thinks and his ring of mind shielding heats up to alert him that someone is trying to read his mind. They agree not to use the rings this close to Uquitia.
 * The Proprietor takes apart one of the pistols to look at the safety mechanism Rihiri found in hers. It’s a vile of acid which stops anyone from reverse engineering one.
 * Alethra hands the prisoners over to Canterport jail. We get a girls and boys room in the Lonely Flame tavern.
 * Rihiri believes everything is far more connected than we thought. She’s been having dreams for a long time that are very fragmented. She saw the destruction of the Chained One but most of the party died, while Ronash and Ibarra escaped. Sometimes Rihiri is there in the dreams, sometimes not.
 * In another dream Ronash and Ibarra killed Dis . He looked to Rihiri and smiled and sent her back to stop him dying.
 * She saw a version where Ventus was a soldier of Amaterasu.
 * Justice appears behind Alethra but only she knows he’s there.
 * In another “dream” Rihiri saw Southreach was overrun by devils. Ronash and Ibarra were trying to fight it off.
 * She thinks Ventus is at the center of everything and whoever is behind all of this doesn’t want him to survive.
 * It’s connected to the Illithids and Mindflayers, whilst Dis wants to stop himself dying.
 * In her latest vision she was with Zennoral; the giant her from Hell. There were dragonkin that looked like Rihiri as well (covered in the scales Rihiri had gotten on her arm in Hell)
 * In that timeline Ventus was dead and Dis was pleased. Ronash and Ibarra had escaped with Ventus’ body, which Dis wasn't happy about. Dis killed dragonkin Rihiri.
 * Dis sent Zennoral forward to speak to She Whose Gaze Looks Within (ultralithid who is in charge of the remaining gith in Artio.) Dis wanted to work with her – “the black sun needs to rise”
 * Rihiri shows us a scroll (one original in “arcane”, the other a translation) from Lady Lireesa ’s private collection, which was among the papers Slip had collected on the party
 * ​​​​​2 elven gods Haerel was associated with: Correlon and Shevarash.
 * Lireesa thinks Rihiri shouldn’t know what is happening or what is coming because she’ll change the fate of it. However, she has offered to remove curses or help Rihiri how she can.
 * Ventus tells the group that he saw a giant Storm… thing on the night of the huge storm.
 * Rihiri says they’re all stuck with each other. Alethra says she’s there by choice and Cayden says he’s there because he has nothing better to do; which makes Justice laughs
 * Alethra tells them about Justice and her book and the prophecy. As the conversation is wrapping up Justice puts his hand on Alethra’s shoulder and says “Keep that one (Cayden) safe. Either he kills Haerel or Haerel kills all.”
 * Rihiri says we should no longer have secrets. Alethra breaks and tells them all about Justice having been there for the conversation and what he said about Cayden.

10th of Evaar


 * Cayden has a dream of being Haerel. Devils, and Haerel, are running from Hell with a horde of angels chasing them. He realises they have crossed over into Pandemonium . Justice breaks the shard that houses Haerel’s daughter, freeing him from Dis’ grasp. Dispater tries to talk to him like he’s a dangerous animal before Haerel drives his spear through Dis, who disintegrates.
 * Cayden asks Rihiri to feel out her Wish ring, to see if it still needs Dis’ permission. Ventus is wearing it with a fake one made for Rihiri to wear. Dis’ approval is no longer required, or has been removed, or he’s dead and can no longer give permission.
 * We make camp in the castle Atamii ruins, by the sea lake that surrounds Green Keep, and spend the night there.

11th of Evaar


 * The weather is terrible and looks like it might be too dangerous to cross the lake, so we decide to hold off.
 * The non-group members we have with us will wait at the camp until we’ve cleared the keep of hostiles.
 * The storm clears later in the day.
 * Ventus senses a divine spark 50ft under the castle Atamii ruins.
 * Rihiri Dimension Door’s with Alethra to the source of the spark. It is large and balance focused. Everyone urges Alethra to take it. She touches it and receives 111 balance sparks.

12th of Evaar


 * Green Keep is a large stone structure with a pool in the middle of it. However, there is a black stone or iron tower where the pool should be, and there is no mention of it on any of the maps.
 * There are multiple shitty goblin-made traps on our way to the keep, then a Sylvan glyph. It means obsessive love for something (bad connotations) which would make the person who tripped it some unknown person’s bitch. It was cast less than a week ago.
 * 3 bugbears jump out and one grabs Spawns and pulls him into the lake. Spawns is aquatic so can breathe quite happily. Lily fires an arrow at the bugbear that stops him from being able to see more than 5ft. Plus 16 damage, because Lily’s a badass.
 * After one of the bugbears is killed, Pernelis transforms into his real form; Slip.
 * Voice creates an illusory dragon, who is spotted by the forces in the castle and a warning horn is sounded.
 * 100s of goblins, accompanied by hobgoblins and wargs rush out of the keep towards the dragon.

Rihiri Benazir Zennoral Maersut
She comes

Dark Lords Fall

She comes

Fathers die

She comes

Winds rise

She comes

The Dark Sun rises

She comes

The beloved of Sehanine dies

She comes

Gods fall and lights fail

But when hope is won

She begins again

She comes

''Found in the Lady Lireesa’s private collection. Age approximately two hundred and fifty years.''