session ten
Events:
Augo 28 (middle of the night)-
Zane was the only member of Ex Umbra that wasn’t fooled by the siren song. He watched as his friends and some of the passengers stumbled blindly out of their rooms in a trance. Two tried to hiss at Vethra but made no sound. Shadoe’s hawk tried to peck at her to no avail. Artemis stood in front of Katrina prepared to stop her by force if necessary. Zane watched as Caelen began to change forms, his skin turning purple as he grew horns and a tail. This new form of Caelen walked over to Vethra and using the connection of their corrupt magic, helped her break free of the dream. Vethra asked if this was Veyra, the one Caelen told her about. Veyra said yes and told vethra they didn’t have much time. Veyra magically helped Vethra play “Ex Umbra” louder than the sirens song, allowing everyone a chance to break free. This freed most of the passengers and Katrina. Katrina saw Shadoe making her way up the wooden steps and shot a crossbow bolt into the step under her foot causing it to break and making Shadoe fall prone on the stairs. In Shadoe’s dream she caught a glimpse of a red skinned devil before awaking when she fell. Zane clicked his boots and ran up to the top deck where he fired a ballista bolt straight through a siren. As the other crew members gathered, loading ballistas, the sirens realized they were outmatched and fled, taking one crew member and the two horses belonging to Ex Umbra with them. One of the crew members mentioned to Zane that the sirens only attack ships that stall, and someone in all black with a brass collar had dropped the anchor and sabotaged the gears to lift it before disappearing below deck. Zane called over the crew members and together they pulled the anchor up from the sea floor. Below deck Veyra spoke to Vethra again saying she couldn’t hold on to this body much longer, it doesn’t belong to her. She said forcing Caelen back while he was under the charm was a gamble and he may not wake up. She told Vethra to keep him safe until they could find a way to wake him. When vethra asked “why me”, Veyra said “you have my mother’s magic”. The body shifted back to Caelens normal form as he fell to the ground unconscious. Vethra called Shadoe over and together they carried him to a bed. Zane questioned the captain about anywhere someone might stow away and learned of a hidden compartment on the bottom deck. Kat and Artemis were already on the bottom deck getting some food when Zane and Shadoe joined them. Vethra stayed behind to protect Caelen with all her creatures. She attempted to use her connection to speak to Caelen. It seemed to work for a moment but ultimately she lost hold of his mind. She turned her hand into a spider and sent it down behind the others so she could keep an eye on them. Eventually they found the hidden doorway and inside this room was a man in metal armor dressed in all black with a brass ring around his neck. On the front of the ring was a rune that Zane recognized. It’s a symbol of the god of rage, Ragnar. The man in black swore he wouldn’t tell them anything but before he could finish his plea, the collar shrunk into the form of a coin, severing his head. On one side, the rune, on the other, a crest. The captain identified the crest as the one for Onyx, and gave Ex Umbra a map of Mosphire. The team sailed for two more days before reaching Songstone.
Augo 30-
Ex Umbra arrived in Songstone, a city full of magic, art, wonder, and most importantly… SHOPS! Vethra’s spiders pulled the cart now that the team was without horses, and this was helpful considering no one wanted to get anywhere near the cart. The team left Caelen in the cart under the protection of Shadoe’s blood hawk while they investigated a large clock tower by the coast. The bottom floor of this clock tower is a public art hall where they found a very large painting of Daisy Ironthorne along with what is presumably a picture she drew as a child. The painting was by a man known as Arthur Cogwind, who Vethra remembered as Uncle Arty. Vethra began yelling “where is Arthur Cogwind!” Until an employee rushed over to calm her down saying he doesn’t stay in Songstone. Vethra asked what she knew of the girl in the painting and the woman told Ex Umbra the Tragedy of the Ironthorne Family. The mother fell into a coma that no one could fix until one day passing in her sleep, the little girl ran away, and the father killed himself. She told them the tragedy took place in Gardenrock and said the father, Rowan Ironthorne, was the best engineer in all of Valoria and he designed the very clock tower they stood in. Vethra was pissed, but Zane told her to remember they didn’t pay a dime to see the painting. No one is profiting off of her tragedy and there’s no way to know where the story came from. The average person has been convinced this story is true and without evidence there is little hope in trying to convince commoners that they are wrong. She wasn’t exactly happy with this advice but she listened, and the group went their separate ways did some shopping before eventually meeting up at the potion store. The team bought a potion that would unite the minds of any two people that drank it so they could send someone in to Caelens mind to wake him up. They had to wait until the next morning for the portion to be ready.
Setho 1-
The team got the potion they needed and discussed who to send in. They chose to send Shadoe. Zane used one of Caelen’s empty syringes to carefully force it down Caelen’s throat as Shadoe drank the other half and she laid down next to him. Shadoe entered the dreamscape and saw Caelen walking down the street with a joyous stride as he entered a home. She looked around and realized she was standing in a version of Havencroft but there was no references to the wizards anywhere. The building in the middle of the city was still a temple to the gods, as if Grimon never attacked. Shadoe looked through the window of the home Caelen entered and saw him conversing with his mother and father. She walked inside and realized they didn’t see her. She sat at the table with Caelen while his mother cooked dinner and he turned to look at Shadoe. Only when looking at her did he realize this was a dream. He recalled hearing Vethra’s voice at one point but it faded away. He asked how long it had been as Shadoe said it was two days, but to Caelen it had been many years. He didn’t want to leave at first. In here there was no tragedy, he had his parents, and he never had to become the slayer. Shadoe mentioned veyras name and everything froze. The dream began breaking down as a door started shaking. Shadoe told Caelen of the sirens and said veyra was concerned that overpowering his soul while his mind was entranced was a risk. Caelen realized the reason he never woke up is because in this world there was no Veyra. And his mind could not reconnect with his body without reconnecting to her. The only way out was to acknowledge Veyra’s presence. Shadoe gave him some tough love reminding him that none of this is real and that to the rest of the team he is a lifeless body they’ve been dragging around for days. He told her he would be back to his old self when they woke up, and he wouldn’t feel things like he does in here. Veyra won’t let him feel. He made Shadoe swear to tell the others that this dreamscape was nothing but a black void, and he opened the door. Black smoke and purple light flowed from the doorway as he told Shadoe that she doesn’t wanna see what’s in there but he’ll see her on the other side. Shadoe didn’t heed his warning and stepped through the doorway behind him as they both saw flashes of every memory Caelen had of Veyra. Shadoe saw every conversation, every kill, and she even saw when Caelen stood against her. She saw him refuse to hurt them, saw him beg for more time so he didn’t have to kill the orc. As the memories faded to black, they both opened their eyes. During this dream Zane prayed to Pacia for Caelen to find peace when returning, but Pacia said there wasn’t much she could do. The corruption was more so her brother’s domain.
What was bought:
Vethra-
A healing necklace
A flying broom
Katrina-
A talk-box for Artemis
A seduction collar
15 wild magic mini scrolls
Druid magic 101
Shadoe-
A potion of greater restoration
Zane-
Bracers of defense
A +1 great axe
2 healing potions
The Vibes:
Everyone is pretty chill right now, the only person that is really experiencing emotion turmoil is Vethra after hearing what people believe to be true about her family and realizing the next city they stop in will be where she is originally from.
