Ezri’s Journal

key:
- Beetle: B
- B.C.: BC
- Ezri: E
- James: J
- Kya: K
- Marcus: M
- Trevon: T

characters: - Howard: James’s daughter’s bf - Celia: Howard’s mom

2021-10-02

Howard’s mom asks K if she knows where her son is
Howard’s mom may possibly have lost her mind
B gives Howard’s mom a goodberry
Howard’s mom’s name is: Celia
K tells rest of party about Celia
K & B introduce party and Celia, Celia visibly disturbed
so far James AFK for session
Nick jokes that James will commit sudoku if Dan doesn’t show up by 4pm
B asks Celia if she knows the city is destroyed
Celia says creature we’re hunting (Pride demon) doesn’t attack people
Celia says “it’s just an animal”, says it was brought on one of the boats and that “it just lives in the city now”
B begins gaslighting Celia
(19 Medicine from E) Celia is probably going crazy, (meta) suffering from Parkinsons, might already be insane
BC ritual casts Speak With Beasts (12 Animal Handling), tries to speak with a squirrel
meanwhile K follows Celia
Dan joins vc, Nick officially declares James is no longer committing sudoku
whenever Celia passes a corpse, she waves “hello”, mentally incapable of processing that all the people are dead
Celia heads to Piero’s General Store, K follows
(store is absolutely devastated with fire damage)
K attempts to play along with Celia’s delusions
K leaves 1gp at store to mimic buying something, Celia notices
BC says “hi” to squirrel, squirrel says “shh”
squirrel is scared of an animal (“no fur, 2 legs, eats everything”)
(11 Persuasion) BC says “where is it, I can fight it”
squirrel is convinced, leads BC somewhere
B follows BC
James wonders if there’s a connection between newspaper clippings of the Revenant and Howard, and/or if Celia thinks so
(16 Investigation) these papers have been stuck on her wall for years, possibly long before dementia
no direct link between the Revenant and Howard
little info given about the Revenant: short person, hunted at night, no survivors, no witnesses
Revenant victims: all male, 40s-50s, all dockworkers/sailors/fishermen/traders (HMMM)
(16 Investigation) the upper floor of the house is absolutely trashed. E and J find:

Howard’s dad’s name is Hyde (was first mate on a Hanosian navy ship)
10 years ago was stationed in the northern chain of the Hanosian Isles (was a hotspot)
dishonorably discharged for drunkedly assaulting his captain
confirmation that Hyde was in his 40s-50s when Howard killed him
one locked room
one “lavatory” (room covered in rotting shit)
E tries to look through the locked door’s keyhole, fails (7 Perception)
E & J decide to wait for K to return to lockpick the door

squirrel leads BC & B to collapsed tower near middle of town
goes to back section of roughly hemispherical tower base
fallen tower section has straight up crushed people and houses
squirrel goes to a well (lowering mechanism is removed)
BC looks inside well, 40 feet down can see cavern opening, 60 feet down there is water
BC almost throws B down the well
BC attempts to persuade squirrel to wait (14 Persuasion) by offering food
squirrel is convinced, BC gives it 1 day’s rations
B tells E what happened
E tells J about B & BC’s memes
K gets back with Celia
Celia goes upstairs
BC recasts Speak With Animals
E tells K about B & BC’s memes
(21 Thieves Tools) K picks the locked door open without issue
E, K, & J go into the room. the door is being blocked by a body
the body has died fairly recently, has a couple of bite marks
it appears Celia has been eating the body
E, J, & K leave 1 days ration for Celia and head to B & BC
BC asks the squirrel its name (it doesn’t have one)
the squirrel is indifferent about what its name should be; BC names it “Chocolate”
BC attempts to recruit Chocolate (Chocolate can’t swim)
BC plays some music
the rest of the party shows up
J recognizes the fallen tower as a tribute to the God-King (16 History)
this might really piss the God-King off
J & K put their guns (and Jericho’s special gun) in the party’s bag of holding to waterproof them in preparation for jumping in the well
BC crafts a shelter for Chocolate out of collapsed house materials (20 Survival)
Beedle ties 2 50 foot lengths of rope to the well
BC descends into the well, which is literally just an enclosed aquifier with no tunnels or anything
BC looks underwater and notices a tunnel underwater (15 Perception)
B ritual casts Water Breathing on the party (BC climbs back up to take part)
the party descends into the well
M casts Light
E yeets Droopy into his pocket dimension
party order of descent (front to back): BC, M, E, T, B, J, K
party swims down (very narrow) underwater tunnel for 3 minutes. 60 feet ahead there is a T-intersection, and the current is stronger.
as BC carefully moves towards the intersection, he manages to prevent the current from pulling him away (13 Strength). he sees debris being flung by the current moving to the left.
BC indicates the current to E, who conveys it telepathically to B, and mimes the flow of the current to K and J.
META: Nick reminds us that davy charms prevent users from being pulled along by current
B tries to go against the current using his orcish claw gauntlet to anchor himself against the wall, stabbing it a couple inches into the wall (19 Attack) and significantly damaging the gauntlet.
Anchored by his gauntlet, B successfully resists the pull of the current (18 Strength). As he moves further, he’s blinded by the lack of light.
As he moves further (17 Strength, 20 Strength), he comes to another intersection. He wedges himself into a wall to prevent being pulled away by the current. He throws his mirror downstream.
At this point B has been gone for 10 minutes. Marcus thinks the mirror is a piece of armor or something.
B goes further down his side tunnel, discovering an underground water pocket. He hears a torrent of water somewhere nearby.
B takes a torch out of the bag of holding and lights it. As he looks around the room, he notices a corpse and (28 Perception) no other people around. He finds the source of the torrent.
B approaches the corpe. Its condition is skeletal; it’s wearing armor, and has a leather satchel. He stuffs it into the bag of holding.
B finds 160 gp and a drift globe (can be used to cast Light or Daylight).
B returns to the party. As he anchors himself against the walls with the claw, he damages it to a point beyond any further use. The current ends up yeeting B past the party.
M yeets himself into the current following B, followed by BC, K, J, T, and E.
M and B each take 10 bludgeoning damage. The rest of the party bump into walls, but take no damage.
eventually the torrent spits M and B out onto the floor of a cave, the water in the cave being only a foot deep. The rest of the party falls onto them. The cave continues downwards. At this point the party is ~200 feet underground.
E is disgusted with B for putting a corpse in the bag of holding. The party proceeds onwards.
B throws his drift globe around 13 feet.
The party comes across a cavern. The floor is covered waist-deep with water, with some parts of the ground rising slightly out of the water. The party sees no other creatures in the cavern. There is a tunnel, to which the party proceeds. As the party moves to the tunnel, K senses the demon with Divine Sense. The demon is found; the party rolls initiative.
beast can:

spew ice (encases targets in ice)
spew fire
do a Dispel Magic style AoE

james dies, boss is captured, james is brought back
party finds item called obfuscating box: anything placed in the box becomes invisible and intangible to anyone looking in the word (effect toggled by command word “lowei”).
the elephant figurine is now named “leviosa” (“levi” for short)

2021-10-09

[14:40] - B turns into an eagle, and (Perception 26) notices notice a humanoid form on a cliff towards the back of the city (80-90ft cliff)
[14:42] - the figure is wearing all white (ITS SZETH). B moves towards the figure, diving down to drop K & J before heading over to it (he lets E know)
[14:44] - BC casts Speak With Animals
[14:45] - B reaches the edge of the cliff. He exits out of eagle form, and follows the figure’s tracks through the thick jungle foliage atop the cliff (Survival 20)
[14:47] - As he reaches a small clearing, he (Dex save 18) narrowly avoids being hit by a sudden gunshot.
[14:49] - A hooded figure clad in white, with a blonde beard, armed with a pistol, ducks into shrubbery and runs away.
[14:49] - B casts Head Metal on his gun. He curses, but manages to hold on to his hot firearm, taking 12 fire damage.
[14:50] - B chases the man, yelling out a request to cease hostilities. The heated firearm, which the man has dropped, begins to set dry portions of the rainforest on fire.
[14:52] - B takes out two water-filled Dust of Dryness pellets, dousing the emergent forest fire.
[14:53] - B manages to keep track of the man’s trail (Survival 20), not catching up to him, but keeping pace with him. It’s clear that the man is running nowhere in particular, just trying to escape B.
[14:56] - B casts Pass Without Trace. He tries to catch up to the man (Athletics 15), and gets to a point where the man is about 20 feet ahead of him. It’s clear that everything he’s wearing (his cloak, his boots) are white.
[14:58] - B yells to the man to slow down, swearing he won’t hurt him. The man briefly turns around to fire a palm pistol at B, hitting him near the collarbone (13 piercing damage). B feigns complete lack of pain (Deception 19), continuing to charge forward.
[15:01] - B again asks him to stop running. The man yells “fuck off” in a Cockney accent. B gives him “5 seconds to stop”.
[15:03] - The man shoots B again.
[15:03] - B casts Heat Metal on the gun. The man takes 16 fire damage.
[15:03] - The man throws the heated gun at B (1 bludgeoning damage).
[15:04] - B asks him to stop again. The man attempts to hide, but B knows where he is.
[15:05] - B stops running, and casts Cure Wounds on himself (heals for 8).
[15:06] - A small cloud of smoke billows out from behind the man’s tree. B steps into it, but the area is heavily obscured. The man tries to shoot B. B tries to tackle him, unsuccessfully (contested 17 vs 17 check).
[15:08] - The man slashes at B with a saber (8 and 11 slashing damage).
[15:08] - B successfully grapples him.
[15:09] - The man hits B again (8 and 6 slashing damage).
[15:10] - B tries to shackle him, but fumbles.
[15:10] - The man hits B again (10 slashing damage).
[15:11] - B succesfully shackles and disarms him.
[15:14] - B orders the man to stop fighting him.
[15:14] - The man begins convulsing, evidently poisoning himself. B casts Cure Wounds to attempt to counteract the effects.
[15:15] - The poison is too strong for B’s magic, and the man kills himself. The smoke fades away.
[15:16] - Strangely, the man’s body appears to be a months-old corpse. It begins to decay at a significantly accelerated pace, practically melting away before B’s eyes. B takes the man’s saber, and looks over his possessions. He finds 2 metal canisters with a button, faintly vibrating on the inside, 53 gp worth of limns, a parly used tinderbox, a scroll case with blank papers inside, a quill and ink bottle, other items from a forgery kit, and (17 Investigation) a small fragmented glass bead in the man’s breast pocket (possibly the man’s suicide tool).
[15:22] - B takes the man’s cloak, cleans it off, and puts it in his bag of holding.
[15:22] - B casts Locate Object on the man’s palm pistols, and retrieves them both. They are higher than usual quality, dealing 1d8 damage instead of 1d6.
[15:27] - Meanwhile, the party makes their way back to Celia’s house. Marcus gives her a cursory medical examination (15 Medicine), determining that she’s actually currently asleep, apparently dreaming.
[15:39] - K tries to close Celia’s eyes, but Celia reflexively pulls away, without waking up. M also reaches out to her eyes, to the same effect. Aside from reflexive motions, she does not appear to be conscious.
[15:42] - The party decides to wake her up, as J wants to get home faster to make sure his kids are safe.
[15:43] - E persuades Celia to go with the party, to see her son (12 Persuasion). He messages B (around this time B’s encounter is finished), and they agree to meet by the horses.
[15:46] - J tells Celia that her son is dating his daughter. Celia forgets, because she still has fantasy Parkinsons.
[15:50] - B and the party each take a couple hours to meet by the horses.
[15:53] - 2 of the horses have been eaten by a leopard. J shoots it dead.
[15:57] - B comes running at the sound of the gunshot. Celia apparently has no reaction.
[15:58] - NOTE: as the party left Celia’s house, E grabbed the rations that were left for Celia, and K grabbed some of the posters of Howard/The Revenant.
[15:59] - B recounts the tale of his daring encounter. E more properly cleans off the pure white cloak, and B puts it on. (meta: it kind of looks like Ezio’s baseline AC2 cloak)
[16:01] - B puts the saddles of the dead horses in his bag. The party sets off.
[16:08] - E and K stay with B as he rests; T and Celia share a warhorse, J is on a warhorse, and BC and M are each on regular horses.
[16:10] - As the people on horses ride ahead, they see storm clouds forming above them.
[16:13] - After B rests for a bit, he turns into a giant eagle and gives E and K a ride, catching up to the mounted party.
[16:14] - J examines the guns (7 Investigation), determining nothing particular about them save that their quality is generally on part with J’s own firearms.
[16:16] - J attempts to disassemble one of the guns, discovering no particular reason for it to be of such high quality. K uses at-will Detect Magic, and finds that the still-assembled gun has a magical signature.
[16:18] - B hands the fragmented bead and one of the metal canisters to K, who detects no magic on the canister, and a residual magical energy on the bead.
[16:19] - Investigating closer, J finds the canister is made of lead, rendering it proof from magical detection.
[16:20] - casting Identify on the objects, E finds:

the gun is under a general transmutation improving its function
the canister is a magical-mechanical device, which appears to store a spell to be cast later. The canister is currently storing Fog Cloud.

[16:26] - The party takes a long rest. The next morning, M casts Sending towards J’s daughter Celestine, telling her we’re on our way and asking if they’re alright. There is no response.
[16:31] - A torrent of rain soaks the party to the bone. J puts his powder & ammunition in the bag of holding. B drapes his cloak over Celia. The torrent lasts all day, turning into a lightning storm at night.
[16:32] - B asks M to use a Sending to update Jericho on the party’s status. M does so, and also asks Jericho if he knows anything about a disturbance at J’s manor. Jericho responds “make your way back here”.
[16:40] - The next day, as the torrent continues, the road becomes flooded, streaming with water at least an inch thick. The rain gets worse, and slows the party’s progress.
[17:15] - J, B, and BC take B’s giant eagle form to J’s manor directly. E, K, T, and Celia continue on horseback, falling behind.
[17:16] - J, B, and BC get… struck by lightning. Twice. J takes 17, BC takes 23, and B’s wildshape takes 23 lightning damage. In time, they begin to approach J’s manor, which is entirely dark, and whose front door is open.
[17:24] - B hears the clucking of a chicken (16 Perception).
[17:25] - B casts Past Without Trace, as J, BC, and he sneak through the back. B is unable to see in the dark. The back door is also open.
[17:27] - J removes powder and ammo from the bag. He loads his rifle with a jade bullet, and his pistols with regular bullets.
[17:28] - J notices bullet holes in one of the walls. He does not notice any bullets lying on the floor, but he does notice some powder residue. The arrangement of the evidence suggests that a shooter was shooting from within the house outwards.
[17:29] - B activates his driftglobe as the three of them go through the house room by room. There are no signs of theft, damage, or struggle.
[17:31] - B investigates a broken window. The evidence confirms that a shot was fired through it from the inside. (17 Investigation)
[17:32] - Not only is there no blood throughout the house, but the house itself appears significantly neater/cleaner than usual.
[17:33] - J and B check the war chest. Nothing was taken. The attack appears to have been personal.
[17:34] - BC casts Speak With Animals. He asks Enrique about the events that took place in the manor. Enrique relays that he heard loud sounds, and that Celestine put him in a cupboard. BC feeds him in thanks.
[17:44] - The evidence points strongly away from The Revenant, deviating significantly from his signature killing pattern.
[18:03] - B goes outside to cast Divination.
[18:04] - J has a minor meltdown. He heads to town to ask some people if anything strange happened at the manor. He learns that Howard and a girl came to his manor.
[18:07] - The girl is described as having long, straight, brown hair, one gray eye and one yellow eye, and especially pale skin. She is described as looking like a corpserunner, wearing all black, with an oversized hat. Howard is described as looking very serious and troubled.
[18:09] - As B casts Divination, he asks: “What is the quickest way to find James’s kids?” The response seems to point towards Jericho’s house.
[18:12] - B leaves a note at the manor that he’s heading to Jericho’s, and that “Enrique knows where [he] went”, leaves food and water for Enrique, and leaves with BC and J to Jericho’s house.
[18:20] - B has a brief amicable exchange with Jericho’s wife Nautaliah, who is in full plague doctor cosplay (and evidently a spellcaster). She leads them upstairs to Jericho’s meeting room.
[18:22] - Jericho reveals that he took J’s kids hostage, to ensure the party’s obedience in capturing Pride and returning it to Jericho. B points out that the lamps ought to have been collateral enough. Jericho says the additional collateral was to counteract the party’s collective Divination capabilities.
[18:30] - B presents the fallen assassin’s saber. Jericho admits he sent him, but claims he was supposed to be a distant observer. He confirms the assassin basically had a magical cyanide capsule in his teeth.
[18:31] - Throughout their conversation, Jericho’s affliction is revealed to be worsening.
[18:34] - Jericho can neither confirm nor deny that he subjected J’s family to some sort of torture. He calls J’s daughter “filthy”.
[18:36] - J asks why Jericho employs serial killers (Howard). Jericho laughs at J calling Howard a serial killer, and calls Howard a whelp and a coward.
[18:38] - B clarifies the deal with Jericho: the party conveys Pride to the God-King, and in return Jericho returns the lamps and J’s children “unharmed and unaffected by anything [Jericho] has done”.
[18:39] - J reveals that he has seem Pride before. Jericho asks whether “they” have visited him as well (who’s “they”?)
[18:41] - Jericho drops a name: Maltonidus.
[18:51] - On a map of the world, J points out Halloween island to Jericho, and relays his discoveries on the island, including a 700 year old fort, a creature similar to Pride but smaller, Axton’s journal.
[18:55] - Jericho fishes for more information, hinting that if J gives him enough info, he may release his kids early.
[18:56] - Jericho asks if J has met any of the people controlling these creatures, and says that he himself has met one.
[18:57] - The one Jericho met showed up at his house, offered to paint a portrait of him and his wife, and did so in the span of half an hour. Jericho’s description of him matches one of Axton’s sons.
[19:01] - Jericho recalls this man telling him “there is a burning storm writhing in the South-West. Something which is primed to change the world.” This is taken to be a clear reference to Leston’s antics in Destrandis. Jericho admits he has come to believe in the fable.
[19:05] - Jericho says “I don’t want to be a part of this world.” This sounds reminiscent of what the hag of Port-o-Locke was saying.
[19:06] - Jericho states that Hanos would be significantly better off without the God-souls, that the chaos resulting from his removal would serve to strengthen the people of Hanos, and that the Predominance would most likely not take advantage in the event of such a coup.
[19:25] - J says he believes this coup attempt is not worth it because of the associated loss of life. Jericho contends that whatever pain the people of Hanos go through will result in them being stronger overall.
[19:28] - J says replacing the God-King with a different leader may not be a bad idea, but this specific implementation is stupid and he’s not going along with it. Jericho tells him to leave, and not return without Pride.
[19:28] - As a parting bit of advice, J tells Jericho he ought to find someone to rule in the God-King’s stead. Jericho claims the people will find their own ruler.
[19:29] - As J, B, and BC leave, Jericho swears he will not let J’s children come to harm. He says J’s children will be returned when “Pride” is successfully delivered to the God-King.
[19:48] - The next day, the rest of the party shows up to J’s house. J is in the workshop, sitting and thinking. B is scrounging J’s house for another item to use as a Divination sacrifice. BC’s eagle eyes spot us approaching, and he sprints up to us.
[19:50] - J, B, and BC catch the others up on Jericho’s bullshit drama. The party decides to take a day to relax at J’s manor before delivering Pride to Jericho.
[21:10] - The next day, B heads to Greenport to find a suitable sacrifice for a Divination spell, accompanied by K, BC, and E
[21:13] - (META) Nick makes a ruling: Whenever a spell calls for multiple material components having some total gold cost, none of those components may have a cost less than one-sixth of that total.
[21:38] - E, B, and K discuss the ethics and implications of letting E and B’s mental entities possess their bodies over pancakes and donuts. E promises Flamel that he’ll draft a contract for allowing Flamel some limited access to E’s body.
[21:53] - Near the end of the day, M casts Divination, asking Pelor: “Will Jericho double cross us over the next seven days?” The response: “I’m sorry. I don’t know.”
[22:15] - B also casts Divination, asking Sehanine: “Is it possible to get Howard back, along with the lamps and kids, without any consequences?” The response: “I don’t think so.”
[22:18] - The answer was delivered to B by a male voice (clearly not Sehanine). Combined with M’s strangely inconclusive answer, the implication seems to be that the respective gods aren’t “answering their own calls”.

2021-10-16

[14:35] - “Roll me a cooking tools check, slut” – Nick, to B
[14:36] - (B gets a 15)
[14:37] - BC trains Chocolate on how to hide (on Ezri’s person), and how to stay safe in combat (Nat 20 Animal Handling). Ezri is not consulted for this.
[14:43] - K empties her waterskin, and fills it with black powder. She goes down to the village and buys another waterskin for 2 silver pieces.
[14:50] - B goes to the swamp and drops a couple pellets of his Dust of Dryness into some water. The pellets refill, the water is fully emptied, and B grabs a fish and a leech.
[14:53] - Back at J’s house, B casually rips the leech off the fish (which he’s still holding).
[14:54] - B offers the fish to E.
[14:54] - E declines.
[14:54] - B, disappointed, throws the fish away.
[15:05] - J goes upstairs to his chest, where he finds 735 gp.
[15:07] - J prays to Avandra for good luck with what he’s about to do.
[15:08] - J puts the Pride orb inside the obfuscating box. He puts the obfuscating box inside another chest, which can only be opened by J or his kids.
[15:11] - B gets a strange feeling on the back of his neck, like he’s being watched (27 Perception). He relays this telepathically to E.
[15:13] - K casts Detect Magic, and sees a bright orb above J’s head, which she relays to B.
[15:14] - B also casts Detect Magic, and then Dispel Magic on the orb (implied to be a scrying sensor).
[15:22] - The party sets out to buy another (regular) horse for 50gp. They proceed on horseback to Jericho’s manor, except for E, who rides on B’s giant eagle form along with the chest containing Pride. They arrive by 3pm.
[15:25] - The party is greeted by Nautaliah (Jericho’s wife), who is armed. She lets the party enter, except for Celia. Marcus is chosen to stand outside with Celia.
[15:30] - J congratulates Jericho on making him the most pissed off he’s been in 2 decades.
[15:33] - Jericho says one of J’s kids is currently a guest of the God-King’s, bringing with her a message that Pride is on its way to him. There are some men with her, who will kill her unless they hear otherwise from Jericho.
[15:37] - J asks to see his son. Jericho sends his plague doctor wife to retrieve him. She loads a round into her gun, and brings back Scott (J’s son), who is bound and gagged.
[15:40] - Nautaliah unbinds Scott’s hands. Jericho tells him to open the chest. Scott moves towards J and the chest. Before Scott opens the chest, J asks him what happened the night they were kidnapped.
[15:41] - Scott relays that his memory of the event is significantly clouded.
[15:42] - J suspects that Jericho and Nautaliah visited his house, and particularly that Jericho is Howard, and Nautaliah was the girl described with him.
[15:45] - B casually asks Jericho if the name “Celia” means anything to him. Jericho has a very negative reaction. The party decides to not keep triggering Jericho. It’s strongly hinted that Howard might be a split personality of Jericho’s.
[15:53] - Jericho clarifies that if the party does not deliver Pride to the God-King, J’s daughter will be accused of delivering false news.
[15:54] - J asks Jericho to give him something, to keep as collateral. Jericho throws down a gun.
[15:59] - As J moves to pick up the gun, he takes 2 points of radiant damage (25 WIS save). He grabs a cloth, and picks it up with that instead of just his hand. Jericho says it’s enchanted to damage non-authorized users (i.e. those other than Jericho).
[16:02] - Jericho allows the party to make use of his mansion at Capitol.
[16:04] - B whispers the command word for the chest. J takes the Pride pokeball out of the chest, and gives it to Jericho.
[16:10] - J goes to prepare some restraints for Pride. B and BC go outside to check on M and Celia.
[16:21] - E goes outside to disguise Celia as.. some other elderly lady.
[16:21] - B and Nautaliah nod at each other, with the implicit understanding that they don’t want Jericho to lose his shit over Celia.
[16:27] - J takes a moment with Scott, to make sure he’s alright.
[16:32] - The party boards Jericho’s carriages, headed to Capitol. The party’s carriage distribution among contiguous carriages, from back to front, is:

J, T, K, Scott
BC, Chocolate
E, M, B, Celia

[16:37] - K is very friendly with the carriage employees, and asks for all their names. In absence of an answer, K begins giving them her own names, including Steve, Racel, and Jack.
[16:40] - [INFO] Hanosian heraldry: the Lion (the planetium), the Two-Headed Eagle (the solarsis), the Dolphin (the devantrus)
[16:45] - Over the carriage ride, K and J fill in Scott on their suspicions about Celia, Howard, the Revenant, and Jericho (specifically that the Revenant is actually Howard, and that Jericho is a split personality of Howard’s). Scott is skeptical, as Howard’s left eye is fucked and has terrible aim with guns. K and J convince him, and Scott goes into a panic attack.
[17:03] - T tells K and J his backstory. After he went to Bard College™, he sailed with his pals to Port-O-Locke. Their ship sunk at some point, and he swam to land, making his way to the city.T claims his ship was sunk by pirates. J presses X to doubt regarding pirates operating anywhere near triton territory.
[17:26] - Jericho’s procession arrives in Capitol, which is immaculately clean.
[17:39] - K expresses an alarming degree of interest regarding the cleanliness of the God-King’s toilet.
[17:43] - Pride makes an oddly high-pitched noise from within its cage. B and K discern that Pride is very scared.
[17:48] - Salem tells B she senses something is wrong, as in malicious, from the moment the party entered the city. It’s soft, malicious, and everywhere. Not in the air, but in the walls, floors, ceilings, roads, grass, and so on.
[17:51] - B appears concerned. E asks what’s up. B conveys his worries to E and K.
[17:52] - K uses Divine Sense, and senses all the ground within range of her as desecrated land.
[17:56] - E asks Flamel, who has very little to say on the matter.
[18:01] - J goes to the Royal Institute, the local university and magic school. E and K follow along, without J noticing.
[18:06] - [INFO] The Royal Institute basically looks like the Hagia Sophia.
[18:10] - As we enter, we see a mosaic of a condescending God-King standing over a field of pyres w/ people attached to them, including a purple tiefling in a red and black admiral’s uniform (apparently Leston’s dad).
[18:18] - E finds the library and gets a little.. hyperfocused. M and K are dispatched to keep E from going too nerd-crazy.
[18:19] - J looks around for a man named Cordiray Ecelston (a scholar who had previously given J information about the Black Hand Orcs, and who is studying the rise of the God Souls). He instead finds his brother, who tells him that this morning he left on an expedition to some place called “Convergence”. J determines that Cordiray is in Greenport, meaning J still has some time to reach him.
[18:30] - Cordiray’s brother also shows J his brother’s absolutely massive conspiracy theory web board thing. J learns that Cordiray’s brother has brain damage from a head injury at 16. He also learns that Cordiray had an assistant, one not from Hanos, who Cordiray’s brother apparently had a bit of a crush on. From the description of her physical characteristics (bracelets, curled shoes), J realizes that his assistant must have been none other than Darcy Lent (the chick who led the party underwater earlier in the campaign).
[18:39] - J learns that Darcy and Cordiray are working on research showing that the God Souls did not indeed come from the Porcelain Spire (a central Hanosian mountain range), but rather some place called Convergence, which they theorize is a place where the different types of rock across the islands (differentiated by color)… converge.
[18:42] - J tells Cordiray’s brother that Ecelston and Lent’s research, due to being absolutely heretical against the God-Souls religion(s?), must be destroyed, and begins burning all the heresy he can find (to cover for him).
[18:45] - J learns that the God-Soul was once called “The True Monarch”, from the unpublished rough draft of The Unnamed Tome By Cordiray Ecelston, by Cordiray Ecelston. He takes the book, and finishes burning the research.
[18:50] - Meanwhile, E, K, and M search for genasi-related books. They fail to find, wasting an hour in the library.
[18:53] - K steals a pixie in a jar from a lecture hall, and puts it straight in her bag, ruining an innocent student’s education in the process.
[19:01] - K exits the library and liberates the imprisoned pixie, who is at first in complete disbelief, but slowly comes to accept that he is now free. She names him Sven. He only speaks Sylvan. It’s clear that he has no idea where he is, except that he is Spiderman: Far From Home.
[19:08] - Meanwhile, J exits the library with haste, grabbing M and E on his way. They regroup with K and Sven, and head to Jericho’s Capitol home.
[19:12] - Meanwhile, B, BC, and T are walking around the city. They find no restaurants or bars, only stores selling food.
[19:23] - They come across a dollmaker, of whom B demands a dress made for a squirrel. The dollmaker, surprisingly, gets a lot of requests for small animal clothing. He also appears to have a number of dolls that can literally talk back.
[19:32] - B pays the dollmaker for both a squirrel dress, and a talking doll. The dollmaker’s name turns out to be (gasp) Piero.
[19:41] - The party uncovers Nick’s very real fear of creepy dolls. While Nick is RPing as one.
[19:44] - On their way back to the manor, B goes “full schizo” (his words).
[19:56] - Back at the manor, J, B, and E find K. J confronts K about how she technically committed sacrilege on her exit from the Royal Institute, and about her theft of a pixie.
[20:04] - E casts Comprehend Languages to understand the pixie.
[20:04] - B tells K to stop fucking around. K says she unfortunately understands, and asks to be kept further from Pride, lest she cave to her instincts and unlock Pride. J is stressed, and goes for a smoke.
[20:06] - Sven the pixie is done eating his approx. 1mm of chicken.
[20:08] - Scott expresses to J that he wishes J had accepted a position at court, so that Scott could get to shag all the kinky noble ladies.
[20:10] - J explores Jericho’s place. He finds no alcohol in the cellar. He finds a secret tunnel leading all the way to the mausoleum, where Renemoth has stashed some secret information.
[20:14] - He follows the tunnel to a locked door. He presses Renemoth’s ring against the door, opening it.
[20:15] - As he’s about to walk through, he notices a mechanism which, as soon as J steps through, will lock the door shut behind him. He is unable to determine the precise trigger mechanism.
[20:15] - He decides to proceed onwards. As he does, he smells the stench of death, and hears raspy breathing (probably zombies).
[20:17] - He quickly swivels and walks back out. The door slams shut behind him, cutting off the sounds of quickening footsteps in the darkness.
[20:28] - As he returns, he sees the rest of the party playing “kicking stones” (better game name pending).
[21:10] - The party regroups, J bids farewell to Scott (who is being a shitter to his dad), and the party sets off to the God-King’s palace (“The Seat of God”)
[21:23] - The party arrives in the throne room. There are 5 members of the Royal Institute Oracular Order in the room, the same order which brought the Fable to Hanos. There is also J’s daughter, shitting her pants in fear.
[21:30] - The God-King is really excited to fight Pride. J gives him a rundown of its abilities.
[21:40] - As the God-King draws his sword, it emmanates a brilliant blue-white light, as well as.. the sounds of a chorus. A chorus which, to M and B, sounds like angelic choir; and which, to the rest of the party, begins to sound more and more like.. a choir of harmonized, tortured screaming.
[21:45] - The God-King slays Pride with ease. The Oracular Order combs through its remains, to find some ingredient to aid the God-King in his search for true immortality. Everyone except M and K stands up and claps.
[21:47] - Suddenly there is a bang of metal, as a large metal plate flies out of the carriage. From the carriage emerges… Leston. In giant form.
[21:50] - He says: “My name is Leston Carn. You killed my father.” (He does not say “prepare to die.”)