Session 20 + 1/2 Report
General Summary
The party started off the Kite Festival's evening by visiting a kite-making stall. With Amanti's help, Nadyn made a pretty red striped and grassy-textured snake kite. They were interrupted by Laseen and her younger brothers, Klorin and Atep, the two energetic lizardfolk boys the party witnessed when they first witnessed Laseen. Laseen apologized profusely, explaining how she did most of the caretaking duties, as her parents' were frail and aging after a lifetime of battling in the arena--she came from a long line of career gladiators. Thanking the party, she bid them a good rest of the kite festival. The party then encountered Donovan's friends once more, Joanna, Daya, and Yuvi, Yuvi asked how visiting Donovan went, and they explained how they would stop by later. Yuvi also asked about him, and in doing so the conversation eventually got to her career--how the colloboration with Leferin to hunt down four specific artifacts wasn't actually her primary focus, and that her main area of study was the historical kingdom of Cuiguo, otherwise known as The Green Kingdom, The Verdant Kingdom, and The Jade Kingdom. Joanna and Yuvi said goodbye and decided to wander around waiting for Donovan's appearance, but before joining them, Daya stayed behind. He quietly asked the party how Donovan was really doing, revealing that they were roommates during the imperial exams. During this period of their lives, he discovered how feverishly of a workaholic Donovan was, practically never getting a full eight hours of sleep even if he had the spare time too. Daya theorized that Donovan had a deep insecurity of never being good enough, and that he suppressed it by working constantly so that he can be "the ideal worker" in society. Having said that, Daya said goodbye to the party too and caught up with the other two. The party bought some Orappilk for Nadyn, who expressed interest in getting his fortune read at a nearby stand. The party objected to this, to Nadyn's dismay, but after some disagreement Fanna agreed to get their fortune read with Nadyn. After that, the two made their way towards the park center, where they saw Mei helping set-up with the Kite Festival's annual beauty pageant. Because of the romantic undertones of the Legend of the Kite Festival, it is tradition for a beauty pageant to be hosted in the park, where women of marriageable show off their talents to find suitors and make connections. The party helped Mei out, taking requests from the entrants on what flowers they wanted at their display while she ran to the bathroom. When she came back, she was accosted by a couple who insisted she join herself, as she was a young woman who was still unmarried into her 30s, and they did not want her to be a leftover woman. Mei declined, quickly walking away from the pestering couple and thanking the party. The party was then approached by a government official, who questioned them on if they knew anything about Ayer Barrett's recent death. The party handed over the picture of Ayer and his sister Zephyra, the woman associated with the terrorists at the Caochaun Science Fair that the party killed, alongside some paperwork showing correspondence between Ayer and some Ondinian manufacturing companies. The official thanked the party, and explained how the government had grown suspicious of Ayer the past several years ever since his return from Leferin. He had grown interested in a very specific political and social movement which seeked to strengthen the powers in humanoids and help them go beyond their mortal constraints to be like gods--trans-humanism, in essence. In particular, he seemed to show interest in doing this through technology. After this, Nadyn asked to go by himself for a bit, reminded of his time in the army and hearing about similar things from his bosses. After all of these conversations, the party finally sat down for the main event. They watched as the empress of Lingguo herself, escorted by her private entourage, commenced the beauty pageant. The party watched as several woman seated at their stations showed off their skills--weaving, cooking, cleaning, and more. They bumped into Iskra and LJubica, who chatted with them happily. They then overheard music and singing coming from a ways away. When they went to investigate it, they saw a unique sight. It was Guiying and Michael, dancing together to the music, catching up and having genuine fun. When they were finished, another official pulled Michael and Anahe away for an important discussion. Guiying said greeted the party, lamenting how she hadn't gotten a chance to hang out with Michael in months, before heading back to the temple. Now ready to meet up with Nadyn again, the party waited in the park center. After a perception check to find him, Brooks spotted the fortune teller from before, eyeing them from the far distance. When he turned around, Brooks spotted Nadyn strapped to his back, and the diviner ran. The party immediately gave chase. The diviner ran thru the beauty pageant, knocking over people's stations and stabbing a women to try and shake off the party. He then ran into a path lined with stalls and vendors, using prestidigation to mimic the sound of an explosion and send the people scattering, forcing the party to move at half movement speed after him. During this, Fanna managed to lasso him with their spare rope, but he broke free with his Freedom of Movement. His two accomplicses, and Thien later joined in on the chase. The diviner made it to the end of the park, where they climbed up the roofs and continued running. The party followed him up to the rooftops, where a grueling battle ensued. The party was without their spell foci, limiting their ability to cast spells, and the diviner seemed to be empowered by a shadowy presence within him. After dealing heavy damage to several party members and stunning Fanna and Amanti's Wildfire Spirit, a dark blur suddenly arrived on scene, striking the diviner. It was Michael, who had arrived to support the party. Michael gave the diviner the option to give up Nadyn peacefully, expressing his distaste for using violence to solve conflicts, summoning his wolf spirit companion as backup. The diviner merely released a smoke bomb to temporarily blind the party, then took off, with Michael right on his tail. The wolf spirit Michael summoned ushered all the party members onto its back, then continued the chase down in the streets. To try and stop the party, the diviner drank a potion and breathed fire onto the crowded streets below, trapping a man carrying some heavy boxes and blocking the path with tall flames. Fanna attacked the box trapping the man, freeing him, and Amanti used his Control Flames cantrip to suppress the flames enough for the wolf to run through, to the gratefulness of the other people. Next they were pursued by the two accomplices from before on horseback. Thien shot one of them clear off a horse, as the other dumped a bunch of animals on the party. Amanti calmed down the animals, and Fanna took revenge by using Mage Hand to shove a tarantula in the remaining accomplice's face, causing him to fall off his horse as well. Finally, the party was briefly held up when two of them, and the wolf got stuck in deep mud. The party, with a natural 20 Athletics check from Fanna, managed to push the wolf out of the mud, and caught up to Michael confronting the diviner at the edge of the River of Life. The diviner threatened Michael, holding up a glowing magatama-shaped stone to his temple and saying that he'd activate it if Michael stepped any closer. Thien offered his crossbow to Fanna, who aimed a crossbow bolt at the magatama. It soared through the air beautifully, hitting the hole in the magatama right on point, knocking it out of the diviner's hands before he realized what even happened. In this moment of distraction, Michael dashed forward and tackled him, wrapping him in binding charms and knocking him unconscious. He then freed Nadyn, who tumbled out from his binds and hugged Michael's legs, sobbing. In his distress and confusion, he accidentally called Michael dad, shocking him and causing him to look directly at Amanti for his reaction. Amanti ran forward to comfort his son, shortly accompanied by the rest of the party, offering the reassurance and allowing him to pit the Kirin plush and Soup. Michael took the unconscious diviner and carried him over his back, explaining how he actually knew the man and suspected he had been possessed by a spirit. When Fanna asked him about the title the possessed diviner used back at the rooftops--"The Prince of Wolves"--Michael explained how it was a title spirits had come up with him over the years. He regarded the title with disdain, and it seemed to stem from the spirits' perception of him "chasing down spirits like prey." Fanna also asked if the uptick in spirits trying to capture Nadyn had to do with anything. Michael mentioned that he did suspect a disruption in the River of Life's aura, and that he was investigating upriver starting tomorrow. He asked the party if they knew if anything major happened upriver recently, and the party finally admitted their involvement in Ayer's death, returning the River Dragon's Pearl to Kasha and the kobolds, and the mining and slavery they discovered as they went upriver. Michael thanked the party, and asked Nadyn once again if he was sure if he wanted to come with him. Nadyn nodded, saying that he felt safe knowing that someone powerful like him was his mentor. Satisfied, Michael told the party he was heading off back to the official he was talking with and Anahe. Later he would meet up with Guiying, where they would work to interrogate the Spirit that had taken over the diviner's body. After an exhausting day, the party went back to their inn, where Iskra and Ljubica were seated in the lobby, slightly drunk and leaning against each other. Iskra went out and Thien went out and brought drinks for everyone, and they said goodnight. The party then went to sleep.
Character(s) interacted with
Laseen, Joanna, Daya, Yuvi, Mei, Donovan, Michael, Guiying, Iskra, Ljubica
