Consequential Choices

General Summary

Introduction

The party near Beyonder's Blades were all tired and burned after their battle with the Skysmasher. They rested for a brief time and then traipsed back to the settlement for some much needed rest. Although they noticed that their houses were charred and the settlement needed a lot of work, everyone was too tired that night and so they all went to bed.

Back in Ivannia, Morganna was likewise exhausted after fighting the Accelerator to a stand-still. She received a message from her friends informing her they had defeated a sky-smasher which cheered her up somewhat. The princess also went to bed and for once slept in until late the next morning.

Rebuilding

  The next morning in Beyonder's Blades found Tidran  and Cassandra asleep in their cottage while Farren slumbered in her own house with her parents. Cassandra awoke and right away noticed that the gravestone of Jayven was knocked over and scorched. She set the stone upright and began scrubbing the scorch marks from it. Tidran meanwhile had also awoken; he examined their cottage and found that while it was still standing, one whole wall was charred from fire and would need repairing. He would have to trade for lumber or travel further into the Beyond since all the nearby trees were burned down. He contented himself with straightening the inside for now.

Farren's parents had both survived the attack although her small garden had not. Once she woke up, she examined the house carefully and made a list of the materials she would need to repair it. Her father was busy dreaming up designs to phase the entire settlement out of reality; her mother was attempting to tell her father his idea might not be feasible. After her inspection of her house, she determined it was charred but unlikely to fall over anytime soon. She then slipped away to visit the inn for breakfast.

Regrouping

Back in Ivannia, Dante  woke up in his luxurious suite. He had been in the Bourbon district for a while with a group of entertainers: as such he had missed out on his friends' adventures. He had his food machine make up a couple platters of breakfast treats and walked over to Morganna's room with them. He found the princess reclining on a couch reading a book with her own breakfast besides her. He offered her the treats he had but was a bit crestfallen that she was already full (she did after all have her own food machine!). 

  The princess summarized the groups recent adventures to the flexible glaive. He quickly offered to join his friends in Beyonder's Blades. Morganna utilized her communicator to ask her very groggy uncle for another emergency portal. Her uncle agreed he would summon the Ivannian Council to another vote but he was firm that he would wait a bit until after he was sure everyone was awake. When Morganna started to protest, her Uncle Francois Estelle reminded her she needed to persuade the council members to support her bid for councilor. Waking all of them up might not be the best start to earn their support!

A bit later that morning, Morganna and Dante both received a message from Francois Estelle that the council have approved the portal again. Furthermore, the council had voted to supply Morganna with a remote switch which would allow her to open a portal back and forth from Ivannia to Beyonder's Blades any time she wished! (Apparently the council had other matters to attend to besides granting incessant portal requests!)

Morganna delightedly opened a portal, and Dante went through carrying one of the platters of treats. Dante stepped through and found himself in a burned down forest which still smelled heavily of smoke. He glanced behind himself just in time to see a hand come through the portal and drop off his other platter of treats! The portal then shimmered and closed. Dante took the second platter and walked a short distance through the ash to the settlement. 

Planning

  In the meantime, Tidran and Cassandra had joined Farren at the inn. Dilzer, the innkeeper, was using the food machine they had donated to feed what appeared to be most of the settlement's population. He had found that the quickest and most energy-efficient thing the machine could make was a sort of flavorless and lumpy porridge. He was producing vast quantities of the colorless, gloopy porridge and handing out bowls to everyone. Cassandra was hungry, but she had become accustomed to producing whatever fine cuisine she desired in Ivannia and she scrunched up her face in disgust after tasting a spoon of porridge. Tidran quietly pulled a small spice canister from his pocket and flavored his bowl. Cassandra noticed and quickly asked her brother to share!

The siblings overheard one of the local huntresses mention her disappointment over that morning's hunting failure. Cassandra approached the young huntress and offered her the spice shaker. The huntress was quite happy to have some flavor! She explained that she was one of several hunters who had successfully killed several broken hounds during an early morning hunt. However, the hunters had been driven from their quarry by a Llaric Scorpion and so had returned empty-handed to the settlement. 

About then, the inn door opened and Dante entered. He passed out the breakfast treats to a grateful crowd. (Cassandra in particular was relieved to see them and quickly grabbed several sweet pastries!) Dante's friends quickly got him caught up on events in town. They all agreed they would track down the scorpion and try and retrieve any meat left to bring back. The founders of the settlement were feeling better after a night of rest, they all prepared to fight another skysmasher blocking an important trade route. Dante took a quick look at his house: one wall was charred and would need repairing but his furniture was intact!

Cassandra used her communicator to try and summon Morganna to the settlement and aid with the llaric scorpion. Morganna considered carefully: she had a dinner later that night with House Bonaparte and she did not wish give the impression she was abandoning Ivannia. However, Morganna decided to spend the afternoon helping her friends and then teleport back in time for dinner. 

Hunting

  Morganna clicked her remote, and the portal to the Beyond shimmered into existence. She stepped through the portal, her face wrinkling in disgust as her boots sunk into ash. Resolving herself to ruining yet another perfectly good outfit the Jack considered hovering for a brief moment but then gingerly hitched up her skirt off the ground and walked towards the settlement.

Once inside the palisade walls, Morganna strode purposefully to the inn. She entered, and decisively approached Bane who was at the counter. The princess pulled a note from her pocket, along with a pouch of shins, placed both on the counter and announced "I am accepting your offer to purchase this inn!" Morganna's friends were surprised, having nearly forgotten about the offer. Bane smiled a bit and thanked her. He would see to it that the shins would go to aiding the settlement. 

The adventurers got directions from the hunting party and they set off through the burnt forest. Wisps of smoke drifted in the wind, and the once green and silver forest was now a mess of blackened stumps and charred trees. After about an hour's hike, Dante halted the group. His keen ears caught a faint chittering sound from up ahead. Sure enough, the llaric scorpion was still at the kill site! 

Everyone readied their weapons and charged in! The scorpion faced them with razor sharp claws and pedipalps that hungered for flesh. It was fast and ferocious, but the group were experienced fighters by now and they were quicker. After a couple quick rounds the llaric scorpion's legs folded in death and it shuddered to a stop with thick gray ichor oozing from multiple punctures in its carapace. 

The group cheered! After all their struggles of late it felt good to have everyone together again. Killing the scorpion was almost cathartic compared to facing plasma balls and paranoid machines. Dante salvaged a bundle of chitinous plates from the monster, and the rest of the party collected the broken hound meat that was left. Fortunately, the night had been cool and the meat had not yet spoiled. They shouldered their prizes and hiked back to the settlement. The settlers cheered as they entered! Dilzer thanked them for the meat and soon the smoky tang in the air was replaced by the delicious scent of roasting meat. 

Political Games

  Morganna sighed. She was very happy to help her friends out but as the day drew on she needed to return to Ivannia. Tidran, Cassandra, Dante, and Farren all chose to remain in the settlement and work on rebuilding. The princess walked back through the burnt forest and activated her portal. Back in Ivannia she enjoyed a good bath and change of clothes. 

Later that evening, Jean Bonaparte arrived for dinner. In House Estelle's luxurious dining room waited a sumptuous feast. Princess Morganna Estelle flirtatiously greeted her guest and ushered him in. The two sat and enjoyed a delicious repast. As they dined, Morganna coyly brought up the real reason for the meal. She informed Bonaparte of her desire to be the next councilor, and requested his vote. Bonaparte had suspected the dinner was not just a meal between friends. He agreed to support her bid for councilor especially given how helpful she had been in getting approval for his military excursions. 

After that, their conversation turned to lighter topics and after a while Bonaparte departed. Morganna began planning a series of meals for the next day, and sent of invitations to all the other houses. She would need to eat lightly at each meal if she were to host five of them in a single day! She also sent a letter to her spy master requesting a report on the dishes favored by each house so as to make a good impression. 

As the shadows deepened into twilight in Beyonder's Blades the heroes began to plan their next moves. They all needed wood to repair their houses and settlement. They would have to travel beyond the devastation cause by the skysmashers in order to find any. Tidran penned a message to several contacts from Jayvin's journal. Although there were no messengers to send it, he intended to try and re-open some of his family's old trade routes.