Session 12: The City of Cities

General Summary

Dawn broke on the Swift Mermaid as it passed the northern edge of the southern continent, well on its way to its first stop in Nova Aera. Whilst sailing onto deeper waters a peculiar occurrence was sighted. A ship bearing the flags of Fyre was under attack from giant tentacles. Captain Dormaruk suspected this to be the legendary Kraken, a long-fabled monster of the deep. In fear of being involved and having the beast attack the Swift Mermaid as well, he decided to stay back and wait for the monster to leave on its own accord. The plan was to then try and save as many survivors as they could. As Dormaruk studied the scene through his magical spyglass he saw mystical dark figures flying around the ship and grabbing the souls of the dying sailors. When he gave the spyglass to the magical adept Ary, who recognized them as psychopomps, skeletal, crow-like, shepherds of souls.   Once the creature had finished dragging the Fyreian ship into the sea, Captain Dormaruk ordered the crew to set sail towards the wreck. Amongst heavy currents and hungry sharks they only managed to save eight of the crewmembers. They brought them with them to Nova Aera. Soon thereafter they arrived in the never-ending cliff-ports of Nova Aera. Captain Dormaruk docked their ship right next to his favourite inn in the city, the Salty Bucket. A place famous for having rooms for the citizens of Deeptown, accessible through a waterfilled tunnel leading to the rooms on the upper floor. The party then held a meeting to discuss their plan of action. In the end, they decided to simply restock as quickly as possible and then leave the next morning. But before that, they decided to have a nice drink at the bucket. All except Kazagal who had heard tales of the criminality of Nova Aera and decided to stay on the ship.   Upon entering the Salty Bucket, Nakor decided to approach the richest-looking person in the inn. This was a handsome human man clad in a coat with zimean and frankonian embroidery respectively, as well as fyreian trousers. Dormaruk and Frances followed the prince to the man's table. After a lengthy discussion where they found out that the man was dealing with some shady business, of which they didn't want any part. The party left the man and took a seat with the rest of their crew, many of which had followed them into the inn.    All except Nakor, who under the pretences of going to the latrine, but he actually took the moment to turn himself invisible. However, in a loss of control, he also managed to summon a beard of black feathers. The prince then snuck into the inn and approached the man, making sure to stay away from the visitors that entered and joined him at his table. When a particular visitor arrived, a stressed-out vanaran who had entered several times, he snuck a little closer, trying his best not to make sound. What he overheard was a warning about some wares being delivered. When the vanaran had left, the prince's head was filled with a dark, growly voice telling him to step outside for a talk, as he shouldn't have meddled in his buisness. Soon thereafter the man left. Nakor left soon after warning his companions of what had occured, still invisible. He walked out onto the street and saw the man in an alley, but he stayed on the street, using a message spell to communicate telepathically. The man answered in kind, still speaking in the same deep unnatural voice. He explained that he would have to find and bring a man to him or he would take his soul for getting involved. Nakor was left with a note with a name on it as the man left the area.    Nakor, not planning on neither losing his voice nor spending his time desperately trying to find one man in a city of 25 million. He went back to the shithouse and removed the invisibility. Then he returned to his friends, now sporting a feather beard. Frances and Dormaruk explained that they were not going to get involved and that he had to solve this on his own. Frances had with some masterfully applied wisdom deducted that this man was in fact a devil. The sergeant then referred him to the order of hellknights that may occupy the city. These would be special soldiers trained to combat devils. After asking around Nakor managed to find one of these orders, the Order of the Nail.    He entered and found the lictor of this order conversing with the man. He said some last words to the lictor and then left. As Nakor then told his story of the encounter he shared with the man, the lictor would have none of it. As he was being escorted out Nakor managed to use his magic to affect the lictors mind, making him believe that he should send some of his knights along with the prince. Nakor then walked straight to one of the contacts that had visited the devil whilst he was spying on him in the inn. There he was referred to the house of the vanaran who had visited the man with news several times during the night. But that trail also ran cold when he found the house as an old murder scene. Distraught he went to the inn in search of his companion's advice.    Back at the inn Dormaruk and Frances, in the midst of playing an old zimean card game with the crew, had noted that the man had returned. He was then visited by the vanaran, and after the monkey-man had told him something left, leaving the vanaran in his stead. Later, when Nakor and the hellknights appeared, they surrounded the monkey and Nakor walked up and grabbed him by the collar. The vanaran merely grabbed him back, laughed and said: 

A soul for a soul!

The vanaran then blew up an fiery explosion, which knocked the knights out and killed two nearby sailors. Nakor, however, was somehow fine with only a few burn marks. The group rushed to the knights aid, getting them back on their feet. The knights ensured them that this proved that Nakor was in the right and they vowed to hunt the devil down. The party went with them back to the order-hall and spoke with the lictor. They discussed what they would do to ensure their own safety, should the devil decide to follow them to Frankonia. The lictor ensured them that he would contact the branch of the order in Povarus and report what had occurred in Nova Aera.    Satisfied the party left the order and made it back to the Swift Mermaid, where they spent the night, and early the next morning they left the giant city behind and headed towards Ponvarus.