Session 39: Trail of Treachery Report
General Summary
The session began with the party waking up after resting in the giant ruins residing in the nearby moutains, along with the Kobolds and the Draconian that the party named Clarence. Zeal pulled Aes aside, asking her that if he could get the Blood Lord's Jewel no matter the cost, should he? He was ambigous about the question, but Aes pieced together it may be related to the night before when they found Zeal outside, in tears and his gun broken. The party then said farewell to the Kobolds as they left along with Clarence back down the mountain where they encountered the Sabertooth they saved. It threw them a chewed up corpse of an unrecognisable figure who had some money on him that they party took. Geraldt used a spell to talk with the tiger attempting to be friendly with it, but since it was a wild animal, it saw him and the party as prey so it did not allow Geraldt to get close and saw the dead body as a peace offering. On their way back, they encountered the "Guards" who tried to extort the party out of money when they were on their way to Titan's Remnant. They sacked a caravan and were in the process of dumping bodies into the Relic River. The party confronted the guards, and Aes picked up one of them by the collar, threatening them. The one who was picked up yelled for the others to run, but there was no time as Zeal sprung into action and shot one who tried to run. Combat quickly ensued but bipedal jackal-like creatures sprang out from the forest edge and began to attack both the bandits and the party, ripping out the throats of two of the bandits. The Jackal creatures were dealt with, and two remaining bandits where hogtied and put on the back of the party's horses. The party then returned to the keep, but on the way there they found a frightened Celtra running towards the party, who said that the keep was attacked by unknown forces. The party took her word at first, but slowly began to mistrust her and suspect her as she was acting strange. Their mistrust for her was right, as when the party stepped into the keep, she had an impossibly wide smile and began to giggle manically. Reality began to twist and distort as the party began to fall through the floor of the keep itself, into a void of bright colours and masquerade masks with faces that began to become full of rage and bigger, coming closer as they consumed the party whole. They then found themselves falling through the air, towards a forest of infinite treers and azure blue sky. They landed without a scratch and then followed a trail which lead to a grove with a log cabin ontop of a grassy hills with beautiful, mesmerising flowers. Too mesmerising. The party was lured against their will towards the cabin, where the plants and grass began to rot and become thorny, with roots erupting out of the ground and grasping each person tightly and dragging them under, into the dirt and soil. This ended up with the party on a cliffside, with the ocean below crashing against the craggy rocks. There were signs by the bridge, one saying that the bridge was safe to cross, whilst the other claimed that the bridge was unsafe to cross. The party hatched a plan where they used Orion's familiar and Geraldt's rope of climbing to pass safely incase the bridge disappeared or collapsed. As they made their way across, a feline creature resembling a leopard with snakes protuding from it's shoulders fading in across from them, ready to attack. Another creature appeared behind them too, an amalgamation of arms which began rolling down the bridge slowly, threatening to crush the party in it's path. The party was able to pass the feline creature, as it did nothing, and reached the other side of the bridge where they were transported elsewhere once more. The party found themselves back in the keep, but it was black as an endless void, and too quiet. Whispers came from the shadows, where they heard them say "Truth", "Secrets", "Reveak" and "Freedom". The party figured out what they meant and revealed a secret each: Aes has a book on her person that contains runes from her creator that she has not deciphyered, Geraldt need to go to the Abyss with Gerald, Orion's son is Zephyr and Zeal's father was the man in Caernstock who hired them to protect The Claymore, and shorted Zeal on his payment. After they all revealed a secret, they found themselves gagged and blindfolded and heard whimsical humming from behind them. One by one their blindfolds were removed and they were back in the actual keep, but bound to a chair at a table which was not there before. It turned out to be Chalice who was messing with the party with illusions, as she went around the table and took off the blindfolds of the others around the table, including Reima, Logan, Malik, Kalki and Karl who they had not seen in quite a while. Chalice seems to act almost child-like and with whimsy, uncaring and simply enjoying what she was doing. She revealed the head of the Scaled King on a platter on the table, which Orion ate a piece of (tasted like dry chicken). Chalice merely wanted to speak with and meet the party, sarcastically saying that they are might warriors who she has heard alot about, seemingly making fun of the party. She soon left, letting the party free where the party took a rest to take in what happened and find the real Celtra, who was protected by Clanky outside of the keep.
