Session 4 - The Shining Isle

Researched my old notes. +1 despair for having forgotten something (the 13th person from the war project). Completed research Solve a Mystery: Therefore Fight, O Arjuna (+1 acumen). To continue this, I am going to get A'isha to research it for me. However, we're not good enough friends. Thus: started bond arc with aisha (-2 acumen)
 
Went on a date with Simone. She gave me an awesome lei which lets me relive her memories of a starry night in Hawaii, and use the observatory there. Started romance bond with simone (-2 acumen)
 
On to the Shining Isle. I declared that this is how it goes... Gwyn is in charge.
 
The Lacuna do a magical working to transport us to the location. We're on a cold Northern beach, where there is a camp. There are Lacuna there. We learn the expeditionary camp is five Lacuna, who took a boat to a glowing island. The boat never came back and they never heard anything back from the Lacuna. The Lacuna offer us a boat. Fynlyn summons a spirit to fly ahead and scout.
 
On the way, we encounter bad weather. The boat nearly capsizes, but the lacuna pilot prevents that. Still, they fall overboard... Gwyn jumps after! Simone casts a spell to help them. Locke throws them a rope. They get back safely into the boat. Because Gwyn's clothes are soaked, he gets the Lacuna to open a portal to a fancy hotel, and reaches through to steal a fluffy bathrobe.
 
We reach the Shining Isle. There is no boat the the dock, but there is fresh torn rope. We go up the stairs to the top of the island cliffs. We can see a stone keep in the distance, and a forest with trees which are way taller than they should be. We see a glowing pond with a small stream that runs to a waterfall off the side of the island. Beside the pond, there's the camp.
 
The camp is a couple of tents. It clearly hasn't been used in a couple of days. The glowing pond has a rowboat, which is growing leaves and roots. There are fish in the pond, but they're too big. I rolled Decode the Sefiroth on the fish. Simone drinks some of the water. She reports that it is delicious.
 
I cast Light In The Dark Of The Before and learned that the Lacuna left three days ago on the path towards the keep. We follow along, heading into the woods. In the first clearing, we find a bunch of glowing pigs who are just eating. In a different clearing, we fin a small vegetable garden, which is super overgrown. The vegetables are big big big big big, such as a carrot the size of your leg. Some of the vegetables have been removed. I convinced Gwyn not to take a carrot. I didn't think this was safe, since we didn't know who made this world.
 
We continue on to the keep. Nobody answered when we knocked. I took out my scourged wicked key from the last keyfall, and opened it. I countered the flux on it, which would have made me have to eat every piece of food I saw for a week.
 
In the keep, kitchens, temple, storage. Second floor looks like living quarters. Paths downstairs. We went into the kitchen, saw that it was used recently. Specifically, a small group (about the size of the Lacuna expedition) cooked and ate here a couple of days ago. In a small room adjoining the kitchen, we found their bedrolls.
 
Simone and I went back to the pigs. They were normal pigs.
 
Downstairs, we find a charnel pit, full of human remains and pig shit. Simone discovers that the pigshit is made of people. Locke examines the bones. Some of them glow. Almost all of them are longer than they should be. I inspected the bodies. There were signs that they were stabbed (murdered), but no signs of butchering or cannibalism.
 
Simone found some more information with her magic... they were ritually sacrificed, and knew that at least the one she touched first was human. Really, they all seemed to be human.
 
The next room from the charnel pit is another temple, though not to the sun like the one above. There is a lot of imagery and writing about "The Sweet Ones", who made the people there better, and who would come back if these people were ever as good as they were. I searched the room, and some of the wall panels can move.
 
The secret entrance leads to a ladder which goes down into a room lit with glowing crystals. The room is a sideways chamber with a cracked floor, with light coming up through cracks in the floorboards from the crystalline structure below it. There are a bunch of planter boxes with EVEN BETTER fruits and vegetables in them. In the back of the room are bigger, badder pigs.
 
As we descend into the structure, everything goes sideways, literally. Things which should be on the floor are instead on the walls. The light is purer than the sunlight above. We're basically inside the crystal.
 
In the next room, Gwyn and Fynlan couldn't resist the temptation. They grabbed nearby food and started eating it. They just couldn't resist because it was so good. I used Scent of Magic and identified what was going on... the magic is upon the fruit, making it good, not upon my friends. They just couldn't resist eating something so good.
 
In the next room after that, only I could resist. Simone went to eat a pig... I stopped her, thank Visla. She used her magic to make everything seem unappetizing for all of us.
 
We moved forward, and found one of the Lacuna, huddled in front of a locked door. We awoke the Lacuna, and they were scared, they thought we might be one of the "tall people". Simone and I comforted them, and spoke with them, and learned that the others were abducted by these tall people.
 
Fynlyn summoned a guardian angel to escort the Lacuna back to safety. Simone used her wicked key to open the crystal door into a crystal warren. We are inside the crystal. Gwyn shot down doors; Locke gathered up crystal bits (for Maker materials) and some unidentifiable crystal tools.
 
We moved on to a central hub, with human people sleeping on them. They are taller than normal. Amongst them, on other beds, are also the Lacuna.
 
Two beings enter from another room. They are really tall, maybe 11 feet tall, but their features are strangely vague, and they are suffused with regality. They're not naked, but we can't really tell if they're clothed because they're so glowy.
 
The beings spoke, but I could not understand them. Simone spoke with them, tried to convince them that we should take the Lacuna away. But the beings claimed that the Lacuna could not get away safely because they had been there for too long.
 
I made the claim that only the Lacuna understand themselves well enough, and that only they had the right to make the decision. We awaken the Lacuna, so they can decide what to do. One of them has to go back to sleep because they freak out. Two want to go home. One is scared about going home.
 
The beings gave a long explanation of what was happening, but I couldn't understand it. We had a pretty tense conversation about it. In the end, I made it clear that it was Gwyn's decision. In the end, we insist that the ones who want to go, we bring with us. In exchange, we left all of the crystal bits behind.