Session 11 - Picking Sides
General Summary
After completing the Trials of Shao Ganiz E'Cord, the group found themselves exhausted and stripped of all of the material gear and wealth. Clad in rough spun tunics, they attempted to stand, but were unable. More difficult still was finding out that 10 years had gone by since they completed the Trials. It certainly didn't seem that way to them, but they were able to get their confirmation by simply looking at each other's faces.
Vlar T'Sarran had just left them for Cody Nightingale to get them cleaned up and have all their gear returned to them. Vlar was off to notify Matron Mother Reclusia of their passing of the Trials. It was clear that the group and impressed Vlar, as she bowed deeply and praised the group as she left.
Cody took this opportunity to telepathically reach out to who he believed the easiest to persuade...Andre. In the conversation that he had with Andre, he explained that he wanted to overthrow the Matron Mother and take control of H'angontite. With the group going to face her shortly, it was their best opportunity. He explained that he can restore the group's vitality and all they would need to do is help kill Vlar, her Brood Guard, and Reclusia. He would then give the group any reward that he could.
After getting the Pan Flute Five back into their gear, they were escorted/carried by Cody's guard, Brute Force, to the Matron's throne room. when they entered the could see Vlar at the top of this rooms central ramp. Standing ahead of her, on either side of a throne were six memebers of the Brood Guard and a row of Cody's Brute Force. In the center was an elf with a wrinkled, wretched face bathed in a dim purple light - the Matron Mother Reclusia.
Vlar then stepped forward and explained that this was the group of individuals who completed the Trials and that they were due their reward. As she is doing this, at the behest of Reclusia and Cody, the Brutes are visibly handing out vials to each of the characters. After they were handed out, the Matron Mother speaks derisively that they will receive no such reward and that they are only good for the entertainment of the drow. They should entertain her now by drinking those vials and die by poison know or be tortured to death. Either way they would serve their purpose.
Vlar protests that treating them in this way is a lie H'angontite and The Trials. The Trials were created to make an opportunity for everyone, regardless if they were outsiders. Reclusia starts to argue with Vlar, who physically puts herself and her Brood between Reclusia, Cody, and his Brute Force.
Suddenly, Vlar attacks Cody and destroys a globe that was above the thrown room that went unnoticed before. Shattering, those who use magic, could feel their abilities start to come back, but they were still to exhausted from the Trials to do anything. As chaos descends in the room, Andre hears the voice of Cody ring through his head as it tells him to drink the vial. Andre being Andre abided and found that all of exhausted had fallen away from him, only to fill back up with rage.
Charging forward, and yelling back at the group to take the vial, he leapt into battle. At this point everyone was fighting everyone. While Cody was Vlar's original target, the Matron Mother struck out at her causing them to clash. The group fought Brutes, pushing them off of ledges and into pits filled with venomous spiders only to hear their screams as they are stuck and slowly poisoned. Cody, ever crafty was able to make himself invisible and hurl fireballs at everyone in the room to try to bring everyone down. The Matron was emanating evil miasma which sucked the life out of anyone near her.
Eventually, as numbers dwindled down, the group hesitantly decided to side with Vlar, and joined forces to take down Cody and Reclusia. As the fight began to wind down however, Andre, in his werewolf form once again lost control, not wanting to end his violent revelry. The group, with Vlar, was able to subdue him once again however. After the battle was completed, Vlar began to reflect on her role at H'angontite and her beliefs. She once again thanked the group and assumed the role of Matron Mother. She also rewarded them with a staggering amount of gold. She wished them well and had them escorted to the surface.
They came out the same way they came in, which was through the ruins of the elven city of Marcel in the Kuno Forest. The exited at night in an effort to slowly get used to sunlight again. They could see the light of Solinari, the white moon and Lunitari the red moon mixing their colors together. Both full and bright as they are welcomed back to the surface. The smell of the air alluded that it was late spring and starting to dip into summer. This meant that it was somewhere in the month of Amael.
The group decided to start heading south, to the main roads south of the Kuno Forest. As they were making their way through the forest, the group was stopped by a young elf scout with the emblem of the Kuno Confederacy on his lapel. He was taken aback at the sight of the group. PF5 learned that it was commonly understood that the Pan Flute 5 had died in the underdark given the amount of time they were missing. He agreed to escort the group to the capital of the Kuno Confederacy, Aurchious to speak with Yoan.
After making it to Aurchious, the group spoke with Yoan, who was also equally surprised. After the initial shock, she spent some time filling in the team on what they had missed on the last 10 years.
- Yoan had continue to make progress in establishing the Kuno Forest into a new government known as the Kuno Confederacy. There are still city states in the Kuno forest who do not align with them, but thanks to Yoan's efforts their sovereignty has been, for the most part, widely accepted by other governments. This has helped with trade and commerce. Maccion has also recruited the unparalleled scouts of Kuno to help monitor the North Road.
- Maccion has grown into a sprawling town at this point. Still frontier, but there are a lot more signs of an established city with better societal programs, commerce, police force, etc.
- About 5 years ago, the Demoarchos of Maccion, Neophytos, was called to the capital of Startos, Ithaca. Rumor was that he was under consideration for a some kind of promotion. Problem is that nobody has heard from him since. More troubling still, the 2nd Commandant Alcaeus Phocas of Garrard Fort was put in as a de-facto Demorachos and has remained in that position since.
- With the Pan Flute 5 missing, and Neophytos presumably in Ithaca, there was a power vacuum. A baron of sorts, Delacroix Carp AKA The Blowfish, has started buying up parcels of land around Maccion. Rumor has it that this isn't always above board.
- Yoan had also noticed that much of the old gods have been replaced in Maccion, and Stratos for that matter. The Church of Pelor had almost been fully adopted by the populace.
- As an aside, she commented on Andre's appearance. She could tell that there was something off, and that she had felt a presence like this before, and that was in the presence of the Alpha.
Report Date
29 Jul 2023
Primary Location
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