Session 2.1 - A Fell Song and a Fallen Star Report

General Summary

Camelot stands on the precipice of an impossible new age. On the auspicious occasion of the 25th birthday of Camelot’s twin princesses, Godiva and Absabeth, their half-brother Mordred the Second and his mother Morgause returned to Camelot with their eyes upon the throne, now two decades absent its sovereign King Arthur Uther Hereward Pendragon, first and only of his name. The latitude and longitude of the countryside have been scored into the earth with flame and new roads are being trod even with the telling of our tale as lines of soldiers in gleaming black armor crisscross the kingdom. Lychnis was captured a week ago. Ser Leodegrance held it on his own for a full week with no reinforcements for his unit before succumbing. Reports smuggled from within the city’s elite districts suggest he is doing his best to protect the people living within Lychnis and that someone matching Bathsheba’s description has been sighted more than once on the edge of the town, though it remains under the control of General Mordred Pendragon Le Fay. The blood blooms of Lychnis have turned black and shriveled since encountering Mordred’s magic. The Amere family is in captivity and acting as servants of their own manor for refusing to lend their Seiliegh magic to restore the blooms for Mordred’s profit. Queen Mother Ena’s home city of Cyneburg was captured before Camelot even became aware of the conflict. As estimated from above by the reinforcements arriving, 20% of its fields were razed in a large swath from north to east. Occassus is being used to monitor the Uncanny Valley. In short, war has come again to Camelot…but that is not all. The Once and Future King once again walks the glittering white cobblestones of Caerleon, their natural gleam restored for fractals of moments beneath his armored steps and outshining the newfound patina of bone dust and blood stain. Unprecedented times indeed, when the dead walk on the arms of their Queen and the living remember how they once kneeled. Stranger still, the Pendragon family does not walk alone - the greenest branches of the oldest families in Anima have come by volantem and dirigible and less visible sources to march beside them against a common enemy. The united armies of Anima and Albion touch down and bivouac upon the edge of the Uncanny Valley, spread out by the thousands. A field of sleeping soldiers wait to rise from the earth and touch the sun come dawn. But now, in the balmy dark of Camelot in the flush of summer? Those bivouacked in the high yellow grass and those who make their beds in the white stone halls of the castle sleep, the much-earned result of a journey well traveled and a long fight ahead - unfortunately for our slumbering party, rest is not in the stars tonight. Scattered across Camelot though they may be, the face of each of our party members contorts in unintelligible rhythm as their dreams grow black with portent. ...Let’s have a look inside, shall we?

PART ONE: A FELL SONG

Having arrived in Camelot early this evening just as the dusk began to kiss the horizon’s neck the Protectors of the Realm were decidedly absent one Eleanor De Gales, the troubled young knight having chosen at the last moment to remain in Avalon and reacquaint herself with her heritage. After the long-awaited reunification of the Pendragon family there was of course the matter of docking and storing the ships and dirigibles, adding tents to the dozens acquired by Barden and his men, reporting back their own families and posts and assisting in clean-up following the last skirmish.

They eventually learned, standing around Camelot’s ancient wooden war table, the worst: in but not because of their absence, the cities of Lychnis, Cyneburg, and Ocassus have been either compromised or lost to the opposition entirely — only Lorath has defended itself. The conversation ran late into the evening, the children of Camelot having left novices and returned as seasoned adventurers in their own right, the stars high and visible by the time they each returned to their beds for the night, minds endlessly circling on the morning when the work to defend Camelot begins in earnest until at last fatigue and the familiar smell of white marble and petrichor coaxed each of them inexorably into sleep. That is where this chapter of our story begins for them.

A woman sings in a language they do not know, the song haunting in the way it rings off the high ceilings of the mind. There is anguish there, and anger too, something as old as the earth itself. Unbeknownst to them in this moment, the same series of images pass before each of their mind’s eyes sans context:

The eye overlooks a spectral chessboard - on one side one glowing hand waits on a black pawn while one glowing, brown hand moves a white knight onto the board.
A black spire that neither emits nor reflects light dominates the landscape.
Overhead, a falling black star with a ring of livid purple flame around it flickers incessantly.

Just visible against the horizon line stands a massive black unicorn, but only for a moment: it shifts into a black humanoid figure sans features, is the malicorn again, and in between blinks the figure is much closer, close enough to see a mask of glittering material and its empty yet somehow piercing eyes as the Abyss looks back at you.

We are now inside the black spire, walking down a slanting, shifting, lightless hallway leaving hand prints of black blood on the walls as you pass, the sounds of battle outside cut by a piercing scream that echoes in the hollows of everyone of your bones.

As the sound wakes the Protectors of the Realm, it doubles over on itself and becomes a chorus of very real screams.

Princess Absabeth Pendragon bolts awake on the tail end of a strange dream and finds that the sounds do not fade as reality solidifies into a clear picture before her. She turns to the figure still buried in the blankets beside her - her twin sister Princess Godiva, having snuck in in the dead of night in a way she has not felt the need in at least a decade, is still fast asleep despite the encroaching smell of smoke, the rumble Abi recognizes as footsteps approaching the castle...and the first of two slaps administered to her face in a desperate (but calculated) attempt. Finally Godiva is roused, if not initially miffed, but jumps into action and within a few moments the twins Pendragon are dressed with weapons in hand and off to try and find the rest of their family. Their search doesn't last long before they're jerked into a secret passageway by none other than Merlin Ambrosius, who has been sent by the King and Queen to collect their daughters and lead them to safety.

Not far away Knight of the Whispers Grifflyn Toussaint wakes in a familiar location: the secret passageway she has converted into her private workspace, exactly as she left it many months ago. She returned with a great deal more information than that which she departed, after all: a living, breathing, walking, talking mother, a father who smiles, an enormous family that has kept her in its thoughts without ever laying eyes on her...and those are just her personal developments. There had been a great number of dots to connect following the meeting of the war council and, she muses as she unsticks a sheet of parchment from her face, she must've fallen asleep somewhere between Point A and Point Z. The dream has not left her, of course, though it downshifts in priority when she realizes that the scream has followed her into waking. Upon investigation Grifflyn finds that several of the exit halls on the first floor have been blocked from the outside with fire, smoke rolling under the barred wooden doors, and sets to notifying as many of Camelot's finest warriors and mages as she can find that they are, in fact, under attack.

In the open field where the combined armies of Albion and Anima have made their bivouac, several rows of tents erupt into flame. Princesses Lady and Leis Lake awake immediately, well-attuned to the frenetic rhythm of warfare, and unbeknownst to them Ser Malcolm Ledoux wakes nearby, heightened senses seeking danger long before his consciousness does. The three find each other on the field, dressed head to toe in their respective armor and on high alert. It is agreed that Ser Malcolm will make his way toward the Castle and their friends, his already impressive form rippling into the gargantuan form of a white and brown bear even as he picks up speed and momentum. Before Lady and Leis are able to decide their next course of action or muster their army, they make out a figure on the horizon line as it approaches: A living constellation, the glowing line of its skeleton visible through a veil of night sky, glowing blue eyes, white flame roiling between crystal teeth.

Astride the massive dragon?
The figure of a woman with hair like molten mercury and burning purple eyes, singing.

PART TWO: A FALLEN STAR

Something about her is familiar, Lady Lake thinks as the dot on the horizon grows ever larger, uncannily familiar. It's difficult to make sense of the image as it comes into shape, but by the time she's able to make out the facial features of the woman astride the dragon and recognize the language she's singing in as High Venic, she knows what - or rather, who - she's looking at, however impossible. Lady signals to Leis, insisting that she'll be alright, that the royal family is going to need Leis' help, that she'll call for help the moment she needs it - a reluctant Leis races toward Castle Caerleon with a last look over her shoulder for her twin, unknowingly rushing past a transformed Malcolm in her hurry. Lady quietly calls the young dragon Scheherazade to her side and waits for the (much, much larger) dragon to come within speaking distance, even as a gout of white flame makes its way unerringly toward them.

Instincts lead Adaleis to the royal gardens - a favorite haunt of Princess Absabeth, who repays Leis' intuition by being there, arriving with Godiva just moments after Adaleis. After a round of assurances that all are unharmed, given the circumstances, the growing group rushes to locate Grifflynn, who is ultimately found in her private quarters (having remembered that a fight is best had in armor and returned at last to retrieve it) and joins her party as it races to the castle's courtyard. The assembled Protectors of the Realm find it crowded with cloudy-eyed villagers clutching torches and pitchforks and marching incessantly upon the castle in waves, Ser Malcolm's hulking ursine form visible over the fray.

Ser Malcolm, having arrived several minutes earlier, is well immersed in the task of keeping the endless waves of villagers at bay. His conversation with his mother has revitalized him and he begins to push the very boundaries of what knows to be his shapeshifting abilities, willing his limbs to change and strengthen as he fights. He is so immersed, in fact, that he does not detect the blow coming until a set of claws swipe across the back of his neck and, upon wheeling, he finds himself face to face with a bear of equal size with intelligent, glowing lavender eyes. The bear goes so far as to speak, asking Malcolm why one such as himself would defend a kingdom in which he feels the need to hide who he is - he is Brother Gilead, a Knight of the Forgotten and subordinate to the enemy.

Rather than answer audibly, Malcolm opts to let his 6-foot reach and razor-sharp claws do the talking.

Surrounded by white and rainbow flame in the midst of the chaos plaguing the field in which the bivouac lies, Lady Lake calls out in a foreign tongue to the woman astride the dragon: This is no way to have a conversation, ratacitor. I humbly request either you come down or permit me to come up. The woman, surprisingly, acquiesces, though she remains astride the back of the scintillating beast. She introduces herself as Daghda Descescu, daughter of Demordeus Descescu, confirming Lady Lake's worst fears: she is a partial orphan, this Daghda, and Lady's hand is the one that removed her father from the board. All is not, however, as it seems, and Lady reaches out for the magical warmth of her sister to explain their growing predicament in the simple shorthand known only to twins:

He has a child. Had a child. She knows who we are.

The two women discuss the proverbial dead man in the room, with Lady admitting fully to her active part in his death and accepting Daghda's thirst for revenge and Daghda blaming the Princess for a long life without a father figure. Daghda spins for Lady a tale from her own history, The Battle of Phiala Mathilde in all its terrible glory. In a rare show of rage at the thought of her now-estranged love and 80 years of grief, Lady claims her own revenge for a lifetime stolen, though she does not elaborate further. Demordeus was not who he seemed, if anything is to be gleaned from the heated conversation, but this matters not to Daghda, who whispers to the dragon Demisia, the Rapturous Rage. Demisia unleashes a second torrent of white flame directly at Lady, who emerges burnt but alive. In the midst of Daghda's frustration Lady catches sight of father Merlin Ambrosius atop the castle's parapets and calmly asks if Daghda would like to meet him. Strangely, Daghda acquiesces and climbs down from her mount, drawing her sword and following Lady into the fray.

Malcolm pushes his abilities further still, his kodiak bear form growing 8 arms with a wide reach. Brother Gilead is caught in his clutches and rapidly losing consciousness by the time Malcolm realizes he is growing ever smaller, finally disappearing from sight altogether. Malcolm turns his attention to the townfolk, having now been warned by Grifflynn et. all that they appear to be under the effects of Rendre Furieux and are thus anything but in command of their own faculties, sweeping some away in a single arm movement while his free hands catch them by the collars and hems and hold them fast, preventing them from advancing further whilst his friends work to undo the damage they've wrought.

As Lady approaches with Daghda, the woman takes a moment to assess the Protectors of the Realm. She turns to Grifflynn, tossing a "Hello, cousin" over her shoulder as she passes. While Grifflynn assesses this and observes the ensuing conversation, Lady silently reassures her twin and waits patiently as their father disappears from the parapets, only to reappear beside his daughter and Daghda. Merlin, too, sees the signs that Lady did and knows the child for whom she really is. Sadness visibly strikes the druid, though he greets her cordially in her own tongue. He warns the young enchantress against continuing the fight against his daughters and, when he finds her blinded by wrath, comments that she reminds him of her father, who was equally strong when he was Merlin's protege. Shortly after he parts, Daghda's rage swells and she takes the brief opportunity to ram her blade squarely into Lady Lake's stomach. Lady Lake does not run or attempt to deflect the blow in any way, in fact walking forward on the blade to make a remark to Daghda which goes unheard by all other ears.

Disgusted, or confused, or some measure of both, Daghda withdraws her blade and summons Demisia to return her to General Mordred's camp, vowing as she leaves to kill Lady Lake. Lady watches her go before collapsing. Each gains +1 String on the other, and Lady Lake acquires the Angry and

Seeing the overwhelming numbers of villagers and having been apprised of the limited means with which his knights might stop them, King Arthur Pendragon orders the assorted defenders of Camelot to fall back to the neighboring kingdom of Burgess. As the party scrambles to exit the city before they are overwhelmed, Lady weakly requests that Godiva take her to see Luster Rogue when they arrive, lest the wound in her side deteriorate any further. The party rushes off into the night, the castle no more than an outline against a wall of flame in their peripheral vision.

Rewards Granted

A Warm Welcome Home

+3 XP to Protectors of the Realm for handling the siege of Camelot with cool heads and avoiding mortally wounding any villagers.