The Adventures of the Big HELP, Session 27

General Summary

• After staying in Cathedra for two nights, Hest saw that the city was now in her Teleportation Circle Spellbook. She could teleport here at will.
• Larka invited her the HELP, her family, and Hespiro to a family brunch before leaving. Hespiro and Leelu were initially unavailable, but agreed to join if the breakfast was held in the room they were preparing for a speech in. She and the others stopped in the market to pick up ingredients. Petrichor and Bigwig sold off some old loot they didn't want anymore. Larka talked to one vendor and bought eggs and mushrooms. While talking to the shopowner, she learned that Hespiro was offering gold to anyone who could return to business as normal while allowing those who could not return time to recouperate.
• Larka went to find fancy napkins. Hest made smoothies were her Ice Knife spell (and realized Oten was protecting her from Wild Magic again). Bigwig made coffeee. Petrichor made mushroom omelettes, sprinkling in some of her druidcraft hallucinogenic mushrooms. On arriving, Leelu had made tea and Kenji hade brought sausages. Hespiro hadn't understood what kind of breakfast this was, depsite Larka including it in the invitation, and hurriedly made chocolate treats with the candies he had swiped from the infirmary. Petrichor noticed that Hespiro and Larka precisely avoided the magic mushrooms in their omelettes almost absentmindedly. She wondered if they were psionically avoiding them.
• Leelu and Hespiro left to begin his announcement. The HELP decided to stay and listen to it. On the way, Larka thought to herself to make sure Kenji reimbursed her the cost of the food from his traitorous wages. Hespiro gave his speech in his sling. “Brave warriors of the Church of Gorthag, citizens of Cathedra, I will not pretend that any of you may look up at me with anything but hatred or fear in this moment. I understand that it will take time before you may believe that my goal is for the betterment of you and our world. But I have seen a darkness coming. One that we may only brave if we stand united. The Church urged you to fight pointlessly for the glory of the Earth Father. I offer you a better future. Those who have fought tirelessly and wish to lay down there weapons may do so. Those who still hunger for the honor of battle, I ask you join me. To unite the lands, to stave off the darkness, to lead every one of us to a better future.” Petrichor noticed that Hespiro was nervous during his speech, like he was still unsure this was the right path.
• The speech closed and Hespiro had one of his psionic crystals implanted into the grounds of what had been the Arena. It lit up and Larka felt her psionic abilities strengthened.
• The Big HELP decided to make their way to the Six Tenet Monastery to help Hest reunite her mentor Ravenna's body and soul. They looked at a map and contemplated the shortest route to take until Hest realized she could use her Teleportation Circle Spellbook to send them straight to Ghispar and cut off at least five days of travel. Hest successfully cast the spell and the HELP returned to Ghispar.
• A circus had come to Ghispar. Bigwig and Hest saw people floating in giant bubbles across the city and ran to where the bubbles were coming from. A surly guy named Lulu was in charge of the bubble ride. Hest tried to talk to him cheerfully but he was having none of it. He sent both Hest and Bigwig up into their bubbles to soar. Hest's bubble flew off course in the direction of a magic show. The performer, Marinia the mage, caught a glance at Hest and winked at her. Hest sensed Wild Magic coming from her.
• Petrichor followed Hest's bubble to Marinia's show. Larka walked around the circus until she stumbled upon the triton impressario, Orda, performing feats with his water magic. She was particulary enthralled by his sword swallowing magic. Larka tipped him after the show and asked how he did the sword swallowing. He assured it was just a spiritual weapon spell and thanked her for coming. When she asked why the circus was here, he explained they were stopping by on their way to the Six Tenet Monastery for The Festival of Saint Kynthas. Larka then wondered if she could eat her mind daggers like Orda had his Spiritual Weapon. Orda started feeling unnerved and offered her a voucher for a free pie from the fairy chef. Larka was concerned about food from fairies. Orda pretended be offended by that comment before assuring her it was fine.
• Hest's bubble landed on Marinia's stage and popped. Marinia thanked Hest for joining her on stage and requested that she perform a spell to repay her tardiness. Hest was nervous but agreed to do so, casting Misty Step. Hest could feel her Wild Magic well up while Petrichor noticed Marinia casting a spell. Despite holding it back, Hest turned around to see the area she had left behind engulfed in a fireball. Hest looked on, horrified, at the blackened corpse of Marinia. She jumped when the corpse started to move as Marinia joked about getting too much sun. Marinia banged her staff on the ground and revealed that the fireball had all been an illusion. She thanked the crowd and invited Hest into her trailer to apologize.
• Bigwig landed her bubble safely and wondered what happened to Hest. She was going to go look for Hest until Larka ran by shouting about free pie. The two met up with Petrichor and headed to the concessions. To the fairy's surprise, Larka decided to use her voucher to eat a whole raspberry pie. Larka held off eating it and went to go find Orda to ask more about his magic trick. Petrichor and Bigwig ordered single slices before learning about the existence of meat pies and a zoo display.
• While looking for Orda, Larka caught the attention of a fortune teller. Larka was dismissive at first, but decided to stop in and see what the fortune teller had to say. She traded a pie slice for a fortune. Peering into Larka's destiny, the fortune teller cried out and fell back. She saw the image of Larka and a large man consumed in dark shadows, a network of crystals that united and brought darkness, and one of Larka's friends bringing ruin upon her. Larka paid ten gold to ask which friend it was, but the fortune teller only saw fire. Larka left the fortune teller tent and bid her farewell. The fortune teller said it was always good to see her and bid they meet again. Larka said they'd never met before to which the fortune teller replied that time is different for those who see the past and future. Many questions encircled Larka's anxious mind. Could this fortune teller have been the mysterious sorceror Demensaix? Were they just a charlatan? Was the vision true and Hespiro was being deceptive or manipulated? If the vision was a lie, why would the fortune teller tell such a lie?
• In Marinia's trailer, she made Hest some mint tea and apologized for startling her with the fireball illusion. Hest was suspiscious and checked the tea for poison. She looked around at the trailer's ocean asthetic and, though she hated to admit it, liked it. Marinia then admitted that she had lured Hest's bubble off course with the intention of meeting her. She revealed she had Wild Magic like Hest and asked how Hest was cursed with its affliction. Hest didn't believe that Wild Magic was a curse but said she was born with it. Marinia suggested that one of her parents must have been a powerful mage or been around powerful magic.
• In return, Marinia told the story of how she became a Wild Mage. She had been born in Imbris on Estaria. An evil wizard captured her as young girl to cut out her heart for a ritual. As the knife neared her heart, Marinia cried out and released a torrent of magic that vaporized the wizard. The sudden release permanently damaged her ability to channel magic. Magic constantly welled up inside of her that needed to be vented out as Wild Magic Surges. She offered to help teach Hest how to do so more stealthily. Marinia mentioned her time at a place called the School of Magical Sciences and that one of her teachers had caused a catastrophe by not repecting Wild Magic.
• At the zoo, Petrichor and Bigwig met the goblin zookeeper, Trundle, and learned they use portals to summon the animals from their homes rather than forcing them to travel with the zoo. The zookeeper summoned a brown bear, a talking otter, an owlbear, a flumph, an almiraj, and a raptor. Larka wandered over when the otter was nearby and demanded he show them his babies, which he immediately rebuked. The flumph floated over to her, basking in her psychic prowess, stealing a slice of her pie, and warning her that she had recently been in contact with dark thoughts. Petrichor was especially excited to see all of these animals so that she could start Wild Shaping into them.
• Marinia and Hest wandered the circus. Marinia pointed out a tabaxi to Hest as target. She triggered a Wild Magic Surge, but dispersed the magic before it was visible. For a second, Hest noticed that Marinia was using illusion magic to hide a facial disfigurement. The tabaxi, originally slobbish, felt a sudden change in alignment and decided to look for cleaner clothes. Hest tried to copy Marinia's attempt and succeded, light like fireflies emanating off of her. Hest asked how Marinia felt about Wild Magic, realizing herself that her fear of her own power was slowly becoming acceptance, and how she could use it when it was forbidden. Marinia said that Wild Magic saved her when the gods would not answer her call.
• Hest asked what happened to Marinia's face. Marinia confessed that the turbulent Wild Magic was breaking her body down over time and she used illusion magic to hide that. Marinia suggested that Hest may face a similar fate sometime later in life. The topic soon turned to Hespiro's crusade against magic. Hest and Marinia agreed that he was wrong and could not be allowed to enact his plan. Marinia even suggested, if she could convince her brother Orda to travel south, she'd make sure Hespiro wouldn't live another day.
• Larka eventually reunited with Orda to show off how she could do a dagger swallowing trick, too. He applauded her before saying the circus had to pack up and make the move to the Six Tenet Monastery. Before they left, Larka asked Orda what magic meant to him. He said it was his lifeblood and connection to the Water Goddess. Larka was glad to confirm people thought this way, then started to overshare on her mission. Orda didn't know how to respond, so left.
• The HELP traveled in the direction of the Six Tenet Monastery until nightfall. Hest confirmed they had another day's travel before arriving.
• While resting for the night, Hest received another surprise visit from Oten. He congratulated Hest on controlling her Wild Magic in Cathedra. He was less pleased about her assistance in deposing Darvus, but admitted that the Church of Gorthag had become a little too consumed in zealous fighting. Oten asked about Hespiro's goals. Hest confirmed that Hespiro sought to replace magic with psionics to stave off some evil. He observed the vision through Larka's memories and denounced it, saying the threat Hespiro feared had been destroyed by the gods long ago. Without magic, people would lose any connection they still had with the gods. Hest got the impression that Oten wasn't really considering the vision and just wanted to shut down the idea of replacing magic. Oten repeated his concerns when she confronted him on this.
• Before leaving, Oten reminded Hest that she needed to retrieve a special shield from her parents' house, about a day's march north of the monastery. It contained a message from her father that he could not give in person. The HELP decided they would look into it after helping Hest return Ravenna's soul to her body.
• Ravenna spoke with Hest after Oten left, worrying over the news Marinia had given about those cursed with Wild Magic. Ravenna had scoured much of the monastery's writings and found little that could teach her about Wild Magic. She let slip that there were apocryphal texts that suggested the bodies of Wild Mages tended to wear out more quickly. Hest angrily asked why Ravenna hadn't mentioned this and demanded she and Oten be more forthcoming in the future. Ravenna had not wanted to burden Hest with the possibility her magic might kill her without knowing for certain if that was the case.
• Ravenna tried to give Hest some hope. Marinia had mentioned that she studied at the School of Magical Sciences shortly before its destruction. Ravenna suggested that, given the catastrophe was more than fifty years ago, Marinia had to be much older than her illusion magic suggested and that Hest may not have anything to worry about until late in life. She then commended Hest on firmly condemning Hespiro's crusade against magic. Hest wanted her to repeat this but Ravenna moved on to advising her to listen to Oten, a child of the gods' disciples, and find a way to quell her Wild Magic storm.
• During the night, Bigwig was visited once more by Arazid. He informed her that someone was scrying on her and revealed it to be the Fireblood. He disappeared while they talked. The Fireblood begged Bigwig to join her at a ritual tomorrow night that would allow them to take on the ancient powers left behind by Arazid for them. Bigwig asked why she was doing this. The Fireblood, clearly in turmoil, sought to understand who she was and why Arazid blessed her with his power. Arazid reappeared when the Fireblood finished scrying. He laughed that "the Herald" sought to stand alongside "the Vessel" and take his power. He asked what Bigwig would do. Powerhungry, she wanted to convince her friends to make a detour.
• When Hest woke up, she realized her nose was bleeding and wondered if this was the first sign of Wild Magic degeneration.

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35 Days After the Crash of the Raziel

Report Date

08 Sep 2024