Nora
Session 8
I feel worried about Fainn. I do hope this deity doesn't hurt her anymore, but still, visions from god can also be a good thing. I hope she figures out what it is. I want to aid her in this. During our watches IP spots some lights in the camp and hears some shouting. He wakes me up and asks to go and have a look. He keeps calling me princess, which I don't like so I give him my formal title instead. They seem to be packing up and leaving the camp. Probably in a matter of hours they'll be gone. IP just wants to leave it be untill the morning but I think the others should have a say in it too, so I wake up Fainn. We hear something behind us and it's merfolk charging at us. They don't seem to want to talk so we fight them. Fenara puts some of them asleep so we can interrogate them. They don't want to talk much. Jorg has a very disturbing interrogation technique: he hits the guy unconsious, then heals him and puts one of those bracelets on him. This is not okay. I do not trust this. I take off my bracelet. We're all quite outraged by his behaviour.
Fainn gets some info out of the other guy, but not a lot. They're going home. When Fainn draws the symbol, they both seem to recognise it. The big guy shouts at us "every breath you take is a fucking disgrace" and he curses the one who did talk and he dies...
Jorg is still acting really weird. Something is wrong with his arm and he doesn't want to tell us what, but he's clearly lying. I try to remind him that we're supposed to be friends and friends should tell the truth. He seems thoroughly bothered by this. He doesn't care much for the questioning. He looks at Snuggles and says "make the best of it" and just dissapears. Fainn sees him invisibly running of. Snuggles just breaks down and starts crying. We try to console him, but it's no use. So Jorg was bad all along?
Session 6 - 7
Everything is blury after those visions I had. I just follow the group around. At least I don't have to pretend with them anymore.
We encounter some folk, which we lovingly dub 'goblin fight club'.
Fainn has some weird visions and just runs off for no reason and doesn't respond to us. Strange things are happening here on this island.
Back in Sundany our delay seemingly did us no harm. We're okay for this week and get a week off now. Suddenly there's bells ringing. Ugh more fighting?
The town is getting raided by merfolk, so we try to help as best we can. Apparently this happens a lot. Reginald says if we find the source and solve it, we'll be free. Oh, I do long to be truly free.
Jorg had a strange skeletal hand over his own hand when he went down. This man is full of secrets and still doesn't want to talk to us about this.
I see Snuggles sneaking of. I ask him what he's about to do. He wants to ask Reginald knows anything of Amara. I beg Snuggles not to. Reginals would probably be on to something he he did.
Fainn's gone missing. We search the entire shore and bits of the ocean for her (her belongings were left on the beach). She turns up in the forrest and now has a weird runic symbol on her back. When will the strange things stop happening to this group. Morran says there might be religious scolars in Heatstead who know what this symbol is. Fainn now has a vision of a burning eagle wich transforms a bunch and she gets burned. I try and heal the burs a bit with Avandra and Seraphina's blessings.
Session 5
We're still inside the encampment and we still don't have Fainn. I tell the group we shoul stop fighting and talk our way out if this. They agree and we start barricading ourselves in the room. Jorg has no patience today and shouts to the people upstairs. We hear 'What do you want?' I say 'our friend, what do you want?' and all of a sudden I'm hit with a vision. The person I just killed... Amara and the flowers... It's horrible. I hear her voice. Upstairs. "Nora, save me". I need to go upstairs, I must save her if it's the last thing I do.
Jorg for some reason also decided he needs to go upstairs. We encounter some more guards and we intimidate most of them to let us pass.
Upstairs we finally encounter the leader of this encampent. He has Fainn. She's unconsious and he's using her as a shield. Where's Amara? She not in this room... but she must be!
I try to talk to this guy to give us Fainn, but he will not budge. Jorg loses his patience and throws a dart. This guy is getting angry. Suddenly Jorg is flying through the air, crushing the leaderguy and Fainn, draging her away and start punching him in the face. I tried to stop him, but I'm not strong enough... And then I go down. I see Amara again amidst the flowers. "You're one step closer my love, meet me in the..." and then I'm pulled back. Fainn is free. De leader is dead. They're questioning the way i'm talking. What wrong with how i'm talking, I always talk like this? Ow. That hurt. Am I lying? Oh, I'm speaking in my normal voice again. Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag now, isn't it? I'm in hiding, I say, and I'll explain later. When we're out of here.
We find the artefact the Village People wanted back. We find a map where the Violet Magistrate, Lilac Rose, Magician's Vale, Highmount Monastery and The Maridian Bay are marked. No sign of Amara anywhere. Might this have been in my head? Is she not here?
Once outside, we see the guards who ran away. But they're even more undead than they were... They're all wearing weird necklaces. We take the necklaces.
Once we're in the woods, we take a rest. We need it. Badly. Snuggles fumbles with a jug he found. It produces liquids. IP and Fainn examine the stone and the necklaces.
And then they get to me. They ask me so many questions, it's hard to keep track of what I have said and what I haven't. I tell them who I really am. Why I ran away. Why I'm hiding. Who Seraphina is. A bit about Amara. So many questions.
But now it's Jorg's go. He says he heard Snuggles' voice tell him to kill the leader guy. He says he kind of has a pact with a creature who made Snuggles. He's heard the creature since he was small, but is it a good creature? This is all too confusing for me. I must think this all over...
On our way back to Sundany, where we may have to lie about where we were. Where we will have definitly missed our deadline, but we will bring in more than enough points... Hopefully it's enough.
Session 4
We enter the camp. The two undead looking guards take us to a room upstairs. A blue-haired halfling brings us some food. We talk about ways to get rid of the mark, of which they tell us they only know of one way and it's to be reborn. They also think killing the source of the mark might work. They don't seem very fond of Reginald and his wife. They call him insane and his wife a witch. Apparantly they're responsible for the werebears roaming the forrests. They were the 'failed' experiments turned werebear by her. Oh no no no. I feel even worse now.
They also say there's no range on the mark, so we could just run away, but we'll be in trouble if we're found. The guy suggests to build a boat. How long would that take? Like two days? Should be possible, no? Oh.
What these guys would really like is if we'd kill Reginald. Out of the question. I may not trust him, but that's no reason to kill a person. Isn't there a more peaceful option?
They keep saying they like being here, but they don't seem very sincere. We think something's stopping them from doing something about Reginald and his gang themselves.
This is a lot to take in. We step outside for a bit.
Apparently we forgot we needed an artifact and maybe could've negotiated.. Damn. The debate goes about who to kill. I don't want to kill more people. Fainn says she'll go in and seduce the guards to get them to give her more information.
She's gone a while. A long while. I start to worry about her. The rest says we shouldn't worry but I can't help it. We go back in. No one answers the door. I suggest to fly over but by that time, the door is already smashed in, IP teleported inside and all hell broke loose. I tried to reason with these people but they wouldn't listen to a word I said. Meanwhile they keep hurting my friends and me and we still don't know where Fainn is. We have to find her. This is not right. After a while I get inside and this blue haired halfling is in there. I try to talk to him but he also attacks me. Right. That is it. I've had it with these people. I ask them nicely several times but now I'm all out out patience. Changebringer be with me. I blast the guy to pieces, but not before he says Fainn's upstairs. It's gruesome and gory, but somehow, this affects me less than the other kills I've made. This person was keeping me away from my friend. Do not stand in my way. It will end poorly.
Session 3
We fought the goblins. I killed one of them, but it was less up close than the werebear. These creatures didn't seem very nice. Fenara cuts of hands and ears as proof and it is absolutely revolting. I do not like the sight of blood, but I have a feeling if I stick with these people I'll have to get used to it. Better get over myself.
IP made a joke about getting married and I made a throwaway comment about him being too late. Damn. Slip of the tongue. Hopefully the group doesn't pick up on it.
We discuss what we should do next, because we need to go to this meeting about our points the day after tomorrow and we're only at 19 points. This feels like it's going nowhere and we're not gaining nearly enough points fast enough? Could the system be rigged? Is it a set-up? What happens when we don't get enough points? We decide to go to the shadowcloud encampent. We don't trust the Village People and we hope maybe the Shadowcloudpeople can help us remove these damned marks.
We decide to set up camp for the night. Only, I've not really camped before and I don't know how to properly set up a bedroll. I go to Jorg to ask for help about this. He seems like a person who'd know this stuff. He has a certain vibe. He helps me but also says there's ants and roDENTS?!?! How am I supposed to sleep like this? Better keep watch first because I'll need to process this new information.
Fainn joins me on the watch. "so... married?". Shit. she caught that. Well, they were bound to find out and she seems trustworthy. I guess it can do no harm to tell her and it looks like she's really curious about this. I tell her married is maybe too much of an official term. I tell her I haven't seen her in a while, that I don't know if she's alive. I hope to find her, to know what happened to her... It hurts to talk about her. I miss her. I dream of her that night. A beautiful dream and she's smiling at me. I miss her.
Jorg was asleep next to my bedroll. He set it up so it doesn't touch the ground. So nice of him. These people, they're so caring and it's so lovely.
I'll thank him in the morning. Seeing as he's such a good cook and I'm absolutely not, I give him all my rations. I wouldn't know what to do with them anyway. They don't look very nice uncooked. He gives me a bracelet in return! It's a plain thing, but very adorable. It says AFO, Awareness For Orphans. I'm very intrigued. I ask him about his orphanage. It's about 2 hours north of the Wheel's Spoke. I do not know this place. He says he hasn't been there in almost a year, hasn't been in contact with anyone for a while. He tries to get funds and stuff for the orphans. I tell him it's a noble cause, to help the orphans. I want to know about the adoptions, though, and if birth parents sometimes come and get the children again. I ask him. I can't contain the question, I must know. He says birth parents rarely come and get the children and the seldom get adopted. It's mostly nobles who just come and pick whichever children they like. Wow. So it's like that. Wait. He winced. Did he lie about something? I confront him. He seems a bit intimidated by me. Weird, I don't think I'm very intimidating, but I can guess where it comes from... His deeds weren't very noble, he says. He does get some gain from it and it's, and I quote "basically just a big fuck you to my former orphanage". Well. I must chat with him again about this sometime. But not before I ask him not to lie to me anymore. Oh. Okay. I get the intimidating part now I think. I do hope those children get a good future.
When we go to set up camp, I ask Jorg to teach me how to set up the bedroll like he did last night. It seems like a usefull skill and I want to learn. He also teaches me about lighting a fire. I lit a fire! By myself! That is so cool! I tease him a bit. Still intimidated, Jorg? Oh, he does still look like it. Please... I'm really not like that though. He ask if we can be friends and I tell him we can. I have a friend! A friend! Oh, my heart. This group... I'm really starting to like them.
That night I dream of her again. But it's not good. It's horrible. Oh, the sight of it. No! NO! AMARA!
I wake up. I must've said that last part out loud. Fainn is looking at me and ask to join her by the fire. I do, but I cannot catch any sleep. She asks if everything's alright. It's not. These visions keep haunting me. What do these dreams mean? I must figure it out. It's a message from Seraphina. She's trying to tell me something, but I don't know what she means. What should I do?
These people are smart... maybe I should ask one of them to help me. Help figure out what this means... Do I trust them enough though? I don't know yet. Maybe keep this to myself for a bit. Wait and see what happens. My heart aches.
Suddenly we're at the encampent. Wow, how did that happen? They're arguing about what to do. Something about a bridge? Huh? Oh, you want me to fly over? Oh, wait, now I'm to do the talking? Sure, okay. If I could only get my head. To. Think. Straight.
Wait, these people look weird. They look a bit like Fainn. Kind of dead. Huh... They let us in. We'll see what happens next.
Session 2
Fainn seemed to recognize the halfling woman, but she was very rude and wouldn't answer. She decided to let it go, I guess.
We're going to get started on earning points and set off on the Island to where the goblins were last seen. IP makes a comment about me being a princess. Hmm... Interesting. Nice way of putting it, I tell him. Apparently that's how I come across. Well, well. They ask about my parents. I tell them I don't know them. No, I haven't lost my memory, I've just never met them, didn't grow up with them. Hmm, will I meet them one day? Are they still on this plane?
When we'd been camping, a bear attacked us. Only, it's not a bear... He turned out to be a werebear. A human. And I ended his life on this world. I feel very shaken. This is not what I meant to happen. I did not intend to kill a person. Am I on the right path? I feel like I've dissapointed both Avandra and Seraphina. I ...
Once we're back in the village we admit to what happened and there don't seem to be any repercussions.
I lock myself away from the others. Avandra comforts me with her words and her presence. I am not a horrible person. My intentions are good. Should I trust the people on this Island? No. But then again, who really is to be trusted? I am on the right path. I should stick with this group. They seem nice. Caring. They ask me how I'm feelig and how I'm coping. It's a nice change from what I'm used to. Maybe I will stick with them.
Apparently the group had a chat about not trusting the Village People and I agree with them. We head back into the woods to really get the goblins this time.
Session 1
15th of Lathandos
We're on our way towards the colony Sundany. When we arrive there'll be some kind of initiation and we'll have to do community service. Changebringer be with me. But, if it goes well, we'll essentially be free. There'll be a probation with a hex put on us. I don't like to be hexed, but I guess we'll have to undergo it. I ask Reginald why he does what he does and he says he thinks the Thassyran family can be quite harsh. Hah. And sometimes criminals don't deserve that.
Jorg wonders where Reginald got the money to buy us and I impulsively ask him. Oh. That was quite rude of me. I should apologize later on.
When we’d nearly arrived, the weather turned bad. But look, there's dolphins! Oh, wait no, no they're not! They're merfolk and they're attacking us! Reginald and his crew just jump after them in the water. I try to help by casting spells on them, but it doesn't do much. Oh, God, there's one pinned to the side of the ship. That is disgusting. Oh, goodness are these people really trying to get that thing off of there? Guess I’ll help. Ugh. I think I might be sick, this is utterly foul. Why do I do this to myself, why?
When we finally get to Sundany we’re told to meet in the town square. We all gather and meet Reginald’s wife. She puts a spell on us through which we can’t lie. They ask us what we were doing on the Clay Cuffs. Me first. Oh my. Okay, get this right. I tell them about the shipwreck and that I am not a criminal! They believe me. They see I’m telling the truth. Are they going to do anything about it? I’m innocent! They know that now! What else is a person to do?
Jorg tells his story, but they detect a lie. Or rather that he’s keeping something from them. Hmm. Keep an eye on that one.
They put a mark on us. I don’t like it, it’s not nice. We won’t be able to lie with this mark. I tried. It hurts. They’ll also know where we are and if we follow the guidelines we’ll be free! Oh, how I long to be free. Finally truly free.
There’s a point system we have to follow. Hmm, okay I guess. But we need supplies. When we go back to get these supplies, we pass a redheaded halfling woman. Did Fainn recognize her?
Session 0
I am in a strange place. I am not supposed to be here. I am not a criminal. These people, they've got it all wrong. I. am. not. supposed. to. be. here. Why must this happen to me?
They've put me and some other people on a cart. We're being sold to the highest bidder. Someone says it's better than working in a mine. Both options seem horrible. I'm not cut out for mining work, nor am I made to work as a slave. Oh, please, Avandra, help me.
Me and some others are sold as a group to a dwarven man named Reginald. He's not in smart clothes like the rest of the bidders and he has a wooden leg. He puts us on a boat to the Typhoon Islands. There they run some kind of social experiment. He's very vague with the specifics. Something about what happens if you don't treat prisoners like animals. That's something I guess. I really just want to be free and continue my journey. I was mistakenly taken prisoner. Reginald doesn't seem to believe me. And if he does, he's very emotionless about it. Does he see us as his property?
Among the people sold with me are some interesting folk. Where to start, they're all very intriguing.
There's Fainn, an undead looking (only looking, I checked) elven woman. She's quite something. She doesn't have any memory of who she is, where she comes from or what she's done to be here. That must be an odd sensation. Reginald says she's a soul wanderer or something, that her soul was realigned. I hope she figures out who she is.
Next up there's Fenara, a redheaded halfling woman. She seems kind. She has lots of little bits and bobs with her. Flasks and pouches filled with all kinds of stuff. She said she was very sick as a child. How did she get cured, though?
Then there's a very odd duo: Jorg and mr. Snuggles. Snuggles is a large, pink, stuffed Elephant whose seams look to be bursting with magic. He says he's only two months old. I cannot wrap my head around his being, but he looks very imposing. Wait, did he just say he was Jorg's plushie?! Jorg is a very tall firbolg. He says he runs an orphanage. He used to be an orphan himself but ran away from that orphanage. He's imprisoned because an orphan stole something and he took the fall. I must have a chat with him.
Finally there's Iefyr Phandrar. IP for short. He's a tortle. I've never met a tortle before. He says he grew up amongst the elves. He was taught his sword kills by them. It looks very cool, there's runes all over his blade and his shell. I ask him to practice sword fighting a bit. It's fun. I think I like him.
I pray to Avandra every night. I think I'm on the right path. I have faith she and Seraphina will guide me.
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