Session 13: No Time for Pleasantries

Brussendar 9-10. Catha is waxing crescent.

General Summary

The Dusty Centaurs are undertaking a perilous journey from the Xhorhassian fishing village of Jigow to the Kryn Dynasty fortress-town of Bazzoxan, following the call of a strange figure known as Alyxian. Alyxian, speaking in a vision, had asked them to bring his jewel to the "Heart of Avandra," inside an ancient temple to the Betrayer Gods known as the Betrayers' Rise. Our heroes equally hope to learn more about this jeweled amulet, a Vestige of Divergence known as the Jewel of Three Prayers, by contacting visiting scholars - experts in The Calamity - who have recently arrived in Bazzoxan, for reasons unknown.

As we left off, Gorem was being pursued by a gloomstalker, a terrifying winged beast of shadow, while the rest of the group scrambled to render assistance, though not before he was snatched up in its deathly claws. There ensnared, he attempted to evade capture by wildshaping into a dire wolf and to bathe the beast in the illuminating glow of Catha's moonlight, though the creature held firm until it dropped him on the rocks below. Going back for easier prey, the gloomstalker met its end when it bit off more than it could chew. Ruidus flared that night, spawning strange visions and wild transformations among some of the troupe.

Another day's travel through the Barbed Fields allowed them to arrive, at last, at Bazzoxan, where they were greeted by hard-bitten soldiers of the Aurora Watch, who alluded to "another war" in which they were engaged. Shortly after being led past the reinforced gates of the militarized town that lies at the foot of the beautiful, but imposing temple known as the Betrayers' Rise, chaos erupted in the streets as maniacal aberrations flooded in from all directions, shredding the fabric of reality and the lives of the town's inhabitants. With no time for pleasantries, Verin Thelyss instructed the new arrivals to either assist, or to get to cover, and quickly, before leading the charge against the mad, quivering, flesh-masses that interloped in his domain.