Session 12: Red Valley; The Town with Three Names

General Summary

57th, Varmalev 21 2E
Joining Lord Ozin Lorimer in one of his workshops, the remaining crew of the Vestige seated themselves in an oddly constructed set of chairs attached to the crystal. Before the process began they met Ozin's 3 legged dog, Henry. A very aged dog who apparently was once human, but Ozin had to transform him to save his life.
The party lost consciousness as the process started and visions of each of their lives flashed in front of them collectively, revealing the following things about their past:
Meara Meara was born to a human mother and elven father near Medno, Kesena. She was given the name Alya Faelwen. But the names of her parents seems to escape her. Unlike most people she has distinct memories even from infancy. She remembesr the look of fear and confusion when they first looked upon her. Years later she would understand that is was not a fear of her, But that their newfound joy in parenthood would be cut short. Her glowing hair, and cat like eyes told them that She were one of Ivorr's chosen. They were confused because Ivorr always chose humans and occasionally their ancestors (Ivorr's own people) the Goliaths. Never a half elf. Refusing to give up willingly, they tried to keep her contained. She was never left unguarded, and rarely allowed outside. But at the age of 5 she was woken by a sound outside Her window. Her father had fallen asleep in a chair next to her bed. Outside the window was a luminous ethereal dire wolf. Sitting on its haunches staring right at her. At that moment all personal will seemed to leave her. She opened the window and followed the wolf into the forest. Receiving some sort of subliminal instructions from the wolf she killed her first star crowned stag, turning its skin into warm clothing, it's meat into food, and its bones into tools and weapons. She continued to follow the wolf into the Medno Badlands, a barren glacial wasteland that stretched on for inconceivable miles. The heartiest of full grown men would have died in the first day or so, but she survived, following the wolf to the oasis in the frozen desert. When her journey ended you looked upon mountain fortress of Jakthytta; the training grounds and home of Ivorr's Huntsmen. She was given the name of Meara, and trained for a life of hunting the world's most dangerous creatures and was taught Ivorr's unique brand of magic. She had few friends. Some of her fellow huntsmen took a liking to her. But most of them, including several members of the elder council did not take well to having a half-elf in their ranks. Thankfully the councils leader, Cyryl, was clear headed enough not question the judgement of Ivorr, and protected her place in the clan.
Many years later, Meara was hired to track a pack of Wyverns a town near Darton, Kesena. Their nest was made in an old temple ruin and they appeared to have been baited. She found a stone tablet inside and took it, hoping it would be of some value since the contract appeared to be a setup of some sort. Upon leaving the temple, she was accosted by the people who hired her. A group of robed figures bearing the same amulet that was taken off of Emmet (Jesper Forsyth) . They stole the tablet and fled. The town was destroyed by more Wyvern and she was accused of reneging on her contract at the expense of thousands of lives. Word was sent by an alleged survivor back to the huntsmen's elder council. Though Cyryl, disagreed, She was banished from the Huntsmen and went to the empire to look for a new line of work, considering even continuing her work as a hunstmen freelancer, though that proved difficult as she was disavowed. Before leaving, Cyril gifted her Ivorr's Mantle , and told her that her contribution to the world would someday overshadow the rest of the huntsmen, and even Ivorr himself.
Zuko His birth name is unknown. All he knows is that he was found on the doorstep of a temple to Shoarus, the goddess of the land. Priests brought him in and took care of him, but not long after he could walk and talk, a half-elf man named Myrin arrived at temple, and adopted him. He was quickly trained in the art of archery, hunting, tracking, and advanced survival skills. Much to the chagrin of Myrin's true blood son, Eroan, Zuko picked it up even faster than he did. Within a year he and his brother were fully trained and accepted into the ranks of the Cormanthor Gisiae , the last legion of that order. For many years he grew up in the order, ranging and teleporting from one empty remote elven temple to another. Faithfully executing the duties of patrolling the exterior these temples and protecting them from outside threats, which never seemed to come. To him the band of half-elves, even beyond his adopted brother and father was your family.
While patrolling a temple somewhere in Palhas province, Zuko discovered a group of unknown mages breaking into the sealed temple. Against all of his training and better judgement, he had an overwhelming need to keep these mages from taking anything from the temple. The mages, he now remembers, wore the same symbol as Jesper. He successfully defeated the mages who were trying to break into a sealed tomb below. Unfortunately, in entering the temple he broke the first rule of the order, and his bond with the group was broken. He was forced to leave, and to find some other purpose in life. His adopted father's insistence to leave the group is something he has always struggled to not take personally. When stealing the tablet from the temple in Toresia with the crew of the Vestige, his guilt in violating a place he once protected was overridden by his anger at Myrin.
Emmet (the real Emmet) "There are brief flashes of images of a young boys life on a farm. No mother present. A father who drank to heavily and abused his son. This boy grew into a young man and tried his hand at the seafaring life, but found his fear of drowning was too much to bear. He then found himself destitute and homeless for what seemed like decades, before he managed to get himself on the crew of one of the first commercial airships, quickly working his way up to pilot. He was working as the pilot on a small ship called The Vestige, and after only a year there, found his employer had lost him and the ship to an aspiring crew of smugglers."
Octavia Octavia has no memory of her parents. She was abandoned on the steps of the Shadow Monestary in Toresey, though her birth name was included with a note from her parent. She was raised as a monk at the monestary, exceptionally skilled in spying and sabotage. Several years before, A Nobel that didn't often interact with the monastery called on the order to eliminate a woman by the name of Diana Gedia. An adolescent noble in Valmeno Province. Octavia was unable to sneak up on the young girl, and found to her surprise that the girl was a gifted sorceress. A long fight ensued, but Octavia prevailed. Before dealing the killing blow, she was overcome with a desire to protect the girl, rather than kill her. Diana seemed to understand what was happening and comforted her. She then ordered Octavia to kill the one responsible for the assassination attempt. She returned to Toresey and killed the noble, seemingly undetected. But by the time she returned to the monastery, her masters had been informed that she murdered the noble and she was arrested and prepared for execution.
Malcolm He was born Percival Boone. The only son of Amis and Eda Boone. His mother passed away shorty after giving birth to him. He Grew up in Laurum Sor . His father was a brilliant, well-known inventor and tinkerer. He was in many ways even more brilliant, and not as easily challenged. To alleviate hid boredom he frequently ran cons and scams on the less intelligent citizens and travelers in the city. To keep him from getting in more trouble, his father encouraged him to expand his academic pursuits, including his interest archeology.
Percival came under the mentorship of an older archeologist named Dantel, who as it turns out was more of a grave robber and treasure hunter than a true archeologist. He was hired by a visiting professor to help him access an ancient ruin about 10 miles outside of the city of Laurum Sor. When reaching the main chamber of the structure, the professor had Percival enter another smaller chamber alone and grab the small black stone tablet inside. When he brought it out of the Chamber, the professor held him at knife point and demanded the tablet. Percival shot the man in self-defense with a pistol of his own design. His mentor convinced him that they both needed to lay low, and sure enough they found wanted posters going up for both of them everywhere. The deceased professor as it turns out had connections and his death wouldn't go unpunished. The t legion and the Temple of the Black Star both wanted you found. One night, while hiding out in an abandoned homestead, you were outside and saw the Tercio Legion approaching the front of the homestead. He struggled for a moment with the idea of risking capture to wake his mentor, but then realized if the situations were reversed, his mentor would probably run and leave him to be captured, so Percival did exactly what Dantel would do, and ran. Fortunately Percival was able to escape the country, taking on the new name Malcolm. While running through Toresia, he came upon a female Tabaxi Monk being executed for some undisclosed crime. Feeling some unexplained attachment to the woman, he shot the rope of her noose and helped her escape in the commotion. The two of the, eventually made your way to Palhas City and found the Artificer wizard, Lord Lorimer, was was able to change their appearances just enough to avoid being recognized by authorities. Malcolm won The Vestige in a rigged card game along with its pilot Emmet, and met Zuko and Meara in the Lucky Hawk Inn , beginning their career as smugglers.
Recently, the crew was hired to steal a stone tablet from an old Elven temple in Toresia. Malcolm, and Meara immediately recognized it once they actually laid eyes on it and became suspicious. They brought it back to the cargo hold on the Vestige, and had a heated discussion about the unbelievable coincidence that an identical tablet that seemed to derail Malcolm and Meara's life happened to be the subject of a smuggling job they both ended up on. They all went to their separate sleeping quarters, intending to take it back to Palhas, but demand an explanation, and perhaps even then not turn it over. And that is the last thing they remember before waking up that day above White Bluff.
58th, Varmalev 21 2E

The Crew spent one more night at the tower before proceeding to Red Valley. Along the way they saw the remains of the previous incarnations of the settlement as they followe the path deeper into the valley of the Dead Mountains. As they neared the town they smelled strong smoke and saw an orange glow ahead. Picking up speed they arrived to see the town engulfed in flames. Proceeding on foot they came upon a citizen trying to fight off a Torch Spiders with a pickaxe. The spider spit at him and engulfed him in flames, but he was quickly doused by a member of the Cerulean Guard who then expertly killed the spider. A second spider pinned him to the ground and Malcolm shot it before it could kill him. The guard warned them that they should escape while they still can, but the party insisted to stay and help, so he told them he was going to move to the western part of town, while they take care of the town center. The party killed x Torch Spiders, over the next minute, and as they realized no more were coming, they heard guards calling from other parts of the town that the threat had ended, and heard the beginning of efforts to put out the fires.
To be Continued.... @sessi

Report Date

13 Oct 2019