Birds Versus Evil

After months of travel from Loanua, the party has officially left the continent of Garadel. Their first destination, Holy Zeshema, lies ahead of them. And after that, it is time for Potha and her fellow adventurers to step forward to face the Apocalypse.

'Poly Pizza': Day 1

While Zeshema has several notable cities, all of the team's business would be handled in the city of Polikitza. The city was covered in ominous statues, clearly divided along religious lines, full of tension, and scarred by civil strife, but compared to Tailotha or the battlegrounds Potha had seen along the way, this was a pleasant and orderly city.
The first day was one of settling in and celebration. Getting visitation and access paperwork in order, checking in the Hunter of Norinar Chapterhouse, meeting a few people, getting settled in. Potha got a guest room at the Chapterhouse as an honorable guest, while Sarket and Losaro headed back to the foreign districts to gather information. At the Chapterhouse, Potha got to meet Zinya (operative name: Temperance), Keen's close friend and fellow apprentice, who was in many ways Keen's political opposite. Keen was finally given a promotion to Rank 1 Full Hunter. In celebration, the group decided to have a little kickback party at the Chapterhouse's courtyard, and Keen invited his younger brother, Rugel (Roo-gell), who was working as a day laborer in the city. Also, Keen's Zeshem name - Parsem - was revealed.
The kickback was enlightening, but a bit of a mess. Zinya was stressed because her master, Certainty (the Secretary and Quartermaster of the Chapter House), kept testing her; Rugel walked in expecting a fight with Keen; Keen was messy and disoriented. Apparently, the last time Rugel and Keen had seen each other was when the two had a massive falling out and fight four years ago, but Keen considered that fight no longer important since it was before his traumatizing Hunter initiation - Rugel still saw it as defining their relationship. Keen apologized and backed off, but Rugel seemed to be trying to provoke him into a fight. Potha told her stories, Keen left for a bit, and then Zinya got Rugel to talk about his current problems - specifically, teen romance drama on the construction site Rugel worked at. Rugel seemed particularly interested in a new mercenary (similarly aged), but Zinya and Keen both tried to convince him not to pursue such a legally dangerous relationship (though Zinya seemed more supportive and walked him through how to safely have a covert inter-religious relationship).
The kickback ended when someone - either a Hunter initiate or an interrogation victim - started wailing in the blacksite complex nearby, killing the vibe. Potha gave Rugel a ride home. She encouraged Rugel to stop thinking everything was life-or-death, but Rugel had too much teen angst. In the middle of that night, Potha heard Keen being taken away somewhere, and he came back crying (and blamed it on allergies).

Out on the Town with the Boys

The next day, Keen and Zinya had a lot of paperwork and ceremonies to do - not only was Keen ranking up, but he wanted to request Hunt Captain Shine for a special mission to help Potha investigate the apocalypse. Since Zinya wanted to stop being helicopter-trained in paperwork hell by her master and to graduate to Full Hunter already, she requested to accompany them. Before Potha left them to their business, she talked with Keen about why he was crying: answer is, he was forced to help torture an initiate to see if he was mentally ready for the full responsibility of being a Hunter. He seemed to be processing this as a good thing, but he was obviously unhappy with it.
Potha went to go see Losaro and Sarket and what they had to say about the city. Losaro had a schooner race he wanted to participate in; Sarket had a musically influential cafe he wanted to go to that had a showing of a rare Zeshem snake horn; and that night, Losaro wanted to go investigate tales of a cryptid under the Sisilja Bridge. Also, politics here seemed shaky but what was new? Potha had a full itinerary of city experiences for her day,
First, the boat race. Losaro, Potha, and Captain Jyen did their best, but had little experience with Zeshem light watercraft. Still, thanks to Potha's summoning of a wind elemental, the team made second place! Having won a little prize money and local rep, Potha went off with Sarket to go listen to this snake horn at the bard cafe, which was deep in the Zeshem-only district. The performance they listened to was an emphasized-traditional song called "Loss and Return, Our Three Mothers" - it was musically less harmonious, but carried a somber weight and unusual sounds. Its lyrics told of three mothers, stolen away, the sorrow of that loss and the incomplete souls of the survivors, and how one day the mothers would be returned. The upper-class patrons who attended this performance made a big show of giving generously to the musicians and declaring their support for "proper, old fashioned Zeshema". Potha talked with the band leader, Yalusa, afterwards, and she talked about how excited she was that people were appreciated historical music ever since the new Queen patronized the "Zeshem traditional culture festival". Yalusa was excited to hear honored guest's takes on the song, and explained that she was normally unable to perform anywhere near the foreign districts on pain of imprisonment since her music was classified as a state asset and secret for some reason.

Something Evil Lives Under the Bridge

Having seen that weird thing, the group reconnected at the Ivory Gate and got ready for mysteries. After dusk, they went down to the Sisilja bridge, where Potha was able to talk her way past the Watermaidens (religious vigilantes). The group crept across the bridge's under-scaffolding, where they found signs of someone recently having been there. They did not light a torch, but instead relied on Potha's senses in the pitch dark. Eventually, Potha left the other two at the bridge foundations and found a small child hiding in the bushes on the other side. Potha scared the child on accident, who ran screaming around for a bit while Potha chased after him, trying to calm him. Finally, the child fell into the river, was fished out, and calmed down. The child talked about a scary monster dragging him under the water - he just wanted to smuggle some stolen corn for sale to the Watermaidens when he was ambushed. Losaro arrived for support.
Finally, Potha lit a torch for the child and noticed that Sarket wasn't anywhere to be found. She tracked strange tracks along the shoreline to a nearby marsh connected to a river tributary coming from the "Haunted Hills". They found Sarket, gasping for air and covered in mud, and sent the child home. The group gathered and headed into the marsh, ready to find whatever Apocalypse-borne Evil was lurking within. Potha hid and watched while Losaro and Sarket walked ahead - hopefully it would target the bard again. Instead, it found Potha and whispered to her, asking her if she wished to learn of the Hidden Lord. Potha fled back to the group, but it didn't attack. Potha ventured out alone into the marsh one last time to try and lure it back, and it whispered of a second chance - would she learn of the Hidden Lord and be reborn? Potha finally was able to spot it this time: a Gluttonmaws shaped like a massive ear of corn, rising from the depths of the marsh right behind her. Before it could do anything, she struck it and called for the team to ride in. A terrible battle ensued, where Potha's moa was destroyed by its horrible jaws - but the beast fell. They dragged its corpse back into town. A black-clad Zeshem priest offered Potha good money to not tell anyone about it. The crew removed some of its kernels to make Gluttonmaw Moonshine before the rest of the corpse was collected and disposed of by the government - apparently, Gluttonmaws have a way of making people act very strange when they die. The mysterious government man paid Potha well for her silence, though.

Parsem's Village

The next day, Potha traveled with Keen to his home village of Elligel. Elligel is a small farming village Northeast of Polikitza, and Keen's family - the local branch of a family known as the Ibrisses - mostly farms corn and hay there. The Keen visit was carefully choreographed to display the family's hierarchy: the parents ruling over the children with a certain coldness, with the eldest sister - Rolla - serving as their clear second in command. The parents seemed set on testing Keen's willingness to submit to their authority, and constantly put him down. Rolla, the sister, did her best to shield Keen, and he seemed more tired and irritated that they would do this after four years than upset.
After that extravaganza of familial bad behavior, Keen and Potha went to go see Keen's old haunts. He seemed out of place and detached now, but held a sad nostalgia for it. Finally, he took Potha to his place by the stream: his sacred little place, where water from the river flowed by the edge of town. The two fished here together, enjoying each other's company. Finally, Keen held Potha's hand in the water and pronounced them true friends - for it is only in the water of the sacred land that his soul can reach out. Keen also gave permission for Potha to use his family's diminutive nickname for him - Parsnip - which he trusted with her. 

The two left the village as evening fell, Keen's father still demanding that Keen retrieve a medal that the military "owes" his father. But the day was over, and Keen could finally put his home behind him. 

Onwards, Into Darkness

The paperwork was ready and materials were acquired. Temperance was approved to join their expedition, which was officially to investigate new forms of magical corruption beyond Zeshema's borders. They got back on Jyen's ship and set sails for the East. 

Along the way, Potha had Temperance help her contact Jade Atharzen. Jade welcomed Halcyon as a welcome authority, and encouraged Potha to venture to Theia the Liberator to awaken the sleeping Goddess and prove themselves as the True Architects. After that, Jade would happily grant the group full use of the teleportation circle system - especially if they wanted to go up to the Empire of Calazen to claim that land and its resources for themselves. Jade's husband, Ghavi, also requested that the Chimera call them for some unfinished business.

After that call, the crew welcomed a new member aboard: Aravani, the best divorce lawyer in all of Kalturi, a powerful paladin of Orchid of Blue.  Aravani helped the group quickly move up the coast, towards Movoto. After weeks of travel, the group finally made it up the river and to Fortress Victory/Camp Last Stop - the forward fortification of Orchid's armies against the Apocalypse. Things in camp were grim: they seemed scared, diseased, and injured for the most part. Aravani took Potha into the fortified medical complex where the Orchidian elites were working on trying to understand their enemies. Mutated, desperate creatures that were once humans and dryads were captured inside; scientists were carefully examining corruption spores and working around the clock for a cure. Potha knew that there was no time to waste: it was time to go out into the corrupted lands and confront the master of this Evil. 

The Empress 

The team went beyond Camp Last Stop into the tropics, finally reaching Forward Outpost Javelin - the deepest point that Orchidian forces held in enemy territory. Aravani prepared The Divine Contact; Potha joined her. This time, the Contact was different: the ritual circle seemed to writhe with joy and life, and the incense smelled toxically sweet. 
The Empress, Safia, the Adversary of Halcyon waited for them. She sat, clad in rainbow armor on top of a ziggurat of writhing supplicants. The cosmos, painted with squirming life that drowned out the void, sang for her overhead. A massive dryad of clouds - the Architect-avatar of Halcyon, once - knelt before her. Upon seeing the intruders, the massive dryad grabbed Aravani and dissapeared her. 
Safia and Potha talked, sparred, flirted, whatever one might call the ensuing conversation. The Empress invited Potha into her fortress, insulted her, dared her to kill her, and tried to flex on her. Potha struggled to reason with her and fired back with her own insults. This would not be an easy Nemesis to talk down. 
After some time of this, the conversation ended. Sarket had been unable to wake Potha and Aravani; over half an hour had passed. Aravani was passed out from pain - the Empress had been torturing her and trying to break her loyalty to Orchid in the Contact - and Sarket reported that the Outpost was being surrounded by monsters. 

Birds Against Evil

Potha spotted the commander - a dryad with an umbrella and a willing servant among the Unwilling monsters - and delivered a punishing surprise shot. The dryad responded by using druidic magic to rip the outpost's gates open for the two monsters outside to charge in. Three more dryad monsters were racing in, a Half-dryad monster was ready to jump from the canopy into the Outpost, and a wave of monstrous wildlife and minor minions were approaching in a tide. The soldiers of the outpost opened fire on the minor minions, while Potha's companions fought the dryad monsters, and Sarket revived Aravani. Losaro prepared a fire for Potha's next trick: a flame elemental embedded with corpses to attract and distract the Half-dryad lurker. 
The two Hunters, unable to sneak attack in one-on-one fights, struggled against their opponents. Potha and Losaro dispatched the Half-dryad lurker and turned to help their friends, as the willing servant healed themselves and raced with supernatural speed into the fray - all while beckoning Potha to join submit and be escorted to the Empress' fortress. After the two monsters fell, the willing servant unleashed its big last trick: a corrupted Entanglement spell that tries to plant corruption spores on those who fail to escape its grasp and create a dangerous terrain. Potha quickly moved to kill them, ending this vile effect. With the commanding officer dead, the other approaching monsters were easier to escape from and the group was able to get mounted up and riding back. The Outpost was destroyed in the distance, but the soldiers were safely escorted out. 
The group got back to Camp Last Stop only to find the other outposts also retreating back to main base. This wasn't an isolated event, but an all-out assault. Potha and the group were injured, resources somewhat depleted: it was stand with these soldiers and fight, or flee and ensure that the information gathered here would survive. Potha fled with the scientists and their records - while maybe Camp Last Stop would survive this attack, it was too great a risk now. As flying reinforcements for the Empress arrived and the winds began to pick up, it camp's fate seemed sealed. Aravani stayed with her people, but gave Potha her full legal support in writing. 
When the group returned to the ship, it was time to say goodbye. Losaro and Jyen would return to Zeshema, and to Garadel eventually, to alert them of the apocalypse and to hopefully mobilize support. The Zeshem and Sarket would stay with Potha and head North, across the isthmus, to pick up a merchant ship to head to Samvara.

Components

Goals

QUEST GOALS

• Visit Holy Zeshema (complete)
• Reach the Empire of Shirpatra
• Meet up with the other Architects
• Scout out the equatorial area to learn more about the brewing doomsday (complete)

Relations

Allies

Coco and Cobi: Potha's moa and falcon respectively. Coco is a moa with a sweet tooth that is unusually friendly for a moa; Cobi is a falcon with a sense of determination.
Keen/Parsem: A Hunters of Norinar, who was sent with his master, Virtue, to liberate Loanua. Keen has a history of being aggressive, volatile, xenophobic, and panicky when dealing with foreign places and people, but has been slowly becoming less like that. Traumatized by his Hunter training. Born in the village of Ellagel.
Losaro of the Sacred Flame: Losaro is a member of the Riders of the Free Flame , a Saraka n zealot who sees sedentary life on the fireplains as an abomination (as well as generally distasteful). Losaro looks on Potha as an admirable companion, and supports her quest to protect the birds of Loanua.
Sarket of Sosella: A human cultist of Hiku who is paying off family's sin-debts in service to Potha; a "gift" from the cult to her. Professional and skilled in many areas - a tinkerer, a musician, an artist - he is the butler of butlers. He is also an adequate swordsman. He is both paladin and bard, which makes him a perfect conduit for the Muse. 
Temperance/Sinya: A Hunter of Norinar assassin, who is apprenticed formally to the Hunter Certainty. Was from a well-off family, shamed them, and was sent to the Hunters. A master poisoner and handy with a saber. A friend of Parsem. Generally fascinated with foreign things. 
Captain Jyen: A friend of Losaro who has helped the zealot out of many tough situations, Captain Jyen is an old Pearl Pangolin who rides around on a wheelchair and with a broad pink (perhaps once red) hat. Jyen is quite grizzled and scarred, and may have been a tough fighter once, but now he is enjoying a legitimate life as the captain of The Firebloom.

Neutrals/Bystanders

Shine: Captain of the Hunt of Polikitza for the Hunters of Norinar. Generally friendly.
Certainty: Secretary of Shine and Rank 6 Hunter of Norinar. A very detail-oriented assassin who helps manage paperwork and information management.
Yalusa the Minstrel: Band leader for a group of Zeshem traditional musicians. A music historian who likes to perform ancient songs and dances, who seems caught off guard that her group has become an object of traditionalist propaganda. 
Aravani of Kalturi: A skilled divorce lawyer from the Miutan city of Kalturi and a paladin of Orchid of Blue. Potha's escort to the North.

Adversaries

Safia, the False Halcyon, the Empress of All: Halcyon's Adversary. A cruel and inflammatory Chorical who enjoys saying whatever is necessary to provoke her enemies, and who flaunts her immense magical power at every opportunity. Seeks to ascend as the one true God to turn the world into her personal eternal playground.

• Uses pretty, glimmering spores to latch onto people and seize control of their bodies. Breathing in these spores is the primary method of invasion, but sufficient skin exposure will also do the trick. Both methods require sustained buildup of spores.
• Once the spore buildup reaches critical mass, the host is struck with telepathic commands demanding total obedience to "Halcyon"; those who agree to do horrible things in the face of potential harm are made into Chosen (who retain their previous appearances), while those who refuse to obey are transformed into the Unwilling (monsters pre-programmed by the Empress to cause maximum damage)
• Human Unwilling transform into fungal hives and spore emitters, with some basic weapon-appendages. Behavior unknown
• Dryad Unwilling transform into large clawed monsters that are set to charge at any non-corrupted sentient life
• Half-dryad Unwilling become stealthy, venomous beasts with excellent climbing abilities.
• Prism Unwilling become huge crystalline monsters. Behavior unknown.
• All Unwilling seem driven to collect corpses, particularly of sentient life forms
• Dryad Chosen/Willing have limited plant-druid powers and speed
• Chosen/Willing seem to be able to control small numbers of Unwilling
• The Unwilling are alive and sentient in there, but are prisoners in their own body. They are unable to intentionally say anything that could be useful to their enemies
• Dead creatures taken by corruption go to Paradise, to feed Safia's heavenly war machine
• Safia herself is hiding in a living fortress, surrounding by a cursed hurricane with elements of the Day of Blood
• Animals in corrupted lands can become vessels for corruption: spying, spreading spores, or serving as walking booby traps to ambush enemies with
• Safia is able to create new and horrific monsters, and will be able to perform greater atrocities if given access to sources of powerful divine magic
• Some inner council serves Safia loyally; suspected by Potha to be a dark lunar pantheon
• Anyone who performs a Divine Contact in corrupted land gets Safia instead of a Lunar God; paladins in Safia's territory are cut off from their Gods

Plot type

QUEST

Parent Plot

Owls Not Well

Subplots

• Bamboozles

Related Characters

• Halcyon
• Jade Atharzen

Related Organizations

• Holy Zeshema
• Hunters of Norinar
• Zesheko

Related Locations

• Movoto
• Polikitza