Session Six: The Bug Episode
General Summary
- 22 of Alta -
Yarrow Fermata, Cyrus Danceyboi, Aldous Brackshaw, and Alabaster Quilcy looked at each other as the cadets and Perch guard cleaned up the yard. Yarrow and Alabaster helped with the clean up a bit before the cadets and captains started to make their way out of the courtyard. Captain Wolne Forradare called to Alabaster and Cyrus to see if they would join the Perch Guard at the temple.
Alabaster and Cyrus made their way with the cadets to the Temple of Hanera The Provider. As they made their way past the large herme of stones in the middle of town Alabaster asked a cadet boy about the stones. The cadet, a young Luma boy named Doran, lazily told Alabaster that it was a tradition of
The main quest here is dealing with the Bandits plan to steal cursed items from a craftsman." href="/w/mardlo-arias-nuactna/a/brackenmill-article">Brackenmill. Anytime someone enters the town they bring and leave a stone, when anyone leaves town they are supposed to take a stone, and if someone in town dies they are buried with a stone.
Alabaster and Cyrus made their way in and found Pleoh Nim and Ade Trian, the young Gallus and Jerbeen from the fight in the morning. Cyrus asked them if they knew anything about Kathon, the secretive dancer in Brackenmill. Ade rebuffed them asking why he would know anything about a dancer. Alabaster taunted Ade and between Cyrus and Ade being unable to hit Alabaster at all Ade started to consider taking up dancing himself in order to become a better fighter. Pleoh mentioned that while he has never seen her dance that he did have one of her ribbons. Kathon apparently leaves ribbons around places where she plans on dancing later in the night.
Meanwhile Yarrow and Aldous continued outside the barracks and talked. Yarrow explained that he was going to go talk to Captain Serra Hyne while Aldous used his expertise to identify the magic items Yarrow had gotten from the Gleam and Glitter. Aldous identified the claw as An Enchanted Griffon's Claw which could be used to cast a spell and the mysterious silvery liquid as Blood of the Rust Monster. After sitting and resting for some time the two made their way to the temple.
Alabaster and Cyrus made their way out of the temple and ran into Yarrow and Aldous. As they met and chatted about their plans groups of cadets, Perch Guard, and their captains made their way up to the Overhang to aid the people of Brackenmill in the various perches. Aldous decided to stay on the humble level and read his notes. Yarrow went to see a courier to deliver his scarf for Aiden heading towards This is a safe haven. The only thing here is that the players can find residue of the " href="/w/mardlo-arias-nuactna/a/meadowfern-article">Meadowfern. Meanwhile Alabaster and Cyrus made their way to North Tree to ask around for Kathon.
Alabaster, Yarrow, and Cyrus made their way to the Overhang. Once there they saw Captain Wolne Forradare talking with a short Mapach named Flandal Steelskin Master of Metal. Wolne pointed out the party to Flandal who shared his refusal to believe that Yarrow was not a member of The Tenders.
Flandal Steelskin then proceeded to yell about his missing shipment and how he needed the ore in that shipment badly. Wolne told him that the Perch Guard had its hands full and Flandal asked where Serra Hyne was and that he wanted to talk to her. Yarrow said that he would be meeting her later. Wolne and Flandal looked at him before Flandal told the Tola to inform Serra Hyne that he wanted to talk with her and that she should come see him. Then Alabaster and Cyrus made their way to North Tree while Yarrow went to find a courier for his scarf.
Alabaster and Cyrus arrived up in North Tree to see Captain Alvert Selwe and his guards up there talking with the locals and helping out. They began to look around for red ribbons to little effect until Cyrus spotted strands of red silk stuck in the rivets of a curtain hanging as a door for the North Tree Tavern.
The two looked around and a tall awkward crane started to make his way to the tavern. Alabaster confronted the Crane who was immediately defensive. After some skillful persuasion from the dancer and bard the two got the crane to loosen up a bit. He told the them that Kathon only dances on certain nights for money and is particularly looking for rubies. She leaves red ribbons where she plans on dancing and asks her patrons for discretion and secrecy. The Crane narrowed his stare and told the two performers that if they planned on causing trouble for Kathon that he would make them regret it. The two brushed him off and retreated from North Tree and started crossing the bridge to the Skymall.
Aldous found a secluded spot and began to pour over his notes. Looking over and over for something that he missed. After some investigation he noticed a language shift in Professor Clara Oaces notes. When she was talking about the ruins in the Scorched Grove her tone and language changed dramatically. After meeting Odwald Ebonhart it became apparent to Aldous that these particular notes must actually be his and that Clara was paraphrasing Odwald's work poorly. Thinking back Aldous remembered Odwald talking with a short Mapach in the Overhang and started to make his way there.
The Overhang, as well as most of Brackenmill, was flooded with Perch Guard. Looking over the large building Aldous noted that it was a large industrial complex and crafting workspace. Many Mapach and humble folk ran in and out of the many doors carrying goods, supplies, and food. The windows were high and small only letting the tall Corvum see the tops of smelters and furnaces within. Some Perch Guard cadets made their way inside only to be yelled at immediately and told to leave. This event caused Aldous to reconsider his next moves. Realizing the time he began to make his way to the Skymall to meet in Thilde Cresmoon's shop and talk about plans with her and Reyny Wright.
Yarrow made his way to meet Captain Serra Hyne. Not many cadets remained in the barracks and the ones that did treated Yarrow with a sense of fear instead of a sense of respect. Yarrow was lead back to Serra Hyne's office where he heard crashing as if something had just broken. Going inside he saw that the Cervan's office was in shambles. The furniture broken, papers everywhere, and the window shattered. Serra Hyne contained herself and offered Yarrow a broken seat. Yarrow cast Mending and sat down and began to knit a new scarf.
Serra Hyne unlocked a drawer in her desk and pulled out a medallion. Slamming it on the table Yarrow saw that it had the symbol of The Bandit Coalition.
"I'm part of the Bandit Coalition," she said with an air of gravity. Yarrow continued to knit and nodded his head. Serra Hyne reached in and grabbed another medallion and slammed it on the table. It had the symbol for Humblewood on it and looked to be a marking of the Perch Guard but was a bit more flowery and detailed with certain embellishments.
"Do you know what this is a symbol of?" Serra Hyne asked as Yarrow shook his head. "It means I'm a member of the Royal Guard, or the Advance Guard. I'm acting as a double agent for the Bandit Coalition and the Royal Council of Humblewood. I've been carrying out missions for the Bandit Coalition in hopes to find their main hide-out and to meet their new leader. So far though, since my missions end with no civilian or Perch Guard casualties, they do not trust me." Yarrow shook his head and continued to listen while Serra Hyne became calmer and more grave in her tone.
"I need your help. I think there is another person in the Perch Guard working for the Bandit Coalition. Bandits have gotten into town lately without my knowledge, my office was just broken into and raided, and Captain Alvert Selwe has been looking after me quite a bit and might suspect me of working for the bandits. There is supposed to be an attack soon on Brackenmill." Serra Hyne put her hand to her face and Yarrow perked up.
"Do you know what this is a symbol of?" Serra Hyne asked as Yarrow shook his head. "It means I'm a member of the Royal Guard, or the Advance Guard. I'm acting as a double agent for the Bandit Coalition and the Royal Council of Humblewood. I've been carrying out missions for the Bandit Coalition in hopes to find their main hide-out and to meet their new leader. So far though, since my missions end with no civilian or Perch Guard casualties, they do not trust me." Yarrow shook his head and continued to listen while Serra Hyne became calmer and more grave in her tone.
"I need your help. I think there is another person in the Perch Guard working for the Bandit Coalition. Bandits have gotten into town lately without my knowledge, my office was just broken into and raided, and Captain Alvert Selwe has been looking after me quite a bit and might suspect me of working for the bandits. There is supposed to be an attack soon on Brackenmill." Serra Hyne put her hand to her face and Yarrow perked up.
"Oh I know," The young Tola said, "we found a letter on a dead bandit outside of town. It said,
" Serra Hyne,
Our new leader has some plans that require better equipped rebels. I need you to move forward with our plans that have been on hold and push forward with operation 'Forge Fire'. Remember that there are a few warehouses in Brackenmill for The Perch Guard and we want the one with the 'Blue Wings'. Don't be overzealous again. We need less equipment without suspicious not more equipment with the whole guard on our tails. I trust that you won't fail me.
~ Burga"
that's one of the reasons we came to Brackenmill." The Tola said happily knitting.
Serra Hyne smiled.
"You are a Fermata aren't you? You're very different from Dande." Yarrow nodded and Serra Hyne turned back and unlocked a chest in the corner of her office. "Can I trust your companions?" She asked, her back turned to Yarrow.
"They are my traveling companions." He said dodging the question.
Serra Hyne turned around with four medallions, each with a simple symbol of the Perch Guard on them. "Like I said I need your help. These medallions will act as small scale badges for you and your companions so if you have trouble with the Perch Guard you can show them this and gain more traction. My plan for operation 'Forge Fire' was to assign cadets to the warehouse, poison them with sleeping potions, and then continue unmatched. However I now worry about the safety of the cadets. I'm going to go to the Bandit's camp outside of town and talk with them tonight. If nothing has changed I would like you and your companions to guard the warehouse in place of the cadets. We want the bandits to get these weapons. It will get me more footing and the weapons are cursed to help destabilize the bandits over time. Can you do this for me." Serra Hyne looked at Yarrow with a grave stare. The Tola finished knitting and handed the Cervan a large scarf with her name in it.
"I'll have to ask my companions first but I think we'd be happy to help." Yarrow said with a smile.
"Good, I need to get ready to head out to the bandits now." Serra Hyne said standing up. Yarrow looked around at the mess of a room, "Do you want any help with this?" Serra Hyne shook her head, "No." Yarrow nodded, stood up, and cast Mending on everything he could while backing out of the office.
"What are you doing?" The Hedge asked.
"We're looking for a new hive." The bees responded in a group.
"What happened to your hive?" Alabaster asked getting closer.
"It walked away. We found another hive but there are already bees there and we're planning on tricking them out of it so we can take it." The bees said. Alabaster took a step back and thought to Yarrow from earlier in the day.
"How long have you been looking for a hive? How old are you bunch?" Alabaster asked incredulously.
"We've been alive the whole day and our hive left us earlier. We have been looking for a new one since." Alabaster sighed and began to think.
"Do you see that temple down there," he said pointing over the edge of the rail down to the Temple of Hanera, "they have hives there and they will keep you safe. Go there." The bees buzzed happily and flew off, not in the direction of the temple but back towards the massive tree holding the Skymall perch. Then two large swarms of bees flew from the tree and over the railing making their way down to the temple.
Cyrus stopped talking with Uyncis and made his way over to Alabaster asking him about the swarms of bees that just flew overhead. Alabaster explained that he was asking the local bugs about Kathon. Alabaster then made his way closer to the Skymall tree and found some beetles there to talk with. These beetles grew up here and lived in the tree. They said they had seen a white cat before and Alabaster told them that if they find her again that they should come find him. Using Druidcraft Alabaster made some of the fungus on the tree grow and bloom as enticement for the beetles. They agreed to help and one bit his finger and tasted his blood to be able to find him later.
Seeing this Cyrus remembered his Strange box containing a two headed worm and asked Alabaster if he could talk to the worm inside. Cyrus opened the box. Inside the worm began to wriggle and writhe and appeared to be in pain in the sunlight. Cyrus took Alabaster into the shadows of an alleyway and handed the box over. Then he started to undress.
"I'm going to change my clothes so we have a cover for being in the alleyway. You should talk to the worm and see what it says." The dancer then began the process of changing from his red dancing outfit to a blue one. Alabaster looked inside the box, shrugged and talked to the worm.
"Hey, you, um who are you?" Alabaster asked.
In a set of deep voices, one feminine and one masculine, the worm responded, "We are great wizards, cursed and a curse, imprisoned within this cell." Alabaster's eyes widened and he looked to Cyrus who wanted an explanation. Alabaster explained and then Cyrus urged him to continue.
"What have you been cursed with?" Alabaster asked.
"We are worms." The voices responded. Alabaster sighed again in frustration.
"What are your names? How did you become cursed? Also you said that you were cursed but are also a curse, what do you mean by that?" Alabaster began to lay in with questions for the worm which was now moving more intelligently and specifically.
"I am Hiki the all seeing," the masculine voice said, "and I am Furo the master of life," claimed the feminine voice. "We were the greatest wizards in Chikara - The Knight's Empire and Kagi - The Southern Kingdom of the Shadow King. In our travels we went to Lake Noroi to investigate. In our hubris Strom cursed us and we woke up in this box in the hands of the young fox. Those that carry us also hold Strom's curse with them." The worm took turns with each voice, explaining its histories. Alabaster closed the box and explained things to Cyrus.
Aldous made his way into Thilde's shop. It was a crampt space with the shelves on the walls covered in parchment, vellum, scrolls, and books. Aldous had met Thilde Cresmoon before having come into her shop to buy parchment, lead ink, and other supplies. The Corvum's looked at each other until Aldous began to speak.
"Hello, I am to meet someone here." The two Corvum's continued to look each other over before Thilde stood up and walked to the front door. She closed the blinds and flipped the open sign on the shop to closed and pointed to the door in the back.
"Reyny is in the back recovering. She's been waiting for you." Thilde walked in front of Aldous and opened the back door. This room was about the same size as the small shop. A writing desk was covered in papers and a backpack, a chest laid in the corner of the room, and Reyny was laying in a bed to the left of the door. She was covered in small cuts and scrapes from head to toe and her abdomen was bandaged. She looked over at Aldous and snarled.
"Good you're finally here," she pointed to the pile of paperwork on the table, "I got everything we need over there. Bitch came back too soon for me to get anything else." Aldous began to panic.
"What happened to discretion?! You were supposed to only grab what was necessary!" Aldous grabbed his head and began to pace. Thilde placed herself in between Reyny the panicked bird and pointed to the stack of papers.
"We did find useful items in the paperwork though. A few letters between Burga and Serra Hyne and some between Serra Hyne and Shyla Denn. The letters seem written in some sort of code where these people are pretending to be family but it's clear they are plotting something. Take a look at them." Thilde put a hand on Reyny's shoulder to calm her down.
Aldous made his way over to the desk and investigated the letters. Indeed the letters were written in some sort of codec similar to thieves cant. Based on context Aldous gathered what information he could. Burga seemed to be chastising Serra Hyne in her letters. Questioning loyalty and asking why certain jobs failed and why people were left as witnesses. The letters to and from Shyla Denn seem to be Serra Hyne asking Shyla Denn to carry out some tasks for her and updates on what she is doing. After reading over the letters Aldous nodded.
"This is more than enough to deal with her. We will continue with the plans." Aldous looked at Reyny and grimaced, "Do you know of someone else that can deliver this letter to Serra Hyne? That way me and my people can deal with her tonight." Thilde nodded and Reyny looked excited.
"Good we're finally going to get her. I don't know why we even needed all this. She's addicted to dream flakes, she's loud and stupid, she's clearly a bandit," The raptor said in excitement. Aldous glared down at her.
"No, we are not going to take care of her," he said pointing at the three in the room, "we are going to take care of her. I have a team of very skilled individuals." Aldous pointed just at himself this time. Reyny stood up in a rage.
"No, I should be there!" she yelled defiantly being held back by her injuries and Thilde. Aldous shook his head.
"Deliver the letter and you've done enough. Thank you. We'll take care of it from here." Aldous said looking to Thilde. Thilde thanked him and took the letter from Aldous.
"Serra Hyne,
Our new leader intends to move forward with operation 'Forge Fire' in the immediate future. However, shifting needs for the Coalition requires modifications to the plan. I do not trust the urgent and confidential nature of this information to writing. Meet with my agents 3 hours after moonrise on the night of the 22 of Alta in the bracken glade 2 miles east of Brackenmill. Bring no more than one trusted ally. Don't be overzealous again. We don't need the whole Perch Guard on our tails if you're tracked, or their suspicion if you escort a large force out of town. I trust you won't fail me.
-Burga"
Yarrow was the first to see Alabaster and Cyrus in the alleyway. The three conversed briefly before Aldous passed them and joined them. They began to talk. Aldous explained that they were moving forward with the plans and Yarrow told Aldous of Serra Hyne's status as a Royal Perch Guard. The group began to argue and bicker before they realized that Captain Uyncis was watching them from afar.
They left the alley, the whole time Uyncis kept a close watch on Cyrus. They decided to travel to a local tavern and went to the back of the room. There they began to talk about what to do next and what they had each discovered over the day. From across the room a large Strig came bounding towards the group.
He had seen them the night before and demanded that they sing again. The silver tongued Hedge convinced the Owl to go back to drinking and they would perform soon. He bounded off and began shouting to people about the imminent show. The group continued to plan and discuss ideas until Yarrow reminded Aldous that it was around dinner time. It was then that Aldous remembered that he was supposed to be having dinner with his family tonight.
Report Date
18 Feb 2020
Primary Location
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