Session 17 Recap: "Those Left Behind"
General Summary
A/N: Fine. Here's your write-up, but someone owes me a new box of tissues.
With the Silent Dark's forces defeated, the green dragon Ozzyrandion slain, and Valthruun driven to flee, Orchard's River lapsed back into an uneasy silence as the losses were tallied by the survivors, and the wounded were gathered for treatment.
Yvonne and Knight-Captain Grayson, however, desperately searched the river and wreckage of the ferry searching for any sign that Mara Tarris has somehow survived. Instead, all that was found was the bloodied and torn dress she'd been wearing during the attack. Realizing something was terribly wrong, Tobin Tarris ran to the docks and saw what had become of his wife, and in the course of his own grief directed it at Yvonne and the paladin, before leaving them both reeling in the wake of such hurt and loss.
Deej made his way to the temple of Amael, only to find it was sacked and burned with Brother Derny slain across the altar. Combing through the ashes, he managed to find an intact idol that had escaped the assault unscathed, and after a quiet moment with his patron, found himself in posession of another crystaline bell.
Nursing wounds, both physical and emotional, the party found shelter in Xerren's tower for the night, though Yvonne slipped away to return to the smoldering cinders of her childhood home to grieve and grapple with the events of the last several hours. Xerren followed shoftly after, offering a mix of logic and wisdom in the midst of her grief to mixed results. Though with the losses still raw, Yvonne eventually opted for seclusion and retreated to her bench overlooking the river, while Xerren left Tamarae to keep an eye out and returned to his Tower.
Some time later, Yvonne found she was no longer alone again, though this time before her was the ephemeral specter of her mother. Not understanding what was happening at first, Yvonne expressed her regrets to her mother, wishing she'd made different choices that might have led to them having more time. eventually she realized her mother was present with the help of none other than Leorin Desdemonia, who'd preserved her spirit within a Soul Gem. His presence alone led to a tense stand-off, though Leorin seemingly had not come for a fight. He explained he'd used the soul gem in order to spare her mother a faithless fate, and that the Silent Dark was beginning to run scared as he handed the gem over to her. even so, Yvonne made it clear she hoped to never run afoul of her master again, to which he promised their next meeting would in fact be their last before disapearing into the night.
With the morning came some mild concern and frustration at Yvonne's disapearance after such an attack and Knight Captain Grayson, followed by the rest of the party, crossed the river to drag Yvonne back as they learned who had come to visit in the night. Yvonne relayed Leorin's words to the group, prompting concern and confusion about what he'd meant regarding the fate of faithless people. Yvonne pointed out that he'd named Xerren as someone who knew about such things, and after some reluctance, explained how those who passed on from the mortal plane and did not claim a god, were themselves claimed by one of the Forbidden Ones for the rest of eternity.
As they mulled over the implications of such a terrible fate, the party mustered up to try and finish a few last minute tasks before the townsfolk were ready to move out, stopping at Sertieren's workshop as he was hurriedly packing up the last of his things. They spoke with him about a Bag of Holding, and after some sticker shock and negotiating, he agreed to loan the bag to the party as they continued on their task of subverting the approaching army. Bag in hand, the party also began to search for the missing druid, Avarthel, and found him slain with a spear in his back and surrounded by dead hobgoblins. Unwilling to simply leave him, the party buried him and took his pendant to return to the Tiri Kitor.
With nothing left for them in Orchard's River, the group started to depart, but were stopped by Knight Capatin Grayson and Town Speaker Norro Wiston and thanked them for saving as many as they had in the attack. Grayson promised to continue on to Slatefist Hold to begin gathering more allies, then revealed she'd brought Tobin Tarris along for a difficult apology to his daughter and a tearful goodbye yet again.
With the help of the boats, the party traveled upriver without much issue, making it to the marshy swamplands in a matter of days, before Last Leaf's disc began to glow as it had at Vraath Keep. Following its pull led them to an ancient battlefield with remnants of twisted, stillborn monstrocities overlaid by visions of the fighting that had taken place ages ago. Eventually, it led them to the steps of a building and the image of a man they had seen before at Vraath Keep, wearing the same coat Xerren now bore. Faced with Reven Bloodgale, the party now struggles to make sense of his presence and awareness of them in a place distorted by Time itself....
Rewards Granted
Bag of Holding, Reached Level 6
Character(s) interacted with
Knight-Captain Grayson, Tobin Tarris, Leorin Desdemonia, Sertieren the Wise, Reven Bloodgale
Report Date
05 Jan 2024
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Related Characters
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