Season 7, Episode 5: "Basic Training" Report

General Summary

Standing at the Doors of Death, Flay looked at a hand outstretched from within the darkness, and wondered what her next steps would be. However, she was interrupted as the Explorer — Master of Portals — came to call. Having felt Mist's failed attempt to use her Blessing in the Dimension of Time, she had followed the only thread she could find, and offered Flay a choice in return for her Blessing — to walk through a Door, and arrive somewhere new. After a swift heart-to-heart — during which the Explorer revealed her real name to be Annabell, and introduced her companion Ember — Flay decided to return to her body. However, before taking the plunge back among the living, she traded Ember her Blessing of the Maze for a mote of White Flame, ensuring that she could soon revive Unari Dama to corporeal form.
Patyr received his books, and much chastising occurred back at home.
On the Material Plane, the warriors of the Ikal Expanse ventured to Safarae through the portals at Ezorod, joining the Forge Wardens and the Yatkali in their preparation for war. With Silver Sync Contracting at the helm, the three armies worked together to ready their new starships, and began basic drills in their journey to spaceflight.
Lockette found herself at the head of the engineering effort, kicking off a thread of research into Forge Warden cores and other First Ones tech. She confirmed the presence of two bubble cities opposite the Crucible, and after digging further, found them to be the workshop of a First One named Adrammelech, and an associated storage facility.
Then she and Isra traveled to the old First Ones compound on Safarae, and spoke with the LEAF node there. They learned more about the structure of the System and its relationship with the Gardener, which led to the discovery of a similar node now installed in the Garden on Ezorod. As part of a separate discussion with LEAF, Lockette discovered there is a LEAF node in the Athenaeum, crafted from the shards of the Infinity Petal that fall to the Dark Tapestry at each iteration.
At the same time, but deep in the belly of Night, Tesin and Carrot walked the forests, soon arriving at the edge of the sword graveyard around the Rookery. While Tesin had many questions, Carrot struggled to answer them all, claiming that he was simply a steward of the swords, and not their master. He then led her to the library within the building, which seemed to be crafted out of a snapshot in time. There he introduced her to a book she herself had written, which gave Tesin a brief glimpse of a past horror, and later a copy of the Codex of Whispers. While perusing, the couple roused Aggy from hiding, who the Haze revealed to be connected to the Rookery in some way. While she offered her own services at the Shadari Confederacy, after some prompting from her Queen Aggy resolved herself to call upon old favors, and stated that Righteous would answer the summons with Night.
Then came the end of the third day since the group's return, which saw the arrival of Chamas and the Lotterbees, along with a chilling nightmare (see Erase Me). While somewhat traumatized from their imprisonment, the brothers seemed eager to get back to their hobbies, and set up shop with Fish on arrival. Rudy in particular was happy to take the Phasecaster off of Mist, and began to implement on some of the ideas he'd had while in the Diaspora.
As part of the founding of Fish's workshop, the Tanuki granted the party 500,000 UPBs to outfit themselves for the war, reserving the rest of his resources towards Ezorod's defenses. After learning Mist had the ability to teleport once a day, and knew the location of his missing children, he and the Ysoki jumped to Triaxus. They briefly met the retired hero Hoth, but pleasantries were cut short by unruly children and Fish's desire to return home. As a reward for rejoining his family, Fish promised the Dream Team the ultimate favor — a Tanuki-blessed masterwork of epic scale, beyond that of a single weapon or item, free of charge.
With that, the party looked over their remaining tasks, and summoned Nicholas Carter in an attempt to contact Valentina Terris. Confused, he claimed that Valentina was already present, and the crew discovered her chatting with Melody in front of a nearly-repaired Access Beacon. They caught up on what had transpired since the Pact Summit, making sure all their outside interests had been taken care of, and discussed a strategy to clear all their names. The lawyer offered them a variety of options, ranging from long and legal to short and violent, with the group picking a middle option involving Langdon. While the Death would only claim the lives of true sinners to expedite the process, it would take a week and some media events (perhaps involving Roger Glipglorp) to restore order.
The rest of the morning fell away to the tying up of several loose ends, leading at last to the loss of Flay's sword. After sighting the blades in Night the day prior, Tesin invited the team on a tour of her home, ending at the Rookery. While at first struggling to find a Dweomerblade that would accept Flay, they eventually ran into Aggy, who chided her for treating the graveyard like an armory. After learning more about the Ysoki, Aggy seemed hesitant to discuss that she might know of a blade, but eventually led the group to the top of the building. Within Flay found Brightsever piercing the ground, surrounded by dozens of skeletons.
Although initially hesitant to accept Flay, she and the blade came to an accord, deciding to act as partners. This clearly pained Aggy, who all but fled the chamber, wishing the both of them well in the battle to come. Then came the long hike back to Ezorod, and the collapse into sleep...
Where a peculiar dream revealed new secrets, and the fifth day dawned (see The Story Laced Within).

Rewards Granted

Tarot Deck

• Mist used the Blessing of the Explorer to rescue Flay from the Doors of Death.

Loot

• Flay gained a mote of White Flame from Ember, and made a pact with Brightsever.
• The party was given 500,000 UPBs by Fish.

Created Content

New and updated articles for:

• Azkhrumdar
• Void Walker
• Mantle of the White Flame
• Codex of Whispers
• Erase Me
• The Story Laced Within
• Brightsever

Notes

Many seemingly good things happened today, and nothing bad will come from any of them. It's all going to be fine.
Story games are longer than combat games, but take the same amount of time.

Campaign

The Centurion's Riddle

Protagonists

Flame in the Night

Tesin Movahesh

Thunder in the Mist

Lockette Endrinmaster 12 2.0

Isra

Report Date

21 Feb 2022

Primary Location

Ezorod

Secondary Location

Night