Campaign 2: Session 42 - Tankard Earth Theory
Rewards Granted
Tedduch Stoutman
- MVP: 400XP
- Participation: 100XP
- Skills: 210XP
- Total: 610XP
Thalmun Burrowale
- Participation: 100XP
- Skills: 150XP
- Total: 250XP
Missions/Quests Completed
19th Spriarjeń 269 5E
Following an intense day escaping their precarious encounter with the mob boss Kjartan, the party continue to enjoy a game of 'Never Have I Ever' amongst themselves. A game which leaves Zi, Awenir, and The Wretch barely conscious whilst Pawel is slurring his words.
The group finally decide it best to call it a night and return to the bustling city streets to hail a cab. Before a carriage can arrive to collect them, Audrey Wepple arrives to join the party looking put out and upset. When asked about the fate of Orville, Audrey admits that she did indeed find him and he had found employment cleaning toilets in a crack den.
Audrey is disappointed to realise that they had missed the night's drinking session, especially given that she has already started drinking herself, but nonetheless she agrees to go back to Honorow Orphanage with them and together they board a carriage paid handsomely to take them into the depths of The Verge.
As the journey goes on, Tedduch Stoutman makes a comment about how the world is flat, an idea which sparks frustration in Thalmun Burrowale who retorts by claiming the world is a globe. The two argue back-and-forth, with both criticising the science of the other until finally Pawel gets frustrated, chiding Teddy for their simplistic thinking and making the case instead that the world is cylindrical like a tankard.
When prompted for more explanation, Thalmun explains how Vede lies at the base of the tankard, with the surface on top and water falling down in the gaps of the surface whilst above them at the top of the tankard is the sky. When questioned about the Nexus he calls it 'the Great Beyond' and explains that it is here that the Daegar came from and will go with all of their supporters after their own demise.
Thalmun and Pawel argue the intricacies of this position for some time, which would lead the three into a new discussion about religion. Teddy takes an immediate distrust of Pawel's Dallan religion but is interested in the idea that Dalli was thrown into the Nexus and was able to come out unscathed and with new power. He also immediately dislikes the idea that Dalli is inside of everyone and guides them forwards, making the case that no one can guide a person but themselves. Pawel retorts by pointing out that though sheep are under no obligation to follow the path laid about by the sheepdog, they most often choose to do so because they know that they are being guided towards what they need.
Pawel further goes on to talk about the pressures he feels to serve Dalli's faith as best he can though he claims that he has failed in that respect and is unworthy of his God or his Patron the Acolyte Alvar, a fact which both conscious denizens of the carriage deny, but Pawel insists is the case.
When finally the party return to Honorow Orphanage, they all retire to their quarters to rest for the night.
20th Spriarjeń 269 5E
The next day, Thalmun Burrowale and Tedduch Stoutman alone awake from their drunken stupour to start the day. They find Dobrogost Rostow breaking his fast with Romulus and the children of the orphanage. Teddy requests to have some bone broth to help cure his hangover whilst the two gather what breakfast they can.
Before long, Thalmun departs to begin charging his crystals whilst Dobrogost asks that Teddy join him on an errand into the city. After ingesting his bone broth, Teddy agrees and the two take a carriage into The Verge.
The journey is slow and precarious, with the carriage struggling to find a path through the poorly regimented mish-mash of ramshackle hovels, but eventually they come across a market in the centre of The Verge, protected by members of the Blight and inhabited by an impoverished mob. Dobrogost explains that markets such as this exist all over The Verge, protected by the Blight.
He tells him that the people that exist in The Verge live there because they have nowhere else to go, and so they go to black markets such as these to trade without the inspection of the Prowydan who tax goods extortionately and would apprehend and arrest poachers and those who steal to survive.
He goes on to explain that he lied to Teddy and to the party. He did indeed arrange the robbery at Honorow Orphanage. He contacted a member of the Blight and arranged for them to steal the Orphanage's gold, knowing that it would motivate the party to play the hero and follow their attack on Kjartan in retaliation.
He explains that the reason for him doing this was that he did not trust the party. He points out how in the three weeks since Awenir met the party, he has been involved in two national scandals, and has faced mortal peril three times over. He says that he thought of the group as reckless and did not know if he could truly trust them or their motives.
He says however that he believes now that Teddy and his companions have earned his trust and so he is ready to explain why Kjartan had to die. He explains that he arrived in Istanbrakt penniless and with a family name worth less than dirt. He found himself in The Verge because he like so many others had nowhere else to go, and here he met Arkadi, the man that was then the leader of the Blight. He helped Dobrogost to survive, he fed him, sheltered him, and he gave him work and purpose again. The Blight then were still criminals but they did not work solely for their own greed but to ensure the survival of themselves, their family, and their community.
Kjartan corrupted that aspect of the Blight by murdering Arkadi and turning it to fuel his own selfish ambitions, distancing the Blight from the community it once represented. Rosa was Arkadi's daughter, and to honour the legacy of his murdered friend, Dobrogost raised her as his daughter.
So for all of Kjartan's crimes, Rosa enacted vengeance against him. But Dobrogost claims that the true reason he needed to die goes beyond this. He makes the case that the Empire is dying, and that it is slowly suffocating the people that live in it. He claims that as the Empire grows worse, the people must band together as one or else they will never survive the day's to come.
He explains thus that it was his intention that Kjartan should die, and Rosa should take his place as leader of the Blight, ensuring that the gang return to its roots in service of the community, allowing Rosa to lead The Verge's illegal domain, whilst Dobrogost leads its legal domain.
However, Dobrogost apologises for lying and manipulating the party rather than simply explaining his intentions and trusting that they would help if they knew the truth. He claims to have better got the measure of them now, claiming that Audrey is driven by adventure, Pawel desires only to die in a worthy manner, Thalmun is driven by his curiosity, and The Wretch remains an enigma, but he sees that Teddy and Zi are driven by their loyalty and he expresses his respect for that.
Teddy accepts his apology, making the case that his uncertainty was understandable given the circumstances and that he blames himself more than he blames him. He however contradicts his assessments of the party saying that Thalmun, Pawel, and Audrey are driven by more than these singular motivations. Dobrogost expresses excitement to learn more about them, and asks that Teddy and the party come to understand the people of The Verge the way that they understand each other.
He says that he will have more work to be done, and in time he will ask them for their help again, but when he does he hopes that they will understand why he is asking, and who he is asking them to work for.
