Samara: Angels & Demons

The Champions discussed at length the plan to discovering the Tannous curse and went through the portal. The portal lead to the lake of the reservoir outside the city. Marigold was disturbed by her inability to contact her wife and got the sense of her being in danger. A raven delivered a message to Sigrid, prompting Aurelius to leave an investigate some Hellish magic in the Northern Hinterlands. The rest of the group made their way to the city walls and infiltrated a guardhouse. With a series of magical trickeries, they convinced the guards that Cleaver was trying to destroy the dam and had set explosive powder kegs around its various locations. From there, the Champions used tower to enter the city where chaos of looters met them in the slums.   The Champions made their way to the House of Wisdom and were confronted with the Red House Syndicate at its steps, trying to get in. A battle ensued, one of them got away, and Sigrid recruited one of their berserkers. The party decided to split up, leaving most of the group at the House of Wisdom while Breeze & Rumple snuck their way into House Tannous. While the rest of the group researched ways of cross dimensional travel, Breeze and Rumple found Lord Tannous and tried to question him about the curse. Lord Tannous brought them to a shrine told them that the shrine was one of the most holy sites in the city and was built on two converging laylines. He swore he could lift the curse with the help of Hype and tried to implore Breeze & Rumple to bring Hype to him, using magic when words weren't enough. Rumple fell under his influence just as Breeze felt the fur on Lord Tannous's hand belaying the illusion. The party lost contact with them at that moment and when they returned, something was magically strange and they were being tailed by invisible assassins. The party dispatched the tail and removed the magic placed on Rumple and Breeze to reveal the truth: Lord Tannous was actually a Rakshasa.    Before dealing with Lord Tannous, they decided they needed allies and time to regain spells. In the safety of the library, they bunkered down for a long rest.

The Champions talked with Ghost about her motivation, Marigold grilled her about her relationship with Ka’affe (purely a stepping stone for her) and the party asked about her mask. Ghost revealed the mask protected her from scrying (her vigilantism in the city having angered the Bektashi) and needed it back. The party however did not return it hoping to use it and one Rumple had gotten from HQ to sneak into the Tannous household and read his mind. The one rumple has is an amulet form of what Ghosts mask does.   The party discussed plans and finally landed on taking shelter in the House of Wisdom library which would protect them from the authorities for Aspasia’s sake and then sending a small party to infiltrate Tannous. Ghost would stay there while they used her mask and then once they were back would take it back and so what she wanted to do again.   The party (finally) went through the portal and found themselves outside the city on the edge of the Kenah Reservoir. They received a Raven that had been looking for Sigrid and carrying a potions from AAA and a letter from Helga. Her clan was doing fine, but had engaged a group of harpies that were using hellish magic and possessed a fragment of broken weapon similar to what Aurelius carried. Aurellius out of desire to find this offered to go help Sigrid’s clan, bayed the party farewell, and headed north skirting the city.   Following the shore of the reservoir, the party spotted a lightly staffed guardhouse on the edge of the dam, a small reservoir dock, and the signs of smoke rising from the city.   Marigold worried about her fiancé, tried to contact her or Melody and found the channel blocked by some kind of abjuration magic. She reached out to her other planar contact who assured her Loka was alive, not in immediate danger, but in a dangerous place. He also warned her that Cleaver’s plan to destroy the dam was scheduled for the last day of the Angel’s festival, three days hence.   While this was going on, the party checked on the dock where they found food stores that were being used to smuggle explosive to the dam and looked out over the city to see the gang war had gotten worse, the Bektashi having lost control of parts of the city to a mix of gang attacks, citizen uprisings, and unchecked arson.   The party decided to subdue the guards in the tower and question them , but when the Lawmage proved resilient to their magic, things went a bit awry. They manage to thoroughly confuse the mage and get a Suggestion through warning him of the plot against the dam and preventing him from arresting them. Rather than stay and become embroiled with the authorities further the party headed down the access stair to the city, UnBARRED the door (not Bard Store!) into the slums and resealed it behind them, preparing to make a run for it across the chaotic battleground to the House of Wisdom.   Once in the slums, Aspisa cast Shield of Faith on Zazik through a kiss on the cheek as Vetur theorized they could teleport the party to the House of Wisdom. However when he tried, he took only Marigold, Aspasia, and himself to some unknown location (perhaps a closet), leaving poor Zazik flustered. The rest of the Champions, being used to this magical chaos and having no way of helping, made their way through the slums which was saturated with looters and rioters. With the exception of one poor looter that decided that punching the viking was a good idea, the Champions made their way unto the House of Wisdom relatively undetected. Once at the steps, however they were confronted with several Red House Syndicate berserkers jacked up on Red Spice. A battle ensued on the steps and while the party took out most of the opponents, one of the lookouts got away and Sigrid "recruited" one of the members to be part of her raiding party (named Nad). The House of Wisdom thanked them for their assistance and offered them safety inside the library.   Once inside the safety of the library of the Hose of Wisdom, the Champions decided to break the one rule they know should never be broken for the sake of stealth: they split the party. Breeze and Rumple made their way stealthily to House Tannous, in hopes of learning more of the curse that plagues the house and intending to read Lord Tannous's mind. The rest of the Champions bunkered down in the House of Wisdom, awaiting the scouts report and researching cross dimensional travel, learning that it is possible with magical laylines and gates. Meanwhile, Breeze and Rumple found Lord Tannous and tried to question him about the curse. His mind proved too powerful to read and he enticed them to follow him to the shrine in his house. Lord Tannous told them that the shrine was one of the most holy sites in the city and was built on two converging laylines. He swore he could lift the curse with the help of Hype and tried to implore Breeze & Rumple to bring Hype to him, using magic when words weren't enough. Rumple fell under his influence just as Breeze felt the fur on Lord Tannous's hand belaying the illusion.   The rest of the party briefly lost touch with Rumple and Breeze, not knowing what they had experienced. They began to get worried, but were recontacted by a Breeze who told them everything was fine and they were coming back.   Suspicious over the questions Rumple and Breeze couldn’t seem to answer, the party were cagey about their return and when Rumpel noticed an invisible tail their suspicions were confirmed. Breeze used see invisibility to spot three invisible animalistic warriors following them with strange weapons and armor. They gave them a brief slip with dimension door and reconnected with their allies in the library. Ghost took her mask back and left and Maiza, the frontdesk librarian tried to help Sigrid cleanse Rumpel and Breeze of any stray magic. Rumpel and Breezes memories restored, they communicated the bad vibes from Tannous and the evidence Breeze felt that the Rakshasa Patriarch and Rael Tannous may in fact be the same person and that Hype is definetly their target. The party debated the next step, but decided they needed their allies from AAA and decided to attempt a jailbreak of Team B and the captured half of Team G.   Before that however they decided to deal with their tails, the lesser Rakshasa’s outside the library. Their attempted ambush did not go as well as hoped, the Rakshasa demonstrating an ability to shrug off low level spells effortlessly meant they were fighting invisible foes, however with Breeze’s ability they were able to pinpoint thier foes and discovered they are weak to piercing attacks from holy or good aligned weapons/individuals.   The party injured and drained of spells took a long rest in the library (making it about midnight when they awoke) and received more Rakshasa lore from the librarian, confirming their weakness and limited magical immunity, as well as prodigious command of magic and cursed claws. Breeze also discovered the library is hot bed of ethereal energy and something large stone like sits at its center, but only in the ethereal plane.