Session 22: Ilven Disappears, Arrested, and Exploring the Prison!

General Summary

Ilven Disappears

The session began with a conclusion of your interaction with Ilven. She had just finished explaining that "she did it" and that it was all to keep her safe. She was about to hand over a jar with a purple comet moth inside while Frode was the only one that still had vision to actually see what was happening. Frode and the rest of you continued asking questions, mostly about what was happening, and attempting to get to the bottom of this. Kaswink in particular had accusations towards Ilven claiming that she controlled the darkness. Ilven was willing to admit that she did utilize a special jar she had to bring it about the first time to protect her sister, but she truly has no knowledge of any "shards" or whatever. “I did it, children. She’s a danger to herself and the entire forest. If she had her way this place would be filled with outsiders as they cut down our trees, dig up our minerals, slaughter our animals and enslave our people. I knew something terrible was coming, I sensed a great change and knew that Tympi would be in danger. I had to hide her, otherwise she would’ve just signed away our whole existence.” Further accusations that she is trying to use something she can't control, or has no knowledge of, and that she shouldn't do such things. She promised to heal you all if you would just consider what she has to say. "I will relieve you of your afflictions, but you must promise to keep in mind what I have told you…you could see me as no more than an enemy worthy of being stomped out, campaign against me if you must, free my sister and swear some oath… but please, remember that I did it with nothing more than her safety and the safety of this forest in mind.”

In the middle of the conversation, however, Frode was able to see something quite frightening begin to take place.

Frode saw this jar with a lil purple comet moth just fluttering about, held in Ilven’s hand extended towards him, and as she was offering to heal your friends in exchange for some consideration of her point of view…you saw the jar suddenly fill with darkness before the same inky, dripping black fluid you’ve seen many times before began to seep from the between the lid and glass, flowing down the sides and around Ilven’s arm. She seemed calm, like Tympi when she was taken in the dream. Frode wanted to help, or at least get the jar away from her, and so he reached for it. His hand wrapped around the glass and felt the same dripping ichor flow over himself. He felt a strange sense of calmness, a complete absence of fear or anger or anything really. It quickly surrounded her, clouds of darkness branching off of her forming mouths, noses, teeth, and so forth as it drenched her before the room was completely filled as well, and he joined his friends in blindness. The rest of you could hear animalistic noises, some creature growling, dripping sounds like some liquid, wind, and as Frode is suddenly blind as well all six of you would’ve heard a scream coming from where Ilven stood. At this time, Agave felt the need to try to help Frode, and, despite not being able to see anything around him, he called down a familiar beam of moonlight where he heard the strange animalistic noises.

The moonlight, both unfortunately and fortunately, struck Frode. While it freed him from whatever spell was drenching his spirit in this darkness, it also reduced him to a state of unconsciousness. As Frode fell, freed though out of commission, more sounds were heard through the din of growls. These growls and other noises slowly diminished and faded as they were replaced with a choir of duressed Myotlings all speaking over each other and demanding what is going on. Through all this a voice rang clear. A nasally, better-than-you voice that carried pieces of Ilven's own arrogance with its own attitude. The voice had a simple question "What happened here? Where is our lady Ilven?"

Arrested

Some of you allowed the manacles to be put around your wrists, agreeing to go peacefully, but others such as AND and Kaswink resisted. Meanwhile, Agave had a more peaceful way to escape by wildshaping into a scorpion and hiding in Namina's robe. After some debate, AND eventually allowed the manacles to be applied, and Kaswink was bound as well before breaking free again. She explained that it would be better if she was unbound and that she wouldn't attack. The leader of these myotling guards, later revealed to be someone named "Ob" reluctently agreed and you were all brought blindly to a prison.

After locking you away in your cells, Ob and the other guards departed for a moment to deliberate leaving you all alone to ponder your next steps as well. Agave took this opportunity to crawl in the direction that your captives went. He found a door leading outside and was able to listen to their conversation. Myotling 1: (high pitched, nazily, know-it-all) “They’re guilty, they did it. Ilven said that they are the bringers of darkness and you saw what was in there! She’s vanished and they were left behind with that stuff still dripping from the walls!” Myotling 2: (mellow, voice of reason) “No, come on, Ob, we don’t know for sure what happened in there. We need to talk to them, get some answers. I don’t feel right just judging them based on where they’re from…though the circumstances are rather damming.” Myotling 3: (high pitched, flat, less helpful than they think they are) “Well, let’s get in there and get this over with. Hopefully they haven’t already escaped…” They returned to the prison shortly after this, and Agave returned to his usual form before they arrived back in front of your cells to begin the interrogation.

The guards asked a series of questions, typical of the arresting party, all hoping to just learn about who you are and why you were in that tent with her. Those who provided answers did so as honestly as possible, though the conversation began to get frustrating for the interrogators as it was evident you were all blind while the most crucial part of it all was happening. When knowledge that Frode was the only one that saw anything was brought up, you heard the sound of one of the metal bars being kicked on someone's cell door and the words "get up!" as Frode was revived. Frode was able to explain what he had seen to some extent, and Ob seemed pleased enough but was still skeptical of your intentions. It took a great deal of back and forth, convincing, but by the end of your conversation with this person they seemed to open up enough to heal you all of your ailments and leave you alone to explore this prison. They left you with a warning though, "Stay underground. Get some sleep, explore if you like, but don't go above ground until the early morning before sunrise."

Exploring the Prison

The Prison Beneath Thera Relovut was largely a featureless dungeon consisting of several cells with chains connected to the floor, a place to sleep, and an ominous door that was locked and undisturbed compared to the rest of the prison. While examing the walls and crafting style, AND was able to determine that it was likely Elven in nature and Hysteria had similar, though silent, observations. Kaswink attempted to pull some of the chains from the floor though as she was doing so something in her mind told her it would be a bad idea...strange. While AND and Kaswink were exploring, Agave, Namina and Hysteria were planning a way to sneak up to the surface and find everyone's gear. Eventually, Kaswink became curious about the large stone door and convinced Hysteria to pick it open. The lock was tricky, after feeling as though it had been successfully picked it locked in place a second time as if the first set of pins were just a ruse. Hysteria was familiar with such a mechanism though and was able to reset it in time before it locked for good.

Inside the office you all found lots of old stuff. On the desk were several books which were open though facing down and away from you as if hiding the information inside. There were two sets of bookshelves as well, and inside the desk was a small chest. Hysteria was able to open this chest while the rest of you were investigating the books on the desk and shelves. Inside this chest was a folded bit of paper and a Strange Gem resting on top of it. This gem had swirling shades of green and blue almost looking like a combination of a sapphire and emerald with a swirling orb at its center. Unfolding the paper revealed that it was a map leading to somewhere nearby according to Agave. The books on the desk included one titled Knowing Your Enemy, an unlabeled tome which was later discovered to be a Mysterious Journal, and several uninvestigated novels after Agave warned everyone to be careful after "reading" Knowing Your Enemy.

The book titled Knowing Your Enemy had nothing written in it. Investigating for hidden messages revealed nothing, but as he flipped through the pages looking for more writing he saw and something unusual. As the pages turned, the soft flicking of paper against paper began to grow louder, the book seemed to be much longer than it should've been, and as this trance persisted the flicking began to change and become almost like a clicking noise. This clicking became more and more rapid as it turned into an unpleasant chittering noise. Agave didn't see or hear any of the words, but he did understand something about what was going on. Something that told him he'd

Show spoiler

be better off dead.

Namina, meanwhile, was investigating the journal. This journal had entries from some unknown time as the date structure was clearly different from the modern calendar. It used the Elven Calendar, so it is possible that Hysteria might be able to make some estimations on when it occurred though. The entries that Namina was able to read while skimming through it involved an enemy that seemed to grow stronger the more that was known about it, though the messages were rather cryptic and perhaps metaphorical. One of them did mention a "project" which Namina researched a bit further within the journal and discovered it had something to do with moving entire settlements back and forth between Taranel and The Spirit World. Apparently this project was running into some issues and it was abandoned at some point.

Some additional books were also pulled from the shelves such as a depressing children's story called The Lost Child, a book about a diplomatic mission gone awry called The Voldaren Envoy, a book of Elven poetry called Poems of the North, a gardening book, a romance novel called The Trellis to My Heart, and a book about fae called The Fae and You. Several of these books were sent back to the camp for safe keeping, unless someone wanted to read them at that particular moment. Plans were then made to sleep and head out in the morning, though there are still hopes to also scout ahead at some point.

Quince's Response

Lots of information from the day was witheld from Quince for the daily report. Well of Darkness -"Well of Darkness? That sounds…frightening. There’s something deeper going on here, something obscured. More investigation will likely be needed in the future, but we can at least warn anyone going in about avoiding these areas. If its related to what was seen in the Maze… hmm, I hope it isn’t a sign of things to come.” Moving Forward -"I was going to wait a bit longer to tell you this, but we are days away from opening our gate….but there’s a slight problem. I need something to stabilize it on your side. Nothing terribly fancy, just a few pieces of stone. In particular, there must be something that keeps the gates that make up The Gates so stable, making breaches easier… maybe look for something like that on the way back to the Expedition Base or wherever you end up going. Once you have it, it just needs to make a foundation at the very least, or an arch if you’re feeling adventurous."

In-Game Date:
Nurend 15, 308

Report Date

28 Mar 2022

Primary Location

Thera Relovut

Secondary Location

The Prison Beneath Thera Relovut

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