Session 023: There are No Heroes Here

Monday, June 28th, @6:30pm- EST

General Summary

[recording game starts @20min] Returning to the Phaxion city of Ancester, the party sets about trying to pick up the pieces of the ruined city and missing contact. 

City of Ash

The party finds that the city they were expecting to meet up with Leonore's bodyguard in order to have him returned to his people and safety has been ransacked. Finding very few left alive, including a small family of three trying to protect themselves from a group of five looters, the party does what they can to try to see what has happened and attempt to find their contact. What they're able to find leads them to the revelation that a high priority target had been captured in the area. Vex is able to break up the potential conflict between the survivors, offering 2GP to the father before leaving, hoping that they are able to care for themselves and survive as best they can through these trying times. With the daylight waning into dusk, the party meets back up to make their way back to the ship for the night, deciding it best not to risk fighting abominations by moonlight.

Morning Mayhem

With morning comes the planning as to whether or not the party should split, the potential of survivors remaining and the party still needing to investigate the manor. Emyr, Vex, and Lavug opt to head to the estate, going directly there while Duul, Leonore, and Cyrus set out in search of survivors.

Estate "Sale"

At the estate, the street and area surrounding it appears to have been set up previously as a base camp, though it has since been looted and destroyed. [1hr] Among other things in the area, they notice seemingly corrupted vultures, likely from the nearby Wastes, feeding on the dead. The vultures clearly are afflicting by the same blight as Emyr and Vex, as they set off their senses to a small degree. However, as they draw closer to the mansion, their senses grow haywire, focused around a former Kingdom knight turned abomination that wanders in front of the manor. They begin to debate how to handle the situation, with the risk of a pincer attack very real if they proceed further without addressing the issue. [shit I missed things pick up @2:16:00] With Vex frenzied by his new sword, Emyr pulls from a previous bag of tricks to use their infected blood as a means of command, directing him to, "Sit," and instantly succeeding. Connecting the events here with the village Emyr and Vex dealt with previously, as well as the various labs and outposts they'd handled in the past two years, they reach the conclusion that the cultists had managed to weaponized even their failed experimental Chosen. They proceed inside and search for any clues, Emyr locating a note addressed to Leonore, found on the nobleman's bed, encouraging him to do what's right and just while stating that they have allies that yet remain. Sadly, however, the woman acting as his bodyguard appears to have been captured by the slave traders labor camp recruiters. As luck would have it, Lavug was able to find something of a war table with a series of labor camps marked.

Survivor Sailing

Meanwhile, Cyrus, Duul, and Leonore make their way through the city, finding that the center of it is filled with heads on pikes. Leonore, clueless, does not seem to recognize any of the faces, but Cyrus and Duul immediately notice that one of them is the lord they had met with prior to their departure. While Cyrus heads off to burn away the evidence of these horrors, Duul leads the teenage boy away in a continuing active attempt to avoid traumatizing them as much as they can. Duul encourages the boy to channel his emotions into a cold rage, aiming to have him control his emotions and use the energy of them into productive, calculated action rather than letting himself get reckless. With the head indistinguishable, Cyrus puts out the flames and deposits the cleaned skull into his bag, in order to afford the man a proper burial at a later date. Around this point, the trio notice a beaten man being chased by an angry mob of citizens, tripping and struggling to get back to his feet. Cyrus takes this chance to cast Windwall between them, though the tunnel vision of the citizens causes them to be unable to notice, let alone stop in time to miss the wall. As it has no throwing power for people that encounter it after its initial casting, it leaves them stopped in their tracks. The citizens insist that the man contributing to the burning of the town, using it as justification for their actions. Cyrus, in an attempt to solve the issue, tries to address the man and prevent him from escaping, though he gets dragged along. In response, Duul casts Enlarge on the halfling, drastically increasing his size and tripping the man up with his actions. Cyrus interrogates him, asking if he performed the actions willingly, by force, or under orders, and whether he had any remorse. He states that he had no regrets until he fell under attack, stating that the rebellion of the lordship made them traitors to the crown. With Cyrus handling the citizens, Duul puts a firm, though gentle grip on Leonore's shoulder, whispering to him.

"Some of the worst acts imaginable have been done by 'just following orders'". - Duul Painted-Hide

Cyrus holds the man in place while Duul and the boy set about checking the survivors for injuries and illnesses, carefully diverting him away from the immediate problem. Cyrus, meanwhile, threatens the man over his actions, inquiring to the crowd how they wish to see the man punished, in order to inform his own decision. While many of them offer suggestions of painful death, Cyrus is insistent on a living, more lasting punishment. Duul then pipes up, stating that he can take him. When prompted, Leonore instructs him to do nothing to him, to let him go. Duul then looked down at the child, "Your first duty is to your people. Not as an executioner, but as a voice of reason." With this, Leonore speaks up, himself. "Know this, you say you act in the benefit of the kingdom but the truth is the kingdom has a cancer growing inside of it and you have done nothing to help that. I have come back to heal this land and just remember that you have been spared this day by me, and think if those you serve would ever be this kind." [1:51:00] Cyrus released the man after marking his face with a blade and threatening the citizens to keep them from attacking him as he escaped. As the wall dissipated and the man ran off, Duul gave Leonore a confirming squeeze on the shoulder. "Remember what you saw today, Leonore. There were no heroes here. Not today."

Rather Die Worthy

The citizen survivors lead Cyrus, Duul, and Leonore to the shanty town they'd set up for the more peaceful, cooperative survivors, creating a community from the rubble. While this is not the entire living populace, it is still a community of around fifty strong. They offer what they can to the trio, including food and water. They meet with a sort of representative of the group, discussing their survival. [As is the party's traditional method of handling survivors, they make the suggestion of evacuating those remaining?]

---

Rewards Granted

Duul:
+200GP

Vex:
-2GP

Character(s) interacted with

Leonore
A survivor family of three (father, elder daughter, young son)
Five looters
A traitor
An angry mob of citizens
A bunch of Phax survivors

Report Date

28 Jun 2021