Short Rest - Episode 1 to Episode 50
Where to open on a story so unpredictable, a story that's spanned several years, and a story that I could have not written this way if I tried? I guess the best place to start would be at the beginning, wouldn’t it? Gather round, then, as we’ll be here for quite some time. We open in the young town of Lephzy, one of the many city-states within the nation of Gestalia. Independent from the rising conflict between the Aegalian Dynasty and the nation of Aristeia, Lephzy had a large number of Aegalian and Aristeian residents and officials within it, and served as a neutral meeting place for the two parties. One of the Aristeian officials within this city was a guard captain named Artemis, and his assistant Jo. Artemis, along with his fellow Guard Captains, discovered weird happenings in the nearby Timberlands, and unexplained deaths. They hired some wandering adventurers to investigate, whose names were Kay’neth and April. The two of them encountered some strange creatures, and eventually, found themselves in a well-lived in and furnished cave system. Within this cave was a cage, which contained two mysterious individuals that introduced themselves as Ari and Ingris, and claimed to be captured by a group of very well organized undead.
Together, April, Ingris, Ari, and Kay’neth pushed further into the cave, finding an abundance of mysterious tar-like liquid and meeting with a cloaked woman. She was looking into a crystal ball, and speaking with herself when they met her, and attacked the group. Artemis entered the cave and joined the battle midway through. After an intense battle, she clawed her way to the ball and called for help, before turning into snow and hair. Together, the group exchanged pleasantries and their confusions, and then returned to Lephzy. When they arrived, they saw an identical woman within the guardhouse that Artemis was captain of, his fellow guard captain there with her. She had brought a letter declaring Artemis a traitor to the nation of Aristeia and left without another word. She had left a letter at Kay’neth’s home as well, threatening him and his aging foster father.
Together, the group decided to remain together, and travel to Achiad under the advice of Artemis’ fellow guard captain. They journeyed from Gestalia and through the Timberlands, past the border and into the lands of the Aegalian Dynasty. Within the depths of the woods, the group was attacked by a werewolf. Moments from defeating this werewolf, a large bearded man appeared and calmed both sides, pleading with the group and explaining that this was his son. He had come here looking for him and was planning to take him back to Achiad. The group agreed to let the werewolf live, and the father introduced himself as Giovanni. Together, the group traveled with the Werewolf and his father, and arrived at the city of Achiad.
Achiad was unlike anything the party had ever seen, and after much wandering, the group arrived at an inn known as The Merchant’s Rest. There they heard about the exclusive inner district of the city, known as the Strigidae, and met another group of adventurers known as the Backwater Bruises. The bruisers recommended the Adventurer’s Guild to the group, and the party entered The Ordain, a large guild owned building that allowed unaffiliated adventurer’s to take on guild quests. They began questing and met with a smith named Orsh Cleavith, and a magic item salesman named Tary Feriwin. All of this culminated in April sneaking into the Strigidae, where a large festival had begun in celebration of a summit of world leaders. The group all snuck into the Strigidae together and found a library, where they met with a dwarf named Gerrid Farah-tor.
Gerrid sent the party to find something within a noble’s house, but neglected to tell them that it was the house of one of the leaders of the dynasty, Tilram Avilias of the Council of Five. Kay’neth and April snuck in, retrieving the object, seeing a man named Rheaghan Kairos as they escaped. This man turned out to be Kay’neth’s father, who had neglected him as a child and cut his ears off in an experiment. From there, the party accepted a quest from a noble family, who offered to gain them official access to the Strigidae.
This noble family had lost their daughter at their vacation home near the forest, and the party went to investigate. They followed tracks, and the distant sound of crying, till they stumbled upon a large reptile creature known as a lurker. These reptiles mimic their prey to attract more and teach their children to do the same by leaving creatures alive for a time before they eat them. With the hope that the noble’s child, Mary, was still alive the group killed the lurker and searched for its nest. When they found it, all that was left was a wailing Lurker Hatchling and two unhatched eggs. The group fought over what to do with the remaining creatures. They killed the one that had eaten Mary, and Ari took the eggs and left the group behind.
Returning to the nobles was a heavy task, but the party was granted entrance to the Strigidae, and a good word in with the head of the Adventurer’s Guild, Fafner. They went to meet with him, and signed up as a party with the guild, choosing the name Cold Dawn. No longer were they run of the mill adventurer’s, but a full-blown official party. They set off on their first job: To hunt a hydra that had terrorized villages nearby Mount Errion. They fought a creature known as a Shashanaga, or a false Hydra, an octopus-like creature that covers itself in bones and rocks to trick creatures into thinking it is a dragon. Narrowly, the party slew the creature and survived, finding a strange glowing orb that Kay’neth believed to be a driftglobe, but sensed something off about it.
They return to Achiad, participating in a festival dedicated to the Summit. It was then that Artemis pursued and met with the High Priestess of Aristeia, who asked him to call her Lily. She was staying in the same house as Lilianna, and sent Artemis off when the night grew darker. The party then participated in a fighting tournament, where Artemis was nearly killed by a Goliath named Taruth Gorehammer, who turned out to be a member of Ingris’ herd and had once attempted to kill her. Additionally, Kay’neth’s father entered one of his homunculi, named Veritas, into the tournament to fight against Kay’neth. Veritas failed, and Artemis won the tournament.
The summit is wrapped up, and the party attended a parade organized to see the leaders off into a teleportation artifact known as the Jaunt. It was there that Artemis noticed something was off about Lily, and that she was standing with a powerful paladin he knew as a boy, and a strange mage he did not recognize. Additionally, she had the same color eyes as the necromancer they had killed in the cave.
After a brief respite, the party went on another quest, to save a quarry that mines a finite and heavily regulated stone known as Gwynroot. On their way there, they draw the attention of a mage in charge of the hostage situation at the quarry, who attacked them on the road. This turned out to be the man that was with the priestess, and the party forced him to retreat, but he took April away with him. The party rushed towards the quarry, but they were not fast enough, and April was killed by this mage. Enraged, the party fought against the mage, and the many paladins he had with him. Paladins of Aristeia. The party succeeded in driving the invaders away from the quarry, but not before the mage and his paladins retrieve what they came for.
Downtrodden and enraged, the party returned to Achiad, where they held a funeral for the departed April. They did so along with Giovanni, who April had grown close to, and revealed secretly to the party that he was a werewolf that worked for an organization known as the Silver Hands. They went to drink their sorrows away in the adventurer’s guild facilities beneath the city, where they met with a once-legendary hero named Yune. She had lost her former party, and hadn’t adventured for some time, and wound up joining the party.
Ingris bumped into Taruth outside of the temple of her god Tyr and saw that he was accompanied by her uncle, Vassa. Taruth nearly killed her, and Vassa taunted Ingris by claiming he had killed both of her parents, and that their last words still tasted sweet on his tongue. She was saved by Njord from the temple and still carries the dagger she was stabbed with to this day.
Days later, Achiad receives an official declaration of war from Aristeia and is invaded in the night. Undead creatures and abominations flooded the streets, and the city was set ablaze. The party was joined by a guard named Aelita, and together, they fought against the invading forces, and the necromancer Lilianna, who they had faced in the cave so long ago. Fafner revealed himself to be a golden dragon, and fought in the skies against a skeletal dragon, while Gerrid defended the Strigidae. That night, many lives were lost, including Gerrid’s, and the owner of the smithy the party frequented which was named the “Scaleforge”. This would be forever known as the “Burning of Achiad.”
Thus ends the first arc, “The Burning of Achiad,” and enters us into the “Wymarch Arc.”
The party aids the city in repairs and visits Orsh, who has now inherited the Scaleforge. A war council is called, and Fafner asks the party to sit in. His intentions for doing so are revealed when he nominated the party to journey to the city of Wymarch, whose Duke called for aid. The party agreed and prepared to set off with Giovanni, who Fafner outed as the runaway son of this Duke. They were sent to check on an acquaintance of Fafner within the city, who he had not heard from since the burning. The party found him dead, as well as a strange dreamcatcher that appears to be haunted, and a large golem that the party subdues and controls with an amulet. Jo named the golem Ironside. After a while, the party discovers that this dreamcatcher contained a person, and they released them. This individual introduced themselves as Delaysha, and they joined the party on their journey to Wymarch. On the journey to Wymarch, the party stopped in a surrounding town and met with Giovanni’s brother, Voigt, who was hunting a creature that disguised itself as citizens of the town. The party tracked down the fake citizens in the town and kills them with Voigt, and in return, Voigt used his tattoo to teleport the party to Wymarch. This allowed them to completely bypass the haunted swamp that surrounds the city.
In Wymarch, the party is welcomed into a great unnerving castle that belonged to the duke, Fulbright Wymarch. He acknowledged them, and told them that he needed their aid. Aristeia had sent invaders to Wymarch via teleportation, and they were after a relic that sits within a crypt nearby to the castle. He asked the party to serve as the guilds third party advisors, and choose one of his sons to inherit this relic. A few days are spent with his two other sons campaigning to inherit the weapon known as Dawncrack, while Giovanni and Voigt simply sat and got to know the party, admitting they had no interest in the family’s history or the whip. In a shocking move, the party chose Voigt to inherit the whip, who adamantly refused. They dragged him into the crypt with them anyway, and fought their way to the whip, defeating its guardians and retrieving the whip. The party felt quakes, and puzzled out that Aristeia must be invading. They returned to the surface and joined the soldiers of Wymarch in driving back the insurgent forces. Artemis discovered that the Paladins were being tricked via magic to see the soldiers as fiends and undead, and the great shambling monsters with them as celestials and friends. He broke the spell over a number of paladins, and they joined the fight under the leadership of a warrior named Petros. The party pushed into the forces and found their leaders, Lilianna, the mage Thanatos, and the Paladin Apollio. After an intense fight, Thanatos and Lilianna fled, but Apollio is killed before he can escape, dropping a corrupted sword known as Knightfall, and a ring that teleports the user into Aristeia’s central chapel.
Wymarch now saved and Voigt in possession of the whip Dawncrack, Voigt decided to leave Wymarch and venture to Achiad. Ingris convinced Voigt and the party to go to the village her Herd once lived in, but Voigt could only teleport them to a general area. The spell goes awry, and the party fell through the sky and into heavy snow. The party arrived in the village at the top of the peak, narrowly avoiding freezing to death. It is there that they discover that Vassa murdered the herd leader, Ingris’ father, and led the Herd off the continent to the Stalmidd Union. He left behind a seer named Krathe, who aided the party in finding a strange brain creature that Vassa left beneath the village. The party killed it and decided to set it on fire, which blows up the majority of the village. Having narrowly evaded death multiple times now, the party decides to rest and hold a funeral for Ingris’ father. She then begged the party to look for her bears, which they do, finding them in a nearby cave. After calming them, Ingris contacts Ari and sent the bears to them to be kept safe nearby the Tailfeather Pass. Together, the party teleports home to Achiad.
After some much needed R&R, the party watched a general from Arsciacid enter the Strigidae unchallenged, throwing down a heavy metal gauntlet and declaring official war on the dynasty. He met with the council and disappeared into a meeting room, leaving later that day with documentation, and failed peace talks. The party spent their time relaxing and questing, which includes tracking down and killing an adult white dragon for Orsh, who makes a set of armor out of the scales. Kay’neth was given this armor by the party.
The winter festival began in Achiad, known as the Frostdawn festival. There was much feasting and celebrating, including snowball fights, cookies, spiced rum, and a grand event known as the Wild Hunt. This time of year, many dangerous monsters migrated south and could cause great damage to small cities in the dynasty’s territories. To mitigate this, the dynasty holds a great celebration known as the Wild Hunt every year, where adventurers are sent out to kill great beasts and bring their hunts back to be cooked and served to the people of the city. The party set out together, fighting many great beasts, eventually slaying a roc tamed and ridden by a great Oni. The Oni seemed to have some nefarious purpose there, which the party found in a nearby ruin after alerting the officials back in Achiad. A monolith that seems to hum and beat, oozing black liquid and killing nearby living things. The Dynasty officials arrived and handled it, and the party went on their way without answers to this day. Back at their camp, the party was attacked by a giant snowman and several armored figures, who seemed to have some plan in distracting or killing the party. After defeating their attackers, the party rushed back to Achiad, where they fought off a final knight and their lord, who went by the name Krampus.
Fafner of the guild spun the Krampus fight to be a big staged portion of the event and drummed up applause and excitement. He explained to the party that with the world on the brink of total war, the citizens of Achiad needed little added stress. The party agreed and chose a present as their prize for winning the Wild Hunt. They ended up choosing a key, which is made from a scale from Fafner. As such, the key turned into a small dragon named Dracolage and has a connection to him. Kay’neth has formed a sort of bond with Dracolage, despite the fact that the dragon acts grumpy with him 24/7.
Thus ends the “Wymarch Arc,” and enters us into the “Pirate Arc.”
With barely a day to rest, Fafner told the party that the Dynasty’s position is precarious at best, and told them that he once wore one of the relics of old, Drakenplate, which he cast into the ocean so it may never be found. Frustrated with himself, he explained that he believes it is needed again and shows the party where he dropped it into the sea. The party agreed to retrieve it, but Yune stayed behind to aid Voigt in his transition to General of the Aegalian army.
The party set off to the major Aegalian city of Setium, hoping to rent a good ship that can take them to the location given by Fafner. On the road, the party was attacked by brigands, who poisoned Artemis. In a panic, the party rushed to the nearby city of Ambrosiea to see him healed. There they met Griffon, an Aegalian convict on parole, who claimed the law went after him for punching a nobleman. He aided the party in healing Artemis, and they slept in the tavern he cooks for. The tavern owner revealed he was once a member of the Cooking Guild, as well as hinted that he may have done more than punch a noble. Griffon convinced Delaysha and Jo to sneak into a sketchy but famous vineyard with him that the party had been eyeing. There they found an abundance of incriminating evidence, including a letter to Kay’neth’s father, which implicated the owner of the vineyard in no less than high treason against the dynasty. They took the documents and flee, but are stopped by a group of mercenaries known as the Spicers. The party was nearly wiped by them, but managed to escape, and flee the city with Griffon. Griffon lamented that he definitely just violated parole, and the party found details of a plan to poison the city's water source, which would have spread through the river and into the surrounding towns. They rushed to the location the river was to be poisoned, right into an ambush by the spicers. The party stopped their plans and killed all but the Spicer’s leader, Mint. In the process of this, however, Kay’neth was possessed via magic and cuts Ingris’ head off.
In a panic, again, the party rushed out of the city and continued towards Setium, where they hear rumors of a captain offering the use of powerful magics in return for aid in a mission. When the party arrived, they discovered that this captain is in fact a pirate named Opal. She was hired to retrieve an Arscian prisoner from a ship that is en route to a highly guarded prison, and if the party helped, she would see to it that Ingris was revived. After seeing a beautiful sea dragon, sailing a number of storms, and fighting off various beasts, the party finally found the prison ship. They decided to play it safe and hang back, but this allowed the prison ship to dock at the island, securing their cargo. Rather than go to the city on the island or plan too heavily, the party decided to all sneak into the facility, some more successful than others. This goes catastrophically wrong, but Delaysha rescued the prisoner named Desmond at the cost of her own life. The party fled, with only Delaysha’s dream catcher, a prisoner they didn’t know, and the pursuit of a heavily armed vessel.
Fleeing the ship, the party set sail to a nearby Aegalian island. This island was an off-season resort for nobles and happened to be where Opal’s friend who can cast high-level magic was resting. The guards of the island, however, managed to identify the party as pirates. They took the crew into custody, but the guard captain of the island had an idea. He told the party of a job he was given, to discover why storms were ravaging a portion of the ocean, and why ships disappear there. This happened to be the same area Drakenplate is located, so the party agreed. The guard captain took three prisoners from the crew as collateral and told the party of a survivor from one of these wrecks on the island of Flatsole. The party rested on the island, reviving Ingris with the help of the sailor Malachi, and met with a merchant ship and their passenger Alyce. Alyce joined the party as it sounded much more exciting, and they were going in a similar direction.
The party left the island, and it was not long before they ran into the Arscian prison ship again. They were chased by the ship into a storm, where the prison vessel disappeared. The party remained in the storm for an entire day, eventually coming to the conclusion that it was magical. Not long from then, the party was attacked by a ghost ship. They maneuvered around them and ventured further into the storm, where they met another ship. They pulled broadside and were boarded, but the passengers of the other ships revealed themselves to be Drow ambassadors en route to the Dynasty. Together, the two ships worked together to defeat the pirates, which cleared the storm and set them free. On the way out of the clouds, however, the party spotted a large cove that seemed to glow with the same eerie blue light. They pulled into the cove, finding this to have been the resting place of the ghost ship and her crew. They managed to talk their way out of a third fight with the crew, putting their souls to rest instead. It is there that Kay’neth found an odd blue teardrop, and in a stroke of genius, he plunged it into the driftglobe, turning it into an artifact known as the Thalmanac.
Together, the party and the Drow ambassadors sailed to a nearby island for repairs and rest. They chose the wrong island.
On the island of Magragada is a city known as Mykarn, and the party met several wonderful folks there. Among them is a lensmaker named Lenmin, and a professor from Daluz named Elsris. Elsris lived within a large magical globe and traveled between Daluz and Mykarn frequently. The party heard of frequent strange invasions from undead creatures into the city, and asked Elsris about it. He informed the party that just a night prior, his star pupil was taken from his home and into the jungle.
The party decided to venture into the jungle, finding enraged giant wasps, which they dispatched. These wasps had eaten some strange cubes, which had caused them to act uncharacteristically. Kay’neth, who discovered this, is visited in the night by the spirits of the jungle, who granted him a boon and led the party to a dryad named Allyasis. She had lived in the jungle for centuries and explained that a dark city had appeared within her home. She showed it to the party, and they saw the work of Lilianna. Undead and fiends worked together to harvest the natural magic of the jungle and kill the island. The party returned to Mykarn and talked to Elsris. Yune arrived on the island and the party caught her up. Together, the party vowed to destroy the dark city while their ship was being fixed. They set out with Desmond into the city.
The party made plans to invade the city stealthily, but Desmond walked in, nonchalant and disappointed. He changed to the form of a towering fiend, with horns like a crown and an ancient scarred body. He commanded the fiends to stand down, and hinted to the party that he is the force not only behind the fiends of this city, but behind Lilianna, and much of the conflict brewing in Uria. He asked the party to join him, and explained that his goal is to destroy the veil between the gods and Uria, so that he himself could kill the deities that spend their days looking down upon the world. The party declined his invitation, and he decided to leave the island out of respect for the party’s aid. This left the undead and Lilianna’s servants behind. The party invaded the center temple, finding Thanatos within. After an intense battle, Thanatos managed to escape yet again, but Allyasis returned to the temple, bringing life back to the area. The sea dragon the party saw when they set onto the sea showed itself, turning out to be Allyasis’ fae lover who left when the city was constructed, unable to return.
The party, frustrated but accomplished, returns to Elsris with his rescued student. Elsris found his psyche damaged and swore to care for and see him healed. The party asked Elsris to send them home and they started to rest. During this rest, Kay’neth was visited by his patron, the Archfey of spring, who granted him the name Kay and the title of Knight of the court. His sword was blessed, and he was granted a mount. They are named Caliwyn and Llamrei respectfully. Waking from their rest, the party prepared to ask Elsris to teleport them, but Kay told them of his dream and used Caliwyn to teleport them to Achiad.
Thus ends the “Pirate Arc,” and enters us into the “Regalia Arc.”
Havin returned to Achiad, the party met with Orsh and Tary, who have expanded their shops, and the party saw the great progress the city of Achiad has made to fortifications and repairs. They met with Fafner and explained their adventure, who is relieved that they are safe and also angry that they returned without the armor. They decided to rest for a time and heard that two of the councilmembers were assassinated in an invasion by fiends. The party talked to Fafner about it, and he demanded that they keep their noses out of it, but the party persisted. They teamed up with two strangers, Max and Astaki, and together they eventually found that Fafner is involved in it somehow.
Fafner was sheltering culprits behind the assassination, but explained that it was actually two simultaneous attempts and that he was planning to overthrow the Council of Five with the help of the two he was sheltering. They were crucial to it, and the councilor they killed was far from innocent. With Fafner’s information, the party found that the culprit behind the fiends was an ambassador from Arsciacid who had remained within the city. They invaded his home and found proof, fleeing the house and aiding in his arrest.
Fafner told Alyce that her home of Regalia was potentially being invaded by Aristeia, but the dynasty doesn’t have the details. In a worried panic, Alyce had Kay teleport the party (minus Kay himself) into Regalia. They found a city destroyed, overrun with demons and undead, and their own emotions begin to turn against them. Hostile with each other over the smallest mishap, the party explored the city until they were eventually cornered by a terrifying demon who introduced herself as Xailthias. The party was rescued by Giovanni, who rushed them to the former city hall, where the remaining rebellion was gathered. There Alyce met with her parents, and some friends. They explained that there is a barrier around the city that prevents communication and teleportation out of the city, before Xailthias attacked.
Together, they pushed Xailthias back, but she wouldn’t remain weakened for long. Kay teleported in and the party caught him up. Together they planned to invade the castle while the others distracted Xailthias, finding a way to drop the barrier so the Aegalian army could enter. The party raided the castle that Xailthias has claimed, and a dungeon began.
When inside, the party rescued Alyce’s “uncle” Jezzimir, who is a necromancer. “Jezzi” lectured a couple of party members when they learn he is a necromancer and explained that there’s a good side to it as well. They bring Jezzi to a workshop that he could aid them from, and they began to explore the rest of the castle. Eventually, the alarm was tripped, and the party ran through the increasingly dangerous halls, eventually they passed a great magical well of souls that appeared to be the source of Xailthias’ immortality. They found the Regalian vault and took shelter within it, where Ingris died to a trapped door in an attempt to open it. When inside, the party revived Ingris and saw a number of useful magic items. Before they could obtain any, however, the party was attacked by the adamantine golem that guarded the safe. Through a manner of puzzle-solving, they managed to subdue, and control, the golem. In the vault, the party found two magical rings, a deck of many things, and a strange coin. The magic rings were relics of some sort, and Kay pulled a card from the deck, dooming himself to be forever hunter by a fiend. The coin however was strange, it contained an entity named Priest that seemed to be unable to see or move. It is undoubtedly powerful, and even shook the entire castle when angered. The party decided to stick the coin in a bag of holding they found within the vault and flee. They showed the coin to Jezzi, who told them to keep it safe and never speak to it. The party then found a way to contact Voigt and had him prepare to invade Regalia. They retrieved Jezzi and the golem from the vault, and attacked Xailthias in the throne room. Thanatos is present in the room, and an intense battle ensued. Eventually, Xailthias ate Thanatos whole and absorbed his power, becoming a grotesque monster, stealing the party’s revenge on Thanatos once more. Finally, Xailthias is felled, but tragedy is left in her wake. During the battle, Alyce’s mother was killed, and both Giovanni and Kay’s foster brother were mortally wounded. Alyce talked to her father about Priest and forced him to come clean about it. He explained that Priest was once a great beast that raged and claimed many lives during the second deity war, the Cataclysm. He was sealed beneath Achiad and the Adventurer’s Guild was placed atop his seal, but in reality, that was a lie. The true resting place of Priest is beneath Regalia, and the story about the guild was to draw attention to Achiad. He gave Alyce a letter of recommendation into the mages university within Achiad, and the party left for Achiad.
Thus ends the “Regalia Arc,” and enters us into the “Mirrored Halls Arc.”
Back in Achiad, the party told Fafner about Regalia. He was impressed, but confused why the party would sacrifice their downtime to go and nearly die again. Alyce left the party and enrolls in the university. Kay met with the head of the temple of his patron, Alwynn DuLacc, who asked Kay to retrieve his son Lance Dulacc from jail. Kay aided Alwynn in preparations for the upcoming spring festival, and went to free his son from jail. On his way back from doing so, an explosion occured in the Strigidae, and the party rushed to investigate. There they find a party of strangers, two of which happened to be the criminals Fafner was sheltering. The two parties clashed, eventually coming to an end with both parties on equal standing. Fafner visited the party later, scolding them to no end for their actions.
The party enjoyed the festivities of the spring festival, but Kay was led into a building where he is assaulted by a jaunty and dangerous devil known as Mori. This was his bound devil from the card, and he took something from him that he did not understand, sealing parts of his powers for a time. The party comforted Kay, looks for the Devil, before they returned to the festival in an attempt to cheer Kay up. The party rested, then prepared to set out for Drakenplate once more. Later on, Fafner threw a party for everyone, asking Yune at the party for a steep favor. He wanted her identity to use in his rebellion and asked her to go undercover when she left. Yune agreed, and Fafner gave her a list of names of nobles who were involved with the murder of her parents. He had them for a time, but didn’t want to share it until the time was right. He wasn’t sure the time is right yet, but he couldn’t keep quiet any longer. Something snapped in Ingris during this time, and her rage became unstable, as she had a vision of a future where she murdered the party and facilitated her uncle’s plans. The party met the cooking guild in town by chance and got to know a few members. These members asked the party to take a Cooking Guild initiate named Kale with them on his first major hunt after a monstrous fish known as a Fulgesk, as it’s in the area they are going. They agreed, as the monster Kale must hunt was destroying nearby islands, and could have been part of the chaos that was happening in that portion of the ocean that the guard captain was forcing them to look into.
The party teleported to Flatsole to meet with the pirate captain Opal, and investigated the survivor they learned of. They rescued this survivor from an infamous “hospital” that shunned magic. He was a man with fish features named Meri, who asked the party for their help and offered to help them in return. The party prepared to leave Flatsole, but have a run-in with the Spicers, rebuilt, aside from their leader Mint. They were sent by Rheaghan to impede them, but the party sent them running, and set out on the sea nearly immediately the next morning.
On the sea, the ocean is strange. Things didn’t seem to make sense, currents, wind, island locations, creatures, and happenings. Things were off, an example of which is found in the party’s meeting with a lost pirate named Quill, who used to be an acquaintance of Opal’s. The party was on the verge of a fight, but Yune and Kale smoothed things over, and Quill agreed that the ocean is bizarre and untrustworthy here. He left the party to their hunt, and they resumed their search for the Fulgesk, finding it not long after. A brutal fight, and chase, later and the Fulgesk has been slain. The Fulgesk had swallowed an odd stone, which seemed related to a genie Kale was friends with, that had granted him his powers. The cooking guild met with the party to collect the corpse of the Fulgesk, and the party handed it off before continuing to the location of Drakenplate.
The party dived into the ocean with Meri, who guided them to an undersea palace, being lived in by a people known as the Nereids. The party met a Nereid named Thalia, who explained that the Nereids were displaced from their home due to creatures known as the Sahuagin, who likely had some connection to the archfiend Desmond, or Obvasarius as the party now knew him to be named. The party agreed to help them reclaim their home, and asked about Drakenplate, which Thalia is delighted to show them. She told the party that it was not her’s to give, however, and had to confer with the others. In the meantime, she asked the party to retrieve a friend of the Nereids named Ekker, who lived in a nearby area known as the Silent Cascades. The party agreed, and sets off.
The party was nearly eaten by great bobbit worms as they navigated the briney landscape of the Silent Cascades, but they were eventually able to find Ekker and his home. Ekker told the party that he believed there is something beneath the brine, a sea beneath the sea, and refused to leave until he can prove his theory. The party aided him in finding some evidence and brought him to the Nereids. On the way back to the Nereids, however, Kale asks Kay to send him back to Achiad, as he accomplished his goal and is now in over his head.
The party returned and finds that the antechamber that once contained Drakenplate, as well as many other tomes and items, is no longer accessible. The Nereids are unsure why, and the party rested for the night. They all have a strange nightmare about great sounds, eyes, and earthquakes. Unsure of what to make of it, the party met with Thalia and planned their next move. The Nereids home is protected by an ancient artifact and the Kraken who controled it, making the currents impossible to swim through. They are unsure how, but the Kraken seemed to listen to the Sahuagin now, making the city into a fortress. Ekker proposed they go beneath the brine and come up from underneath the city. The party agreed to follow through with this plan, and asks Meri to come with them. They head to the nearest brine pool together, which is in a location known as the Wastes.
Entering the Wastes, the party found not a brine pool, but a magical tower instead. Inside of the tower, they met with a small Veggieling named Fennel, who had been waiting for their friend Anthor for over a year. Fennel offered to show the party the location of the brine pool in return for their help in finding Anthor. They agreed, and Fennel led them into the brine, finding Ekker’s theory to hold true. They emerged into a sea beneath the sea, magic permeating every part of its immensity. Four distinct biomes surrounded them: an undersea forest, a crystal mountain, and a volcanic waste, and a massive open watery abyss. They saw a glint of metal within the forest and went to investigate.
Within the forest, they found a facility, magical and ancient. A device there led them via a thin line of light into the center of all of these biomes, to a mirrored version of the palace the Nereids were living within. The antechamber of this mirrored version contained a massive structure, that appeared to be the core of the museum/library portion of this place. They met a giant snake-like creature that serves as the curator there, who Fennel named Curie, but it was unable to tell them much. Finally, they found a door that goes further into the facility. It had three colored orbs, and the line from the facility they just came from led directly to one of these orbs. They figured that they must press these orbs in, then go to each respective location within the different biomes, in order to open this door.
They began their journey to do so. Into the Crystals known as the Creeping Hollow, which contained a giant snake, and the corpses of many Nereids, murdered by some form of corruption within the magic of the facilities. This corruption was present within every inch of each facility. Into the forest known as the Shrouded Twilight, where they met with great spiders, who worked with the party to return power to the facility. There they found evidence of Anthor’s presence down beneath the sea. Finally, into the volcanic wastes known as the Tephrates Rivers, surrounded by great shrimp-like creatures, the party powered the facility but drew attention to it. The facility was to be destroyed, so the party rushed to the now open door, blocking it open with an immovable rod and entering its halls.
There, they found Anthor, explored a mirrored realm, and solved riddles of the hall’s history.
There, our story continues. We’ve only just begun.
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