Moving Forward - Maybe?

Tonight's session was one where the party is getting to know one another a bit better after all the upheavals of other characters dying or leaving. The Sentient journal is learning how to take notes, but doesn't always get all the ideas or information, sometimes time and distance affect it's abilities to gather all the stuff going on with the party. 

Players

Sebastian - DM

Harold - Cain

Alex - Mathandrial

Wes - Varrin

Stanley - Garoche

Holden - Donkey

Important NPCs this session

Miwa/Ava - One of three children that were to be protected by Verrin

Queen Helena - New Queen with King Garland dead, has put bounties on Verrin for now being one of Natasha's 12 & Donkey his accomplice

Bill - The Gradient Company Merchant

Josef - Former Paladin of King Garland

Lalonis Merridiem a Viera (Rabbit Folk) - Gradient Company Mercenary

Scathact - Last known location The Queen's Palace, Jeanine's mother, and enemy of Baldur

Baldur - Holding Jeanine hostage and Verrin/Donkey's enemy

Roland - Miwa's guardian and Donkey's patron?

2024-05-15 - Session Notes

After ensuring that the person was Miwa and she was willing to talk with Verrin. The rest of the party goes back into the garden to let Miwa and Verrin have some space and privacy. Mathandrial is asking one of the Druids if he can pick some flowers. The one who seems to be a shifter of some sort allows him to do so. This place is clearly a druidic sanctuary of some kind. 

The Druid told the remainder of the party that someone was looking to talk to the group. The person was wearing full plate armor and carrying what looked like an executioner's blade on his shoulder. When they asked where he might be now, the Druid pointed to a central square and park in the nearby village. 

Then the Druid mentioned that Verrin is not on the best of terms with people in power. He is on the bad side of the new queen, when he chose to become one of Natasha’s Chosen 12 and she has put out a reward for him dead or alive of 5,000 gp. After the death of King Garland who died in the battle of Unveil and Princess Helena took his place. When she partook of the Silver Flame Ceremony crowning her, it split the princess into 3 people. She is now able to be in multiple places at once. A lot has happened in a very short time

The party asked if the knight had a name - Josef. 

Mathandrial gets some flowers for apothecary supplies and pays the druids for the privilege.

The Village and Changes

The party then headed into the village and everything seems rather somber and that the death of King Garland and the changes that Princess Helena is making is causing concern among the common folk. The fear of what comes next and what changes a new monarch will bring after so many years of stability under King Garland. When they see guards, they see new symbols inscribed on their armor and tabards. A blue phoenix, lightning storm and fire as the watch and guards are changing their emblems to show support for the new Queen. 

Wanted posters already being put up with Verrin’s current form on the poster - offering 5,000 gp dead or alive. He had been charged with assistance in the events leading to the death King Garland and at the circus, is a willing participant in Witch Natasha’s scheme to take over Crannog, his actions lead to the death of Changelings in the forest, that he is attempting to usurp the throne and leading a rebellion, impersonating high ranking official, and finally wanted for the death of Landriss, Lirael, Jeanine, and Cid Highland. 

Also there were wanted posters for a Minotaur named Donkey, who is a known associate of Verrin - and member of the Donksters. Donkey immediately puts on his goblin mask and renames himself Gobbo.

While talking a few minutes later with one of the guard’s, It seems the new Queen has a particular desire to deal with Donkey and Varrin. He is asked who we report any information to and are told - The General assigned to each individual city. The changes to Prime Terra laws are laid out for us, pretty much the same and Mathandrial takes the pamphlet with the changes. With the reminder that if the party has any information on Verrin or Donkey to give the information to proper authorities.. 

Later after walking towards the park, while avoiding the many patrols in the area, they find an area where it seems to be more private. They call up the merchant from The Gradient Company and Bill sells Donkey intelligence and growth potions. He snickers a little when he hands him the growth potion.

Meeting Josef

After talking for a while and doing some planning, the party continued on towards the park and looked for this person called Josef. When they go deeper into the park they see Josef in the park, cleaning and sharpening his weapon, an executioner's blade. There is Celestial text on the blade which several members of the party read to say: "When this sword I do lift, - I wish the sinner eternal life as a gift." 

He asks if any of the party are Verrin. They explain, they are with Verrin, but that he is busy at the moment resolving a different issue. He tells them that he has a few propositions regarding threats to his kingdom. He tells the party that the Queen is not who she used to be and is not following in the King’s footsteps. Joseph cannot follow along with her intentions. He goes on to say that he might be willing to join the party, but that first the party must pass his test of resolve. To see if they are suitable companions in combat and if they are able to best him, that he will join. 

The party discussed the proposition and decided that It would be Donkey and Mathandrial to battle against Josef, who was obviously a Paladin. 

Cain casts a Haste spell on Donkey as he walks past and the rest of the party stands there watching the battle unfold. After several rounds of combat, Josef agrees that they are worthy opponents and agrees to join the party. He heals the wounds that the others have. He told them that he had a room at the inn and needed to go and get the rest of his belongings

The party heads towards the inn.

Verrin Talks to Miwa

While that is going on Miwa and Verrin were talking above the garden. It turns into an emotional one. I didn’t catch a lot of the words being said, so what follows is a disjointed account of their conversation. “You left me again - I just wanted to be useful. When Verrin tried explain what he was doing and what happened it was always about him and his needs. She didn’t hear him apologize for what happened to her or how what he was doing was going to change her life, Fu’s or Kenzo. 

She asked Verrin what was her last name and he couldn’t answer. She asked who was the dark elf part of her parentage and he couldn’t answer. Miwa told him that she didn’t want to be a burden to anyone, to become someone he could take with him, that she was more than just another kid. Things got rather involved

There is music in the background and Miwa’s hands are in the chest and she pulls out her heart and offers it to Varrin. He looked upset and disturbed by what she had done.

Miwa Becomes Ava

Suddenly a shard of the poison chrysalis appears, a purple light. Natasha appears in the background and Miwa agrees to her offer. To fix her broken heart and make her whole again. Miwa seems to age about five years and looks to be about 20 years old and her body returns to being flesh versus the mechanoid that Roland had created to keep her alive. The new Miwa, who will be called Ava looks at Verrin, “You got what you wanted.”  She disappears.

Verrin is at a loss for what to do next and sees Natasha’s silhouette in the background smiling. He yells out “You’re in the book too!”

Ava leaves the bow for Varrin’s violin and a note for Varrin on it inside the garden area.

When Verrin reads the note it is one more knife stab - “She died for you.” – signed Ava

It was an emotional scene between Miwa, who is now Ava and Verrin and one that seemed to leave Verrin wondering what he could have done differently, but at the same time more resolute in winning this game of thrones by Natasha and winning back Miwa from Natasha’s clutches.

The Party Returns to the Garden

The rest of the party is walking towards the inn with Josef when they see a purple beam of light glowing up into the sky from where they had left Miwa and Verrin. While the rest of the party hurries back to that area, they see a female drow walking out of the garden and see purple stuff dripping (according to Mathandriel a purple worm poison smell) making some adjustments to her garments. Mathandril asks “What is your name?” She responds,  “Ava.”

Donkey goes up to Miwa and attempts to hug her - She pushes him away as the guards from the village come to investigate the purple light as well. One of the guards attempts to attack Ava, she touches his face and he starts to melt away from the poison coming from her hands.

In the background Verrin is playing a dirge on the violin and the party quickly battles against the three guards that came to investigate, “protecting” Ava. Cain spares one of the guards and tells him to get out of there, then when he turns around and walks towards Verrin, without him seeing it, one of the other party members eliminates the witness. Mathandrial asks Ava for some of the poison flowing from her fingertips and she deigns to put some into a glass vial.

The one called Ava, disappears.

Wanted

Donkey goes up to Verrin and tells him about the wanted posters, so Verrin changes his appearance and the party quickly puts together a plan of what to do next. Get out of here and head back to the Mist Woods to see the progress they have made on the village and finish putting together Verrin’s headquarters. Verrin quickly went to the village and found a wanted poster and took it before returning to the party.

As the party gets ready to leave Donkey looks at Verrin and tells him. “We’re heroes baby.”

Verrinville

Verrin using the Amulet of the Planes gets the party back to his old village and they are greeted by multiple golems and a shield guardian. Lalonis Merridiem a Viera (Rabbit Folk) one of the Gradient Company mercenaries has been hard at work getting the village defenses setup. 

Once Verrin looks around and things seem to his satisfaction, the party discusses how/where to setup his headquarters. A location is chosen a ways from the town, but not that far in a cave that was found. Verrin casts a spell to create an area inside the cave for the party to live safely and plan for what comes next.

Donkey gets a sending stone message from Roland, but when I (the journal) attempted to listen in on the conversation things were garbled.

The party decided that the next person they needed to go after was Baldur. Verrin attempted to scry on him and saw that he was filling a casket with steaming liquid from a cauldron and from what could be heard Verrin believes that Jeanine is inside the casket. Verrin sends Scathact a sending that Baldur is sending something to her and where Baldur is located. Verrin asks her to wait for the party and they prepare to be whisked off to wherever she currently is - The journal asks itself, if it is the Palace, wouldn’t that be a problem for the party, since Verrin and Donkey are both wanted men by the Crown. 

Spelljammer Time

Anyway the Amulet of the Planes did not take them to the palace and the party was transported to a room with a marble floor. One of the party recognizes they are in space on a Spelljammer, but who’s?

It turns out to be Roland’s ship and he comes down and begins talking to Verrin, who while maintaining his temper, because he knew he nor the party were any match for Roland. He tells him that there are rooms prepared for each of us and that we can have a nice long talk. 

Verrin and Roland do most of the talking, while the others listen, but after a while Roland gets tired of them circling around and around the same subject and tells them that he is going to take off all his inhibitors and show them his true form. As he does so, all in the party are under a fear spell and attempt to move away from Roland. He is an arch demon and once his true form and the inhibitors are off, it is difficult for the party members to be anywhere close to him.

He tells them that Finvarra offered a deal for the children’s freedom. That one got to go with Kenzo and they had to fight to see who goes where. The strong devour the weak and that is why Fu and Miwa fought. Miwa lost and Roland ensured that she survived. There were a lot of words spoken between Roland and Verrin that needed to be said, but I won’t capture them here, because while it was interesting to listen in on, it seemed that they were repeating the same theme with different words and arguments. 

It came down to Roland believing from his experience that “The strong devour the weak” and Verrin arguing that “The strong protect the weak”.

Questions

While they were arguing back and forth, I watched Cain tiredly walk away from the group and head toward the room assigned to him to rest and the others seemed to be thinking along the same lines. I got the feeling that he felt little loyalty to Verrin or the party yet, since he just met him and the other party members. For now, he is here simply because Finvarra has requested it from him. He seems to be in a watch and see mode, much like other members of the party, which has not become a team - they are still a bunch of strangers figuring out who can be trusted.

I hear him talking to himself in his room about the other’s motivations which has him wondering: 

• Why is the Vampire/Lupine willing to be here, other than he claims to be banished from his world by his gods?
• What are the mercenary’s motives and plans beyond the money and being a member of The Gradient Company? Where are his loyalties?
• Who is this Minotaur called Donkey and why does he act as he does? The journal entries that I read indicate that he was something much more than what he is now before and that he rejects his past and plays a part that is beneath him.
• What will happen to the party under Verrin’s leadership? Can he survive the trials ahead and will I be able to survive if I am with him? I will not die for him or go out by way of an “honorable” death for anyone.
• How does Miwa’s transformation into Ava change things? Is she now allied with Natasha? I've continued to read the entries she puts into the journal and am worried that Verrin doesn't read them and figure out how he could use them to his advantage with her.
• How does my master’s relationship with Roland change my relationship with the party? What are my loyalties, beyond Finvarra?
• How does Finvarra and Oona’s guardianship of Fu and Kenzo fit into all this?
• Oona is Verrin’s patron, but how much more will she support his being chosen by Natasha or is he simply a tool to tweak Natasha without directly confronting her at this time?

Cain simply has too many questions and it’s too early for him to have the answers or where he fits into this puzzle. For now it's just time to watch, be patient, then see what happens.