Session 21: Web of consequences Arc 2

Victorious in defeat, the heroes took a moment of silence, some out of respect, others just to gather themselves. They then searched the chamber for all they could plunder. In addition to some gold, they found a notebook belonging to the late Lirian, containing fragments of his last thoughts written in its pages, but the manuscript was partially eaten away by flames past.

From what could be gathered, the notes cryptically described the rise and fall of the King Mahakar, and his posterior replacement in the form of the Raven King. Mahakar had a sister, a princess, whom Liran knew well in court, a young maiden named Redommi, but one day, she mysteriously vanished, and Liran soon realized that, somehow, the memory of her was slowly being washed away from the minds and hearts of the kingdom. He wrote the notes our heroes were seeing today, an attempt to prevent the invading amnesia, which lead him in a frantic investigation through the years. His suspicions towards Mahakar grew, and that’s when he found a terrible secret. Between burnet pages, a name was violently scribbled, almost stabbed into the parchment…Naberus. An entity which the King prayed to every night. The King himself had strange markings adorning his left body, runes of unknown origin to the spy, but not for our current heroes, how deducted the nature of these runes to be of a transmutation nature, thanks to the few sketches remaining. Where the runes were displayed with pride by the proudful King, his predecessor hid them, for to did the Raven monarch had such marks. “A new king, different, but the same” said Liran in his notes, but what could the connection between them be, for that alluded him even then. The rest of the notes depict Liran´s retirement to the orphanage, where he built this chamber to keep all the knowledge of his investigation, for the memory of the same kept slipping from his mind. He contacted the scarlet worms but was reluctant to trust them. The last entries ended with Liran´s apparent knowledge of his inevitable demise, some tender words of farewell to his beloved wife, and a dire warning to however found these notes in the future, to not trust in…End of Entry.

Upon leaving the orphanage, the shy embers left by the battles clash, gingerly wrapped around what little remained of that broken home. But the orphanage was not the only thing that became more cracked, for the entire horizon became just as cracked. The Mother was gone, but the brood entered a frenzy, engulfing the poor farming district like a violent tidal wave. On the outskirts of the city, the party met a group of rook soldiers facing overwhelming odds against the cherub spiderlings. In an act of kindness, Valsali used his powers to convey a psychic message to the soldiers, pretending to be the Raven King, offering guidance on how to face this fierce foe. The torches were lith, and the odds of the battle shifted.

At the entrance of the Worm´s Den, Variel met the group with a panicked look. He hurried them to get inside, and to convey with Kreksis, so they could mount a united front to protect the desolate districts from the invaders, but advised caution, for the leader of the worm´s would soon make justice to the name of crimson, if the wrong words were to be spoken.

Trembling with palpable rage, seated at his desk, Krexis asked: “You will have one chance to explain what happen. Make good use of it”. Rhyia, with indignation in her voice, answered “We killed the mother, like you asked us too. We did our job”. “You did a shit of a job!!” he replied in a rageful howl “I asked you to get rid of the spiders, all of them! And now they are devastating the streets, feeding off of the people, my people!! So, watch your tone you knife-eared freak, for their deaths are in your hands!!!” Valsali intercepted, trying to de-escalate the situation “We were hopping that with the mother gone, that they would disappear. Clearly their nature is magical and connected to the metal woman, so it would make sense that they would die, but maybe not immediately as it seems. Besides, there were thousands of them, we would never be capable of killing all of them by ourselves”. Now, more composed, Krexis answered “No, that much I know, we were just hoping that they would remain in their hole so we could seal or exterminate them all”. The composer soon faded again “But why the fuck is the orphanage in flames again?! How did you manage that? Do you know that may very well be the reason they are invading right now? You didn’t poke the hornets’ nest; you broke it with a kick!!”. Botas then spoke out “We didn’t try to kill her first, we were hoping to talk”. “TALK!?” Krexis answered. Botas felt he might have misspoke, but now he felt forced to continue to speak “We wanted to see if the spider could be dissuaded from attacking you and your gang, avoiding bloodshed felt more intelligent of a strategy”. “Well, that clearly failed, congrats…but, lest at least get the record strait before continuing forward, did you find anything else related to Liran?”

Valsaly created a recreation of Liran´s notes with his magic, now a bit more uncertain about this tenuous alliance. Upon looking at the contents, Krexis muttering voice trembled when reading both names in that book. “Do you recognize them?” the Verdan asked, and the Tiefling replied “the old princess…apparently so. Not much else. Now, this makes it more imperative for us to find out about the current king, but I will not trust you with such a task, for you proved incapable of doing so today! But change my mind, you can. We have our hands full, bettewn the fight against the rooks, the spiders, and now the sick and injured we have to shelter, we have no more resources to share, we don’t even have enough man to protect the fishing district, so that’s were you come in. Do what you must, do everything you must, for you will have to defend the district yourselves, and figure out how to cross to the other side, on your own. Three days, protect the people, find a way to keep them safe in your absence, and cross the river, or you can kiss goodbye to your chance of leaving this place”.

On their way out, they met with Variel and Thandor, both grateful for the effort they had, despite the end result. Variel spoke “This is our home, and you chose to fight for it, for that we thank you. And so, if you are still willing to fight, we must do our part too. You can count on us. I can help guide you through the sewer, the spiders haven’t reach it yet, it will take us to the fishing district faster.”

And so, they arrived at the fishing market through the sewer. The first ever place our heroes stumbled into in this kingdom, once so full of life, now a forsaken square. The Hot Wings, such a welcoming place, now sealed with boards on the windows. “Oi, you fucking dolts, let the kid of the one who serves the drinks in!!” Said Seraphim, still legless atop the back of Minerva, but with a pair of black metal hands in hand, taken by her from her past mentor, just as she wished so.

The patrons quickly let them in, but the state of the place was heartbreaking. The once warm tavern now looked like an improvised hospital swelter. Dozens of people spread across the tables, some trembling, other´s unmoving, some bloody, others coughing violently, a familiar site for those who tasted war previously, but this bitterness never becomes easier to swallow.

One of the patrons pushes the minotaur aside, so they can talk to Seraphim, the look of concern could be felt like a heavy aura “My child, I…”, “Speak up stinky Pete, did you piss the corner again?” Seraphim replied. “It’s about your mother, im sorry but she…”. “Where?” said Seraphim, to which the man replied “Upstairs”. The entire party rushed to the second floor, entered the room of the tavern’s owner, only to find her lying in bed, unmoving, unconscious, but with an agonizing expression of pain in her visage. Rhyia and Rufus delicately pulled the bed sheets of her, only to find the root of the problem, a bite mark in her forearm, infected, pus oozing out, with black tendrils rooting beneath her skin, she had been poisoned.

After cleaning the wounds and doing everything they could with magic, Zarasha seemed more stable, and pain seemed to subside. She may have gained some more time, but time had been borrowed and was fastly shortening. Seraphim didn’t leave the room and wouldn’t do so for a long time. Thandor set up a working bench for himself on the lower levels of the tavern, to start working on the new prosthesis for legless child, while Variel and the rest of the group gathered to set their plans in motion.

The plan was simple, patrol the streets, save as many as they could, build defenses and barricades, gather resources to help heal the wounded and feed the starving, anything else they could think of that would help the district more capable of defending itself was the priority for them now. But that was only during the day, for at night, they would have to ensure they found a way to reach dawnmire, and so they would have to find a ship, steal it, and conceal it till the time to voyage forward.

During these three chaotic days, everyone worked tirelessly. Valsali saved a group of people trapped on the second floor of a dilapidated building, using his power to wish into existence a slide, so they could reach the ground safely. Botas encountered a group of soldiers being chased by spiderlings, and sprung into action to defend them, managing to kill two of them in a flash, but the warrior had not the time yet to lick the wounds of his previous battles, and so was caught of guard when a third spider lunged at him. All seamed lost for a moment, right until the monstrosity had a bolt trespassing its, once childish face, for the guards he defended came to is rescue, mistaking him for one of their own, for they all whore the same armor, with the same coat of arms. Minerva found a group of civilians, creating barricades to prevent the advance of the spiders. She helped the best she could, but her repertoire was more in line with breaking things, instead of building them. Nevertheless, despite some mishaps, she managed to use her strength to set up a barricade and even create a wall of spikes on one of the sides of said barricade, to prevent the spiders from climbing it. Rhyia and Rufus were more concerned with the rampant disease, and so together they formed a clinical front. While Rufus used the power bestowed to him to stabilize the wounded and buy as much time as possible, Rhyia ventured out into the wild, with her botanic book in hand, in order to find an antidote for the poison. The first days were unfruitful on that front, for she did not seem capable of recognizing the flaura that grew underground, but on her patrols, she managed to save the life of a child, trapped in a sewage exit, close to the port. She screamed for help, nearly drowning in salt water, for the tides were rising, and found herself trapped behind a gradient of bars. With her druid magic, she moved the heart above the bars, creating a hole big enough for the child to escape throw. This encounter might have ended well but also led her to discover an ominous truth. Where once the sewers were empty and safe, now they were filled with spiders, for the child was chased into them, and a network of tunnels, with access to the hole kingdom, at the pinchers of those creatures, spelled a grave omen indeed.

At night, Variel had set up a plan to ensure the voyage to the other side. While scouting the docks, he found that the soldiers of the King where given orders to block the upcoming bridge, and, to set fire to all ships docked in the harbor, preventing the advance of the creatures, creating a quarantine zone, and abandoning these people to their own mercy. This reality, however awful it might have been, provided an ideal scenario. The soldiers where burning ships one by one, beginning at the east, and moving westwards through the harbor. The plan was simple, move as close to the east as possible, and choose the appropriate vessel without the guard’s notice. And so, with the cover of the night, they went to find the torrent of flames from sea vessels being torn apart. The soldiers were not only performing their horrendous duties, but fending of against the might of the spiders, for they were as much attracted by the light of the flame, as they were repelled by its heat. The battle provided the perfect cover, and without much difficulty, they entered the harbor, found a modest vessel, and under the guidance of Variel, the crew of ragtag scallywags set sail with frivolous speed. But not unnoticed. Both ravens and spiders shifted their attention to the privateers, launching bolts of flame and fang alike, but before they could reach the Brigg, a wall of wind and water blew away spider and bolt alike, while catching the sails of the ship, launching it forward and out of arms way, as Rhyia finishes muttering the incantation, she turns back with a smirk, saying “Your welcome”.

The Brigg was hidden inside a warehouse close to the tavern and so started the frantic race against time to prepare this district to fight against the invaders. Botas trained the refugees to the best of his abilities in military drills, Minerva helped build more barricades, and invent made them so they could be set ablaze with ease, instructing the civilians of the weakness and fear these creatures had of fire, and Rhyia spent most of her time molding the earth around the sewer exists of the city, sealing them and preventing an invasion from below. But with a stroke of luck, this detour led her to find the necessary ingredients to create an antidote for the venom. Returning to the tavern, the spirits were palpably different from when they first arrived, the number of wounded had sreduced, the sickness had been cleansed, and in the place of scared civilians, standed group of optimistic and crudely armed militia.

Returning to Zarashas room, the mood of dread had now been filled with hope. Zarasha herself was now peacefully asleep, rid of the venom, and on her bedside, her daughter, Seraphim, with a new set of black appendages. The smile on her face almost radiated light, or maybe it really did, from Botas’ perspective at least, for now her tread, glowing proudfully gold was free flowing in the air, he knew that in saving her mother, they had also saved the daughter. She spoke with overwhelming joy “I know we have our complicated history, but you went so much out of your way to defend us, even tough you are not part of any of this. But you chose to, to defend us, despite everything I did…And so I must ask, like how you did for me, please, help my friends, the emissaries, they are as twisted as I was, they need help, and im sure that in doing so, you will weaken that sleazy devil. Regardless of what may happen, on the day of the final clash, that will inevitably come, you can count on my axe, and new sets of threads!! Check out these bad boys!!”

Thandor came to the group and presented offerings “a repayment for dealing with Lysara in the best way you could. Should you need to communicate with each other, I have these sending stones that I can offer you, but that’s not all”. He pulled out a heart shaped black gem, polished to perfection, and then pulled the two halves apart, revealing the shape of a broken heart. “This is the lover´s stone, legend has it that two lovers where once separated by death, but were buried together, and their souls were too stubborn to be apart. It is said that their souls are contained within these stones, and so that’s how they remain together still. When you have a part of this stone, you can be instantly transported to the place of the other half, and vice versa. I hope this may aid you in your travels. And now, to the ship, I have a shop on the other side, so I may set you up with better equipment there, for a reasonable price of course, I still have to eat”.

With these new gifts, Rufus and Cats proposed to stay behind and defend the fishing district in the others absence, and if needed be, they had a way of reuniting in case of emergency. And so, the rest of our heroes gathered inside the Brig, finally with time to rest, Cicie mentions that they have been throwing so much together, and yet they don’t know anything about each other.

The party decides to share some of their experiences, building bonds at each of their own pace, when suddenly, the whole room turned dark. All that could be seen was every single member of the party, including those how were not at the Brig that night, seated in wooden chairs in a large circle. Then an ominous whistle vibrated throw the void, and another character approached the circle, seated on a stone thrown. A horned man made of pure shadow, with sinister burning purple eyes and an elongated thin smile. Dragging his words he says “Finally we meet…at last. I know some of you may wonder how I am, despite all the clues I left, but for the sake of the less attentive, let me introduce myself…My name…is Naberus”.