Session 002

General Summary

Jamie's Notes 2025-01-04

Day 1 Notos 37, Year 352

• Deviii on vacation.
• All agree to meet at north of town at dawn.
• Radjic to get horses/tack/oats.
• Cirina does research into the Qlippoth at the local library.
• Torvians really into extra planar stuff.
• Someone who tried to travel to the outer planes.
• Saw strange creatures doing battle with the demons and fiends there.
• Mortals might not be their main goal. Qlippoth do hate demons.
• Rest

Day 2 Notos 38, Year 352

• Storm rolling in in the morning.
• Neesja sort of missing. Radjic doesn't seem concerned. Says she'll show up. Somehow.
• Ride off.
• Cirina and Vasia discuss trusting people. Whether it's a good idea or not.
• Akito and Radjic discuss Akito's odd introduction to the party. Whether he's really a bumbling fool or not.
• Seems Neesja is an object on Radjic's person.
• Pass by some ruins. Crumbling stone walls.
• Vague similarities to the calendar/architectural styles. Ancient culture. Planet spanning empire. The First People.
• Rumoured they were wiped out at the same time that certain larger reptiles were no longer on the planet.
• Also the time when there was one less moon in the sky.
• Not Torvian.
• Arrive near some ruins.
• An area of green that the wildebeasts are avoiding.
• Statue, minor magic. Torvian city deity, super regional.
• Heads for the temple, which Vasia points out is the correct spot to go.
• Hidden passage into a hideout of Iggeret.
• Locate Eser Pree. Older man. Half-orc lineage.
• Has painted abstract shapes on the walls/ceilings.
• Landscape, skyline, cataclysm happening. Bright star burns, also a tear in reality. Things coming through that don't have shapes. Shift from one form to another, plays tricks on the mind. Things that should not be.
• Eser had informed Justice Sina Al'Torif there were worse things in the wastes.
• Believes Sina and others are infected in the mind by some outer plane shit.
• Has all the alchemist's fire, wants to blow up the building where Sina and the others reside.
• Brought out the barrels via lizard. Which he released. Probably won't die. Probably will, honestly. His lizard is named Kevin.
• He has made a lot of bad decisions.
• Was going to try and carry the barrels through the tunnels on his lonesome..
• Tunnels all throughout the area. Mostly filled with cults.
• He provides Vasia a map of the tunnels.
• The cultists in Izimir haven't been communicative. Misbehaving, lashing out.
• Eser heads out as Vasia's order. She definitely outranks him? Or he fears her.
• Vasia goes up and looks for Kevin. Finds him. Doesn't seem to understand her much.
• Wanders in with Vasia.
• He pulls one of the five barrel's into his mouth and takes it outside. Apparently that's how it went down there.
• Everyone but Radjic runs out in case it explodes.
• Vasia gives Radjic ownership of Kevin. Kevin immediately takes him away.
• Radjic comes back as a Tanuki. Everyone (Vasia and Cirina) are surprised/freak out.
• Take watch.
• Can see the glow of the City of Clockwork in the distance. Filled with Automaton. Not friendly.
• Toward end of the watch, hear distant flute music on the air. Sounds familiar to everyone, strangely. Like a warm, childhood memory.
• Likely an automaton.
• Not a compulsion. No direction.
• Theory: Automatons communicate via song?

Evan's Recap

(Jan 4, 2025) Notos 37-38, Brother Pree, I presume?

The morning found our party scattered across Arra, having found shelter mostly individually - save for the siblings. As light bloomed across the Wastes, stormclouds thundering across the horizon, they gathered up and prepared to head out in search of one Eser Pree.

Neesja, however, was nowhere to be found - a fact that Radjic was unconcerned with. With Cirina’s expert guidance and Vasia’s knowledge of their destination the party was able to cross in rapid order, dipping down into some ravines to avoid the worst of the storm. Traveling through bits of ruin older even then the Torvian Empire, our protagonists eventually reached the ruined city where Eser was hiding.

They found it largely empty even of wildlife - with Radjic supposing it might be some expression of the blight - and Vasia chose to let the others try to find the entrance; to see if they were competent. One must know these things, after all.

Cirina found the entrance to the cult’s hideout and there they found Eser Pree; huddled amidst barrels of alchemical fire with the walls painted in eye-watering, searing patterns. Vasia was able to parse the images after a moment: another plane, another place, being invaded or facing some catastrophe - which one, Eser was unsure.

After convincing Eser that his plan to take alchemical fire back to Arra and blow up the House of Justice was flawed on nearly every conceivable level, the party guided him to reconnect with some members of Vasia’s cult and he set off, safely talked out of becoming a charred corpse.

That done, Vasia quickly located Eser’s lizard, Kevin, hiding and consuming local wildlife. Radjic bonded with Kevin, getting the lizard to ferry out several barrels of alchemical fire before - later that evening - revealing his true form to the lizard. The lizard promptly swallowed Radjic and deposited him with the barrels.

A slimy Radjic returned to the rest of the group, leading to their learning of his truer, fuzzier form. Watch that evening passed without incident - though a strange melody did drift across the Wastes, on the borders of memory, nostalgic and unplaceable.

The music faded as the sun rose, leaving our party without answers - and with choices to make. Head back to Arra and confront Justice Sina Al'Torif|Sina? Attempt something sneakier to learn the truth of the murder - or put it aside entirely for the moment and pursue other goals?