Session 23, Arc III

From The Outskirts

Played 8 April 2025 Watch the session

The party had recently fled from Easthills after burning down a tavern, only to discover Captain Max's body outside their shack. Their journey led them to a mysterious oasis with powerful illusion magic, where they ventured underground to face and defeat a formidable dragon. They made their dramatic escape riding sandworms out of the oasis.

While camping on a hill near Arakcadia, the group conducted experiments with their mysterious blue orb. Arraphesu attempted to trigger its powers by jumping from a tree, but the orb saved her from harm. During a staged combat between party members, the orb turned purple and cast healing magic to revive an unconscious companion. They also spent time training their massive roc companions, Brad and Campbell, teaching them to hunt without attacking people.

The party's journey continued through semi-arid lands toward Arakcadia, where they discovered a magical paper with obscured inscriptions. Using a pearl secretly taken from their supplies, they cast Identify to reveal enchantment magic on the paper. During their travels, Arraphesu shared the tale of her kidnapped father and evil brother, while Yomidrogo revealed the tragic murder of his parents.

Their journey was interrupted by an ambush from mysterious assailants. After a rock was thrown at them, they cornered an elvish figure who claimed mistaken identity. The situation escalated into combat with multiple bandits, culminating in a scout captain casting a spell that carved a painful rune into Sirin's forehead before disappearing with them. Yomidrogo attempted to counter the spell but failed.

The party entered Arakcadia and explored the notorious Black Wine Alley, where they encountered warning signs from a tiefling and halfling at the entrance. They observed criminal activities and boarded-up shops, following and interrogating an orc who recognized their mysterious rune. Their investigation led them to discover a secret tavern accessible through someone named Grephr, though they had to intimidate a couple to obtain this information.

After establishing themselves in the city, they passed through a checkpoint inspection and purchased a detailed map for 20 gold pieces. They found lodging for their rocs in Grain Mere and secured rooms at a Rivergate tavern for 65 gold. The night brought strange visions to Yomidrogo, who experienced a disturbing dream involving voices discussing someone "not being ready" and an entity asking about "revire." The vision showed images of a green storm, three men, and a mysterious blue orb that exhibited strange effects when near their scythe upon waking.

The city of Arakcadia revealed itself as a vast metropolis built in a valley, featuring a beautiful bay, intricate canal system, and various distinct districts. The Black Wine Alley stood out as a dangerous area with crooked buildings and dim lighting, while the Docklands offered markets and trading opportunities. The Gilded Plaza served as the central district, and the High River District housed religious centers and embassies. The city's meritocracy system had remained stable for over 250 years, setting it apart from other regions.

The party made camp on a hill overlooking Arakcadia and conducted experiments with their magical orb to understand its properties. Kailyn attempted various methods to trigger the orb's power, including jumping from trees, running in circles, and deliberately injuring herself. When she fell unconscious during a sparring match with Bones, the orb turned three-quarters purple and automatically cast healing word, reviving her with 2 hit points. This demonstrated that the orb responds protectively to life-threatening situations, though it showed no significant reaction to Nillituh when he held it.

The next morning, the party attempted to train their roc companions Brad and Campbell for travel. Nillituh successfully mounted and rode Brad, even experiencing a brief moment of flight when the roc lifted one foot off the ground. However, when Nillituh wild-shaped into an owl to demonstrate hunting techniques, Brad attacked him, mistaking the owl for prey. Nillituh's owl familiar Hedwig successfully demonstrated proper hunting by catching and killing a finch, helping to train the rocs. During this training, Yomidrogo mysteriously found a crumpled piece of paper in his hand that appeared blank but radiated enchantment magic when examined with an Identify spell.

The party continued their journey toward Arakcadia through increasingly busy terrain. They passed through valleys with sparse vegetation and spotted wildebeest in the distance, while Nillituh felt nostalgic seeing the Itumue Mountains of his homeland. During their travels, party members shared backstories, with Arraphesu revealing more about her search for her brother who had kidnapped her father. As they neared Arakcadia, they stopped to feed the hungry rocs but were suddenly ambushed by bandits.

The bandit attack began when someone threw a rock at Yomidrogo, leading to a fierce battle with multiple attackers emerging from the forest. The bandit leader, a scout captain, used blood magic to carve a rune into a captive's forehead, creating a magical link that transferred damage between them and anyone who attacked the marked person. Despite Yomidrogo's attempts to counterspell, the captain successfully cast Symbol of Death and later used a blink spell to escape with Cyrran as his prisoner. Bones devastated the bandit ranks with a powerful lightning bolt, while the party fought desperately against The Ironclad organization members.

After the battle, the party interrogated a surviving female bandit who bore the symbol of The Ironclad. Under the influence of Yomidrogo's suggestion spell, she revealed that her organization had taken Cyrran and provided 50 gold pieces. The bandit had blue bloodshot eyes and a pulsating rune on her temple, and when Bones touched her with his scythe, she died with foam at her mouth, suggesting she had no soul left. The party discovered that several bandits wore patches with the same mysterious symbol they had encountered before, confirming their connection to a larger criminal conspiracy.

The party reached the Arakcadia checkpoint where Guard Captain Glenn Warren inspected their belongings and provided warnings about dangerous areas in the city. They entered the capital and purchased a detailed city map from a helpful half-orc merchant at the County of Seamat, learning about various districts and current tensions with the Veurim Empire. Despite warnings, they ventured into the notorious Black Wine Alley, a dark criminal district where they encountered suspicious characters and gathered information about The Ironclad organization.

In Black Wine Alley, the party followed a suspicious orc who recognized their mysterious symbol but denied knowledge of it. When they pursued him into a dead-end alley, he mysteriously vanished, leaving only strange ash on the ground. They then encountered a drunk couple whom they intimidated into revealing crucial information about The Ironclad. The terrified man disclosed that there was a hidden tavern where marked individuals gathered, accessible only through someone named Grephr, and admitted that The Ironclad was a crime organization he had helped by securing funds.

The party found lodging at a riverside tavern in River Gate, booking rooms for a week and planning their next moves. They decided to visit the government, go shopping for magical items, and then investigate the criminal organization further. Using their locating spell, they determined that Cyrran was not in Black Wine Alley but somewhere in the opposite direction. That night, Yomidrogo experienced a terrifying supernatural encounter while trying to sleep.

Yomidrogo's nightmare began with mysterious voices in the hallway discussing someone who "isn't ready" and "needs to be ready." When he opened his door to investigate, he found himself standing on the edge of a cliff with an endless void below. A powerful entity called him "yaga" - the same word used when the elven person had marked Cyrran - and attempted to penetrate his mind with tentacle-like mental appendages. The entity demanded that Yomidrogo bring someone to them and showed him visions of green storms, men on a road, and a skeleton. When an orb appeared in the vision and a hand reached for it, Yomidrogo grabbed it away, causing the entity to threaten to erase his memories of his parents. He woke up in his bed having wet himself, but found the party's actual orb in his hands, now pulsing more rapidly and showing a deeper blue color than before.

The next morning, as the party prepared to head to the Gilded Plaza for shopping and investigation, Bones nearly touched his scythe to the orb, causing gray energy to begin enveloping it in what appeared to be a deletion effect. Yomidrogo quickly stopped this dangerous interaction, and the party set out for the city center to continue their quest to rescue Cyrran and uncover the truth about The Ironclad organization. Their twenty-minute walk to the Gilded Plaza would mark the beginning of their deeper investigation into the criminal conspiracy that had captured their friend and threatened the stability of the region.