Session 25, Arc III

New Friends, Old Beginnings

Played 8 June 2025 Watch the session

The session began with Arraphesu visiting a temple in the Muses district late at night for prayer and reflection, accompanied by Cyrran while Yomidrogo was too drunk to join them. The temple, dedicated to three gods (Sehanim, Athea, and Isa), featured beautiful blue and rose colors throughout with tiered levels and a central fountain. Arraphesu sat by the fountain, unwrapped her hand wraps, and became emotional as she reflected on everyone she had lost and her lack of progress on her mission. Cyrran explored the temple's marble architecture before sitting with Arraphesu, and they had a meaningful conversation about motivation, family, and finding people worth sticking with after being alone for so long.

The party was awakened early the next morning by large bells announcing an important city-wide gathering. Thousands of people streamed toward the Gilded Plaza in the city center, where an official in ornate red and purple robes announced that Gaia, one of the moons, was in retrograde. This triggered a three-day religious holiday with only entertainment venues and government authorities required to remain open. The announcement was particularly significant because this was the second occurrence of the year, something that hadn't happened in 300 years, leading people to speculate about connections to the ongoing war.

Recognizing this as an opportunity to speak with government officials while they remained open during the holiday, the party decided to approach the authorities about the Veurim threat. They successfully scheduled a meeting with council official Tibin for 3 PM after speaking with guards and a helpful half-elf receptionist. While preparing for the meeting, Bones sent his skeleton Ribs to fetch their rifle from Nillituh as evidence of Veurim military technology.

Several party members visited the massive Great Library of Arakcadia, which housed over 100,000 books across three levels. Yomidrogo researched the dragon Kezier and found chronicles of the Zilaphelian kingdom and border disputes records, though many sections were redacted. Arraphesu gathered extensive materials about the Veurim Empire, including geography, history, language books, and war songs. Cyrran and Bones sought access to the restricted section for magical modification research, where librarian Doris provided them with a dangerous magical text about deities that was heavily discouraged in Arakcadia.

The library visit became chaotic when Bones created a distraction by wild shaping into a boar and running through the building while Cyrran attempted to sneak back into the restricted section. A librarian enthusiastically tackled and wrestled the boar while spectators watched and clapped. Cyrran successfully picked the lock to the restricted section and used paired scrolls to secretly copy pages from the magical text, though he was eventually caught by security. Despite the commotion, Yomidrogo negotiated continued access to restricted materials for future research.

Meanwhile, Kaylin discovered the mysterious Raven Tower in the High Garden district, an imposing and architecturally impossible structure that appeared abandoned. The tower was pristine with no signs of regular visitors, and its door was magically locked. She also visited the Grand Observatory, where an astronomer showed her the retrograde moon Gaia through a telescope and explained the astronomical phenomenon. The astronomer mentioned that the Veurim Embassy had closed and was only letting minimal people in, adding to concerns about the political situation.

The party regrouped and prepared for their crucial meeting with council official Kiribos, establishing ground rules of no crime, no magic, and no violence during the diplomatic encounter. They cast guidance spells on each other and established "Banana Brand" as a code word if things went wrong. During the meeting, they presented their evidence including the rifle, wax seal with snake symbol, and intelligence about Veurim Empire activities and the Easthills bombing. Kiribos, an elven council official, was knowledgeable about the regional situation and offered to help arrange a meeting with Prime Minister Madame Transuth if they could provide more concrete evidence. He scheduled a follow-up meeting in two days and provided information about security measures during the holiday.

After the meeting, the party became obsessed with investigating the Raven Tower despite its obvious dangers. Their attempts to break in triggered catastrophic magical defenses that repeatedly killed or severely injured party members. Bones attempted to dispel the magical lock but suffered wild magic surges that dealt massive necrotic damage. Cyrran successfully unlocked the door using a magical coin but was blasted back when trying to open it. Most dramatically, Kaylin was killed by a power word kill spell when she misty stepped inside, though she briefly glimpsed ornate decorations and a red carpet with patterns matching their magic carpet before dying.

While dead, Kaylin experienced a vision of a mysterious figure with rope marks around her neck sitting on a cliff edge in the rain. The figure asked if Kaylin was "really done" and told her to "find him" before walking off the cliff to her death. Kaylin chose to return to life rather than follow. Bones successfully revived her using a diamond and the revivify spell, though the diamond shattered during the casting.

During Bones's unconsciousness, Yomidrogo entered his mind using arcane eye and encountered a small, crying creature made of black bone along with two mysterious watching entities that made him feel like an intruder. When he tried to communicate with the creature using message, he only heard static, and touching it ejected him from Bones's mind. Eventually, Bones successfully dispelled the tower's magical lock with a natural 20, but the interior remained deadly to all living creatures while plants and objects survived entry.

The party visited fighting rings in the Muses district to earn money and test their combat skills. Arraphesu defeated a beginner elf fighter earning 50 gold, while Bones and Yomidrogo teamed up against a powerful Goliath fighter for 1000 gold. Yomidrogo used suggestion magic to make the Goliath forfeit, winning them the prize money. Arraphesu was then challenged by a skilled monk named Mara, who used blood magic in her fighting style and ultimately defeated Arraphesu. After the fight, Mara gave Arraphesu a business card for "Hearthstone Concorde" with addresses in Arakcadia and Caxia, suggesting she had potential.

The session concluded with mysterious nighttime encounters that revealed important plot developments. Bones had a vision of a familiar dark entity who offered to free him from pain in exchange for joining them as their champion. The entity was pleased that Bones had revived Kaylin and tasked him with finding four orbs total. Meanwhile, Cyrran received a mysterious note directing him to meet someone in Black Wine Alley, where a hooded figure gave him a secret mission involving delivering something within two days, warning that failure could lead to war. Cyrran was later confronted by an elven tracker who had been following him for days, warning about the dangers of the orbs and Veurim Empire involvement. The elf gave Cyrran an ultimatum to either run away or protect the orb at all costs, threatening him not to reveal their conversation. Cyrran returned to hide the orb in his brewing equipment, setting up major conflicts and mysteries for future sessions.