In Session 11, my players had made a deal with a powerful Hag to get their hands on a simple little device that she promised would open a portal directly into the headquarters of the Quill - allowing them a chance to rescue their companions that they'd been separated from.
They had slower options that would have given them more time to prepare, but the quickest move was to make a Faustian bargain, and that's exactly what they did.
This was quite a session, and a wonderful way to cap off Act 1 of the campaign. A daring assault on the Big Bad fortress to rescue Yuantine and Peril turned into so much more.
Peril was introduced formally to the Big Bad of our campaign - the first time he, himself, has been seen. We've seen plenty of Quill agents, but the guy pulling the strings has always been hidden.
I ran this session a bit differently than usual - we tidied up the few things the party needed to do in town (such as buying a bunch of healing potions), and then I jumped back a day and a half in the timeline to when Peril and Yuantine had come through the portal originally (which was how Session 10 ended).
They were captured, but not treated poorly. Peril was taken into an office and met the Primum Archivarium - the BBEG of our campaign, and was offered a chance to join them. Peril, predictably, did not take that deal. In typical Peril fashion, his player listened to the offer and then asked me, "So, I'm just sitting across the desk from this guy. Did they... disarm me?" and, no... they hadn't.
Peril flicks a dagger across the table, and the Primum Archivarium darts a hand up to intercept it. They stare across the desk, and P chuckles before slowly pulling the dagger out of his hand. A small trickle of sand falls out of the hole before it knits itself closed again, and P calmly hands the dagger back to Peril.
This was our first indication that the BBEG was beyond this group, currently. From my notes, the two most important points for this meeting were:
Meeting P
- Well cared for wooden panelling, a masterfully crafted yet simple desk of wood, old man sitting at the desk working on some kind of mathematical equation or something. Numbers and symbols. An artifact on the desk creates a hologram-like image that he rotates and manipulates. It swirls and adapts to his changes.
- Behind him, a strange cylinder of metal and glass with odd tubes and cords running to and from it. Inside, an elven woman floats in some kind of liquid. She's unconscious, or dead. An elaborate magic circle is painted on the floor, with seven large crystals of different colours and shapes seemingly randomly placed in and around the circle. Many of the tubes leading to and from the cylinder connect to these crystals.
- P asks if Peril knows what he is, and if he knows what flows through his veins.
P asks if Peril will join them, and explains that his far-seers (chronopaths) have divined a coming cataclysm, which only the reunited continent stands a chance of facing. The ends must justify the means. Any means.
When Peril tells him to fuck himself, or tries to attack, he is taken to the tower near the Barrier, and tossed in with Yuantine.
The artifact is a Mach'Lithian device, and the woman floating in the tank is none other than the missing Fistandia - fabled Archmage of Mach'Lithe.
Upon rejecting joining with the other Talent users in the Quill, Peril is taken to a tower for imprisonment.
And once he's back we skipped back to the "current" time-stream and rejoined the rest of the players about to jump into a portal.
From my notes:
Peril and Yuantine are trapped in the tower. They have all of their normal equipment, and there is only one guard outside of the door. They can pick it, break it down, whatever they'd like.
Group 2 portals in during a ritual to pull another book from ML. A large crystal on a cart sits just in front of the barrier, with four Talents pouring streams of power into it, while the [[Primum Archivarium]] focuses on the arcane aspects of the ritual.
They finish on the second round of combat, and an image is displayed on the crystal of an [[intricate scroll case]], dropping into a garden behind a lavish castle.
[!tip] That... that's it. After all this time. We've found it... [[Wanda]], assemble [[Epsilon Brigade]]. [[Petros]], locate that castle.
The woman named as Wanda changes near instantly from the simple red and black robes she had been wearing into her Epsilon outfit.
The three leave without even glancing at the combat, as if it's below their notice.
The players handlily deal with the threat posed by the folks performing the ritual. I did alter this plan a bit on the fly. Initially, I wasn't going to provide any option for the party to stop the "intricate scroll case" from being found, but once we got into it I decided that to interrupt the ritual they'd have to kill 6 of the 9 participants (excluding the leaders Petros, Wanda, and the Primum Archivarium) within the first two rounds of combat - which they nearly did. By the time the second round was done, they'd killed 4/9 and two others were single-digit HP left. It was really close to being a victory for the team and a setback for the baddies... but the dice were on the side of my story and it played out basically as I'd anticipated.
Following the Leadership elements leaving, the team handily dealt with the rest of the baddies. One got yeeted through the barrier, many others got executed, and one got captured (again - it was Rhonden Faar again).
But... the session was not over.
As the fight in the Outer Courtyard draws to a close, the party hears:
[!tip] Withdrawal Procedure Delta-5-Alpha Initiated. Report immediately to your assigned Gates.
A few minutes later, Fistandia in her tube is being levitated out of the main fortress into the Inner Courtyard, immediately followed by [[Petros]] and the [[Primum Archivarium]], who are then followed by [[Wanda]] and the [[Epsilon Brigade]], all marching towards two stone arches covered in runes and arcane sigils along the far wall of the inner courtyard, wide enough for three to enter abreast at a time.
Here they were presented with a choice. The Primum Archivarium gave them a choice as they busted into the courtyard and witnessed the Epsilon Brigade leaving. Stay out of their way, and he'd hapily send them back to Lavan. Interfear and they were going to die.
To make the point, he cast Meteor Swarm, and we had a single round (six seconds) to decide to follow the baddies through their portal, or go home to Lavan.
Syl, played by my wife, then decided it was time to get wild and spit in the eyes of our baddies by using one of her new Talents - Beem Eyes - to destroy Fistandia's containment chamber. Eggy (a stand-in for the guy who plays Peril) used Haste on Syl, and in the last second before getting blasted by Meteor Swarm, she grabbed Fistandia and misty-stepped back out through the portal.
It was a nail-biting series of challenge rolls, and they only barely pulled it off... but they did, in fact, rescue Fistandia which was entirely unexpected.
It was a really fun session, and while I hadn't intended to be on Session 12 to end Act 1, the whole shenanigans from Session 10 and 11 really moved my timeline up and we covered a ton of ground in very little time.
We met the Epsilon Brigade - absolute badass shock-trooper style Talent-based heavy infantry:
And their leader, Wanda:
As well as our main BBEG and Petros who is another high-ranking specialist.
Below are my recap notes as recorded in Obsidian:
Syl buys:
Eggy buys:
Q buys:
MM:
Eggy gives MM a bottle "for when the fat lady sings". Potion of Storm Giant Strength.
Q conjure animals
Eggy Fireballs
Peril and Yuantine enter the fray
Peril steals everything in [[Ronden Faar]]'s bags.
Muk-Muk uses one of the Quill agents as a living (temporarily) weapon, after drinking a potion of Storm Giant Strength (29 Str). He downs many of them with this method.
MM Shoves one guy through the barrier into [[Mach'Lithe]].
As each enemy goes down, they get a half-shield around them.
MM attacks the [[Primum Archivarium]], and almost dies. Paralysis and a bunch of cold damage.
Wanda is activated and the [[Epsilon Brigade]] is activated.
[[Primum Archivarium]] gives them the option to leave and live, and opens a portal back to Lavan for the party if they'll stay out of his way. He casts Meteor Swarm as incentive.
The party agrees, but takes [[Ronden Faar]] with them as a prisoner.
Syl Laser-Eyes the chamber and [[Eggy]] fires some magic missiles, which breaks her containment unit. Syl misty steps and then Fluid Motions to rescues Fistandia, with seconds to spare before Meteor Swarm hits.
Thus ends Act 1 of this campaign. We are officially in Act 2 with the next session.
