Episode 1 "A Better World"

Session #15: 9/28/2019

22 Torul 2350 of the 5th Age

Recap

 * The session began with the party standing in a circle on the road to Thrynn. The cards had just been drawn from the Deck of Many Things and as a wave of energy rippled through the multiverse, the group knew something had changed.
 * Suddenly, the refugees they had been traveling with were gone, as were Zeevah, Tennebris, and Captain Korra.
 * Looking around the group, they realized some things had shifted.
 * Vendrin was wearing black and had a ring bearing the sigil of Lord Protector Gideon Ireburn.
 * Liosynth was missing her holy symbol and paladin vestments.
 * Kandra was wearing all white and had a bloodied stake on her belt.
 * Thokk was missing his left eye.
 * Hermes had an ugly scar across his side.
 * As the group tried to assess everything that had changed, they noticed, sitting on the ground between them, a bloody eye seemingly just pulled from the socket.
 * At first, the party wondered if it might be Thokk's, but when they investigated beneath his eyepatch they found that his wound was at least a month old.
 * Vendrin cast identify on the eye and realized it was the Eye of Vecna. Apparently some grisly token of appreciation for raising him from the dead. Vendrin quickly dropped the eye into his extradimensional space.
 * As the party continued discussing what could be happening, they were approached by a man pulling a cart loaded with supplies. He greeted them with familiarity and the party asked him to explain what was happening.
 * He was confused but explained his name was Tev and that he had been traveling with them for several days, working as a porter. They had traveled to Alkori to save Nedan from a vampire that attempted to assassinate him.
 * The party headed back to Thrynn, found a pub, and got hammered.
 * As they drank they found someone willing to gossip and began probing him for information about the world they now found themselves in. They learned:
 * The Dark Shroud still hung in the western sky.
 * The Dead Water never happened.
 * An empire of undead called Zarath had revealed itself from behind the Dark Shroud.
 * They were a notorious group of mercenaries.
 * Kandra was a famous bounty hunter known as The Banshee.
 * An orcish terrorist organization had attempted to blow up a temple to Corellon in Wirrothe.
 * After opening skirmishes, Zarath negotiated peace with the living kingdoms and has been attempting to earn goodwill.
 * As they spoke to the gossip, each of them began to slowly recover a memory. Familiar, yet alien. They found themselves gaining a memory from this new timeline.
 * Vendrin found himself in Selunim striking a deal with Gideon Ireburn to advance his family's standing and give him access to someone he holds dear.
 * Liosynth found herself murdering a man she wrongly believed to be guilty of a crime against her family.
 * Kandra found herself back on Korma Tol, hurrying and failing to save Harkel from a group of murderous vampires.
 * Thokk found himself trying to stop his brother from murdering innocents before Eartaker cut his eye out.
 * The party bought rooms for the night and retreated to one of the rooms to discuss these revelations.
 * They realized that Vendrin is acting as an agent for Ireburn, Kandra is hunting down the vampires who killed Harkel, Thokk's own brother is leading a terrorist organization, and Lio is no longer a paladin of Corellon.
 * The party worried over where Zeevah could have been taken off to.
 * Kandra also remembered that one of the vampires on Korma Tol had given Hermes his horrible scar.
 * The party turned in for the night.
 * In the night, Liosynth was met by an Avatar of Corellon who told her they knew of all that she and her friends had done.They said that all her friends, even the orc, would be welcome in Arvandor on their day of reckoning. They told her they knew she was not the same person who killed that man and that as far as they were concerned, she will always be a paladin. Lastly, they told her to seek out Phiora Moonsparrow at the temple of the Endless Sky in Elberneth. Phiora would set her on the path to reclaiming her title.
 * The group awoke in the morning feeling depressed and hungover, except for Liosynth that is.
 * Thokk stopped by a run-down temple to Bahamut in that quarter of the city to pick up a Holy Symbol to give to Xafiq. He didn't have any gold, but instead offered to trade a golden dragon statue. The priest stressed that the holy symbols were free, but a tithe was welcome. When Thokk gave him the statue, he broke down weeping. Turns out, the statue was worth almost 1000gp.
 * They kept Tev on for another day and traveled back to Gath to see if they still had a ship and a crew.
 * Arriving at the shipyards in Gath, they found that their ship was waiting for them, but that they had apparently requested it be named The Kingmaker.
 * Heading up to the deck of the ship, they were greeted by Skord who congratulated them on their successful vampire hunt. He began to tell them about the ship and their new crew but could immediately tell something was different. The party promised to fill him in later on that night on everything that had happened.
 * As they were speaking, Xafiq walked out on deck holding a water barrel over his shoulder. He greeted the party as friends. Thokk gave him the holy symbol, and Xafiq thanked him warmly.
 * Skord left the ship to take care of some last-minute business as his cousin Kalf arrived to commence the tour.
 * Kalf showed the party around their new ship, gleefully showing off each and every little addition he'd made.
 * As they continued, the party was greeted by Tux, who apparently cannot die. It seems that Tux has been traveling with them for some time.
 * During the tour, the party were being shown their officers cabins and were shocked to find Rain alive and well. Thokk and Kandra embraced him tightly. He was surprised, remarking it had been little more than a week since they had last seen him, but said he was pleased to have them back aboard the ship.
 * After the tour, the party encountered two of their new shipmates in the galley. Pym Tollan is a human and lifelong sailor as well as a talented tattooist who was giving Irva Moonbrook a back tattoo.
 * Pym explained that he has some talent as a magical tattoo artist and Liosynth immediately took him up on the offer agreeing to pay 2200gp for a Mark of Brilliance tattoo.
 * Pym also told them that Tyri had come to him inquiring about a tattoo she would pay for herself. But seeing as she was a child, he felt he should speak to the party, as they are essentially her guardians. The party gave the green light.
 * Skord boarded the ship once more and they made ready to set sail. To celebrate the maiden voyage of the new ship, the party utilized the seat attachment to their new Mangonel Catapult and launched Thokk through the air, then went to pick him up. He sustained injuries but survived.
 * That evening, the entire crew sat down together for their first meal in the galley, prepared by the new triton cook, Otanyn Fotath.
 * After the meal, Skord set the crew about their evening duties and sat down with the party, demanding they tell him what the hell happened.
 * The party explained the time shift. They explained that everything had changed, but that for the most part, their personal history was somewhat similar. The party remarked that from what they could tell, in this new timeline, they were more brutal than they remembered, to which Skord replied, "You suffered."
 * When the party mentioned their surprise at seeing Rain alive, Skord was stunned. That's when the party realized that they hadn't seen Rolan. In this timeline, it was Rolan and not Rain who perished during the siege at Selunim City.
 * The party set a course for Caldor, the island that Vendrin's parents had just taken lordship over. The next morning, Kandra and Lio sat with Tyri while she got her first tattoo, a Mark of Strength written in Sylvan script.
 * On their first night aboard the Kingmaker, Loray Sirothian and two of his associates teleported to the deck of the ship, he greeted the party warmly and gave them an official summons to the trial of Saria Lamoth in Elberneth two months from now.
 * While there, the party noticed Sirothian's flunky eyeing Tyri suspiciously. They questioned why, and Sirothian said that his man, Firian, was mistaken in thinking that Tyri was someone they had been looking for. But Sirothian assured the party and Firian that he must be mistaken. With that, Sirothian and his men teleported away once more.
 * Several days passed at sea as the party settled into a new routine aboard their massive ship. On the third night of travel, as Kandra puzzled over the map and vampire names in her cabin, there was a knock at her door. Tyri was having trouble sleeping below deck with the sound of the engines eternally pumping and asked if she could sleep with Hermes. Kandra said, of course, she could and Tyri settled onto Hermes' enormous cushions.
 * However, as Kandra tucked Tyri in for the night, she suddenly found herself caught in a Hold Person spell. Hermes was thrown by an unseen force against the wall of the cabin, and a lithe figure dressed in black leathers strode into the room chuckling softly. He growled at Tyri that she was coming with him.
 * Lio and Thokk heard the commotion and ran from their own cabins into Kandra's just in time to see the figure grab Tyri's wrist.
 * As the intruder grabbed Tyri, blue flame erupted from her turning him to ash instantaneously. Tyri stood in Kandra's cabin screaming in surprise and shouting in a language that none of the party understood. Kandra and Thokk attempted to calm Tyri as blue and purple flames began to radiate out from her, scorching the floor.
 * Vendrin quickly cast sleep and knocked Tyri unconscious. As soon as he did, the flames and energy dissipated. After a couple of minutes, she woke and seemed to be her normal self.
 * The party questioned Tyri and found that she doesn't have any memories of her life before the orphanage in Kormas, but does say that she doesn't know how she came to be on Korma Tol, because she knows she grew up in Elberneth. As she is speaking with them, she also accidentally casts misty step and shoots across the room.
 * The rest of the journey to Caldor passes without much incident, though Vendrin does test Tyri to see if she has the abilities of a wizard and determines that her abilities are innate and not traditionally arcane. Lio also determined that Tyri registered as two distinct beings to some spells, registering as both a mundane mortal and a powerful fey.
 * On the day the party is meant to arrive in Caldro they come across a woman and her panther companion floating in the water. They haul her out of the sea to find that it is Zeevah, but she has no recollection of how she got there or where she had been for the past week after the time shift.
 * As Zeevah was brought below deck to dry off, she recovered a memory of her own.
 * The Kingmaker moored off the coast of Caldor and rowed to shore, they traveled inland and found the town of Veilhold nestled in the perpetually drizzling rain.
 * The party made their way to the castle and were greeted by Bagus Croll, the decrepit half-dwarf butler who "came with the castle."
 * Bagus led them through the castle, which was in the process of being renovated, and brought them to a sitting room where they found Vendrin's parents, Arthur and Beatrice. The Daltumels expressed great joy at seeing their son and greeted his friends with familiarity, despite Vendrin having no recollection of ever sending them any letters.
 * The Daltumels were stressed and slightly exhausted, they explained that it's been one disaster after another since they came to Caldor and that Ireburn seemed to have gone out of his way to honor his deal with Vendrin as little as he could. Arthur quipped that the man would feel right at home in Avernus.
 * Their reunion was cut short by the arrival of Rol Greatheel, the halfling captain of the guard, who Arthur took into the study for a private meeting.
 * Beatrice told the group that she had promised Arthur not to trouble them with the situation on the island, but that they should head to the Mist Isle library and speak with his sister Velana.
 * Beatrice also made an offhand remark about how the previous lord had gone missing and Vendrin expressed his concern for his family to the party.
 * Thokk, Kandra, and Zeevah spent some time investigating the castle, searching for traps and hidden passageways but sadly found nothing. They did notice, however, that Bagus Croll made a habit of appearing out of thin air and menacing them for doing things he found improper.
 * Meanwhile, Vendrin and Lio went to meet with Velana. Vendrin cast invisibility and snuck into the library to find his sister casting some new sort of mending spell that repaired a broken bookcase. She began replacing the books on the shelf as Vendrin spoke from nowhere, startling her.
 * They bantered back and forth for a while, with Velana casting but being able to find Vendrin and Vendrin summoning an Azer.
 * Vendrin revealed himself and called Lio into the library and spoke with Velana about what has been happening on the island. She told them that most recently, children have been going missing. One every five days and that today was the fifth day. She expressed worry for a little girl that had become a regular feature at the library, Lucy, and asked Vendrin to make sure she is alright.
 * Vendrin and Lio met back up with the rest of the party and explained the situation to them.
 * The party also learned of a hag that lived across the island named Rotten Polly.
 * The party went to check on Lucy and found her living on the outskirts of Veilhold. Kandra coaxed her into speaking with them by shrinking Hermes using his new collar.
 * Lucy told them that she's been having nightmares but that last night she fell asleep in the library and her nightmare knocked over a bookcase. When she woke up, the bookcase was still broken.
 * Lucy also said her monster could fly, had blue skin, and a really scary knife.
 * Rol Greatheel appeared to assist the party and gave them some local knowledge.
 * The party split again. Lio, Kandra, and Zeevah headed back to the castle to gather all of the children in town to lure the monster out by throwing a party in the town square while Vendrin and Thokk headed to Rotten Polly's lair.
 * Vendrin and Thokk found the horrid Annis Hag named Rotten Polly living in a house made from a titanous skull. They made a deal with her for information on whatever was stealing the children. In exchange, they gave her Keefax's spellbook, The Nine Lives Stealer Longsword, and Thokk had to give her a kiss.
 * Rotten Polly told the party that it was an Oni stealing the children. She also used her weird magic to suck on a wooden spoon and tell them that the Oni was currently three yards east of the Veilhold Castle.
 * Meanwhile, Lio, Kandra, and Zeevah were able to convince the Daltumels to host the party to lure the creature out.
 * Lio also cast detect good and evil and determined that Bagus Croll was of Lawful Evil alignment.
 * Vendrin and Thokk met back up with the group and told them about the Oni. Vendrin had a hunch that it had to be Rol Greatheel and had Thokk begin smashing things and causing trouble. Rol appeared from out of nowhere and tackled Thokk to the ground with surprising strength.
 * The party cut loose attacking Rol with vicious strength. After a round of combat, he revealed himself to be the Oni and attempted to cast several spells, but Vendrin's repeated use of counterspell stopped him from doing much of anything.
 * The party managed to pump some information out of him, namely that he had been eating the children, that some of the children were "somewhat" alive, and that "perhaps" they could be returned to their families.
 * Zeevah utilized a new power she didn't know she had to hex the Oni as he tried to flee and killed him with her strange new ability.
 * The party searched the Oni and found that he had on him, a Wand of Magic Missile and a snowglobe that healed minor wounds when it was shaken. Vendrin cast identify and found that the snowglobe was made of the same kind of weird magic that Rotten Polly seemed to use.
 * The party agreed that they would be paying the hag another visit.