Summary

This chapter picked up where The Trials of the Seven Gods of Fortune left off. Player characters include: Lazarus, played by Drue, Saros, played by Brian, Arisu Michi, played by Dan K, and Sinharat, played by Dan H. Tony was the storyteller.

This chapter began in Realm Year 768 on the 25th day of Resplendent Wood. The chapter ended on the 28th day of Descending Wood, of the same year.

This chapter was completed in 4 sessions plus a short introduction session, a total of 18 experience was awarded.

Session 1

Lazarus began the day after the defeat of the last of the gods readying his men for departure back to Greyfalls. His task was cut short by a young man named Chiming Bells, Deputy to the Minister of Lore, coming to the temple and asking a favor of Aktuelle. naturally Aktuelle passed the task off on Lazarus who is forced to investigate a series of odd occurances involving a non-guild slave trader. After some investigation and a lot of intimidation, Lazarus finds the last customer of the apparent slave owner, a wealthy plantation owner named Ragellious. Ragellious seemed unwilling to cooperate and Lazarus nearly attacked him, but luckily for the investigation Sinharat stepped in.

Sinharat has been on Lazarus' trail for some time, after a meeting with a guild contact he too is investigating the strange slave owner who seems to have suddenly disappeared. Thanks to a bit of smooth talking by Sinharat, Ragellious agrees to meet with them at a tavern, believing Sinharat to be a slave owner and Lazarus to be his body guard. A little investigation and a little jade uncovered the location of the contact they had been looking for, Veils Boar.

A brief encounter within a casino/brothel uncover a strange bodyguard but little new information besides a confirmed location of the owner, the Nathir region. After a bit of recon Sinharat and Lazarus jump Veils Boar and his bodyguard in the streets, killing Veils and knocking out the bodyguard. They return to Aktuelle's temple with a knocked out body guard, and two freed slaves. The slaves are unable to yield much information as their communication and memory seem limited, it is revealed they are originally from near-by Nathir. Sinharat and Lazarus decide to travel to Nathir to investigate, Lazarus' men accompany him as it is on their way back to Greyfalls.

We pick up with Saros a few weeks later as he is completing his training at The River Temple of Anistatis under the tutelage of Brilliant Tsunami Masked by the Tower. As he finishes his training he receives a mission from the Convention on Deathlords informing him of a disturbance 50 miles south of Nathir. He is to investigate the disturbance, thought to be a shadowland, and if possible discern the cause and eliminate the disturbance. He will be accompanied on this mission by Arisu Michi, a fellow Gold Faction and Convention of Wood member.

Arisu is informed of her most recent mission, and first true field assignment, while at her office within The Most Perfect Lotus of Heavenly Design. Phaeron Briggs brings her news of her first field mission in person, explaining that it is officially assigned to her by the Convention of Wood. However, Arisu picks up on the subtle hints letting her know that this is unofficially assigned as a Gold Faction mission. Her assignment along side of Saros serves that she not be alone on her first mission likely to encounter combat, meanwhile an extra set of eyes and ears is set to watch over Saros' first mission back.

Saros and Arisu meet on top of the cliff of the temple, overlooking the Yellow River before deciding to travel by horse, first to Selbina then to Blackrock Spire before entering the disrupted portion of creation. Saros and Arisu arrive in Selbina after nightfall and go straight to an inn, here they uncover that the small village of Iron Forge has been mysteriously destroyed; further investigation shows that only one boat will still head near that region of river, the Vermillion Dragon. Saros and Arisu speak with Iron Panther, the captain of the ship to learn more about the city, they learn that there was no apparent sign of struggle and no sign of bodies at the town. He was the man who started the rumor, orginally from the town of Iron Forge.

While on the docks Saros spots familiar troops, and a familiar face in Lazarus as he and Sinharat arrive in Selbina at dawn. Against his better judgment Saros approaches Lazarus, hoping to hear news of Sarefine; as they talk they soon learn that their tasks are similar and both must travel south to the now ghost town of Iron Forge. After a confrontation with a stable master Sin and Lazarus obtain horses and join Saros and Arisu on the road south, intending to stop and spend a night in Blackrock Spire before arriving at their destination. However, once things are underway Saros says the wrong thing and stirs up Lazarus' pride, the duel of words results in a duel of fists. The fight progresses unimpressively with Saros pulling a slight lead until Lazarus bites off Saros' ear, the enraged Saros proceeds to use a charm and deeply injures Lazarus. Once again Sinharat steps in to stop the battle before the two use all their essence or kill each other.

The group continues on, now divided and more tense than before, they crest a small hill as the sun begins to set and see the tall back spire the town is named after.

5 Experience Awarded

Session 2

The four tense travelers arrived at the village of Blackrock Spire as the sun set, to their surprise they found the villagers boarding up their houses. The villagers were quick to warn the travelers that creatures had been attacking the town at night, several people had died, most which were on the lower spire. The group found a place to stay the night in safety, but Sinharat, Arisu, and Saros decided they would lookout for what the creatures responsible for the attacks. They didn't have to wait long to see creatures lurking in the shadows, Sinharat led the attack against the shadowy figures which were revealed to be lions of molten gold. With some difficulty the 3 managed to dispatch the lions, but Saros was badly injured and the others were not unscathed.

The next morning Saros decided he needed to rest before continuing on, Sinharat and Arisu decided to split up for a day before meeting back and planning to head to Iron Forge the following morning. Sinharat went about town and observed that the villagers were beginning to run out of provisions, with prices rising only the rich could still afford what little the merchants had left. He sent word to his guild contact in Great Forks about the opportunity to be had, intending for his followers to come out to Blackrock Spire. Meanwhile, Arisu headed south towards the disturbance, she quickly found out that what she believed to be a shadowland was in fact a Wyld Pocket. She continued to explore what seemed to be a relatively mild pocket of the Wyld, she encountered a sole Hobgoblin in the fields but quickly dispatched of it; she also took note that as she moved further east the strength of the pocket seemed to grow.

She returned to Blackrock Spire to report her findings to Saros, meanwhile Sinharat convinced Saros to begin teaching him more about the supernatural aspects of creation. After some discussion the trio decided to take a boat to Duskwood, Saros would stay in the town while Arisu and Sinharat continued on to Iron Forge.

Arisu and Sinharat made a quick discovery upon arrival, they found that the Wyld stops abruptly at the edge of the river. They continued their planned route and made their way to Iron Forge without any trouble. When they arrived they found the town as deserted as was reported, there were no signs of struggle or trace of villagers, but there was information to be gathered within the town. First off the town appeared to be just outside the Wyld pocket, it would appear that a small river running through the town from the east serves as the epicenter for a lane of stability through the Wyld. The pair continued to explore the surrounding area taking careful note to map the boundaries of the Wyld, but the day passed without much suspense.

At nightfall that changed, the two boarded themselves into a stone building within the town of Iron Forge, waiting to see what would happen come nightfall. As darkness swept over the city the shadowy goblin-like figures emerged and started to sweep over the town, exploring all possible hiding places. It was only a matter of time before they found they pairs stronghold, the creatures climbed and crawled but could not find a way into the building, determined they began to try to break through. After several suspenseful hours of pounding and anticipation the goblins broke through the door. Using the doorway as a choke point Sinharat and Arisu were able to cut down their foes without sustaining great damage, but after that encounter decided that they should stick to the plan and return to Duskwood the following day. The two arrive at the dock of Duskwood that night.

4 Experience Awarded

Session 3

Lazarus started the day feeling quite a bit better than he had the day before and he decided now was a good time to meet back up with the group he'd let start the investigation work. He paid for a ferry across the river to the town of Duskwood, where he shortly met up with Saros, and then met with the recently returned Arisu and Sin. After a brief discussion about what transpired in the town of Blackrock Spire the group decided that some healing was necessary before returning to the Wyld.

The group broke up into two pieces; Saros and Arisu decided it was time they reported back to Heaven to see if they needed to continue their mission. Meanwhile Sinahrat and Lazarus spoke with the people in town and learned of someone who might be some help to them, a mysterious figure called The Patron who frequented Aerie Peak. Sin began to make plans to travel to Aerie Peak and find her, convincing Lazarus to come with him he soon found doing what should have been a simple task rather difficult. Thanks to Arisu the guards had been alerted that trouble was coming during the night, because of this guard presence in the town was rather large. Arisu was too had heard of this patron and was seeking to draw her to Duskwood, rather than go to Aerie Peak to find her.

Thanks to a rare bit of group cooperation the two plans were discussed, and when Arisu's sounded more reasonable, or at least less reversible, they decided to make real trouble to be sure The Patron arrived. After a bit of stealth a few horses were scarred off, a stable was collapsed, and a few more buildings were set on fire, all in all resulting in a large amount of chaos and only minimal damage to the village (At least we did DoOB the whole village).

The next morning an entourage had arrived at the tavern, several guards and diplomats along with a rather distinct woman who the others appeared to default to. Sin and Exaltant Willow, also known as The Patron, made small talk until the rest of the group joined them for breakfast. They talked over breakfast, rather tensely, as both parties seemed rather unwilling to help the other. Willow had her suspicions about the strange outsiders in her town, along with the 'coincidental' disturbance had her on edge, while certain members of the party chose to disclose whatever they could others were more devoted to remaining secretive. After some long discussion Willow agreed to help the group be rid of the Wyld Pocket, as well as provide them with healing.

After the group was rested and healed Willow arranged for a boat to drop them near the town of Iron Forge, the group entered the Wyld, many for the first time. The decided they would make for the eastern woods where the Wyld seemed to grow stronger, traveling along the Ash River they slept throughout the day so that they would be alert during the more dangerous nightfall. As nightfall came the Wyld became more active and the horses became more difficult to control, the sky turned pitch black, the long grass of the open plains seemed to catch fire, and the howling winds sounded like distant voices. As they continued their travel they discovered they were being stalked by creatures of the Wyld, despite being outnumbered the exalts quickly disposed of the Wyld creatures with only minimal injuries. Despite their easy victory they knew they had only begun to experience the dangers of the Wyld and decided it would be best to proceed with caution and stealth, they would have to travel the rest of the way on foot.

4 Experience Awarded

Session 4

I will summarize later.

5 Experience Awarded

Characters

Protagonists

Solar Exalts

Sidereal Exalts

Lunar Exalts

Exaltant Willow

Antagonists

Feedback

This is a spot where I'd like all of you to put any comments or suggestions be they negative or positive about the storyline and/or the storytelling. Try to be constructive. If nothing else just tell me what ya like.

Feedback #1

I like lamp. (Sorry, I had to.) -Dan H.

Feedback #2

Since I put this up I suppose I should start us off with something helpful. I'd like to say well done to Brian and Drue for staying in character despite the disadvantages it may cause. -Tony

Feedback #3

I just wanted to say that I like inter-character conflict (physical or otherwise). I think it is what makes role-playing more than just a game with objectives for the players to achieve. I am glad both you and Dan allow (and encourage) it when it is the most appropriate course of action for the characters to take. -Dan k

Feedback #4

The scene wherein the goblins were trying to claw and muscle their way into the barricaded house was awesome. It had a very palpable tension to it; it reminded me of those moments in horror movies where the zombie horde is finally about to bust through the window of the store the protagonists are taking refuge in. -- Dan H.

Feedback #5

I don't have the most detailed notes for what transpired this session, but I think I got most of it down. If I missed something, or flat out got it wrong let me know and we can get it right. -Tony