Harry Situations

Year, Season, Month, Days: 5992 F.Y. Uptal, Scythian 16-17

The party packed up their camp before making a plan to exit their chamber, deciding they didn’t want to reveal the existence of the hidden passage. Mandilyon’s foot was hurt by the opening door, which alerted the guards.

The party engaged the guards, Marasennah fascinated almost everyone. Harry slapped the fascinated party members back to reality. After realizing the entire enemy force was fascinated, Marasennah thought the battle was too boring and inspired courage to her party. The enemy was entirely decimated.

A cleric ran down the stairs and attempted to revive a surviving party member. Harry, after having his kneecap smashed, used Inflict Moderate Wounds, much to the shock of the rest of the group. The party murdered both enemies remorselessly and looted the corpses, finding the cleric had a silver holy symbol of The Crown.

Marasennah received a note from Grand Vizier Drago asking if she had called for the death of Cosovo. The party advances up a floor and sees it is fairly well cleaned out. There is an upside down tree-like structure that stretches across the ceiling. It holds several green balls of various sizes, like the two found by Marasennah and Mandilyon. The party noticed several chevron buttons like the hidden room in the basement, and the party completed the same actions before that raised the central pillar. As Larc moves upward, the depression in the central pillar fits onto the sculpture. Larc replaced the loose orbs and realized turning the pillar caused the sculpture to move. An iris at the “root” of the system opened and light shone into the room, the party realized this was a model of the cosmos, a movement of planets, moons, and stars.

Marasennah received another scroll that stated several orders from her were appearing about the palace, and requested she send a decree that all orders go through him in order to prevent fraud. Marasennah did not yet reply.

Larc heard muttering from above the apparatus, through the ceiling. The party advanced and saw a human soldier with a crowbar. As fire shot from his hands towards the lock he had been prying at, Larc scared him and put out his flames. While Marasennah feigned Mandilyon was a great queen, the party discovered Ranco was a sorcerer of The Ensin Empire, Ranco. He was searching for secret passages.

Larc then shattered the lock with his newfound earth breaker and a voice called to them that The Ensin Empire may not enter the top of the tower. Larc sent Ranco downstairs to remove the heads off bodies and carry them down the mountain to the landship.

The party ascended through the trapdoor and saw a lunar naga and six humans with various astrological equipment. Taking time to speak with her, they learn her to be Aurelia, an oracle whom valued the stars and space who devoted their life to learning of the stars and restoring the tower. They suspected there was a great power beneath the tower.

After speaking with her more, the party was shown a raised altar of sorts that held a decently-sized object. An individual showed up when the recorders and Aurelia were asleep and took whatever the altar contained. In repayment for fixing her apparatus, the party was given fortunes, even though Larc compared her to a fortune cookie.

Marasennah:

“A moment of quiet upon arrival to your grounds may provide more insight than to which you should be privy. The greatest power you hold is the mask upon you, although those who know you may see your glimmer and recognize you by rouge opulence alone. Keep up your guard, for extended life removes many fears and incites new cravings upon those who are unsatisfied, as you, yourself, know. In your court there lies more than one jester.”

Larc was given a second fortune, feeling he was unsatisfied with the first:

“Your greatest weakness provides you great bounty for which you keep returning. Beware the danger of unpaid debtors, for they hold unseen cards within their hands. When your morals are tested, you may learn that a single black mark upon your soul may be less than that which goes unseen, for a sea of ink will weigh you down more than any anchor could.”

“You remain unsatisfied as you search, but within you are more than the sins of the flesh, but the sins of the mind. In your prison are mighty cravings fighting for their portion. With great aid you can return many long missing secrets of a bygone age, but first you must find them. The slump within hides what you seek; topped by riches and a mystic bastion, surrounded by a former home. Be prepared for a mighty search for the grains of truth amongst a sea of changing lies carried by gales. Although unwitting, they remain deceivers.”

Mandilyon:

“The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. This holds true until the veil is pierced and what is held within flows. Some are pulled in two directions by those waters, but you are pulled by three. Pacts such as these do not fade with time, but you may find that great powers within you can have unseen sources; practice is made easier by propensity. You will find that pursuing only one path may be fruitless, although direction may prove difficult if you do not yield to demands which you find unbefitting from the one of three you find most unbecoming.”

Harry:

“Your life is devoted to one unseen and unheard, but yet you hold faith. Your conviction is your strength and you will find it incredibly trying in times ahead. Your stalwartness will be rewarded and your death just in its own way, although some may see it as a tragic end. The mark upon your soul is not of your own making, and you shall not rest in the halls of Valicor, nor the realms of any god, no matter the level of your devotion or the efforts of the gods themselves. You are bound by laws that govern few others, beyond even the gods, themselves.”

Marasennah was given a very rare beverage of Aurelia’s venom, diluted into a hallucinogenic beverage. Marasennah pulled out the expensive wine given to her by Mandilyon and the party had a hearty drink with Aurelia to their continued good fortune. Aurelia also told the party that if anyone were to join them, they should come see her for a fortune, as it would be important for them. The party fixed the broken trapdoor by flipping it over and creating a makeshift lock accessible from the top.

The party discussed Mandilyon’s fortune and learned they were also Nikodym, a vigilante hero persona that Larc was familiar with from Quensit whom saved a great many people. They also discussed Harry’s fortune, and gave him a mental breakdown.

While descending the tower, Larc noticed all the heads had been removed from the intact bodies and that the large orc was not present outside, however, in one of the lava pools, there were several burning heads. Larc managed to pull out 5 heads in various burned condition. Even further down the mountain, there were several more heads, and a skullcap. Continuing down, the party found Ranco facedown in a lava pool, body scorched. Marasennah and Mandilyon saw large footprints and had a horrified realization that the orc must have been involved. Larc, unaware, looted a tiny diamond pinky ring off the body, a half-empty spell component pouch with prismatic sand, and an unreadable scroll.

After walking for several hours, the party saw the orc on the beach, and heard a barrage of gunshots. The party sprinted down the path, with Harry carrying Marasennah.

The party engaged the large orc, causing a landslide that almost pushed Harry into the lava pool. They also learned Marasennah’s mysterious gun was a healing gun. After Marasennah killed the formidable orc, she spoke with Harry offering him a position of paladin in her kingdom, and Larc looted the orc’s body.

By the boat, the group discussed how to move forward, as the boat could not handle the load of the miners and the party. Several of the miners volunteered to stay, and Larc suggested they stay with Aurelia until Coreth could return to save them. The party gave them water and climbed onto the weighed-down boat, exhausted from the fighting.

The party leveled up.