Session 9 - 13OCT2024

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

•  We decide to work with The Archivist of The Council of the Few to help put a stop to the criminal group Red Omen. To that end, we are transported to the neighboring nation of the Grayogen Empire to help put a stop to their towns disappearing and try to get an audience with the empress. We are currently pursuing rogue nature spirits that were attacking a town in the Empire.
  

Session Notes

• We reach out to the posse members that are left back in the town via the walkie talkie
  
• We identify some nearby marks that look like are the remains of dragging bodies away

The trail is quickly disappearing because the forest is quickly growing over the marks Nick is able to talk to some roots and plants (like he does), and he convinces them to help show us the trail We follow the trail to a modest clearing in the forest, shaped like a circle In the center of the clearing is a collection of small twigs (~15) sticking out of the ground with leaves Upon investigation, the twigs are slowly moving back and forth like the twigs are breathing slowly
Nick decides to "send it" and uses Firbolg magic to transform himself into a mossy treeblight The twigs respond to this by recoiling away from him in treeblight form Nick decides to walk up to the twigs and fondle them in an overly friendly way As he does so, a strong sense of confusion and curiosity pervades his mind Erica is spending her time to magically create a shovel Walter checks in with the posse members back in town

The only weird thing is that they have seen an egret of some kind which is weird, but not necessarily some portent of evil There is one viillage weirdo that does think the egret is evil, but that guy is always weird, so the posse thinks things are fine Jin uses warlocky thought powers to reach out to the twigs and is flooded by a wave of disorientation

He experiences cool, damp earth He is now tapped into some kind of network of consciousness, perhaps the forest? He can sense other living humanoids, a large collection south where the village is Also, a pair of humanoids that are nearby and extremely still They are located 30ft away from us to the west Nick takes this information and proceeds to where the other humanoids are (in his mossy blight form) As Nick approaches, Jin senses a feeling of nervousness coming from the collective At this point, Erica has completed her shovel, so we start digging at the ground This triggers a sense of danger and alarm in the collective senses that Jin is tapped into As Erica is digging, there are more and more roots We uncover some cloth that appears to be some clothing That clothing seems to be attached to a body! We are continuing to try to uncover it Jin hears the word/feeling "Why?" In an effort to communicate with the collective, Jin tries to communicate that the collective is interfering with other forms of life The collective responds with a strong sense of love and protection for itself and its members Jin tries to convince the collective to release the body through the metaphor of a baby bird growing up and leaving the nest

It doesn't really understand As we continue excavating, Walter tries to pull the body out of the ground, but fails Nick then gives it a try after changing out of his moss blight form and is able to remove the body from the ground The body belongs to one of our missing militia members, and they are still breathing As this happens, Jin feels a sharp sense of panic, but also a feeling of mighty trees sheltering small saplings

Basically implying that we are taking away its children Jin conveys the feeling that the large forest is shading its saplings and killing them The collective is very confused, and wonders who/what Jin is that they can take away the charges of the collective We ask the forest what is the danger posed to the people that the forest is protecting the villagers from The forest responds resoundingly, clearly, and repeatedly with the words "Bashuk Ushat" Jin convinces the forest to release the other person from our missing patrol, they are unconscious The forest was able to confirm that the missing people from the other villages are still alive, but being held in this stasis state As communication is cut, the forest replies with "Oba" over and over again

Reminder that the alternative title for the Empress is The Oba

Our plan is to warn the villagers that we recommend evacuating toward the capital, but that we are still trying to figure things out

One guy ranting about an egret was trying to convince others to burn down the forest People don't take him too seriously Jin tries to intimidate this guy not to hurt the forest...he is exceedingly successful, causing this guy to pee and poop his pants in fear Our group then decides to head back to the previous village we were in with the soldiers We make it back to the previous village we were in

The weather is rainy and windy We rendezvous with Captain Adare again We relay all our info about the forest and stuff to him When we mention "The Oba" he makes a motion and states "Blessed be her passing" We are able to convince him to travel back to the Capital (Gulg) and try to have an audience with the Empress, we can at least be in the same room as her We will also be able to get our monetary reward back in Gulg Walter records the weather as we go

Light rain on the first day Moderate rain on the second day Weather in Gulg when we arrive is very clear and nice Gulg is described as a resplendent city of white stone comprised mostly of humans

It is built in a circular shape There is a great respect for nature with things like elevated gardens and buildings shaped around old-growth trees Sanitation seems to be respected as sewage is handled in a way that does not lead to disease or foul odor Even low-class citizens seem to lead comfortable lives Armed guards are quite prevalent throughout the city in very nice looking armor The seat of government is a former, heavily fortified building that the city has been built around We enter a large room in which the empress is seated on a throne, a human in her 30's with dark skin and light hair, in a white gown, almost toga-like, and a purple sash (purple seems to be the accent color of the Grayogen empire) We are announced into the room as "heroes of the realm" The empress asks for an update from Captain Adare He provides a summary of what we have told him, and she seems to be much more interested when Adare mentions how we were communicating with the forest When Adare gets to the part about how Jin communicated with the forest, she stops him suddenly and orders that the room be cleared

Only the empress, Adare, our group, three advisors, and two elite guards are left in the room Upon closer inspection, the Empress's eyes are a pale violet We tell her both that "Rajat still exists" (message from the council of the few) and the message from the forest "Bashuk Ushat" She demands to know where we heard these names We come clean about both the Archivist as well as the forest consciousness She laughs out loud when we mention The Archivist

"Nibenay deigns to grace us with his presence once again" She laughs at the title "The Archivist" She wants to know more about the forest mentioning Bashuk Ushat

She claims that there are very few things in this world older than herself She is surprised that nature has a long enough memory to know those words She wants to know what else we have heard about from The Archivist

She says that Bashuk Ushat is nothing we need to be concerned about, simply a story that lives under the bed, or a monster in the closet She states that the forests are simply overreacting and that she will commune with it to help put an end to it She is a bit interested in us because The Archivist has decided to trust us to some degree She wants information about what The Archivist is up to, in exchange, she will do what she can to help She thinks that the Red Omen is extinct and dismisses the concerns of The Archivist She lets slip that Bashuk Ushat is the deity that is worshipped by The Red Omen She hints that she might be more cooperative should "The Archivist" meet with her directly Alternatively, she would pay this more heed if we were to bring her proof of some kind that the Red Omen is back We decide to head out and try to acquire the proof that she is looking for Nick decides to ask if there is anything she can provide us to help us on our journey

She provides us with a small box. Inside is a glass orb that is approximately the size of a golf ball This orb appears to contain a blizzard inside it She calls it a "Snow Globe" When you break the globe, snow will overwhelm the area around you, disadvantaging your enemies while not affecting you

1d12 turns of snowiness when broken Gulg doesn't have a Council of the Few building, but there are some in nearby towns Options for next session:

Explore the city of Gulg Go to a nearby town to a Council of the Few location