NTWFDND- Team EuroAtlantis!

[Liou]

At last, here is an in-character almost-recap from Tally's point of view. This is a letter that she gives Anzi, Thorn's NPC, at the beginning of session 4, to take back to her special somepony someone back in the city where the journey started. This letter is focused on the events of sessions 2 and 3.

SPOILER: Click to show

Dearest Yzzy,

I trust that this letter finds you safe and well in Ur' Zaihar and that its bearer had a safe journey. My thanks again to their Lordships Murai and Lu'hais for their hospitality.

After meeting with the adventurers in town - I told you I would find them eventually! - I journeyed north with them. They are quite a diverse group of interesting surface dwellers. Some are uncommonly enthusiastic over fisticuffs. Others are uncommonly sympathetic towards wildlife, more than towards their fellow travellers. I keep reminding myself not to take it personally, as it reflects their preference and no shortcoming of mine. Some of their ideas and opinions are worrying, but they seem well-intentioned and open overall. I even have hopes of asking them to help us in Where? one day.

I have not met any new flames on the way, and so far, I don't think anyone in the party could meet my needs. If I date, be sure that I would only settle with someone who would treat me as well as you do, and that returning to you after that relationship would only make me happier.

We found the bandits' tracks and evidence of their involvement without too much trouble, and located their hideout, not far west from the monastery. We worked quite well together to sneak in, and I attacked as swiftly as I could. That is where my hopes began to wane. Some of my companions took down our opponents brutally, with more force than necessary. I couldn't get them to surrender before the fight continued.

At least, we kept some of the bandits as captives. And the party managed not to kill one of our number when he changed back to his true appearance. And we found the halfling who escaped us in Dyventain the other day, safe and sound and sweet-scented, in a crate of loot!

We found clues hinting at the next location of the rest of the gang. We will be heading south-southeast. I will go with the party and prevent them from wandering around too much - I cannot let these people roam unattended, there are too many ways they could harm us. As they are today, I must not let them discover our most precious place. It would be sensible for you to stay in Zaihar until I'm sure that it's safe for you to travel home, Bae.

I am trying my hardest to stay calm, to see past these travellers' exterior and abstain from judgement. I think of the two of us, of what we have done, how hopeless we seemed, and how much we have learned since. I will have to put more faith in these people if we are to keep travelling, how can I even keep watch properly when I'm too busy watching my own back?

They killed the captive bandits, blasted, clumsy bludgeoned, and I didn't stop them, I couldn't do anything
I could only free two
I remembered other captives and their lives in my hands and other people telling me what's right and what's wrong and this time I didn't know which goddess was watching me
if only I had your presence and your voice and your mind I could have stopped them with one word
I will never let these people take one step into Where?
I'd take them to the Shrine, but the monks have better to do than fix these people
And so do I.
Not everything is for me to fix, and not everything is a test from a goddess.
I'm sorry for telling you such things, Yzzy I know it is your wish to share everything with me for support, my love.

My apologies to their Lordships for sending Anzi home without an escort. He snuck out of Zaihar after us, protected us from an ambush, and by the time we found him, it was too late to take him back. He did very well. If Anzi is still around after bringing you this letter, please try talking to him, I think it could do him some good.

Don't worry too much about me, my love. As long as I move freely under the sky, all will be well.

Your Bae,
Talsindra

[Thorn]

Session Four: a lighthearted recap

*Anzi resists being babysat.
*Tally believes she's surrounded by murderhobos.
*Anthony wants to get an uber, and some Five Guys. These olde timey fantasy folks are understandably confused.
*Meallan is a better Disney Princex than Amani. =(
*Road trippppp!!!
*Khamet breaks Basil's brain.
*Khamet insists Basil is more than just a thief. <3
*Anthony speaks with his presumed lover/enemy/something else scandalous, Wrong Number.
*Khamet catches ALL THE FISH.
*Anthony manages to make a white wine sauce, with some dregs he stole from the bandits.
*Meallan TOTALLY meant to fail at chopping down tree branches- he just needed to loosen them a bit so he could yank them down with his hands, of course, it's SO OBVIOUS.
*Khamet is the worst Disney Princex, confusing and insulting a jaguar-like creature in a language it can't even understand.
*Meallan does slightly better, racking up more Princex points by speaking with it in Sylvan. He manages to get its name, Surati, and it entices him to reveal the name of his Lady, Malka.
*Meallan flirts with trees.
*Basil climbs trees.
*Centaur wanders through trees. =O

[Gelquie]

Session 4:

((This session, I paid more attention to recording conversations as I go, though I didn't do this for all of them. How I'll do this is that for longer conversations, I'll try to summarize first, then put the conversation notes in the spot just below, marked with *()*. Likely they won't be pure conversations as I may have missed some details or not written everything down. This is especially possible for conversations my character was a part of.))

((As always, let me know if I got anything wrong, or if there's anything I missed (I know there's at least one), and I'll edit.))

SPOILER: Click to show

The session starts off where the last one ended; the part had just freed 2 bandits, then killed the remaining. Tally was noticeably upset by this. Anzi decides to approach Tally.

Anzi: “Are you okay?”
Tally: “I just can't trust these people if this is how they kill and judge others. I just feel I don't fit in. But I'm still here and can't back out now.”
Anzi does not know how to comfort.

To find Crezonis, the leader of the bandits, the group needs to find a tree with silvery moss. This tree is on the far eastern end of the continent, 5 days away if the group doesn't move fast. The meeting in question will take place in 9 days.

Anthony: “We just should get an uber.”
Meallan asks what this is.
Anthony: “You know, a carriage?”
Meallan: “Are you afraid to walk?”
Anthony says no. Meallan continues saying that therefore, Anthony should walk.

The group briefly discusses perhaps intercepting Crezonis on the way. Amani suggests asking the birds if they see them ahead of time, which Meallan considers.
Anthony: “Leave me out of this bird business.”
Amani: “Fine. =| “
Meallan: “I would not let you anywhere near the birds. =| “

It's pointed out that it'll be difficult to intercept Crezonis given they don't know where he is now and therefore what direction he'll come from. So they resolve to head to the site.

Anzi wants to go home and tell the others what happened here. Tally regretfully says she can't go with him because she needs to watch over the rest of the group.
Amani asks if Anzi wants the group to walk him back home.Anzi resists, going “I'm fine, I'm not a baby >| “. The group argues about this for some time.

*(Anzi: “I'm fine, I made my way here.”
Tally: “You're obviously exhausted.”
Anzi: “I'm fine! >| It's up to you if you want to babysit me.”
Tally: “It's not you I need to babysit. It's them.”
Amani: “...What do you mean? I don't need babysitting, I can watch myself just fine. =| “
Anthony: “Don't worry, I can watch over you all just fine.”
Group: *Laughs.*
Meallan: “I'd rather have Khamet watch over me.”
There's more talk of who can watch over too. Amani sighs and walks away from the group during this, and shuts down Meallan's attempt to ask them about it. )*

Finally, the group says Anzi can go if they want. Tally asks Anzi to take a parcel back to her bae.

On the way out, Meallan goes after Anzi and asks about getting him an escort. He tries to find birds, but finds a nice snail! instead.
Amani comes out and helps find some birds. Meallan asks the birds to escort Anzi and ensure he makes it back safe.
(Anzi: =| )

After the birds fly off with Anzi, Amani approaches Meallan and asks: “How do you do that?” Regarding talking to birds. Meallan explains it's a firbolg trait. They can understand the animals and the forests. Amani: “Oh. So... not something you can learn.” Meallan: “No. I'm sorry. ...I can teach your some of their tells, but I can't teach your their language.” Amani: “...I guess that'll have to do.”
So Meallan is winning the Disney princex-off. Amani is sad about this.

They plan how to get to the place. They decide to follow the river, since it takes about the same amount of time. They realize they have to stop somewhere so Tally can sleep and sun (drow), and make plans to do this sometime when the sun is hottest.

They set off. Khamet's in front, Anthony sings a sweet walking tune, Meallan stays close in rear with Tally, Basil goes in the middle, Amani trails on the edges.

While walking uneventful hours, Meallan approache Tally about why she was so upset. They converse for a while as they try to bond.

*(Meallan asks Tally why she was so upset.
“Oh gee, I wonder. =| “
Meallan: “We did not have much choice.”
Tally: “maybe that's upsetting in itself”
“It must be. I saw no other way.”
“We could've spoken to a bird.”
Meallan: “You do not need to be afraid of us. Are you afraid of me?”
“...Yeah.” Because Meallan is big. “They tell me tales. You could squash me.”
“I'm not going to squash you”
“What are you going to do then?”
“I'm not going to do anything to you. I think you're a fairly valuable companion. You have a good heart, perhaps too good, but, I'm fine. I'm not going to hurt you. I only hurt those who are bad people.”
“...So why would you make an exception for me?”
“...You're a bad person?”
“Who can judge that?”
“There are some who can. But in my judgment, you're fine.”
“Really? It's a relief to hear that from you, Meallan.”
“I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. But you're welcome, if you're being earnest with me.”
Meallan also says that she can trust the others. At least Amani and Khamet, because he thinks they're good people. But well, maybe not Anthony or Basil.
But Meallan thinks Tally can be trusted. Kind. Strong when she needs to be.
Tally: “Why are you saying such things?”
“Because I want to be friends.”
“You do?”
“Yes, I do. Is that such a bad thing?”
“No, it's just, not many people want to be friends with me.”
Meallan says me neither, due to being a firbolg.

“Can I confide in you? Tell you something very secret?”
Meallan leans in close.
“...I've got my eye on you. Don't think it's so easy to get me on your side. Watch your step.” Tally pushes his back so he walks ahead.
“...I'll keep that in mind.” He strokes her hair and walks off.)*

Basil and Khamet talk as well, and go into detail about one of their backstories.

*(Khamet: “BASIL, HOW ARE YOU DOING TODAY??”
“...Not great. How are you?”
“I'm excellent! I'm always excellent! Tell me, where did you acquire yoiur thieving skills; they're most impressive!”
“...You pick these things up if you have to.”
“Ah, I see! In my homeland, we have a Thieves Guild. In fact, they're so prolific that they have songs and legends about heroes who also happen to be really great thieves. So do not despair, Basil. You can be great, even if you are a thief! In fact, my own parents were thieves, just like you! They were, in fact, masters of the thieves guild!”
(OOC: I think you broke Basil.)
“They stole trinkets from all over the land. In fact, those trinkets got me interested in adventuring in other lands!” They also mention the opportunity to meet other people.
Basil: “...Got any of those trinkets on you?”
“Ah, no, sorry. Not on me.” They talk about their sibling's money allergy.
They think that they're more than just a thief.)*

After this, Amani decides to talk to Khamet about what he just said.

*(Amani walks over to Khamet after the conversation is done and goes: “You are way too trusting. =| “
“Oh don't get me wrong, I don't trust any of you! But I believe anyone has the potential to be great.”
Amani: “They have to prove it first. =| “
Khamet says that in order for them to prove themselves, Amani has to open themselves up to being proven to.
Amani: “Well, they had their chance to prove themselves by not stealing from me, and they blew it, so, they have to try harder. =| “
Khamet: “Well, to be fair, it's very shiny.”
Amani glares.
“I see my reply has left you speechless!”
“... Yes.”)*

During this talk, Anthony got a phone call, ducks into the bushes, and goes “WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME NOW??” He comes out later going “it's the wrong number.”

They take a short rest.
Then in evening, they make camp.
Meallan goes into the woods to gather campfire. Anthony tries cooking.
Khamet decides to go fishing, despite never going fishing before! (Meallan and Amani have never gone fishing either.)
Khamet tries fishing for the first time... and gets a Nat 20! He gets a fish in his mouth and a fish in each hand. He is one with the fish!

Meallan tries gathering firewood... And does poorly. He yanks on a branch, messes up, and then does the cat-like “I meant to do that” pose.

Anthony tries cooking with Basil's assistance. Their result... They present cumin fish with white wine sauce! It's good!
Amani: “This is good, you should cook more often!” Meallan agrees.

They talk about various things.

Tally: “Who was that person who called you?”
Anthony: “Oh, it was... just the wrong number.”

[There's another conversation here, but I don't remember the details aside from knowing that Amani contributed at the end of one of them, and I'd really need more context to explain what I do remember. So for now, this section is blank. D= *Sad violin sounds.*]

Someone asks Anthony where he's from. He says he's from very far away, like, the other side of the world.

Meallan mentions how their home is from far away too, or it was.
*(Amani: “Was?”
Meallan says yes; it does not exist anymore.
Amani asks what happened. Meallan gets sadder and sadder. They talk about how their clan is gone. Amani: “Oh, I'm... I'm sorry. D= “ They're kind of awkward, try to pat Meallan on the back once.
Meallan tries to shrug it off, saying that their clan never cared about them.
Amani: “Ah, well... Uh... Still though... D= “ They trail off.
The conversation kind of quietly and awkwardly ends.)*

They change the subject with talk of watches!
Watch order: Amani → Khamet → Tally → Meallan

Basil volunteers to watch too!
The others veto. ("He'll take my watch!" -Anthony) The others suggest Amani and Basil take watch together. Amani: “I'd rather take watch alone. =| “ Basil: “Fine with me; good night!”

Amani takes watch, they don't seem much of anything. After their watch, Amani wakes up Khamet and then goes to sleep.

Khamet takes watch and hears animal noises, as if some were driving others off. It's obviously away from the group. Khamet doesn't sense anything about them.
Khamet sings quietly. This draws the attention of a shadowy jaguar creature; black in color, and emanating shadows. Khamet tries talking to it in his native language. The cat is interested, but doesn't understand what Khamet is saying. The cat just gets confused. The cat eventually slinks back into the trees. Khamet is confused, but doesn't see it as a threat.

Tally takes next watch and rolls a natural 1, and so notices nothing.

On Meallan's next watch, he rolls high, and he notices the shadowy cat. Meallan calls out in Sylvan. The cat seems relieved and is glad that someone knows its language. It walks out of the bushes in curiosity. The two greet each other. Meallan asks what kind of creature they are, although Meallan knows they're a fey. At some point, the cat teleports closer to Meallan. They admit that they're a creature of fey.
Meallan asks the creature what they're doing here. The cat replies that they're not here for Meallan, and this is clear in their actions. Meallan pressed further, and the cat replies: “I don't really need to justify their presence, do I?” Meallan replies that they're just curious. The cat decides that well, then they can leave it at that.

They talk about their fey masters, and Meallan admits that they serve a fey queen. Upon prompting from the cat, Meallan replies that her name is Malka, and is from Varentar. The cat, in turn, replies that their name is Surati. They say that it's nice to meet each other.

The conversation dies down, and the cat eventually returns to the trees.

The watch ends, all wake up at 7am except for Amani, who wakes up half an hour later. Washes in the lake happens, then they set off again.

During the next walk, around noon, Anthony spots a plume of smoke in the distance. It's pretty far away. They question whether it could be the bandits or a settlement. Meallan calls birds (at Amani's suggestion) to ask them to check it out for them. The birds... just kind of fly away; “whatever.” Meallan apologizes for that lacking effectiveness.

They argue about it for a while; it's pointed out that if it is bandits then they'd be ahead of them. Or as Basil points out, by being ahead, the bandits could ambush them.

They debate for a while. Ultimately, they decide to keep following the river and ignore the smoke. The smoke diminishes the next day.
They keep going, and they find the landmark in question. Meallan goes up to the tree, touches it, and goes “you're beautiful, <3 “
(Cue many jokes about Meallan flirting with a tree. Most are OOC, probably.)

Meallan suggests putting up traps. Amani asks if anyone can climb a tree. Basil volunteers. (Amani: “Fine. Your life.”)
Basil climbs the tree and gets a view of the land, but there's no sign of bandits 4 days early. Basil and Anthony are concerned about the smoke and try to get a view of it.
They realize the smoke is from Ur Deyn; a village.

Meallan sets up some traps, such as a noose snare that ties around the leg.

Amani, Meallan, and Tally survey the island from the shore of the continent. The tide can get low enough that they can wade to the island if they want to. But they opt to not for now.

They make camp, and Meallan and Basil check out the tree with the silver moss. Basil climbs it. Basil sees that there's evidence of trees moving around from the top of the silvery tree despite lack of wind.

Basil reports this, and Meallan reports this to the rest of the group. They all check the area, and most of them see a centaur going through the woods. The others prepare for an ambush...

[Thorn]

Inspired by Liou and Tally, I did a little writing practice with my npc Anzi! It would have been cool to write for one of his mothers (who are likely in various states of ARGGH STUPID CHILD and ARGH I HOPE THE STUPID CHILD IS NOT DEAD!!!!), but he's the only npc who has been in every session so far, and thus the best for recapping!
I also have a written exercise from OCtober, with some of the bandits hanging out a few hours before the party arrived but I feel I'll keep that one to myself.

Next session is one week away on the thirteenth, guys! Will Surati be back? Will this centaur notice the party? What did the smoke even really mean? Time will tell!

SPOILER: Click to show

Things I am good at:
-Hiding
-Hunting maybe?
-Cooking? NONONO

Thing I am not so good at:
-Conversations
-Inspiring people
-Being sympathetic
-Talking in general
-Cooking

I’m working out what to do. Talsindra gave me a letter for her bae, who is a guest of my mothers, so I have to go there first. I think I wanted to anyway- but that doesn’t make facing them any less terrifying. I know I should be calm. I don’t want to say something I’ll regret. I just wish they would understand. I need to stop being ‘Anzi.’ I can’t be any help at all to our people if I’m still seen as a child. On the other hand, I know I’m not ready for this. I’m still lacking in so many qualities. Lu'hais will mention this for certain. 

I’m not sure how much to tell them. There’s a secret I promised not to share, but the person it belongs to is terrifying. They threatened to kill Anthony! After all he’s done for Ur, after how much our citizens owe him, this individual would kill him over a single bird? True, he showed a total lack of respect for the creature, but at least it died without really knowing what was happening. Unlike the others this same person later willingly kept captive at length, before finally ending their lives. I hated them too. I still wish they'd just gotten it over with! Dragging it out made it harder for everyone, especially poor Talsindra. 

I think about Silvani and Seilin a lot. I don’t think my mothers will let me go to Shaan. They’ll probably want to debate and discuss with their Ur’a* before sending an official statement to Cai Lyrelle with all the highly considered, drafted and redrafted details. The news would reach her long before by unofficial means. I want Seilin to learn what happened to her sister in a more appropriate fashion. I want her to know that Silvani was avenged. I want to know more about Silvani so I can remember her as well, because although we talked a lot, I feel I didn’t listen well enough. She lived in Cai Shaan, had a sister called Seilin, and ran medicines and supplements and such to our capital. This is everything I recall. Her favourite colour was green.

So in short I need to go to my mothers, tell them about the past few days; pretend I won’t leave again without their permission, do that anyway, and get to Shaan. I think Nasinrel is too loyal to them but I know some people who might help me. I did okay on my own but I’d rather have somebody with me next time I leave. Even if we don’t run into any danger, I would like the company.

I’m not sure how easily I’ll be able to do any of this, but I need to try.

*Ur'a- influential people in the territory of Ur, appointed by the rulers. Since they appoint those they really trust, they often end up acting as advisers regardless of their actual profiles. I thought about just using the word adviser to seem less pretentious, but wasn't sure it gave the right impression, so you get a random made-up word from my notes instead.

[Thorn]

Hey guys- two days to go until EuroAtlantis session five!
Are you excited? I know I am! Can't wait to see how the party deals with the situation at hand, and if any more seekrits are uncovered about fellow party members or the world more broadly...=O

[Thorn]

Session Five: a lighthearted recap

*Confirmation that Basil had climbed the hawt tree (as opposed to one of the Average Joe Trees.)
*Where did Khamet go? Did he get his own spin-off series at last? Good for him!
*The rest of the party try to hide...except Anthony, who doesn't see the centaur and looks around for more cool rocks.
*Amani is sighted! Oh noes! Unsurprisingly, hiding behind a tree root didn't really work.
*Meallan takes on the form of the bandit 'leader' from session 2-3.
*Meallan: "You're not supposed to be here for four days!" The Centaur (Crezonis): "You're not supposed to be here for four days."
*Amani has been sighted, and Meallan pretends to take them prisoner. Unfortunately, the centaur then spots Anthony as well, and he is less convincing.
*Anthony, Tally and Basil all try to hide behind the same tree. I imagine it's very awkward.
*Amani and the bandits argue in favour of ransoming Anthony. Crezonis isn't listening.
*Anthony blares music from his cellphone, inspiring Basil but giving away their location.
*Meallan is excited to see the centaur cast Eldritch Blast...even though it injures Anthony.
*A weirdo spectral humanoid flickers in and out of existence, superimposed over the centaur. It's weird. And spectral. And humanoid. Pretty colours tho!
*Basil + Halfling Bandit OTP.
*Ice, ice baby!
*THORN THE OBJECT NOT THORN THE PERSON.
*The tire iron makes a comeback.
*Anthony revives Crezonis, and threatens to keep knocking out and reviving him if he doesn't answer their questions.
*Meallan and Crezonis measure patrons.
*Anthony: "We're gonna let you live but, just in case...head or chest?" Thorn ooc: "Which chest?"
*The party discuss riding the centaur back into town...

**

Names learned!
Arcaito, Lord of the Wild Spaces- the archfey Crezonis serves.
Crezonis- palomino centaur warlock. Or 'Chosen', whatever vague thing this means (you knew his name already, but doesn't hurt to restate it with context.)
Volan- wood elven bandit '''leader''' from sessions 2-3.

[Gelquie]

Session Five:

SPOILER: Click to show

“Basil was climbing the sexy tree”
Basil has found a centaur moving through the trees!
Amani's first reaction is to hide.
Basil ducks behind the big tree.
There's also 4 elves dressed like the bandit with the centaur, Crezonis. his eyes are a bright, flourescent green. He carries a spear-like staff with a leaf blade on the tip.
Among them is also a halfling with flowers in her hair.
The rest of the party hides except for Anthony and Meallan. The former is busy looking for cool rocks.

Meallan casts disguise self and disguises themselves as the bandit leader they killed. Then they walk straight up to Crezonis.
“You were supposed to be here 4 days from now.”
“You were supposed to be here 4 days from now.”

“Who are they?” The bandit points to Amani. Meallan's eyes go wide, then they go and grab Amani, going “That's the problem, this one followed me here.” To Amani: “Play along.”
Amani puts up an act, acting indignant at being grabbed.
The bandits see Anthony as well, “What's he doing?” Meallan loudly swears.

About Amani, Meallan goes, “this one killed the bandits.”
Amani: “It's not like that! Everything went wrong there. I was following... hoping to see what you're like, and maybe... join you.”
The bandits believe Amani.

“And what about him?” They gesture to Anthony.
Anthony acts lost. “Do you know where the... gas station... is? ...Uh, I'm really lost, and I'm just gonna... go.” Anthony starts walking away. This starts initiative.

Anthony casts Crown of Madness on the burliest bandit, but it fails. They run to the sexy tree. The other bandits dash there. Basil climbs the tree onto a branch to get into more of a hide-y, snipe-y position.

Tally starts kicking Anthony. Then she climbs up the tree too.

Amani goes after Anthony, but shouts to the bandits successfully: “We need to know what he's about; don't kill him."

Meallan casts Charm Person on Crezonis, but it fails. He runs closer.
The halfling is all “We could ransom him!”
Meallan: “Why would he ransom him?”
The halfling looks at Meallan like he's stupid, like he should already know why he's important.
Amani: “Yes, we could ransom him! Let me help you capture him and prove myself.” Meallan agrees.

Anthony runs to the tree and gives an encouraging song up to Basil and Tally with his phone, going “you can do it!!” ...Whiiiich gives away their positions.

Tally tries hiding further in the trees! They try to climb further up the tree... But they slide down to where Basil is.
Basil starts attacking from where he is with his crossbow. He hits Crezonis in the face, but not badly.

The bandits are all: “Yeah, we can ransom Anthony!” They start discussing this among themselves rather than fighting.

Crezonis attacks Anthony with... some weird blue beam of energy?
Amani identifies this as Eldritch Blast, and whispers this fact to Meallan. Meallan has a big smile at this. Amani ponders this, but doesn’t elaborate. Instead, they move 15 ft closer.

Meallan goes “screw this” and fires Eldritch Blast at Crezonis' legs. Crezonis goes prone.
In response to the damage, some green bubble thing goes out within 10 ft of him and disappears.

The halfling casts vines around Meallan and Amani. Meallan isn't affected, but Amani is grabbed.

Anthony tries to smack the prone Crezonis with a tire iron! ...For 1 damage.

Tally tries to stealthily get down the tree. She succeeds and lands near the halfling caster, although her landing isn't graceful.

Basil shoots the halfling with his bow and she takes some damage.
3 out of 4 of the bandits run awaaaaay! The last remaining one is perturbed.

Meallan is shot with a bow(?)

Crezonis casts a spell and there's a swirl of thorns around Anthony. Anthony's fine, though.

Amani: “Alright. It seems you haven't proven yourselves.” They cast ray of frost at Crezonis, but miss.

Meallan tries to persuade the bandits to turn against their leader. “We've always hated this guy, ever since he killed our previous leader. Let's fight him now!” The bandits are considering this. Meallan then tries to use frostbite on Crezonis, but fails.

The halfling moves 10 ft towards Amani and Meallan, then casts thunderwave on them. Meallan takes 8 damage. Amani is pushed back (breaking the vines) and... goes unconscious. They succeed on Strength of the Grave, though, and saves themselves with 1hp. Amani, battered and beaten, stands. “Not with my power.”

Anthony goes to Crezonis and goes “hey seabiscuit, we're not done yet!” and attacks with a tire iron.

Tally tries first a quarterstaff attack, then an unarmed attack. on the halfling. She brings her to her knees.
Basil attacks Crezonis with his crossbow and does a little damage. Then he leaps from the tree! It's awesome!

The last bandit drops his bow and runs.
Crezonis moves to Anthony and attacks him with his stick thing, reducing Anthony to 3 hp.
Amani casts Chromatic Orb not chromatic orc! at Crezonis and hits for 11 cold damage. Then Amani steps back to the treeline.

Meallan casts (eldritch blast?) at Crezonis and takes him down to 0. Crezonis draws his head back, his eyes glow, his form flickers and then he reforms, still standing.
(Meallan: *Annoyed, but impressed.*
Amani: “Ah, of course.”)

The halfling casts barkskin.

Anthony casts his vicious mockery cantrip on the halfling, but it doesn't work.
Tally makes an attack of opportunity on the halfling since the latter moved. The halfling takes 7 nonlethal damage and goes unconscious!
Tally then uses step of the wind and attacks Crezonis with her quarterstaff.

Crezonis falls to 0 hp again... Then there's a swirl of colors, a humanoid thing appears, and he comes back.

Basil attacks, he falls to 0 again... and it happens again. Some form appears closer to Crezonis, there's light, and Crezonis is up again.

Amani: "Keep at it! He can't do this forever!"
Basil: "...Yeah, I think he can!" Anthony agrees.
Amani: "No, he can't! Just keep fighting. Just... trust me."

Crezonis tries to flee! Anthony gets an attack of opportunity, but fails (nat 1).

Amani casts Ray of Frost on Crezonis, and he FINALLY falls unconscious. But he's bleeding out.

Meallan rushes forward to try to stabilize Crezonis. Amani goes: “No! Let him die!”
“I need to know what's happening!”
“Obviously he has a patron, and one working against us!”
“Amani, I have a patron.”
“...Well, that makes sense.”
“So how are we different?”
“...Well, for one, you're a firbolg, and another, this patron is obviously against us, but now their follower can die and no longer bother us!”

They argue for a bit. Meallan fails at stabilizing anyway. They take a moment to tie up the bandits.

Anthony casts cure minor wounds on Crezonis and heals 6 hp. Crezonis has hazel eyes now. Meallan is immediately over him.

Crezonis: "Volan? What the..."
Meallan changes back into a firbolg right in front of him.

Meallan: “That was impressive. Surviving so many hits is... extraordinary. How did you do that?”
Crezonis: “...Do you think I'd tell you?”
“I think you will.”

Crezonis: “My lord is called Arcaito and apparently is superior to your lady.”
Meallan: “Superior? *Laughs* I don't think so.”
“Of course he is. He is a fey. What would you know about the fey?”
“My patron is a fey. And is much superior to yours.”
They argue a bit about whose patron/chooser is superior. Tally facepalms at all of this.

Amani glares at Crezonis with their creepy eyes.

Anthony: “My name is Mr. tire iron! And if you don't talk, we're going to beat you, heal you, and then beat you again!”

Crezonis: “Well, what do you want to know?”
Amani asks why they took up banditry when they obviously have a patron that can do better.

They talk about the dead bandits at the caravan. Crezonis says he wouldn't do anything like that. Amani: “Obviously you did.”
Crezonis explains a bit, but they don't know much.

Crezonis explains that his ultimate goal for himself is to reclaim Deyn.
Centaurs and elves get along fairly well, and Deyn is on the plains. He wants to get rid of Deyn.
As for what his patron wants, they don't know. But Crezonis clarifies that he's not his patron, he's his “chosen.” And thus has different abilities from a standard warlock patron.

Tally makes a comment about Meallan and Crezonis comparing patron sizes, then asks Crezonis how many more bandits were lurking around. Crezonis asks about Volan, who Meallan disguised himself as, and they talk about how he's dead, as are others in the bandit cave save for two. Crezonis doesn't seem too sad to hear this. He goes “you did such a good job,” sarcastically.

Amani interprets this as a full-out lie, though, and kneels down and glares and go “we can do the same to you. Why shouldn't we kill you now?”

(Amani also makes some comment along the lines of "clearly you chose the wrong patron =| ". Crezonis disagrees.)

They also ask if he'd return to banditry or his patron. He doesn't confirm either way.
They confirm that their fey lord is Arcaito; Lord of the Wild Spaces. The others get onto him: “How lordly can he be? I've never heard of him!” and joking how he can't really be powerful or influential. Amani glares at the rest of the party during this.

The group talks about taking him back to Ur Zaihar, which he seems open to. (Anthony: "We're going to let you live, but just in case, head or chest?" (OOC Thorn: Which chest?))

Amani is against this, feeling like he's going to go right back to banditry and his Lord, who is obviously working against them. And thus, why don't they kill him now?

A possible argument to ensue next session...

((Level up!))

[Thorn]

I think I can sum up session 5 in the most succinct way yet! I know I already did one but then I realised there are so many Good Phrases from that session, so here's an alternate recap:

Session 5: the In-Joke Edition

*Sexy tree
*Chromatic orcs
*"I ship it"
*A whirl of Thorns...
*"Hey, Seabiscuit!"
*Measuring patrons
*Which chest?

[Gelquie]

Notable things that have happened to Amani so far since Session 0 (according to the recaps):

SPOILER: Click to show

-Was the target of an attempted robbery by Basil, with their necklace nearly being stolen.
-Had dinner with Meallan <3 (Not romantically)

-Talked to fey birds! In broken Sylvan.
-Literally stumbled into the party and joined their quest to remove bandits.
-Stood up for Meallan when his actions were being doubted.

-Helped clear the cave of bandits.
-But nearly died to the bandit cave leader after getting a hard hit from him. Reduced to 2hp.
-So they got revenge by blasting him in the face with a spell that downs him.
-They find and take possession of a necklace in the cave until it can be identified.
-Argued over the death of a bird, but not as thoroughly as Meallan.
-"Oh... you're a firbolg?"

-Got information from the bandit prisoners. Didn't have strong feelings one way or another about killing them or not, but definitely didn't want them to just walk free.
-A moonlit early-morning venture outside <3
-OMG A BASIL!
-"Wait, why are we accepting this Basil?"
-"Uugh, fiine, but Basil dies if he acts up."
-"Ugh we can just KILL the bandits already-- oh wait. Uh. Y'know what? I can go either way, I guess..."
-Did that really just happen?

-Well, let's go find the big bad real bandit leader!
-Amani can't talk to non-fey birds. </3
-They express doubt at the others' trust in Basil and his ability to turn himself around. Because he stole from them once and that makes him irredeemable. =|
-Amani is generally useless in camp-making. But they take watch. \ o /
-Before that though, Amani and Meallan talk about Meallan's past, or as much as he's willing to say.

-Amani is caught by the bandits, and while pretending to be prisoner, bluffs that they intend to prove themselves to the bandits and thus join them. They manage to be convincing about it.
-But it turns out to be for naught, so to battle!
-They're grappled by vines from the halfling spellcaster and can't move, but casts spells anyway.
-"I'm doing great, we can really defeat them like this--!" *THUNDERWAVE*
-Amani is knocked from the vine's grasp, knocked back, and knocked out.
-Or, well, it seems so at first. But then some shadowiness surrounds them, and they recover and stand up quickly; battered and beaten. They don't look well, but they're awake and alive. (At 1hp.)
-"Screw them all!" They start really taking out the offensive spells.
-They cast the final Ray of Frost at Crezonis, knocking him out.
-"Don't revive him, kill him, kill him!"
-Amani is overruled, and Crezonis is healed to a few hp, resulting in an interrogation.
-Amani is very =| about Crezonis' words.
-You know that time when two incredibly injured people decide that now's the time for a vicious argument while pretending to look hale and hardy but obviously not? That's Amani and Crezonis.
-While the party agrees to turn him in, Amani is all: "I still think we should kill him."

[Moni]

Disclaimer: This wasn't actually the dead NPC's character, but it's my 1% valid headcanon for the NPC... that is now dead because Khamet killed him. Enjoy this 100% serious and Accurate recap:

SPOILER: Click to show

My friends, my colleagues, I sadly report the death of our fellow half-demon Lorem. He was extremely attractive, a good cook, and great at spreading the doctrine of Chaotic Evil. He was my 245th favorite brother and a pretty good guy to blame for all the times I broke Dad's stuff. Oh. Uh. Sorry Dad.

After a long journey to acquire a demiplanar key in order to make it in time for Dad's biannual Fiendsgiving feast, he found a woman in the forest and had a tea party with her. Poor Lorem was completely unarmed, unprepared for what was to come. After he had concluded his tea-related activities, the lady who he had shared the intimate tea-drinking experience with ratted him out to a human paladin.

The human paladin then followed his scent very expertly--because, you see, Lorem was much too smart to leave tracks in the woods, so it is likely that this human is part-lyncanthrope. He must have had an excellent sense of smell to catch up with him, and also... he has way too much hair on his face. I mean, it was pretty well-kept, but compared to Lorem's hair-keeping skills, it left much to be desired.

Lorem had nothing but a magical demonic item to defend himself with. The paladin was so fierce that the mere sight of him brought terror into his heart. He missed his preliminary attack, allowing the paladin to close the distance. Our comrade only struck the human once before being slain in one fell swoop.

Now all of this is a tragedy, to be sure, but the insult is what drives the metaphorical salt into my wounds. You see, the paladin simply dumped Lorem's corpse into the river and defiled the key with mud and leaf-juice before rinsing it off with mere water! Not even following proper demiplanar key cleaning etiquette! To add the most insult to injury, he renamed the key to "osseus metallicum." I don't know what it means, but I think I hate it.

The key to father's is in the hands of a merciless, sociopathic, hyper-competent paladin who must be planning on disrupting our family dinner. We must stop him at all costs.

This letter was later found 200 years later in a squirrel's den, and is now on display in a noble's home as an enigmatic piece of classic literature.

[Thorn]

(Somewhere downriver, three raggedy wood elves are deep in conversation.)

Elf #1: Pretty tense back there.

Elf #2: Who d'ya think won?

Elf #3: I dunno man, all that weird magic? I-

*the floating, deceased 'Lorem' bumps into the riverbank*

Elf #1: The heck is that?

Elf #3: Are there no normal people left in this Everqueen-forsaken land I mean c'mon?

[Thorn]

So Thorn was wandering around on her day off, getting her shoes muddy (because she foolishly decided to walk in the park...), and getting groceries. And then she had An Idea for a short thing she wanted to write!

I've mentioned in passing that wood elves can be territorial, but never....actually done anything with that. Which is partly because only Ur elves have been encountered in-game so far (if you ignore bandits, dead people, and that one elf Khamet ran into in his catch-up session who offered him tea.)

Also for context: yay, more rubbish made-up words from my notes! 'saevoryn' is both singular and plural and just refers to the guards we've talked about in-game. I have kept made-up words out of the game so far but wanted to use one here because it's pretty. Na'saevoryn/Ur'saevoryn just lets you know what territory they're from.

SPOILER: Click to show

When Nisriati arrived at the scene, led by the anxious youngster, he bit back a curse. Of course it was Ur. It was always bloody Ur. There were six of them, all with weapons drawn, four with bows trained on the Na’saevoryn captain. The Na’saevoryn, in turn, had theirs trained on Ur’s apparent leader, who was in the middle of an all-too familiar argument. They’d interrupted his blissful, quiet evening bathing for this.

“East of the river, the forest belongs to Na,” their captain hissed. “You know this.”

“As far as the Temple of Vinistra, it is ours.”

Nisriati shouldered his way to the front of the Na patrol, not even bothering to first announce his presence.

“I would prefer you didn’t use our temple as a landmark for your territorial disputes,” he said drily. “Nisriati, junior cleric of Vinistra.”

He followed this verbal introduction in the expected manner, indicating personal pronouns with a formal gesture. The Ur’saevoryn leader dipped their head apologetically.

“Cadrinos,” the elf said, gesturing ‘she’. “Ur’saevoryn charged with leading this patrol. We are very sorry to disturb your meditations, esteemed Nisriati, but we caught these outsiders infringing on our border.”

“Your border?” the Na captain, Vesarial, scoffed. “Nisriati, why are you listening to this soup-brain? She doesn’t deserve your time.”

In response, the elf beside Cadrinos shouted something very offensive regarding the lineages of the Na'saevoryn present.

Nisriati took a deep breath, held it, and exhaled very slowly. Two Ur’saevoryn had abandoned their bows, but only to shift their hands onto their sword hilts, which honestly wasn’t a lot better. Why had he agreed to join this patrol, again? What did he have to prove, really, that was worth putting up with Vesarial for a week? He clasped his hands behind his back, put on his sternest expression, and opened his mouth to speak.

At that moment, the elf beside Nisriati swung the hilt of her sword into Offensive Elf’s jaw. They fell back screaming, and the entire Ur party surged forward, and Nisriati knew that he had to act.

Vinistra, please guide me- I really don’t want to be slaughtered by enraged barbarians.

At his command vines erupted from the ground, snaring the Ur’saevoryn and that one impulsive Na who’d lunged at them. Nisriati turned to survey the others, adopting his best expression of Righteous Anger.

“Listen!” he called. “This is ridiculous. Do you stand to lose anything from them being here, Vesarial? Cadrinos, do you need to lay claim to land this far from any Ur settlement?”

“Na settlements aren't any closer,” Cadrinos gasped out, past the vines encircling her ribcage.

“Then why should it matter to either of you?”

He folded his arms and took another step forward so that he was almost nose-to-nose with Cadrinos.

“I have a proposal. Cadrinos, send your companions away. Come with me to the Temple. Vesarial, you should accompany us. We can settle this in less...hostile, surroundings.”

“We’re in the middle of a patrol! I can’t just leave,” Vesarial protested.

Nisriati turned, releasing his hold on the magic, and the vines quickly withered away. The priest was slightly shorter than Vesarial, but did his best to stare him down regardless.

“There are seven of you. Figure something out. I’m not letting you kill each other over imaginary borders. I’m also not leaving until we have an agreement.”

Vesarial narrowed his eyes and didn’t reply. The priest looked back at Cadrinos, wincing and rubbing her chest.

“You make a convincing argument, esteemed Nisriati,” she said. “I will accompany you to the Temple of Vinistra.”

At a word, her companions fell back towards the river but not, Nisriati noted, out of range of firing on the Na’saevoryn should this turn sour. Vesarial still hadn’t given a response. Avinalo, an elf who was almost certainly (and totally inexplicably) Vesarial’s lover, moved in front of him.

“Go with Nisriati. I can lead them from here.”

“This is ridiculous,” Vesarial hissed back. “We can’t leave those Ur’saevoryn right there.”

Avinalo looked at Nisriati beseechingly. He really did have such large, beautiful eyes. And those eyelashes! If Nisriati was interested in pursuing anyone, it would be somebody with eyes just like that. Maybe he and Vesarial had something in common after all?

“Cadrinos, could you please ask them to cross the river?” he asked. “In return, I’ll make sure Na doesn’t stray further west than the Temple while we sort this out.”

“Hold on!” Avinalo protested.

Nisriati was expecting a similar response from Vesarial but, to the priest’s surprise, he instead nodded assent.

“Crossing’s safest a mile that way,” he said. “I want the Na’saevoryn to accompany them until they've crossed.”

To Nisriati that sounded like tempting fate, but this time it was Cadrinos who surprised him by agreeing, on the condition that the Na’saevoryn kept their distance. Perhaps his little trick with the vines had a bigger impact than Nisriati had anticipated? He drew himself up to his full height, clasped his hands regally, and moved away from the crowd. Cadrinos and Vesarial took a while to join him, and for a moment he thought the latter was going to run his sword through the former after all, but eventually they sullenly marched over to where he stood.

“Okay, let’s go,” Vesarial sighed. “You understand, I am not endorsing you after this patrol?”

“I’m sure I’ll be forgiven,” he was confident his colleagues would be far happier hearing that he’d managed to avoid a violent senseless conflict, anyway. “Now, let’s be on our way. It’s nearly dark and we’ll be wanting to trance properly before attempting anything tomorrow.”

SOME NOTES:

SPOILER: Click to show

This piece isn't meant to imply anything historical. There wasn't an event where Na and Ur were fighting all the time, and the Temple of Vinistra stepped in and mediated, and now everything's sweet! It's simply to show that the wood elves do get a bit stabby when it comes to their poorly-defined borders.

[Thorn]

So Thorn has also been doing the actual session prep, never fear! I want to try some new stuff, some of which may show up next session:

-Different ways of handling travel! As in, actually using different methods of narrating travel in different sessions. I feel changing up travel a bit from session-to-session would be fun. Like in a movie where every time you see the characters move location there are different shots, different incidents, etc! xP

-Downtime! At some stage, there will surely be no major imminent threat, and characters can have a good chunk of downtime to do a wonderful montage of downtime activities! I'm super keen to use Xanathar's Guide to Everything's notes on these- for example you could indulge in a little bit of crime while the others are distracted, get stuck into research, or get gambling!* You could end up with some sweet loot, learn some helpful lore, or win lots of $$$ from your foolish associates! However, negative consequences are also possible for all downtime pursuits...just a word of warning.

-I watched a really cool video on d&d death and injury which I've taken good notes from (don't worry, friends! As previously discussed, losing an eye is not immediately about to become a possibility, or anything like that. =P)



*Visiting family or baes, learning a new language, training with a new weapon, doing some charity work, and mingling to make helpful societal contacts, are all other examples of downtime activities one might take! But this list is far from exhaustive.

[Thorn]

Happy new year, adventurers! <3
Just a quick reminder that our first game of the new year is on January 3rd 2019, 7:00pm GMT.

See ya then!

[Celestial]

Thorn: We have a session on the 3rd of January.

Me: *screaming because I have not written my recap for the 4th and 5th sessions* But no longer! Recap is finished!