Session 9

As the team settled down to camp, they realized that this was the first time they were actually staying by the road, together, and not in some sort of building. They had met up in Old Byron, stayed in Attwen Manor, traveled separately to Tomara, stayed within the city, made it to Dogwater Inn in one day, made it to Glowkindle’s Hideout in one day, were put up in an inn by the Justicar after they defeated Noke, were escorted to Captain Flax’s warcamp, and finally stayed in Tomara on their way back south. Coupled with this epiphany was the awareness that Harlan and Irene had only berolls; Lorien and Vireya didn’t even have that. Lorien decided to sleep on the hard ground using his large sack of gold as a pillow. Harlan had an extra blanket, which he graciously gave to Vireya, who wrapped herself in it beside the fire.

The group pooled their resources, and found them lacking. Harlan was the most prepared, with several days’ worth of dried meats, fruits, and hardtack. Irene and Vireya were subsisting primarily off of their looted goods like carrots and tinned fishes. Lorien had nearly nothing and, other than his massive wealth and lyre, was traveling under penury. Irene remembered that she had stolen a hunting trap from the miner in the Fungal Caves and set off into the woods to set it. While she trapsed  through the trees, she also managed to find several kinds of root vegetables and edible mushrooms for a stew. Returning to the fire, the group eagerly discussed their expectations of Kalzaharn, the capital. Harlan was by far the most familiar;  he had studied there as a young man after leaving his hometown during the Civil War. Lorien had also spent some time in the capital, but it was years ago before his time as a diplomat. Irene, of course, couldn’t remember if she’d been to Kalzaharn but found the concept unlikely given her penchant for avoiding cities. Vireya, who had never ventured so far South before, was ecstatic about the opportunity to shop, haggle, steal, and gamble.

In the woods, the group heard the trap trigger. Irene had placed and set the trap expertly: a full deer had gotten caught by the leg. Far enough from the camp  to avoid bringing the scent of blood back, she stabbed the deer through the eye and skinned it on the spot. The other members of YFPB were a bit shocked to see a blood-stained Irene bring back huge chunks of meat, but not upset. Harlan, who had the most cooking experience, dumped everything into the large, tarnished pot the group had taken from the Brewer’s Basement in Tomara. He overcooked the meal, but the fresh and premium ingredients more than made up for the lack of finesse.

As the group settled down to sleep, Lorien took first watch. He did not have to wait long for something to disturb the peaceful tranquility of fire and friends. His elven ears were adept at piercing the normal sounds of nature, and he was alerted by a strange hopping sound in the darkness. The fire was affecting his Darkvision, but even so he sensed hostility and immediately stood up. Bracing his rifle against his shoulder, he lightly kicked Irene (who was nearest) awake. She awakened the others, and they all prepared for what was assumedly a fight. Lorien was the first to see the single piercing green eye of a freakish, deformed creature emerge into the light’s emanation.

The creature in a lilting, raspy voice introduced itself as a Nothic. Everyone knew something about these creatures: Harlan knew that they resulted from evil magics from older gods, Vireya knew that they offered travelers powerful magic at a heavy cost, Lorien knew that the creature gave him the creeps. Irene, on the other hand, was afflicted with a horrible migraine just looking at the Nothic, but she fought very hard to stay conscious and search the darkness in her mind. Her migraine worsened, and she was physically harmed by the process, but she remembered. Nothics aren’t just demonic creatures, they’re myths based on creatures from other worlds. They shouldn’t be present in this dimension, and the fact that one is heralds something apocalyptic.

The Nothic chittered about how hungry he was and how tasty the group looked. Yet he appeared not to be preparing an attack. The group, wary, was still taken off guard by the hypnotic reach of the Nothic’s eye. Only Vireya, through her fear of violation and natural connection to the magic in the air, managed to fend off the psychic attack. Harlan, Lorien, and Irene all felt the Nothic dig into their minds and grab pieces of their memories, their secrets. Lorien managed to break away before the Nothic gained anything from him, but Harlan and Irene were affected to their core. The Nothic, in fact, eats secrets, and was more than satisfied with what he got from the pair. The Nothic then offered the pair an accord: if they opened their minds to him willingly, he would imbue them with special magic not native to Serulea.

Irene was steadfast and refused, having enough trouble thinking through her migraine. Vireya was distrustful, but when the Nothic began telling Harlan that he could provide him with magic to cheat at gambling, she perked up. Harlan considered the Nothic’s offer. The creature, sensing an opportunity, was more than happy to list off the strange and foreign magicks he could gift. To the surprise of the group, Harlan actually decided to accept the Nothic’s deal in exchange for a new spell: Quicken Heart, magic that would inflame his opponent and cause them to either use their reaction attacking or run away in fear.

Harlan let the Nothic enter his mind once more, but without resistance the Nothic was surprisingly gentle. Unsympathetic, rough, but not malicious. Harlan could feel the Nothic picking apart his memories, drinking from them, and taking his secrets. In a way, he was almost relieved; someone else now knew what he had been carrying around alone. And then the Nothic was done. Harlan was changed, damaged certainly, and weakened, but…fine. The Nothic was not lying, either, and Harlan realized that he had a new font of Essence within him. This new category of spells, called Serulean Soul Spells, were essentially blood magic. They could be cast at any time, with no mana or Essence required, and instead inflicted physical damage on the user. Seeing the success of the Nothic’s “blessing”, Vireya immediately moved to ask for the gambling spell.

Before the Nothic could respond, however, a spear of light arced from a nearby treetop and burst the creature into ash. Far above, YFPB saw a young blond child with wings clinging to the trees. Vireya was irritated and threatened the child, but he laughed at her anger and claimed responsibility for saving them from the clearly demonic entity. He introduced himself as Ezakyle, and was sorely disappointed when the name did not resonate with the group. He was indeed Ezakyle, the same shadow demon that possessed Vireya in Attwen Manor and the group’s first real combat. He explained that, for his kind (whatever that means), death is a cycle of rebirth into angels and demons. When their demon form is killed, they return as an angel, and return as a demon once their angel form has been killed.

He gave the group a warning that continuing on their path means taking part in the world-shaping events to come. Irene was right: the Nothic’s presence means that the veils between the other worlds and Serulea were fraying, and they were likely to see far more actual demons and monsters than ever before. Harlan politely rebuked the warning, and Ezakyle flew off into the night sky. The group settled down to rest until morning, but neither Harlan nor Irene fully recovered from the events of the night.

Once day broke and the group continued southward, they approached the final main road into Kalzaharn. On the final stretch,  though, the group was stopped by a large commotion ahead. They first saw a hooded forest hermit preventing any and all traffic. Behind him, two guards  with crossbows were yelling at him to move. Behind them, two rich-looking figures in long cloaks were standing with a young girl and their wagon. The hermit warned both the wagonfolk and the newly arrived YFPB to remain far away. If they took one step forward, he said, events would be set into motion that he could not control. As the members of YFPB began to discuss their options, the rhetoric escalated from the wagon guards. Eventually, one of the guards drew his crossbow, and Harlan decided to intervene. Coating himself in divine energy, he rushed at the hermit in an attempt to tackle him.

Many things seemed to happen at once in a very short period of time. Harlan appeared to slow down as he approached the hermit, and the hooded figure sighed. “I tried”, he sighed, and faded away. As he faded, the bubble of pressure that the group hadn’t realized was surrounding them dissipated. When he did, and as Harlan skidded to a stop, a forest bandit stepped out from the treeline. He threatened the rich-looking family and proclaimed his intent to rob them. The bandit didn’t seem like he was related to the strange hermit, but the timing was clearly suspect. Lorien, on high alert, saw something else. In one of the smaller branching paths, he spied a red-cloaked mage that reminded him very strongly of the gold-masked figure that attacked them at Glowkindle’s Hideout. The mage noticed his awareness, and put a finger to his mouth as he finished the spell he was casting.

With too little time to even shout a warning, Lorien, along with everyone else, witnessed in horror a black claw sprout from the chest of one of the wagon guards. Behind him was an obsidian-skinned demon. Harlan and Vireya recognized the creature as another mythological demon: a Babau, a demon that sows chaos and confusion by teleporting and leaving explosive clones behind. The group was ready to fight the hermit, then bandits, and Lorien perhaps the mage. Throwing a demon into the mix was concerning, but they were as ready as they could be.

The ensuing battle involved far too many bodies for anyone to keep track of. The bandits had half a dozen archers and swordsmen in the treeline, the wagonfolk had three guards remaining (two behind the wagon) and the blond-haired man, and the mage had just summoned a lethal demon. Even worse, the mage took the chance amidst the chaos to inflict one of the back wagon guards with further corrupting magic. The guard was too distracted to be mentally prepared, and was transformed into a grotesque, twisted freak of a human, with limbs and body warped and ruined. The Twisted Freak launched into attacking the nearest warm body, and in fear the mother and daughter fled into the wagon.

From there, the battle was in full force and in complete chaos. Several bandits attacked the wagon guards, the demon began picking off weak fighters, and YFPB was left in the middle of it. This was the first real fight the group had to unleash their new powers, and they did so in full force. Lorien attempted to chain down the mage, but the glowing runes on his body seemed to melt them, and they fell off as ineffectual as if they’d not been cast at all. Irene began to blur herself, making it harder for her foes to see and hit her as she dove into the fray to defend the remaining guard in the front. Vireya threw a cloud of daggers into the woods and cut two bandits to pieces. Only Harlan, weakened mentally from his brush with the Nothic, used little magic and to little effect during the fight.

As the wagon guards fell and bandits began to die, several archers and swordsmen fled for their lives having expected an easy mark. One of the bandits that remained was intelligent enough to recognize the Babau at the true threat and assisted YFPB with arrows. The Babau was indeed lethal, ripping apart guards and bandits indiscriminately. When it clawed someone apart, it would also teleport, leaving behind a strange double. When the double was killed, it exploded into acid that burned everyone nearby. The Babau even attempted to kidnap Harlan, but he managed to rebuff its plane warping. The red-cloaked mage, before taking his own leave, used the same Hold Person chains that Lorien had tried to use on him to trap Harlan. The Babau was brutal in its clawing on the paralyzed Paladin.

The mage seemed to laugh as he, too, faded from view despite Lorien’s rage. By this point in the battle, the Twisted Freak was attempting to break into the wagon, and the blond man, who proclaimed his name to be Renlen, cleaved the Freak in two with a long, glowing sword. Even at a distance, Harlan recognized that Renlen was chanting prayers to El as he attacked. Eventually, after a long, gory slaughter, only Renlen, YFPB, and the Babau remained standing on the battlefield. Harlan had performed horribly in the fight, still afflicted by the Nothic’s “blessing”. Vireya had retreated into the underbrush to shoot magic from afar. Irene, suffering herself from her migraine, had also been little help, but had finished off a bandit or two. Lorien’s magic had proved somewhat unhelpful and his rifle shots inaccurate. It had been a poor showing for YFPB, sadly. The Babau was nearly undamaged after nearly an hour of fighting.

Renlen’s presence was a godsend for their victory. He was clearly wielding absurdly powerful anti-demon magics, cleaving pieces of the Babau off every time he struck (most of YFPB’s weapons couldn’t even pierce its skin). Eventually, with the full might of the group and Renlen concentrated on the Babau, he managed to pin it to a tree. Vireya missed her coup de grâce through the thick woods, so Irene ran past to spear the demon through the heart. It exploded into disgusting, but nominally harmless, black bile. Its remaining clone, however, which Lorien finished off to end the fight fully, was not so harmless. Its acidic explosion burned through the carved wounds that the main demon had dealt to Harlan, and, burning his skin and soaking into his cuts, proved too much for the hero. Harlan for the first time since YFPB began their heroic journey, collapsed, unconscious.