Chapter 1, Part III: Kind of a Big Deal

Morgan Wildflow-Duskgazer

    Written by Sara

Dear Journal,

We woke up to a grand breakfast at The Platinum Citadel. We are told to "mind our Ps and Qs" because there are dignitaries here along with us, and we are being allowed to roam around the gardens/estate kind of unattended.

Mind our manners, huh? ... sounds like I'm home, sheesh!

Home. I wonder if they've noticed I'm not there. I wonder what type of a "normal" day everyone at home is having while I am on this grand adventure.

Morgan overhears Theo talk about how he wasn't pushed into magic, he did it despite his family wanting him to be a warrior, "Is he a rebel wizard?"

We decided as a group to head to the pond. A woman with military garb is there, lost in thought as we approach.

Boaty says hi, she looks at him with disdain.

Boaty spells out "Hi" with fish and frog in the pond, it surprises this woman. (It surprises all of us!)

Boaty, Rix, Theo and I stay together, for the most part. Louie goes off on their own.

Rix knows this woman, this is the (Leader) Archon of Crystalia. Rix seems to get how to talk to her, they get along a bit and chat.

"The Queen Dowager"... Boaty asks about his ship, and it seems it was last seen at Lorecliff.

The gardens seem filled with VIPs, are we in the wrong place? Why have we been chosen to be here, among leaders of regions and cities?

Rix explains to Boaty why he can't just go around speaking with frogs in front of people, it puts them off.

This leads me to ask, can we all speak with frogs?

Admittedly, I have not been paying attention to every conversation going on.... But Theo is a noble?!

Louie seems to be speaking with other VIPs, not sure where they went but they are local here so I'm sure everything is fine. Would they perhaps ditch us?

These gardens seem to be on some kind of lockdown almost. It is apparently, usually a public park.

So, apparently Louie was off meeting Serious Ty (sp?) the ruler of Tyrrus (in Rath)... who was also accompanied by a seriously hot Tiefling?

[Tyrrus won't recognize the claim that Therie has succeeded]

Suddenly, there is another woman in the flowers as we approach. It surprises us all because she blended in prior. She is covered in beautiful flowers and leaves. She asks us if we have met the plants. She is radiant with much wisdom in her eyes, but many innocent and playful words in her mouth.

This is Lady Farryn Atharia of Taur-Iaun!! The wood-elf queen! Leader of Tauriaun, famously a titian for many centuries!!! I was absolutely tongue-tied. I didn't expect to meet her like this, and this soon! I couldn't even give her my full name, what if she knew my parents?! But boy would I ever LOVE to finally get over that part of the world! See my heritage, where I come from... to meet this great symbol. I had SO MUCH to say, but NOTHING to say at the same time.

Thank goodness, Theo knew how to act, and he filled her in on everything that has happened to us. Thankfully she doesn't think this mystery ship of ours is a bad thing.

Could it be that we were really, actually chosen for something; that I was truthfully CHOSEN to be someone??! Wild.

The Chancellor comes over and tells us he wants to speak with us about something in private. When we are done exploring and mingling, we know where to find him.

We also end up meeting an Orc leader from Gragthar, and she lets us know that the Chancellor has these get-togethers and "helps with problems" around the world. Networking? Continues to lead me to ask, why exactly are we here among these world leaders tho?

Rix asks Boaty if and what he eats, a faux pas for sure but I think we were all wondering honestly!

We finally head to the Chancellor to speak with him. He tells us he doesn't know WTF was up with that huge demon either! Or why we were on the Moonlight Carnival ship, so it wasn't him who "summoned" us or something like that?!

The Chancellor continues to explain how he thinks we are touched by the Gods and it is amazing we all are still together. #Blessed

He also tells us we are not usually all together (the blessed) because we are usually hunted! I'm sorry what?! Yes, hunted!

*** - The Order of Righteous Conflict

The Chancellor needs us to go and retrieve an item. It used to be part of the Keepers of Destiny (He eventually wants to send us into Tempestua?! The Magic Storm?!)

He wants to bring balance and light, and The Order wants the opposite... they want to bring Solena back!

He is asking us to go to this old HQ conclave island. Rix is from Azphaleia and has many questions. The Chancellor can teleport us. The item is something only the #Blessed can retrieve. He gives us The Orb of Last Location. Rix has it.

Theo asks again WHAT exactly we are meant to retrieve.

*** - The Warden's Shield

Louie asks the Chancellor to help a friend out from also being hunted if he is, Niko? A singer?

Boaty also asks the Chancellor about his ship. If it was up to Boaty, I think he would head to Lorecliff right this minute!

Theo asks about reward monies! And asks if we can be immune from the "lying magic" .... that really would come in handy!

When I think long enough about the Warden's Shield (eyeroll at the word "Warden") it was actually originally Brio's shield, and it was given to the Warden to carry on the legacy and prophecy.

Theo asks again for reward monies, 2000g/400g each!

Are we ready to go? Do we need supplies?

We are transported to a dungeon!

The first room is all stone and cobwebs. There is a spiral staircase we came up from, and a fallen/caved In hallway it looks like. We go through the one door option we have. This new room is clad in wood and has dead animal heads everywhere... gross.

Louie tries to take a dragon tooth from the one statue, it has a ruby for an eye too?!

When taken, a cone of necrotic damages hits me! OOOOFF that hurt.

Is that how rubies work? Like, is that how they are all mined??

I decide to look at these twisted and evading tree branches or are they roots?

Theo has detect magic up for 10 mins at a time. The roots are magical!!

Dragon head as well, until the ruby/tooth is taken?

We pass through another smaller wood-cladded room. Then into a VERY large room, stone floors, and huge tapestry. It also glows magical?!

Three tapestries seem to be missing.

The next room is a dusty chapel. Theo tells us the pews and the altar are all dangerous magic.

Rix wants to pull the cloth from the altar. Louie and Boaty take stone off other one, they are eventually all able to free the cloth.

Pews explode.

A ghost retreats.

Boaty inspects the cloth, and it is a tapestry!

The room to the other side of this grand room is a smaller stone room COVERED in cobwebs. NO, not cobwebs but fresh spider webs! Looks like a giant spider is actually home here recently. GROSS!

There's a magic torch. Boaty messes with it, and it leads to another door/room with no spider webs.

Theo sees a coat of arms with stars.

Rix found an old dusty kitchen.

Boaty found a bedroom.

Theo sends Pecan his weasel down a tunnel to explore. He hears skittering but sees another tapestry!

The tunnel is small but then opens to a large space with a stream.

There is definitely going to be LOTS of spiders. We will have to go one by one.

I cast Mage Armor on myself!

Cinnamon defeats spiders!

Corruption spreading across maps; maps of our world! We put the tapestries in order together and it shows evil or a darkness spreading.

We finally find the Warden's Shield! It is in the base of a tree. Ghost appears again! They admit that we must be the #Blessed

*** - Louie has The Warden's Shield

We use the orb and transport back to the gardens at the Chancellor's Citadel.

Theodore

    Written by Justin

Session 3

Back to Theo, we wake up in the Platinum CItadel, smells of breakfast

Drez Kraven is setting up the table for us, we can eat and travel about the gardens while we wait for Chancellor Darling. Mind the dignitaries amongst the gardens

Louie following a raven-looking Aarakocra

The rest of us head to the bond, woman standing there staring out in full military regalia

Rix knows this woman as the Archon of Crystalia, the leader of Crystalia and the leader of their army

She does not seem super pleased to meet Boaty and Rix

Rix gives her a compliment based on some stuff some refugees have said about the Archon, Archon asks if they are interested in returning home

Boaty tries to impress the Archon by making the fish spell Hi, he actually puts a look of surprise on her face

Boaty asks her about his boat (the Queen DOwager), she has heard of it, it was skulking about a port in Lorecliff assisting a military getting provisions which should not be getting said provisions

Louie follows his guy but as the Aarakocra goes into the city he stops and heads towards the training area, man named Zarius (Lord Zarius Tyr) and a well-dressed tiefling woman (Varuna Vellichor) talking, they change their topic when Louie walks up

Louie sizes Zarius up, he is perfectly manicured and tailored and he could squash Louie like a fucking bug. He says "Do you wanna see a magic trick?", he doesn't even move and 7 of the Platinum Guard hit the ground, and just the click of him putting his sword back

As Louie walks away, he notices the interesting pattern on the brocade of Varuna's jacket

Zarius Tyr is the ruler of Tyrrus, the most southern part of the world and a very dangerous part of the world. He rules over the mountain society of Rath. There has seceded from Tyrrus and Zarius does not recognize this claim. The underwater society of Victoria is scared of Zarius

There is someone sitting past the rope amongst the flowers that we are chatting by, she is wearing a dress of flowers and sticks and stuff and her skin is like treebark. She is the Lady of Tauriuan, the elven area in the NW. She is famously a Titan, a child of the gods, possibly a dryad, been the leader of Tauriuan for many centuries

Theo does not trust that she is relaying the plants' message truthfully, in spite of the enchantment on the city

Lady Farryn Atharia of Taur-iuan

She has never been on the Moonlight Carnival. She does not believe it is an evil thing

Chancellor Darling approaches us and The BOatswain introduces us through the fish trick LOL

He wants to talk to us, wants to do it in private

The DuPont's are over by the cherry trees

WE walk by the Gazebo, big orc lady, looks ready for a fight, she was not in the locker rooms at the coliseum

Chieftain Ooglana of Gragthar, shit is going down in Gragthar, she can't lie about it

We head up to the Platinum CItadel to meet the Chancellor and Lady Farryn

The Chancellor does not know what the demon thing was at the coliseum

Asks if we have any enemies

We explain to him that most of us went to sleep elsewhere and woke up here

He gets tense and quiet as we talk about it

He says we're in the endgame to the Lady

Louie explains what happened during the coliseum situation and both the Chancellor and the Lady look borderline scared

The people we talked to on the ship were also Blessed like we seem to be

They have been trying to find people like us for a long time. There are probably 6 more people like us out there

Chancellor asks who we have talked to

Varuna is out to hunt us, as is her whole organization, THe Order of Righteous Conflict

Chancellor needs us to do something for him. Sending us somewhere to retrieve items for us. The only thing he can think of that might give us a chance.

Chancellor used to be part of the Keepers of Destiny, as was the Lady, their purpose was to find a way to bring Brio back to this world. But really, find a way to protect the world from Solana and Solana's influence in Brio's absence. The Order of Righteous Conflict is the exact opposite. They preach bringing balance to the world but in reality they just bring darkness, chaos, and death. They want to bring Solana back.

He wants to send us to their old hideout at an island just south of Tempestua, known as Conclave Island

He hands Rix the Orb of Last Location, spend an hour attuning to the location you are standing in, and then you can teleport back to that spot if you concentrate for 10 minutes

The item he needs us to retrieve is the Warden's Shield, the actual shield of the Warden, can only be used by a Blessed

Louie wants his person protected if he takes on this job, Miku Nakamura, the singer

If we find the Warden's Shield we will be able to lie in Platinum City

Morgan knows the shield WAS Brio's shield, but when Brio fell he in his last moments created the Warden and armed the Warden with the Shield, which contains Brio's power

The 11 deities were created before the Warden

Theo knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Nova is the deity that has blessed him

Morgan knows Genesis blessed her

Rix knows Korzo blessed her

Boats blessed by Phasma

The Lady tells Louie he is blessed by Nocturne

The Chancellor teleports us into the darkness. We find ourselves in a chamber with a stone staircase in front of us, and behind us a cave-in

We descend the staircase, it's very dark

As we reach the bottom of the stairs, we hear dripping water echoing, the air is heavy and damp, the moisture clings to our skin

I can't dancing lights

Louie examines the spider web, it's thick, probably not a cobweb, were spiders here at some point or could still be here

We walk into the second room. Morgan identifies which way is north. Mounted monster heads all over the walls, Manticore, A horned devil, a large dragon skull, and an Owlbear.

Louie approaches the dragon head and sees a glint of red light from the eyes

There is a ruby gemstone in the eyesocket of the dragon

Louie successfully takes the ruby, but a dragon breath fires off and hits Morgan

Rix looks down the dark hole with her Devil's Sight, sees a dirt floor down there, not too deep, we could jump down

Morgan checks out the tree-like structure and it's natural roots coming from above

Rix peeks down in the hole, tunnel looking east and west

The roots are giving off Abjuration magic

Louie grabs a dragon tooth, and one for me

Rix heads into another room, more roots in here, colossal tree, on the western side a giant tapestry, shows the conflict between Solana and The Warden/Brio

Also sees at one point there were multiple tapestries hanging there

Ghosts pop up and tell us we don't belong here, I say we're Blessed and we do, The Boatswain tries

Three missing tapestries on Theo's Investigation check

Rix powering ahead

Musty, dusty chapel, the altar is in disarray, dusty cloth tossed over it, Detect Magic is picking up the pews are giving off a glow of evocation and the altar is giving off evocation and the cloth is giving Abjuration

Rix tries to take the cloth off with mage hand

I help her, we still fail

Louie and TBoats go to try to do it physically, we finally get it uncovered

The pews shoot up and crash into both of them

TBoats see the ghostly arm pull back into the floor

The cloth is one of the tapestries, there are crystals on each of the continents

Rix runs forward to a spiderweb filled room, once a nice dining room, the only lightt coming from a magical torch that isn't burning the webs. To the northeast and northwest, doors covered in webs

TBoats grabs the magical torch, it goes out, probably will work in any sconce in the hideout

Next door has what appears to be a broken barracks, far side of the room has an old desk, thick layer of dust

I fail to read the papers on the desk, but use my book of instant copying to copy it for later

TB notices a large hole in the western wall, old underground tunnel, thick musty air

TB peeks into the tunnel and it sounds exceedingly creepy

Coat of arms on the wall, circle with 9 stars on it, 8 smaller and one large, 4 points on the small ones, 13 points on the large one

Rix runs off again, steps into an abandoned kitchen, large and spacious, lined with wooden shelves, now stand empty and dusty, large stone hearth, soot and ash, large iron cauldron hanging above it with rotten food, to the west is another door

I send Pecan down the tunnel, probably a tapestry, definitely big ass spiders

We follow down the tunnel as a group

Tiny spiders crawling all over us

Louie grabs the carpet (3rd tapestry)

Armor of Agathys, Cinnamon, and Billowing Cloak defeat the spiders

Next room is an abandoned washroom, sense of unease, air is heavy and the room is dimly lit by the faint glow of a torch on the wall, thick layer of moss on the walls, door behind us slams shut, in the center of the room there is an old bathtub, chipped and stained, stagnant old water, faucets are crusted shut, the water begins to bubble furiously and pours out and begins to fill up the room

Acid bathroom defeated, no carpets or tapestries

We go back to the kitchen, there is a ruby in the stove

I go for the ruby, big explosion, Rix has an absolute outburst at me

Storage room is next, lots of open crates with stuff and a tall dark ceiling

Rolled up rug in the corner of the room

Animated knife catching us in the kitchen, TB takes damage

We order the tapestries, nothing happens at first, the last tapestry starts to animate and the corruption begins to change and the corruption grows and grows

The tree behind us begins to creak, the roots pull back in, cracking as they recede, intensifies and the tree splits open, revealing a metal object at the core of the tree, metal shield wrapped in the wood of the tree, the ghosts appear, we have laid claim to the shield and it is ours, we are in fact keepers of destiny, been waiting centuries for us all to come

We focus on the Orb and transport back, Theo confronts Rix briefly about her disrespect

We show the Chancellor the Shield

Theo knows the ORC set the traps in the old hideout

I show the Chancellor the letter I copied. He wrote it:

Solana is shattered and spread across Fynali, hemorrhaging and causing destruction

Chancellor says there has not been evidence of the Warden's influence for quite some time

The Chancellor thinks the five of us showing up during the Warden's festival is the sign

Louie hands the shield to the Chancellor, begins to chant, the sky outside begins to darken, a large circle opens in the clouds above, a beam shoots down into him, and into the shield. The beam dissipates and the once rusty shield is now in pristine condition. Faded emblem shows a shining golden star on the shield. Hands the shield back to Louie

The Chancellor's father IS Brio

As Louie touches the shield, our vision goes dark, as we try and focus we're barely conscious and we see a large gold and silver gate. The gate is floating in the void, feel the yearning stronger than ever and as the gate opens and pulls us inside we feel awakened. Suddenly back in the room with the Chancellor, our Affinity power has grown

The Chancellor's powers are now sealed within the shield, must seek out the other high keepers and store their power within the shield

We should ask his brother Aurifier about the rest of the family, he is the current guardian of Wiltspar