Winds of Vesperia

[eveglass]

Out of the swamps! Hurray! Sadly, our troubles aren't even close to over yet.


[We meet Alia Dawnstrider's allies, including an elven ranger riding a pegasus.]
Therrion: *looks hopefully*
Sela: "No! The pegasus is an ally, not lunch!"

[Also among the Dawnstrider's allies is a new-model warforged named Dermit.]
Dermit: "I am under the command of the Dawnstrider."
DAX: "By your own choice?"
Dermit: *looks confused*

[We are introduced to the Dawnstrider.]
Jass: "This is Garrett, priest of Sigil."
Garrett: *grunts*
DAX: "He's in a good mood today."

[The Dawnstrider, riding her holy mount, lands on Jass' ship.]
Kyn the GM: "Ripples of light pool out where its hooves touch the deck."
Tony: "I thought you were gonna say flowers, like in Princess Mononoke."
Marc: "Light is much easier to clean than flowers growing out of the deck."

[The captain greets his new guest.]
Jass: "Welcome aboard the Sovereign Will, my lady."
Alia Dawnstrider: "It's rare to see such gallantry in the swamp."
Jass: *bows*
Esmeralda: *hits him in the back of the head* "C'mon, Bast, we're needed somewhere else."
Artemis: "Someone's getting tied up extra-long next time."

[Esmeralda is not happy that Dawnstrider is aboard, to say nothing of Nya the Yuan-Ti.]
Jass: "I'm caught between a crazy, jealous woman, and..."
DAX: "It wouldn't be the first time."
Jass: "I know!"

[Jass will be descending into the manor with the rest of us, so he hands over control of the ship to Esmeralda.]
Kyn the GM: "She takes off with her ship."
Tony: "My ship."
Kyn the GM: "If you survive."

[We make the plans to attack Vita Devoratrix the dragon.]
Artemis: (to DAX) "We're gonna burst you through the ceiling, and then you just need to kill everything you see."
DAX: "Oh. That I can do. That's a good plan!"

[In fact, we do such a good job of destroying the ceiling that a huge chunk of it lands on a bunch of our enemies.]
Tony: "Take dramatic GM license."
Kyn the GM: "The dramatic license is, 'splat!'"

[DAX prepares to engage the lizardfolk chieftain.]
Pat: "Is he..."
Kyn the GM: "He works for a black dragon. He's not lawful."

[Meanwhile, Garrett is being peppered with arrows from lizardfolk archers.]
Phil: "Do you want me to keep track of how many archers are dead?"
Kyn the GM: "Don't bother."
Julie: "They're flavor text."

[Part of the plan is for the Dawnstrider to lure Nya, the Yuan-Ti cleric, away from the battle.]
Alia Dawnstrider: *hisses something to Nya*
Kyn the GM: "You've seen Nya when she's angry."
Tony: "Yeah."
Kyn the GM: "...No you haven't."

[Vita is also there. He was splattered with mud when the chunk of ceiling fell down.]
Vita Devoratrix: "Now I'm dirty. I dislike being dirty."
Jass: "How about on fire?"

[We have discovered that Vita is holding about a dozen elven and catfolk children in cages. Also, there's a magical circle behind his tree, that he's probably planning on putting the children into for some sort of ritual.]
Jass: "Kids in the circle!"
Everyone Else: *boggles*
Jass: "...I mean, save the kids, destroy the circle!"

[Artemis inspects the magical circle.]
Tony: (as Artemis) "I'm smart enough to know this is dangerous, but not wise enough to know not to tamper with it."

[Meanwhile, the lizardfolk chieftain has called a lightning spell. Kyn the GM randomly rolls to see who it hits.]
Kyn the GM: "I think my dice hate you, Julie."

[Garrett needs to get down to the main fight. The question is, how?]
Kyn the GM: "The rope Sela used to slide down is still there."
Julie: "But not for long, if Therrion is smart."

[Instead, Garrett does what comes naturally.]
Kyn the GM: "It's a majestic sight: a dwarf in full-plate... jumping."

[Artemis destroys the magic circle and it explodes in a huge wave of magical energy.]
Kyn the GM: "This is just arcane magic bitch-slapping... no one, 'cause you all made your saves."

[Kyn the GM reflects on Artemis breaking the circle.]
Kyn the GM: "Wow, you guys survived!"

[Sadly, not everyone made their saves. Among the people mysteriously teleported away are most of the Dawnstrider's allies, and also most of the kids.]
Vita Devoratrix: "You cost me the children!"

[It turns out that Vita was just an illusion. We still have no idea where the real Vita is.]
Marc: "Would it be an unwise action to go into the darkness under the tree?"
Everyone Else, in perfect unison: "Yes!"

[Before Garrett enters the tree...]
Marc: "I chuck alchemist flre into the darkness."
Julie: "You attack the darkness. Well done."

[The Dawnstrider returns from her fight with Nya.]
Alia Dawnstrider: "Where are my companions?"
Jass: "They were teleported somewhere."
Alia Dawnstrider: "Where are the rest of the children?"
Jass: "They were teleported... somewhere."

[Jass knows where they were teleported. He just doesn't want to be the messenger of bad news.]
Jass: (mumbling) "It's also called the City of Pain."

[Dawnstrider sums up.]
Alia Dawnstrider: "So the children were teleported to the center of the multiverse, to a place called the City of Pain?"
Jass: "...In a nutshell."

[In the fight, we managed to incapacitate the lizardfolk chieftain, who we now begin interrogating.]
Lizardfolk Chieftain: "We all serve the master."
Tony: "Sense motive."
Kyn the GM: "They all serve the master!"

[Because he defeated the lizardfolk chieftain, DAX becomes the new chieftain.]
DAX: "My council, what is your advice?"
Jass: "My advice is not to ask me for advice."
DAX: "Very well, you may be my jester."

[DAX commands his much-diminished tribe.]
DAX: "You will be virtuous and save the innocent! Go!"
Kyn the GM: "You're still their chieftain... They go."
Jass: "I'm gonna start a support group for confused lizardfolk and make a killing."

[We leave the swamp. We've got quite a lot of time on our hands to gossip about our pasts. Or, y'know, not.]
DAX: "Does Jass have kids?"
Esmeralda: "We don't ask about our past."
DAX: "We?"
Esmeralda: "The crew."
DAX: "I'm not part of the crew. Can I ask?"
Esmeralda: "No."

[DAX decides to go straight to the source.]
DAX: "Do you have kids?"
Jass: "I don't talk about my past."
Marc: "The most likely answer is, 'none that he knows of.'"
Tony: "That's probably the most accurate answer, yes."
Pat/DAX: "I'll help you find them!"

[We have the four rescued children that Vita had captured. The question is, what to do with them?]
Jass: "I know some good people-- I know some people."

[Among other things, Jass spends his time flirting.]
Jass: "I prefer piloting something that's not sentient."
Sela: "I like flying with Therrion. It's a synergy, two minds coming together."
Jass: "I like when two things come together."

[We have a month or so of downtime.]
Phil: "What is Jass' main thoughts for this month?"
Julie: "'So many women, so little time.'"

[Artemis is magically spying on people's thoughts, including the crew.]
Kyn the GM: "You're amazed at how long one man can stare at another man's ass."
Phil: "Oh, God, Bast..."

[Meanwhle, Garrett is investigating DAX's nexus, i.e. his brain. He's found a blockage that's preventing DAX from accessing his old memories.]
Kyn the GM: "You can remove the block, but you have no idea what it'll do."
Tony: "If he's thinking about it, will the book just slam it into him?"
Marc: "...You're a bad man."

[The book does, indeed, slam the knowledge into Garret's brain.]
Kyn the GM: "Removing the block will bring him back to what he was."
Julie: "It's what he wants."
Phil: "But is it what he really wants?"

[Garrett removes the block. DAX's body-armor becomes almost liquid and he starts repairing himself, something that should not be possible.]
DAX: "You did a bad thing."

[Turns out that the old DAX was a level 30 fighter, and also kind of a prick.]
Garrett: "You're being very vague about something very important."
DAX: "Your mind isn't big enough to comprehend this."

[DAX has told Garrett to bring the book back to the old world, where humans are waiting for it to use in their war. Garrett asks what happened in the chamber where he found DAX originally.]
DAX: "Very well, a favor for a favor."
Kyn the GM: "This isn't how you'd act. You're a level-30 warrior."
Julie: (as DAX) "Listen to me, you tiny little man..."

[For the sake of all of us, DAX reinserts the block and tells Garrett never to access his nexus again.]
DAX: "So? What did you find out? I remember the dreams!"
Phil: "And... Pat."

[Garrett must choose how much to tell DAX.]
Garrett: "You were a different being than you are now."
DAX: "Yeah, I was unconscious!"

[Tony reflects on what's happened over the course of this one session.]
Tony: "Kyn doesn't have to fuck us. He can just sit back and watch us do it to ourselves."


And that's it for this week! Next time, back to De Aar, and then up to the third tier, where we're all gonna die! Yay!