Winding down for the night
- Camille says they want some time to themself - a lot’s happened today - and sits down a little ways away from the Tiny Hut
- We debate who should keep watch (since Vallen is SO injured but he’s still willing to help)
- Vallen keeps watch on one side, and Camille keeps watch on the other (continues writing their letter)
- Vallen will be able to keep watch like normal (as in walking around and standing up) once he heals a little more
- The rest of the gang falls asleep an hour or so before Camille, and have dreams of their own for a little while
We Dream
- As soon as Camille falls asleep, WE ALL GET THROWN INTO AN EVIL DREAM WITH A FLASH OF RED AND PURPLE
- We awaken in a swamp — as always, we’re standing on the water’s surface without sinking
- We’re in a circular clearing, with trees lining the edges
- None of us know this place
- In the distance, we see the same figure floating, cape flapping in the wind
- He slowly approaches, and we can’t move even though we try
- The figure stops roughly 100 ft away
- We make out a little of this person — it’s a very humanoid-looking Warforged
- The arms look very metallic, as do the legs. It’s like this person is wearing armor, except the armor is a part of their very being
- We all have a thought: “Is this what OSIRIS is going to look like?”
Morning Comes
- We wake up, Camille throws their blanket over him (future Izzie note: idk who “him” is)
- Camille goes about making breakfast for the gang
- Cordelia pokes her head out of her tent, sees Vallen drinking some coffee. She asks how he’s doing (better, now!)
- We discuss the dream
- We fill in Vallen, let him know what we saw and that we think we saw OSIRIS
Cordelia learns(?) how to hunt
- Camille gathers stuff from the region to make breakfast, and suggests that Vallen can teach Cordelia how to hunt (she STRUGGLES to pick up the spear Kaya offers her)
- Vallen suggests that Cordelia wait until they get back to Clover, she’s like 🙅♀️
- Roughly 30 minutes away from camp, Vallen teaches Cordelia how to hold and throw a spear
- Vallen suggests that they find a small animal, and Cordelia is NOT down to hurt an animal that way
- She asks if there’s a way to “politely” incapacitate an animal — in response, Vallen throws a dagger into the air and KILLS A SQUIRREL WITHOUT LOOKING!!
- Vallen asks if Cordelia has any spells that can be used to hunt, since the spear seems to be a bit much
- She suggests the Ice Knife spell. In response Vallen is like !?!?! “isn’t that the one that explodes??”
- Cordelia rolls a NAT 1 on trying to hit a squirrel
- She tries to cast Ice Knife, and INSTEAD CASTS FIREBOLT?!?!?!
- THE SQUIRREL EXPLODES
- CORDELIA DEMANDS VALLEN “FIX IT”. HE’S LIKE HOW???????
- CORDELIA STARTS HYPERVENTILATING 💀
- Vallen suggests that Cordelia head back to camp while he does a little more hunting
The Morning Continues
- Cordelia comes back to camp with tears on her cheeks
- When asked what happened, she BURSTS into tears
- Camille goes to check on Vallen to make sure he’s alive
- He’s alive!
- While they’re there, they kill a deer and let Vallen carry it back
- Cal rolls INT for secrets (the secrets are unknown to us)
- Our passive perceptions reveal to us that Cal has been tinkering with the Warforged parts that he picked up earlier to make a handgun/hand-rifle!
- It’s very haphazard, but it looks like it might work 50% of the time if you pull the trigger!
- He breaks it down and starts tinkering with the parts again
- We discuss Cal’s black scythe chopping off everyone’s heads yesterday
- Camille asks if Dr. Pope ever experimented on him (yes)
- He heard a female voice that offered him to “get us through that” — he thought it was Cordelia (wrong)
- Camille theorizes that Cal has something theDiamond army wants (the scythe), which is why they keep hunting him
- Vallen asks why Cal is called “The Crow”
- He’s crafty and was always able to figure out ways out of situations
- Camille gets a really bad feeling about Cal’s whole deal (Religion 13)
- They share this with the gang, Cordelia says that we should find a library!!
- Camille says that they can probably take us to a library if Cordelia knows the name and description of a library
- She doesn’t, but she can research gods once we find a library
Discussing our next steps
- Cordelia suggests that we contact the Keeper to keep him updated on our movements
- Should we go north and pursue OSIRIS, or return to the Capital?
- Camille says that we can return to the Capital, but they would prefer to continue going after OSIRIS
- Camille suggests that they can cast Sending on OSIRIS
- Camille: Hey OSIRIS, this is the pink tiefling from yesterday. Camille. Where… are you? You made some compelling arguments yesterday and I would like to learn
- OSIRIS: Fjord.
- When he learns that OSIRIS is in Fjord and that we might go there, Vallen gets a nervous vibe
- CORDELIA ROLLS A NAT 20 INSIGHT
- Everyone but Cordelia recognizes that he isn’t cool, calm, and collected about this
- Cordelia realizes that he doesn’t wanna go to Fjord because he might know someone there
- ONE OF VALLEN’S EX-PARTNERS IS IN FJORD
- Camille makes an observation that both of Vallen’s relationships that we’ve learned about so far have ended poorly. They simply say “I’ve learned more about you”
- Cordelia texts Ozwin
- Cordelia: Good morning, this is Cordelia. Just a general update: here is the synopsis of everything we have done so far. Made it to Oakheart, very scary. Met Warforged, very scary. Ran away, going to Fjord. By the way, his name is OSIRIS. Love you, miss you, bye.
- Ozwin: This stone’s channel is only open to military communications. Do not contact again.
- Cordelia: ????
- Vallen messages Ozwin, gets an immediate response
- Vallen: This is Vallen. Please respond.
- Ozwin: You’re already there.
- WE QUICKLY ASSUME THAT THERE ARE IMPOSTERS IN THE CAPITAL
- Camille is like !??!?! “My mother is in the Capital”
- There’s a quick debate over whether or not we should return to the Capital or continue pursuing OSIRIS to Fjord (everyone wants to go to Fjord except for Camille 💀
- Camille angrily makes a comment about how their mother is the only family they have left, and if she dies too…
- Vallen says he’s known Ozwin for 40 years at this point. He trusts him to get to the bottom of this
- Camille finishes packing up camp and starts walking away
- Cal is like ??? shouldn’t we look for horses and a carriage? but Camille’s GOING
Traveling to Fjord
Vallen’s History
- Camille’s Hastened Voyage ability shortens the 3-hour trip to Fjord into an hour and a half
- Kaya strikes up a conversation with Vallen, and asks more about his family
- He says he’s from Oakheart originally
- Vallen tells us the story about why he is immortal (it’s a specifically him thing, in response to him being a vampire)
- He enlisted into the Diamond military when he was 18. Like Cal, he was very good at what he did
- He joined because his father wanted him to (back in the day)
- When he was 26, he had a wife and kid
- He was captured and tortured by vampires for information on Oakheart, and they killed him
- A god - Kanchelsis, the god of vampirism - brought him back because Vallen was a very devout follower of Lathander
- Vallen decided to take the newfound powers he had to Oakheart to kill the people who killed his family
- After he got revenge, he begged Lathander to take his life too. Lathander refused, saying that his job isn’t done, and as long as he kills monsters, then his job isn’t done.
- That was the day his contract was forged with Lathander. He hasn’t heard his voice in 300 years
- After he was done being told off by Lathander, he joined the Clover military
- He enlisted into the Diamond military when he was 18. Like Cal, he was very good at what he did
- Camille says that it’s terrible what happened to his family, but Vallen kinda changes the topic and says that it’s good for us that he can’t die, because that way he can protect us
- They ask him if he could choose between being alive and a vampire and passing on, what would he choose? (he would choose to die. But he won’t, because he has a job to do)
Meeting Vallen’s Ex
- As we’re walking, we see a figure on the horizon
- There’s an older gentleman, walking on the road. He has a walking stick. He looks to be around 80
- Cordelia makes conversation, shares that we’re going to Fjord
- The man says that he owns an inn in Fjord
- He asks us why we’re in the woods alone
- Vallen is hiding at the back of the group (IT’S HIS EX)
- Cordelia and Cal fall back to walk with Vallen (Camille stands in front to block the old man’s view of him)
- Cordelia goes “This is for the squirrel” AND PULLS HIM IN THE FRONT TO INTRODUCE HIM TO THE MAN
- THE MAN IS LIKE “YOU LOOK FAMILIAR” AND CAMILLE IS LIKE “HE GETS THAT A LOT”
- Vallen introduces himself as “Elliot”
- The old man’s son runs the inn in the town
- The old man was just in Oakheart, meeting with some drinking buddies (he only meets them once a year)
- Kaya asks the old man who he thought “Elliot” was
- HE THOUGHT HE WAS VALLEN
- Vallen warns us that he doesn’t know Vallen is a vampire
- Cordelia asks what the man’s name is (Desmond)
- Cordelia asks how close this “friend” was 😏
- They spent a few nights together 🤭
- DESMOND OFFERS US A FREE NIGHT IN HIS INN (usually 10 GP a night)
- Camille offers to help out in response, since their family used to run an inn. Desmond laughs and said his wife (AN ELF! HE HAS A TYPE) has it on lock
- Desmond also says that if we really want to contribute anything, we can buy the drinks
- We ask about this man’s family
- His son is half-elf, he’s 50 but looks 30
- His daughter got more of the human genes, and is younger than his son. Her name is Evelyn, and she moved to the Clover Capital fairly recently!
- Desmond says that he’s never really had an issue with folks from Clover
- She moved into the inner city, but he doesn’t know where
- He’s been meaning to visit, but with the brewing war it’s gotten difficult
Arriving in Fjord
-
It’s a very small town!
- The gang rolls to see if it’s a swamp/where our dreams take place (probably not)
-
Desmond walks to an inn. The sign has a picture of a stag wearing a crown, with the inn’s name being “The Crowned Stag”
- Desmond’s wife painted the sign (more recently), but Vallen named the inn (back in the day)
-
We enter the inn
- We get rooms upstairs!!
-
Cordelia says that she would love to meet Desmond’s wife (she’s probably out on the town)
-
Cal does his usual “new town routine”
- He looks for homeless folks to ask questions, listens for any information
- Looks for a library and perhaps a place where he can get tinkering tools
-
Desmond hobbles around the corner, and calls out for his son (Clyren)
- This but without the armor:
- This but without the armor:
-
Camille introduces themself to Clyren, shakes his hand
- His father (Desmond) already told him about us renting a room for at least a night!
- Are there any interesting places to check out or libraries in the area?
- No libraries, but there’s a bookstore!
- There’s also a church
-
Cal and Vallen don’t do churches
- Cordelia asks why Vallen doesn’t do churches, and slips up a little on saying “Vallen” instead of “Elliot”
- IT’S OK SHE ROLLS 1 HIGHER ON THE DECEPTION. DESMOND DIDN’T HEAR
-
Cal lies and says that “Elliot” is his valet
- He takes “Elliot” to the bar
Visiting the Local Church/Temple
- The gang goes to the local church!!
- It looks pretty nice!
- There’s nobody there, but there is a priest (ironically, an older tiefling)
- There are a few gods that this church specifically serves
- Camille requests a moment alone to pray, they say that they’ll catch up with the party later
- Cordelia says a quick prayer to Azuth
- She asks for a blessing of knowledge
Cordelia speaks of the gods
- Cordelia asks the priest about an “Angel of Death”. She claims to have read an odd story about a horrific scene of a battle in which all hope was lost. Every member of the involved party had been bound and brutalized, until they were reached by a voice. After which, their enemies were slaughtered in the blink of an eye
- The priest asks for the cause of their enemies deaths’, to which Cordelia responds that “their heads were cut off clean from their shoulders”
- The priest asks about the involved weapon, because to him, it sounds very familiar (a scythe)
- The priest warns Cordelia that she’s meddling with powers that she doesn’t understand. He asks her that - if he tells her the god’s name - she leave it well and enough alone
- IT’S THE RAVEN QUEEN! RAAAAHHHHH
- I LOVE THE RAVEN QUEEN 🗣️📢‼️
- According to the priest, the Raven Queen:
- Is like a goddess of death
- Reigns over a plane of existence called the “Shadowlands”
- When she finds someone she deems interesting, she lays claim to that soul so that - when they die - she can have them relive their memories in the Shadowlands. She wants to play their memories like a movie, like the moving pictures in the Capital
- When her name is brought up in conversation, she takes note. If she doesn’t take note, then she doesn’t find you interesting
- The Raven Queen always gets what she wants. The priest warns Cordelia to not pray to the Raven Queen — while she may offer power, it is not worth sacrificing one’s soul for it
- The priest changes topics, and asks Cordelia if she’s done anything to anger Mystra
- Cordelia suspects that she’s “fallen off the path of her knowledge”
- The priest asks her what her school of magic is. Cordelia claims to have never fallen into a specific school of magic
- The priest presses, asking again what her school of magic is. SHE GULPS AND ASKS WHY
- He says he can’t say why. But he claims that she has angered Mystra greatly
- He says that Azuth can provide knowledge, but the more Cordelia learns, the more Mystra will be angered
- The priest says that he’s a man of pacifism and faith, so he holds nothing against Cordelia. However, when one angers Mystra, things don’t turn out well
- The priest tells Cordelia about Karsus (of BG3 fame) and how he angered Mystra
- Ever since Karsus’s downfall, there are certain things that Mystra has disallowed in magic
- Cordelia puts her hand on her hip/holster, where her cards are. She feels them vibrating
- This is a sensation that she’s unfamiliar with
- She fakes being unaffected by that
- She responds by telling a story of her own
- When she was a young girl - on her seventh birthday - she had known for three years at that point that magic was going to be her life. She didn’t know what, only that magic was going to be extremely prevalent in her life
- She had already been accepted into the newly-built university
- Even then, she knew that there was no clear path set for her — she just had to learn as much as she could.
- None of the schools of magic called to her, until her 7th birthday
- She had just had an awful fight with her mother, and her grandfather (this was the last birthday she spent with him) came into her room, dried her tears, and sat with her next to he bay window in her room.
- Her grandfather handed her a navy blue box with a golden bow. Inside, was a deck of cards
- The priest’s face drops when he hears this
- He asks if she’s a wizard of tarot. She continues.
- Her grandfather didn’t know what the cards were, but when he saw them, he thought of her.
- For the first time in her life, things felt correct. That something had chosen her, rather than the other way around. Something just made sense about them.
- She doesn’t know why everyone is afraid of them, but she hasn’t been able to figure out why. There is no literature about them.
- In her grandfather’s final hours, she asked him where he got them. While traveling through the city, he met an old man selling bits and bobs. He made pleasant conversation with this man, and when the man learned that the grandfather was headed to his granddaughter’s seventh birthday, he said he had “just the thing for her”
- Upon hearing the entirety of Cordelia’s story, he asks for her name and says that he must ask her to leave.
- The priest only knows this because he spoke to Mystra: Only two tarot users may exist in the world at a time. This is in order to pass down knowledge of spells that go beyond the 9th level
- Mystra doesn’t like the tarot because it calls upon the power of other gods, not just the power of the Weave. She cannot control the power of the other gods.
- Mystra will try to make sure that Cordelia will not live to see another day as she grows stronger
- The priest offers Cordelia two options:
- Get stronger, and try to live to see another day
- Burn the cards
- Upon hearing the priest’s proposals, she turns around and walks away
- As she does, she turns back around and asks if there are for certain only two tarot users. The answer is affirmative.
- She leaves.
Camille prays
- Camille prays to Avandra, the goddess of travel
- They feel a gentle breeze when they do
- Upon the gentle breeze, they feel calm and at peace
- Camille says that they never learned any formal prayers - other than the one the use to put people to rest - says that they hope Avandra is having a good day, and asks if she’s their god
- As they ask this, they feel themself be transported
- They find themself in a void of sorts, pitch black. There’s a light blue wave materializing beneath them. They’re standing on solid ground, but the wave spreads out from their feet and as it spreads, it reveals a bright temple filled with light and overgrowth reaching the ceiling.
- There’s a figure in front of them. A darker blue kind of light (literally just a person-shaped blue light)
- The figure says “yes”
- GOD IS A WOMAN
- “I gave you these abilities too late, according to who?”
- Camille is like “me :( ”
- THEY HAVE A WHOLE CONVO. I DIDN’T TAKE NOTES BUT CORINTHIA DID (THANK U GIRL <3)
- Takeaways:
- Avandra is a lesser god, and therefore has a smaller following/fewer clerics
- OSIRIS is in South Haran
- Camille will be granted a symbol to use to pray to Avandra
- Camille should get rid of the symbol of Asmodeus ASAP
- All Avandra wants of Camille is for them to continue what they’re already doing: traveling and adventuring
- Avandra tells Camille to trust their friends, even when they lie (I love friendship)
- Camille (and the party, by extension maybe?) will eventually meet an oracle
- Camille is unhappy with being one of Avandra’s chosen, and thinks that it should have been “him” instead, because at least “he” wanted to go (no further detail given)
- Avandra says “his” was a necessary death (Camille 👎)
- Avandra can see multiple possible futures, and she advises Camille to continue down the path they’re currently on
Cordelia & Kaya Have Feelings
- Camille returns to the world and leaves the private prayer room they were in right as Cordelia is leaving the church
- Cordelia goes outside, finds a bench, and immediately pulls 4 cards (+1 that fell out)
- Kaya follows Cordelia
- Kaya tells Cordelia that she’s trying her best not to snoop on people (since it made Camille super mad “for some reason”) and asks Cordelia if she wants to talk about things since she looks mad
- Cordelia says that she appreciates the sentiment
- KAYA ROLLS A NAT 1 THEN A NAT 20 ON INSIGHT ON CORDELIA’S MOOD
- She gathers that Cordelia’s conversation with the priest had to do with her cards, and it didn’t go well
- Kaya sits on the bench, and - with a pained expression (emotions, ew) - says that Cordelia can tell her anything, because she’s here to help (she’s having SUCH hard time with emotional vulnerability fr)
Camille says hi to the priest
- Camille goes to thank the priest, and sees that he looks DISTRESSED
- He says that their friends are in grave danger (they respond by saying we are constantly, and asks for clarification)
- Camille lore drops that we’re involved with like 4 gods and that they just talked to their god 💀 mans is like HUH?!?!?!?
- THe man asks them to leave 💀
- Before they leave, they ask the priest how they might dispose of a symbol of an evil god
- The priest takes it, looks in the box, and freaks a little
- Camille leaves a donation of 10 GP
The Gang Regroups
- Cal and Vallen approach (it’s only been an hour and they’re already shitfaced)
- Cordelia does a quick reading for Camille: The World reversed
- They don’t have all the pieces to the puzzle
- Camille drops that they met their god, and Cordelia drops that Cal has a god (the Raven Queen)
- Vallen drinks from a mysterious vial and immediately sobers up
- Cordelia shares what she knows of the Raven Queen
- She listens in on conversations in which her name is mentioned
- Cordelia says that she and Cal are in similar boats since they are both in hot water with gods
- Camille shares that OSIRIS is now in Haran
- Cordelia says that regardless, she’s going back to the Capital because “there is a monster wearing [her] face”
- Cordelia and Vallen agree that the imposters are probably changelings
- IZZIE NOTE: Camille is feeling pretty bad about Cordelia since she called changelings monsters 💀 girlie doesn’t know it but she hit like every insecurity they have ever
- Kaya suggests that the reason behind our imposters is the blue man that drew us (after we killed our first changeling)
- Camille agrees, and says that if you impersonate someone you need to know them really well (stalkers)
- Vallen drops that he’s noticed that people have been observing us for a while, but NONE OF US HAVE NOTICED
- Kaya says that she probably should’ve mentioned the person at the dock who recognized Cal’s name
- Cordelia uses the Sending Phone to contact Ozwin again, requesting an update:
- Cordelia: Please send update about recent situation regarding us, quickly. As possible. Delia
- Ozwin: Handling the situation to the best of our abilities. The Keeper is out, I’m just a sorcerer.
- Vallen reaches out to the Keeper, and receives the response: “Investigating Diamond, go back and handle this. You got this, buddy 👍”
- We discuss our next steps
- Vallen asks Camille if they adopt racial characteristics of the people they impersonate (as a changeling) (they test-cast Chill Touch and it works, so the answer is yes)
- The gang agrees to keep moving towards OSIRIS, and to trust the people in the Capital
- We discuss the gods
- Cal has been trying to talk to the Raven Queen by saying her name, but hasn’t heard anything back
- Vallen assures us that there are rules governing the gods in how they meddle with mortal lives, so we shouldn’t worry about it right now
- Vallen reminds us that there are a lot of lives on the line
- Camille starts walking
- Cordelia follows, and as they pass Cordelia whispers and apologizes, saying that they’re not a monster
- Cal snaps out of his whispering-to-himself reverie and follows