- Everyone rolls perception (except for Quén and Vallen)
- The gang is in the tiny hut, putting things together for their long rest (tents, PJs, etc.)
- They get a sixth sense - a gut feeling - that something just changed. Something shifted within the party/area
- Vallen and Quén talk about how they will speak to the party
- The party members who rolled higher on perception (Kaya and Cordelia) notice that Vallen is speaking to someone they’ve never seen before
- THEY AGREE TO LET THEM HAVE THEIR MOMENT AND TO LET THINGS PLAY OUT 🥺
- The party members who rolled higher on perception (Kaya and Cordelia) notice that Vallen is speaking to someone they’ve never seen before
- Quén Asks Vallen to give them some privacy to change, since “Mimi’s” clothes don’t fit them anymore
- They change, covering as much skin as possible
- Vallen re-introduces them to the rest of the party (Cordelia has to counsel him into doing it a little better 💀)
- Everyone re-introduces themselves!! And they’re overall supportive :D
- Quén scurries off to make dinner, and insist on remaining covered up
- CORDELIA THINKS QUÉN WAS COMING OUT AS GAY
- Vallen just wants to know how to address them! Quén or Camille??
- Cal approaches Quén in the kitchen area
- HE’S VERY SWEET 🥺 uses an allegory about food, and how - even though it might look different - his favorite dishes always taste the same
- The gang sits down to have dinner!!
- Quén asks if the gang truly doesn’t have any more questions — Vallen says that he’s curious to see what they look like
- THE GANG PERSUADES THEM TO SHOW THEMSELF
- Quén takes off their veil, and LITERALLY EVERYONE TAKES PSYCHIC DAMAGE
- Cordelia attempts to compliment them, saying that she’s never met a changeling (Quén and Kaya correct her, saying that they’re a True Changeling)
- Vallen comments on how everyone had a new experience today - meeting a True Changeling
- They quickly put their veil and cloak back on, bid everyone goodnight, and rush away
- The gang briefly discuss what they saw!
- Cordelia is fascinated, pulls out her notebook, and begins to draw what she saw
- Julian hasn’t a single word this entire time
- Kaya looks over at him, and sees him look at Quén, look away, then have that familiar thousand-yard stare
- Kaya pulls Cordelia aside while she’s drawing, and tells her that she should probably talk to Julian — saying that he’s probably scared after everything he’s experienced, and that same expression he’s had when looking at the fire he produced/talking about hell when he looked at Quén
- Kaya says she’s sure as hell not going to talk to him
- Julian puts his food aside, stands up, and walks over to Quén
- “I think you’re beautiful.”
- THEN HE WALKS AWAY??
- QUÉN IS SHOCKED
Cordelia and Julian Talk
- Cordelia eventually wraps up her work in her notebook, slams it closed, and goes to talk to Julian
- He confesses that he feels like he’s been here before - EXTREME deja vu - since the dream last night
- She asks him what he told Quén: he tells her the truth, that he thinks they’re beautiful
- She agrees wholeheartedly
- They also agree that they have SO many questions, but they’re both too afraid to ask
- Cordelia is especially fascinated by the idea of being the first person to research and meet a True Changeling
- Julian tells her that he feels like he’s ROYALLY fucked up somehow, but he doesn’t know how
- Cordelia “idiot sandwiches” him, putting both her hands on the sides of his face, and tells him to think really hard
- Julian still doesn’t remember anything from when he was “taken to wherever [I] was taken to”, but he feels like that was where he fucked up
- Cordelia tells him that he was only gone for 5 minutes tops, but he says that he feels like he was gone for much longer than that.
- Julian tells her that there’s a huge hole in his memory that he has no idea what to do with, and that he knows that feeling of “fucking up” comes from there
- Julian asks why he’s getting that sense of deja vu about the Underdark when he’s never been here before
- Cordelia says that she doesn’t have a specific way to help him, but what she DOES know is that he’s among friends, and that they can find a way to mend that gap in his memory one way or another
- Julian leans in, locking eyes with her.
- “If it’s truly fucked up, would you forgive me?”
- Cordelia laughs nervously and says that she guesses they will see when they get there
- Julian slumps back
- “But until then, I’ve known you as nothing but a good heart and soul. As someone who has done nothing but protect me and our friends… Don’t forget your roots — in the midst of all you’ve forgotten, don’t forget that”
- “I don’t have roots anymore”
- “You can always plant some somewhere else. That feels like the theme of this journey”
A warforged shows up
- As Cordelia talking, they see a warforged walking normally - in the same way a person would walk - just striding past the dome
- It’s looking around? and sees the weirdly smooth rock (the Tiny Hut) and is like ???
- Cal sees the warforged!
- Most warforged are dragging themselves along, and their eyes are red. This one’s eyes are blue-tinged and he wears travelers clothes + a satchel
- He sits on a rock across from the boulder, pulls out a notebook, and starts taking notes
- Cal and Cordelia discuss what they should do
- At the moment? Nothing
- In the meantime, the warforged closes the notebook, pulls out a stick, and tosses it at the dome
- Cal pulls out the warforged head from his bag, but it remains dormant
- Quén calls out, greeting the warforged with a “hello?”
- There’s some confusion
- Cordelia asks what his name is: the “F.A.F.O Unit”
- FAFO asks what we’re doing in the Underdark: visiting, picking up rocks, drawing, telling bad lies, etc.
- FAFO is about to leave, but Cordelia stops him and asks him what he’s doing down here (he doesn’t really know!)
- FAFO received a signal to come down to the Underdark, and he was bored
- Cordelia asks if she can draw him, he agrees
- Cordelia’s been getting into drawing lately! So has FAFO!
- FAFO ALSO DRAWS!!
- They trade notebooks! (HE SEES CORDELIA’S EROTICA 💀💀💀)
- FAFO asks who the Quén is, and Cordelia says that it’s of a friend who might not be comfortable with sharing that (so he politely skips ahead)
- FAFO’s notebook is filled with drawings of the overworld and Underdark!! All drawings of the overworld are through trees
- Cal and Vallen REALLY wanna kill this guy (Cordelia, Kaya, and Quén are against it)
- What we learn about FAFO
- Born 3 days ago in Iron Forge!!
- Has been hearing a repeating prophecy that The Seekers will be in Spade after the wars
- Was originally designed to be a front-line fighter, but has the feeling that he was never put into combat
- Woke up next to a bunch of other warforged who were fighting (verbally). He didn’t like how they were talking to each other, so he turned around and left
- This was right after the big hole in Iron Forge appeared
- He doesn’t like OSIRIS and doesn’t wholly agree with his desire to “kill organics”
- He has a sending stone built into his head!
- Quén asks Cal for a pot of oil (fantasy WD-40) to give to FAFO!
- Cordelia and Vallen argue over whether or not to kill FAFO
- In response to Cordelia basically telling him “you’re not one to judge people based on the shit they/their kind have done”, he passive aggressively goes to meet FAFO
- Kaya goes out to meet FAFO!! They have a lovely conversation
- Kaya attempts to give him a sending stone to contact us, but he says he has one built into his brain!!
- In exchange for the oil, FAFO leaves us with a little sculpture he welded together himself, and says that we can look at that and remember him, in that not all warforged are bad
Night Comes
- Cal stays up to tinker!!
- Quén comes up to Vallen, and clearly looks like they want to ask him something
- They ask him what the party thought of their appearance
- He reminds them that the party cares about them because they’re Quén, not Camille
- In response, they say that their appearance is a sensitive subject for him and they’re still anxious about it
- They ask him what the party thought of their appearance
- Vallen asks Quén if they think of him differently after everything they learned about him
- They tell him that the things they learned about him today granted them a new perspective on him as a person, but that doesn’t change their relationship or how they feel about him
- Apple analogy: looking at an apple and turning it to see the other side of the apple does not change the nature of the fruit
The Dreams
- Quén and Cal are still awake - Kaya and Cordelia have already fallen asleep - and are induced to sleep
- Quén is struck with a bout of dizziness, and goes unconscious
- Cal is tinkering/smithing, and falls asleep mid-hammer swing
- Separately, they hear a voice say their full names to them: “Cal Corvo” and “Quén Aiano”
Cal Corvo
- Cal finds himself in commoner’s clothes, bereft of his weapons
- There is a man standing in front of him, who introduces himself as The Outsider as he says that he thinks the Raven Queen’s contract is too long
- The Outsider asks Cal if he remembers the name of the person who tried to kill Vallen: Erin Thorne
- “He… reached out, to me. A very long time ago for you, but very recently for me. I see his work, but I’m not too pleased with it. He’s… still within contract, but out of line from my standards”
- He says that Cal stands out from the others, and he gained The Outsider’s respect because he was able to spread his wings and act differently from the pact
- The Outsider tells Cal that he asked the Raven Queen to make first contact becuase of this
- The Outsider warns Cal that “He is watching you”, and that “He is down there”
- Cal responds by asking if he has another chance to kill Erin Thorne
- The Outsider tells Cal that he has a gift for him, and hands him a mask
- “I am an old… deity? I’m not a god. but I am very old. And as of right now, I only have two warlocks: you and and him.”
- He is still bound in contract to Erin Thorne
- The Outsider says that the Raven Queen holds most of his power - as part of a deal they made a long time ago - in order to help him avoid dying due to a lack of worshippers
- The Outsider tells Cal that if he kills more, then he (the Outsider) will be able to “break free”
- He asks Cal to do the one thing he’s good at: fight
- The mask will only work once, and Cal is cautioned to only use it when he REALLY needs to
- The Outsider tells Cal that he will find OSIRIS in a church (“that is your path”), and asks for questions, comments, and concerns
- Cal doesn’t have much to say
- In response, the Outsider sends him back, and he awakes with a start back in his own body
- The mask is on his person
Quén Aiano
- They find themself sitting in a pew in a very familiar church. They sense a presence sitting to their left — the last time, the Father was sitting to their left. This time, they see the same deep blue and the presence of their god
- Avandra died bcs the father jumped into her realm and that fucked her up severely. “Dissected her magic” according to CJ
Morning Comes
- When Quén comes back to, it’s “morning” and the rest of the party is waking up
- Their hands are still cupped, but there’s nothing in them
- They tell the party that they just watched their god die, and go off to pray to their god
- They cast Silence around themself, kneeling down to pray. They receive no sign of life, no gust of wind or telltale sign of being heard.
- They pray over and over and over, knowing that their prayers won’t be answered, and start to cry
- Cal is quickly packing up his belongings, and when stopped by Vallen, says that he has unfinished business to take care of in the Underdark and that he has to leave
- He counsels us against joining him, saying that it’s too dangerous
- Quén walks out of their Silence to hear the party arguing amongst themselves
- They tell Cal that if he tries to leave us behind, we will simply follow him
- Cal tells us that Erin Thorne is in the Underdark, and that he needs to be dealt with
- Quén theorizes that - because OSIRIS and the warforged are basically separated from the Diamond army - we will eventually encounter Erin because he likely has the same mission that we do (kill OSIRIS)
- Vallen reminds the party of how - when we first met Dr. Pope - he mentioned something about separating from the Diamond army, and the theory about the warforged being used to replace human soldiers in the army
- The party agrees to go after Erin Thorne if he shows up, but that we need to start moving
We Walk
- We walk for hours
- Quén asks how we plan to deal with OSIRIS
- Vallen suggests that we try to talk him down, and Quén says that they already tried to reach out, but the message never went through
- The general consensus is that we will have to take him down
- Some of us can engage him in conversation - maybe learn a little about the prophecies - and the rest can sneak up on him
- Cal is sneaky!
- Will Erin Thorne be willing to join us in the fight against OSIRIS?
- Cal is reluctant to fight both Erin and OSIRIS at once, and is reluctant to trust Erin
- Quén asks Julian to pray to Lathander to ask him “what the deal is” with OSIRIS
- Lathander speaks in riddles, but Julian says that he “got the vibe” that we’re on the right track
- Quén asks Julian if he wants to pray to Lathander about his “fire situation”
- Julian is afraid that Lathander will abandon him after finding out what happened to him
- Quén says that if Lathander does, then he is not a god worth worshipping. A god is only worth so much as their followers - that is why their god passed, because she didn’t have enough - and if Lathander doesn’t value his followers, then he is not worth following.
- Julian says that he will ask after we face OSIRIS, since he would hate to lose his powers before such a big fight
Arriving at The Church
- There’s a slight slope, and sparse trees dotting the landscape. It’s like a stony desert
- Upon realizing this, Quén asks Julian if this place is familiar (since one of his first dreams was of walking in a never-ending desert). It is not familiar
- At the top of the hill, we see a MASSIVE field filled with warforged, with a church in the middle
- The church looks to have the exact same layout of the town before
- Warforged are divided evenly in rows, forming large circles around the church
- There is a very familiar face — FAFO is hanging out within shouting distance from us, on the edge of a cliff
- We attempt to sneak up to FAFO
- Everyone rolls above a 10-15 except for Julian, who rolls a NAT 1!!!
- Quén reaches out to FAFO via sending stone, asking to check in
- “I’m so sorry I forgot your name. So I couldn’t warn you. I’m bad with names. Don’t come down the path I went. Bad stuff here”
- Quén tries to ask FAFO for any routes into the church that isn’t the most obvious one — he realizes where we are and tries to wave us away
- Quén asks Cordelia to check her map to determine where we are in relation to the overworld
- We’re roughly on the border of Clover and Diamond
- Quén messages The Keeper
- They tell him that we probably have found where OSIRIS is, and that there are a ton of warforged here — they ask him to join us for the final battle
- The Keeper cannot join us, since he is currently interrogating Sulk, who says that he has important information that he will ONLY share with the Keeper, and will refuse to speak if he leaves now
- The Keeper says that there are more warforged in the Capital
- The Keeper offers to send Oz in his stead, Quén respectfully declines
- As Quén tries to send another message, there’s a
- They tell him that we probably have found where OSIRIS is, and that there are a ton of warforged here — they ask him to join us for the final battle
- FAFO approaches us, tells us that he has a very bad feeling and that we should leave
- We unfortunately can’t
- He muses about going to the Capital - since it sounds nice - but Quén advises against it since lots of warforged are showing up and probably being killed there
- Since he says like it seems like we’re following the prophecy, he will see us in Spade
- Quén takes Cordelia’s hand and casts Death Ward on her
Approaching the Church
- The warforged are lined up in rows, kneeling and facing the church. Their heads are slightly bowed
- As we approach:
- We feel the presence of the Pyramid
- Everyone arms up
- Quén casts Enhanced Ability + on Vallen, granting him a +d8 to his initiative rolls and advantage on DEX checks
- As we pass all the warforged, Cal takes his sword and knocks it on the backs of the heads of the warforged we pass. There is no reaction.
- The doors to the church are ajar
- Vallen tells us that we will all make it out alive
- Julian readies his axe
Inside the Church
- Sitting on a throne at the very end of the church is a cloaked figure holding a spear in his right hand. His eyes glow red beneath his cloak, and we realize this is OSIRIS
- “Come to confess your sins? … I’m glad you’re here.”
- He drops the spear on the ground
- “This place… All of you here, exactly where I wanted you. Before you go trying to take this (puts a hand over his chest, the Pyramid floating upside-down within it), does your Orb speak to you? Because the Pyramid speaks to me. Tells me things. And you’ve come to take the Pyramid from me. To kill me, just like you have killed my warforged.”
- OSIRIS leans back, and as his cloak falls away from his face we see the exposed wire and scraped metal of his head and jaw from his fall from Iron Forge
- “Pyramid tells me stories”
- Amadeus lore (politician from Spade)
CJ’s Monologue Notes
“Come to confess your sins?”
“The Pyramid speaks to me… your orb has never done that.. has it?”
“You come down here to kill me… so you may take the pyramid and use it… to save your people…”
“Did you see my Warforge? They kneel… worshiping me..”
“I knew you would come looking for me… so I put myself in your path…”
“Do you know this church? It sits on a fault line between Clover and Diamond.
Interesting architecture…The Pyramid tells me stories about the time before… have you heard of the name Amadeus?”
“Amadeus was a politician from Spade and a musical genius. The way he could move people with his music was incredible BUT
Amadeus gained the trust and worship from Eldoria.. he wanted Solmara… the world beyond…
Doesn’t it bother you? The math dictates the world is round but…
I blame the fog.. why’s it there? Who put it there? Is it natural? When I ask these things the pyramid is Silent but… it gave me the questions to ask
I need to know, and I need the Orb to find out… after I kill you.. I will storm your capital, kill your families and burn your homes… I only need you gone… The pyramid is telling me to hang you…
For I am OSIRIS. Omnicidal Sovereign for Irrevocable Ruin and Inorganic Supremacy