Quartz 4

Session 43

20 min read

← Session 42 Session 44 →

CJ ROLLED A D4 AND GOT A 3. THAT MEANS CORINTHIA FOR SOME REASON?? I GET SCARED CJ DROPS THAT ARATISH ISN’T A WORLD SHAPER

Downtime Ctd.

  • Cal
    • Tinkering and experimenting with ammo types
  • Cordelia
    • Asks Ozwin to help him with what he’s doing (affirmative!)
    • He makes a few comments that she should read the book that he gave her (she does!)
  • Kaya
    • Talks to Quén
    • Texts her mom
    • Drinks
    • Beats up Cal (spars and helps him get used to his new arm)
  • Quén
    • Talks to Vallen
    • Talks to Kade
      • Offscreen: they one of the books they bought and lets him know that they’d be willing to tell him about how their magic works since he’s been teaching us about science and guns — noting that Cordelia and Ozwin would be better people to ask about it, since they’ve been using magic their whole lives (but they still wanna put the offer on the table)
    • Talks to Kaya
    • Continues to learn how to shoot guns
      • They are now proficient in gun use!
  • We are approaching Silvanour

On the horizon…

  • We see a HUGE line of ships
    • It’s a blockade almost, with each ship toe to tip (horizontally)
  • Captain Seamus calls us on on deck (from Foo Bar) and points out that the blockade is impeding our progress significantly
    • Kade tells us that the blockade might send a diplomat ship to meet us soon
  • Quén asks if it would help significantly if we had an elf with us
    • We conclude that Cal can use his at-will Disguise Self to become an elf (turn into an identical replica to Vallen)
  • Kade questions whether or not he’s closer to Elf than Human (being a Tiefling)
    • While he does this, Quén excuses themself and runs downstairs
  • In the safety of their room, Quén hypes themself up (saying “I won’t get stuck again”) before trying to shape-shift into an elf
    • It’s quick and painless
    • They turn back to their original form, then immediately turn BACK into an elf
    • They run back to the deck, saying “Guys, check this out!” and shapechange back into their true form in front of everyone
  • Our cover story:
    • Quén and Cal have a dying family member in Silvanour, and caught a ride on the first ship that they could find (which is why the ship is filled with random people and not elves)
  • There’s some debate over whether or not it’s easy to tell the difference between Eldorians and Solmarians
    • Smell?? No difference (Kade makes a point to sniff Quén)

Speaking with the diplomat

  • The diplomat ship pulls up next to our ship!
  • Everyone (except for Cordelia) notices that everyone on the diplomat’s ship is in a good mood!
  • The diplomats board our ship
  • The entire party is present on deck, with a few crewhands and Captain Seamus on deck to make sure that everything runs smoothly
  • The diplomat greets us cheerily!
    • He explains that these are international waters, and that these are the waters bordering Silvanour
    • He introduces himself as an envoy of the diplomats, who remain on the mainland
  • Cal does an EXCELLENT job of playing a “Karen in a hurry”, and makes a fuss over needing to get through quickly
    • Quén apologizes for his behavior, and tells the envoy that we’re dealing with a family emergency and need to get through quickly
    • The envoy apologizes, saying that we still need to go through the standard processes. He waves over another elf, who wields a staff and casts Zone of Truth
  • TL;DR:
    • The elf identifies that we’re lying about the “family emergency”, but says that’s it’s fine!! Because they’re looking for a group called “The Seekers”, which consists of a human woman wizard, a green tiefling monk, a changeling cleric, a man who smells like eggs, and a man named Julian
      • The elf notes that Cordelia and Kaya look EXACTLY like the wizard and monk they’re looking for
    • They let us through, and tell us that if we find The Seekers, to let them know that the Elders are eager to meet with them in Kugane
    • The general consensus is that:
      • The elves seemed strangely stupid (Kaya)
      • They were manipulated, but not magically (Cordelia and Quén)

Quén scries on Dr. Pope

  • They ask Cal for one of his original warforged parts as they set up for Scrying, which forces Dr. Pope to make the save with a -4 modifier
    • He rolls a 17 (meets it beats it), but the scrying still goes through — it just won’t last as long
  • Dr. Pope is at a workshop table, similar to the one we saw when we last saw him in the basement in Silvanour
    • He seems to be in a nice, royal-esque room
    • He’s tinkering away on a warforged head
  • He’s muttering about how he needs Cal’s input
    • He sets the warforged head to the side, and as the camera pans to follow his movement, we see a near-completed full body of the modified OSIRIS model that we fought in Act 1
    • We also see more of the room: it’s almost palacial
  • Dr. Pope rips out a page from a book, and starts writing in it
    • It’s just scribbling, with no rhyme or reason to it. The scribbles have spaces between them. He’s writing very fast.
    • He feels out the entire page, and as he finishes, the page looks like a fragment of the Orb
      • He crumples up the paper, throwing it in the corner
      • It lands in a pile of papers with similar scribbles
  • The vision ends.

Discussing the vision

  • Vallen drops the shadowbox
  • Cal tells us that he wants us specifically, and the gang gets confused
    • He tells us that Dr. Pope was writing “The Seekers” over and over again (Quén was also able to read this, since they can read Sylvan)
  • We try to figure out how to contact Dr. Pope
    • Cordelia suggests that we contact the government directly - not that she trusts them - and ask for their help in locating Dr. Pope
    • Quén asks if we can just contact Dr. Pope directly, since he already wants to find and meet with us
      • Cal gets an idea, and tinkers with one of his old warforged heads to create a two-way radio to contact Dr. Pope via one of his OWN warforged heads (IT WORKS!!!)
  • We debate over what to say to Dr. Pope
    • Quén says that we should ask where Dr. Pope is exactly, so we can pinpoint his location and potentially sabotage his new OSIRIS prototype
    • Cal will talk to him, since he has a pre-existing relationship with the man (+ Dr. Pope wants to talk to him BAD anyways), and the head will convey the vocalization of the person speaking rather than just the words

Cal speaks to Dr. Pope

  • Cal whispers Dr. Pope’s name, to which he’s like “OSIRIS???”
  • We learn that Dr. Pope is in Kugane, and that he’s in “the big building” (i.e. the palace)
  • Cal hangs up on Pope the moment we learn where he is

WE RECEIVE ITEMS

  • Foo made us some stuff that we asked for but never came back for!! He gives them to us upon request
    • Machine gun (goes to Cal)
    • Fire extinguisher (goes to Kaya)
    • Mithril manacles (goes to Quén)
  • We experiment with the manacles, and learn that they suppress magical AND racial/innate abilities, but Vallen can still teleport with them on 🤨
    • This was tested on Kaya’s bending and Quén’s shapeshifting

Arriving in Kugane

  • As we pull into the dock, we see that the city is festive and alive!
  • We put down the plank, and a shorter wood elf holding a clipboard approaches us and greets us
    • Cal gives the man the name of the ship (The Fogstrider)
    • Quén gives the man our reason for being here (“visiting family”)
    • He writes down the rough estimate of the number of people on our ship (70) and that we won’t be in town for very long
  • The man is VERY cheery. He tells us that…
    • Our docking fees were waived because they’re celebrating life!!
    • We can borrow a carriage for free to explore the city
  • Kaya asks for a map and receives one

Traveling to the Palace

Vallen and Kade are travelling with us, and Ozwin chose to remain on the boat

  • Quén casts Detect Magic, and sees nothing out of the ordinary EXCEPT: when they look at the elf we just spoke to, they see a blue spiral around his magical signature
    • All other locals have the same blue spiral
  • GROUP PERCEPTION
    • Kaya, Cordelia, and Quén notice that the locals are going about their business very logically, but it’s also very organized — people and things are divided into distinct groups
    • Cal realizes that the festival started today
  • We test the local food for tampering
    • Quén doesn’t detect any magical tampering, poison, or disease (using a combination of Detect Magic and Detect Poison and Disease)
    • Cal eats the food, and so does Vallen. They don’t feel strange.
  • Cal pulls up to one of the carriages, which has NO horses
    • He realizes it’s not
  • Quén comments on how strange it is how organized everyone is, and Cal responds by telling us that it’s even stranger that they kicked off the festival TODAY
  • WHAT WE REALIZE:
    • Cordelia saw a similar swirl around the magical signatures of the warforged in Eldoria, but that swirl was red (the color of the Pyramid — while blue is the color of the Orb)
    • Since Quén just has a piece of the Orb and the Pyramid in their bag of holding (just kinda floating around in there, not in a lead box), it’s likely influencing the people around us
      • We can reasonably assume that a piece of the Orb is in Kugane, since that would make 2/3 of the Orb is in the city and that would influence the populace

Pulling up at the Palace

  • As we roll up to the palace, we see guards around — they’re leaning on their weapons/against the walls, looking very relaxed
    • They wave hello to us, and ask if we’re going in
  • We faff about with a few excuses, but the guards aren’t buying it
    • Eventually, Cal pulls out his old warforged head and gets Pope to talk to the guards to let us in
  • Walking in, we meet an elf dressed in royal garb who looks to be in his prime. He introduces himself as Theodas
    • Through discussion, he realizes that we’re the Seekers and that Cal and Quén have disguised themselves as elves
  • WHAT WE LEARN FROM THEODAS:
    • Dr. Pope just kinda walked up to the palace’s doors, and he was let in because he has the Pyramid in his eyes
    • He needs our help with fixing something in the city
      • The people of the city will (hopefully) tire themselves out by morning, at which point we can discuss us potentially helping him
      • The reason why he needs us is because we’re likely the only people who are unaffected by the Pyramid
    • The man is a BITCH and both lily and izzie want him BADLY!!!!
  • Theodas leads us to Dr. Pope’s room, and tells us the only stipulations to this meeting:
    • We CANNOT remove Pope from the palace grounds
    • There is to be no bloodshed (he tells Cal this directly)

Meeting Dr. Pope

  • As we walk in (with Cal going first), Dr. Pope turns and is confused as to how Cal is here physically and not in the head
    • Dr. Pope asks why he’s here — he said that he would be safe here, that this is where the contracts would end, and that he wouldn’t hurt any more people
  • Quén answers for Cal, saying that we’re looking for answers
    • Dr. Pope says that we want simple answers about Ihys, why Vallen is a vampire, why Quén is named the way they are, etc.
    • He mumbles about how he sees multiple possibilities
  • Dr. Pope asks - borderline begging - for the piece of the Orb that we bear, so that he can think and speak properly
    • Quén looks at the rest of the party for permission, and after receiving it, they put on a lead-lined glove and hand the shard of the Orb they have to the man, who handles it with similar gloves. He sets it down on a table in front of him and begins to speak eloquently for the first time since we’ve met him
    • He says that it’s difficult to speak when the Pyramid has had its way with his brain for so long

DR. POPE'S MONOLOGUE 

I drive myself, to the edge of madness, trying… to explain the truth 

Its so simple, elegant, like a knife point. It explains (and this is not hyperbole) this is the furthest thing from exaggeration, everything.

Lay it out and they stare at you like you’ve just been like dust. Maybe they’re missing some underlying scaffold of truth. Maybe they’re propped on a bed of lies there must be burned away. Why does anything exist? No no no no no, don’t reach for the word there’s no ‘reason’ that’s teleology, and teleology will stitch your eyelids shut. 

Why do we have atoms? because atomic matter is more stable than primordial broth atoms defeated the broth that was the first war. There were two ways to be in one of them one and everything that came. Next was made of atoms atoms made stars stars made galaxies world simmer down to rock and acid in the smoking privacies first living molecule learned to copy itself. All of this happened by the one law the blind wall. Which exist without mind or meaning it is the simplest law, but has been no worshipers here- out there though..- out there.

How to explain it? it’s so simple! Why don’t you see? 

Imagine three great nations under three great queens.
 The first queen writes a great book of law. And in her rule is just.
the second queen builds a high tower and her people climb it to see the stars. 
The third queen raises an army and conquers everything. 
The 
The future belongs to one of these queens. Her rule is harshest and people are unhappy….but… she rules..

this explains everything understand? this is why the universe is the way it is and not some (!) other way. 
Existence is a game that everything plays. And some strategies are winners, the ability to exist to shape existence, to remake it so that your descendants whether they be molecules or stars are people or ideas will flourish and others will find no ground to grow

 and his universe sticks on towards the close. the great players will face each other.

 In The next round there will be three queens and all of them will have armies and it will be a battle of swords until one discovers the cannon or the plague or the killing word.

 Everything is becoming more ruthless in the end. Only the most ruthless remain, and they will hunt the territories of the night extinguish the glint of competition before can even understand what our faces or why it has transgressed. 

This is the shape of victory to rule the universe so absolutely so that nothing will ever exist, except by your consent. This is the queen at the end of time whose sovereignty is eternal because no other sovereign can defeated, and there’s no reason for it more than that there was a reason for the victory of the atom. 

It is simply the winning play… 

of course it might be that There was another country with other queens and in this country, they sit down together, and made one law and one tower and one army to guard their borders. This is the dream of small minds, a gentle place ringed in spears. But I do not think these Spears will hold against the queen of the country of Armes and that is all that will matter… in the end.
  • Dr. Pope tells us that he can answer our questions
    • When is the war coming? He doesn’t know
    • Why is Vallen a vampire? Because he made him so
  • Dr. Pope asks Quén if they made the deal with the Father, hoping that they haven’t. They ask him if they want him to lie to him, or to tell him the truth.
  • MORE OF WHAT WE LEARN FROM DR. POPE
    • Ihys and Asmodeus reincarnate into new vessels every time the previous one dies
    • All mortals have the blood of paracausality from Ihys, not just Eldorians
    • VALLEN IS THE NEW INCARNATION OF IHYS??
      • AND SINCE VALLEN IS ALREADY A CORPSE, THEY’D HAVE TO DELIVER HIM TO THE FATHER THE MOMENT HE REQUESTS IT
    • We don’t know if Asmodeus has a reincarnation yet, and as far as Dr. Pope knows, he’s still in his original form in Hell
    • There will be queens leading the war, but we don’t know who those queens are
      • Quén delivering the corpse of Ihys to the Father will mark the beginning of the war
    • Kaya is a Worldshaper, and there can be only two of her kind: a Worldshaper and a Worldbreaker
    • Dr. Pope was forced by Asmodeus to sign a contract??
      • Dr. Pope is 4,000 years old, and he cannot die until he fulfills it
      • He can’t speak on the stipulations of the contract, because it prevents him from doing so
      • When he signed the contract with Asmodeus, he was retired and was supposed to spend the rest of his life with his family. Now his family is gone.
    • Dr. Pope turned Vallen into a vampire to put a pause on Ihys herself
      • By forcing Vallen to be immortal - which was done upon request by the Father - Ihys can no longer be reincarnated
    • Dr. Pope asks Cordelia not to give the final card in her deck to the Father
      • The Pilgrim card can be used to open doorways to different realities (no parallels though — once a reality is set, it is set). This can be done to go to the elemental plane of fire.
        • NOTE: CORDELIA HAS NOT RECEIVED HER FINAL CARD YET!!!
      • It is currently her most versatile card — the Pilgrim card can be used to allow the Father to reach the gods themselves so he can kill them
        • NOTE: THE FINAL CARD (WHICH SHE HAS NOT RECEIVED YET) WILL BE HER MOST VERSATILE CARD
    • Why was the fog put in place?
      • Dr. Pope says it’s one of his greatest failures
      • The world machine was crafted to house the Pyramid and the Orb, and existed long before the Father’s time. It exists beneath Eldoria
      • The fog was meant to be a deterrent for any occupying armies, and was meant to disperse from Eldoria to kill everyone and everything outside of Eldoria
        • Why: this launches Dr. Pope into another tangent.
    • Dr. Pope asks us if we have spoken to the Pyramid and Orb directly
      • We have not, but Quén reveals that we have spoken to the Curator (i.e. the voice of the Cube) — Dr. Pope doesn’t seem to know about him or the Cube
    • Dr. Pope asks Cal what questions he has
      • By Cal’s own admission, he’s angry. He speaks as if his next statements are a plan that we should follow.
      • He says that the man in front of us has committed great atrocities, and now he has an army at his back. He deserves to face justice.
        • Cordelia tries to reason with him
  • CAL PULLS OUT HIS SWORD AND CHARGES AT DR. POPE
    • Quén steps in front of Cal’s sword, and asks him what will happen if Dr. Pope dies here and now. We get kicked out of the palace and out of the country, we won’t be able to retrieve the piece of the Orb (or Pyramid) from beneath the city, Dr. Pope will still come back to life, and we will be farther from our goals
    • They emphasize that meting out justice can wait until we can serve justice that lasts.
  • Dr. Pope asks if we’ve reached out to Balthazar
    • We have, but he didn’t respond. Dr. Pope informs us that Balthazar is dead.
    • Balthazar was in the Capital looking after what remains of Eldoria in Ozwin’s stead. That makes the Capital unsafe
      • Kaya reaches out to her mother via the Sending Phone, telling her to remain in Hillford with Alexios and to avoid the Capital at all costs
      • She doesn’t receive a response (left on read)
  • Quén asks Dr. Pope if his completing his contract will be bad for us
    • “If I complete my contract, the outcome will be as designed [as intended by] the original implementor of the contract” — this is as much as he can say without violating his contract
    • The gang agrees that this is probably bad
  • Dr. Pope originally started crafting the warforged because Diamond wanted him to, but also so Cal (him SPECIFICALLY, not the Seekers) could have an army
    • OSIRIS was a failed experiment. FAFO was the intended result. He couldn’t achieve the intended results, however, because Clover was in possession of the
  • Quén asks what happened to V’s body
    • Dr. Pope tells them that he doesn’t know (although he DOES know V’s full name), and asks Quén if they know what happens to something after it’s been atomized. Neither of them know.
    • He knows that his head was burned by Ozwin
      • Ozwin was supposed to die during the fight at the end of Act 1
      • Quén phones Ozwin, asking if he’s alive. He is, doing research
      • We did some magic tests on him, but not the axio knife test
  • Dr. Pope tells us that it’s odd that the entire Nordic pantheon was trapped in Eldoria
    • He asks why we think Eldorians are so obsessed with viking funerals
  • Dr. Pope tells us to trust Ozwin
  • Quén asks if there will be any negative repercussions
  • Dr. Pope asks us a question
    • If it comes down to it, will we sacrifice the few to save the many?
    • Kaya says that she is ready to lay her life down for her people and her friends
  • Dr. Pope tells us that - if at any point we get separated - we must return to Hillford immediately
  • Quén asks if we can reach out to Dr. Pope with any questions we have later, gesturing to Cal as a method of communication
    • Cal turns heel and storms out of the room.
    • We realize that we cannot speak to Dr. Pope as he currently is once we leave, since removing the Orb from his vicinity would also remove his sanity
  • Dr. Pope asks us to leave the room so he can return to working on OSIRIS 3.0
    • He says that once it’s finished, we can have it
  • Quén asks if they can tell Theodas that we learned about a lost ally
    • He says that we can tell him what we want, but to remember that all our actions have consequences
    • Dr. Pope almost mentions something else along this train of thought, but stops mid-sentence
      • We see that his eye twitches, and Quén (passive insight) can tell that he was stopped
      • Quén asks if he stopped speaking because of his contract. Dr. Pope nods.

CJ apparently has been twitching his eye at multiple points during this conversation, which apparently is lore-relevant. We do not know what is truth and what is a lie

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