We Begin
- Cal - at this point - had stormed out of the room
- The rest of the party is still in the room with Dr. Pope
- Kaya leaves to catch up with Cal and check up on him
- Quén talks to Cordelia about how she feels
- They’re both shocked that we lost our greatest ally, and are concerned about the state of Eldoria with him gone
- Cordelia mentions that Ozwin is next in line after Balthazar
Cordelia speaks to Vallen
- Quén vibe checks Vallen (Insight 22), and sees that he’s internally freaking out
- They ask Cordelia if she wants to speak with Theodas about our lodgings or speak with Vallen about how he’s feeling. She chooses Vallen
- Quén leaves the room
- Cordelia tells him “that was a lot” — Vallen agrees
- Vallen says that he didn’t know he was a woman. Cordelia wishes him happy pride 💀
- Cordelia asks if he wants to talk about it now, or if he wants to process everything first
- Vallen says that this information doesn’t change who he is now, and doesn’t change anything but the outcome.
- He says that reincarnation implies that “I am still who I am, without - for lack of better terms - being possessed. I’m glad I get to keep my personality.”
- Cordelia says that she knows they’re not on the greatest terms given her previous actions, but assures him that she’s here for him, and so is everyone else
- Vallen says that he knows, but that we still have a job to do
- Vallen pushes himself off the wall and walks out the door.
Kaya talks to Cal
- Cal remained outside the door, pacing back and forth. He didn’t go very far.
- Kaya steps out and sees him pacing
- They’re still inside the palace, and they’re near a railing that overlooks a large throne room (balcony-type situation)
- There are six thrones below them.
- There are two big thrones, and four smaller ones
- Cal walks over the railing, and tries to spit on one of the thrones beneath him
- He invites Kaya to join him after missing a few times (he DOES manage to make a hit)
- Kaya comments on how he seems to be taking this well
- In response, Cal says that we can still Fireball the room with Dr. Pope still inside, and hopefully take care of the OSIRIS 3.0 situation
- Kaya says that she would normally be inclined to agree with him, but a warforged army doesn’t sound like a terrible idea
- In response, Cal says “Yeah, I don’t know”
- Kaya asks if he doesn’t want to be the leader of an army
- Cal responds by saying that he’d like to be the leader of an army, but he’s wary of warforged — 90% of the time, when we meet a warforged, they try to kill him
- Cal makes a joke about going to give a motivational speech to his warforged army, and instead of saying anything inspiring just pulling out a warforged head
- Kaya laughs and says that it’d be a good intimidation tactic
- Cal spits again and hits the second of six thrones below them
- They agree that the elves are pretentious
- Cal invites Kaya to spit with him again, and this time she agrees!
- KAYA MAKES A HIT
- Vallen walks out of the room at this point
- He sighs, as if to center himself. Then he asks Cal if he’s spitting. Cal says yes.
- Cal tells Vallen that we learned a lot about him, and despite everything we learned, he doesn’t see Vallen any different — because he’s always seen a “little bitch” in him
- Kaya turns around and tries not to laugh
- Kaya comments and says that Vallen is a “very pretty man”.
- She reiterates that we’re still here for him
Quén seeks out Theodas
NOTES GO HERE
The group recaps
- Quén tells the group what they learned from Theodas
- SHENANIGANS HAPPEN
- Quén learns that Theodas might be into Vallen?? And also he’s racist 💀
- They pull out the lead boxes
- We pull up to the rooms that Theodas gave us keys to (looks like a prison cell)
Quén tries to shapechange into the Father
NOTES GO HERE
- Quén tells
Kaya speaks to Vallen
- Vallen is right outside the bedroom door, leaning against the railing. As Kaya approaches, he spits and lands a direct hit on an un-spit-upon throne
- Kaya holds out her hand for a high-five. He high-fives her without looking.
- Vallen says that he’ll have to rub the fact that he hit a throne in Cal’s face later
- Vallen asks Kaya what Quén is muttering in the room
- She questions how he can hear that — he says that he has long ears and is a trained assassin
- Kaya says that it’s either night terrors or prayers
- Vallen asks Kaya why she hasn’t gone to bed yet
- She says that she learned that she might die tomorrow, so she’s not feeling sleepy
- Vallen says that she won’t, and she agrees by saying that
- Kaya says that she has a loaded question for Vallen, and asks him how he’s holding up
- He says that it turns out that he’s a primordial god from a time before the other gods, and the other half of him the literal DEVIL from THE BIBLE
- Kaya reaffirms that Vallen’s still Vallen, and at least he has cool powers now
- Vallen agrees by saying that at least he has an explanation for what’s happening to him now
- Vallen says that he understands that we’re all worried about his mental health right now, but assures her that he’s fine
- Kaya says that she’s worried about everyone’s mental health right now
- Vallen asks Kaya if Ihys and Asmodeus were without gender
- He says “please say yes please say yes please say yes”
- Kaya’s like “yes???” but affirms that he’s still a man, and apologizes for all the jokes
- Vallen says that he just wants to figure out why everything is the way it is
- Kaya says that we’ll figure out more once we get more pieces of the Shapes tomorrow
- They both agree that there’s still more to do, in a beleaguered sort of way
- Vallen says that she should go to bed, and Kaya responds by saying that he should take a break and maybe read a book
Morning Comes
- We all awake! For once we didn’t have visions or dream-prophecies, and had the best sleep we ever had on the worst mattresses we’ve ever slept on
- Kaya’s the second to wake up, after Cordelia. She sees Cordelia with her clothes on and already drinking coffee
- Vallen is pouring everyone coffee as they wake up
- Quén opts to not put the pieces of the Shapes into the lead boxes given to them by Theodas
- Vallen tells us that he received a little more knowledge from Theodas before we woke up, and now he knows exactly where we need to go/where the temple is. He’s ready to go whenever we are
- Quén says that we should go now
- As we walk out of the palace, we pass by the throne room
- We see Theodas seated on one of the small seats on the end (which was spat upon by Cal) — he’s clearly the youngest of all the elves up there
- Quén waves at him, and in response he basically rolls his eyes 💀 HIS BITCHASS DOESN’T EVEN WAVE BACK!!!
- They ask Vallen if they should be nice to the racist. He’s like no???
- They message Theodas, saying that we’re now out of his hair and they wish him a good day. He grunts in response.
To the Temple
- We pull up to a horseless carriage (one of the first cars)
- Kaya drives!! It’s a BUMPY-ASS RIDE
- Quén casts Guidance on Kaya, but it doesn’t do much to help 💀
- Cal occasionally reaches over and corrects her steering
- As we drive, we see that everyone is walking around with smiles on their faces
- The party agrees that it’s a good thing that we haven’t put the Shape pieces in the lead boxes yet
- Cordelia notes that allowing the people around us to be normal would make an already intensive job even MORE intensive
- We reach the edge of town
- A pair of guards stop us, saying that we can’t take the vehicle into the woods
- They can take the keys for us and take it back to where we need to go — when we return and need the vehicle again, they can fetch it for us
Entering the Forest
- We reach a crossroads, and Vallen (with a map) points us down the path less traveled
- We arrive in a clearing with a temple (the temple itself has a vaguely asian-esque sloped roof) atop a hill
- Everyone - except for Cal - sees that someone has dug a fresh grave near the river, a little ways off from the temple
- As we approach, we see that the tombstone reads “Here lies Darius”
- Quén messages Theodas to let him know that Darius is dead
- As we process this information, someone approaches behind us
- The person is a dragonborn, and introduces herself as Opal
- GAY SHIT HAPPENS
- Kaya tells Opal her true name
- Opal’s like omg cool, good that ur alive, it was thought u were dead!
- Kaya asks her not to tell anyone
- THEY HOLD HANDS
- Opal takes Kaya’s hands, looks at them, and grimaces. She tells her that she has very pretty hands and that Kaya will “hate this next part”
- Kaya tells Opal her true name
- What we learn from Opal:
- Darius died attempting to access the Water Trial, and he died from tetanus????? 💀💀💀
- Opal technically isn’t allowed to let anyone else in, but as long as we don’t tell anyone, we can join Kaya 😏
- Kaya tells her that as long as she doesn’t tell anyone that she’s alive, we won’t tell anyone that she let us in
- Quén tries to wingman for Kaya by asking Opal to come with us — she politely refuses, but agrees to come with us down to the door
The Trial
Entering the Trial Chamber
- We enter a dark tunnel, at the end of which is an ornate stone door
- Next to the stone door is a pedestal with a button with a very rusty spike in the middle
- Quén asks Opal why Darius tried to press the button when it’s so clearly dangerous
- She responds by saying that - after guarding something for centuries but not being allowed to look deeper into it - one gets curious
- Kaya VERY CASUALLY puts her hand on the button and presses it (with her “fuck it we ball” mentality that she’s been rolling with lately)
- The spike pierces the center of her palm and goes all the way through the other side
- As the spike passes through her hand, gold blood runs like a river down the spike and onto the button
- The door swings open!!
- Beyond the door is a dark, rectangular room with a wet floor and dripping water
- Opal peers inside, and when asked says that her curiosity has been sated. She’s also sworn an oath saying that she cannot set foot past the door, but at least she’s seen it now!
- Quén tells her that Kaya can tell her all about the Water Trial when we come back, even if she can’t come with us
- Opal asks if we have a camera — we do!
- Quén hands V’s Camera Stone to Kaya
- We learn how to use one! We just have to say the person’s name before taking a picture
- To this end, Kaya gets Opal’s full name 😳 Her name is Opal Joyreis
- We enter the hallway, and as the door swings closed, Opal calls out a final warning to us:
- “Oh, if you run into any memories of Ralnor, don’t mention his sister!”
The Trial Begins (Trial 1)
- What we see as the doors close:
- Torches burst to life on either side of the room, illuminating it
- Water drips from the ceiling
- On the other side of the rectangular room is another door with an inscription on it
- It’s a VERY ANCIENT, VERY WET door
- The door appears to be locked
- The inscription appears to be ornate pictures with no real meaning to them, but it resembles the flowing of water
- Kaya attempts to push the door, and it doesn’t work
- When she tries, she hears a voice in her head “You don’t command the tide, you move with it.”
- The whole room begins to shake
- Only Cal sees that the ceiling is beginning to part, and water is flowing down the walls
- Quén tries to help Kaya work out how her powers work as the water level beings to rise
- Quén sees that the runes on the door have patterns and buttons
- The patterns:
- The bottommost pattern is a crashing wave
- The second pattern is a plateau
- The third pattern is fire
- The fourth pattern is wind
- The buttons:
- Each pattern includes two buttons on both doors
- The patterns:
- Quén suggests to Kaya that she manipulates the water to press the buttons
- First, she tries to press them with her hands — doing so makes the water flow faster
- Kaya holds out her hand to the water, attempting to ask it what it wants to do
- Doing so makes it flow faster
- Any other suggestions that we make cause the water to flow faster
- i.e. using earthbending to close the gap above us
- The water continues to rise, and eventually rises higher than our heads
- Before Quén goes under, the last thing they say to Kaya is “I trust you.”
- The gang makes CON saves!
- Kaya rolls the lowest, and thus loses breath the fastest
- As the breath leaves her lungs, she instinctively breathes in and realizes that she can breathe underwater
- The runes on the door glow, and Kaya swims over and presses all the buttons in order
- As she does so, the water recedes and the door opens!
Trial 2
- The next room is circular
- There is water - perfectly still - that leads up the wall and into a cavern on the other side of the room. It’s like a curtain of water
- As Kaya steps in it, she realizes that the pool is extremely shallow
- The rest of the party approaches the curtain with Kaya, and as Cordelia and Quén lock eyes with their reflection they freeze and become entranced
- Cal also sees himself, but manages to avoid being entranced by his reflection. However, as he looks at Kaya, he finds himself being unable to move of speak
- As Kaya looks at her reflection, she sees it begin to change
- The first vision shows her with a crown on her head, Thraxxus by her side. A city aflame in front of her, a tyrant over her kingdom
- The second shows her abandoning her friends in exchange for a quiet life
- The third shows her dying to save her friends, but failing to save the world
- The final shows her refusing responsibility to Solmara - refusing the crown - and in return the crown falls into someone else’s hands and the world turns to despair
- Kaya’s reflection speaks to her, and tells her “Choose a possible future.”
- “I am worldshaper, and I will shape my own future”
- The reflection attempts to tell her that she’s wrong, but Kaya argues that this is the Water Trial and that water is prone to change
- The reflection argues that water acknowledges, but does not get the opportunity to choose
"Water does not choose but it acknowledges. A river knows exactly where every rock is and adapts to them. A river recognises a mountain and it can cut it in half or go around it. Water does not have fear of these obstacles. Water reacts to these obstacles without fear. Fear isn't a weakness, refusal to act is."
- Kaya asks if the possible futures she was shown are the “obstacles” she is to react to
- The reflection does not respond
- “I guess we’ll just see what happens”
- The reflection smiles, and the water curtain parts
- The rest of the party comes to, and Kaya lets us know that the second trial has been passed
- She tells us that the lesson here was that she just needs to acknowledge the challenges in her path, and adapt to take them as they come
- Quén responds by saying “as Kaya would”
Trial 3
- Beyond the door of the next room is a massive column of water - one which must be passed through in order to pass through the room itself - with a number of objects frozen in it
- The party sees:
- A shield (closest to the door)
- A sword
- A cobblestone brick
- A burnt gauntlet
- A feather (eagle’s)
- A map
- The party sees:
- Kaya attempts to stick her hand in the water
- The water does not feel wet
- When she pulls her hand out, it’s completely dry
- Quén sticks their finger in, and it comes out dry as well
- The party agrees to follow Kaya’s lead, since everything she’s tried - without our suggestion or guidance - has worked (and it’s her trial, anyways)
- Kaya enters the water, swimming towards the closest item: the shield. As she grabs it, she sees a vision
- She sees - from a third-person perspective - an elven man with the same shield on his left arm
- A child walks up to the man, and says “Ralnor, thank you so much for saving the town”. As they say this, they hug his leg
- Ralnor smiles, and a tear runs down his cheek
- As the vision leaves her mind, the shield dissipates into bubbles
- The sword
- She sees Ralnor again, this time with a sword and the previously-seen shield
- He runs up a hill, leaping and spearing a red dragon through the head with the sword
- As the dragon lays dead, he turns and looks at a town in the distance — she recognizes it as the same town as the one the child was from
- The cobblestone brick
- It is day. It looks eerily similar to Langston. A smaller elven boy - the same colored hair as Ralnor (younger Ralnor) - gets pushed down by a older kid
- The older kid moves to push Ralnor’s friend to the ground, and Ralnor rises to his feet and stands up for his friend
CJ clarifies that he thinks this campaign passes the Bechdel Test
- The burned gauntlet
- Ralnor is in his early to mid-twenties in the midst of a war. He’s fighting off what looks like dark elves (drow) in an unfamiliar place. It appears to be in Silvanour (based on the trees around him)
- Ralnor raises a gauntleted hand and raises a ring of fire around him. He stomps his foot and the earth moves in response, launching enemies into the air
- He appears to be locked in on a specific individual as the battle rages on: a dark elf man with dark skin and white hair
- Ralnor raises his gauntlet towards the target, and with tears in his eyes, he spares the man’s life.
- The eagle’s feather
- Ralnor is sitting and regretting his life choices in a prison
- He’s specifically in a sky cell
- His cell is a room carved into the side of a cliff, with empty space in front of it
- He sighs, gets to his feet, and leaps into the empty space outside his cell, flying away
- Ralnor is sitting and regretting his life choices in a prison
- The war map
- Ralnor appears to be in his mid-thirties at this point, and is a highly-decorated war general
- Ralnor appears to have lost the spark in his eye that he had fighting as a world-shaper in previous visions
- He plans an attack. He stands at a table surrounded by dark elves
- Kaya does NOT suspect that he is gay for the dark elves. But we all have our suspicions 😏
- As the final item bubbles away, the water begins to recede. Kaya’s feet touch the ground as the water disappears
- Laying on the ground in front of her is a seashell necklace
- The seashell necklace
- Ralnor is sitting on a beach, next to his little sister.
- His little sister stands, running into the water. She reaches into the waves and picks up a seashell
- He takes the seashell, looking down on it. As he looks up, the vision changes, and he’s watching her scream as she drowns
- She’s drowning in a cave, and Kaya sees him trying to pull the water apart - away from his sister - and she hears the same voice that spoke to her — first with Thraxxus, then in the first trial:
- “You do not command the tide, you move with it.”
- “I have mastered the other three, obey me and bring my sister back!”
- “You do not command the tide, you move with it.”
- She’s drowning in a cave, and Kaya sees him trying to pull the water apart - away from his sister - and she hears the same voice that spoke to her — first with Thraxxus, then in the first trial:
- The party asks Kaya what happened
- She tells us that she got a lot of information about Ralnor - one of the previous world shapers - and she doesn’t believe the trial ended well for him.
- She tells us exactly what she saw (she exposits all over us)
- A door on the other side of the cave entrance opens up
- Kaya says that we (as in the rest of the party) are cooked if she doesn’t save us
- Quén reiterates that they trust her
- She says that their trust means a lot, and moves towards the next room
Trial 4
- The next path meanders somewhat before it opens up into another cavern
- At the center of the cavern is a throne, atop of which is a man who looks VERY dead
- He’s leaned back, mouth open
- As we walk up to the throne, we see a necklace: the seashell necklace Ralnor had, with the main shell cracked down the middle
- The room shakes as we approach
- Ralnor’s dead body wheezes, leaning forward. Water runs down his face from his gaping eye sockets and mouth
- “Another worldshaper… Leave while you can.”
- Kaya responds, saying that she can’t do that
- “I lost everything, and you will too. I have become the very thing that I sought to control. How many will die from your mistakes throughout your life? What is strength?”
- Kaya responds by saying that strength is power
- Ralnor’s body reaches down, grabbing the same sword that Kaya saw in her visions. He holds it at the ready, and asks Kaya “What would you sacrifice to save the world?”
- “Myself, my sanity, everything I have.”
- Ralnor picks up his shield, equipping it. He asks her: “And how many lives are acceptable to lose?”
- “I can only prevent so much, but I will save anyone I can.”
- Ralnor’s corpse chuckles. “You speak like a worldshaper. But you have no idea what you say. I will end your pain, and I will save you from the deep.”