Session 27
Peshka
Now standing in front of Peshka, Kaimos stepped forward. Both confused and intrigued, he asked him what it all meant. What were they trying to 'fix'? What was this 'deviant'?
Peshka, on the other hand, was equally intrigued. But not by what the tiefling said. It was his and Cassius' presence that had caught his attention. According to Jago's visions and Weylin's choice of this timeframe, they should not have been here. This meant that the deviant had already altered the course of events.
Kaimos quickly jumped in, and told him that both Jago and Weylin were wrong. Claiming that Peshka was under a powerful spell, he offered to help him. However, showing the alternative realities, Peshka reiterated that this current timeline was already different than they anticipated. At this moment, he restrained both Kaimos and Cassius and prepared himself for battle with the Four Feathers: the deviant was derailing the potential of this timeframe and had to be stopped with force, if needed.
The battle was an arduous one, pushing the party to exhaust nearly all of their strength and options and nearly killing some of them, but they persevered nonetheless.
Peshka then turned to Cerrule and revealed a necklace with an orange gem attached to it. He attacked her and then whispered something to her: "Master Weylin needs your power, deviant. You are simply delaying the inevitable."
In a last struggle between him and Delbellis, he then finally dropped his hands and again time stopped for a moment. Cerrule could hear a soft ticking, and felt a warm and gentle aura surrounding her. A familiar voice spoke from beside her.
"Ah, it continues so soon," her guide said, "Another one displaced, lost out in the boundless ocean. Provide a guiding light. A glimmer of moonshine. Untie another knot from the passage of time. Rhuka, your path home!"
The glowing staff appeared again, though a little more complete this time.
"Anapah set you on this path back but you must fulfill its purpose! Divine Gates opening, the gods are watching! You are bestowed upon the gift of the Silver Moon and so, you must act! Guide the lost back home, as I guide you. Child of Enoreth!"
Intuitively the druid reached out to the staff and like the arms on the face of a clock, she turned it. At this point, Peshka quickly dissipated into dark feathers that dispersed and disappeared soon after. The godly staff then vanished. She could still hear the footsteps of her guide growing softer with distance and as she turned to look, she could see him leaving through a glowing gate before her surroundings turned back to normal.
It appeared that in this time, the others saw nothing but Peshka disappearing in an instant, leaving behind a purple cloud that dissipated soon after - similar to Jago. They asked Cerrule what happened, though she seemed unsure herself. Though she knew of Enoreth, it was difficult to grasp that this was really her presence. This was the first time she began to realise that her connection to the Goddess allowed her to make a real impact on this world in history.
Now that Peshka and his magicks were gone, the area was again steeped in near-total darkness, save for the few areas where the mage's shadow-blasts had revealed glowing minerals in the cave.
Kaimos quickly approached Cerrule, and bewildered from what had transpired before him, he started to question her. Believing that the source of this power was connected to the portal through which she came, she admitted that she did not understand why it was her Weylin and his disciples wanted. It was evident that that this answer did not satisfy Kaimos. Defeated, he retreated towards the back of the cave with Cassius, where there was still some old wooden furniture.
Curious about the glowing minerals, Aragir attempted to investigate and remove them. While he could not do so himself, Delbellis managed to dislodge one crystal with a quick punch and gave it to him for examination.
The Aarakocra then tried to investigate the rest of the cave, though found nothing but a lingering feeling that she was being watched. She quickly asked Aragir whether he could feel the same when using the Amulet of Hiding that she had given him. Confirming that he felt the same, he cast Detect Thoughts and spotted a cockroach sitting on the wall. Through it, he could hear some of Gustav's thoughts by proxy before it scurried off into a crack in the wall. Gustav sounded disappointed and spoke of tripling the speed of their current preparations in the wake of Peshka's defeat.
Kaimos made another attempt at questioning Cerrule, but again her answers led him nowhere. Her patience with him was growing thin and the two ended in somewhat of a stalemate. Cynic attempted to take this opportunity to join in the conversation and learn something from her, though she was in no mood to indulge in his misguided question.
Eventually, after taking some safety measures, the group decided to settle for the night.
Cerrule and Aragir were the first to stay awake. As Aragir sat next to Cerrule, he asked if she was alright, to which she admitted that the constant questioning bothered her. She argued that if everyone could remain open minded, they could find new information and solutions more easily.
Whilst enjoying some Brassdorf Wine, the two quietly continued their conversation as the others went to sleep. Aragir asked about Cerrule's mother, and a bit of her past.
Cerrule confirmed that the woman he saw in her vision was her mother, and admitted she hadn't seen her in a long time. In her past, she and her mother travelled through a barren world, and eventually found a place where they were able to remain hidden and survive.
The group elder believed something would happen and that they should wait for a sign, and the group deliberated upon whom would be the best candidate to fulfill a destiny that would alter the fate of this world.
Though eventually they were found by corrupted beasts that were once wolves, and in order to save her, her mother pushed her through the portal that brought her to this timeframe.
Aragir asked whether she thought her mother was still alive, but she told him that she had little hope after the carnage she had witnessed before she was spirited away. Besides, there was no guarantee that her family would still exist in the new future she would create by altering the past.
As the topic progressed into the planes of existence, Aragir used his abilities to see what connection she had to this reality, and found that she seemed completely isolated; An anomaly in this timeframe that lacked any connection to other realities.
After he asked her what she planned to do after all of this was over, she told him she hoped to see her family again, one way or another.