Session 55
TBA
Before the night would end, Soul dug a little deeper into the captain’s logs, wondering how far back they would go. It went as far as thirty years prior. Built in the ports of Avalon, the FMA Gerrymander was mainly mentioned in traveling routes as it was passed on over the years. Despite changing over time, the ship was only taken over by the Rattler’s Revenge in the last four years, where the logs changed to include loot instead. Strangely, it was meant solely for travel between the Wavering Isles and Elkenveil. Why it had ended up in Diremound however was a mystery.
While the others were relaxing or going through their notes and findings, Cynic decided to venture away from their small encampment. He soon found himself in the company for a small group of dragonborn, and somewhat intoxicated he decided to offer them dinner and entertainment. The events ended in a passionate night with one of the dragonborn named Tatcha, from which he remembered absolutely nothing when he woke up between several of the dragonborn the next day.
Regrettably with his trousers missing, he quietly snuck away and used some of his magic to stealthily steal some leather pants from a member of the Conquest Chamber a bit further down the road. Once back at the camp, he tried to pretend like nothing happened, though Soul was not convinced.
Seemingly to distract from the topic at hand, the aasimar turned his attention to Aragir instead, and proposed he teach the elf to socialise more to get better chances with women.
As the conversation got increasingly more confusing and flustering for the wizard, Soul lied that she had seen a woman who was looking for Cynic, after which the sorcerer quickly moved on to lay low.
The group briefly discussed what their next move would be, after which they split up to take care of some business before they would leave to travel further North.
While Loxen and Cynic went to get the horses, Aragir briefly visited his brothers to say his goodbyes.
He met with Druindar first, and they exchanged what their plans would be. Druindar asked Aragir to join them to Avalon, though the wizard explained he had important things to do in Elkenveil instead. The Elder brother decided to not press further, and Aragir thanked him for his trust. Before parting, the two agreed to not inform their father on all the details of what happened in Diremound, and that they should soon meet under better circumstances in Esuna.
Despite already knowing the answer, Erevan too asked Aragir to join them to Avalon, though he did not fight the decision he knew he’d made. They once again agreed to stay in touch, and the wizard asked him to try and not stress their elder brother out too much. With a final hug, Aragir once again parted ways with his brothers.
Soul decided to visit Taz again, and asked him about his remark from before; She knew the friends he told her he knew weren’t about the Fold.
He then spoke about his brother Tyrell, who had joined the Getaways, and said that his letters mentioned a clash with the Fold. The descriptions, he said, reminded him of her.
He asked that if she ever met this brother of his, she’d give him a slap for him.
After he briefly described what his brother looked like, Soul told him that should his brother want to, there were ways to get him out of the criminal gang.
At first, Taz didn’t believe her, but after she pressed the idea he cautiously gave in. To help his younger brother cooperate, he gave her a small bronze locket with small portraits of the two brothers inside. He said that he expected her to return it eventually, and that he would arrange a feast if she brought his brother home.
After the group had gathered some provisions and other necessities, they reconvened near the gate and left for Elkenveil.
While on the road, Aragir asked Cynic more about what standards aasimar had for intimate partners, given their earlier conversation, though Cynic once again turned it to the wizard instead. There was some back and forth on the topic until Soul asked Cynic if he had someone waiting for him somewhere.
Cynic briefly mentioned a childhood friend to whom he had made a promise. According to him, she used to help him out even though he was young and stupid, and not as good a person as he would have wanted. After he said she might be angry with him for not staying in touch, the group encouraged him to start writing to her.
Soul then asked Loxen about the armor she was wearing, wondering if it would affect Loxen negatively. The dragonborn asked Tempus, who vehemently denied this claim.
When Aragir asked if they could investigate this new Vestige, and when asked what these were explained that they were a group of ancient artifacts given to the late and terrible king Ozma. The Vestiges held both powers and a curse, and under their influence the king went on to destroy large parts of the world. Nowadays, there were groups out there such as the Talon and to some extent the Obsidian Fist who wanted to assemble the Vestiges to resurrect king Ozma, who would be like a type of god.
When Cynic suddenly remembered that they were indeed looking for these Vestiges, Aragir fervently tried to deny this claim. Though Soul was not sure if he was speaking the truth.
Further down the road, they found a small camp in the distance, and carefully approached it. A person was sat hunched over near an extinguished campfire, and when they came closer they noticed a dead horse lying behind one of the three tents.
As they went to investigate, they soon found that the person that was near the fire pit was also deceased, with a dagger still sitting in his chest. From the look of him, it had happened but recently.
Perhaps the Skullmasters had gotten to them, or they had been assaulted by bandits. It was difficult to discern what exactly was the cause of their demise.
The group carefully looked around for anything that could be of use to them, and Cynic quickly burned the bodies with his magic before they continued on their way.
As the day neared its end and the sky turned darker, the group spotted an old, wizard-like man sitting on a cart that was pulled by what looked like a giant snail.
Intrigued by the promise of knowledge from this seemingly wise-looking man, Aragir approached him and struck up a conversation.
The half-elven man was blind in one eye, and from the look of him he was at least several hundreds of years old. He appeared confused to meet others on this road. Seemingly a little scatterbrained, he explained that he was from Whispertale and that he traveled to visit family in Elkenveil.
The group explained why they were headed for Elkenveil themselves, and then warned him for the dangers he might face there. The man was not too worried, and told them that his snail, called Lorra, would protect him. However, he regretfully told them that he had forgotten his staff.
The group suggested he made a new one from a nearby branch, and for a moment Aragir thought he was about to witness some profound arcane magic. But without any spectacle, the man simply took an old branch and put it in his cart. When Aragir asked him how he was going to brandish it into a magic staff, the man told him he didn’t know any magic, though the staff looked good for hitting things.
As they had nothing left to discuss, the group soon picked up their pace to continue further.
With the spires of Elkenveil now in clear sight, the Four Feathers only had a little ways to go before they would finally find the source of the light that emanated from it…